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The Donna Martin Graduates Protest Site

As big of a Beverly Hills, 90210 fan as I am, it will probably come as a shock to learn that up until recently I had yet to stalk the spot where one of the show’s most iconic moments was filmed – Burbank City Hall, aka the Donna Martin Graduates protest site from the Season 3 episode titled “Something in the Air.” So, since I was in the area recently stalking The Wonder Years houses (you can read those posts here and here), I decided that it was about time that I amended that fact.

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Burbank City Hall, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, was designed by architects William Allen and W. George Lutzi. Construction on the Moderne/Art Deco-style building began in 1941 and lasted until 1943. The final cost of the project was $409,000.

The building’s most impressive feature is its tower, which stands at 77 feet.

The lobby area, which I, unfortunately, did not get to see, boasts twenty different kinds of marble, bass relief sculptures and a grand staircase. The building also houses two large murals painted by Hugo Ballin. In a 1996 Daily News article about the structure, Councilman Ted McConkey is quoted as saying, “Anyone walking into City Hall would recognize that it’s something unique. It’s special because of the period in which it was built, because of the way it’s been maintained and because of all the murals at City Hall. We get an inordinate number of requests to use City Hall from film companies.” Love it! You can check out a fabulous photograph of the lobby here.

In “Something in the Air,” Brandon Walsh (Jason Priestley) stages a Senior Class walk-out during final exams to protest the fact that Donna Martin (Tori Spelling), after showing up drunk to the prom, is not being allowed to graduate with her class. (The Juniors also participate in the walk-out, in order to protest the dress code that the school board has implemented for the upcoming school year.) The protestors – chanting the now legendary line “Donna Martin graduates!” – wind up at the steps of Burbank City Hall, which (I think) is supposed to be masquerading as the West Beverly Hills School District in the episode.

This guy had a little trouble with his “No scapegoats” sign.

During the rally, Mrs. Teasley (Denise Dowse) warns the students that they are all in danger of being flunked, which only serves to rile them up further. With Brandon leading the charge, they head inside the building and into the school board meeting.

Once inside, Brandon, of course, makes a speech in Donna’s defense. That speech never ceases to crack me up. He says, “Donna Martin is the kind of girl that goes out of her way for people. That’s why all these people here are going out of their way for her.” Like, huh? Did I miss something in all of my avid 90210 watching? When did Donna ever go out of her way for anyone, let alone the entire Junior and Senior class? It all ends well, though, as the board members wind up being moved by Brandon’s speech and vote to allow Donna to graduate. Donna Martin graduates, indeed!

“Something in the Air” was not the first Beverly Hills, 90210 episode to be lensed at Burbank City Hall. Although the exterior of Beverly Hills City Hall was used as an establishing shot . . .

. . . the interior of Burbank City Hall was where Jim Walsh (James Eckhouse) and Brandon attended a meeting about the Highpoint Center project in the Season 2 episode titled “The Pit and the Pendulum.”

Thanks to the Dear Old Hollywood website, I learned that Burbank City Hall stood in for a police station in the 1954 film Pushover.

In the Season 3 episode of The Rockford Files titled “Crack Back,” which aired in 1977, Burbank City Hall masqueraded as the courthouse where Beth Davenport (Gretchen Corbett) defended a professional football player who was on trial for murder.

In 1980’s American Gigolo, Burbank City Hall was where Julian (Richard Gere) was accosted by the press after being arrested. Very little of the building is visible in the scene, though.

The building masqueraded as a courthouse once again in the 1993 made-for-TV movie A Place to Be Loved (aka Shattered Family).

The interior of Burbank City Hall stood in for the U.S. Naval Headquarters at Pearl Harbor in the ending scene of the 1995 movie Crimson Tide.

For the exterior of the U.S. Naval Headquarters, a different building was used – Memorial Hall at Chapman University in the City of Orange.

The IMDB website states that Burbank City Hall was also utilized in the 1961 film The Choppers, the Season 2 episode of Police Woman titled “Generation of Evil,” the Season 2 episode of S.W.A.T. titled “Courthouse,” and the Season 1 episode of Matt Houston titled “The Showgirl Murders,” but, unfortunately, I could not find copies of any of those productions to verify that information.

On a Donna Martin Graduates side-note – Even though we don’t have kids, during the holidays the GC and I participate in a bit of Elf on the Shelf fun by trading off hiding our elf (named Max) every night for each other. This year, Max decided to hold a walk-out – with some nutcrackers, a couple of Santas, and my 90210 dolls – in honor of my favorite television show. While I thought it was genius, the GC did not share in my enthusiasm.

For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Donna Martin Graduates protest from the “Something in the Air” episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 was filmed at Burbank City Hall, which is located at 275 East Olive Avenue in Burbank.

March 28, 2014
Michael’s House from “The Wonder Years”

UPDATE – The Wonder Years is coming to DVD for the first time ever in October! The 26-disc boxed set includes all six seasons of the show, plus a cast reunion segment, over 15 hours of bonus footage, a collectible metal locker, two production booklets packed with behind-the-scenes information, a replica yearbook, and Wonder Years magnets. Sets can be pre-ordered here.

Fellow stalker Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, recently challenged me to find the old Victorian that Karen Arnold (Olivia d’Abo) and her boyfriend, Michael (who was played by none other than Friends’ David Schwimmer), moved into in the Season 4 episode of The Wonder Years titled “The House That Jack Built.” At the time, I had yet to hit that episode in my binge-watching of the series, so I scanned ahead and was pleasantly surprised to recognize the residence immediately. As it turns out, the home is located in South Pasadena and is one that I know quite well, due to the fact that it sat abandoned and run-down for over a decade before being fixed up. (Y’all know how much I love me some abandoned properties!) When I lived in Pasadena, I practically drove by the place on a daily basis, while on my way to and from the Harbor Freeway, and always wondered why such a beautiful dwelling had been left to deteriorate. I had even watched a music video being shot on the premises many moons ago (more on that later). For whatever reason, though, I had never blogged about the home, so I figured it was about time that I do so.

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In real life, the property, which is a South Pasadena Local City Landmark, is known as the Riggins House and it was originally built in 1885. Yep, it’s currently 129 years old! The five-bedroom, two-bath, 2,778-square-foot Queen Anne-style Victorian, which sits on 0.33 acres of land, was last sold in June 2005 for $1.2 million.

I never did learn the story behind the residence or why it was left in disarray for so many years. I think it has something to do with the 710 Freeway Project, though. (In the 1960s, the state of California purchased 500-plus homes – many quite large, beautiful and historic – in what is now known as the 710 Corridor with the intention of tearing them down to build a connector road between the 210 and 710 freeways. While some of the houses were leased out, many were left vacant from that point onward. Thankfully, the freeway extension project was squashed last October and the homes are now finally, finally being returned to private ownership.) Oddly enough, I preferred the look of the place in its run-down state, most likely because it reminded me of the “Thriller” house. Unfortunately though, I do not have any photographs of it from that time period.

According to An Architectural Guidebook to Los Angeles, Professor Thaddeus Lowe, who was best known for founding the Mount Lowe Railway and Citizen’s Bank of Los Angeles, lived in the Riggins House while his own (much larger – we’re talking 24,000 square feet!) house was being built a couple of blocks away at 995 South Orange Grove Boulevard. That residence, which was once one of the largest homes in the entire nation, was sadly demolished between 1927 and 1928.

In The Wonder Years “The House That Jack Built” episode, Karen decides to leave her college dorm in order to move into a large home with a “roommate,” whom she fails to tell her parents is actually her new boyfriend. Both the exterior of the Riggins House . . .

. . . and the interior were shown in the episode.

The residence subsequently showed up in several Season 5 episodes of The Wonder Years, including “Dinner Out;”

“Stormy Weather;”

and “The Wedding.”

As I mentioned above, I once watched a music video being filmed at the Riggins House – the 2003 video for the Beyoncé/Missy Elliot/MC Lyte/Free compilation song “Fighting Temptation,” which was featured on the soundtrack for Beyoncé’s then most recent movie, The Fighting Temptations. In a 2003 interview, Beyoncé stated that the Riggins House was chosen for filming because it reminded her of the Georgia-area residence where The Fighting Temptations was shot.

The interior of the Riggins House also appeared in the video.

You can watch “Fighting Temptation” by clicking below.

As I also just learned, the Riggins House was utilized as the Pyramid Corners, Oklahoma residence of the Torkleson family in the short-lived series The Torkelsons, one of my favorite shows ever! (Oh, Man in the Moon . . . ! ) In an odd twist, and for reasons I cannot even begin to fathom, imagery of the property was flipped in all establishing shots that appeared on the program, which ran from 1991 to 1992.

For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Big THANK YOU to Owen, from the When Write Is Wrong blog, for challenging me to find this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Michael’s house from The Wonder Years is located at 919 Columbia Street in South Pasadena.

March 26, 2014
The Fake Fendi Apartment Building from “Sex and the City”

My favorite moment from the two Sex and the City episodes that took place in Los Angeles (Season 3’s “Escape from New York” and “Sex and Another City”) was when Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall) attempted to buy fake designer purses at a seedy apartment building somewhere in the Valley. I, of course, was pretty intent on tracking down said apartment building and while I spent quite a bit of time trying to do so a few years back, I came up empty-handed. Then, a couple of weeks ago, after finding Lorenzo Lamas’ house from the “Sex and Another City” episode (which I blogged about here), I became inspired to have another go at it and, lo and behold, pinpointed the place!

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In “Sex and Another City,” Samantha purchases a fake Fendi bag while visiting L.A. with the girls. When Carrie sees the faux purse, she flips over it (and its $150-price tag) and Samantha tells here, “We could go get more. I got the guy’s card. He lives somewhere called ‘the Valley.’” (Samantha says the words “the Valley” with a romantic undertone, so its obvious she was never an avid 90210 watcher. ) The two then take a two-hour drive to the guy’s apartment building, which supposedly has an address number of 45386.

Only the backyard and rear portion of the apartment building were shown in the episode, which, coupled with the fact that I assumed the place actually was located “deep in the Valley,” made it rather difficult to find.

While re-watching the scene a couple of weeks ago, I was shocked to spot the unique building visible in the background behind Carrie and Samantha. Somehow, I had failed to notice it during all of my previous viewings. As it turns out, the building is one I am quite familiar with and have visited frequently over the years.

The building pictured in the background of the scene is located right across the street from Warner Bros. Studios and is known as Warner Bros. Studio Plaza or Building 160. It is the spot where guests check in for the Warner Bros. VIP Tour, which I have taken more times than I can count. How I never spotted the building on my earlier viewings of the fake Fendi scene is beyond me!

Especially considering that I knew from one of those tours that the scene in which Carrie met with Matthew McConaughey (who played himself) in the “Escape from New York” episode was filmed INSIDE OF a Warner Bros. Studio Plaza office. Duh!

Not to mention that a few other scenes from the two episodes were filmed at Warner Bros., including the scene in which Carrie attempted to smoke on a backlot stoop (which I wrote about for Los Angeles magazine here) and the two scenes in which Carrie drove to the studio for meetings about turning her column into a TV show (which were shot across the street from Building 160, in front of Gate 5).

In real life, the building is not seedy at all, nor is it located in a shady area.

While I really wanted to walk into the backyard to catch a glimpse of where filming had taken place, I somehow managed to restrain myself.

I was thrilled to see, though, that the size and positioning of the building’s windows, the base of the exterior stairwell and the three gray poles to the side of it all matched up to what appeared onscreen.

The spot where the dogs were caged up in the scene is denoted with a pink arrow in the photograph below.

For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The fake Fendi apartment building from the “Sex and Another City” episode of Sex and the City is located at 141 South Avon Street in Burbank.

March 24, 2014
A Visit with My BFF

My best friend, Robin, who lives in Switzerland, just arrived in California for a surprise, last-minute visit. I am so BEYOND excited, you don’t even understand! I will be taking the next two weeks off to spend time with him, but will be back on Monday, March 24th with a new post. In the meantime, don’t forget to check out Scene It Before, my weekly L.A. magazine column, here.

March 10, 2014
The “L!fe Happens” House

While getting my hair blown out at the Pasadena Blo-Out Lounge (one of my very favorite places) a couple of weeks ago, I caught a portion of the 2011 romantic comedy L!fe Happens, which I had never previously heard of. Thanks to its obvious L.A. locales, the flick piqued my interest. A rom-com filmed in Los Angeles that I didn’t know about? How is that possible? I quickly amended the situation by forcing the Grim Cheaper to watch it on Netflix a few nights later. And while I didn’t particularly love the movie, I did fall into a bit of lust with the unique Craftsman-style home where BFFs Kim (Krysten Ritter), Deena (Kate Bosworth) and Laura (Rachel Bilson) lived in it. Having Geoff Stults in a starring role didn’t hurt, either. This stalker absolutely loves herself some GS! But I’m getting off track.

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The residence took quite a bit of sleuthing to track down. While I originally thought that it was most likely located in Echo Park or Silver Lake, after a lot of digging I ended up finding it just off the I-10 freeway near Western Avenue in the Pico-Union area of Los Angeles.

In real life, the home, which was originally built in 1905, boasts four bedrooms, two baths, 2,263 square feet of living space, and a 0.13-acre plot of land. According to Zillow, it last sold in April 1999 for $150,000, which seems quite a bit low to me. Maybe it was in very poor shape at the time, though. It also appears to be undergoing some sort of renovation currently, as well.

L!fe Happens centers around three friends who live together in what is supposedly Silver Lake. A one night stand (before which, borrowing a storyline from Friends, Kim and Laura battle each other over the last condom in the house) results in Kim becoming pregnant. She decides to raise the baby as a single mom, while still living with her friends, and the movie takes off from there.

On a side-note – L!fe Happens borrowed another storyline from Friends – the “We both do that!” storyline from the Season 1 episode titled “The One with Two Parts: Part 2,” which you can watch below. But, once again, I’m getting off track.

The house is featured prominently throughout L!fe Happens, although it is never mentioned how Kim (a dog-walker/personal assistant), Deena (a struggling writer) and Laura (who flits from job to job) can afford such an amazeballs residence.

While I loved the home’s unique exterior (especially the pentagonal roof!) . . .

. . . what I became most enamored with was its interior . . .

. . . especially the open stairwell.

I mean, could it be any more fabulous?? If I lived there, I would so be displaying books and picture frames on each step. Love, love, love!

While I originally thought that the interior was a set, after looking through these images, in which my beloved stairwell is visible in the background (comparison screen caps of that scene from the movie are pictured below), I now believe that the real life interior of the home was used in the filming. Unfortunately, I could not find any photographs with which to verify that, though. Either way, what I wouldn’t give to see the inside of that place! UPDATE – I just came across this Curbed LA article which features photos of the property and the interior was indeed used in L!fe Happens!

For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The L!fe Happens house is located at 1802 South Oxford Avenue in the Pico-Union area of Los Angeles.

March 7, 2014
New Schedule

I have been burning the candle at both ends lately and am finding that between taking care of my dad (which is a full-time job in and of itself), keeping up with my blog and writing for Los Angeles magazine, that there are just not enough hours in the day to get everything done. So I will be taking Thursdays “off” from now on – well, sort of. My Scene It Before column for L.A. magazine runs each Thursday, so I’ll be writing that in lieu of a new IAMNOTASTALKER post. Be sure to check it out each week. And I’ll be back tomorrow with a new location.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

March 6, 2014
Fatso’s Drive-In from “The Wonder Years”

UPDATE – The Wonder Years is coming to DVD for the first time ever in October! The 26-disc boxed set includes all six seasons of the show, plus a cast reunion segment, over 15 hours of bonus footage, a collectible metal locker, two production booklets packed with behind-the-scenes information, a replica yearbook, and Wonder Years magnets. Sets can be pre-ordered here.

My favorite episode of The Wonder Years is Season 5’s “Frank and Denise.” I absolutely love everything about it – the characters of Frank ‘The Stank’ Stanavukovic (Noah Blake) and Denise “The Grease” Lavelle (Amy Hathaway), their relationship, the poetry, and the fact that Kevin Arnold (Fred Savage) starts referring to himself as “Calvin Arnold.” All in all, it’s just a perfectly-crafted episode and storyline. So when I saw that the MyTWYYearbook website had tracked down the location of Fatso’s, one of the main locations featured in “Frank and Denise,” I just about died of excitement and ran right out to stalk it while in L.A. last week.

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In “Frank and Denise,” Fatso’s is the restaurant where Denise, a popular girl whom Kevin has recently befriended, works.

In real life, the eatery is known as Jim’s Original Famous 1/4 Lb. Charbroiled Burgers. (I know, I know, the name is a lot to chew on – pun intended.) The drive-in, which serves everything from the aforementioned burgers to tacos to teriyaki chicken bowls, was originally founded in 1960 by a man named Jim (obvs) at 8749 East Valley Boulevard in Rosemead. It has remained at that same location ever since.

Jim’s was taken over by a new owner, Chris Athas, in 1997. At some point thereafter, Athas remodeled the restaurant and it, unfortunately, no longer even remotely resembles Fatso’s from “Frank and Denise,” as you can see below. You can check out some photographs of what Jim’s looked like pre-remodel on the MyTWYYearbook site here.

Oddly enough, Jim’s masqueraded as a different restaurant, Zesty’s, in The Wonder Years episode that followed “Frank and Denise,” titled “Full Moon Rising.” The eatery was shown from the opposite side, which is, I guess, how producers figured they could get away with featuring the same location as two different places in back-to-back shows. Thankfully, whoever runs MyTWYYearbook has eagle eyes and caught the double-usage.

As you can see below, the red, white and blue tiling of Fatso’s from “Frank and Denise” matches that of Zesty’s from “Full Moon Rising,” as does the rock façade exterior and the pick-up window.

Later in Season 5, in the episode titled “Hero,” Kevin heads back to Fatso’s, this time with Paul Pfeiffer (Josh Saviano) and Winnie Cooper (Danica McKellar), to celebrate McKinley High’s big basketball win. As you can see below, though, instead of filming at Jim’s, a different restaurant was utilized – one that I have yet to track down.

On a The Wonder Years side-note – I was shocked to spot none other than Person of Interest’s Jim Caviezel playing high school basketball star Bobby Riddle in “Hero.” He looks exactly the same today as he did when the episode was filmed back in 1992!

For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Big THANK YOU to MyTWYYearbook website for finding this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Jim’s Original Famous 1/4 Lb. Charbroiled Burgers, aka Fatso’s from the “Frank and Denise” episode of The Wonder Years, is located at 8749 East Valley Boulevard in Rosemead. You can visit the eatery’s official website here.

March 5, 2014
Lorenzo Lamas’ House from “Sex and the City”

This past weekend was hands down the best. Oscar. weekend. ever. I ended up stalking only one event (the torrential rain kept me indoors the rest of the time), but while there I got to meet one of my top-five celebrity crushes, Mr. Joshua Jackson from Dawson’s Creek. Like I said, best. Oscar. weekend. ever.

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I also met Alex Newell from Glee . . .

and The O.C.’s Peter Gallagher (who happened to be playing in a celebrity golf tournament in Palm Springs).

I also got to do a bit of location stalking during the few, brief moments when the sun was out, most of it Sex and the City-related. While doing research for my most-recent Los Angeles magazine Scene It Before post, about the backlot stoop where Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) attempted to smoke a cigarette in the Season 3 episode titled “Escape from New York,” I got inspired to track down some of the missing locations from the episode and the one that followed it, titled “Sex and Another City.” (Both episodes took place in L.A.). The locale I was most intent on finding was the ultra-modern pad that Keith Travers (Vince Vaughn) took Carrie to look at in “Sex and Another City.” In the episode, the real estate agent informs Keith that the residence belongs to actor Lorenzo Llamas and that he has it listed at $3.4 million, but that it will probably go for $3.2.

When Carrie sees the inside of the place, she says, “This is not a house, this is an airport!”

Thanks to its modern style and stellar views, I was convinced that the residence was located somewhere in the West Hollywood area, so I was shocked to come across this listing which stated that it was actually in Studio City. From there, tracking down the home’s exact location was a snap. Sadly though, when I went to stalk it, I learned that the pad is located on a private road and is not accessible to the public. I did manage to catch a glimpse of it from a few blocks away, though.

According to this article, the unique home had a bit of a stilted start. Architect Michael Pearce completed building the exterior of the structure in 1996, shortly before it was acquired by the bank. A man named Robert Seltzer subsequently purchased it for $600,000 and commissioned architect David Kellen to finish the project. The residence was then put on the market in 2004 for, in a case of life imitating art, $3.4 million. It appears to have been put on the market again in 2013 for $2,795,000, but I do not believe that it ever sold.

According to the real estate listing, the property was in need of some repairs and TLC at that time. As you can see below, it does appear that some sort of work is currently being done on the place.

The stunning home boasts four bedrooms, five baths, 5,873 square feet of space, a 0.59-acre plot of land, an infinity pool, a spa, a rooftop deck, three balconies, twenty-foot ceilings, glass walls, a gourmet kitchen, three fireplaces, and a sauna. You can see some interior photographs of the pad here. According to this article, Leonardo DiCaprio (whom I was devastated did not win the Best Actor Oscar on Sunday night) even checked out the property at one point in time.

For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Lorenzo Lamas’ house from the “Sex and Another City” episode of Sex and the City is located at 3596 Woodhill Canyon Road in Studio City. Woodhill Canyon Road is private and not accessible to the public, but you can catch a glimpse of the residence from Mound View Place, which is located just a few blocks east.

March 4, 2014
L.A. Vacay

I am heading to L.A. today and staying through the weekend – my favorite weekend of the year. Yep, it’s that time again – time for the Academy Awards. I am SO excited and am not even going to let the torrential rain that is supposed to be falling the entire time we are there dampen my spirits.

I promise to be back next week with an all new post. In the meantime, be sure to check out my latest article for L.A. magazine on Thursday.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

February 26, 2014
The Wrong-Door Raid Apartments

One of the most infamous (and humorous) scandals to ever rock Tinseltown involved my girl Miss Marilyn Monroe and her second ex-husband, legendary baseball player Joe DiMaggio. (Their relationship wasn’t always sunshine and roses.) Known as the Wrong-Door Raid, it occurred in the late night hours of November 5th, 1954, but did not become public knowledge until almost a year later. I stalked the apartment building where the raid took place – at 8122 Waring Avenue in West Hollywood – last summer, initially planning to blog about it as a Haunted Hollywood locale. As I got to researching the events of that evening, though, I realized they were far more comical than scary and decided to postpone the post until now.

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After a scant 274 days of marriage, Joe and Marilyn divorced on October 27th, 1954. Convinced the starlet was finding solace in another man’s arms (namely her voice coach, Hal Schaefer), DiMaggio hired private detective Barney Ruditsky to tail her. On the night of November 5th, Ruditsky gave DiMaggio some news – Marilyn had just arrived at an apartment building on Waring Avenue in West Hollywood, quite possibly to meet up with a paramour. Joltin’ Joe was dining at the Villa Capri with close friend Frank Sinatra at the time and, hoping to catch Marilyn in the act, the two men rushed out of the restaurant and headed over to West Hollywood. (What they planned to do when they “caught” her is unclear.) On the sidewalk outside of the building, they met up with Ruditsky and a second private eye named Philip Irwin. Some other cohorts were also apparently on the scene, but reports vary as to who. Camera (as well as, supposedly, an ax) in hand, the men broke down the back door of one of the building’s ground floor units shortly after 11 p.m. and stormed inside. They did not find Marilyn, though. Instead, they surprised a spinster named Florence Kotz, who had been asleep in her bed. The group had somehow mistakenly entered the wrong apartment. Marilyn was in an upstairs unit with her friend Sheila Stewart (and quite possibly Schaefer as well, although that has not been proven) during the incident.

Florence immediately called the police, but the perpetrators had already run off, disappearing into the night. Not much was made of the events and the poor woman was left wondering why a group of strange men had broken down her door and taken a photograph of her in bed. Then in September 1955, Confidential magazine published an article telling the true story behind the raid. The sh*t quickly hit the proverbial fan. Frank was eventually served a subpoena on February 16th, 1957 at his Palm Springs home via two detectives who, in a karmic twist, knocked on his front door at 4 a.m., waking him up. Ironically, he filed a complaint. He later testified that he was a participant in the Wrong-Door Raid, but had never entered Florence’s apartment, choosing instead to stay behind in the car. His version of events was largely disputed, though. No one was ever prosecuted for the crime, but Florence did sue the group for $200,000, eventually settling for $7,500.

All I can think when reading about the events of the Wrong-Door Raid night is, ‘What a bunch of morons!’ Love makes people do crazy, ridiculous things, I guess. As Amanda Peet said in fave movie A Lot Like Love, “If you’re not willing to sound [or act, in this case] stupid, you don’t deserve to be in love.”

Years later, Schaefer came forward and “confessed” that he had been with Marilyn in Sheila’s apartment that night. I tend not to believe him, though. While he might well have been in Sheila’s home, I highly doubt it was because Monroe had any romantic interest in him. The guy seems like a total creeper – especially in the video below when describing the events that took place in the hospital with Marilyn following his suicide attempt.

There are several differing reports as to which unit DiMaggio and Sinatra actually broke into and which unit Marilyn was actually in during the raid, but according to the book Hollywood Death and Scandal Sites, written by fellow stalker E.J. of The Movieland Directory, Florence’s apartment was the one located at 754 North Kilkea Drive.

And Sheila’s apartment was the one at 8122 Waring Avenue.

For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Wrong-Door Raid apartments are located at 8120/8122 Waring Avenue/754 N. Kilkea Drive in West Hollywood.

February 25, 2014