IAMNOTASTALKER

Blog

  • Celeb’s Coffee of Choice

    While we all know that Britney Spears can’t live without her daily Starbucks ration, it seems that most other celebs in the LA area much prefer a smaller coffeehouse chain called Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. Because I am absolutely obsessed with coffee and Starbucks (if I had my way – and the money – I’d easily drink three or four iced lattes a day!) I recently started reading a great book about the chain called Starbucked by Taylor Clark. Starbucked chronicles the history of Starbucks and also tells much of the history of Coffee Bean, as well. So last weekend, after I learned of the location, I dragged my boyfriend to Brentwood to stalk the very first Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf store.

    The first Coffee Bean was founded in 1963 by Herbert Hyman and immediately had a celebrity following. Ronald Reagan, Lee Marvin, Jason Robards, Johnny Carson and Jacques Cousteau all became regulars at the Brentwood store shortly after its opening. Today, celebs like Ashton Kutcher, Lindsay Lohan, David Beckham, and Benji Madden are Coffee Bean regulars and paparazzi can often be seen loitering outside the various LA locations of the chain. Several CB stores were also featured regularly on the series Entourage as a meeting place for Vince and his crew.

    Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

    Stalk It: The very first Coffee Bean can be found at 11698 San Vicente Boulevard in Brentwood. I recommend ordering an ice blended – they are the best you’ll ever taste!

  • Greystone Mansion

    Greystone Mansion I While most mansions in Beverly Hills are well hidden from prying eyes thanks to tall gates and large trees, there is one that is open to the public on a regular basis and it’s called Greystone Mansion. The 46,000 square foot mansion was commissioned in 1928 by millionaire Edward L. Doheny as a gift to his son Edward “Ned” Doheny, Jr. Ned only lived in the home for four short months before he was found dead in his bedroom, along with his secretary Hugh Plunket, on February 16th, 1929.

    There has been much speculation surrounding the deaths of Ned and Hugh – some believe it was a bizarre murder-suicide due to a lovers’ quarrel between the two, others believe Hugh asked Ned for a raise and became enraged when he was denied and subsequently shot Ned and then himself, and still others believe Hugh suffered from a psychological disorder and shot Edward during a mental breakdown. Whatever the case may be, after his death Edward’s widow continued to live in the mansion with their five children for the next 26 years until she sold it to a man named Henry Crown. Henry wanted to tear down the mansion, but the city of Beverly Hills stepped in and purchased Greystone from him in 1965, turning it into a public park several years later.

    Greystone sits on over 16 acres and is an amazing piece of property. I highly recommend stalking it. Everyday from 10am to 5pm the public is given free reign to walk around the beautiful grounds and get an up close and personal view of the exterior of the mansion. On occasion, there are times when one can tour the inside of the mansion as well. Greystone has also been the filming location of hundreds upon hundreds of movie, TV, print, and commercial productions. Just to name a few – it was featured in Entourage as the location of Anna Faris’ photo shoot, it played Nicolas Cage’s home in National Treasure: Book of Secrets, it was the British Embassy and ball location in Jumpin’ Jack Flash with Whoopi Goldberg, it played a restaurant in The Holiday, and it was featured each week as Rory Gilmore’s school in Gilmore Girls. It also figures prominently in one of my favorite books The Prada Paradox by Julie Kenner.

    While I was at Greystone this past weekend, a production crew was setting up for a film shoot (they wouldn’t say which film) and unfortunately much of the mansion was blocked off. But a very nice security guard happened to let me in to walk around and my boyfriend snapped a pic as I stalked behind the film crew’s signs. 🙂

    Until next time, Happy Stalking!

    Stalk It: Greystone Mansion is located at 905 Loma Vista Drive in Beverly Hills. It is open everyday from 10am to 5pm. You can visit Greystone’s official website here.

  • Hanging out at Vincent Chase’s!

    Entourage House This weekend, while doing some cyber-stalking, I found the address of Vincent Chase’s house from the HBO show Entourage, which is quickly turning into me and my boyfriend’s new fave show. So, on Saturday, I dragged my boyfriend to Beverly Hills to stalk the house that was used in the first two seasons of the show. I didn’t think we would be able to see much of the house from the street, so I was completely floored to discover that the front of the home is almost completely visible from the front gate.

    You will immediately recognize the large driveway, the fountain and the front door of the house from the many different scenes filmed there of the Entourage gang’s comings and goings. The house is absolutely huge – much bigger than it appeared on screen. According to Zillow it is over 10,000 square feet! The home is located at the very end of a street way up in the Hills of Beverly and it’s not too hard to see why filmmakers chose to use this house as it would be easy to block off the street for filming without disturbing any of the neighbors or having to close down public roads.

    Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

    Stalk It: Vincent’s house is located at 1200 La Collina Drive in Beverly Hills. After stalking Vincent Chase, you can head on down to Rodeo Drive for some A-List shopping and dining.

  • People’s Revolution

    This weekend, I dragged my boyfriend to People’s Revolution, the clothing PR firm where Lauren Conrad and Whitney Port now work on my fave show The Hills. I have to admit I was a little nervous walking up to the storefront of People’s Revolution as I was a bit afraid that Kelly Cutrone might come out and bite my head off if she saw me taking a picture in front of her store. She does not seem like a nice lady! LOL I needn’t have worried, though, as the windows of People’s Revolution are completely blacked out and it is impossible to see inside the shop. I wonder if this was always the case, or if it is a recent development due to hordes of paparazzi and fans stalking the shop.

    People’s Revolution is a tiny little storefront located directly on Melrose Avenue, not too far from the Groundlings Theatre. Stalkers beware, though – there is a sign on the front door warning that admittance is by appointment only. 🙂

    Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

    Stalk It: People’s Revolution is located at 7005 Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. It is in sort of a dodgy neighborhood, so I wouldn’t recommend stalking it at night.

  • Brenda and Dylan’s First Date

    Ever since I saw the Season One episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 entitled “Isn’t it Romantic” waaaaay back in 1991, I have been absolutely obsessed with finding the movie theatre where Brenda and Dylan went on their first date. While stalking in Studio City a few weeks ago, I happened upon a Barnes and Noble bookstore located in a former movie theatre that looked like it might be the very same theatre from 90210. When I went inside to talk to the staff I discovered that sure enough, the former Fox Studio City Theatre was indeed the location of Brenda and Dylan’s first date. In the episode, Brenda, Dylan and Brandon attend a Marx Brothers film festival at the theatre. Later in the episode, Brenda gets stood up by Dylan at this same theatre.

    The Fox Studio City Theatre has been used as a filming location on several occasions, most often in commercials. The theatre was a Studio City staple for over 50 years, until it closed its doors in 1991 and was purchased by a bookstore named Bookstar. A few years later, Bookstar, too, closed its doors and became a Barnes and Noble. Thankfully, the exterior of the theatre remain unchanged and looks just as it did back in the 90210 days. Even the old time ticket booth is still standing. You can see a vintage photograph of the old theatre here.

    Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

    Stalk It: The former Fox Studio City Theatre, now Barnes and Noble, can be found at 12136 Ventura Boulevard. The Barnes and Noble is a very cool place to walk around as it still has the feel of an old Hollywood theatre. It is located in an adorable part of town, with lots of cute boutiques, restaurants and coffee shops.

  • The “Guess Who” House

    Guess Who House Thanks to fellow stalker Mike over at MovieShotsLA I was able to stalk the house from the Ashton Kutcher movie Guess Who today. I was extremely excited to stalk this house because I just found out that the back of it was used as the back of Steve Martin’s residence in the movie Father of the Bride. The front of the Father of the Bride house can be found in Pasadena, about 5 miles away from the Guess Who house location. I guess the backyard of the Pasadena house wasn’t exactly what the filmmakers were looking for, so they ventured to Alhambra and used this location instead.

    This puts to rest a long-standing argument between me and one of my mom’s good friends. She insisted that the Father of the Bride house was located in Alhambra, while I believed it was in Pasadena. Apparently her friend lives near the Alhambra house and saw Father of the Bride being filmed there. Well, it turns out we were both right! 🙂 All of the backyard scenes were indeed filmed at the Guess Who house, including the basketball scenes and the BBQ scene. Annie’s basketball hoop from the movie is still standing and you can see it in the picture to the left.

    Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

    Stalk It: The Guess Who house is located at 500 N. Almansor Road in Alhambra. It is just a few blocks South of Huntington Drive and not too far from the 13 Going on 30 houses.

  • Tonight’s Without a Trace

    My good friend, Lukas Behnken, is going to be on Without a Trace tonight, so tune in! Lukas is playing a character named Jeff Turner. Lukas is an amazing actor and has starred in episodes of Everwood, Grey’s Anatomy, Cold Case, and Seventh Heaven among others. He also starred in the Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen movie The Challenge.

    Stalk It: Without a Trace airs tonight at 10PM on CBS.

  • Sherman Oaks, 90210

    Kelly Taylor\'s house My buddy Mike over at MovieShotsLA just told me the address of Kelly Taylor’s house from my fave show of all time Beverly Hills, 90210, so today (my first day off since quitting my job) I ran right out to stalk it! I was absolutely floored to see Kelly’s house in person, as I had been trying to stalk this location since the 90s! Kelly’s modern style house looks almost exactly the same as it did back in the 90210 days, except that some very large trees have been planted in front of the home. I wonder if they were planted to keep stalkers from coming by to take pictures. 🙂

    Tony Danza\'s house Coincidentally, last night, on one of my fave stalking sites, I read that Tony Danza recently sold his 6,778-square-foot-home, which just happens to be on the same street as Kelly Taylor’s home! Small world! So I just had to stalk his house today, as well. Tony lives in a ginormous house which is surprisingly quite visible from the road. He purchased the home from Robert Urich back in 1986 and had it completely rebuilt after it was destroyed in the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. Tony is apparently selling it due to his recent separation from his wife.

    Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

    Kelly Taylor\'s House II Stalk It: Kelly Taylor’s house can be found at 3959 Longridge Avenue in Sherman Oaks. Tony Danza’s former manse is located just a few blocks away at 3637 Longridge. Kelly and Tony’s neighborhood is absolutely beautiful, with many huge homes, and I highly recommend stalking it.

  • Mr. and Mrs. Homewrecker

    It’s no secret that I am a HUGE Jen Aniston fan and so NOT a fan of Brangelina – but my boyfriend did manage to drag me to see Mr. and Mrs. Smith while it was in theaters. So when I found the address of the house from the movie in my fave stalking book, I just had to stalk it. In the movie, Brad and Angie live in a really pretty white clapboard residence that reminds me a lot of the house from the movie Father of the Bride. And it just so happens that both houses are located in Pasadena.

    The restaurant where Brad and Angelina dance in Mr. and Mrs. Smith is called Cicada and can be found in Downtown LA. Cicada is actually an oft used filming location – it was the very same restaurant where Julia Roberts flung an escargot across the room in the movie Pretty Woman. At the time it was known as Rex II Ristorante. Cicada was also featured in Bruce Almighty, Final Analysis and Indecent Proposal. While I have never dined there, I’ve heard that it is absolutely amazing!

    Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

    Stalk It: The Mr. and Mrs. Smith house is located at 1565 San Pasqual Street in Pasadena. The restaurant from the movie can be found in the Oviatt Building in Downtown Los Angeles at 617 South Olive Street.

  • Celeb Dining in the Desert

    Got a tip from a good friend who lives in Palm Springs that Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell often frequent the Mexican restaurant Armando’s Bar and Grill when they are in the Desert. So I just had to go stalk it this weekend. Armando’s is a really cute little Mexican restaurant located right in the heart of the El Paseo shopping district in Palm Desert. We didn’t get a chance to eat there this weekend, but we did a quick walk-through and neither Kurt nor Goldie was anywhere to be found. 🙁 Oh well, maybe next time! The same friend also tells me that Goldie and Kurt now own a home in Ironwood Country Club, located just a few miles away from Armando’s. Sadly, Ironwood is a guarded club and you can’t enter the property without an invite from a member.

    While stalking Armando’s I happened to discover a store that I think is now my new favorite place in all of Palm Springs! It is called Heiress and I don’t think it sells anything that is not pink or sparkly. 🙂 My boyfriend said it looked like a Pepto Bismo bottle threw up inside. 🙂 According to the lady working there, Nikki Hilton and Britney Spears have both visited the store. They sell really cute clothes and jewelry – all of which are reasonably priced. I bought an adorable “Carrie” style necklace that says “Blonde” – I love it!

    Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

    Stalk It: Armando’s Bar and Grill is located in Palm Desert at 73260 El Paseo. Supposedly Kurt and Goldie dine there every single weekend. El Paseo is similar to Beverly Hills’ Rodeo Drive and is a fabulous place to shop. I HIGHLY recommended visiting there if you are in the Desert. Heiress can be found directly next door to Armando’s, on the corner of El Paseo and Lupine Lane. Ironwood Country Club is located at 73735 Irontree Drive, but if you don’t know a member, you can’t get on the property. 🙁