Sorry to do this again, but I have to take another day off. I have been burning the candle at both ends this week and, unfortunately, have not had much time for blogging. I do promise to be back tomorrow, though (and this time I really mean it! 
) with a whole new location! 
Until next time, Happy Stalking!
I spent all morning yesterday taking care of some business on the West Side and then the afternoon stalking the premiere of The Possession with Miss Pinky Lovejoy, of the Thinking Pink blog, so I, unfortunately, did not have time to write a new post for today. But I will be back tomorrow with a whole new location! 
Until next time, Happy Stalking!
Way back in mid-April, I stumbled upon some recently-published photographs of my girl Kristin Cavallari grabbing a smoothie at the Earthbar health market/juice bar on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood. After spending a few minutes oogling her ensemble, which was comprised of an amazing tangerine dress and Kate Middleton-esque nude heels, I came to the conclusion that The Hills star was quite easily the cutest, most stylish pregnant woman I had ever laid eyes on. I, of course, promptly added Earthbar to my To-Stalk list – and then ran right out to buy myself a similar pair of nude heels, much to the Grim Cheaper’s chagrin. 
And while the GC and I ended up stalking Earthbar later that same week – and even had a celebrity sighting while there! – for whatever reason it has taken me this long to blog about the place. So without further ado . . .
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The Earthbar in West Hollywood, which is the company’s flagship store and premiere location, was originally opened in 2007 and was the brainchild of Bernie Bubman, the registered pharmacist who also founded the highly-popular Great Earth vitamin store chain in the 1970s, and his son, Noah. Earthbar became an immediate success and the father-son team have since opened nine sister locations in and around the L.A. area. (And I apologize for the horrible exterior photograph below. The sun was in the worst possible spot for picture-taking when we showed up to stalk the place. Boo!)
According to its website, Earthbar’s mission is “to provide people with hand-crafted nutrient-rich drinks along with state-of-the-art supplements for optimum whole body health and wellness.” And I have to say that the place definitely delivers! When I ordered an iced green tea, the cashier asked me what kind of iced green tea I wanted as there were several different varieties to choose from, each infused with its own special mixture of vitamins and minerals. Um, LOVE IT! The green tea that I ended up ordering was absolutely fabulous, as was the GC’s. So it is no surprise that Earthbar has long been a draw for health-conscious celebs. Just a few of the stars who have been spotted at the WeHo location include Russell Brand, Penn Badgley, Mila Kunis, Jaime King, Kelly Osbourne, Justin Long, Selma Blair, and Dexter’s Desmond Harrington. And while doing research for this post, I came across some photographs taken of KCav there back in November 2009, so apparently she has been an Earthbar patron for quite some time. (I wish I looked that good in leggings and tennis shoes, by the way!)
While we were in line waiting to order our drink, I happened to spot actor Ben Savage standing just a few people ahead of us. And while the GC was absolutely adamant that I was mistaken and that the man I was pointing to was most-definitely not Ben Savage, as it turns out my “spot” was spot-on. After I finished ordering, I approached Ben to ask for a picture and I am happy to report that he could NOT have been sweeter. He spent quite a while talking to us and, of course, asked where we were visiting from. Due to my massive incapability to be anything other than completely star-struck, celebrities invariably think I am from Iowa or Ohio and are always shocked to learn that I live in L.A. If I had a nickel for every time a star asked where I was from, let me tell you, I would be one very rich stalker! When Ben inquired as to how I had wound up at the West Hollywood Earthbar when I live in Pasadena, I (embarrassedly) explained about my Kristin Cavallari fandom and was shocked when he told me that he and KCav are good friends! He then said, “I can tell you exactly what she orders when she comes here so that you can order it, too, if you want. Oh, wait, that would be a little weird, huh?” LOL Such a genuinely nice guy! It was also incredibly cool to be able to tell him that, to this day, I cannot drive by Topanga Canyon Boulevard without thinking of him and Boy Meets World. 
You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.
Until next time, Happy Stalking!
Stalk It: Earthbar is located at 8365 Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood. You can visit the store’s official website here.
The Grim Cheaper and I took off for the desert again this past weekend, so I, unfortunately, was not able to write a new post for today. But I do promise to be back tomorrow with a whole new location. 
Until next time, Happy Stalking!
A couple of weeks ago, while watching the Season 7 episode of The Closer titled “Last Rites”, I received a text from my mom, who was also watching the show at the time. She was curious to know if I was aware of what church the episode had been filmed at. And, as fate would have it, I did! The “Last Rites” church was none other than St. Vincent de Paul Church in the West Adams District of Los Angeles. And while the locale has appeared in countless productions over the years, for whatever reason, I had yet to blog about it, or even stalk it for that matter. So I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on over there to finally do just that this past weekend.
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St. Vincent de Paul Church first came to be thanks to a 1922 donation to the Catholic Church from oil tycoon Edward Doheny, who, at the time, lived directly behind where St. Vincent now stands. The structure, which seats 1,200, was designed by Albert C. Martin, the very same architect who also gave us the Million Dollar Theatre and Los Angeles City Hall, both in Downtown Los Angeles, and St. Monica’s Catholic Church in Santa Monica (which I blogged about here). St. Vincent’s elaborate Churrigueresque-style exterior was inspired by the California Building from the 1915 Panama-California Exposition and Santa Prisca Temple in Mexico.
Construction on the massive structure began in 1923, was completed in 1925, and St. Vincent de Paul Church was officially dedicated on Easter Sunday, April 12th, of that same year.
As you can see, the church is absolutely stunning and its detailing is nothing short of awe-inspiring!
The property’s 44-foot tall concrete dome is a site to see, in and of itself.
If you thought the exterior of St. Vincent de Paul was special, though, the interior will absolutely knock your socks off! It literally almost took my breath away! The inside of the church was designed by architect Ralph Adams Cram and the ceiling decoration was by artist John B. Smeraldi, who also created the ceilings of the Biltmore Hotel (hence the name of the hotel’s main restaurant, Smeraldi’s).
The main church lights were off when we showed up to stalk the place, so it was extremely hard to take decent photographs, but, as you can see, it is pretty darn spectacular.
The detailing of St. Vincent’s interior is just as impressive as the exterior. I honestly cannot recommend stalking the church, which was designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1971, enough!
In the “Last Rites” episode of The Closer, Brenda Leigh Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick) and her Major Crimes team investigate the murder of a priest who was found dead outside of St. Vincent de Paul. Both the exterior . . .
. . . and the interior of the church were featured in the episode.
The Closer is hardly the first production to film on the premises, though. In 1992, St. Vincent de Paul Church appeared in both of the videos for the Warrant song “The Bitter Pill” – the acoustic version featuring Jani Lane;
which you can watch by clicking below;
and the album version featuring the entire band (I apologize for the craptastic screen captures, which I got off of YouTube);
which you can also watch by clicking below.
In the Season 5 episode of the original Melrose Place titled “Great Sexpectations”, which aired in 1997, St. Vincent de Paul Church was where Dr. Michael Mancini (Thomas Calabro) took Dr. Kimberly Shaw (Marcia Cross) to pray about her illness, but the two end up accidentally walking into the tail end of a funeral.
In the Season 1 episode of Charmed titled “When Bad Warlocks Turn Good”, which aired in 1999, St. Vincent de Paul was the church where Brendan Rowe (NCIS’ resident cutie, Michael Weatherly) was attacked by a warlock.
St. Vincent’s most well-known onscreen appearance was at the very end of the 1999 thriller End of Days, as the spot where Jericho Cane (Arnold Schwarzenegger) took on Satan (Gabriel Byrne). According to the Seeing Stars website, while some actual filming did take place on the premises, the destruction scenes were all shot on a large-scale miniature of the interior that was created especially for the movie.
As you can see below, a different church was used for the exterior, though.
In 2000’s Bedazzled, the church was where Elliot Richards (Brendan Fraser), in a very funny scene, complained to a priest (played by Brian Doyle-Murray) that he had sold his soul to The Devil (Elizabeth Hurley) for seven wishes, but that she was trying to trick him out of one of them.
The Charmed crew returned to St. Vincent in 2001 to shoot the Season 4 episode titled “Charmed Again” for the scene in which Paige Matthews (Rose McGowan) discovers she is able to move objects with the swipe of a hand.
In 2002’s The Salton Sea, St. Vincent was where Al Garcetti (Anthony LaPaglia) and Gus Morgan (Doug Hutchison) told Danny Parker (Val Kilmer) that he had to leave town and go into hiding.
In the Season 2 episode of Alias titled “Firebomb”, which aired in 2003, St. Vincent de Paul stood in for the supposed Mexico City-area Vatican Embassy where Alia Gizabi (Lina Patel) worked and where Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) escaped a weapon that was able to make humans spontaneously combust.
St. Vincent was used as two different locations in the 2005 movie Constantine. The interior first popped up as the church where Angela Dodson (Rachel Weisz) went to confession.
And the exterior was used as the exterior of the church where John Constantine (Keanu Reeves) talked to Gabriel (Tilda Swinton).
Although the interior of Gabriel’s church, as you can see below, was a different location entirely.
The Alias crew returned to St. Vincent de Paul Church in 2006 to film Nadia Santos’ (Mia Maestro) funeral in the Season 5 episode titled “I See Dead People”.
In 2007’s This Christmas, the exterior of St. Vincent was where the Whitfield family attended Christmas mass.
As you can see below, though, for the interior scenes, a different church was used.
In the Season 5 episode of Entourage titled “Gotta Look Up to Get Down”, which aired in 2008, St. Vincent de Paul was where the funeral of Alan Gray (Paul Ben-Victor) was held, during which Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven) was offered Alan’s studio head job.
In the Season 1 episode of Dollhouse titled “Needs”, which aired in 2009, St. Vincent de Paul Church appeared as the site where November (Miracle Laurie) found Katie’s gravesite.
A fake cemetery was set up on the church grounds for the filming of that episode.
St. Vincent was also apparently used in Tom Clancy’s 1999 made-for-television movie NetForce, but I, unfortunately, could not find a copy of the flick with which to verify that information. And while it also supposedly appeared in the 2001 made-for-TV movie James Dean, I scanned through that production yesterday and did not see the church pop up anywhere.
You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.
Until next time, Happy Stalking! 
Stalk It: St. Vincent de Paul Church, from the “Last Rites” episode of The Closer, is located at 621 West Adams Boulevard in the West Adams District of Los Angeles. The Stimson House, from House II: The Second Story (which I blogged about here), is located next door at 2421 South Figueroa Street.
One location that I had been dying to stalk for close to a decade was Edie’s Diner, the 50s-style restaurant in Marina Del Rey that stood in for Phil’s Famous Red Car Diner where Slim Hiller (Jennifer Lopez) worked – and met her reprobate husband, Mitch Hiller (Billy Campbell) – in the 2002 thriller Enough. So imagine my dismay when Mike, from MovieShotsLA, informed me, way back when, that the place had closed its doors in 2007 and was subsequently remodeled, re-opened under a different name, and then closed once again. Such a shame! And while I had long ago crossed the address off my To-Stalk List, when Mike and I were out and about in the South Bay area a couple of months ago, we happened to drive by the property and discovered that it had since been re-opened yet again, this time under the name Killer Café (which I found fitting being that Dexter had also once filmed on the premises 
). So we, of course, stopped in to take a quick peek and I am very happy to report that the restaurant does not look as different from its Enough days as I would have guessed.
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Surprisingly, despite the fact that Edie’s Diner – along with its neighboring event space, Harbor House – was a long-time staple in the Marina Del Rey area, I could not find any information whatsoever online about its history or the year that it opened. I know that the place was around for at least a decade, though, during which time it became quite popular with South Bay locals and tourists alike. Then, sometime in early 2005, real-estate developer Edward Czuker purchased Edie’s and Harbor House, as well as the surrounding land, and set about securing permits to demolish both in order to make way for a large mixed-used commercial development project named The Waterfront. And while Czuker allowed the two spaces, which were owned by the same company, to remain in operation – sans paying rent! – while details of The Waterfront were being ironed out, for whatever reason both closed without notice on September 5th, 2007. A public auction was held a few weeks later and all of Edie’s interior décor, kitchen appliances and 1950s memorabilia were sold to the highest bidder. Boo!
In 2008, with The Waterfront development stalled, a new eatery and concert venue named The Organic Panificio Café (try saying that five times fast!) opened at the Edie’s Diner/Harbor House site. That establishment was closed in October 2010, though, due to continued complaints from neighboring residents over the loud music that was played nightly. After sitting vacant for over a year, Killer Café took over the property and opened its doors in May 2012. And while Mike and I did not eat there, one of the servers (who had no idea whatsoever than any filming had taken place on the premises!) was nice enough to let us take all of the pictures of the place that we wanted.
Edie’s Diner appeared at the very beginning of Enough and was used quite extensively in a few scenes. Thankfully, the exterior is still very recognizable from its onscreen appearance. You can check out a cool photograph of the exterior taken during the filming here.
Amazingly enough, while slightly different, the interior of the Killer Cafe is still set up in the same basic way that it was back during the Edie’s days! The line of booths running down the center of the restaurant is now gone, but the counter area and perimeter booths are still in the exact same spots that they were in the movie. Yay!
And while the actual booths where Robbie (Noah Wyle) and Mitch sat when they both first met Slim (which are the second and third booths from the front door) were sold during the Edie’s auction, at least there are still booths in that same area today.
Edie’s Diner also appeared in the Season 2 episode of Dexter titled “An Inconvenient Lie”, as the spot where Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) grabbed coffee with Lila Tournay (Jaime Murray) after an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. And I would like to mention here that my favorite line from the series EVER was uttered about the character of Lila, whom I absolutely HATED. In the Season 2 finale, which was titled “The British Invasion”, after Lila burns down her apartment and subsequently goes missing, Debra Morgan (Jennifer Carpenter) turns to some police officers on duty and says, “Put out an A.P.B. on Lila West, a.k.a: Lila Tourney. Suspected arsonist. 5’7″, black hair, pale like a f*cking corpse.” LOL LOL LOL Gotta love Debra!
Edie’s neighboring – and more upscale – special events venue, the now-defunct Harbor House, was used in the 2003 thriller Matchstick Men, as the spot where Roy Waller (Nicolas Cage) and Frank Mercer (Sam Rockwell) met up with their mark, Chuck Frechette (Rizzoli & Isles’ Bruce McGill).
You can see the since-remodeled Jamaica Bay Inn, which is located across the street from the Harbor House space, in the background of the screen capture pictured below.
You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.
Until next time, Happy Stalking!
Stalk It: Killer Café, aka the former Edie’s Diner from Enough and Dexter, is located at 4211 Admiralty Way in Marina Del Rey. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here. The Former Harbor House events venue, from Matchstick Men, is located on the other side of Edie’s, as denoted by the blue arrow above, but shares the address of 4211 Admiralty Way. The parking lot where Dylan McKay’s father was killed in the “Dead End” episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 is located just around the corner from the Killer Café – it is Public Parking Lot # 9 located at 14110 Palawan Way. And the Ritz-Carlton, Marina Del Rey from the “No Good Deed” episode of the new 90210 is located just a few blocks east of the Killer Café at 4375 Admiralty Way.
Yesterday was my second wedding anniversary and, because I had a million and one errands to run, I ended up taking the day off, so I, unfortunately, do not have a new post for today. But I promise to be back tomorrow with a new location! 
Until next time, Happy Stalking!
One location that I had long been desperate to stalk was the real life Los Angeles Police Administration Building – or the Los Angeles Police Department Headquarters, as it is also known – in downtown Los Angeles, which played itself each week on fave show The Closer. So in honor of the series’ recently-aired final episode, the Grim Cheaper and I ventured down there this past Saturday morning. And I just have to say here that I, sadly, was not very impressed with The Closer’s finale, which was titled “The Last Word”. I thought Deputy Police Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick) deserved a much more meaningful – and heck, happier! – send-off, for heaven’s sake! 
But I digress.
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The Los Angeles Police Administration Building was constructed over three years – from 2007 to 2009 – on the site of the former Caltrans building and was made possible thanks to funding from Proposition Q (the $600-million Public Safety Bond Program) after the former LAPD headquarters, which was known as Parker Center, was deemed too aged and unsafe for continued use in the mid-1990s. The structure officially opened on October 24th, 2009 and, in an embarrassing twist, the American flag was hung incorrectly at the founding ceremony, with the stars facing right, instead of left. LOL
The stunning ultra-modern building, which was designed jointly by AECOM and Roth Sheppard Architects and cost a whopping $437 million to construct, boasts 10 floors, 500,000 square feet, a one-acre public park, a 400-seat civic auditorium, a rooftop garden, a 200-seat café, a fitness center, and an underground parking garage. The structure also features a Memorial Monument and Reflection Garden honoring those LAPD officers killed in the line of duty, both of which we somehow missed. We did spend quite a bit of time admiring the display pictured below, though, which features the badges of 202 fallen LAPD officers dating all the way back to 1907.
The Los Angeles Police Department Headquarters’ front courtyard area is extremely beautiful and boasts a large infinity fountain;
a garden comprised of drought-resistant plants;
and spectacular reflections of Los Angeles City Hall, which is located across the street. Best of all – it is completely accessible to the public!
I honestly cannot more highly recommend stalking the spectacular structure, which, not surprisingly, won the Los Angeles Architecture Awards Grand Prize in 2010.
The Los Angeles Police Administration Building first showed up in the Season 6 episode of The Closer titled “The Big Bang”, the storyline of which centered around the Priority Homicide Division’s ultra-frustrating move to their new headquarters. [Poor Commander Taylor (Robert Gossett) still doesn’t seem to have an office – even on the new spin-off Major Crimes!]
And while the building was typically featured each week in establishing shots, some on-location filming of “The Big Bang” took place there as well, as you can see below.
You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.
Until next time, Happy Stalking! 
Stalk It: The Los Angeles Police Administration Building, aka the Los Angeles Police Department Headquarters, from The Closer, is located at 100 West 1st Street in downtown Los Angeles.
As I mentioned in last Thursday’s post about North Hollywood Park – aka the location of the iconic Boombox scene from Say Anything . . . – Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I recently went on a mission to track down some missing locales from the classic 1989 flick. And I am very happy to report that our hunt was successful! One location that Mike found was the house where Mike Cameron (Jason Gould) lived in the movie. So he took me right on over there to stalk the place way back in early June, shortly after we had stalked both North Hollywood Park and the 7-Eleven from the flick (which I blogged about on Friday).
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In Say Anything . . . , Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack) becomes the unwitting “key-master” – aka the designated driver who holds onto all of the partygoers’ car keys and then judges who is able to drive home and who is not – for a high school graduation party that he has brought his dream girl, Diane Court (Ione Skye), to on their first date. After the party, he winds up having to take a drunk classmate named Mike home. The only trouble is that Mike cannot remember where he lives and the drive to his house winds up taking over three hours. When they do finally drop him off, Mike stands on the curb and says, “You guys are the best! Give me a call or uh – “, but before he can finish the sentence, Lloyd cuts him off by speeding away. LOL
Mike found this location thanks to an address number of 4936 that was visible on the curb in the scene. He figured that the residence was most likely located in the same general vicinity as North Hollywood Park and the 7-Eleven from the flick and started looking in the NoHo area before working his way outward until he found the right spot.
It is absolutely mind-boggling to me (in a good way) that the house looks exactly – and when I say exactly, I mean EXACTLY – the same today as it did back in 1989 when Say Anything . . . was filmed. Even the tree in the front yard appears just as it did onscreen – albeit slightly taller, but not by much. In real life, the residence, which was originally built in 1947, measures 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, and 1,473 square feet, and sits on a 0.17-acre plot of land.
You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.
Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for finding this location! 
Until next time, Happy Stalking!
Stalk It: Mike Cameron’s house from Say Anything . . . is located at 4936 Sunnyslope Avenue in Sherman Oaks.
Located directly across the street from North Hollywood Park – aka the spot where the iconic Boombox scene from Say Anything . . . was filmed, which I blogged about yesterday – is the 7-Eleven that appeared in the 1989 flick. Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I found out about this locale once again thanks to Mike’s fiancé, Ame, who grew up in the North Hollywood area and had heard about the filming when it took place 24 years ago (yikes, has it really been that long?!?!). So, after stopping by the park – where we, of course, re-enacted the Boombox scene – Mike and I headed right across the street to stalk the 7-Eleven.
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At the beginning of Say Anything . . . , Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack) takes Diane Court (Ione Skye) to a supposed Seattle, Washington-area 7-Eleven convenience store to grab a Big Gulp and some coffee on their way home from a high school graduation party in the wee hours of the morning.
Amazingly enough, despite a fairly minor roof alteration, the store looks very much the same today as it did when Say Anything . . . was filmed almost two-and-a-half decades ago.
While we were there, Mike pointed out that even the brick border separating the parking lot from the sidewalk that Lloyd and Diane walked over in the flick is still there to this day – albeit a little worse for the wear. Love it, love it, love it!
In the movie, while leaving the 7-Eleven, Lloyd spots some broken glass on the ground and, almost instinctively, brushes it out of Diane’s way so that she does not walk through it. Now that’s chivalry at its finest!
So I, of course, just had to pretend to step on broken glass while we were there. 
North Hollywood Park – pretty much the exact spot where Lloyd stood during the Boombox scene, in fact – is visible in the background behind Lloyd and Diane as they walk off-screen after leaving the 7-Eleven.
Say Anything . . . is not the 7-Eleven’s only claim to fame. According to the Rob Dyrdek Foundation website, on May 18th, 2010 the convenience store was converted into an urban skate shop for the day in conjunction with the grand opening of the charity’s third Safe Spot Skate Spot – a state-of-the-art skating plaza located inside of North Hollywood Park.
Be sure to “Like” IAMNOTASTALKER on Facebook here and “Friend” me on my personal page here. You can also follow me on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER and you can take a look at my my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.
Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and his fiancé, Ame, for finding this location!
Until next time, Happy Stalking!
Stalk It: The Say Anything . . . 7-Eleven is located at 11340 Magnolia Boulevard in North Hollywood. North Hollywood Park, where the iconic Say Anything . . . Boombox scene was filmed, is located directly across the street at 11455 Magnolia Boulevard.