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  • A Weekend in Newport

    Balboa Bay Club Christmas (1 of 1)

    My parents, the GC and I headed down to Newport Beach for the weekend to celebrate my dad’s birthday.  We stayed at the Balboa Bay Club, which, as you can see above, was decorated quite beautifully for Christmas.  If you are in the area, I HIGHLY recommend stopping by to see their lights.  Anyway, we just returned home yesterday evening and I, unfortunately, did not have time to write a post while we were away, but I will be back tomorrow with a whole new location.

    Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

  • Jerry’s House from “Parks and Recreation”

    Jerry's House - Parks and Recreation (5 of 12)

    As the song goes, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas and what better way to celebrate than by blogging about holiday-themed locales on each day leading up to the 25th? Hope y’all enjoy them! And now, on with the post! Two Thursday ago, while watching fave show Parks and Recreation, I became just a wee-bit obsessed with the charmingly picturesque home belonging to Jerry Gergich (Jim O’Heir) and his shockingly gorgeous family – wife, Gayle (Christie Brinkley), and daughters, Millicent (Sarah Wright), Gladys (Katie Gill), and Miriam (Maliabeth Johnson) – in the Season 5 Christmas-themed episode titled “Ron and Diane”. I mean look at the place! It’s like it was ripped right out of a Hallmark commercial or something! A-DO-RABLE!

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    Thankfully, this one was an easy find. I thought the residence looked slightly familiar and had a vague recollection that I had seen photographs of it online while on the hunt for the Boy Meets World house back in mid-November. So I dashed over to my favorite locations library, Malibu Locations, to search for colonial-style residences in the Studio City area (the same parameters I used to track down the BMW abode) and, sure enough, I came across a listing for the place almost immediately. Fortunately, an address number of 11800 was visible in the listing photos, which made finding the home from there a snap. Yay! So I ran right out to stalk the place just a few days later.

    Jerry's House - Parks and Recreation (10 of 12)

    In real life, Jerry’s house, which was originally built in 1939, boasts three bedrooms, three baths and 3,126 square feet of living space. As you can see below, the residence is absolutely idyllic in person – so much so that I am shocked it has not been used in more productions.

    Jerry's House - Parks and Recreation (11 of 12)

    Oddly enough, while the house is nestled on what appears to be a gargantuan plot of land, in actuality the property only measures a scant 0.31 acres according to fave website Zillow .

    Jerry's House - Parks and Recreation (4 of 12)

    Jerry's House - Parks and Recreation (6 of 12)

    Jerry’s house is featured quite extensively in the “Ron and Diane” episode, as the site of the Gergich family Christmas party where the Parks and Rec Department gang are all guests – well, except for Tom Haverford (Aziz Ansari), April Ludgate (Aubrey Plaza) and Andy Dwyer (Chris Pratt), whom Ann Perkins (Rashida Jones) has banned from attending, and Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) and Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman), who are at the Indiana Fine Woodworking Association Woodworking Awards. LOL

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    Jerry's House - Parks and Recreation (9 of 12)

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    Jerry's House - Parks and Recreation (12 of 12)

    The real life interior of the home, which you can see photographs of here, was also used in the episode.

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    I so love the fireplace video that played in the background on Jerry’s TV during the party, by the way. Smile

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    Oddly enough, an entirely different house – one located at 4203 Bellaire Avenue in Studio City – was used as Jerry’s residence in the Season 4 episode of Parks and Recreation titled “Sweet Sixteen”.

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    You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

    Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

    Jerry's House - Parks and Recreation (7 of 12)

    Stalk It: Jerry Gergich’s house, from the “Ron and Diane” episode of Parks and Recreation, is located at 11800 Kling Street in Valley Village.

  • Marilyn’s House from “Four Christmases”

    Marilyn's house four christmases (1 of 14)

    Early yesterday morning, after what had amounted to years and years of searching and thanks to the assistance of both Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and my good friend Nat, I finally, finally, FINALLY managed to track down the San Francisco-area house where Brad (Vince Vaughn) and Kate (Reese Witherspoon) lived in the 2008 holiday flick Four Christmases.  Woot woot!  The stalking Gods were definitely smiling down upon me yesterday because shortly thereafter I ALSO found the residence where Kate’s mom, Marilyn (Mary Steenburgen), lived in the flick.  And while Nat, who resides in the Bay Area, will be stalking Ben and Kate’s pad for me later today so that I can blog about it next week, Marilyn’s house is, thankfully, located right near me in South Pasadena.  So I, of course, immediately ran out to stalk it yesterday.

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    Surprisingly, finding Marilyn’s house was a snap.  I had heard rumblings over the years that the abode was located inside the gated Hancock Park community of Fremont Place, but while scanning through Four Christmases yesterday, I spotted an address number of 1217 on the curb in front of the house and on the façade above the front door.  Because Fremont Place addresses are only three digits long, I knew that the dwelling could not be located there – unless, of course, the number had been altered for the filming, which I doubted.  Upon closer inspection, I got the strange feeling that I had seen the house before, possibly in South Pasadena.  So I decided to begin my search on the most oft-filmed-at street in the area, Milan Avenue.  I punched 1217 Milan Avenue into Google and, lo and behold, it was the spot!  Let me tell you, I almost fell out of my chair!  Here it had taken me YEARS to track down Ben and Kate’s house, but I somehow managed to find Marilyn’s on the very first street that I searched!  Go figure!

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    In real life, the charming home, which was originally built in 1927, boasts four bedrooms, three baths, a whopping 4,447 square feet of living space, and almost half an acre of land.

    Marilyn's house four christmases (3 of 14)

    Marilyn's house four christmases (9 of 14)

    The exterior of Marilyn’s house only showed up once, very briefly (blink-and-you’ll-miss-it-briefly), in Four Christmases, in the scene in which Ben and Kate arrived at Kate’s mother’s residence to celebrate their second Christmas of the day.  Quite a bit of décor was added for the filming, including a white picket fence, a huge amount of wildflowers lining the front walkway and sidewalk, a cross in each downstairs window, and, of course, a myriad of religious statues.  I was absolutely FLOORED to discover that the Christmas wreaths that had been displayed in the second floor windows in the movie were there in real life, as well – in the exact same positions!  SO INCREDIBLY COOL!

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    Marilyn's house four christmases (4 of 14)

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    Marilyn's house four christmases (10 of 14)

    And while I would have bet money on the fact that the real life interior of the home had been used in the movie, that was, shockingly, not the case.  According to the Four Christmases production notes, all of the interiors of the four parents’ houses excluding one – the residence where Creighton (Jon Voight) lived, which was actually the Boddy House in Descanso Gardens, which I blogged about way back in May 2009 – were sets built on a soundstage at Ren-Mar Studios (now Red Studios Hollywood, which I blogged about this past March).  All I can say is that production designer Shepherd Frankel (who has a Masters Degree in architecture) did an UH-MA-ZING job because, outside of Nancy Meyer productions, I have never seen such detailed sets.  Of Frankel’s design, the production notes state, “In keeping with Marilyn’s malleable personality, her home is characterized by what Frankel describes as ‘surfaces and veneers, reflecting no real sense of self.’  At the same time, it reveals a dedication to symmetry and order, with wallpapers matched to upholstery patterns, suggesting the hand of a woman who is constantly striving toward some higher standard of domestic design as much as she strives for the perfect relationship.”  You can check out some FABULOUS pictures of the set that Frankel created here.

    Marilyn's house four christmases (2 of 14)

    Marilyn's house four christmases (11 of 14)

    As you can see in the screen captures below as compared to these real life photographs of the house, the set is much different than the actual residence.  Areas of the dwelling that Frankel recreated include the entryway, which you can see real life photos of here and here;

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    the living room, which you can see real life photographs of here and here;

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    the den, which you can see real life photos of here and here;

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    the huge guest bathroom (you can check out one of the home’s actual bathrooms here and here);

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    and the kitchen, which you can see a real life photograph of here and here.  It is unbelievable to me how textured, detailed and realistic Frankel’s designs are!

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    I am fairly certain that the backyard that appeared in the movie was a mixture of both the home’s real life backyard and a set.  You can see photographs of the actual backyard here and here, and a picture of the set hereUPDATE – Shepherd Frankel contacted me after I wrote this post and informed me that Marilyn’s backyard was just a set.  Of the filming, he said, “It was all done onstage where I replicated a version of the rear elevation of the location, but modified it to suit our needs.”  He also told me that the view behind Marilyn’s fence was a “plate shot” of the home’s actual neighborhood.  SO INCREDIBLY COOL!

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    You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER.  And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

    Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

    Marilyn's house four christmases (7 of 14) (2)

    Stalk It: Marilyn’s house from Four Christmases is located at 1217 Milan Avenue in South Pasadena.  Quite a few other famous homes can be found on the same street, including the former residence of architect Norman Marsh at 1934 Milan ; Matthew Kidman’s (Emile Hirsch’s) house from The Girl Next Door at 1504 Milan; Danielle’s (Elisha Cuthbert’s) house from The Girl Next Door at 1500 Milan; the Beethoven house at 1405 Milan; the Lawrence house from the 1970’s television series Family at 1230 Milan; and one of the houses that the boys painted in American Pie 2 at 820 Milan.

  • Diane’s House from “Parks and Recreation”

    Diane's house Parks and Recreation (8 of 10)

    Back in mid-November, a fellow stalker named Vinnie tweeted me to ask if I knew the location of the house belonging to Diane Lewis (whom I had no idea was played by Lucy Lawless, by the way!) – aka the spot where Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman) fixed a pothole – in the Season 5 episode of Parks and Recreation titled “How a Bill Becomes a Law”.  As luck would have it, fellow stalker Owen, from the When Write Is Wrong blog, had tracked down that particular abode and texted me its address on October 2nd, the very same night that the “How a Bill Becomes a Law” episode first aired.  So I passed along the info to Vinnie and the following day he tweeted me to let me know that he had visited the location and that the pothole patch was still visible!  Well, believe you me, once I heard that, I was bound and determined to stalk the place just as soon as humanly possible.  So I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on over there a few days after Thanksgiving.

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    Finding this location was a snap for Owen because he had done some previous cyber-stalking on the very same street (Margate Street in Sherman Oaks) a couple of years ago while searching for the house where Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) and Jim Halpert (John Krasinksi) bought a lamp in the Season 4 episode of The Office titled “Fun Run” (which I blogged about here).  As it turns out, the “Fun Run” home is located almost directly across the street from Diane’s dwelling.  In fact, you can see a sign for Margate Street in the background behind Jim and Pam in the episode.  Love it!

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    In real life, Diane’s house, which was originally built in 1955 and is absolutely adorable in person, boasts three bedrooms, two baths, 2,095 square feet of living space, and a 0.20-acre plot of land.  You can check out some interior photographs of the place on an old real estate listing here.

    Diane's house Parks and Recreation (2 of 10)

    As fate would have it, while we were stalking the house, the super-nice owners came out and chatted with us about the filming of Parks and Recreation and a few other productions that had been shot in the neighborhood.  They also mentioned that they had met fellow stalker Vinnie while he was stalking the place just a few days prior.  Smile

    Diane's house Parks and Recreation (10 of 10)

    In the “How a Bill Becomes a Law” episode of Parks and Recreation, Chris Traeger (Rob Lowe) decides to implement a 311 phone line at the Parks Department so that Pawnee citizens can report any municipal-related problems that they might be having.  While manning the line, Ron takes a complaint from Diane about a pothole that has remained unfixed for months on the street outside of her home.  He responds to that complaint by saying, “Well, Diane, for potholes, you want to speak with Public Works . . .  I understand you’ve tried them four times – government is inefficient and should be dissolved.”  LOL LOL LOL  Gotta love Ron Swanson!  Ron then decides to take matters into his own hands and heads over to Diane’s house to fix the pothole himself, along with a little help from Andy Dwyer (Chris Pratt).  As you can see below, Diane’s residence looks pretty much exactly the same in person as it did in the episode.

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    Diane's house Parks and Recreation (5 of 10)

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    Diane's house Parks and Recreation (6 of 10)

    I was, of course, most excited to see the pothole patch that Vinnie had told me about, though.

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    Diane's house Parks and Recreation (1 of 10)

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    Diane's house Parks and Recreation (7 of 10)

    I find it so incredibly cool that a vestige of the filming was left behind for all of us stalkers to appreciate for years to come.  LOVE IT!

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    The house also showed up in the Season 5 episode of Parks and Recreation titled “Halloween Surprise”, in the scene in which Ron apologizes to Diane for ruining her daughters’ Halloween.

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    While the real life address number of Diane’s residence is 13155, crew members dropped the first 1 to make it 3155 for the filming of the “How a Bill Becomes a Law” episode.  Nothing unusual about that – house numbers are often changed for a film shoot.  But in an odd twist, that number was changed even further – to 155 – just a few episodes later for “Halloween Surprise”.  The Parks and Rec producers must think us stalkers aren’t paying attention or something.  Winking smile

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    The owners of Diane’s house also informed us that the residence across the street was used in the “Halloween Surprises” episode, in the scene in which Ron breaks Diane’s daughter’s tiara.

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    Parks and Recreation Halloween House (3 of 3)

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    Parks and Recreation Halloween House (2 of 3)

    You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER.  And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

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

    Diane's house Parks and Recreation (3 of 10)

    Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

    Stalk It: Diane’s house from Parks & Recreation is located at 13155 Margate Street in Sherman Oaks.  The house where Ron broke Diane’s daughter’s tiara in the “Halloween Surprises” episode is located across the street at 13162 Margate StreetThe residence where Pam bought a lamp in the “Fun Run” episode of The Office is located next door to the “Halloween Surprises” house at 5306 Longridge Avenue.  And Oscar’s home from The Office is located just around the corner at 5232 Longridge Avenue.  Quite a popular neighborhood for filming, I’d say!  Smile

  • The “People Like Us” Apartment Building

    People Like Us apartment building (2 of 15)

    This past weekend, I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to Westfield Topanga mall in Canoga Park (one of my very favorite shopping centers) to do some major Christmas shopping. And “since we were in the area” (cough, cough), I asked if we could make a little stalking stop beforehand at the apartment building where Frankie Davis (Elizabeth Banks) and her son, Josh Davis (Michael Hall D’Addario), lived in the 2012 flick People Like Us. I had learned about the location thanks to a June 26th, 2012 Los Angeles Times article that chronicled the various L.A. locales that appeared in the flick and in which author Richard Verrier stated, “Filming took place throughout the San Fernando Valley, where Sam’s [Chris Pine’s] sister Frankie, a struggling bartender, lives with her son in an apartment complex, which was actually the Saticoy Court Apartments in Canoga Park.” Never before had I seen a film location spelled out like that in a newspaper article, so I would be remiss if I did not give major props to Richard here! A man after my own heart, I swear!

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    The location was also (sort of) spelled out in People Like Us, in the scene in which Sam is shown reading a letter from his recently-deceased father which states, “Please get this to Josh Davis. Regal Arms Apartments. 731 Saticoy Street.” From there, tracking down the building – which, in actuality, is located at 21731 Saticoy Street – was a snap.

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    As luck would have it, while we were stalking the Saticoy Court Apartments (which are, sadly, gated), one of the residents, who could NOT have been nicer, came outside and started talking to us. He answered all sorts of questions I had about the filming (although he did not live on the premises at the time and, shockingly, has still yet to watch People Like Us!) and, when he saw how excited I was about seeing the building in person, invited us inside for a closer look! (Yes, I was pinching myself. The GC, not so much. Winking smile)

    People Like Us apartment building (9 of 15)

    People Like Us apartment building (3 of 15)

    As luck would further have it, while I was snapping photographs, the owner of the actual apartment used in the movie (unit #58), who also could NOT have been nicer, happened to step outside and spent quite a few minutes talking with us. She informed us that filming did indeed take place inside of her actual apartment and that she and her husband were moved into one of Saticoy Court’s vacant units for a few weeks during the shoot. She also told us that filmmakers chose her particular unit over the many others in the building because they liked its location in relation to the exterior stairwell and that the interior of her apartment was painted and upgraded a bit for the production. And while I was hoping that she might invite us inside for a little look-see, sadly that was not to be.

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    The Saticoy Court Apartments, which was named the “Regal Arms” in People Like Us, showed up repeatedly throughout the flick. Quite a few areas of the building were used in the movie, including the front exterior;

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    People Like Us apartment building (15 of 15)

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    People Like Us apartment building (1 of 15)

    the main entrance doors;

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    the mailboxes;

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    the exterior stairwell;

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    the central courtyard and pool;

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    the side of the building (please excuse my photograph, which was taken from the wrong angle);

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    Apartment 25, where Ted (Mark Duplass) lived;

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    and, of course, Apartment 58.

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    How cool is it that they used the unit’s actual number for the filming, by the way? Love it!

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    Even though I was not a huge fan of People Like Us, I cannot tell you how much fun I had stalking Saticoy Court and how amazeballs it was to be invited inside! AND the GC and I got all of our Christmas shopping done shortly thereafter, so it was definitely a banner day.

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    On a very sad People Like Us side-note – This past Monday morning, a fellow stalker named Diane published a comment on my Henry’s Tacos post informing me that the historic eatery is set to close its doors in just a few weeks. According to the AngelCityArt blog, while the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission voted 5-0 last year to designate Henry’s a historic-cultural monument, for whatever reason, Councilman Paul Kerkorian never submitted the proposal to the City Council and the designation was not pursued. Mehran Ebrahimpour, the owner of the Henry’s Tacos building, vehemently opposed the cultural status nomination and subsequently raised the rent on the site considerably last December. Due to the spike in rent, Henry’s current owner, Janis Hood, whose grandfather, Henry Comstock, founded the eatery on December 13th, 1961 (exactly fifty-one years ago tomorrow), will close up shop at the end of the month. Such a shame! You can visit the official Henry’s Tacos Facebook page here and you can watch an ABC 7 news special on the closure by clicking below.

    You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

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    Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

    Stalk It: The Saticoy Court Apartments, aka the Regal Arms Apartments where Frankie lived in People Like Us, are located at 21731 Saticoy Street in Canoga Park.

  • The House from Rihanna’s “Take a Bow” Video

    Take a Bow house (1 of 15)

    Way back in April 2010, fellow stalker Virginie (who lives in Belgium!) contacted me to let me know that she had tracked down the Venice-area home featured in Rihanna’s 2008 “Take a Bow” music video.  And while I had never seen said video, nor am I a particularly big fan of Rihanna, I did absolutely love the Glee version of the song, so after receiving Virginie’s email, I decided to take a gander.  And, let me tell you, I fell head over heels in love with the gorgeous “Take a Bow” house on sight.  To be honest, I was practically foaming at the mouth!   So I immediately added the place to the very top of my To-Stalk list, but because I do not often find myself in the Venice area, the residence, sadly, remained un-stalked until two weeks ago.  I am very happy to report, though, that it was well worth the wait because the dwelling is nothing short of spectacular in person!

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    The 7,456-square-foot property, which houses both a private loft-style residence and a 40-foot by 40-foot art gallery, was originally built in 2007 by du Architects for Steve Shaw, a prominent Los Angeles fashion photographer who drew up the floor plans himself.  The structure, which was constructed out of wood, concrete, glass, and steel, boasts five bedrooms (the master bedroom suite features an eight-foot movie screen!), five baths, a rooftop infinity pool (with a special sensor that drains excess water whenever it rains!), an atrium, a terrace, and a sunken living room with a built-in custom sofa, gas fire pit and 11-foot movie screen (yes, the place has not one, but TWO movie screens!).  Not bad for a house that sits on a miniscule 0.09-acre plot of land.

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    Take a Bow house (7 of 15)

    In 2009, Shaw sold the abode (how anyone could ever bear to part with this house is beyond me!) for a cool $5.6 million to none other than Robert Downey Jr. and his wife, Susan, who are now using the property as their production offices.  You can check out some interior photographs of the spectacular pad here, here, here, and here.  Warning – have a drool cloth ready!  Winking smile

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    The interior of the house was used extensively in “Take a Bow”.  (See what I mean?  Definitely drool-worthy!  Sigh.)

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    The front entrance also made a brief appearance.

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    As did the three-car garage area.

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    The video’s driving sequence was shot just one block south of the home, in front of the residence located at 1309 Cabrillo Avenue . . .

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    . . . which was apparently for rent at the time of the filming.

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    You can watch Rihanna’s “Take a Bow” video by clicking below.

    While doing research on the property, I was absolutely FLOORED to discover that the interior had been used as the supposed San Francisco-area residence where Brad (Vince Vaughn) and Kate (Reese Witherspoon) lived in the 2008 flick Four Christmases.  I am ashamed to admit that I had been trying to track down this particular locale for years, but because the place was so much brighter in Four Christmases than it appeared to be in “Take a Bow”, I failed to recognize it!  D’oh!  (I am still on the hunt for the exterior of Brad and Kate’s house, which is apparently located somewhere in San Francisco’s Twin Peaks.)

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    You can see the home’s movie screen (complete with curtain!) in the background behind Vince Vaughn below.  So incredibly cool!

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    The red-tiled bathroom that appeared in the flick, which you can see a real life photograph of here, is absolutely amazeballs!

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    The video for Usher’s 2008 song “Trading Places” was also filmed at the abode.

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    You can watch that (NSFW!) video by clicking below.

    Thanks to fellow stalker Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, I learned that the dwelling was also used as the office of celebrity psychiatrist Dr. Henry Carter (Kevin Spacey) in the 2009 flick Shrink.  Both the exterior . . .

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    . . . and the interior of the property were used extensively throughout the flick.

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    And, when he owned the place, Steve Shaw conducted a photo shoot on the premises with actress Evan Rachel Wood (which you can check out some pictures from here).

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    Speaking of music videos, have y’all seen the John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John jewel “I Think You Might Like It”?  The thing actually rendered me speechless!  All I can say is “LOL!”

    You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER.  And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

    Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Virginie for finding this location!  Smile

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    Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

    Stalk It: The house from Rihanna’s “Take a Bow” music video is located at 1311 Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice.  The garage area that appeared in the video can be viewed from the opposite side of the residence on the 1300 block of Electric Avenue.  And the driving scene was filmed just around the corner, in front of the home located at 1309 Cabrillo Avenue.

  • Shopping, Shopping and More Shopping!

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    I spent pretty much all day Friday Christmas shopping (I FINALLY figured out what to get Miss Pinky Lovejoy, of the Thinking Pink blog, thank God!  And yes, it’s pink!), so I unfortunately did not have time to write a post for today.  I will be back tomorrow, though, with a whole new location.

    Until  next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

  • Justine’s House from “The Good Girl”

    Justine's House The Good Girl (2 of 7)

    Today’s post is going to be a rather short one as I spent most of the day yesterday with my girl Miss Pinky Lovejoy, of the Thinking Pink blog, attending the annual craft fair at her work – which was loads of fun, but, unfortunately, did not leave much time for blogging.  So please pardon my brevity.  Anyway, last Tuesday morning, when I texted Mike, from MovieShotsLA, to let him know that I was heading back out to Santa Clarita to stalk Bill Cozbi’s Auto Body Shop from Bridesmaids, he suggested that I also make a stalking stop at the house where Justine Last (Jennifer Aniston) and her pothead husband, Phil Last (John C. Reilly), lived in The Good Girl.  And even though I was not a huge of the ultra-depressing 2002 film, because Justine and Phil’s residence was only a short two miles away from the auto body shop, I figured why not.  Then, when I found out there was a Starbucks in between the two locations, that pretty much sealed the deal.  Winking smile

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    Mike, who does not live too far from Santa Clarita, first learned about this location way back in 2001 when The Good Girl was being filmed.  I never had occasion to stalk the place, though, as I do not get out to Canyon Country very often and, for some reason, whenever I did happen to be in the area, I completely forgot to drive by.

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    Justine and Phil’s house was one of the main locations used in The Good Girl and the pad showed up repeatedly throughout the movie.  As you can see below, though, the residence looks quite a bit different in person than it did onscreen. The front door that appeared in the film has since been swapped out with a new, glass-paned one, a stone façade has been added to the home’s exterior, the garage door has been replaced, and the wood paneling removed from the side of the garage.  Boo!  Thankfully though, the abode is still, for the most part, recognizable as The Good Girl house.

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    Justine's House The Good Girl (4 of 7)

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    Justine's House The Good Girl (5 of 7)

    Of the locale, The Good Girl production notes state, “Although the design concept was naturalistic, finding locations in sunny California to pass for small town Texas was difficult, specifically the search for Justine and Phil’s house, which is painstakingly defined in the script.  ‘Our principal character lived physically and emotionally in the very last house on the street, out from which stretched miles of dry, barren nothingness,’ clarifies [production designer Daniel] Bradford.  ‘And of course, everywhere, everywhere, everywhere there are palm trees which are not appropriate for West Texas.’”  I really have to give kudos to The Good Girl location managers for finding the property because when I pulled up and saw the large telephone poles, flat streets and general ruralness of the area, my first thought was, ‘This neighborhood does not look AT ALL like an L.A. neighborhood.’

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    Justine's House The Good Girl (7 of 7)

    In real life, Justine’s house, which was originally built in 1961, boasts three bedrooms, two baths, 1,125 square feet of living space, and a 0.16-acre plot of land.

    Justine's House The Good Girl (6 of 7)

    And while I would have bet money on the real life interior of the home being used in The Good Girl, that does not appear to have been the case.  As you can see in the photographs below, which I got off of an old real estate listing for the property, while the living room very closely resembles what appeared onscreen . . .

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    . . . the kitchen area does not.  And while the real estate listing does mention that the kitchen was “recently remodeled”, it differs far too much from the Last kitchen for me to believe it was used in the flick.

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    You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER.  And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

    Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for finding this location!  Smile

    Justine's House The Good Girl (1 of 7)

    Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

    Stalk It: Justine’s house from The Good Girl is located at 25103 Fourl Road in Santa Clarita.  Ricardo’s Auto Upholstery, aka Bill Cozbi’s Auto Body Shop from Bridesmaids, is located nearby at 24347 Main StreetJudy’s home from Bridesmaids is located right around the corner from Ricardo’s at 23418 8th Street.  And Officer Rhodes’ residence is located directly across the street from Judy’s at 23425 8th Street.  Note – the Bridesmaids houses cannot be reached via Calgrove Boulevard, as that street is blocked just east of Creekside Drive.  To gain access to the sites, you can take either Apple or Valley Street south off of Lyons Avenue to 8th Street.

  • Bill Cozbi’s Auto Body Shop from “Bridesmaids”

    Bill Cozbi's Auto Body Shop Bridesmaids (1 of 6)

    As I mentioned in my post about the apartment building where Lillian (Maya Rudolph) lived in Bridesmaids, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I finally managed to track down all of the L.A.-area locations from the 2011 flick last week.  Or so I thought.  While scanning through the movie on Monday afternoon, making screen captures for my post about Officer Rhodes’ (Chris O’Dowd’s) house, I came across the scene that took place at Bill Cozbi’s (Richard Riehle’s) Auto Body Shop and realized that Mike and I had both somehow completely forgotten about the locale and failed to do any sort of search for it.  I immediately shot him an email asking for some help in tracking the place down and five minutes later I received a text that said, “Oh no!  You were just there!”  As it turns out, the auto body shop that stood in for Bill Cozbi’s in the flick is located in Santa Clarita, right around the corner from Officer Rhodes’ and Judy’s (Jill Clayburgh’s) houses.  UGH!  So – after smacking myself in the forehead for being such a ditz – I drove all the way back out to the SC yesterday to stalk the place.

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    Fortunately, finding this location was a snap.  When Mike first received my email, he had to the foresight to do a Google search for Bill Cozbi’s Auto Body Shop.  Because that name was obviously a fake, it did not even occur to me to search for it – I had instead been Googling Bridesmaids and auto body shop.  Thankfully though, Mike’s query led him to a page on the Ricardo’s Auto Upholstery website which identified the shop as a Bridesmaids filming location and also featured the photograph below.  Whoo hoo – I so LOVE it when location owners embrace their property’s filming history!

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      Bill Cozbi’s Auto Body Shop is first mentioned by Officer Rhodes towards the beginning of Bridesmaids, in the scene in which he pulls Annie (Kristen Wiig) over for having broken taillights.  Rhodes tells Annie that she should go see his friend who has a body shop, “Bill Cozbi, with a z – different guy.  And don’t mention the whole Bill Cosby thing to him.  It drives him nuts.  I mean it!”  LOL  Annie ends up going to the shop at the very end of the movie, after finally deciding to start getting her life back on track.  Thankfully, as you can see below, Ricardo’s Auto Upholstery looks pretty much exactly the same in person as it did onscreen – aside from the name (and, therefore signage) change, of course.

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    Bill Cozbi's Auto Body Shop Bridesmaids (6 of 6)

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    Bill Cozbi's Auto Body Shop Bridesmaids (4 of 6)

    I so love that a variation of one of the shop’s real life signs was used in the movie, though.

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    Bill Cozbi's Auto Body Shop Bridesmaids (2 of 6)

    While I was stalking the shop, I happened to meet the super-nice owner, who is aptly named Ricardo.  He was in absolute SHOCK that I had driven all the way from Pasadena just to see the location.  Ricardo spent quite a few minutes filling me in on the filming of Bridesmaids, showing me photographs from the shoot, and he was even nice enough to take the picture of me that appears at the top of this post.  He also informed me that producers had taken down a chain link fence that had originally surrounded his property during the shoot and that, after filming wrapped, he decided to replace the old fence with a nicer, more permanent metal one, as you can see below.  Personally, I like the look of the place sans fence, but that’s probably because that is how it appeared in Bridesmaids.

    Bill Cozbi's Auto Body Shop Bridesmaids (5 of 6)

    Mike has most of the remaining Bridesmaids filming locations posted on his site.  You can check out Annie’s Cake Baby shop here, the Brazilian restaurant here, the house where Annie went on a blind date here, and Joni’s Restaurant here.

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    You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER.  And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

    Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for finding this location!  Smile

    Bill Cozbi's Auto Body Shop Bridesmaids (3 of 6)

    Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

    Stalk It: Ricardo’s Auto Upholstery, aka Bill Cozbi’s Auto Body Shop from Bridesmaids, is located at 24347 Main Street in Santa Clarita.  You can visit the shop’s official website hereJudy’s home from the movie is located right around the corner at 23418 8th Street.  And Officer Rhodes’ residence is located directly across the street from Judy’s at 23425 8th Street.  Note – the Bridesmaids houses cannot be reached via Calgrove Boulevard, as that street is blocked just east of Creekside Drive.  To gain access to the sites, you can take either Apple or Valley Street south off of Lyons Avenue to 8th Street.

  • Judy’s House from “Bridesmaids”

    Bridesmaids Houses (20 of 20)

    The one location from Bridesmaids that I was most determined to track down – the one that I would not stop bugging poor Mike, from MovieShotsLA, about – was the yellow ranch-style dwelling where Annie’s (Kristen Wigg’s) mom, Judy (Jill Clayburgh, who was ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE in the role, which was, sadly, her last), lived in the 2011 flick.  Thankfully, once Mike managed to find Officer Rhodes’ (Chris O’Dowd’s) house, which I blogged about yesterday, tracking down Judy’s was a snap because, in an odd twist, the two properties are located right across the street from one another.  While I had told Mike when we first began the search that I had a hunch that the residences would most likely be found in the same vicinity, perhaps even the same town, never in a million years did I think that they would be directly across the street from each other!

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    Mike had an inkling that they would be, though.  While scanning through Bridesmaids, he noticed that the fake address numbers that producers had given the properties for the filming – 8409 and 8410 – were sequential, which would, in fact, put the two structures across the street from one another.  He figured that the residence’s actual addresses had most likely just been shortened – from 28409 to 8409 and from 28410 to 8410, perhaps – for the shoot.  So, when he ended up finding the locations, we were both absolutely flabbergasted to learn that the real life numbers – 23418 and 23425 – are not actually in any sort of sequence.  Why on earth producers would give two homes that are not supposed to be located anywhere near each other random, but sequential address numbers is absolutely beyond me!

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    Judy’s house shows up numerous times throughout Bridesmaids, especially towards the end of the movie when Annie moves in with her mother.

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    Bridesmaids Houses (5 of 20)

    As you can see below, the abode looked quite a bit different onscreen than it does in real life.  While I figured that the pad had most likely been remodeled in recent months, a super-nice neighbor informed us that the enclosed front porch area that appeared in Bridesmaids was actually a fake that had been built specifically for the filming.  I actually think the front porch makes the house much more appealing, which is most likely why it was added.

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    Bridesmaids Houses (1 of 20)

    You can see the home’s real life front door behind Judy, inside of the fake enclosed front porch, in the screen capture below.

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    Bridesmaids Houses (2 of 20)

    The exterior of the home is actually quite deceiving as it looks to be fairly moderate in size.  In reality, though, the property, which was originally built in 1948, boasts two bedrooms, one bath, a scant 882 square feet of living space, and a 0.21-acre plot of land.  It’s teensy!

    Bridesmaids Houses (6 of 20)

    Bridesmaids Houses (8 of 20)

    And while I originally thought that the residence’s actual interior was used in the filming, that does not seem to be the case.  You can check out some photographs of the home’s real life interior here.  As you can see, it looks nothing at all like Judy’s wood-paneled, 70s-style abode.

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    You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER.  And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

    Big THANK YOU to the world famous Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for finding this location!  Smile

    Bridesmaids Houses (7 of 20)

    Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

    Stalk It: Judy’s house from Bridesmaids is located at 23418 8th Street in Santa ClaritaOfficer Rhodes’ house is located directly across the street at 23425 8th Street.  Note – these properties cannot be reached via Calgrove Boulevard, as that street is blocked just east of Creekside Drive.  To gain access to the sites, you can take either Apple or Valley Street south off of Lyons Avenue to 8th Street.