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“The Awakening” Sculpture

I am not typically a big art person. This is mainly due to the fact that I love to be outside, especially when on vacation, so I don’t find myself frequenting museums often. While researching Washington, D.C.-area attractions prior to my trip to the East Coast last September, though, I came across some information about a work of art that enthralled me. Images of the piece, a massive sculpture called The Awakening, were striking and I quickly decided that I was not returning home without seeing it in person.

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The unique installation, which depicts a giant fighting to emerge from the sand that engulfs him, was created by J. Seward Johnson, Jr., the same artist who gave us Forever Marilyn and Unconditional Surrender, both of which I blogged about in May 2012. (I was thrilled to come across reports while researching for this post that Forever Marilyn might be returning to Palm Springs in the very near future!)

The sculpture is made up of five half-buried cast-aluminum parts representing the hand, arm, head, knee and foot of a distressed giant struggling to break through the earth’s surface.

Rising over 15 feet tall and spanning a length of 70 feet, The Awakening is absolutely breathtaking to see in person.

And rather dramatic.

Seward, who is the grandson of Johnson & Johnson co-founder Robert Wood Johnson, created the piece in 1980 for the International Sculpture Conference Exhibition in Washington, D.C. It was originally installed on an open expanse of grassy land overlooking the water at Hains Point in East Potomac Park, just a few miles from the National Mall. Owned by the Sculpture Foundation, The Awakening’s placement was always considered temporary, thanks largely to a law enacted in 1986 that banned non-commemorative art from being permanently displayed in any District-area national park. As such, the Foundation quietly put it on the market, where it remained for several years until Milton V. Peterson, chairman of the Peterson Companies, snapped it up in 2007. The purchase price? A cool $740,000. Of the score, Peterson said, “As soon as I found it was for sale, I bought it that week. I think it is one of the most demonstrative pieces that we have.”

Peterson purchased the 4,100-pound statue in order to install it at National Harbor, his 300-acre mixed-use development consisting of shops, eateries, condominium buildings, hotels, offices, and a convention center, all situated adjacent to the Potomac River in Oxon Hill, Maryland. A beach was constructed in the center of the complex for The Awakening to be displayed.

While being assembled at its new home, the giant was altered. As explained in this December 2007 The New York Times article, “At Hains Point, the pieces were placed slightly off-kilter, making the figure anatomically incorrect. So when the sculpture’s wire base is reburied, one of the legs will be moved slightly.”

National Harbor opened to the public in 2008.

As you can see below, the site where The Awakening now sits boasts some incredible views.

I have to say that I prefer the sculpture’s original setting, though. The Awakening is now situated in a relatively tiny area that is below street level, making it virtually hidden from passersby. Even I had a bit of a hard time spotting it as we arrived on the scene, and I was actively looking for it. While undeniably huge, the piece gets swallowed up by its surroundings. In my never-to-be-humble opinion, I think it looked much better – and much more striking – when it was out in the open as it was at Hains Point. You can see images of The Awakening at its original location here and here. My other beef with the piece’s new home is that it has seemingly turned into a playground, with kids crawling all over it (as pretty much all of my pictures attest to), and now more closely resembles a jungle gym than a stunning work of art. A second The Awakening was created by Seward in 2009 and put on display in Chesterfield, Missouri. That piece is laid out in a much better way than its National Harbor counterpart. You can check out some photos of it here and here.

I was floored to learn while doing research for this post that The Awakening is also a filming location! Back in 1995, when it was still located at Hains Point, the statue was featured in the opening scene of The Net as the spot where Secretary of Defense Senator Bergstrom (Ken Howard) killed himself.

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 Awakening sculpture is located at 153 National Plaza, in the National Harbor development, in Oxon Hill, Maryland.

January 23, 2017
The Marsh House from “Happy Land”

Since we’re on the subject of McDonald Avenue (you can read Wednesday’s post about the McDonald Mansion from Pollyanna here), I figured I should write about another of its famous homes. While doing research on the picturesque Santa Rosa street, one of the area’s most oft-filmed spots, prior to my trip up to Northern California last October, I came across a post on the Dear Old Hollywood website about Happy Land filming locations. I had never heard of the 1943 drama prior to reading the post, but was immediately taken with one of the locales mentioned – a gorgeous Victorian dwelling that portrayed the Marsh family residence in the film. So I made sure to add it to my NorCal Must-Stalk List.

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In person, the house did not disappoint. I mean, look at the place! It’s stunning!

All that detailing is sublime!

The 2-story pad, which was originally built in 1890, is much larger than it appears to be from the street, boasting 5 bedrooms, 4 baths, and a whopping 3,594 square feet of living space.

Amazingly, the dwelling still looks pretty much exactly the same today as it did when Happy Land was shot 74 years ago.

I finally sat down to watch the movie earlier this week. While a sweet film, Happy Land is, ironically enough, extremely sad. The storyline centers around Lew (Don Ameche) and Agnes Marsh (Frances Dee), a couple trying to come to grips with the death of their son, Rusty (Richard Crane), who was killed in World War II. Told via flashbacks, Happy Land reminds me a bit of A Christmas Carol, but without the Christmas theme.

The Marsh’s idyllic home, said to be located at 1127 Willson Avenue in Hartfield, Iowa, was featured throughout the film.

I absolutely love that the property’s real life address number was visible in the movie. The address placard that appeared in Happy Land even looks to be the same one that is still installed above the front door today!

Dear Old Hollywood founder Robby Cress set about tracking down the Happy Land house prior to a 2013 trip to Northern California. Though he had heard that the movie was shot in Santa Rosa, he had no idea how to begin searching the area for the Marsh’s stately Victorian. It was none other than Alfred Hitchcock who wound up giving him an assist. The Master of Suspense filmed his famed 1943 thriller Shadow of a Doubt on McDonald Avenue and Robby figured Happy Land might have done the same. So he began searching the street and, sure enough, found the pad just three blocks north of the property Hitch used.

While the exterior of the residence was utilized extensively in Happy Land, I do not believe that the interior made an appearance onscreen. I cannot find any interior photographs of the actual dwelling to compare to what was shown in the movie, but it is my hunch that inside of the Marsh home was a set built on a soundstage.

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

Big THANK YOU to the Dear Old Hollywood website for finding this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Marsh family home from Happy Land is located at 1127 McDonald Avenue in Santa Rosa. Many famous movie houses can be found on the same street. The McDonald Mansion, aka Mableton, from Pollyanna is located one block south at 1015 McDonald. The Newton home from the 1943 Alfred Hitchcock thriller Shadow of a Doubt can be found three blocks south at 904 McDonald Avenue. [The kitchen of that residence was also used as Tatum Riley’s (Rose McGowan) kitchen in Scream.] And the Newton house from the 1991 made-for-television Shadow of a Doubt remake is located at 815 McDonald.

January 20, 2017
The McDonald Mansion from “Pollyanna”

I am fully aware that I have a hyperbolic nature. I use words like “favorite,” “best,” and “most” a LOT. Caps, too, for that matter. I wouldn’t say that I am an exaggerator, though. I just happen to like a lot of things. Case in point, I have more “all-time favorite” movies than I can count on one hand. Incredibly, two of them were shot on the same street – the idyllic McDonald Avenue in Santa Rosa. The flicks, Disney’s 1960 family drama Pollyanna and the 1996 Wes Craven-directed horror film Scream, could not be more different, but I love them both equally – and am rather obsessed with their locations. Though I grew up in Northern California, I somehow never stalked McDonald Avenue – until this past October, that is. While visiting my aunt who lives in the area, I dragged practically my entire family out to see both the house where Tatum Riley (Rose McGowan) lived in Scream (a locale I will be blogging about as part of my Haunted Hollywood postings this year) and the legendary McDonald Mansion, which portrayed Aunt Polly’s (Jane Wyman) estate in Pollyanna. As you can see above, I was just a wee bit excited about the latter.

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The McDonald Mansion was originally built by San Francisco-based engineer/developer Colonel Mark McDonald in 1879. During the 1860s, McDonald had purchased 160 acres of land in the heart of Santa Rosa and began subdividing and developing it, naming the new neighborhood “McDonald’s Addition.” His spectacular 14,000-square-foot Stick/Eastlake-style estate became the cornerstone of the upscale community. Mark, his wife, Ralphine, and their children utilized the home, which they dubbed “Mableton,” as a summer residence. You can see what the property looked like in its early days here.

Mark and Ralphine passed away in 1917 and 1918, respectively, whereupon their oldest son, Mark L. McDonald Jr., and his wife, Isabelle, inherited the manse and set about extensively renovating it to their own style. Sadly, the exterior was stripped of all of its intricate detailing and became virtually unrecognizable – and rather dull. You can see what it looked like here. The couple lived on the premises full time until Mark’s death in 1932, at which point Isabelle moved to an apartment in San Francisco, only spending summers at Mableton. When she passed away in 1960, the estate was bequeathed to her only surviving child, Marcia, who rarely visited the residence and left it to deteriorate. Upon her passing in 1971, the property was deeded to both the University of Southern California and Stanford University. The schools ultimately offered to sell the home to the City of Santa Rosa.

Shockingly, and with no apparent regard for its history, the city made plans to tear the mansion down and build condominiums in its place. Thankfully, a pathologist named Dr. Jack Leissring stepped in and purchased the home in 1974, saving it from the wrecking ball. He immediately began restoring the estate to its original grandeur, but disaster struck in 1977 when, while Jack and fellow workers were stripping paint with a torch, a fire broke out completely gutting the residence. A stalwart Leissring decided to rebuild and ultimately spent the next 19 months doing so. You can read about his painstaking efforts here and here. Of the process, he says, “The house was completely stripped of its plaster and lath, all of the bricks from the four chimneys were removed and re-used for walkways and pillars, the redwood sheathing was made into the molding for the house – I designed the knives for the molding cutter. Thus, the crown molding, base molding, casing molding was made entirely of the original materials of the house. Most of the dentil details were rotted or broken. During a rainy winter, I cut-out every one of those pieces that decorate the house. I reconstructed the railings as well, also using the materials native to the house. This reconstruction was completely, or almost completely a work both of love and of homage to the historic nature of the materials. This is my understanding of what historic restoration means.” I wholeheartedly agree, Jack! You can see the result of his work here.

Though the exterior of Mableton is ornate and lavish, its original interior was rather drab. As Jack explains on his website, “I wish to point out just how ugly this house was inside. To call this house a mansion was a misnomer. It had been the summer residence of the McDonalds and was very meanly built – the second story was made of single board walls. The only graceful aspect of the house was the exterior.” You can check out some photographs of the property’s interior, with it’s “dark, over-bearing walls and décor,” here. Jack was not being demeaning in his description – the original inside of the dwelling looked more like a barn than a home!

In 2005, Leissring sold the McDonald Mansion to Telecom Valley entrepreneur John Webley and his wife, Jennifer. The couple decided to take Jack’s work even further and spent the next five years renovating the property, along with architect Stephen Rynerson and design historian Paul Duchscherer. During the restoration, the exterior of the home was brought back to its 1879 self and the interior was completely gutted and re-designed in a Victorian style. Sadly, Leissring is not a fan of the final product. On his website, he states, “The subsequent buyers, to whom I sold the house in 2005, who had much too much money, completely remade the house with new materials, and it now looks like a Disneyland display. Sigh.” I think it is gorgeous, though. The interior is now everything one would expect the inside of a grand Victorian mansion to be – stained glass ceilings, inlaid flooring, rich woodwork, and a library befitting the Beast from Beauty and the Beast. (In Jack’s defense, the Main Hall is very Tower-of-Terror-esque. But I love it.) You can see some photographs of the finished home here, here, and here.

The McDonald Mansion was used extensively in Pollyanna. As you can see below, though, the dwelling looked quite a bit different in the movie due to the fact that a matte painting was added to the roofline in order to make the property appear larger than it actually is.

Despite the matte painting and the many renovations that have taken place since Pollyanna was shot in 1960, the McDonald Mansion is still recognizable from its onscreen appearance.

Only the exterior of the home and its extensive grounds were used in the filming.

The inside of Polly’s mansion was an elaborately-built studio set. Ironically – and in a case of life imitating art – it very much resembles the current, rebuilt interior of the McDonald Mansion. So I guess the property has truly come full circle.

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 McDonald Mansion from Pollyanna is located at 1015 McDonald Avenue in Santa Rosa. The Newton home from the 1943 Alfred Hitchcock thriller Shadow of a Doubt is located a block away at 904 McDonald Avenue. [The kitchen of that residence was also used as Tatum Riley’s (Rose McGowan) kitchen in Scream.] And the Newton house from the 1991 made-for-television Shadow of a Doubt remake is located across the street from the property used in the original at 815 McDonald Avenue.

January 18, 2017
Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!

I will be taking today off for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but will be back on Wednesday with a whole new locale! I hope everyone has a safe holiday.

January 16, 2017
McSorley’s Old Ale House from “Rounders”

It has been said that 60% of restaurants close within a year of opening and that 80% don’t make it past year five. Many in New York, though, have real staying power. Take McSorley’s Old Ale House, for example. The East Village watering hole/eatery has been around for more than 16 decades! Yep, 16 decades! I first learned about the place thanks to The History and Stories of the Best Bars of New York while doing research for last April’s Big Apple vacay and figured the fact that Abraham Lincoln once drank there warranted it a visit. So the Grim Cheaper and I headed to the historic tavern, along with our good friends Lavonna (she’s a major Lincoln aficionado – you may remember her from this post), Kim, and Katie, for lunch one sunny afternoon during our trip. At the time, I had no idea McSorley’s was a filming location, so imagine my surprise when I spotted it while watching Rounders with the Grim Cheaper last week! I so love it when a place I have visited pops up unexpectedly onscreen!

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To say that McSorley’s Old Ale House is New York’s OG bar would be an understatement. Originally established in 1854 by Irish native John McSorley, the site was initially dubbed “The Old House at Home.” It held court under that moniker until 1908 when a storm hit Manhattan and knocked down the sign that hung out front. John replaced it with one reading “McSorley’s Old Time Ale House,” thereby changing the name of his saloon. (He later dropped the word “time”, as well.)

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention here that the bar’s origin date has been disputed by various historians, namely researcher Richard McDermott, who asserts that the spot where McSorley’s now stands was a vacant lot up until 1858. The NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission put McDermott’s doubts largely to rest, though, in this 2012 Designation Report, stating, “Supporting the claim that McSorley’s Old Ale House first opened on this site in 1854, tax records reveal that the first improvement on this lot may have occurred in the mid-1850s. Though tax records note the lot as vacant until 1860-61, the value of the lot increased steadily between 1848 and 1856, indicating that a small structure may have been constructed here and not recorded (note: nearby lots did not change in value during the same period). The lot was purchased in 1854 by real estate speculator John W. Mitchell. As noted by Bill Wander, official historian for the pub, Mitchell may have constructed a small “taxpayer” structure on the lot to cover expenses, and McSorley’s could very possibly have operated out of this small structure.”

Regardless, McSorley’s asserts itself as “New York City’s oldest continuously operating saloon.” Other Big Apple bars, like Pete’s Tavern, may assert the same exact thing, but disputing the claim seems entirely beside the point. No one can argue that McSorley’s has history.

In 1864, the two-story structure that originally housed McSorley’s was renovated, expanded and transformed into a five-level tenement. John and his family moved into a unit upstairs and then eventually purchased the building in 1888.

When John passed away in 1910 at the age of 83, his son Bill took over operation of the bar. Bill continued to run the place for the next 26 years, even keeping it open during Prohibition. Though the sale of alcohol was outlawed during that time, McSorley’s managed to dole out ale made onsite in the basement. Bill called his libation “near beer” and authorities were none the wiser. As author Jef Klein states in The History and Stories of the Best Bars of New York, “McSorley’s passed through Prohibition without passwords, secret exits, or hideaways.”

In 1936, Bill sold McSorley’s to a long-time customer/NYC policeman named Daniel O’Connell. Daniel’s tutelage did not last long, though. He passed away just three years later, leaving the bar to his daughter, Dorothy O’Connell Kirwan. The change of hands was ironic considering that McSorley’s did not allow women on the premises at the time. Kirwan promised her father that she would not overturn that rule. She also vowed never to set foot in McSorley’s during operating hours – a promise she kept even after the establishment was forced to admit the fairer sex in 1970 thanks to a lawsuit brought about by two females who were denied entry.

When Dorothy and her husband, Harry, passed away in 1974 and 1975, respectively, their son, Danny, inherited the bar. Just two years later, he sold it to night manager Matthew Maher, who still owns the tavern to this day.

Virtually nothing about the bar (aside from finally admitting women and the subsequent addition of a women’s restroom, which did not occur until 16 years later) has changed over its 163 year history – and I do mean nothing.

The décor, the memorabilia, and even some of the fare (the cheese, crackers and raw onion dish has been offered since opening day!) remain untouched from the time that John McSorley ran the place.

Menu items are written on chalkboards posted throughout the bar and, along with the aforementioned cheese plate, typically include hash, chili, burgers, and a fried chicken sandwich.

Don’t go to McSorley’s hoping for a chilled glass of pinot, though. As the name suggests, the only libation served on the premises is ale.

Notables have long been attracted to McSorley’s no-frills environment. Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, John Lennon, Woody Guthrie, Peter Cooper, e.e. cummings, Harry Houdini, J. Giels, John F. Kennedy, and Frank McCourt have all sidled up to the ale house’s bar at one time or another.

Ah, yes, and Abraham Lincoln, who stopped by in 1960 while in town to give his famous Cooper Union address.

McSorley’s boasts another connection to Lincoln. An 1865 wanted poster offering a $100,000 reward for the capture of the president’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth, hangs above the bar. Yes, it’s an original.

McSorley’s has also long proved popular with felines. Ironically, while women were not welcome throughout much of the bar’s history, cats were. Up until a city law was passed in 2011 which banned the animals from restaurants, a number of them called the watering hole home. Aside from keeping vermin away, you could often find the McSorley’s cats curled up next to patrons or warming themselves by the pot-bellied stove. When Bill ran the place, as many as 18 roamed the premises. The most recent feline resident was a grey tabby named Minnie. Ironically, McSorley’s was shut down by the health department briefly in November of last year for several violations. One of the violations was – you guessed it – evidence of rats. If only Minnie was still on duty!

Considering McSorley’s historic aesthetic and unique decor, it is not surprising that it has wound up onscreen. I mean, the place just looks like a movie set! In Rounders, it is at McSorley’s that Jo (Gretchen Mol) admonishes her boyfriend, Mike McDermott (Matt Damon), for lying to her about gambling.

The exterior of the bar was featured in the 1998 film, as well.

The ale house also appeared in the 1984 gangster drama Once Upon a Time in America. It is there that a young David ‘Noodles’ Aaronson (Scott Schutzman Tiler) and his friends choose a drunk to “roll.”

In 1991’s The Hard Way, Nick Lane (Michael J. Fox) gives John Moss (James Woods) advice on women at McSorley’s.

And in 2018, Miriam Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan) and Benjamin (Zachary Levi) headed to McSorely’s for a date in the Season 2 episode of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel titled “Look, She Made a Hat.”

Folk singer Dave Van Ronk also posed outside of McSorley’s Old Ale House for the cover of his 1964 album, Inside Dave Van Ronk. One of the bar’s former in-house cats even made it into the photo.

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

Big THANK YOU to my friend Kim for providing many of the images that appear in this post.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: McSorley’s Old Ale House, from Rounders, is located at 15 East 7th Street in New York’s East Village. You can visit the watering hole’s official website here.

January 13, 2017
The Conservatory Garden from “The Girl on the Train”

One of my favorite places in all of Manhattan is, surprisingly, not a stalking location. Or at least it wasn’t up until recently. The Conservatory Garden, a six-acre oasis in East Harlem situated across from the Museum of the City of New York, is easily the most picturesque park I have ever set foot in. I first learned about the site in 2007 thanks to Real City: New York City (sadly, the book is no longer in print, so I cannot provide a link), which described the “floral sanctuary” as “the most studiously tended area in Central Park.” My interest was immediately piqued and I headed right on over there during our NYC vacation later that year. (The photo above was taken during that trip, hence why I look sooooo different. ) In person, it was even more stunning than I had envisioned. The Conservatory Garden has since become a regular stop during our New York travels. I have wanted to blog about it ever since my first visit, but had never come across any filming done there. So imagine my thrill when I spotted the Conservatory Garden while watching a SAG Awards screener of the 2016 thriller The Girl on the Train. Now I can finally write about the place! (For those who have not yet seen the movie and aren’t in SAG, have no fear – the DVD comes out on January 17th).

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The garden was initially established in 1899 and consisted of a large e-shaped glass greenhouse, or conservatory (hence the name), surrounded by flowerbeds. By the 1930s, the greenhouse had started to deteriorate and in 1937 NYC Parks Commissioner Robert Moses had it razed and commissioned a new, formal garden to take its place. The site became known as the Conservatory Garden(not to be confused with the Central Park Conservatory Water).

The lush property is actually made up of three distinct gardens – one English in style, one French, and another Italian. The English garden, located in the southern portion of the park, is lined with annuals and flowering trees and features the Burnett Memorial Fountain, designed in 1936 by American sculptor Bessie Potter Vonnoh in honor of The Secret Garden author Frances Hodgson Burnett. Its surrounding pool is dotted with water lilies. (The fountain is pictured below and in the first image in this post.)

The French garden, situated in the northern part of the park, features an astounding array of perennial flowers, including over 20,000 tulips during the spring months and more than 2,000 Korean chrysanthemums that bloom during the fall. The garden also consists of the Three Dancing Maidens fountain, designed in 1910 by German sculptor Walter Schott. (The fountain is also sometimes referred to as the Untermeyer Fountain, in honor of the family that donated it to the Conservatory Garden.)

The central garden is Italian in style and boasts a sprawling lawn, a pergola strung with wisteria vines, a 12-foot high fountain, and a smattering of colorful crab apple trees.

Though technically a part of Central Park, the Conservatory Garden is tucked away – hidden almost. Its main entrance can be found on Fifth Avenue, just south of 105th Street. There visitors wander through a towering wrought-iron gate that initially stood in front of the Vanderbilt Mansion, which was formerly located 47 blocks south. Assembled in France, the ornate gate was designed by American architect George B. Post and donated to the park by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney in 1939, twelve years after the Vanderbilt Mansion was razed.

The Conservatory Garden is beautiful at any time of year, as my photos, which were taken on various trips to NYC during various seasons, attest to.

On any given day, even during the cold winter months, you will encounter people reading quietly under the shade of the trees, painters replicating the idyllic foliage via watercolor, and students sprawled out on the bucolic lawn, books surrounding them. Designated an official Central Park Quiet Zone, the Conservatory Garden is one of the most peaceful places in all of New York.

The Conservatory Garden is featured twice in The Girl on the Train. It first appears in an early scene in which a distraught Rachel (Emily Blunt) tries to find solace after discovering that the woman she has been watching is having an affair.

It then pops up again in one of the film’s closing scenes. Interestingly, the Three Dancing Maidens fountain figures prominently in The Girl on the Train’s theme. As is explained in the movie’s production notes, “Central Park provided the visual image that [director Tate] Taylor chose to frame the story: a sculpture of three dancing maidens at the Untermeyer Fountain, which graces the Conservatory Garden near 105th Street and Fifth Avenue. Early in the story, unemployed and drunken Rachel goes to the fountain to kill time. Later in the film, she returns there sober, with a new appreciation of the artwork’s three joyful females holding hands as they encircle the fountain. ‘Tate connected with this idea of the three women in the sculpture and the three women in our story,’ says [production designer Kevin] Thompson. ‘That was the poetry that he saw in that fountain.’”

It is at the Conservatory Garden that David Shayne (John Cusack) tells Helen Sinclair (Dianne Wiest) that he is falling in love with her in the 1994 comedy Bullets Over Broadway.

While a few websites state that the Conservatory Garden is where John Reese (Jim Caviezel), Lionel Fusco (Kevin Chapman), and Joss Carter (Taraji P. Henson) discuss HR in the Season 2 episode of Person of Interest titled “Bury the Lede,” that information is incorrect. Though an overhead shot of the park is shown leading up to the scene . . .

. . . actual filming took place elsewhere. (Though I am not certain, I believe the scene was shot at Forest Park in Queens, where another portion of the episode was lensed.)

Being that the Conservatory Garden is easily one of the most picturesque spots on the island of Manhattan, I’m shocked it has not been featured in more productions over the years.

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 Conservatory Garden, from The Girl on the Train, is located at 5th Avenue and 105th Street in New York’s East Harlem. The park is open daily from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

January 11, 2017
Donna’s House from “Rosewood”

I’ve never met a police procedural I didn’t like. When one centers around an insanely charming male lead who constantly (and comically) spars with his cynical female partner, it’s a guarantee it will make my top ten. Such was the case with the FOX drama Rosewood, which began airing in 2015. For those who don’t watch, the insanely charming male lead in this instance is Dr. Beaumont “Rosie” Rosewood, Jr. (Morris Chestnut) and his cynical partner is Det. Annalise Villa (Jaina Lee Ortiz). An additional bonus – though the series is set in Miami, it is lensed primarily in Southern California. So I, of course, became obsessed with finding its locations at around the same time I became obsessed with the show. The one spot at the top of my track-down list was the large Craftsman-style home belonging to Rosie’s mom, Donna (Lorraine Toussaint), aka “Mama Rosewood.” It was not until the seventh episode of the series aired in November 2015 that I was able to locate it, though.

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In the episode, titled “Quadriplegia and Quality Time,” an address number of 521 was visible on the front of Donna’s house. I knew from researching the show that filming mainly takes place in the Anaheim area. I also knew, from the shots of the residence shown in previous episodes, that it was situated on a corner. And, because the dwelling is large, grand, and such an amazing example of Craftsman architecture, I had a hunch it was a historical landmark of some sort. So, armed with that information, I started searching the 500 blocks of historic areas of Anaheim for a large Craftsman home located on a corner. It was not long before I found the right place at 521 North Lemon Street.

Because I so rarely find myself in Orange County, I did not make it out to see the residence in person until this past October, almost a full year after tracking it down. But it was worth the wait. As you can see, the home is absolutely stunning.

My hunch about it being historical turned out to be correct! Known as The Duckworth House, the 1922 pad was originally built for food merchant/land developer William E. Duckworth and, as the sign affixed to the front porch states, has been designated as “historically significant to the Anaheim Colony Historic District.”

The sprawling property boasts 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 3,701 square feet of living space, and 0.39-acres of land complete with fruit trees and rose gardens.

In person, the residence is massive – even larger than it appears to be on TV.

Aside from that, though, it looks much the same as it does on Rosewood.

Donna’s home is featured regularly on the series, typically during the scenes involving the Rosewood family’s weekly dinners.

In an April 2016 The Orange County Register article about the show’s locations (which I wish had been published at the time I was looking for Donna’s house as it would have saved me some time), Rosewood co-executive producer Vahan Moosekian said that “The house (on Lemon Street) looked like it belonged in Florida.” That statement is rather surprising to me because, being Craftsman in style, the residence, in my opinion at least, couldn’t be more quintessentially Californian.

I believe that the real life interior of The Duckworth House is used as the interior of Donna’s home on the series, which is unusual. Don’t quote me on that, though. The inside of Mama Rosewood’s residence could also very well be a set at MBS Media Campus in Manhattan Beach where the show is lensed. From the way episodes are shot, though, it appears that the property’s actual interior is utilized.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Donna Rosewood’s house from Rosewood is located at 521 North Lemon Street in Anaheim.

January 9, 2017
Orange Army-Navy from “That Thing You Do!”

Another day, another That Thing You Do! locale. It is one of my all-time favorite movies, after all! In early December, the Grim Cheaper and I found ourselves in the O.C. and decided to head out to Old Towne Orange to do some Christmas shopping. While perusing the charming streets and boutiques, I was reminded of a few spots from the 1995 film that I had stalked, but had yet to blog about, namely the Starbucks/Wells Fargo where Chad (Giovanni Ribisi) broke his arm, which I posted about on Monday, and the Army-Navy store where Faye Dolan (Liv Tyler) rather enthusiastically told T. B. Player (Ethan Embry) that his group’s song was playing on the radio for the first time.

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I was especially interested in the latter locale because, unlike several of the other Old Towne Orange spots used in the movie (you can read about a few of those sites here and here), it was not a vacant storefront dressed for the shoot, but was, and still is, an Army-Navy shop in real life.

Orange Army-Navy has been an area staple since originally opening in 1955.

Run by the same family since its inception, the shop sells military-related items in addition to clothing and camping supplies.

Orange Army-Navy was only featured briefly in That Thing You Do!, but it appeared in what is hands-down my favorite scene in all of moviedom – the famous “We’re on the radio!” scene, which you can check out a clip of here. Though I’ve seen it a gazillion times, it makes me deliriously happy – and tear up – each and every time I watch!

For those who have not seen That Thing You Do! and did not click on the link above, the film centers around a local Erie, Pennsylvania garage band named The Wonders during the year 1964. Towards the beginning of the flick, The Wonders secure themselves a manager who claims he can get their single, “That Thing You Do,” some radio play. While out and about in downtown Erie a few days later, Faye, the girlfriend of the group’s lead singer Jimmy Mattingly (Johnathon Schaech), finally hears the song playing on her junior radio. As soon as she realizes what she is hearing, she begins screaming and runs down the street, right into band member T. B., who is leaving the local Army-Navy store. Faye enthusiastically squeals at him, “We’re on the radio!,” while pushing him into the shop’s front doors. The two then race down the sidewalk to find the other members of the band to tell them the good news. Liv Tyler is sheer perfection in her delivery and the scene is so full of energy and excitement that the characters practically jump off the screen. As I said, it is one of the best moments in movie history.

Had to do it!

Orange Army-Navy also masked as Brad’s Sporting Goods in a brief scene in the 2006 comedy The Benchwarmers.

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Orange Army-Navy, from That Thing You Do!, is located at 131 South Glassell Street in Old Towne Orange. You can visit the store’s official website here.

January 6, 2017
The Old Towne Orange Starbucks from “That Thing You Do!”

“We met at Starbucks. Not at the same Starbucks, but we saw each other at different Starbucks across the street from each other.” So says Meg Swan (Parker Posey) about meeting her husband, Hamilton (Michael Hitchcock), in the 2000 comedy Best in Show. (You can watch the hilarious scene here.) Meg might well have been describing the two outposts of the coffee giant in Old Towne Orange, which are situated across the plaza from each other. As fate would have it, both are filming locations! I blogged about one – the 44 Plaza Square site, which was featured in the 2004 Yuletide comedy Surviving Christmas – last December, and promised to do a post on the second – which can be found at 101 East Chapman Avenue – but never got around to it. So I figured now was as good a time as any. Here goes! The second Starbucks, which is housed alongside a Wells Fargo in a 1928 bank building, made a brief cameo in fave movie That Thing You Do!

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The city’s first bank, the Bank of Orange, was originally established in 1886. The following year, the company constructed offices, a two-story brick building, on the northeast corner of Chapman Avenue and Plaza Square. You can see what it looked like here. The site has been home to a bank ever since.

The Bank of Orange underwent an ownership change in 1905 and was eventually consolidated with another local financial institution, becoming the First National Bank of Orange in 1927. The brick offices were torn down shortly thereafter to make way for a new headquarters building. That property, which was designed in the classical style by architects Morgan, Walls & Clements, opened its doors in 1928.

The stately site, which was expanded twice over the years (first in 1955 and then again in 1963), became a Wells Fargo in 1978. In more recent years, a Starbucks was added to the premises.

Due to the fact that the coffee shop is situated inside of the actual bank, its interior is quite unique.

And quite impressive.

Not a bad place to grab a cup of joe, eh?

I fell in love with the site’s ornate rounded inlaid ceiling.

As you can see below, it’s really quite something.

In That Thing You Do!, the exterior of the Starbucks/Wells Fargo building masked as the exterior of the main branch of The Erie Public Library. You can see a photo of it dressed for the filming here. It was there that, while Jimmy Mattingly (Johnathon Schaech) pontificated about naming his musical group “The Heardsmen,” Chad (Giovanni Ribisi) broke his arm during an attempt to hop over a parking meter. Though it was a short scene, it was significant in that it served as the catalyst for Guy Patterson (Tom Everett Scott) joining the group to replace Chad, which in turn caused them to become famous.

Filming of the segment took place on the building’s south, East Chapman Avenue side . . .

. . . where there are, unfortunately, no parking meters in real life, so I could not do a re-creation.

Being that I’m a klutz, though, maybe that’s a good thing.

The building’s other side (the west Plaza Square side) was seen briefly in the background of the Season 5 episode of Parks and Recreation titled “Partridge.”

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 Old Towne Orange Starbucks/Wells Fargo from That Thing You Do! is located at 101 East Chapman Avenue in Orange.

January 4, 2017
Happy New Year!

I would like to wish a very happy new year to all of my fellow stalkers! Since today is being considered a holiday, I decided to take it off, too! Come Wednesday, I will resume my regular postings. As was the case last year, because I am writing for several other websites, I will only be publishing new posts here every other day. Happy 2017! I hope the new year brings much health, happiness and good fortune to all!

January 2, 2017