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The Former Menendez Family Home

Just around the corner from Vincente Minnelli’s former abandoned mansion (which I blogged about yesterday) is the palatial Elm Drive residence where on August 20th, 1989, brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez (then 22- and 19-years-old, respectively) shot and killed their parents, entertainment company executive Jose and housewife Mary Louise, aka “Kitty.” (I honestly cannot believe that the murders took place in 1989! I would have guessed them to have occurred far more recently.) The case that followed would become one of the most-famous and most-watched of the century, rivaled only by that of O.J. Simpson – which is ironic, but more on that later. I first became interested in the Elm Drive house earlier this year while reading the book You’ll Never Make Love in This Town Again, one of the chapters of which was written by actress Robin Greer whose husband, businessman Mark Slotkin, custom-built the property.

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The Mediterranean-style home was originally constructed in 1927, but was completely redesigned by Slotkin in 1974 and became his and Robin’s primary residence. Slotkin’s rebuild featured six bedrooms, eight baths, 9,063 square feet of living space, a pool, a tennis court, and a two-story guest house with its own sitting room, full bath, bedroom, and two-car garage. And here’s where the irony comes in. Greer and Slotkin were longtime friends of O.J. Simpson’s, and Robin reportedly hosted Nicole Brown Simpson’s baby shower, when she was pregnant with Sydney, at the Elm Drive manse in 1985. How’s that for eerie? Robin even states in You’ll Never Make Love in This Town Again that Nicole named Sydney after Robin’s character on Ryan’s Hope. In October 1988, after Mark and Robin decided to divorce, the estate was put on the market and sold to the Menendez family. They would live in it for less than a year. (Ironically enough, Robin was also at the center of a very interesting – and heartbreaking – Los Angeles Times story about an autograph collector’s unsuccessful quest that caught my eye this past July.)

On the evening of August 20th, 1989, Erik and Lyle murdered their parents with shotguns while the couple sat on the couch in their den watching The Spy Who Loved Me. Jose was shot five times, Kitty nine. The brothers, feigning grief, claimed that the killings had most likely been conducted by the mob. Their strange behavior was a red flag to investigators, though. Just three days after the murders, Lyle and Erik began blowing through their inheritance, going on extensive shopping sprees and ultimately spending over $1 million in six months time. Their purchases included a $64,000 Porsche, a Rolex watch, $40,000 worth of clothing, and, oddest of all, one of Lyle’s favorite restaurants in Princeton, Chuck’s Spring Street Café. Erik wound up confessing the crime to his therapist, L. Jerome Oziel, quite fittingly on Halloween day 1989. When Lyle found out, he became infuriated and threatened Oziel. The therapist taped some later conversations with the brothers and Oziel’s mistress informed police of the recordings in March 1990. The brothers were arrested that same month and charged with multiple murder for financial gain. The first trial, in 1994, resulted in hung juries, but they were both convicted and given life sentences during their retrial in 1996.

The Elm Drive house has been sold twice since the murders – first in 1993 to mystery television writer William Link and then in 2001 to a telecommunications executive named Sam Delug. Thinking about a normal family living their day-to-day life on the premises, I am reminded of the following quote by crime novelist Denise Hamilton from her article “Bringing Out the Dead” which was printed in the July 2013 issue of Los Angeles magazine: “And I wondered, Do bricks and mortar retain memories of crimes committed in airless rooms? Can violence sear a pattern into walls that no layers of paint can cover? Is this small patch of earth forever cursed?” Thankfully though, it looks like the macabre history of the house has not prevented Mr. Delug from celebrating Halloween, as you can see in this photograph on the Find a Death website.

Some sort of construction took place at the residence in 2002 (as you can also see on Find a Death) and the interior was reportedly gutted, but the exterior still looks pretty much exactly the same today as it did when Jose and Kitty owned it. Oddly enough, though, a gate that used to surround the property was taken down during the remodel. With a dwelling as notorious as this one, you’d think the owners would have wanted to put a fence up, not take one down!

And while there are rumors that Elton John, Michael Jackson, Prince, and members of the band U2 all rented the mansion at different points in time, being that Mark Slotkin sold it directly to Jose and Kitty, I do not see how that could be possible – unless, of course, they were tenants prior to the home’s 1974 rebuild.

For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Menendez Brothers’ former house is located at 722 North Elm Drive in Beverly Hills.

October 3, 2013
Vincente Minnelli’s Former Abandoned Mansion

Back in February 2012, a fellow stalker named Kayleigh emailed me to ask if I knew anything about the “creepy” mansion located on the southeast corner of West Sunset Boulevard and North Crescent Drive in Beverly Hills. Her email stated, “There’s very little information on it online other than the fact that Liza Minnelli battled her former step-mother over it. It stands out because all the houses in that area are gorgeous, but this home is unkempt, looks abandoned and is just plain scary.” I did not have any intel on the property – in fact, I had never even heard about it before – but hello! Unkempt, abandoned, scary, AND a celebrity tie-in? Count me in! I contacted fellow stalker E.J., of the Movieland Directory website, who I figured would have the lowdown on the manse’s history and I was right – he had a boatload of information to share. Somehow though, I failed to stalk the place in time for last year’s Haunted Hollywood postings. So, believe you me, it was at the very top of this year’s list and I finally dragged the Grim Cheaper out there in early June.

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I do not know what it is about abandoned properties that makes this stalker’s heart go pitter-patter, but I could NOT have been more excited as we pulled up to the mansion.

Liza’s father, famed musical director Vincente Minnelli, moved into the six-bedroom, six-bath, 5,877-square-foot Hollywood Regency-style estate – which was originally built in 1925 and was later re-designed by architect John Elgin Woolf – at some point following his 1951 divorce from Liza’s mother, actress Judy Garland. Liza split her time evenly between both parents, spending six month of each year at Vincente’s house, which boasted a motor court, a pool and a 0.98-acre plot of land. According to Richard Alleman’s book Hollywood: The Movie Lover’s Guide, the director commissioned artist Tony Duquette – whose whimsical Dawnridge residence I blogged about in August – to build a large playhouse for Liza in the backyard. Alleman also states that the young girl’s closet was filled with tyke-sized reproductions of costumes from The King and I, Gone with the Wind and An American in Paris. In her 1984 autobiography Knock Wood, actress Candice Bergen said, “I remember always asking to go to Liza’s to play dress-up because in her closet hung little girls’ dreams.” The state of the house today, though, is the stuff nightmares are made of!

The estate’s first brush with darkness came in 1986. On July 25th of that year, Vincente, who was suffering from emphysema, took his usual after-dinner nap. Sensing something was wrong due to his pallor, Minnelli’s wife, Lee, whom the director had married in 1980, called 911. Paramedics rushed to the scene and Vincente was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead upon arrival. He was 83. And while the mansion was willed to Liza, it was stipulated that Lee would be permitted to reside there – or at a comparable place – at Liza’s expense for the rest of her life.

In 2000, Liza decided to put the property on the market – unbeknownst to Lee. It sold for $2.75 million two years later and Liza subsequently purchased a $450,000 condo for her step-mother to live in. Lee wasn’t going anywhere, though. A battle ensued in which Liza ended up firing the mansion staff and shutting off the estate’s electricity, at which point Lee sued her. The lawsuit, referring to Liza’s recent wedding to David Gest, stated, “While defendant is honeymooning all over the world, having fed 850 of her closest friends a 12-foot cake, plaintiff is alone in a cold, dark house, at age 94.” You can see some photos taken of Lee at the dwelling, which was starting to dilapidate, during that time period here. Liza eventually had the power restored and the sale finally went through in 2006 –after a four-year escrow. A mediator ruled that Lee would be allowed to stay on the premises until her death, with Liza paying rent to the new owners, who would not be permitted to move in until Lee passed away.

When Lee did pass away three years later, on November 11th, 2009 at the age of 100, the new owners apparently set about making arrangements to tear the mansion down and build a Mediterranean-style estate in its place. The project was scrapped, though, in 2010 due to difficulties with the Beverly Hills Planning Division. Supposedly a restoration of the property was then scheduled to begin, but, as you can see below, that never occurred, either.

And while it seems that some sort of work was done on the property in recent years, as evidenced by the dumpsters and utility truck visible on Bing aerial views, for whatever reason it was stopped and the residence has been left untouched ever since. (How eerily awesome is that pool, by the way? LOVE IT!)

For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Kayleigh for telling me about this location and to fellow stalker E.J., of The Movieland Directory website, for informing me of its history!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Vincente Minnelli’s former abandoned mansion is located at 812 North Crescent Drive in Beverly Hills.

October 2, 2013
Tom Neal’s Former House

Upon first moving to the Desert in January, I started seriously perusing the book Palm Springs Confidential, which the Grim Cheaper’s boss had purchased for me several years prior. One locale mentioned in the tome that immediately piqued my interest was the former Little Tuscany Estates residence of Tom Neal, where, on April 1st, 1965, the ex-actor/onetime prizefighter shot and killed his third wife, Gail Evatt. (Her name is also sometimes reported as being “Gail Bennett” and, unfortunately, I am unsure of which moniker is correct, but for this post I’ll stick with Evatt.) Figuring the place would fit in perfectly with my Haunted Hollywood theme, I dragged the GC out to stalk it in July and have been itching to blog about it ever since. So here goes!

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Tom Neal’s acting career began on Broadway in 1935. The Illinois native, who had boxed quite successfully while attending Northwestern University, enrolled in Harvard Law School shortly thereafter and, upon graduating in 1938, migrated to Hollywood to pursue his dream of being on the silver screen. He landed his first film role that same year as Aldrich Brown in Out West with the Hardys and went on to play bit parts (mostly tough-guy characters thanks to his boxing background) and later star in over 180 low-budget, B-rated productions. His success garnered him quite a bit of wealth, a two-acre estate in Bel-Air and a romance with actress Barbara Payton. It was that romance with Payton that triggered his downfall. In 1951, the starlet told Neal she was leaving him for a new paramour, actor Franchot Tone. Neal did not take the news well. He beat Tone severely, giving him a broken nose, a concussion and a ten-day hospital stay. Payton later married Tone (though that was short-lived) and Neal was blacklisted by Hollywood. He wound up moving to Palm Springs, where he worked first as a host at the Doll House restaurant and then as a landscaper.

In 1961, Neal married Gail, who worked as a receptionist at the Palm Springs Racquet Club. (I blogged about the Racquet Club here.) The two moved into the four-bedroom, two-bath, 1,624-square-foot rental pictured below in early 1965. The ranch-style home, which was originally built in 1947, sits on 0.29 acres.

On the afternoon of April 1st, Tom and Gail began to argue. The couple had been separated for about ten weeks and Gail had filed for divorce on March 11th, unbeknownst to Tom. In the midst of the argument, Gail apparently headed for the living room, where she attempted to nap on the couch. Neal followed, accused her of cheating on him and wound up shooting her in the head with a 0.45-caliber pistol. He later claimed that Gail had grabbed the gun, pointed it at him and it had accidentally fired, striking her, during the course of a struggle, although the evidence did not reflect his account. Whatever the true story may be, Neal did not call the police, but, according to Palm Springs Life magazine, instead headed out to Tirol restaurant in Idyllwild for dinner. While there he informed two friends that he had just killed Gail. Apparently, neither of them thought to call the police, either.

The police were finally telephoned at 6:30 the following morning by Neal’s lawyer, James Cantillion, who informed them, according to Palm Springs Life, that a woman “had expired or was seriously injured” at 2481 Cardillo Avenue. Neal was indicted for murder two weeks later. After a twenty-day trial and a ten-hour jury deliberation, the former actor was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter. He was sentenced to up to 15 years in prison and ultimately served seven before being paroled on December 6th, 1971. Upon his release he moved to North Hollywood, where passed away from a heart attack eight months later. Neal was 58.

For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Tom Neal’s former house is located at 2481 North Cardillo Avenue in the Little Tuscany Estates neighborhood of Palm Springs.

October 1, 2013
Ferndell Nature Center

It’s that time again, my fellow stalkers! Time for my annual, month-long Haunted Hollywood theme! And yes, I do realize that October 1st is not actually until tomorrow, but I just could not wait one more day to get started! So here goes! My first Haunted Hollywood locale is actually one of my very favorite spots in all of Los Angeles – a peaceful little idyll named Ferndell that is tucked away inside of Griffith Park. And while the place could hardly be described as spooky or sinister, because it played a role in one of L.A.’s more fascinating unsolved mysteries – the 1949 disappearance of actress Jean Elizabeth Spangler – I figured what better time than now to blog about it.

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According to the non-profit group Friends of Griffith Park, the twenty-acre site now known as Ferndell was originally a meeting place for the Tongva-Gabrielino Indian tribe. The group dubbed the canyon “Mococahuenga.” In the early Twentieth Century the area became a part of Griffith Park and in 1914 park workers began planting ferns there. Pathways, bridges and waterfalls were added shortly thereafter and by the 1920s, the shaded oasis had become an immensely popular weekend attraction for native Angelinos and visitors alike.

Today the peaceful twenty-acre glen is marked by a quarter-mile gravel trail, meandering streams, terraced pools, over twenty small waterfalls, 17 footbridges, more than one dozen different fern varieties, and vast canopies of pine, palm, sycamore, ash, and redwood trees.

There is also a fabulous café named Trails located just outside of Ferndell’s rear entrance.

Sadly, Ferndell was allowed to fall into decline over the years – due mostly to the layoff of maintenance workers in the 1970s and 2008 budget cuts – and in 2012 the Cultural Landscape Foundation declared it one of the United States’ 12 most threatened landscapes. Friends of Griffith Park is currently working to restore the site to its original grandeur, although I can’t really imagine it looking any prettier than it already does.

The place is honestly one of the most picturesque spots I have ever laid eyes on. In fact, my very favorite picture of my dad and the Grim Cheaper was taken there back in 2008.

Ferndell’s beauty does not at all mesh with the unsolved mystery that has been linked to it for over 60 years. At around 5:30 p.m. on October 7th, 1949, stunning bit-part actress Jean Spangler left her apartment in the Park La Brea area of Los Angeles, telling her sister-in-law that she was on her way to meet her ex-husband. (That statement was later proven to be a lie – Spangler never met or had plans to meet her ex-husband that night.) She was spotted by a store clerk shortly thereafter at the Original Farmers Market at Third & Fairfax. The clerk said that Jean appeared to be waiting for someone. At around 7:30 p.m., the starlet made a phone call to her sister-in-law saying she would be home later that night. She was never seen or heard from again.

On October 9th, Jean’s purse was found just outside of the Ferndell entrance of Griffith Park. One of the straps had been ripped loose, suggesting a struggle.

Most cryptic of all, though, was the fact that a handwritten note was discovered inside the purse that read, “Kirk: Can’t wait any longer. Going to see Dr. Scott. It will work best this way while mother is away,” (The unfinished note ended with a comma, leading police to believe that she was interrupted while writing it. Although the mark is not discernible as being a comma in the screen capture below, all articles I’ve read on the subject report that the note ended with a comma and not a period.) Over 150 officers and volunteers searched the park, but no other sign of Spangler was found. One of Jean’s friends later informed detectives that the actress was three months pregnant at the time of her disappearance and that she had been considering an abortion. Police were never able to locate a “Dr. Scott,” though, and it has long been assumed that his name was a pseudonym being that abortions were illegal in 1949.

Because Spangler had recently completed filming a small role in Young Man with a Horn, which starred Kirk Douglas, there were suspicions that he might have been the Kirk mentioned in the note. He denied having any sort of relationship with her, though. Spangler also had ties to several mobsters and other underworld types, which caused the investigation to take numerous twists and turns – all of which led nowhere. The LAPD still considers Jean to be a missing person and her case remains open to this day.

Jean’s disappearance was the subject of a 2001 Mysteries & Scandals episode, which you can watch by clicking below.

Thanks to its picturesque quality, Ferndell has long been a favorite of location scouts. According to the book Hollywood Escapes: The Moviegoer’s Guide to Exploring Southern California’s Great Outdoors, The Young Rajah was shot at the park in 1922. Unfortunately though, I could not find a copy of the silent film, which starred Rudolph Valentino, to make screen captures for this post.

According to The David Janssen Archive, Ferndell was where Dr. Richard Kimball (David Janssen) fell into a stream in the pilot episode of The Fugitive, which was titled “Fear in a Desert City.”

In the pilot episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, which was titled “Encounter at Farpoint,” Ferndell masqueraded as the “woodland simulation” where Commander William T. Riker (Jonathan Frakes) talked to Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) about being human.

The episode featured some amazingly realistic special effects, as you can see below.

I am fairly certain that the “woodland simulation” scene was shot both on location at Ferndell and on a soundstage. As you can see below, the stream that Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) fell into in the episode was quite wide and deep. Being that I have never seen a stream of that size at Ferndell, I believe that a fake one was created for that portion of the scene at Paramount Studios where the series was lensed.

Ferndell was also featured in the Season 1 episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine titled “In the Hands of the Prophets” as the Bajoran Monastery of the Kai garden where Commander Sisko (Avery Brooks) met Vedek Bareil (Philip Anglim) for the first time.

Ferndell once again masqueraded as the Bajoran Monastery of the Kai garden in the Season 2 episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine titled “The Circle.”

In the 2012 romantic comedy Ruby Sparks, Ferndell is where Calvin Weir-Fields (Little Miss Sunshine’s Paul Dano) both envisions Ruby Sparks (Zoe Kazan) riding her bike while looking at the ceiling of his therapist’s office (hence the weird vent patterns visible in the screen captures below) . . .

. . . and where he later jogs with his brother, Harry (Chris Messina).

Ferndell pops up briefly in the Summer musical montage scene from 2016’s La La Land.

I have also long suspected that Ferndell was the spot where my girl Miss Marilyn Monroe posed for photographer Ed Henry in 1950. You can check out those pictures, which were not released until 2009, on the Life magazine website here. Unfortunately though, I have not been able to verify that hunch.

For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Ferndell Nature Center is located at 2333 Fern Dell Drive, inside of Griffith Park, in Los Feliz.

September 30, 2013
Dean’s House from “License to Drive”

For no particular reason and seemingly out of the blue, I got on a License to Drive kick a couple of weeks ago and was absolutely floored to come across a page on fellow stalker Geoff’s 90210Locations website that detailed almost all of the locales featured in the movie. The only spot missing was the Shakey’s Pizza Parlor where Les Anderson (Corey Haim), Dean (Corey Feldman), Charles (Michael Manasseri), and Mercedes Lane (Heather Graham) wound up after almost getting into a car accident in the middle of the 1988 flick – a location that I am now bound and determined to track down! Anyway, the place that I was most elated to see on Geoff’s site was the barn-like house where Dean lived in the film as it was a locale that I had always wondered about. So I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out to stalk it while the two of us were in Los Angeles three weekends ago.

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Dean’s house popped up three times in License to Drive. It first appeared in the scene in which Dean and Charles called Les to congratulate him on getting his driver’s license. I am not sure what room of the house this scene was supposed to have taken place in. While I originally assumed that it was Dean’s room, the fact that there is a water heater and washing machine/dryer visible in the background (LOL!) gives me pause. And while the space looks like it could be a garage, it does not match the garage that is shown later in the movie.

The house next popped up towards the middle of the flick, in the scene in which Les enlisted Dean’s help in removing some dents that Mercedes had made in the hood of his grandfather’s Cadillac. It is during that scene that Dean convinces Les to go to Archie’s Atomic Drive-In (which I blogged about here), where “there’s five girls for every guy – and we’re not talking dogs. We’re talking bunnies!” LOL

And finally, the residence was featured at the very end of the movie in the scene in which Les dropped Dean and Charles off at home early in the morning following their wild night out. In that scene, the property’s real life 6313 address number was visible on both the front curb and light post. Love it!

While quite a bit has been changed in the twenty-five years since License to Drive was filmed, the dwelling is still very recognizable from its onscreen appearance.

As is the garage area.

In real life, the four-bedroom, four-bath, 3,591-square-foot house, which sits on 0.38 acres, was originally built in 1953 and last sold in July 1998 for $715,000.

For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Big THANK YOU to Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, for finding this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Dean’s house from License to Drive is located at 6313 Riggs Place in the Westchester neighborhood of Los Angeles.

September 27, 2013
Joyce’s House from “Little Black Book”

Last week, while doing research on locations from fave movie Little Black Book, I decided to watch the “Live & On-Air: The Making of Little Black Book” DVD special feature in which the filming of a deleted scene happened to be shown taking place in front of a house that I immediately recognized. I had actually stalked – and blogged about – the home back in March 2010 thanks to its appearance in Father of the Bride Part II. (You can read that post here.) Because I had written the column so long ago, though, I decided the residence was most-definitely worthy of a redux and dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out to stalk it this past weekend while the two of us were in L.A.

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Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I first discovered the residence a couple of years back while strolling along Madison Avenue in Pasadena on our way to stalk the house Babe Bennett (Winona Ryder) supposedly lived in during her childhood years in Mr. Deeds. Mike noticed the picturesque property – or “Thanksgiving home” as I like to call such idyllic dwellings that always seem to bring to mind images of family holidays – immediately and commented that it had to have been used in a movie at some point. So when fellow stalker Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, happened to send me screen captures of the place a few weeks later while on a quest to track down some minor locales from Father of the Bride Part II, I recognized it right away.

The charming five-bedroom, three-bath, 4,466-square-foot home, which was originally built in 1905, sits on 0.46 acres and last sold in June 2009 for $2,580,000. The residence, which looks like it was made to be in movies, features two game rooms, a garden room, a pool, a spa, a library, and a three-car garage. You can check out some great interior photographs of the place here.

As you can see from the side-view images pictured below, the house is actually much larger than its façade would lead you to believe. It’s absolutely ginormous!

In the “Live & On-Air: The Making of Little Black Book” special feature, the scene shown being filmed in front of the residence involved (I believe) Stacy (Brittany Murphy) leaving a note at the home of her boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend, Joyce (Julianne Nicholson). No dialogue could be heard in the segment, but as you can see below, an envelope with what I think is the name “Joyce” on it was visible on the front porch. I am guessing that the scene was to be featured at the end of the movie and most likely entailed Stacy apologizing to Joyce for lying to her and humiliating her on national television. Because it wound up on the cutting room floor, though, and because no deleted scenes were included on the DVD (BOO!), I guess we will never know for sure.

Even though only a small portion of the home’s front porch was shown in “Live & On-Air,” I still recognized the place immediately. Yes, I’m that good.

Not surprisingly, thanks to its massive curb appeal, the house has been featured in numerous productions over the years. In Father of the Bride Part II, which premiered in 1995, it was where father-to-be George Banks (Steve Martin) witnessed a stranger saying good-bye to his son before leaving for work.

In 1995’s Bye Bye Love, the residence was where Susan (Amy Brenneman) lived. Both the interior and the exterior of the property were used in the flick.

In 2007, the home stood in for the supposed Medora, Wisconsin-area residence of the Tolchuck family – Justin (Dan Byrd), Claire (Lindsey Shaw), Franny (Amy Pietz), Gary (Scott Gordon-Patterson), and Pakistani foreign exchange student Raja (Adhir Kalyan) – in the pilot episode of Aliens in America. Oddly enough, though, only the interior of the house;

a few close-up shots of the front porch;

and the backyard appeared in the episode.

For the establishing shots of the residence’s front exterior, a different house – located at 6337 Larch St in Vancouver (thank you to fellow stalker Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, for the address!) – was used. This was due to the fact that Aliens in American’s pilot episode was shot in Southern California, but production moved to Canada once the series got picked up. To avoid the confusion of using two different exteriors when the show started airing, producers just swapped in an image of the Canada house for all of the establishing shots shown in the pilot episode.

In “Live & On-Air: The Making of Little Black Book,” the residence directly across the street from Joyce’s was also briefly shown, which got me to thinking that it might have been the dwelling used as Stacy’s childhood home in the flick. In real life, the Frederick L. Roehrig-designed abode, which was originally built in 1908, is known as the Lincoln Clark House and it is a City of Pasadena Designated Landmark Property.

Only a very limited portion of Stacy’s childhood home can actually be seen in Little Black Book. In the beginning of the movie, there is a brief shot of a young Stacy (Katie Murphy) watching her father from a window as he leaves her mother. In that scene, a unique, multi-limbed tree is visible on the side of the path that Stacy’s father walks down. As you can see below, there is a very similar-looking tree located on the side of the walkway at the Lincoln Clark House, as well. And the window that is located just beyond it resembles the window that Stacy looked through in the scene.

The porch area of the Lincoln Clark House (which you can see a close-up photograph of here) also closely resembles the porch that appeared in the montage clip showing Stacy’s boyfriends throughout the years.

The interior of Stacy’s childhood home was also featured in a few scenes at the beginning of Little Black Book. As you can see below, the three-paneled window that appeared onscreen is a match to the Lincoln Clark House windows. And the steep roofline is a match, as well. Without seeing interior photographs of the Lincoln Clark House, though, there is no way for me to say with any certainty whether or not it was used in the filming.

For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Joyce’s house from a deleted scene in Little Black Book is located at 639 South Madison Avenue in Pasadena. The Lincoln Clark House, which I think may have been used as Stacy’s childhood home in the flick, is located directly across the street at 646 South Madison Avenue.

September 26, 2013
Emmys 2013

I spent this past weekend in L.A. enjoying a whirlwind of activities including the bridal shower for Miss Pinky Lovejoy, of the Thinking Pink blog, some pre-Emmy parties and the 2013 Emmy Awards. And while I had a blast, I did not get home until late last night and therefore did not have time to write a new post for today. I do promise to be back tomorrow, though, with a whole new location. And I also promise to post my Emmy pics as soon as I get a free moment.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

September 24, 2013
The End – Kime Buzzelli’s Vintage Shop

As I mentioned in my April post about the Hideaway Saloon (which you can read here), I have been a longtime follower of 90210’s former costume designer Kime Buzzelli on both Twitter and Instagram. Kime is BEYOND sweet and is always happy to answer questions from fans, whether it be about what a character wore in an episode or where a scene was shot. She was even nice enough to share a photograph of a typo that she had taken with fellow stalker Owen for his blog, When Write Is Wrong. Anyway, I knew from following her that she had recently opened a vintage shop named The End in Yucca Valley. One Saturday morning back in May, the Grim Cheaper and I headed out to Starbucks for coffee and afterwards he suggested we take a drive up to Pioneertown – an Old West movie set near Joshua Tree that I had long wanted to stalk. I should mention here that I had no makeup on at the time. I had barely even run a comb through my hair before leaving the house that morning as I thought we were simply grabbing coffee and then going back home. But trooper that I am, I agreed to head over to Pioneertown, makeup-less, to do some stalking.

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I am severely directionally-challenged (which is ironic considering this hobby that I have chosen for myself) and at the time had no idea that Joshua Tree was near Yucca Valley. So when I saw a sign stating “Welcome to Yucca Valley” during our drive, I just about lost it! I immediately pulled out my iPhone to search for The End’s address and informed the GC that I would not be leaving the area without visiting Kime’s shop. Needless to say, we made a little detour and, let me tell you, I just about passed out when I opened the door to the place and there was Kime herself sitting behind the counter! Never in my wildest dreams did I think she would actually be in the store! (I am IN LOVE with the garland hanging above The End’s entrance, by the way. I am fairly certain it is a Confetti System garland, similar to the one that Cupcakes and Cashmere’s Emily Schuman has strung in her office.)

Kime was extremely gracious and we wound up hanging out in her shop for a good hour chatting about 90210. The GC even really enjoyed talking with her and he could care less about that stuff. And even though I was sans makeup, I, of course, had to ask her for a photo while I was there.

While speaking with Kime, my eyes couldn’t help but dart around looking at all of the fabulous items in her adorable shop. One piece that I kept catching sight of was the feathered skirt pictured below, the edge of which was sticking out of a rack of clothes. Anything with glitter or feathers and this stalker is a goner! The GC said that as soon as we walked in, he had spotted the white and blue plumes poking out of the rack and knew right away that the skirt would be accompanying us home. So when I pulled it out at one point and Kime informed me that it had actually been purchased for Erin Silver (Jessica Stroup) to wear during her burlesque period on 90210, I just about died! The skirt never actually made it into an episode, but that was pretty much all I needed to hear! Thank God it fit, otherwise I would have been devastated!

Then, a couple of weeks ago, I found out that Kime was bringing The End to the Ace Hotel in Palm Springs as a Labor Day pop-up shop, so I of course dragged the Grim Cheaper right on over there to do some more shopping.

I was shocked – and delighted – upon walking in when Kime recognized me right away! Like I said, she’s an absolute doll! And she was even nice enough to take a second picture with me.

While milling around the shop, I happened to come across the beaded piece of heaven pictured below and fell immediately in love. Then when Kime informed me that it had been worn by Naomi Clark (AnnaLynne McCord) at her 18th birthday party on 90210, I just about had a heart attack! It was at that point that the GC resigned himself to the fact that there was absolutely no way I was leaving the store without that dress. Sadly, when I tried it on, though, it did not fit AT ALL. There’s nothing like trying on AnnaLynne McCord’s clothes to make a person feel bad about themselves. When I came out of the dressing room and informed the GC that the dress was too small, he said, “Are you just one stomach flu away from your goal weight, honey?” LOL Thankfully though, I thought to check the interior seam and, sure enough, there was extra material, so my mom was able to take it out for me (she’s an amazing seamstress!) and the dress now fits like a glove. And while I was thinking about donning it for the Emmys this Sunday night (SO EXCITED, by the way), Marci, the owner of my very favorite store, Lula Mae, loaned me an uh-ma-zing frock that I am going to wear instead. I’ll save Naomi’s dress for next year’s show.

The dress was featured in the Season 3 episode of 90210 titled “Age of Inheritance.” In the episode, Naomi throws herself an extravagant birthday party after learning the news that she finally has access to her hefty trust fund. I, of course, re-watched “Age of Inheritance” immediately upon returning home from the Ace Hotel that night and really had to pinch myself. I canNOT believe I own Naomi’s dress!

For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The End, 90210 costume designer Kime Buzzelli’s vintage clothing store, is located at 55872 29 Palms Highway in Yucca Valley. You can visit The End’s Facebook page here. There are a ton of great antique shops nearby, so I definitely recommend walking around the area a bit if you visit.

September 20, 2013
The “Punky Brewster” Grocery Store

As I mentioned in my August 18th post about the buildings used in the opening credits of fave ‘80s television show Punky Brewster (which you can read here), one spot that remained a mystery was the grocery store where Punky Brewster (Soleil Moon Frye) offered to help patrons carry their bags in exchange for money. I wondered in the post if the market might be located in Chicago, but fellow stalker Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, sent me an email that same day letting me know that he had tracked the site down – just around the corner from Shatto Place, where the majority of the Punky Brewster opening was filmed. Sadly, he also informed me the grocery store was no longer standing. I decided the location was still blog-worthy, though, and ran right out to stalk it two weekends ago while the Grim Cheaper and I were in L.A.

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The grocery store actually only appeared in the opening credits of Punky Brewster’s pilot episode, which was titled “Punky Finds a Home: Part I.” All subsequent episodes featured a shortened version of the pilot’s credits.

In one portion of the grocery store segment, several buildings are visible in the background. It was those buildings that led Owen to the market’s location. In his email, which included the mocked-up screen capture pictured below, he wrote, “In the attached image from the opening credits, the camera is looking east. The building circled in red is 630 Shatto Place (the building is labeled “Retail Clerks Union” on Google Maps). The white building circled in blue (the one with many windows) is 3075 Wilshire Blvd., at S. Westmoreland Ave.”

He also included the east-facing, present-day, bird’s-eye view of those same buildings pictured below.

And a 1980 aerial view from the Historic Aerials website, in which he circled the Punky Brewster market and its parking lot in green. Owen said, “To the south of the grocery store you can see the slanted parking spaces along a wall, just like in the opening credits.” He provided a corresponding present-day aerial view of the area, as well.

He also dug up the 1968 image of the store pictured below on the USC Archives. As you can see, he literally did all of my work for me on this one, so thank you, Owen!

Because he did not know the market’s exact address, Owen suggested I check back-dated Los Angeles phone listings, saying, “Assuming the store was on the SE corner of W. 6th St. and S. Vermont Ave., I’m guessing you should look at addresses ~3190 W. 6th St. and 606 S. Vermont Ave.” So, for my first attempt I searched the 1987 phone directory for 606 South Vermont and, lo and behold, there was a listing for a Kal’s Supermarket at that address, as you can see below! Owen hit the nail right on the head!

Today, 606 South Vermont Avenue is the site of the Wilshire/Vermont Station for the Los Angeles Metro, which, according to Gazette.net, boasts the longest escalators this side of the Mississippi.

The $136-million mixed-use station, which was designed by the architecture firm Arquitectonica, opened in 2007.

The “transit village” consists of an upscale 449-unit apartment building and a whopping 36,000 square feet of retail space. Such restaurants as Chipotle, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and Subway, as well as several boutiques, are located on the premises.

The two-panel mural that flanks the station’s southwest entrance was hand-painted by transmedia artist April Greiman and is titled “Hand Holding a Bowl of Rice.” Greiman initially took the image with a video camera and then converted it into an oil painting.

Because of the way the Wilshire/Vermont Station is situated, I could not get a perfect photograph of the two buildings that Owen spotted in the Punky Brewster opening credits. As you can see below, though, the picture that I was able to snap does match pretty closely what appeared onscreen in 1984.

You can watch the opening credits from Punky Brewster’s pilot episode by clicking below.

For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Big THANK YOU to Owen, from the When Write Is Wrong blog, for finding this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Kal’s Supermarket, the grocery store from the Punky Brewster opening credits, was formerly located at 606 South Vermont Avenue in Koreatown. That site is now the Wilshire/Vermont Metro station. The buildings that were featured in the Punky Brewster opening credits are located right around the corner on the 600 block of Shatto Place. The brick building that Henry Warnimont (George Gaynes) first walked by was the Pierre Crest Apartments at 673 Shatto Place; the alleyway where Henry stepped over the sleeping homeless man is just north of 688 Shatto Place; the building that Punky skipped by was the Modena Apartments at 661 Shatto Place; and the site of Henry’s photography studio, which has since been torn down, can be found at 651 Shatto Place.

September 19, 2013
Liberace’s Valley House from “Behind the Candelabra”

As I mentioned last month in my post about Sherman Way Adult Books from Behind the Candelabra (which you can read here), back in May fellow stalker E.J., of the Movieland Directory website, challenged me to find several locales from the HBO biopic including the L.A.-area home belonging to Liberace (Michael Douglas). It was never made entirely clear where exactly in Los Angeles the house was meant to be located in the flick, but I believe that it was supposed to the pianist’s San Fernando Valley-area residence in Sherman Oaks. (I blogged about Liberace’s real life former Valley dwelling, with the piano-shaped pool, in 2010. You can read that post here).

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Fortunately, this location turned out to be a very easy find thanks to an address number of “4238” that was visible on the home’s mailbox in the scene in which Scott Thorson (Matt Damon) lamented to his friend Bob Black (Scott Bakula) that Liberace wanted him to have plastic surgery. I had an inkling that the number was not faked for the movie (despite its gold coloring), so I started searching 4200 blocks in various Los Angeles neighborhoods for the one-story, 70s-style ranch house. I fairly quickly came across an area known as View Park-Windsor Hills that had a plethora of ranch-style properties, one of which – at 4238 Olympiad Drive – turned out to be the right place. So I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to stalk it two weekends ago while the two of us were in L.A.

I was absolutely FLOORED to discover, while driving there, that the home was located right off of Stocker Street. Um, LOVE IT!

And I was even more floored to see that the mailbox and address placard that appeared in the movie were also there in real life.

Liberace’s L.A. house showed up several times in Behind the Candelabra.

As you can see below, the residence looks pretty much exactly the same in person as it did onscreen.

The home’s backyard and pool were also utilized in the filming.

As you can see in the Google aerial view pictured below, the slide that appeared in Behind the Candelabra is also there in real life. So incredibly cool!

I am 99.9% certain that several areas of the residence’s actual interior, including the dining room, kitchen, living room, and den, were also used in the movie, but I could not find any photographs of the inside of the home with which to verify that hunch.

In real life, the 1957 house features three bedrooms, three baths, 2,824 square feet of living space, and a 0.23-acre plot of land.

Before tracking down the dwelling, I had been completely unaware of the View Park-Windsor Hills neighborhood, but once I arrived there, it was easy to see why the residence and area were chosen to be used in Behind the Candelabra. The suburb looks like it has not been touched since the 1970s. Walking among the homes made me feel as if I had stepped into an episode of The Brady Bunch – but in a good way.

For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Liberace’s Valley house from Behind the Candelabra is located at 4238 Olympiad Drive in the View Park-Windsor Hills area of Los Angeles. Supposedly, Ike and Tina Turner once lived just down the road at 4263 Olympiad Drive.

September 18, 2013