Blog

Saddle Peak Lodge from “Bones”

There is no shortage of historic restaurants in Los Angeles that have appeared onscreen. Despite their abundance, I thought I was well-versed on pretty much all of them. One I went completely unaware of for years, though, was Saddle Peak Lodge in Calabasas. I only learned of the 100-plus-year-old eatery in March 2013 while searching for the general store featured in the Season 2 episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 titled “Camping Trip.” During my hunt, I came across screen captures of a 1960 Perry Mason episode lensed at Saddle Peak Lodge and the structure shown looked quite a bit like the market I was trying to track down, so I did some further digging. Come to find out, the restaurant was expanded and remodeled significantly in the years following the Perry Mason shoot and most definitely was not the spot I had been searching for, but I was intrigued nonetheless – especially when I found out it had appeared in countless productions. So I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out to see it shortly thereafter. (Though I am happy to report that the location of the 90210 general store was eventually unearthed as 34813 Bouquet Canyon Road in Santa Clarita, the structure was sadly torn down in 2003.)

[ad]

Saddle Peak Lodge was originally established as a rustic one-room general store/roadhouse at the turn of the 19th Century. Situated along a well-traveled road in the Santa Monica Mountains, visitors would pop in for a quick bite to eat or to pick up basic sundries while en route to their respective destinations.

Named in honor of a peak located nearby, the small market (which you can see an early photograph of here) stocked little besides sandwiches, drinks and basic goods.

It did not take long for the place to become a popular respite for the Hollywood set thanks to the many movie ranches located nearby. Such stars as Errol Flynn, Clark Gable, Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and Milton Berle were all known to pop in when filming in the area. In later years, Richard Burton, Ernest Borgnine, and members of the Rat Pack were frequent guests.

In the 1960s, Saddle Peak Lodge was purchased by Bud and Jean Simmert who transformed the establishment into a larger, more upscale restaurant. It went through further renovations and expansions in 1985 after being acquired by Grand American Fare Inc., the enterprise that also founded the Oar House Bar & Buffalo Chips Restaurant in Santa Monica (which later became O’Brien’s Irish Pub & Restaurant, made famous in The Truth About Cats & Dogs). The company’s owner Al Ehringer was responsible for creating the lodge-inspired aesthetic that still graces the eatery today.

The stone and wood space is both decidedly rustic and elegant at the same time.

And its patio is one of the most gorgeous in all of L.A.

As such, Saddle Peak Lodge has become one of the area’s most popular wedding and event venues.

Owned by Al’s ex-wife Ann Ehringer since 1992, the restaurant boasts countless warm, homey touches that make dining there feel more like being in a friend’s home than a public space.

Antique books . . .

. . . unique lamps . . .

. . . and other curiosities can be found at every turn.

Saddle Peak Lodge, which can host 225 hungry patrons at a time, has won countless accolades and awards over the years including the AAA Four Diamond Award, Wine Spectator’s Award of Excellence, and a Michelin star.

And the restaurant is even more popular with celebrities than ever. Just a few of the stars who have been spotted there in recent years include Molly Ringwald, Selena Gomez, Nikki Reed, Jackson Rathbone, and Titus Welliver. Bruce Jenner even proposed to Kris Kardashian at Saddle Peak Lodge in 1991.

The hostess that the GC and I encountered upon entering Saddle Peak Lodge could not have been nicer and invited me to take all the photos of the place that I wanted even though we were not dining on the premises. She was also kind enough to fill us in on some of the site’s filming history. I was most excited to hear about the restaurant’s appearance on my grandma’s favorite show, Bones. In the Season 6 episode titled “The Truth in the Myth,” which aired in 2011, the eatery portrays the Pine Tree Manor hotel where Temperance Brennan (Emily Deschanel) and Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz) investigate the suspicious death of television host Lee Coleman (Leigh McCloskey). Both the exterior . . .

. . . and interior of the restaurant were featured in the episode.

In the 1955 drama The Fast and the Furious, Connie Adair (Dorothy Malone) stops for lunch at Saddle Peak Lodge and winds up getting kidnapped by escaped fugitive Frank Webster (John Ireland).

I am unsure if the interior shown in the movie was Saddle Peak’s actual interior or a set.

As I mentioned earlier, the restaurant was featured in a 1960 episode of Perry Mason. In Season 3’s “The Case of the Prudent Prosecutor,” Jefferson Pike (J. Pat O’Malley) fakes being shot outside of Saddle Peak Lodge.

Harry Baldwin (Ray Milland) and his family stop at Saddle Peak to use the phone and grab some provisions after learning that the city of Los Angeles has been destroyed in a nuclear attack in the 1962 thriller Panic in Year Zero!

As was the case with The Fast and the Furious, I am unsure if the interior shown onscreen was the restaurant’s actual interior or a set.

In the Season 6 episode of Dynasty titled “The Decision,” which aired in 1985, Miles Colby (Maxwell Caulfield) dines with Fallon Carrington Colby (Emma Samms) at Saddle Peak Lodge.

Thanks to fellow stalker Colette, I learned that Saddle Peak Lodge masked as Sable Mountain Ski Resort, where Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) found herself snowed in with an Olympic ski team in the Season 5 episode of Murder, She Wrote titled “Snow White, Blood Red,” which aired in 1988.

Larry David (playing himself) discusses basketball with friends over dinner at Saddle Creek in the Season 2 episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm titled “Shaq,” which aired in 2001.

In the Season 3 episode of Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica titled “Newlyweds Two Year Anniversary,” which aired in 2005, Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson celebrate their anniversary at Saddle Creek Lodge.

Saddle Peak pops up in the “Dinner with Rush” segment of the 2010 documentary Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage, which you can watch here.

In the Season 4 episodes of Awkward. titled “Snow Job: Part 1” and “Snow Job: Part 2″,” which aired in 2014, the restaurant portrays the hotel where the Palos Hills High School gang stays while on the senior ski trip.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Saddle Peak Lodge, from “The Truth in the Myth” episode of Bones, is located at 419 Cold Canyon Road in Calabasas. You can visit the eatery’s official website here.

April 25, 2018
Moorten Botanical Garden

If you follow any lifestyle, fashion or beauty blogger, chances are you’ve seen some variation of the photo above. For those who don’t keep up with influencers, the image is of the cactarium – aka cacti terrarium – at Moorten Botanical Garden in Palm Springs. The structure has been documented on social media so frequently as of late that The Telegraph recently dubbed it “the most Instagrammed greenhouse in the world.” I first learned about the garden in December 2015 while reading this article about the desert in Sunset magazine. In the days that followed, I spotted pictures of the place pop up in the IG feeds of no less than three bloggers I follow. Moorten it seemed was everywhere! Considering I had called the Coachella Valley home for three years by that point, I thought it was a bit sacrilegious that I had never seen the idyll in person myself. So I promptly dragged the Grim Cheaper right on over there a few weeks later – and was thrilled to learn upon doing so that the site is a filming location!

[ad]

Moorten Botanical Garden was established by railroad-worker-turned-actor Chester Moorten, who was best known for appearing in the Keystone Cops silent films. Upon being diagnosed with Tuberculosis in the ‘30s, Chester left Los Angeles and headed east to Palm Springs with the hope that the desert air would provide him some relief. A longtime green thumb, Moorten started cultivating and selling cacti and other desert foliage at a downtown Palm Springs shop/nursery that he opened in 1938 and quickly earned himself the nickname “Cactus Slim.” Everyone from area locals to the actor’s celebrity friends were customers.

In 1940, Moorten married botanist Patricia Haliday. Together the couple expanded Chester’s business to include landscape design and were soon hired by such luminaries as Walt Disney, Red Skelton, Jimmy Van Heusen, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and Lily Pons to create backyards at their desert homes. Walt even tapped the duo to curate the foliage for Frontierland at his soon-to-be-built Disneyland Resort.

The couple also expanded their nursery into a cactus museum of sorts, using it as a showcase for their growing landscape business.

Cultivated from plants gathered during the couple’s many world travels, the site soon evolved into an area attraction.

In its early days, such luminaries as Dwight Eisenhower, Mamie Eisenhower, and Ginger Rogers were all known to pop in.

In 1955, Chester and Patricia moved the garden to its current home, a 1.5-acre plot of land at 1701 South Palm Canyon Drive complete with a sprawling Mediterranean-style estate that became their residence.

Dubbed “Cactus Castle,” the 1929 dwelling was originally commissioned by nature photographer Stephen Willard and his wife, Beatrice, who lived on the premises until 1947.

When Slim passed away in 1980, Patricia continued to live at the estate, but handed over the daily operation of the garden to the couple’s son, Clark, who shared his parents’ deep love of horticulture.

Clark then moved into Cactus Castle with his family upon Patricia’s passing in 2010. He continues to run the garden to this day, carrying on his parents’ legacy with gusto.

Currently, Moorten Botanical Garden, which is also known as Desertland, is comprised of 3,000 different varieties of plants organized into 9 geographical regions including California, Texas, Arizona, Baja California, Colorado, the Mojave Desert, the Sonoran Desert, South Africa, and South America.

Woven landscapes greet visitors at every turn . . .

. . . as do unique relics like the loveseat created from a cedar burl pictured below . . .

. . . and vegetative curiosities such as the extraordinary S-shaped tree situated just outside of Cactus Castle’s front door, which was moved to the garden from Palm Canyon after being struck by lightning.

The bolt caused the tree to burn and collapse to the side, but it survived and continued to grow in a curved position.

The Moortens propped it up on rocks after re-locating it and subsequently created a waterfall underneath (which was not turned on the day we were there).

Moorten Botanical Garden also boasts an array of crystals, rocks, fossils, antique mining tools, a gift shop/nursery, and a menagerie of desert animals.

Its biggest draw, though, is the cactarium. An invention of Chester’s, the shutter-worthy structure was erected one day when Patricia happened to be out of town.

As Clark explained to The Telegraph, “Originally the cactarium had a wooden frame, and it was covered with double thickness window screen for shade. My father wanted a more greenhouse-type of structure, so he bent all the pipes while mother was away for a week in around 1976 or 1977.” Patricia was reportedly not at all happy with the result. Little did she know the rounded shed would become one of the desert’s biggest draws some forty years later. Though not much to look at from the outside . . .

. . . the cactarium’s interior is pretty spectacular.

Filled with rare specimens of plants . . .

. . . the structure is literally dripping with greenery.

Looking around Moorten Botanical Garden, it is not hard to see why so many are enchanted with the place and how Instagram has served to make it even more popular.

The site is just that picturesque.

True to form, I ran into a popular blogger, iPhone camera in hand and photographer husband trailing closely behind, while I was there.

Moorten Botanical Garden is not just an Instagram star, though. The site has also popped up a couple of times onscreen.

Back in 1995, the garden was featured in the 18th episode of the 6th season of Rescue 911 in the segment titled “Chance Encounter,” which covers the true tale of two young hikers both named Jennifer who were rescued after falling off a cliff in Palm Springs in 1994. At the end of the bit, the real life Jennifers stroll through Moorten with their rescuers. You can watch the segment here.

In the Season 13 episode of Visiting . . . with Huell Howser titled “Moorten Botanical Garden,” which aired in 2005, the convivial host visits the site and conducts an extensive interview with Clark. You can watch the full episode here.

Moorten also makes an appearance in the 2017 horror film Valentine DayZ in a scene that is featured in the trailer, which is where the stills below came from. I couldn’t actually find the flick available to stream anywhere, which the GC said is incredibly telling.

If you happen to find yourself in the desert, I highly recommend a visit to Moorten Botanical Garden.

The site can easily be traversed in about an hour and admittance is only $5.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Moorten Botanical Garden is located at 1701 South Palm Canyon Drive in The Mesa neighborhood of Palm Springs. You can visit the garden’s official website here.

April 20, 2018
The Three Clubs from “Swingers”

Besides a great coffee shop, there’s pretty much nothing I love more than an unpretentious bar/restaurant that boasts a retro vibe (as evidenced here, here, here, here, here, and here). Add in a filming location element and I am completely smitten! One that had been on my To-Stalk List for what seemed like eons was The Three Clubs in Hollywood, an onscreen maven most famous for its appearance in the 1996 indie hit Swingers. For whatever reason, though, I kept failing to make it over there – until August 2016, that is, when a good friend who worked on the premises hooked me up with a private tour of the place. I was immediately taken with the bar’s ‘50s aura. Walking inside feels like stepping into a Mad Men episode! Somehow, I never got around to blogging about it, though, which I did not realize until going through my Lightroom library the other day. So I figured it was high time I do so.

[ad]

The Three Clubs is a longtime stalwart in the Hollywood bar scene. Established by nightclub impresarios Marc Smith and Matthew Webb on December 27th, 1991 in a former strip mall dive bar near the corner of Santa Monica and Vine, the watering hole has been going strong for more than two and a half decades!

The interior, designed by Marc himself, is largely influenced by Sin City, the Golden Age of Hollywood, and Ol’ Blue Eyes. As Smith told LAist in a 2017 article, “We liked Vegas, we were very into Frank Sinatra. I have to thank the Rat Pack crew for being very pivotal in that world. I had a ’66 T-bird, a ’66 Triumph. We just wanted old things. It was kind of old Hollywood.” With décor elements including tucked-away leather banquettes, wooden wainscoting, and a rock-encrusted doorway, the retro aesthetic is undeniable. The Three Clubs is comprised of two very distinct rooms – the main area, dubbed “the Lounge” (pictured below), is an intimate, low-lit space featuring a large mahogany and leather bar, a black sparkly ceiling, and what the watering hole’s official website calls “casino-style carpeting.”

The Back Bar (pictured below) is a more open space with a small wooden bar, a central stage, raised seating areas, and a disco ball.

Even the cocktail menu was retro-inspired, long before drinking vespers, old fashioneds, and Manhattans was considered cool. As Smith was quoted telling LAist, “I remember talking to a magazine writer about [serving martinis at my lounge] and she was like, ‘What do you mean? That sounds really boring, like [a place] my parents went to. Are you sure?’” The novel concept took, though, and crowds were soon flocking to the place.

The Three Clubs became a celebrity draw from the get-go, as well. Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn were regulars during its early days – which is how the taproom wound up being featured in Swingers – and are still known to pop in today. Renee Zellweger worked for a time as a bar-back there. And Quentin Tarantino, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Cruise, Emily Osment, Steven Spielberg, Jay Leno, and Billy Idol have also all been spotted on the premises.

The Three Clubs actually pops up twice, portraying two different spots, in Swingers. Toward the beginning of the movie, the Back Bar masks as the Bamboo Lounge, the tiki-themed watering hole said to be located inside the Stardust Resort and Casino where Mike (Favreau) and Trent (Vaughn) meet up with Lisa (Katherine Kendall) and Christy (Deena Martin) after a night of gambling in Las Vegas. The space looks quite a bit different in the scene than it does in real life thanks to a large amount of Hawaiian-themed set dressing that was brought in for the shoot.

Later in the film, the Lounge appears as the bustling interior of The Room, where Mike, Rob (Ron Livingston), and Charles (Alex Désert) assemble before heading to a party in the hills.

Swingers is hardly the only production to have utilized The Three Clubs over the years.

In the Season 2 finale of Mad Men titled “Meditations in an Emergency,” which aired in 2008, a newly pregnant Betty Draper (January Jones) heads to The Three Clubs after doing some shopping and winds up having a tryst with a stranger in the bar’s back office.

Andy (Josh Cooke) pops into The Three Clubs where he meets singer Vanessa (Odette Annable) at the beginning of the 2010 comedy Group Sex.

Val (Al Pacino) and Doc (Christopher Walken) grab drinks at The Three Clubs in 2012’s Stand Up Guys.

In the Season 6 episode of Castle titled “For Better or Worse,” which aired in 2014, The Three Clubs portrays two spots. The Lounge first pops up as Tildy’s Tavern where Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) goes looking for her college love, Rogan O’Leary (Eddie McClintock), and gets him to sign divorce papers.

The Back Bar later plays the Roadhouse strip club where Kate and Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion) track down a stripper named Sapphire (Sarah Karges). Both spaces were dressed heavily for the shoot and are therefore not very recognizable from their appearances in the episode.

Frankie Valli (John Lloyd Young) and Tommy DeVito (Vincent Piazza) are interviewed by Lorraine (Erica Piccininni) at The Three Clubs in the 2014 biopic Jersey Boys.

The bar also supposedly pops up in Parks and Recreation, How to Get Away with Murder, Angie Tribeca, FlashForward, and Private Practice, but I am unsure of which episodes in particular. If anyone happens to know, please fill me in.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Three Clubs, from Swingers, is located at 1123 Vine Street in Hollywood. You can visit the bar’s official website here. The watering hole is open from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. daily.

April 18, 2018
“Blumhouse’s Truth or Dare” Giveaway!

Truth or Dare, the latest horror flick from Blumhouse Productions, was released this past Friday and I, for one, could not be more excited! Not only does the film star Pretty Little Liars’ Lucy Hale, but it was filmed exclusively in Los Angeles! So be prepared for some Truth or Dare locations to be coming your way this October! I am even more excited to be hosting a special giveaway in honor of the movie’s release in which one lucky reader will win a fabulous prize package! So grab a friend and take the Truth or Dare challenge to see who survives.

[ad]

First up, test your skills on the Truth or Dare Challenge Blog App by clicking below! The game requires two players. Complete the Truth or Dare challenge before time runs out – or pass . . . if you dare! The player who completes the most challenges in the shortest amount of time wins!

Then enter to win the fabulous Truth or Dare Night Pack which includes:

1 – Limited Edition Truth or Dare Card Game: This limited edition Truth or Dare Game is only available via this promotion and has a run of 200 pieces worldwide. It has a card deck featuring dares and the creepy crawly items you need to satisfy the dares in the deck. Test your resolve… The truth will set you free!

1 – Truth or Dare Official Promo Tank – Show off the goods with this Truth or Dare Official Tank. Once you play the card game, the winner will get this tank to show off to all their friends!

The game seriously sounds so fun (I mean, the dares involve eating insects – which are included!) that I considered keeping it for myself.

Entering is simple – just follow me on Twitter by clicking below for a chance to win. If you already follow me on Twitter, you still have to click below to enter. Send out a tweet about the contest through the link below for bonus entries! The winner will be announced on April 22nd!

Play the game . . . if you dare!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

April 17, 2018
Oliver’s San Francisco House from “A Lot Like Love”

I have made no secret over the years of my obsession with the 2005 romcom A Lot Like Love. And I thought I was quite well-versed in its locations. So I was shocked when fellow stalker Tovangar2 (you may remember him from this post) published a comment on my site in November 2015 alerting me to the fact that the supposed San Francisco house where Oliver Martin (Ashton Kutcher) lived in the flick was actually located in Los Angeles – at 1321 Carroll Avenue in Echo Park, to be exact. For the life of me I could not remember the exterior of Oliver’s SF residence being shown in the movie, so I immediately popped my A Lot Like Love DVD into my computer, started scanning, and, sure enough, about 45 minutes in was a shot of Oliver returning to a large Victorian pad after a long day at work. Considering I’ve seen the film about 25 times, I don’t know how I missed it! Fortunately, I happened to be in L.A. just a few days after learning about the locale, so I ran right out to stalk it. Thank you, Tovangar2!

[ad]

According to Big Orange Landmarks, the pad, which is known as the Beaudry House in real life, has quite an interesting history. Constructed in the Queen Anne/Eastlake style in 1887, the dwelling was initially located at 1145 Court Street, just west of North Boylston, about seven blocks south of where it currently stands. You can check out a map showing where it was originally situated here.

By the late ‘70s, the Beaudry House had grown severely dilapidated, the result of a downturn in the neighborhood and negligible maintenance. Though the property as well as its neighbor, the Irey House at 1123 Court Street, were rewarded Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument status, they both suffered from vandalism, graffiti and age. At around the same time, a group of Carroll Avenue homeowners banded together to form the Carroll Avenue Restoration Foundation in the hopes that they could thwart the development of a large vacant plot of land on their street. Fearing that the addition of a sizeable contemporary residence on the lot would be at odds with the community’s decidedly historic Victorian aesthetic, the organization resolved to purchase the plot and relocate the Beaudry and Irey Houses there. Thanks to some savvy maneuvering and many generous donations, CARF was successful and the two dwellings were moved via flatbed truck to their new street on March 22nd, 1978. You can check out a photo of the drive, which took two hours to complete, here.

Today, the Beaudry House, which is actually classified as a duplex, is a glowing example of preserved Victorian architecture. The 3,201-square-foot property – which consists of a 1-bedroom, 1-bath unit downstairs and a 2-bedroom, 1-bath second-level space, as well a carriage house that has been converted into a studio – boasts pocket doors, period sconces, wood detailing, stained glass windows, a 3-car garage, and 0.28 acres of land.

The residence last sold in December 2015 for $1.2 million. You can check out some interior photos from the listing here. Because the pad is a duplex with a converted carriage house, it oddly has three different kitchens, which is a bit jarring to see.

Here’s hoping the new owners will convert the property back into a single-family home.

The Beaudry House appears only once in A Lot Like Love, in the scene in which Oliver returns home from work to learn that his live-in girlfriend Bridget (Moon Bloodgood) wants to break up with him just minutes before dinner guests are expected to arrive. in the movie, the residence actually belongs to Bridget. As Oliver later explains to his on-again/off-again love Emily Friehl (Amanda Peet), “I’ve been killing myself at work – nights, weekends, even at home. Well, Bridget’s home. See, I moved in with her. That was my big mistake right there. I should have stuck to the plan. I mean, the plan, the plan was working! And the irony of it is that Bridget actually loves plans.”

The actual interior of the property was also featured in the film, as you can see in the screen capture as compared to the MLS photo of the home pictured below.

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

Big THANK YOU to Tovangar2 for telling me about this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Oliver’s “San Francisco” house from A Lot Like Love is located at 1321 Carroll Avenue in Echo Park. Several other homes in the neighborhood have also appeared onscreen – the Sanders House at 1145 Carroll is where Ola Ray hid from zombies in Michael Jackson’s Thriller, 1329 Carroll portrayed the Halliwell sisters’ residence on Charmed, Don Draper (Jon Hamm) grew up at 1355 Carroll on Mad Men, and Holly’s (Amy Ryan) Nashua house from the “Employee Transfer” episode of The Office is around the corner at 1347 Kellam Avenue.

April 16, 2018
The Barthman Sidewalk Clock

It has been said that you shouldn’t look down when you walk. There are two places in Manhattan where you ought to keep your eyes on the pavement, though. I blogged about one, Hess Triangle in front of Village Cigars, on Wednesday. The other, a clock imbedded in concrete outside of what was once William Barthman Jeweler in the Financial District, has been alerting overhead passersby of the time since 1899! I first learned about the historic curiosity while perusing the book The Best Things to Do in New York shortly before our April 2016 trip to the Big Apple and immediately decided it was a must-see. Even though the underfoot ticker is not a filming location (at least, not that I know of), since it is such an obscure and unique spot and definitely falls into the “Hidden NYC” category, I figured it was blog-worthy, as well.

[ad]

The sidewalk timepiece was first dreamed up by William Barthman in 1896 as a way to attract patrons to his downtown jewelry and watch store, which he opened on the corner of Broadway and Maiden Lane twelve years prior. Though large clocks posted at the entrance to boutiques were quite commonplace at the time, one embedded in the sidewalk was a definite novelty and Barthman figured such an unusual mechanism would pique the interest of all who stepped upon it. He conceived of the design himself and enlisted his associate Frank Homm to bring his vision to life. It took Homm more than two years to do so and the piece was finally installed outside of the shop in the fall of 1899.

The original Barthman Sidewalk Clock is not the one pictured above. As you can see in the screen capture below, which I grabbed from a fabulous video posted on the Hodinkee website, in its initial form the piece, a three-window jump hour mechanism with a built-in light that made it visible at night, looked much different. Though it did quickly become an area attraction, luring in those who walked by, in a rather unfortunate twist, when Homm passed away in 1917 he took the secret of maintaining the device to his grave with him. As such, the clock ceased to function, consistently broadcasting the incorrect time to all who took note of it (well, except for twice a day, as the saying goes). In the years following, it served as a source of embarrassment for the store and employees took to covering it over with cardboard each morning prior to opening.

Finally, in 1925, Barthman Jeweler replaced the busted gadget with a working Arabic-style clock. The apparatus has since been refitted and modified on several occasions throughout the years, including a 1983 revamping performed by none other than Cartier. The brass compass rose that currently encircles it was also a later enhancement. In addition to regular winding, the piece still requires quite a bit of maintenance, which is not surprising considering an estimated 15,000 people walk across it each hour during peak intervals. Thankfully, this time around more than one Barthman employee is experienced with the ins and outs of its upkeep and care. According to Gizmodo and The New York Times, the custom-made face, which can withstand 2,000 pounds of pressure, is removed for polishing twice a year and replaced altogether every four due to scratching and clouding. And how are maintenance and repairs achieved, you ask? Via an access point located underneath the sidewalk. You can check out what it looks like here.

Though William Barthman Jeweler is still in existence, it has since moved a few doors down to 176 Broadway and a Vitamin Shoppe outpost now occupies its original space.

Prior to the move, a replica clock was made with the intention that it would be installed in the sidewalk in front of the new store. That was not to be, though. As the Hodinkee website explains, when Barthman’s owners asked for permission for the project, in a rather iconic twist “the authorities had a simple answer: there is only one New York Sidewalk Clock.” The replica was eventually hung above the shop’s main door. Though I did not get any photos of it, you can see it in the Google Street View images below.

Despite the re-location, Barthman employees still maintain the clock via the underground access point.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Barthman Sidewalk Clock can be found on the northeast corner of Broadway and Maiden Lane, outside of The Vitamin Shoppe located at 174 Broadway, in Manhattan’s Financial District. William Barthman Jeweler is a few doors down at 176 Broadway. You can visit the jewelry store’s official website here.

April 13, 2018
Village Cigars from “Just My Luck”

When planning a trip, my M.O. is to pore over as many area travel guides as possible and highlight spots I think the Grim Cheaper and I might be interested in seeing. I then pass the books along to him and he reads through all the passages I have marked, giving them a yay or a nay. One place that really piqued both our interests prior to our April 2016 NYC vacay was Village Cigars, which we learned about via The Best Things to Do in New York. Though the smoke shop is an institution in and of itself, the GC and I were most interested in stalking it because of a small triangular plaque located on the sidewalk out front.

[ad]

Originally established in the early 1900s, Village Cigars moved to its current home – a tiny triangular-shaped space situated at the intersection of 7th Avenue South, Christopher Street, West 4th Street and Grove Street in the heart of Greenwich Village – in 1922. Prior to that, a five-story apartment building known as the Voorhis stood at that site. Owned by Philadelphia-based landlord David Hess and his family, the property was acquired by the city via eminent domain in 1910 in preparation for a large subway expansion project that ultimately destroyed pretty much everything in its path – all in the name of saving a few bucks. In order to avoid the expensive process of deep bore tunneling, which would have preserved the buildings situated above, the government instead chose to use a ‘cut and cover’ procedure, i.e. removing streets to allow for subterranean digging and then replacing them upon project completion. As such, an entire stretch of about 300 city buildings, including the Voorhis, were razed and Seventh Avenue South was extended about a mile. A commenter named Tim on the Scouting New York website explains it best, saying, “Seventh Ave. used to end at Greenwich Ave. The cut to Varick St. was made in 1913 so the subway company didn’t have to spend big on expensive drilling, instead they convinced the City to demolish 9 city blocks worth of buildings – churches, businesses and apartments – anything in the path of the new Seventh Ave. South so they could use the cheaper ‘cut and cover’ method.”

You can read a great write-up on the massive undertaking on the Gothamist website here. Included in the article are the 1897 and 1916 maps pictured below (garnered from The New York Public Library Digital Collections) which provide a better visual of how the Seventh Avenue extension changed the landscape of the area. In 1897, the Voorhis (spelled incorrectly as “Vorhes” on the map) occupied lot #55, situated just southwest of Christopher Park (the green triangle denoted “park”). As you can see, the extension not only cut through that lot, but the ones numbered 51 through 54, as well.

Years after the Seventh Avenue expansion was complete, Hess’ heirs discovered that during the imminent domain process the government had somehow failed to secure ownership of a miniscule triangular portion of their former land. So they quickly claimed the rights to it. In an incredibly nervy move, the city then asked the Hess estate to donate the 500-square-inch section of sidewalk to New York. I’ve doctored the 1897 map below with an overlay showing the current position of Seventh Avenue and an arrow denoting the location of the land in dispute.

Not surprisingly, the Hess family refused to donate the plot and instead adorned it with a tile plaque reading “PROPERTY OF THE HESS ESTATE WHICH HAS NEVER BEEN DEDICATED FOR PUBLIC PURPOSES.” The black-and-white mosaic was installed on July 26th, 1922. To further drive their point home, the family even erected a fence around the signage at one point.

In 1938, the Hess heirs sold the land, one of the smallest plots still in private ownership in New York, for $1,000 to the proprietors of Village Cigars, who chose to leave the 25.5-inch by 27.5-inch by 27.5-inch plaque intact. Today, the tiny patch is known as “Hess Triangle.” You can read a fabulous accounting of the history of the triangle on the Chris Whong website here and here.

Though the plaque has never appeared in a movie or television show (at least that I know of – if I’m wrong please fill me in!), Village Cigars is a frequent screen star.

The store is visible twice in fave movie Just My Luck. It first pops up toward the beginning of the 2006 film in the scene in which Dana (Bree Turner) and Maggie (Samaire Armstrong) decide to test out Ashley Albright’s (Lindsay Lohan) good fortune by purchasing a lottery ticket for her at a magazine stand located across the street from Village Cigars to see if she wins. Spoiler alert – she does.

Later in the movie, after her luck has run out, Ashley heads to Christopher Park, across the street from Village Cigars, with Jake Hardin (Chris Pine) and accidentally sits on a park bench that has just been painted.

Larry Lapinsky (Lenny Baker) passes by Village Cigars numerous times in the 1976 drama Next Stop, Greenwich Village.

At the beginning of the 1980 comedy Hero at Large, Steve Nichols (John Ritter) is dropped off in front of Village Cigars after a Captain Avenger media promotion.

Alice Detroit (Dyan Cannon) asks Ivan Travalian (Al Pacino) to meet up with her outside of Village Cigars in 1982’s Author! Author!

In the Season 2 episode of NYPD Blue titled “The Final Adjustment,” which aired in 1994, Detective James Martinez (Nicholas Turturro) and Leticia Beltran (Marta Martin) walk through Christopher Park with Village Cigars visible in the background.

Sonny Koufax (Adam Sandler) grabs a hot dog and “a lot of ketchup” with Julian ‘Frankenstein’ McGrath (Cole and Dylan Sprouse) across the street from Village Cigar in the 1999 comedy Big Daddy.

Village Cigars can also be seen in the background of the 2013 drama Inside Llewyn Davis in the scene in which Llewyn (Oscar Isaac) exits a Greenwich Village subway station with his friend’s cat.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Village Cigars, from Just My Luck, is located at 110 7th Avenue South in New York’s West Village. Hess Triangle can be found in the sidewalk just outside the shop’s front doors.

April 11, 2018
Gray’s Papaya from “Sex and the City”

You will never catch anyone calling me a “foodie.” My palate leans much more toward comfort than epicurean with meals of choice consisting of chicken strips and ranch dressing, turkey and mashed potatoes, and hot dogs. I am a hot dog fanatic. My favorite spot to grab a ‘furter is Gray’s Papaya in New York. Their franks are simply sublime! I’ve sung the chain’s praises a couple of time on this blog – first in 2007 and then again in 2009. I got a bit of my reporting wrong in the later, though, when I stated that a scene from the Season 5 episode of Sex and the City titled “Plus One Is the Loneliest Number” had been lensed at the company’s Upper West Side outpost. A reader named Sabrina corrected me, commenting that SATC had actually been shot at the Greenwich Village Gray’s. As she explained, “You can see the phone box right next to the exit Carrie uses.” So I took a closer look at the episode and Sabrina was indeed correct! In “Plus One Is the Loneliest Number,” Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) grabs a dog at the GP located at 402 Sixth Avenue. So I immediately added the address to my New York To-Stalk List. Sadly, by the time I finally made it there in 2016, the eatery had closed and a Liquiteria juice bar had taken its place. I still figured it was worth blogging about, though.

[ad]

For those who have never had the pleasure of downing a Gray’s Papaya frank, it truly is an experience. The no-frills, walk-up hot dog stand was originally founded in 1973 by Paul Gray – a former employee of rival chain Papaya King – on the corner of Broadway and West 72nd Street on NYC’s Upper West Side. The eatery quickly became a hit with New Yorkers who loved the quality of the dogs and the bargain prices. It wasn’t long before additional outposts popped up around Manhattan, including the one at 402 Sixth Avenue which opened its doors in 1986. Though I never visited it, you can check out what it looked like when it was still in operation thanks to the archived Google Street View images from June 2011 below.

Sadly, though still insanely popular (you’d be hard-pressed to find any Gray’s location that is not crammed with people 24/7), the Greenwich Village outpost shuttered in January 2014 due to a rent hike. It followed the closing of another Gray’s at 539 8th Avenue in Midtown in February 2011 for the same reason, leaving the UWS eatery as the chain’s sole locale.

Things appear to be on the upswing, though. Not only is the flagship UWS outpost still flourishing 45 years after its inception, but a new Gray’s was opened in 2016 at 612 Eighth Avenue in Midtown. Customers have been lining up for the popular Recession Special – two dogs and a papaya juice drink or soda for $4.95 – ever since.

In “Plus One Is the Loneliest Number,” which aired in 2002, a “palpably lonely” Carrie attends the party for her book release sans a significant other. While heading home from the soiree, Carrie’s limo driver (Dena Atlantic) learns that Carrie has just written a book and insists on taking her somewhere to celebrate. The two hit up Gray’s Papaya (long known for being open 24 hours) and when the driver informs the man taking their order about Carrie’s new book, he insists on giving them the dogs for free. The scene was inspired by SATC writer Cindy Chupack’s first Emmy win. Of the experience, she is quoted in Sex and the City: Kiss and Tell as saying, “I didn’t have a date for the Emmys the year we won, and I lost our Sex and the City people at one point during the night, so I felt very ‘minus one’ until my driver said, ‘You won an Emmy? We have to celebrate this!’ and took me through a McDonald’s drive-through and told the guys in the window, ‘She won an Emmy!’ They gave me a free chocolate shake. The limo driver we cast in the episode was very much like the driver I had – although in the episode, Carrie goes to Gray’s Papaya, which is more New York and is actually a favorite place of Sarah Jessica’s.”

Though very little of Gray’s exterior is visible in the scene and what is shown is only via a blurry camera pan, as you can see in the screen captures below as compared to the Google Street View images, the restaurant’s red trim . . .

. . . as well as the location and configuration of the side doors are a match to what appeared onscreen.

And, sure enough, there’s that phone box that Sabrina mentioned.

The Greenwich Village Gray’s has popped up in a couple of other productions, as well. In the 2008 comedy Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, Thom (Aaron Yoo) calls Nick (Michael Cera) while standing outside of the eatery to let him know that he has lost Caroline (Ari Graynor).

And Zoe (Jennifer Lopez) takes Stan (Alex O’Loughlin) to grab take-out there in the 2010 romcom The Back-up Plan.

The other Gray’s outposts are popular filming locales, as well. In the Season 3 episode of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations titled “New York City,” which aired in 2007, Bourdain heads to the now defunct Gray’s at 539 8th Avenue (which you can see a photo of here), his “favorite local eatery,” for a late-night Recession Special. While there he extols the restaurant, saying, “But man, when I start missing New York, you know, this is one of the things I miss. Ah, come on! A good Gray’s dog!”

It is the original Gray’s Papaya on the Upper West Side (pictured below) that is the most popular with location scouts, though.

The Warriors encounter members of rival street gang The Baseball Furies outside of the Upper West Side Gray’s in the 1979 crime drama The Warriors.

Doug Ireland (Michael J. Fox) brings Andy Hart (Gabrielle Anwar) there for a quick bite in the 1993 romcom For Love or Money.

In 1995’s Die Hard with a Vengeance, John McClane (Bruce Willis) and Zeus Carver (Samuel L. Jackson) take a phone call from Simon Gruber (Jeremy Irons) at the payphone across the street from the UWS Gray’s.

Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan) briefly dines with Joe Fox (Tom Hanks) there shortly before heading out to meet NY152 at the end of 1998’s You’ve Got Mail.

The last time I visited New York, my friends Kim, Katie, Lavonna and I tried to pose for a photo a la Kathleen and Joe in Gray’s front window, but the reflection wreaked havoc with the image. If you look closely at the screen captures above, it actually appears that the restaurant’s window was removed for the filming of the You’ve Got Mail scene.

Lance Barton (Chris Rock) takes Sontee Jenkins (Regina King) for a meal at the UWS Gray’s in the 2001 comedy Down to Earth.

The eatery was shown in an establishing shot in the Season 1 episode of How I Met Your Mother titled “The Limo,” which aired in 2005, though no actual filming took place there.

Michael J. Fox returned to Gray’s in 2013 to shoot a scene for the pilot episode of his self-titled series The Michael J. Fox Show, in which Mike Henry (Fox) and Harris Green (Wendell Pierce) discuss the possibility of Mike returning to work while standing across the street from the restaurant.

The restaurant chain was also mentioned in the Season 4 episode of Glee titled “Makeover” and was a pivotal plot element in the 1997 romcom Fools Rush In, though neither production did any filming on the premises. And while several websites claim that the Season 3 episode of Louie titled “Telling Jokes/Set Up” and the 1998 romance Crossing Delancey were filmed at Gray’s, both were actually lensed at Papaya King outposts.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Gray’s Papaya from the “Plus One Is the Loneliest Number” episode of Sex and the City was formerly located at 402 Sixth Avenue in Greenwich Village. Today, the site is home to a Liquiteria. The Gray’s that appeared in Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations was formerly located at 539 8th Avenue in Midtown. That spot now houses a Cohen’s Fashion Optical. The Upper West Side Gray’s, from You’ve Got Mail, is still in operation and can be found at 2090 Broadway. A second Gray’s outpost is located at 612 8th Avenue in Midtown. Gray’s Papaya restaurants are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

April 9, 2018
Pasadena Elks Lodge from “Veep”

Anyone who has visited Pasadena has likely taken note of the sprawling pillared building situated on the southeast corner of Colorado and Orange Grove Boulevards. As the many signs adorning the structure indicate, it serves as Elks Lodge #672. I passed the site regularly during the 15+ years I called Crown City home and knew of its frequent use as both a filming location and production basecamp (Star Waggons are ubiquitous in the massive parking lot out front), but because the lodge is private and only accessible to members, I never set foot on the premises. When I learned, thanks to this Instagram photo posted by Veep executive producer David Mandel, that the property had been featured extensively in the popular HBO series’ Season 6 episode “Georgia,” though, I became a wee bit obsessed with changing that. So, while in L.A. a couple of weeks ago, I decided to stop by to see if I could possibly be given a tour. Thankfully, the member who answered my knock could not have been nicer and immediately invited me in to see all the areas that appeared on Veep and to regale me with a brief history of the lodge and the Elks organization itself.

[ad]

The Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks of the United States of America (B.P.O.E.) was initially founded in 1867 by singer Charles Algernon Sidney Vivian as a drinking club for Manhattan performers, of all things. Originally dubbed the “Jolly Corks,” per the Elks official website the main function of the organization was “to circumvent a New York law that closed saloons on Sundays.” The group’s focus eventually became far more altruistic and service-oriented, leading to its name change. According to the website, the order chose their eponym based upon a “number of attributes that are deemed typical of those to be cultivated by members of the fraternity. The Elk is distinctively an American animal. It habitually lives in herds. The Elk is the largest of our native quadrupeds, it is yet fleet of foot and graceful in movement. It is quick and keen of perception; and while it is usually gentle and even timorous, it is strong and valiant in defense of its own.”

Today, the Elks organization boasts a million members with 2,000 lodges dotted across the U.S.

Lodge #672 was erected in 1911. Designed in the Colonial Revival style by architect Myron Hunt (who also gave us Thornton Gardens, Occidental College, Wattles Mansion, the Langham Huntington Hotel, and the Huntington Library, Art Collection, and Botanical Gardens), the 31,000-square-foot structure has served as the Pasadena headquarters of the B.P.O.E. ever since.

Though a Bennett-and-Haskell-designed annex was added to the property in 1928 and a restoration took place in 2010, little of the lodge has changed over the course of its 107-year history.

You can check out some early photos of it here.

Though Lodge #672 appears quite large from the street, I was shocked at the sheer size of the place upon entering. The structure is huge with myriad meeting places, event venues and ballrooms, each of them prettier than the next.

The Main Ballroom, pictured above and below, was being dressed for an event while we were there.

Our tour guide informed us that the Veep production team altered the Main Ballroom’s bar for the “Georgia” shoot . . .

. . . adding in the mirrors and shelving you see below for a scene that ultimately wound up on the cutting room floor.

A few faux maroon pillars, like the one pictured below, were also installed for the filming of the deleted scene . . .

. . . and the walls surrounding the bar were painted with the faces of Old Hollywood stars. While the Elks chose to leave the paintings intact, I was not able to view them, unfortunately, due to the fact that they were temporarily covered over with the faux stone walls you see below by yet another production that filmed on the premises just prior to us stalking the place.

The room below, which I believe is named the Fireside Room, is situated off the lodge’s main entrance.

The formal space boasts a fireplace . . .

. . . and a perimeter of decorative columns.

It is the Lodge Room, though, that is the most impressive.

The venue, which is situated on the second floor and boasts plush seating along the two side walls, serves as the Elks’ meeting room.

Calling it grand would be an understatement.

Though the room is original to the property, the stage was added in 1945 and a remodel took place in 2000.

You can check out some more images of the lodge’s interior here.

The Pasadena Elks Lodge portrays two different locations in “Georgia.” The Lodge Room masks as Georgia’s Election Monitoring Headquarters where Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) flip-flops on which candidate she is backing (based upon which of them happens to be offering to donate the most money to her presidential library at the time) in the county’s first free and democratic election.

The lodge’s Fireside Room portrays the lobby of the Tbilisi Grand Hotel, where Selina and her team stay while in town.

A prop elevator was set up in the corner of the room for the shoot, as you can see in the background of the images below.

In reality, that area serves as a doorway to Lodge #672’s front office.

The image below is the only view we get of the Main Ballroom in the episode. It appears in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment as the Tbilisi Grand’s restaurant in the scene in which Jonah Ryan (Timothy Simons) discovers that his fellow congressmen are dining without him.

Only the interior of the Pasadena Elks Lodge is featured in “Georgia.”

For exterior shots of the Tbilisi Grand, producers used a mash-up of locations both near and far. The establishing shot of the hotel is of an actual Georgian lodging – the Ambassadori Tbilisi Hotel and Casino located at 17 loane Shavteli Street. You can check out some images of it here.

All on location exterior filming took place much closer to home at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel located at 506 South Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles.

The hotel was significantly roughed up for the shoot, with graffiti added to the walls and strewn furniture discarded on the sidewalk out front.

The Pasadena Elks Lodge has been host to many filmings over the years.

In the 1992 comedy The Distinguished Gentleman, the EPA oversight hearing of the Committee on Power and Industry takes place in the Lodge Room.

Senator Bob Rumson (Richard Dreyfuss) campaigns in the Lodge Room in the 1995 comedy The American President.

Though no part of Lodge #672 can actually be seen, per the book Twilight: Director’s Notebook, Bella’s (Kristin Stewart) bedroom set was rebuilt on the premises for a reshoot of the scene in which she and Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) kiss for the first time in 2008’s Twilight.

Ron Donald (Ken Marino) caters his own reunion at the Pasadena Elks Lodge in the Season 1 episode of Party Down titled “James Rolf High School Twentieth Reunion.”

As you can see, when the episode was shot in 2009, the Main Ballroom’s bar was in its original state and looked much different than it does now after the alterations made by the Veep crew.

In the 2010 comedy The Back-up Plan, Nana (Linda Lavin) marries Arthur (Tom Bosley) in the lodge’s Fireside Room.

Thanks to my buddy Mikey, from the Mike the Fanboy website, I learned that the lodge masked as Elder & Massey Auction House, where Doug Wilson (Kevin Nealon) attended a NASA inventory liquidation auction and almost won a flight-worn suit of Captain Jim Wetherbee, in the Season 8 episode of Weeds titled “Unfreeze,” which aired in 2012. Mikey was actually on set the day filming took place and got to meet and take a photo with Kevin. You can read about his experience here.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Pasadena Elks Lodge, from the “Georgia” episode of Veep, is located at 400 West Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena. You can visit the lodge’s official website here. Please keep in mind that the club is private and not accessible to the public.

April 4, 2018
The Los Angeles Theatre Alley from “Coyote Ugly”

You won’t typically find me frequenting back alleys in downtown Los Angeles. But there is one that I just can’t get enough of. My good friend Mike, from MovieShotsLA, pointed it out to me many years ago during a daylong DTLA stalking venture. While driving through the Theatre District, he pulled over near what looked to be a nondescript alcove off West 6th Street and pointed upwards. I literally gasped as my eyes locked upon the towering red marquee reading “Los Angeles Theatre” situated on the back wall of the small urban enclave. It was easily one of the most cinematic vistas I had ever seen! So I was not surprised when Mike informed me that the passageway had been featured onscreen in 2000’s Coyote Ugly, which up until that point I assumed had been shot solely in New York. Mike, of course, knew better. I snapped a ton of photos of the alley that day and have been back several times since, always stopping for a peek when I find myself nearby. Somehow though, I failed to ever blog about it. Cut to last month when I received an email from fellow stalker/Emergency! expert Richard Yokley (you may remember him from this post and this post) asking if I had ever stalked the Los Angeles Theatre alley and informing me of several of its other onscreen cameos. I decided right then and there that I had to dedicate a post to the site pronto!

[ad]

Modeled after San Francisco’s now defunct Fox Theater, the Los Angeles Theatre was originally built in 1931 for film exhibitor H.L. Gumbiner. The grand venue was designed in the French Baroque style by S. Charles Lee (who also gave us Temple Israel of Hollywood) and cost over $1 million to complete. And we’re talking 1930’s dollars! To say the site is opulent would be a gross understatement. I had the privilege of seeing it up close and personal a few years back thanks to the Los Angeles Conservancy’s Broadway Historic Theatre and Commercial District Tour. And, let me tell you, it is sensational! From the 80-foot-tall façade . . .

. . . to the gilded two-story lobby . . .

. . . to the elaborate 2,000-seat auditorium . . .

. . . to the oval ballroom – the locale is one of the most captivating in all of L.A.!

I mean, even the bathrooms are dazzling!

It is the theatre’s side alley that sets my heart aflutter, though.

The juxtaposition of the grit of the alley with the glamour of the marquee is just so strikingly cinematic!

Not to mention picturesque!

I’ve never seen anything quite like it.

The space almost looks like a manufactured set piece created on a backlot street at a Hollywood studio. But I assure you it is real.

Situated along the Los Angeles Theatre’s north side, around the corner from its main entrance, the alley is largely tucked away from view. One can easily drive right past without realizing it is there.

So why, you ask, was a large marquee installed in a relatively hidden alcove that would not seen by most patrons venturing through the venue’s front doors on Broadway? I could not even fathom a guess, but, thankfully, found an explanation on the Historic Los Angeles Theatres website.

As I learned, another movie palace, the Paramount Theatre, formerly stood directly across the street from the alley at 323 West 6th Street. (It was torn down in 1960 and the International Jewelry Center was eventually erected in its place.) The Paramount’s main entrance provided a great view of the enclave, so Gumbiner, ever the businessman, decided to install a marquee there in the hopes that it would draw the attention – and patronage – of his competitor’s clientele. Original plans for the space called for a much more elaborate façade with a porticoed doorway and columns flanking the marquee, as you can see on the Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation’s Facebook page and the Historic Los Angeles Theatres website.

For whatever reason, though, only the marquee portion of it was completed – which I think makes the site even more dramatic and eye-catching.

Considering its compelling ambience, it is not surprising that the alley has popped up onscreen.

In Coyote Ugly, the locale masks as the entrance to New York’s Fiji Mermaid club.

It is there that Violet Sanford (Piper Perabo) introduces herself to Kevin O’Donnell (Adam Garcia), who she thinks is the club’s manager, at the beginning of the film. As you can see in the screen captures above and below, the marquee was changed to read “East Broadway Theatre” for the scene.

As Richard informed me in his email, Harry Lockhart (Robert Downey Jr.) and Gay Perry (Val Kilmer) retrieve a body from the Los Angeles Theatre alley – and share a rather passionate embrace there while trying to evade the police – in 2005’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.

Richard also clued me into the alley’s appearance in the original Life on Mars pilot, which never aired, but can be viewed on YouTube here. Written by David E. Kelley, the unaired episode takes place in Los Angeles and centers on LAPD detective Sam Tyler (Jason O’Mara) who, after getting hit by a car in 2007, wakes up to discover he is stuck in the year 1972. Apparently ABC requested a complete re-do of the show after viewing it. Not only were several roles recast, but the setting was moved from SoCal to New York. The series was then picked up and went on to air 17 episodes before being given the ax – prematurely I might add. My mom and I watched Life on Mars religiously and were heartbroken over its cancellation. As much of a fan as I was, though, I was completely unaware that the pilot had been reshot until Richard’s email. In the episode, Sam witnesses an arrest taking place in the Los Angeles Theater alley shortly after waking up in 1972.

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

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for originally telling me about this location and to Richard Yokley for reminding me of it and informing me of its other onscreen appearances.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Los Angeles Theatre alley, from Coyote Ugly, is located in between 314 and 318 West 6th Street in downtown Los Angeles.

April 2, 2018