IAMNOTASTALKER

April 19, 2019April 19, 2019

The Cohen Mansion from “The O.C.”

Fire has ravaged far too many landmarks as of late – Paramount Ranch, Casey’s home from Scream 2, and now, Notre Dame Cathedral! The latter, at least, fared better than the Malibu estate that portrayed the Cohen residence on fave show The O.C., which was completely destroyed by the Woolsey Fire last November. I was alerted to the sad loss by a fellow stalker named Steve and was shocked at the news, especially considering I was fortunate enough to visit the home several years back thanks to a very lucky twist of fate – one that I can still hardly believe occurred. While eating lunch with the Grim Cheaper and my friend Erika (you may remember her from this post) at the Malibu Country Mart in September 2011, I happened to bring up my love for the Fox series. The friendly couple at the adjacent table overheard and broke into our conversation to inform us that they owned the Cohen house! Absolutely flabbergasted, I peppered them with questions and then the unimaginable happened – after chatting for a bit, they asked if we wanted to come over to see the pad in person! I don’t even think I answered in the affirmative before making a Lindsay-shaped hole in the door on my way out to the car. Winking smile The rest of our afternoon was like a dream, which made the recent loss of the property all the more heartbreaking. Though I detailed the experience in a 2015 column for Los Angeles magazine, since the locale is no longer, I figured an update was due.

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The Cohen residence is actually a mash-up of two different dwellings, both situated in a small gated community of four properties off the Pacific Coast Highway. Most recognizable is the large two-story home at 6205 Ocean Breeze Drive which appeared in exterior and establishing shots.

Only the front of the 6-bedroom, 7-bath, 6,376-square-foot manse appeared on the series. [I absolutely love that there was a Range Rover just like Sandy’s (Peter Gallagher) parked in the driveway when we visited!]

A one-story home three doors down at 6210 Ocean Breeze Drive was utilized in The O.C.’s pilot for the interior and backyard scenes. Once the show got picked up, a set modeled after that residence was constructed at Manhattan Beach Studios (now MBS Media Campus). Why the two different locales, you ask? Producers loved the look of the inside and backyard of 6210, but ultimately wanted the Cohen family to reside in a two-level home. So they featured the front of 6205 and the interior and rear of 6210. It is the 6210 house that we were invited to tour. That’s it below.

The inaugural episode made significant use of the opulent pad. For me, the most recognizable spot was the kitchen. (That’s Erika pictured with me below. We are just a little bit thrilled to be standing in the famous Cohen kitchen!)

Stepping into it felt like walking right into my TV screen. I half expected Ryan Atwood (Benjamin McKenzie) to come waltzing out to grab his morning cereal.

Because the set re-creation of the kitchen (which was used in all episodes following the pilot) was such a near replica to that of the actual home, being there was both incredible and surreal. As our new friends pointed out to us, a few portions of the kitchen were changed when the set was built. One of the main alterations was the tilework behind the stove. At the actual residence, there was a large painted piece on the wall behind the range, which was visible in the pilot. (I hate that the past tense is now required when speaking about the house. I still can’t believe it is gone.)

For the set, that painted piece was swapped out with a more simple backsplash.

The color of the island countertop was changed, as well, and the sink situated there moved to the opposite side. The Cohens were also given a stainless steel dishwasher. Other than those elements, though, it was a pretty spot-on re-creation.

The nook off the kitchen, which became the Cohens’ main dining spot in later episodes, also appeared in the pilot. Producers even chose to leave the owners’ real life hutch and decor intact for the shoot!

When the set (top image below) was built, that area was changed fairly significantly – but more on that in a minute.

The family room at the real house was situated off of the kitchen. It was there that Seth Cohen (Adam Brody) played video games with Ryan in the pilot.

For the set, though, the family room was moved adjacent to the kitchen nook, creating one big, long, open space. And the fireplace was also done away with.

Seeing the nook closed off in real life was utterly jarring!

The residence’s formal living room, which was connected to the family room in real life, was also re-created in another spot on set – just off the Cohens’ kitchen.

One of the home’s bedrooms was utilized as Seth’s room in the pilot, as well.

It, too, was then re-created on the studio set.

Even the pad’s main hallway was re-built in exacting detail!

Amazingly (and as most O.C. fans already know), the most famous element of the Cohen home, the pool house, was never an actual part of the property. It was constructed, fully-functional (meaning both the interior and exterior could be used for filming), in the yard of 6210 for the pilot and then was disassembled and subsequently rebuilt as part of the set when the series got picked up. There I am in the photo below standing at the edge of where it was situated in the inaugural episode. “Utterly jarring” is, again, the only way I can describe how odd the backyard looked without it.

The pool and spa of 6210 were also re-created on set . . .

. . . as was the rest of the backyard . . .

. . . including the BBQ island.

The Cohens’ backyard was actually quite a bit smaller than the real one.

And, because the soundstage floor could not be dug into to install the pool on set, it was actually built above ground. Hence the steps leading up to it on the show. In actuality, the home’s backyard was all one level.

Other than those alterations, though, it was such a dutiful re-creation that standing in the backyard of 6210 felt like being in an episode of the show.

I was pinching myself the entire time!

Tragically, all that is left of the house now is the backyard and pool, as you can see in the aerial view below which Steve got from an insurance website that provided real-time imagery of areas ravaged by the Woolsey Fire. (That website is no longer active, so I can’t link to it.)

The home used for front shots of the Cohen pad, fortunately, still stands, as does the property where Marissa Cooper (Mischa Barton) lived on the series, which is located next door at 6201 Ocean Breeze Drive.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Steve for letting me know about this home’s sad fate.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The exterior of the Cohen mansion from The O.C. can be found at 6205 Ocean Breeze Drive in Malibu. The home used for interiors and backyard scenes in the pilot was just down the street at 6210 Ocean Breeze, but was, sadly, destroyed in the Woolsey Fire. Marissa Cooper’s house is on the same block at 6201 Ocean Breeze.

April 15, 2019August 5, 2019

The Complete Guide to the Season 1 Filming Locations of “Big Little Lies”

As longtime readers know, I watch a LOT of TV. Only a handful of shows have ever become full-fledged obsessions, though, Beverly Hills, 90210, The Hills, and Big Littles Lies among them. The second season of the latter will finally be debuting in June and I am beyond excited! I cannot wait to revisit the women of Monterey! Can we just fast-forward to summer already? To stave off my anticipation, I recently did some more digging into locations from the show’s inaugural season and figured I should update my 2017 round-up of spots featured on the series accordingly. So here goes! As was the case with that post, because I have not visited the majority of these sites in person, I am relying on screen captures instead of photos for imagery. And be forewarned – there are spoilers galore ahead! If you haven’t seen Big Little Lies and are planning to, I’d hold off on scrolling any further.

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1. Madeline’s House (30760 Broad Beach Road, Malibu) – Easily my favorite locale of the entire series, the Cape Cod-style pad where Madeline Martha Mackenzie (Reese Witherspoon) and husband Ed (Adam Scott) live can be found in Malibu. The beachfront property, which serves as a vacation rental IRL, is no stranger to the screen boasting countless cameos in such productions as Models Inc., Diagnosis Murder, and Hannah Montana. You can read a more in-depth post on it here.

Interestingly, a different spot was utilized as the front of Madeline’s home in a few episodes. And that pad can actually be found in Monterey. It’s at 2830 14th Avenue in Carmel-By-The-Sea.

2. Renata’s House (27326 Winding Way, Malibu) – Renata (Laura Dern) and Gordon Klein’s (Jeffrey Nordling) massive modern home can also be found in The ‘Bu. And it’s an oft-filmed spot, as well, with roles in everything from 90210 to Brothers & Sisters to Revenge.

3. Jane’s House (161 North Chester Avenue, Pasadena) – The modest cottage where Jane Chapman (Shailene Woodley) resides with son Ziggy (Iain Armitage), which I wrote about here, can be found on a sleepy, tree-lined street in Pasadena.

4. Bonnie’s House (636 Crater Camp Drive, Calabasas) – The bucolic bohemian bungalow belonging to Bonnie Carlson (Zoë Kravitz) and her husband, Nathan (James Tupper), sits tucked away in a wooded area of Calabasas.

5. Celeste’s House (40 Yankee Point Drive, Carmel) – Celeste Wright (Nicole Kidman) and husband Perry’s (Alexander Skarsgård) stunning cliffside estate, another of my favorites from the series, is the sole residence that can actually be found on the Central Coast (not counting the front of Madeline’s). Only the exterior (both front and back) and lower floor of the property appeared on Big Little Lies. All of the other portions of the Wright home were studio-built sets.

6. Otter Bay Elementary School (Kenter Canyon Elementary School, 645 North Kenter Avenue, Brentwood) – Otter Bay, the elementary school attended by all of the children on the series, is actually Kenter Canyon Elementary in Brentwood. The site’s exterior and interior, including the principal’s office, library and auditorium, appear on the show.

7. Blue Blues Restaurant (The Culver Studios, 9336 Washington Boulevard, Culver City) – Though the actual Old Fisherman’s Wharf in Monterey (101 Washington Street) is shown as the ladies walk up to Blue Blues, their regular hangout owned by Tom (Joseph Cross), in “Somebody’s Dead” . . .

. . . . the actual café can’t be found there. As I covered in this post, the coffee shop was just a set built entirely inside of a soundstage at The Culver Studios, where the series is lensed. Fans can still get their Blue Blues fix by visiting Paluca Trattoria (6D Old Fisherman’s Wharf, Monterey), which served as the inspiration for the bayside eatery.

The pathway leading to Old Fisherman’s Wharf is also where Jane and the girls run in “Once Bitten” . . .

. . . and the adjacent parking lot is where Madeline and Joseph Bachman (Santiago Cabrera) get into an accident in the same episode.

The same parking lot is also where Joseph confronts and kisses Madeline in “Push Comes to Shove.”

8. Side Door Café (Happy Trails Garden, 207 South Fair Oaks Avenue, Pasadena) – Side Door, the ladies’ other regular hangout, is an actual restaurant. Or, at least, it was. Pasadena’s Happy Trails Garden, which was very reminiscent of Carmel’s popular Hog’s Breath Inn, shuttered much to my dismay in 2018 and now sits vacant. The bucolic site, which was outfitted with a plethora of firepits for the shoot and is said to have been modeled after Monterey’s Restaurant 1833, popped up three times on the series – once in “Serious Mothering” and twice in “Push Comes to Shove.” You can read my 2017 post on it here.

9. Madeline’s Fall (Intersection of Esplanade Street and Ocean View Drive, Pacific Grove) – The spot where Madeline “rolls her ankle” in “Somebody’s Dead,” thereby setting off the entire storyline, can be found on Ocean View Drive in Pacific Grove. A stop sign was installed for the scene just north of where Madeline falls, at the intersection of Ocean View Drive and the north end of Esplanade Street. In real life there is a parking sign standing in that spot.

10. Liberation Yoga (124 South La Brea Avenue, Hancock Park) – The yoga studio that Bonnie owns, which pops up in both “Everybody’s Dead” and “Push Comes to Shove,” is actually Liberation Yoga in Hancock Park.

11. Wanderlust Hollywood (1357 North Highland Avenue, Hollywood) – The above is not to be confused with the other yoga studio shown on the series. In “Serious Mothering,” Madeline and Celeste run into Bonnie and Nathan while taking a class at Wanderlust Hollywood.

12. Lovers Point Park & Beach (631 Ocean View Boulevard, Pacific Grove) – The popular shoreline retreat Lovers Point makes several appearances in Big Little Lies. In “Serious Mothering,” Nathan and Ed have a rather terse tête-à-tête in the park area situated above the beach.

Jane and Ziggy visit Lovers Point in both “Living the Dream” and “Push Come to Shove.”

And it is at Lovers Point that Jane tells Celeste that her son Max (Nicholas Crovetti) is the one who has been bullying Amabella Klein (Ivy George) in “You Get What You Need.”

13. Gordon Klein’s Office (1999 AOS, 1999 Avenue of the Stars, Century City) – In “Living the Dream,” Renata heads to Century City office building 1999 AOS for a mid-day visit with her husband. Only the exterior and lobby of the property were utilized for the scene, though.

Gordon’s actual office can be found on the 26th floor of nearby Century Park Plaza (1801 Century Park East, Century City).

14. Monterey Bay High School (Ulysses S. Grant High School, 13000 Oxnard Street, Van Nuys) – Screen favorite Grant High School in Van Nuys portrays Monterey Bay High, the school attended by Madeline’s eldest daughter, Abigail Carlson (Kathryn Newton), which pops up in “Living the Dream.” Areas used in the episode include the principal’s office, a hallway and the main quad. You may recognize Grant from its myriad of cameos in such productions as Saved by the Bell, Clueless, The Office, Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy” music video, and Crazy. Stupid. Love. You can check out an in-depth post I wrote about the place for Los Angeles magazine here.

15. Studio City Recreation Center (12621 Rye Street, Studio City) – In “Living the Dream,” Ziggy hits a home run during his first Tee-ball game at Studio City Recreation Center, aka Beeman Park. The site is also very briefly featured via flashback in “Push Comes to Shove.” You can check out an in-depth post I wrote about the park, detailing its appearances in Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Scrubs and Role Models, here.

16. Colton Hall Museum (570 Pacific Street, Monterey) – Another Central Coast location, Colton Hall Museum masks as Monterey City Hall, where Celeste acts as Madeline’s lawyer in “Push Comes to Shove.”

The interior of the museum, which you can see a photo of here, was also used in the episode.

17. Bixby Creek Bridge (CA-1, Big Sur) – In “Once Bitten,” Madeline has a bad dream that takes place at Bixby Bridge, the same span shown in the series’ opening credits. The picturesque structure, one of the most photographed bridges in California, can be found in Big Sur, about twenty miles south of Monterey.

18. Saxon Baker’s Interior Design Office (1035 East Green Street, Pasadena) – In “Once Bitten,” Jane heads to a supposed San Louis Obispo interior design office to confront her possible rapist, Saxon Baker (Stephen Graybill). In reality, filming took place at a quaint brick building on Green Street in Pasadena where Albert Einstein once worked.

19. Celeste and Perry’s Therapist’s Office (130 Fountain Avenue, Pacific Grove) – Perry and Celeste start seeing marriage counselor Dr. Amanda Reisman (Robin Weigert) in “Living the Dream,” but the exterior of her charming office, another of the show’s Monterey locales, isn’t shown until “Once Bitten.”

20. Cypress Community Hospital (Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, 23625 Holzman Highway, Monterey) – After their car accident in “Once Bitten,” Madeline and Joseph are taken to “Cypress Community Hospital,” which is actually the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula. Only the exterior of the facility was featured on the series.

I believe that interiors were shot at Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital (333 North Prairie Avenue, Inglewood), which was, sadly, razed in late 2017.

21. Monterey Regional Airport (200 Fred Kane Drive, Monterey) – This spot, where Celeste and her boys surprise Perry when he returns home from a business trip in “Once Bitten,” plays itself.

The airport’s interior appeared in the scene, as well.

22. Celeste’s New Apartment (1 Surf Way, Monterey) – In “Burning Love,” Celeste attempts to break away from Perry by renting an oceanside apartment. Her new place is another of the series’ Monterey locations. Known as Ocean Harbor House in real life, the picturesque complex, which is made up of condos, sits overlooking Del Monte Beach.

23. Madeline’s Community Theatre/Trivia Night Costume Gala – Barnsdall Art Park (4800 Hollywood Boulevard, East Hollywood) – Easily the series’ most memorable locale, Barnsdall Art Park serves as two notable spots on Big Little Lies. In virtually every episode it pops up as the community theatre where Madeline works. The constantly broken stairs she is regularly forced to walk up can be found on the eastern side of the park, adjacent to the Junior Art Center.

The theatre itself is a mash-up of two Barnsdall spots – interiors were shot at the Barnsdall Gallery Theatre (which you can see photos of here) . . .

. . . while exteriors were filmed at the adjacent Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery.

Most notably, though, Barnsdall Art Park is where the Audrey and Elvis Trivia Night costume gala is held in “You Get What You Need.”

The community theatre’s broken stairs are the very same ones that figure so heavily in the episode’s climax.

Barnsdall also appears in Big Little Lie’s opening credits. You can read an in-depth post on the park here.

24. Mountain View Cemetery (2400 North Fair Oaks Avenue, Altadena) – Toward the end of “You Get What You Need,” Perry is laid to rest at one of L.A.’s most oft-used locations, Mountain View Cemetery in Altadena, which has appeared in everything from The Office to Seinfeld to A Lot Like Love. You can read a post I wrote on it here.

25. Garrapata State Park Beach (CA-1, Carmel-By-The-Sea) – The series comes to an end with the women and their children frolicking on the picturesque beach at Garrapata State Park (which is also where Jane, Celeste and Madeline run in “Once Bitten”). The scene was such a perfect closing to the show, I am almost fearful to have the story opened up again for Season 2. Though I truly can’t wait to revisit the women of Monterey, in some ways I would like to just be able to picture them forever standing together on that beach, bittersweetly frozen in time.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

April 10, 2019April 10, 2019

JFK and Jackie’s Former Georgetown Homes

Considering how much I love history, I know shockingly little about former President John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline. So I was thrilled when the Grim Cheaper gifted me with Jackie, Janet & Lee: The Secret Lives of Janet Auchincloss and Her Daughters Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Lee Radziwill last Christmas. The 2018 biography and its depiction of the women’s intensely complicated relationships with each other as well as with their significant others was fascinating all the way through. And it even reminded me of two residences related to the former First Lady that I stalked during my visit to Washington, D.C. in September 2016. I learned about the homes thanks to my friend Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, who just prior to my trip emailed me a list of area attractions he had compiled. Even though I was not well-versed in anything pertaining to Jackie O at the time, I decided to add the addresses to my stalking itinerary which turned out to be quite foresightful.

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Upon returning home from World War II, John Fitzgerald “Jack” Kennedy worked for a brief time as a foreign correspondent for Hearst Newspapers prior to embarking on his political career which brought him to Washington D.C. After landing a seat in the House of Representatives in 1946, he moved around to a couple of different Georgetown properties until ultimately leasing a picturesque pad at 3260 N Street NW in 1951.

He would remain there for the next two years.

It proved an eventful time in young Jack’s life. During his tenure at the 5-bedroom, 2.5-bath, 2,220-square-foot dwelling, not only did he meet his future wife, Jacqueline Bouvier, who was then working at the Washington Times-Herald, but he also won his 1952 Senate seat.

Jack proposed to Jackie in June 1953 (supposedly at neighborhood favorite Martin’s Tavern, which I blogged about here) and vacated the N Street house that same year. After dotting around to different residences, the newlyweds settled into an estate in McLean Virginia known as Hickory Hill. The sprawling property soon proved too large for the fledgling couple, though, and they sold it to Robert F. Kennedy in 1956 before heading back to Georgetown, eventually moving into a mansion at 3307 N Street NW, just one block over from their old house.

Standing at four stories, the handsome Federal-style residence, built in 1811, boasts 4 bedrooms, 4 baths, and over 4,000 square feet of living space. Along with JFK and Jackie lived the couple’s daughter, Caroline, and their nurse, cook, butler, and maid.

The family’s time at 3307 also proved eventful. While there, JFK announced his candidacy for president, ran a successful campaign, was elected to office, and, on November 25th, 1960, celebrated the birth of son John F. Kennedy Jr.

It was also from the stately pad that Jack and Jackie left for the inauguration on the snowy morning of January 20th, 1961, at which time they moved into their most famous home, the White House.

Countless pictures were taken of the Kennedys outside of 3307 N Street during their years there, including this one snapped by JFK’s official campaign photographer Jacques Lowe. Jack was also often documented addressing the press right from the front door. As Thomas Wolfe wrote in a 1960 Washington Post article, “Our next president doesn’t take the old, easy way of making his announcements about new cabinet ministers, the fate of the new frontier, etc., from his office on Capitol Hill — where, if one need edit, the corridors have steam heat. He just steps right out on the old front porch at 3307 N St. NW and starts talking. And disappears back into the manse.” Seeing the brief happy moments captured at the residence is jarring considering the tragedy that will befall the family in such a short time and the eerie realization they bring that the man standing front and center is gone while the house remains virtually untouched.

After the assassination in 1963, Jackie returned to Georgetown, first moving into the home of a friend and then, in February 1964, to a Colonial dwelling just a few blocks east of her previous residence at 3017 N Street NW with her sister, Lee. (I failed to stalk that particular location while in D.C., but an MLS photo featured on Zillow is pictured below.) The 12-room manse was selected by Radziwill and, per Jackie, Janet & Lee, of the choice, designer Billy Baldwin said, “It had been chosen for Jackie with the greatest possible bad decision by her sister. I think the home was designed by someone for purposes of publicity. There was no hope for privacy, it was out in the open, high atop a mountain of steps. When I saw it, it looked like a monument. I thought, ‘Why, Lee, why? Why?’” As predicted, the place did quickly become an attraction for lookie-loos, with tour buses stopping by throughout the day and people camping out on the sidewalk in front hoping for a glimpse of the resplendent Jackie. Needless to say, she didn’t last long there. In July 1964, she took her two children and moved to a spacious apartment at 1040 Fifth Avenue in New York.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Big THANK YOU to my friend Owen, from the When Write Is Wrong blog, for telling me about these locations!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: From 1951 to 1953, while serving in Congress, John F. Kennedy lived at 3260 N Street NW in Georgetown. In 1958, JFK and Jackie settled into a pad one block over at 3307 N Street NW where they remained until moving into the White House in January 1961. The property Jackie briefly called home following the president’s assassination is about four blocks east at 3017 N Street NW. Martin’s Tavern, where JFK is said to have proposed to Jackie, is located nearby at 1264 Wisconsin Avenue.

April 8, 2019April 5, 2019

The Queen Mary Observation Bar from “He’s Just Not That Into You”

I am beginning to discover that The Queen Mary is a lot like the Millennium Biltmore Los Angeles in that every square inch of it has appeared onscreen in multiple notable productions. Case in point – while scanning through Adaptation to make screen captures for my post on Zipper Concert Hall last week, I noticed that the 2002 drama’s opening scene took place in the ship’s Observation Bar & Art Deco Lounge. I had long been aware of the watering hole’s appearance in favorite movie He’s Just Not That Into You (which I detailed in a 2014 article for L.A. magazine), but immediately got curious about what other productions made use of it. When I got to digging, I was shocked at the number of big and small screen hits that feature the bar. So I figured it was only right to dedicate a post to it.

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When we lived in Los Angeles, The Queen Mary was one of my and the Grim Cheaper’s favorite places to staycation. Originally a Cunard-White Star Line luxury liner, the grand 1934 ship is permanently moored just south of downtown Long Beach.

She was purchased by the city after making her final voyage (the last of 1,001 Atlantic crossings) in 1967. Following a painstaking three-year renovation, The Queen Mary opened as a hotel and tourist attraction. The restored vessel is nothing short of stunning inside and out and stepping aboard immediately transports one back in time to the grand old days of ocean travel. I first visited the ship with my parents for my birthday in June 2000, at the height of my Titanic obsession, and honestly felt like I had wandered right onto one of the film’s opulent sets.

On that visit, the Observation Bar & Art Deco Lounge quickly became one of our favorite spots on the boat. Originally a first class parlor (you can see what it looked like in its early days here), the gilded space appears to have been ripped right out of the pages of an Art Deco magazine. Shockingly, during The Queen’s time as a troop ship in World War II, the ornate room was utilized as a dormitory for soldiers. I can’t even imagine bunking amid all that glitz!

For some inexplicable reason, as the ship was being renovated into a hotel, it was decided that The Queen Mary should take on an Old English theme (which explains the extremely odd grouping of fairy-tale-like storefronts that dot the parking lot). As such, all of the Observation Bar’s glam Art Deco furnishings were removed (but thankfully not thrown away) and replaced with Old English décor, giving the space a pub-like feel.

Fortunately, the watering hole was returned to its initial grandeur in the early ‘80s and, though it has gone through some additional revamps in the years since, it remains an utterly glorious space.

Today, the semi-circle-shaped site boasts massive red torchiere lamps, a carved balustrade, a Massacar ebony bar, silver and bronze detailing, maple and cedar woodwork, an original mural that hangs above the bar, 21 windows, and amazing views of Queensway Bay.

It is in the elegant space that Anna (Scarlett Johansson) sings at the end of 2009’s He’s Just Not That Into You.

Back in 1981, Dr. R. Quincy, M.E. (Jack Klugman) discovers what has been ailing his fellow cruise passengers when a woman goes into premature labor in the Observation Bar in the Season 7 episode of Quincy M.E. titled “Slow Boat to Madness: Part 2.” (Spoiler – it’s contaminated tortillas!)

The Observation Bar portrays the New York cocktail lounge where NYPD detective Mike Keegan (Tom Berenger) takes murder witness Claire Gregory (Mimi Rogers) for drinks on his last night of protecting her in the 1987 thriller Someone to Watch Over Me.

In 1989, the Observation Bar popped up a couple of times in the Season 6 episode of Murder, She Wrote titled “The Grand Old Lady.”

The site masks as the New York bar where Garland Stanford (David Warrilow) tells Barton (John Turturro) that Capital Pictures wants to put him under contract in 1991’s Barton Fink.

In the Season 6 episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 titled “You Say It’s Your Birthday: Part 1,” which aired in 1996, Kelly Taylor (Jennie Garth) and Valerie Malone (Tiffani Thiessen) discuss Colin Robbins’ (Jason Wiles) disappearance with FBI agent Richard Ballen (Jon Hensley) while at the Observation Bar. (Don’t mind the craptastic screen captures below. Unfortunately, the episode is not available to stream anywhere, not even on Hulu which inexplicably has all of the others from Season 6, so I had to settle for grabs from a poor-quality Dailymotion upload.)

Later in “You Say It’s Your Birthday: Part 1,” Kelly grabs breakfast with Andrea Zuckerman (Gabrielle Carteris) at the bar.

In 1999’s Being John Malkovich (such a great movie!), John Malkovich (playing himself) enters the portal to his own head and winds up seeing himself everywhere at the Observation Bar.

The 2002 film Adaptation opens with actual behind-the-scenes footage of the Being John Malkovich segment lensed at the lounge. (I apologize for the blurry screen caps below, but the scene has a lot of movement.)

Howard Hughes (Leonardo DiCaprio) also celebrates the wrap of Hell’s Angels at the Observation Lounge in the 2004 biopic The Aviator.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Observation Bar & Art Deco Lounge, from He’s Just Not That Into You, is located on the bow of The Queen Mary’s Promenade Deck at 1126 Queens Highway in Long Beach. You can visit the ship’s official website here. Tickets or hotel reservations are required to venture aboard.

April 5, 2019April 3, 2019

Hotel Constance from “Café Society”

It is always such a thrill to discover that a beloved restaurant, building, bar or boutique I wasn’t aware was a filming location has actually appeared onscreen. Such was the case with Hotel Constance, one of my favorite Pasadena-area lodgings. You’ve seen me talk about the place before in My Guide to L.A. – Hotels post back in 2015 (it’s number 9 on the list). I’ve stayed there with my family on numerous occasions and have always gushed about it, but somehow was unaware it boasted any film cred. So I was ecstatic to recently come across a mention on The Woody Allen Pages website that the locale was featured in the 2016 drama Café Society. A bit more digging led to some additional onscreen appearances, so I figured it was high time I dedicate a post to the place.

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Hotel Constance originally opened to the public on December 3rd, 1926. Commissioned by and named for Pasadena entrepreneur Constance V. Perry, the seven-story Mediterranean Revival-style property was the city’s most modern lodging at the time. You can check out what it looked like in its early days here.

Perry sold the hotel, as well as the adjoining one-story commercial building situated next to it on Colorado Boulevard, in 1930 in order to dedicate her time to other business ventures. At some point, the property was transformed into a retirement home known as the Pasadena Manor, a role it held for the next several decades. (While I am unsure of exactly when the retirement-home transition took place, the earliest mention of the Manor I could find on newspapers.com was in 1970.)

Though I lived just a few blocks from the building for several years and walked past it often, it was not until it was sold to Singpoli, a Hong Kong-based real estate investment firm, in 2007 and plans to revitalize it were talked about that I first took notice. I’ll never forget walking by the boarded-up structure one sunny afternoon and becoming completely enthralled with the historic images of the place pasted in the front windows, along with the placard announcing that the property would soon be restored and turned into a hotel once again.

It was thrilling to pass by the site in the years that followed and witness the new developments regularly taking place.

Amazingly, because no major renovations had ever been done to the property prior to the 2007 sale, much of its original detailing was intact, albeit covered over with carpet, plaster and wallpaper. Preservation architect Peyton Hall, who spearheaded the restoration, told the Pasadena Star News, “The interior of the lobby has (green-painted) paneled columns, and the mirrors on them are not original. The original terra-cotta tiles were covered with vinyl tile, and we’ve uncovered them . . . and the coffered ceiling and the stairway will all remain.” You can see what the lobby looked like mid-renovation here. An image of that exact same area in its post-rehab state is pictured below.

After the $60-million revamp, the hotel opened to much fanfare as the DusitD2 Constance Pasadena on July 31st, 2014. An arm of the Thai-based Dusit International, it was the luxury hospitality company’s first U.S. lodging.

The hotel’s interior aesthetic, envisioned by Hong Kong designer Joey Ho, is ultra-modern with nods to its historic past.

Check out that coffered ceiling!

The adjacent commercial building also underwent a large-scale renovation. While most of it was razed, the original storefronts were preserved. Per an Arcadia Historical Society post, “The six retail stores attached to the hotel had prior face-lifts and were scheduled for demolition. When the surfaces were removed, however, statuettes on columns were uncovered on the original façade. These statuettes were extensively damaged when someone literally took a hammer and knocked off pieces so that they could be boarded up, with a new storefront.” Thankfully, they were repaired and incorporated into the new design, which you can see almost completed in the Google Street View imagery below.

A second tower with additional guest rooms, a fitness center, meeting space, and a rooftop pool, hot tub, sun deck and bar, was also just completed last year.

In all, the property boasts 136 rooms and suites, a Cal-Asian eatery known as Perry’s Restaurant, the swanky Blue Room cocktail lounge, and many modern appointments including in-room iPads that control lighting and on which guests can order room service or read daily newspaper publications.

At some point, Dusit International ceased operating the site and today it is known simply as Hotel Constance. My family has stayed at the lodging numerous times and I can honestly say it is one of the best hotels we have ever had the pleasure of checking into. As I recounted in My Guide to L.A. post, during one of our visits, while the bellman was walking us to our room, my dad mentioned to my mom that he had forgotten to pick up a special cereal he likes on the way into town. The bellman overheard and, incredibly, said he would be happy to go pick it up for us – at no charge! I’ve never known a hotel to offer that kind of service, but at the Constance, they do. Sure enough, not 15 minutes later, my dad had his special cereal in hand! It truly is a remarkable place.

In Café Society, Hotel Constance portrays the supposed Wilshire Boulevard office of talent agent Phil Stern (Steve Carell), who Bobby Dorfman (Jesse Eisenberg) visits in the hopes of getting a job. For the shoot, filmmakers made use of the building’s Mentor Avenue side.

Only the exterior of the hotel appears in the film. Per The Woody Allen Pages, interiors were lensed at the Brooklyn Public Library located at 10 Grand Army Plaza near Prospect Park.

In the Season 2 episode of Jane the Virgin titled “Chapter Thirty-Six,” which aired in 2016, Rafael Solano (Justin Baldoni) briefly meets with Avery Van Allen (Shvona Lavette Chung) at Hotel Constance’s Blue Room Lounge.

In 2017, the Lounge portrayed the InterContinental Miami hotel restaurant where Charlie Murphy, Cedric the Entertainer, George Lopez, D.L. Hughley and Eddie Griffin grabbed breakfast in the Season 1 episode of The Comedy Get Down titled “Black Wives Matter.”

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Hotel Constance, from Café Society, is located at 928 East Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena. You can visit the property’s official website here.

April 3, 2019April 2, 2019

The Derby from “Book Club”

They say that laughter is the best medicine. For me, it’s laughter coupled with stalking. While recovering from a minor surgery last October, I hunkered down in bed for a couple of days watching movies. The flick that brought the most healing was easily Book Club thanks to both its humor and the fact that it was lensed in Los Angeles. As such, I paused the 2018 romcom countless times throughout my viewing in order to research its locations, much to the Grim Cheaper’s chagrin. A few I was thrilled to recognize from the outset, including Hummingbird Nest Ranch, which I blogged about in March, and The Derby, one of Arcadia’s most historic and popular restaurants where Sharon Meyers (Candice Bergen) goes on a blind date with a man she meets though a dating app in the film. Though I dedicated a post to the eatery back in 2013, I figured it was worthy of a re-do.

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The Derby was originally opened as Proctor’s Tavern, a small steakhouse established by Arcadia Rotary Club charter member Hudson M. Proctor on Foothill Boulevard near Santa Anita Park in 1922.

It was moved to its current home, a sprawling brick building at 233 East Huntington Drive, in October 1931.

The restaurant did not become The Derby until December 1938 when it was purchased by Bill Peterson and his business partner, famed jockey George “The Iceman” Woolf, who rode such stallions as Seabiscuit and Azucar to victory.

Woolf filled the intimate, dimly-lit interior with memorabilia and bric-a-brac from his illustrious racing career, most of which is still on display today.

The Derby was hit by tragedy on January 4th, 1946 when George was killed during a race at the tender age of 35, shocking the equestrian community, the city of Arcadia, and the restaurant’s longtime patrons. Though his widow, Genevieve, continued to run the place for several years, she wound up selling it to Dominic and Lorene Sturniolo in 1951.

The Sturniolo family enjoyed a 50+-year tenure at The Derby until they, too, sold to the restaurant’s current owners, Dustin Nicolarsen and Michael Thomas, in 2007.

Today, the place is still going strong, almost one hundred years after its inception! In fact, it is one of my and the GC’s favorite Pasadena-area spots. Though it is on the pricey side, its happy hour can’t be beat!

In Book Club, The Derby is where Sharon meets up with her Bumble date, “bald tax attorney” George (Richard Dreyfuss).

In the scene, the two sit in the restaurant’s main dining room, which in the Proctor’s Tavern days was known as the “Spanish Room.”

After their date, Sharon and George head outside to The Derby’s parking lot where things get a bit – ahem – amorous.

The Derby was also the site of Derek’s (Adam Scott) birthday party in the 2008 comedy Step Brothers.

Though Seabiscuit did not do any filming on the premises, costume designer Judianna Makovsky spent time at the restaurant researching Woolf’s former racing uniforms. As she told the Los Angeles Times in a 2003 article, the experience was “completely invaluable.” Dominic and Lorene Sturniolo’s son, Charles, who was running the eatery at the time “even let us come over and dig through boxes and scrapbooks. In racing museums, they save the shirts and hats but not what’s underneath. Nobody had the britches or shoes. People just didn’t save it. We were thrilled to find The Derby. It brought to mind that George Woolf was a real man, not just a character in a story.”

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Derby, from Book Club, is located at 233 East Huntington Drive in Arcadia. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.

April 2, 2019April 15, 2019

A “Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase” Giveaway!

UPDATE – This giveaway has ended. Congratulations to winner Sandy A.!

***Warner Bros. provided me with a free copy of Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase on Blu-ray to facilitate this giveaway. The opinions I share are my own.***

Andrea Anders, Sophia Lillis, Zoe Renee, and Mackenzie Graham in Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase (2019)

Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase is heading home on Digital March 26, 2019 and on Blu-ray™ Combo Pack & DVD on April 2, 2019! Fans can celebrate with the Escape Room & Mystery Match blog app in which players solve a mystery to help Nancy out of a jam!

• Welcome to the Interactive Nancy Drew Escape Room – to escape, you must solve riddles and find items to uncover the three numbers needed to open the door. Good Luck!

• In the Mystery Match Video Puzzle, use your mouse to click + drag puzzle pieces to unlock clips from the film.

You can play below! Be sure to let me know how long it took you to crack the code and escape the room!

I am also hosting a giveaway in which one lucky reader will win a Blu-ray copy of the film. Entering is easy – simply click on the link below, follow me on Instagram and then provide your Instagram handle. If you already follow me on Instagram, then simply click below to enter and input your Instagram handle. The contest begins today and runs through April 14th. The winner will be announced on April 15th. Don’t forget to use #NancyDrew and #TheHiddenStaircase to spread the word about the film and the app!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This giveaway is open to US residents only. Each household is only eligible to win the Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase Blue-ray via blog reviews and giveaways. Only one entrant per mailing address per giveaway. If you have won the same prize on another blog, you will not be eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification. The prize will be sent via FedEx or USPS. No P.O. Boxes please.

April 1, 2019March 30, 2019

Zipper Concert Hall from “The West Wing”

Most actors will tell you that extra work is the worst. But when I first landed in L.A. back in 2000, I did quite a bit of it and couldn’t have enjoyed myself more. Just being on a movie or television set was surreal and provided an indelible opportunity to observe the inner workings of a production, watch my favorite actors live and in person (and sometimes even interact with them), and be truly immersed in the filmmaking process. I ate it all up with a spoon. One of my more memorable experiences took place on April 24th, 2000 (yes, I remember the date) when I sat in the audience of a supposed live town hall meeting with President Josiah ‘Jed’ Bartlett (Martin Sheen) for the Season 1 finale of The West Wing titled “What Kind of Day Has It Been.” I was not a viewer of the hit NBC series at the time and, despite my extraordinary experience on set, did not watch the episode when it aired and, shockingly, did not end up seeing it until last month when the Grim Cheaper and I went on a West Wing binge. Even though 19 years had passed, I was immediately brought right back to the day of the shoot and decided that I had to write a post on the auditorium where filming took place. While I did not remember its exact location, I did recall that it was in downtown L.A. near the U.S. Bank Tower. So I got to Googling and amazingly the first result kicked back when I inputted “auditorium” and “downtown Los Angeles” was a link to Zipper Concert Hall which turned out to be the right spot!

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Zipper Concert Hall is located on the campus of The Colburn School, a performing arts institution originally founded in 1950 as part of the USC School of Music. Initially housed in a warehouse across from the Shrine Auditorium in University Park, the facility offered piano lessons to young children. At some point, the curriculum was expanded to include college-level courses and the place re-branded as the Community School of Performing Arts. The academy broke away from USC in 1980 thanks to a sizeable donation from philanthropist/music enthusiast Richard D. Colburn and six years later it was renamed in his honor. Twelve years after that, The Colburn School was relocated to a new, larger custom-built campus at the corner of South Grand Avenue and East 2nd Street in downtown L.A., where it remains today.

Designed by Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates, at its inception the modern complex boasted a library, a rehearsal hall, two dance studios, a piano lab, 28 teaching spaces, and the 415-seat Zipper Concert Hall. The auditorium (it’s the sloped structure with the sheet metal roof below) was named after Vienna-born musician Herbert Zipper who served as The Colburn School’s artistic advisor from 1980 until his death in 1997.

Interestingly, the Lloyd Wright-designed former studio of violinist Jascha Heifetz was also incorporated into the layout of the campus. Initially situated on the grounds of Heifetz’s Beverly Hills estate (at 1520 Gilcrest Drive), the standalone structure, which was connected to the main residence via a breezeway, was saved from demolition by a very unlikely source. Upon Heifetz’s passing in 1987, his home was sold to none other than James Woods, who set about tearing the place down. The actor recognized the significance of the studio, though, and offered it up to anyone who was willing to pay to have it relocated. The Colburn School’s then dean, Joseph Thayer, jumped at the chance. The small edifice was subsequently deconstructed and transported to a storage facility where it sat until the new campus was completed. It was then reassembled on the third floor of the Grand Building. You can check out some images of it in its original form and its current state here and here.

In 2007, the Colburn campus was expanded by the Pfeiffer Partners architecture firm at which time a 384,000-square-foot, 12-story building was added, as were a 3,900-square-foot rehearsal hall, residential housing for 147 students, a cafeteria, offices, an art park, and numerous practice and performance spaces. And the school is still growing. Just last year, prolific architect Frank Gehry was tapped to design yet another addition, this one bringing in 200,000 square feet, an additional concert hall, and a theatre. You can check out some images of what the school currently looks like here and here.

In the “What Kind of Day Has It Been” episode of The West Wing, Zipper Concert Hall masks as Virginia’s Newseum. Though exteriors were filmed at the museum’s former location at 1101 Wilson Boulevard in Rosslyn . . .

. . . all interiors were shot at Zipper. It is there that President Bartlett speaks to a large audience about the apathy of America’s youth when it comes to government and politics.

The hall appears prominently at both the beginning and end of the episode. Sadly, Zipper was closed when we showed up to stalk it so I did not get to revisit the inside, but you can check out some photographs of it here.

The Colburn School’s Grand Foyer (which you can see images of here) was also featured in “What Kind of Day Has It Been” . . .

. . . as was its Mayman Recital Hall (photos here and here).

I can still remember the filming of the episode as if it was yesterday. I even recall exactly where I was sitting – fourth row, right. (That’s me below!) During the shoot, I became completely enamored with Martin Sheen, who is very much like his presidential character in real life – gregarious, warm, witty, chatty, and a wealth of random knowledge that he loves to share. Throughout breaks in filming, he actively engaged the extras, both individually and as a group, and discussed everything from how he spent the day prior, Easter Sunday, memorizing the speech we were now listening to him perform to behind-the-scenes tidbits (like the fact that Dr. Josiah Bartlett, Jed’s supposed great-grandfather’s great-grandfather and the New Hampshire delegate to the second Continental Congress in 1776, whom he mentions in the speech, was, in fact, a real person) to Elián González, the young Cuban boy who had been seized by federal agents and returned to his father just a few days prior. To see him seamlessly transition between his character and his actual self, turning Jed Bartlett on and off like a switch, was incredible. The president’s speech in the scene was long (much longer than what was actually shown in the episode), detailed, wordy, and full of facts and figures. Martin knew it inside and out, though, and nailed it on every.single. take. The fact that he could be jovial and joking with us one minute and then, as soon as “action” was called, be immediately in character and 100% on-point the next was thrilling and fascinating to watch. It was a long day, too, but Martin was just as fresh on his first take as he was on his last, a good ten to twelve hours later. Witnessing his creative process was an incredible experience – truly a once-in-a-lifetime. I’ll never forget coming home that night and telling my parents that I had learned more about acting (not to mention the way an actor should behave on set) from one day of observing Martin Sheen than I had in my four years of college as a theatre major. They were not pleased by the news considering they footed the bill for the latter. Winking smile

The West Wing is not the only production to feature The Colburn School. In the 2002 drama Adaptation, Charlie Kaufman (Nicolas Cage) attends Robert McKee’s (Brian Cox) Story Seminar at Zipper Concert Hall.

The school masks as the Museum of Design, where Milly Wilder (Mandy Moore) and Jason (Tom Everett Scott) go to see an art exhibit, in the 2007 romcom Because I Said So.

And in the Season 7 episode of Castle titled “Castle, P.I.,” which aired in 2015, Colburn portrays The Eastbourne School, where Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion) and Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) investigate the murder of admissions director Shana Baker (Gia Mora). (Note – the exterior seen in the episode is the school’s Olive Street entrance.)

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Zipper Concert Hall, from the “What Kind of Day Has It Been” episode of The West Wing, is located on the campus of The Colburn School at 200 South Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles. You can check out the hall’s upcoming events on the school’s official website here.

March 29, 2019March 27, 2019

Imperial Western Beer Company from “Blast from the Past”

I absolutely hate losing things – it is one of my biggest pet peeves, especially when the items can’t be replaced. Such was the case with a group of photos I took of Union Station’s former Fred Harvey Restaurant back in June 2009. Upon learning about the site and its appearance as the dance club in fave movie Blast from the Past, I toured it as a possible wedding venue and it promptly became one of my top contenders. Closed since 1967, the historic and strikingly unique venue is a virtual time capsule of 1930’s glamour. Though the Grim Cheaper and I ultimately got married elsewhere, Fred Harvey Restaurant left a mark on my heart and I vowed to do a post on it. Somehow, I forgot and it was not until discovering that the space had been renovated and finally reopened (after 51 years!) as the Imperial Western Beer Company last October that I was reminded. When I sat down to pen my post, though, I could not find my photos anywhere. I still can’t. Though I am deeply saddened not to have those images, the misplacement gave me a great excuse to get back out there to see the restaurant in its revamped state.

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Part of the Fred Harvey Company chain of hotels and eateries, the downtown L.A. Fred Harvey Restaurant, which I’ve also seen referred to as the “Fred Harvey Room” and “Harvey House,” initially opened along with Union Station in 1939.

The popular conglomerate, established in 1876, catered to commuters and travelers by offering quick, tasty meals in upscale locations dotted near train stations all over the U.S. The company was also noted for only employing women who became known as “Harvey Girls.” Per a 2009 Los Angeles Times article (which unfortunately is not online), founder Fred Harvey hired the fairer sex because they were less inclined “to get likkered up and go on tears.”

Union Station’s Fred Harvey outpost was designed by architect Mary Colter in the Art Deco and Spanish Colonial Revival styles.

With a colorful tiled entrance,

a large central lunch counter,

rounded leather booths,

a three-story vaulted ceiling,

a grand staircase . . .

. . . leading up to a mezzanine,

and dazzling patterned flooring,

the space really was a sight to behold – and still is.

Fred Harvey proved so popular that in 1941 the need to expand arose and a bar area was added in what was formerly an adjacent breezeway.

Colter was pegged to design the 2,300-square-foot addition and did so to spectacular fashion in the Streamline Moderne style.

During its glory years, the restaurant served more than 800 meals an hour and more than 100,000 hungry patrons each day, per L.A. Weekly.

As train travel waned following World War II, Fred Harvey patronage died off and the place was eventually shuttered in 1967. It would stay that way for the next five decades, opening only for special events and filming.

Though recent years saw a definite want for a new eatery to open in the space, bringing the site up to code proved cost prohibitive. So it remained vacant. You can see what it looked like during that time here.

Finally, in 2014, restauranteur Cedd Moses of 213 Hospitality (the company also owns frequent film stars Casey’s Irish Pub, and Cole’s French Dip) stepped in with a grand vision to restore the place to its original glory and re-open it as a brewery/gastropub. And thus, Imperial Western Beer Company – named in honor of the Imperial, a Southern Pacific liner that initially ran between Los Angeles and Yuma in the 1930s – was born.

The restoration process took four years to complete and, though the menu was modernized and the property brought up to code, aside from turning the lunch counter into a bar, the furnishings and décor were left pretty much intact.

The 1941 bar addition also got a revamp . . .

. . . and is now known as “The Streamliner.”

Of the finished product, Moses told L.A. Weekly, “To me it’s a love letter to our city. We felt responsible to bring this back in a great way and hopefully do the space justice. My only regret is that my father wasn’t here to see it.” Sadly, Cedd’s dad, artist Ed Moses, who hung out at Fred Harvey Restaurant back in the day and even once dated a Harvey Girl, passed away shortly before the eatery opened.

Considering the property’s immaculately preserved state and years of vacancy, it is no surprise that it wound up in scads of productions.

In the 1999 romcom Blast from the Past, Fred Harvey Restaurant portrayed Club 40’s, where Adam (Brendan Fraser) dazzled Eve (Alicia Silverstone) with his swing-dancing prowess.

The exterior, which was heavily dressed with window coverings, neon lights, palm trees and awnings, made a brief appearance in the scene.

The Streamliner popped up briefly, as well.

In 1998, The Brian Setzer Orchestra fittingly shot their video for the swing classic “Jump, Jive an’ Wail” at Fred Harvey Restaurant. You can watch it here.

Fiona Apple’s 2000 “Paper Bag” video, which was directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, made spectacular use of the space . . .

. . . and gives us a great glimpse of what the lunch counter looked like prior to being transformed into a bar.

In the 2003 comedy Anger Management, Fred Harvey Restaurant portrays Mort’s, said to be on 86th Street in New York, where Dave Buznik (Adam Sandler) stages a fake date to make his ex-girlfriend jealous. The exterior of the eatery . . .

. . . as well as the interior . . .

. . . and The Streamliner all make appearances.

In the 2005 thriller The Island, the site masks as the Yucca Amtrak station where Tom Lincoln (Ewan McGregor) and Sarah Jordan (Scarlett Johansson) attempt to catch a train to L.A. . . .

. . . before James McCord (Steve Buscemi) is shot off the mezzanine . . .

. . . and into the bar below.

Fred Harvey Restaurant plays La Noche Cubana nightclub, where Abby (Katherine Heigl) and Mike Chadway (Gerard Butler) grab drinks and dance towards the end of the 2009 romcom The Ugly Truth (another one of my favorites).

And in the 2011 drama Atlas Shrugged: Part I, Paul Larkin (Patrick Fischler), Orren Boyle (Jon Polito), Wesley Mouch (Michael Lerner), and James Taggart (Matthew Marsden) discuss taking down Hank Rearden (Grant Bowler) while at Fred Harvey Restaurant.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Imperial Western Beer Company, from Blast from the Past, is located on the southern side of Union Station at 800 North Alameda Street in downtown Los Angeles. You can visit the gastropub’s official website here. The restaurant is open weekdays starting at 4 p.m. and weekends beginning at 12 p.m.

March 27, 2019April 2, 2019

The “Young Sheldon” House

I don’t think I’ve ever hated a television character more than Samantha Ruland on Scandal (though Beverly Hills, 90210’s Kelly Taylor ranks a close second). Played by Zoe Perry, Samantha represented pure evil – there was literally not a single redeeming thing about her. It got to the point that even hearing her voice had a Pavlov’s-dog-like effect on me, making me want to throw my television out a window each time she spoke. So when I learned that Perry had been cast as Mary Cooper, mother to Sheldon Cooper (Iain Armitage), on Young Sheldon, I did not have high hopes for liking the CBS series, which premiered in September 2017. I still gave it a shot, though, and was pleasantly surprised. While not as good as its parent show, The Big Bang Theory, it is still enjoyable and, amazingly, I have even come to like Zoe! So I was thrilled when fellow stalker Julie posted a comment on my site recently supplying the address of the supposed Medford, Texas home of the Cooper family on the series (spoiler – it’s actually in Valley Village) with the request that I stalk it. Your wish is my command, Julie!

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In real life, the Cooper house, which was built in 1949, boasts 2 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, 1,335 square feet of living space, and a 0.18-acre plot of land. It was sold early last year for a whopping $827,000, though surprisingly there was no mention of its current onscreen role in any of the listing information I came across online.

The new owners appear to be doing some remodeling, but hopefully they are only making changes to the interior and not the exterior. You can check out what the inside of the residence looked like in the 2018 listing photos here.

The ranch-style property is used regularly on Young Sheldon in both establishing shots . . .

. . . and for occasional on location filming.

The pad looks much the same onscreen as it does in person aside from a few minor changes including the removal of the stop sign out front and the red paint on the curb (I believe the latter is taken away digitally), and the addition of the family’s tire swing.

Though Julie surmised that the inside of the home had been utilized in the Young Sheldon pilot, upon close inspection it appears that the Cooper house interior has been a set from the get-go. As you can see in the screen capture from the inaugural episode as compared to the MLS photo below, though similar, the two interiors are not one and the same. Page 30 of Assistant Art Director Andrew Sloane’s online portfolio also notes that the inside of the Cooper residence was built for the pilot. As regular readers of my site know, sets for television shows are typically not constructed until a series is picked up by a network, which is why the vast majority of pilots are filmed on location inside of actual residences. In this case, though, Young Sheldon was a spin-off of the highly popular The Big Bang Theory and therefore came with a built-in audience, so CBS ordered a run of episodes before the pilot had even been shot. As such, the show’s sets were assembled from the outset.

Though the general layout and look of the Cooper house is the same as the Valley Village pad, there are many differences.

The set, which exists on Stage 6 at Warner Bros. Studio in Burbank, is much more dated than the actual house, which makes sense being that Young Sheldon takes place in the late 80s/early 90s.

It does certainly echo the real life home, though.

Even the bathroom (visible in the background of the screen capture below) largely resembles that of the house.

You can check out a video tour of the set given by Raegan Revord, who plays Sheldon’s twin sister, Missy, here.

The picturesque Colonial home belonging to Meemaw (Annie Potts) on the series, said to be located across the street from the Cooper residence, can actually be found about four miles away.

It is none other than the Partridge House on Blondie Street at Warner Bros. Ranch (albeit with a small front porch added). You can read a bit about the property’s history and its other onscreen appearances in this 2016 post I wrote for the Mike the Fanboy website.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Julie for telling me about this location and asking me to stalk it!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Cooper family home from Young Sheldon is located at 5501 Morella Avenue in Valley Village.