Don’t forget to read today’s Los Angeles magazine post – about Ida’s Roadside Diner from Million Dollar Baby. My articles typically get published in the late morning/early afternoon hours.
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Sloane’s House from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”
Once the pizza parlor from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off had been found, my friend Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, starting hunting for the home belonging to Sloane Peterson (Mia Sara) – one of the last unknown locations from the 1986 comedy. We had known for a while, thanks to a helpful crew member, that the residence was not in Chicago, where much of the movie was lensed, but Los Angeles. In looking for it, though, we always came up empty-handed. Then last week, fellow stalker Chas, of the It’sFilmedThere website, contacted a different crew member who informed him that the dwelling was located somewhere in Brentwood. Owen immediately started searching aerial views of the area and, voila, found the house fairly quickly. So I ran right out to stalk it while I was in L.A. last week. (I actually had to stalk it twice – the first time, it started pouring rain immediately after I showed up. That is why some of my pictures depict rainy weather, while in others the sun is shining.)
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As it turns out, Sloane’s house is famous in architectural circles due to the fact that it was designed by Paul Revere Williams, the prolific architect who also gave us Johnny Weissmuller’s former home, the McGinley Residence, Perino’s Restaurant, and the Just Married mansion. It was actually the first home that Williams ever designed in the Brentwood area. The property is known as the Preminger House in real life, in honor of one of its early inhabitants, film producer Ingwald “Ingo” Preminger. In later years, the American Colonial Revival-style pad was owned by another famous Hollywood producer, Harold Hecht.
In 1977, the Preminger House was purchased by Peter and Merle Mullin. The couple still own it to this day. Of possessing the residence for such a long period of time, Peter said in a 2012 article, “Every now and then, I think about leaving. Then I look around . . . and I can’t. I just love this place.” At some point in time, Peter and Merle hired Gary Drake of Drake Construction to do a renovation of the U-shaped dwelling, during which the central patio was enclosed with a large glass atrium. Drake also constructed a subterranean automobile museum to house Peter’s large collection of cars. The original garage was subsequently transformed into a guest home. You can see photographs of the Preminger House post-remodel here, here and here.
The Preminger House, which was originally built in 1925, currently boasts five bedrooms, six baths, 5,726 square feet of living space and 0.55 acres of land. Sadly, not much of the property is visible from the street, as you can see below.
The pad shows up twice in Ferris Bueller’s Day off. It first appears in the scene in which Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick) and Sloane attempt to snap Cameron Frye (Alan Ruck) out of his stupor by taking him swimming. You can check out a photograph of what the Preminger House pool looks like today here. Thankfully, little of it has been changed since the movie was filmed almost thirty years ago.
In John Hughes’ DVD commentary of the movie, he says of the pool scene, “We never identified where this was or whose house this was. I always presumed it was just someone else’s house. It wasn’t really Sloane’s house, it certainly wasn’t Matthew’s house, and it wasn’t Cameron’s house. They just sort of stopped and used somebody’s Jacuzzi.” I was surprised to learn this bit of info as I had always been under the assumption that the pool scene was supposed to have taken place at Sloane’s residence. In hindsight, John’s explanation makes more sense, though, being that Sloane was wearing a negligee in the scene and later references having changed out of her clothes outside by the Jacuzzi. Had she been at her own house, she would have worn a bathing suit and changed within the confines of her bedroom.
In the screen captures below, you can also see that the trio’s clothes are scattered about near the pool, further alluding to the fact that they broke into a random house to swim. Had they been at Sloane’s place, they all would have been able to change inside.
Oddly, while Hughes did not intend for the pool scene to have taken place at Sloane’s pad, he did choose to use the Preminger House to stand in for Sloane’s residence at the end of the movie. The back side of the dwelling showed up in the scene in which Ferris dropped Sloane off at home and kissed her goodbye. You can see a photograph of what the rear side of the residence currently looks like here. Though the addition of the atrium altered the property, it still looks much the same today as it did onscreen in 1986.
In this photograph, you can see that the large tree and curved brickwork surrounding it that were visible behind Sloane and Ferris in the scene are still there today.
For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online.
Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, for finding this location!
Until next time, Happy Stalking!
Stalk It: The Preminger House, aka Sloane’s house from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, is located at 340 South Westgate Avenue in Brentwood.
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Regular Jon’s Pizza from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”
Fellow stalker Chas, of the It’sFilmedThere website, recently texted me to let me know he had tracked down a location that I had been curious about for what seemed like forever – the pizza parlor from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Thanks to John Hughes’ DVD commentary of the flick, I knew that the restaurant was once in Brentwood and was no longer in operation, but I still desperately wanted to find its former location. So I was thrilled to receive Chas’ text and ran right out to stalk the site last week while I was in L.A.
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As it turns out, the pizzeria that made an appearance in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off was Regular Jon’s, formerly located at 11645 San Vicente Boulevard. The eatery was originally founded by Jon Persoff in 1971 and was a Brentwood landmark for the twenty years that it was in operation. Sadly, when Persoff’s lease expired in 1991, the landlord raised his rent considerably causing Jon to close up shop, much to the chagrin of the restaurant’s many regulars. After Jon’s was shuttered, the space was completely gutted and turned into a Louise’s Trattoria. When Louise’s closed, Yuzu Sushi Roll House & Sake Bar moved in. Today, the site houses an organic eatery known as the Coral Tree Café. Unfortunately, it looks completely different in its current state than it did when Regular Jon’s was still in operation.
The good news is that Regular Jon’s has a sister location, which Chas also informed me of. When Persoff passed away on September 25th, 2010, a former regular and one-time employee named Steven Goldberg decided to make a pizza in the former Regular Jon’s-style in his honor. He spent weeks trying to replicate the thin crust recipe that generations of Brentwoodians had fallen in love with over four decades prior. He finally nailed it and posted a comment about his endeavor on his Facebook page. Soon friends were clamoring for him to make them a Regular Jon’s pizza and an idea took hold – Steve would establish his own replica pizzeria. He opened the new eatery, which he dubbed “Steve’s Un-Original Pizza,” in November 2013 inside of the MB2 Raceway at 1475 Lawrence Drive in Thousand Oaks. I ventured out to stalk the place last week and had the pleasure of meeting Steve. He could NOT have been nicer. In fact, when I showed up to the parlor, it was not yet open for the day. Figuring my chances were slim to none, but being that I had just driven an hour and a half, I decided to call the number on the website to ask if there was anyway I could come inside to snap some pics. And what do you know, he invited me right in!
Steve designed his pizzeria to be reminiscent of Regular Jon’s, with dark wood paneling and an old school brown and yellow menu board.
He also has numerous photographs of his yearly childhood birthday parties, which all took place at Regular Jon’s, as well as a panoramic screen capture from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off on display. I absolutely loved seeing it all! You can check out some more of Steve’s old photographs on his Facebook page here.
Steve answered all of my silly little questions about the filming of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and filled me in on Regular Jon’s history. While I was under the assumption that the Jon’s building had been torn down after the site closed in 1991, Steve informed me that was not the case. He said that the Jon’s property originally consisted of a thin, one-story, rectangular building with a large L-shaped parking lot. That original rendering is denoted with a pink arrow in the Historic Aerials image below.
In the early ‘80s, Jon expanded the eatery by adding a second, larger attached rectangular building that was constructed in the side portion of the parking lot. The two-part structure remains standing today, but due to the many changes in ownership and subsequent remodels, it, unfortunately, looks nothing like it did when Jon’s was in operation.
In Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Regular Jon’s is where principal Ed Rooney (Jeffrey Jones) goes in the hopes of catching Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick) cutting school. While an exterior of the pizzeria is not shown in the movie, the spot where Rooney parks his car before heading inside Jon’s is actually located just outside of Chicago, where FBDO is set. Rooney parks where Chestnut Street intersects with Chestnut Court in Winnetka.
Quite a bit of Regular Jon’s is shown in the movie, including the order counter . . .
. . . and the eating area and small arcade –
– where Rooney has an unfortunate encounter with a straw full of soda. “Le jeux son faits!”
Regular Jon’s also appeared in a couple of other productions. In 1978, it was the spot where Cliff Barnes (Ken Kercheval) searched for clues while looking for Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy) in the Season 2 episode of Dallas titled “Kidnapped.”
That same year, the pizzeria was featured in the pilot episode of the television series The Paper Chase as the restaurant where Harvard Law School student James T. Hart (James Stephens) worked. For subsequent episodes of the series, a different location was used as James’ workplace.
You can watch all of The Paper Chase scenes shot at Regular Jon’s by clicking below.
For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online.
Until next time, Happy Stalking!
Stalk It: Regular Jon’s, from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, was formerly located at 11645 San Vicente Boulevard in Brentwood. The space now houses the Coral Tree Café. Steve’s Un-Original Pizza can be found at 1475 Lawrence Drive, inside of the MB2 Raceway, in Thousand Oaks. You can visit Steve’s official website here.
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Langer’s Delicatessen-Restaurant from “Black Widow”
Sorry to have been a bit M.I.A. lately – my personal life has been rather hectic. This week will be a little light on columns, too, as both of my parents have doctor appointments in L.A. that I have to take them, too. So please bear with me.
And now, on with the the post! Another day, another Iggy Azalea location. Because my good friends Kim and Lavonna are such Iggy fans, before their recent visit, I did some research on locales from the Australian rapper’s “Black Widow” music video. The place that I was most excited about tracking down was the restaurant that appeared in both the video’s opening and closing scenes. As it turns out, the eatery is none other than Langer’s Delicatessen-Restaurant, an L.A. staple that was originally founded in 1947. So the girls and I headed right on out to Westlake to stalk it while they were in town last month.[ad]
Langer’s was originally founded by New Jersey native Al Langer. Al started in the restaurant business early in life, getting a job as a busboy in a delicatessen at the age of 11. During those years he learned how to hand-slice pastrami, a rare skill that served him well as he ventured out on his own. Al’s family moved to Los Angeles in 1936 and he continued to work in the restaurant business. That same year, he opened a deli in Palm Springs. The deli only lasted one short season and Al subsequently returned to L.A. He worked again in a café, before serving in World War II. When the war ended, Al purchased a small eatery in Los Angeles, which he owned for a year. He then bought a 12-seat restaurant on the corner of 7th and Alvarado Streets known as The Famous Deli and renamed it Langer’s. The place was popular from the get-go and Al wound up expanding it twice. Today, Al’s son, Norm, still serves his father’s famous pastrami sandwiches from that very same location, which can now seat 135 patrons.
Sadly, we showed up to stalk Langer’s in the early evening and it was no longer open (it closes at 4 p.m. each afternoon), so we were only able to snap photographs of the interior through the windows. (A BIG thank you to Lavonna for taking all of the pictures that appear in this post!)
In “Black Widow,” Langer’s masks as “Big Wanda’s Killer Burgers,” where Iggy Azalea works and where Michael Madsen and Rita Ora stop by for a bacon sandwich with cheese – “like a lotta cheese, OK, like melted cheese, like dripping off of it.”
Only the interior of Langer’s was featured in the video and, as you can see, it looks exactly the same in person as it does onscreen.
You can watch the “Black Widow” video by clicking below.
For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online.
Until next time, Happy Stalking!
Stalk It: Langer’s Delicatessen-Restaurant, from Iggy Azalea’s “Black Widow” music video, is located at 704 South Alvarado Street in Westlake. Langer’s is open Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. You can visit the eatery’s official website here.
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New “L.A.” Mag Post – About the “How to Get Away with Murder” House
Be sure to check out today’s Los Angeles magazine post – about Annalise’s house from How to Get Away with Murder. My articles typically get published in the late morning/early afternoon hours.
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The “Fancy” Music Video Party House
I have never been very “hip” when it comes to music. If it’s not sung by Michael Jackson, Michael Buble or Britney Spears, chances are I haven’t heard it. So it should come as no surprise that when my friends Kim and Lavonna visited this past June and were singing the Iggy Azalea hit “Fancy” every chance they got, I was completely unfamiliar with the tune. While a few lyrics (“Drop it low and pick it up, just like this!” and “Who dat? Who dat?”) became ingrained in my head thanks to Kim and Lavonna’s endless chanting, once they headed back to Ohio, I pretty much forgot about the song. Then, in July, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I happened to stalk Grant High School in Van Nuys and, while we were there, a teacher informed us that both Clueless and the music video for “Fancy” , which paid homage to the 1995 comedy, had been filmed on the premises. Well, believe you me, I just about fell over upon hearing that Iggy modeled her video after one of my favorite movies of all time! Standing in the halls of Grant, I pulled up “Fancy” on YouTube (thank you, iPhone!) and immediately fell in love! I also promptly set out to track down the other main location featured in it – the party house.
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The locale turned out to be an easy find thanks to the fact that an address number of “10310” was visible on the curb in front of the house in the video. I knew that the residence had to be located somewhere in the Valley, so, address number in hand, I began searching through 10300 blocks, starting in Van Nuys near Grant High School, and working my way outward. Sure enough, it was not long before I spotted the place at 10310 Wystone Avenue in Porter Ranch.
The residence looks pretty much exactly the same in person as it did in “Fancy.”
What it does not look like, though, is the party house from Clueless. While both properties have exterior steps, a peaked roof, and a definite “Valley” feel, the pad used in the “Fancy” video is much more ostentatious and modern than its Clueless counterpart.
In real life, the “Fancy” party house, which is quite sprawling as you can see below, features five bedrooms, four baths (with heated flooring!), 4,000 square feet of living space, and a 0.41-acre plot of land. While originally built in 1961, it was remodeled in 2008 and the new interior includes an open floor plan with 13 foot ceilings, a wet bar, and two fireplaces.
The home’s actual interior also appeared in the “Fancy” video.
I so love that a pool table was featured in the shoot! If only Charli XCX had been hit in the head by the shoe of someone sitting on said table a la Brittany Murphy, well, that would have been classic!
I would also guess that the “Fancy” video’s opening scene, in which Iggy is shown picking out an outfit on her iPad, was shot inside one of the home’s bedrooms.
You can watch the “Fancy” video by clicking below.
For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online.
Until next time, Happy Stalking!
Stalk It: The party house from Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy” music video is located at 10310 Wystone Avenue in Porter Ranch. The party house from Clueless is located at 16401 Knollwood Drive in Granada Hills.
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Happy Thanksgiving!
I will be taking the rest of this week off as my mom is having surgery and I will be helping with her recuperation, as well as celebrating Thanksgiving with my family. I hope all of my fellow stalkers have a fabulous holiday!
Until next time, Happy Stalking!
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Alfred Coffee & Kitchen
At one point last year, I mentioned that I would occasionally be blogging about stalk-worthy locales that do not have a film connection. Today’s post chronicles one of those places. A few months ago, fellow stalkers Becky and Anushika told me about Alfred Coffee & Kitchen, a quaint West Hollywood café that they thought I would adore. They were right. (To be fair, though, it was a pretty sure bet – I’ve yet to meet a coffee shop I didn’t like.
) When I first set foot inside the eatery, I immediately fell in love. So I brought my friends Lavonna, Kim, Melissa and Maria there for a cup of joe while they were in L.A. two weeks ago visiting from Ohio.[ad]
Alfred Coffee & Kitchen was founded in 2013 by real estate developer Joshua Zad. As a longtime area resident, Zad was frustrated that there was not a place to grab a coffee or baked good within walking distance of West Hollywood’s fashionable Melrose Place shopping district, so he decided to open one himself. He found the perfect site in a charming yellow-hued building situated on the eastern end of the tree-lined road. The entrepreneur had once lived on Alfred Street, just off Melrose Place, and named his new eatery in honor of his former address. It opened on January 23rd.
Thanks to its quaint charm and neighborhood-y feel, Alfred Coffee proved extremely popular from the get-go.
While the exterior of the eatery is absolutely adorable . . .
. . . it was the Manhattan-esque split-level interior that had me drooling! Upon walking in the front door, patrons are greeted with a huge “But first, coffee” sign, that I, of course, loved. Of being at Alfred, TimeOut Los Angeles said, “The experience is irresistibly Instagram-able (Seriously. That ‘But first, coffee’ decal should have its own handle.).” I couldn’t agree more – in fact, I did Instagram that very decal during my first visit to the café.
Alfred’s ground level boasts an intimate living room-like space for lounging, complete with a working fireplace.
The basement level features a seating area, as well as a large barista counter. Both floors are constantly jam-packed with patrons. One sip of an Alfred latte and you’ll understand why. The coffee is spectacular!
Alfred is most famous for its specialty espresso and macchiato drinks which come served in a four-ounce chocolate-dipped waffle cone cup.
While not a filming location, Alfred is a major celebrity hotspot. Just a few of the stars who have been spotted there include Vanessa Hudgens, Jaimie Alexander, Mickey Rourke, Dianna Agron, Jamie King, Jonah Hill, Jesse Metcalfe, Joe Jonas, (my boyfriend) Jerry Ferrara, Dolph Lundgren, Jennifer Meyer, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Ashley Tisdale, Emma Roberts and Camilla Belle.
My favorite blogger, Cupcakes and Cashmere’s Emily Schuman, even shot an outfit post at Alfred back in mid-2013.
For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online.
Big THANK YOU to fellow stalkers Anushika and Becky for telling me about this location!
Until next time, Happy Stalking!
Stalk It: Alfred Coffee & Kitchen is located at 8428 Melrose Place in West Hollywood. You can visit the eatery’s official website here.
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Today’s “L.A.” Mag Post – About Ben’s Apartment from “National Treasure”
Don’t forget to check out my latest Los Angeles magazine post – about Ben’s apartment from National Treasure. My articles typically get published in the late morning/early afternoon hours.
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Henry’s House from “Selfie”
I was saddened to learn recently that both Selfie and A to Z – two of my favorite new shows of the fall season – had been cancelled. If How to Get Away with Murder winds up on the chopping block next, the networks will be receiving a very strongly worded letter from me! While Selfie is (or should I say “was”?) both hilariously written and fabulously acted, it is the architectural house where Henry Higgs (John Cho) lives on the series that has me most obsessed. So while I was in L.A. last week (before I learned that the show had been canceled) with my good friends Lavonna, Kim, Melissa and Maria (that’s Melissa and Maria pictured above) who were visiting from Ohio, we headed out to Altadena to see the pad in person.
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Henry’s sprawling post-and-beam-style house is featured regularly on Selfie.
The residence looks very much the same in person as it does onscreen. I was shocked to discover while there, though, that the pad sits on a humongous piece of land. In establishing shots, only a small, tight-angle shot of Henry’s home is shown, so I never pictured it to be situated on such a massive lot, which, according to Redfin, measures 1.02 acres.
The tranquil property, which is located towards the end of a hilly, winding road, is extremely private and quiet.
The structure was originally built in 1949 by architect Robert F. Gordon. The entryway and living area were then remodeled in 1975 by Tim Andersen and in 2004 the husband-and-wife team of Fung + Blatt converted the home’s detached poolside stables into a guest retreat with a bedroom, kitchenette and bath. You can check out some photographs of the guest house remodel here.
In real life, the one-story residence boasts three bedrooms, three baths and 1,844 square feet of living space. Over the years, the stunning property has been featured in Sunset, Los Angeles and Atomic Ranch magazines.
I am fairly certain that the interior of Henry’s home is a mix of both the Altadena dwelling’s actual interior (which you can see photographs of here and here – LOVE the living room’s built-in couch and shelving) and a set located at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank where Selfie is lensed. I believe the room pictured below, which is the area of the house shown most often on the series, is a set.
But I think that the other sections of the house that appear onscreen are those of the real life residence. Henry’s kitchen, which is pictured in the screen captures below, is an exact match to the home’s actual kitchen, which you can see in this photograph.
On a side-note – I will be on The Bill Feingold Show Featuring Kevin Holmes once again this morning at 8 a.m. PST. You can listen in here.
For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online.
Until next time, Happy Stalking!
Stalk It: Henry’s house from Selfie is located at 3705 Alzada Drive in Altadena.
