A Star Is Born – IAMNOTASTALKER

May 22, 2020May 22, 2020

Super A Foods from “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”

It’s not every day a location is featured in back-to-back Oscar frontrunners, but such was the case with Glassell Park’s Super A Foods! The small mid-century market made appearances in both 2018’s A Star Is Born and 2019’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Neither movie wound up locking down the Best Picture prize, but Super A Foods became a household name among fans, not to mention a popular stalking venue, nonetheless. I had long been familiar with the grocery store thanks to its cameo in the 2002 Britney Spears vehicle Crossroads and even blogged about it in 2011. It sure has come a long way since then, though, so I figured it was definitely time for a redo and ran right out to re-stalk it.

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Built in 1967, the one-story grocer was designed by architect Robert H. Peterson and originally housed a Food Fair market.

In 1975, Super A moved in and never looked back. The chain, which today boasts 8 outposts, was founded in 1971 by Lou Amen, who sadly passed away two weeks ago at the age of 90 after miraculously recovering from a case of COVID-19. He was still actively working for the family-run company until just a few days before his death.

Per the Los Angeles Conservancy, the Glassell Park Super A Foods “is significant as a largely intact example of a postwar-era grocery market.” The building features fabulous mid-century detailing including glazed glass, a geometric sign, and a canted ceiling.

That roofline, though!

It is at Super A that Pussycat (Margaret Qualley) and other Manson Family members dumpster-dive for food toward the beginning of Once Upon a Time In Hollywood. The segment was shot on the market’s west side, along Cypress Avenue.

The signage visible behind the women in the scene is authentic to the store, painted there long before filming took place.

The James Dean mural the group walks by upon leaving Super A is not, though. It was created specifically for the shoot on the western side of S & S Pharmacy, directly across the street from the market.

Sadly, the mural was painted over after filming wrapped and there are no vestiges of it left today.

As I mentioned above, Super A was also featured in Crossroads. It is at the supposed Alabama store that Lucy (Britney Spears), Mimi (Taryn Manning), Kit (Zoe Saldana), and Ben (Anson Mount) make a pit stop for snacks during their road trip from Georgia to California.

And in A Star Is Born, Ally (Lady Gaga) and Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper) stop by Super A for frozen peas after Ally gets into a bit of a scuffle, punching someone at a bar. While sitting in the market’s parking lot nursing her swollen hand, Ally begins to write “Shallow,” the song that eventually makes her famous. Of the location, cinematographer Matthew Libatique told radio station KPCC, “If a grocery store can possibly be cinematic, it’s this one.” He also considered the site pretty central to the movie. As Libatique expressed to LAist in a 2018 interview, “It was meant to root [Ally’s] existence on the Eastside of Los Angeles. It was very important for [production designer Karen Murphy], as a designer, to make sure the character had an identity through her environment.”

Yellowcard’s 2003 “Way Away “ music video was shot at the market, as well.

And in 2019 Cuco filmed his “Keeping Tabs” music video at Super A.

The Glassell Park Super A Foods is not the chain’s only claim to fame. The former Eagle Park outpost at 2245 Yosemite Drive, which today houses a Sprouts Famers Market, made several appearances in the 1981 comedy The Incredible Shrinking Woman.

The Eagle Rock store was also featured in Travis’ 2007 “Closer” music video.

And the 2008 comedy Over Her Dead Body filmed a couple of scenes at the Highland Park Super A, located at 5250 York Avenue.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Super A Foods, from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, is located at 2925 Division Street in Glassell Park.

March 13, 2019March 12, 2019

Noodles’ House from “A Star Is Born”

News outlets are reporting that Lady Gaga can’t seem to let go of her A Star Is Born character. Well, I am apparently having a hard time letting go of the movie’s locations because here I am yet again with yet another site from the film (you can read my other ASIB posts here, here, and here) – a film that I did not even enjoy, oddly enough. Yes, I did finally sit down to watch it recently, but found myself bored and wound up turning it off about ninety minutes in. I don’t know if my apathy was completely legitimate or had to do with the fact that I was dreading the sad ending, but either way, the portions I did see were just “meh.” The only time I did perk up was when the supposed Memphis home belonging to George ‘Noodles’ Stone (Dave Chappelle) came onscreen as I was fairly certain it was a spot I had stalked long ago. A quick visit to my website verified my hunch – Noodles’ pad is none other than the Teen Wolf party house! Researching further, I was shocked to discover that the property boasts yet a third notable claim to fame! So, even though I already blogged about it back in 2011, I figured it was definitely time for another go-around.

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Per a couple of commenters on my 2011 post, in real life Noodles’ house was built in 1915 for a man named Dr. Hubert Shearin, who was the head of the Occidental College English Department at the time. A distinguished member of the community, Dr. Shearin also served as director of the Eagle Rock School Board and director of Eagle Rock Bank, as well as belonging to countless local clubs. Considering his prominence, it should come as no surprise that when Eagle Rock became part of the City of Los Angeles in 1923 and many roads were required to be renamed, the street his former residence is on was dubbed “Shearin Avenue” in his honor.

Hubert passed away suddenly on August 12th, 1919 at the age of 41, leaving behind his wife, Ruth, and their two children. Ruth continued to live in the 4-bedroom, 1-bath, 2,346-square-foot property (which you can see interior photographs of here) until 1952, at which time she moved to Glendale. In the ensuing years, the house went on to become quite famous cinematically.

It is there that Scott Howard (Michael J. Fox) and his friends attend a raucous high school party in the 1985 classic Teen Wolf.

A woman named Valerie who grew up in the house and lived there during the Teen Wolf shoot wrote a comment on my 2011 post informing me that the closet where Scott kissed his BFF Boof (Susan Ursitti) was not real, but a set piece built specifically for the filming on the home’s rear deck, which is what I had suspected upon first viewing images of the interior. In actuality, the closet doors seen in the movie are French doors that lead from the dining room to the backyard. You can check out an image of the spot where the prop closet was built here.

It was thanks to my obsessive study of the closet and dining room area while writing my original post that I recognized the pad in A Star Is Born. Actually, what I recognized were the unique arched built-ins situated on either side of the home’s French doors. I had spent quite a bit of time scrutinizing them, so when they popped up in A Star Is Born, I immediately took note. You can check out some actual images of the residence’s dining room, which was massively repainted for the ASIB shoot, here and here.

Along with the dining room . . .

. . . the kitchen (which you can see a photo of here) also briefly appeared in A Star Is Born . . .

. . . as did an upstairs bedroom (matching photo here) . . .

. . . the side yard (matching photo here) . . .

. . . and the street out front (matching Google Street View image below).

As I mentioned earlier, along with Teen Wolf and A Star Is Born, the dwelling boasts yet another Hollywood connection. On the television series This Is Us, it serves at the supposed Pittsburgh residence of the Pearson family. It is this home that burns down in the much-maligned episode titled “Super Bowl Sunday.” For whatever reason, the property was only utilized on the show starting in Season 2.

During the series’ inaugural season, a different home at 1960 Fletcher Avenue in South Pasadena appeared as the Pearsons’.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Noodles’ house from A Star Is Born, aka the Teen Wolf party house, aka the Pearson residence from This Is Us, is located at 5223 Shearin Avenue in Eagle Rock. Rachel’s (Chloë Grace Moretz) home from (500) Days of Summer can be found right next door at 5231 Shearin Avenue.

March 1, 2019September 17, 2019

Tacos Jalisco from “A Star Is Born”

Stumbling upon filmings used to be a regular occurrence when I lived in L.A. Sadly, that is not the case in Palm Springs. So I was thrilled – and shocked – to happen upon A Star Is Born being shot at desert eatery Tacos Jalisco while on a Windmill Tour with the Grim Cheaper and our friends Nat and Tony back in April 2017. Though I had no intention of ever seeing the flick due to its sad storyline, I made a mental note to do a proper stalk of the restaurant once it came out. After a few failed attempts in which I showed up only to find the place closed, I was finally able to do so this past week.

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Sitting adjacent to Jalisco Tires auto repair shop, Tacos Jalisco is located quite a ways off the beaten path on a sleepy road in North Palm Springs.

If not for the Windmill Tour, I never would have known the place existed.

And that is a shame because it serves up uh-ma-zing food. The GC and I, of course, partook while there and he quickly proclaimed the tacos some of the best he’s ever had.

The small, casual eatery consists of two rooms – a main dining area and a bar.

Surprisingly, I could not find much information about the place’s history online aside from the fact that it formerly housed a market.

In A Star Is Born (which is out on DVD now!), Tacos Jalisco masks as the roadside eatery where Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper) and Ally (Lady Gaga) stop to grab a bite to eat upon arriving in Jackson’s hometown of Arizona.

While there, Ally jots down lyrics for a song she is writing titled “Look What I’ve Found” and Jack discusses the fact that he doesn’t return home very often.

The restaurant’s interior was changed a bit for the shoot, with the booths that usually sit along the side wall moved to the middle of the dining area.

Otherwise, the place looks much as it did onscreen.

The exterior of Tacos Jalisco also appears in A Star Is Born – and is the site of a rather large gaffe. Notice below that as Ally walks up to Jack outside of the restaurant, she does not have a jacket on . . .

. . . but seconds later, as she embraces him, she magically does!

It was that portion of the scene that we saw being shot during our Windmill Tour. I was even able to snap a few pics of the production as we drove by. (I believe that is Bradley Cooper standing in the forefront of the top image below as the outfit seems to match what he was wearing onscreen – but don’t quote me on that as it could just as easily be his stand-in.)

Interestingly, prop gas pumps were brought in for the shoot to make Tacos Jalisco and the adjoining Jalisco Tires appear to be a service station. Because I had never seen the locale prior to the filming, I assumed the tanks were real and was shocked when I showed up to stalk the place and discovered there were no pumps to be found anywhere on the premises!

The scene that follows that of the roadside diner, in which Jack discovers that his childhood ranch has been sold and turned into a wind farm, was shot just around the corner on Dillon Road, about half a mile west of where it intersects with North Indian Canyon Drive. (I did not realize that when I stalked the restaurant and, as such, failed to take any photographs, so the Street View image below will have to do for now.)

In the interest of being thorough, I’ve denoted exactly where Ally and Jack were standing in the segment in the aerial view below. Ally’s position, in the bare patch of dirt, is marked with a pink “X,” while Jack’s, which is slightly west in the nearby foliage, is denoted with a blue “X.”

While stalking Tacos Jalisco, I happened to chat with its super-nice owner who informed me that the restaurant also appeared in the 2005 thriller Constantine as the spot where Manuel (Jesse Ramirez) stole a car in what was supposed to be the Mexican desert.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Tacos Jalisco, from A Star Is Born, is located at 17725 North Indian Canyon Drive in North Palm Springs. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here. Jack’s childhood-ranch-turned-windmill-farm from the movie can be found just around the corner on Dillon Road, about half a mile west of where it intersects with North Indian Canyon Drive.

February 11, 2019November 5, 2019

The Millennium Biltmore Hotel from “A Star Is Born”

It’s not everyday you’ll find photos of a public restroom on my site. It’s not everyday you’ll find me stalking one either. But a couple of years ago, the Grim Cheaper and I were granted an extensive private tour of the Millennium Biltmore Los Angeles that included a visit to the hotel’s Regency Room men’s lavatory. Our guide thought we would want to see the space thanks to a bit of cinema history that exists there. (More on that in a bit.) Flash forward to last week – while scanning through the 2018 A Star Is Born prior to writing my recent post on East Hollywood bar The Virgil, I was shocked to see the very same bathroom (well, the women’s version, at least) pop up in an opening scene and decided I just had to chronicle it here. When I sat down to write the post, though, I discovered that the entire Biltmore property – not just its bathroom – has ties to three of the A Star Is Born movies. So I figured a more all-encompassing article about the hotel was in order.

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The Biltmore’s Regency Room was originally part of the Sala De Oro ballroom, which was constructed during the hotel’s 1928 expansion. You can see what the stunning venue looked like in its early days here and in its current state below.

The grand space, surprisingly located on a sublevel of the hotel, ran 140 feet long and 107 feet wide and boasted three open stories, an insane vaulted ceiling, a large mezzanine, box seating for 46 groups, a stage (built on hydraulics that allowed it to be raised and lowered), a dance floor, a check room with a capacity for 100 guests, and its own kitchen. So stunning was the massive hall that it was chosen as the site of eight different Academy Awards ceremonies.

In 1934, management decided to change things up by turning the ballroom into a hopping nightclub named the “Biltmore Bowl.” Architect Wayne McAllister, who also gave us Bob’s Big Boy in Burbank, was brought in to revamp the room. And revamp it he did. He moved the stage, making it the central focal point, and also, oddly, split the venue into two levels, a two-story upper floor and a single-story lower floor. You can see what the upper level looked like during its heyday here and here.

Sadly, the nightclub was gutted by a fire in the 1950s and subsequently renovated, at which time the grand ceiling and elegant stage were removed. But the split levels remained, with the top floor becoming a ballroom that retained the Biltmore Bowl name and the sub-level becoming an exhibit hall initially dubbed the “Rex Room” and later the “Regency Room.” The gilded, gated entrance to both spaces is pictured below.

The Biltmore Bowl underwent a re-do again in 2001, during which the venue’s tiered seating was removed and its decorative aesthetic shifted to match that of the rest of the hotel.

The Regency Room, which is largely unchanged from its 1950’s post-fire state, is much less opulent than its upstairs neighbor, as you can see below.

In fact, the only ornamentation the space really has is some decorative grillwork, which is leftover from its days as part of the Sala De Oro ballroom.

The ornate ceiling in the Regency Room’s foyer is also original to the Sala De Oro.

Today, the Regency Room boasts 17,000 square feet of space – and a set of famous bathrooms.

At the beginning of A Star Is Born, Ally (Lady Gaga) breaks up with her boyfriend via phone from a stall in the Regency Room women’s bathroom, which is said to be the restroom of the hotel kitchen where she works.

Though I did not see the women’s bathroom during my tour, I was shown the very similar-looking men’s room.

It was there that Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) and his pals tied up and threatened Police Commissioner Jacobs (Pat McNamara) in the 1999 drama Fight Club.

Our tour guide highlighted the space not only because of its onscreen cameo, but also because of some damage that occurred during the shoot, which she figured I would be fascinated by. And I was! Apparently, while Pitt and McNamara were filming the fight scene, the base of one of the pedestal sinks was splintered. For whatever reason, the chip was never filled in and the sink currently remains in its post-Fight-Club state, a little piece of filming ephemera left behind for the ages.

You can see said chip in the images above and below, as well as what an intact sink base looks like directly next to it.

The Biltmore’s 25,000-square-foot basement kitchen, which I did not get to stalk during my tour, makes a couple of appearances as Ally’s workplace in A Star Is Born, as well.

That very same kitchen also appeared as the kitchen of a Radisson hotel in East Lansing, Michigan in the Season 4 episode of The West Wing titled “College Kids,” which aired in 2002.

It can also be seen in the Season 4 episode of Bosch titled “Rojo Profundo,” which aired in 2018. As I said in my recent post on the hotel’s South Galleria, every single area of the Biltmore has been utilized in multiple major productions!

The hotel’s loading dock, which leads directly down to the Biltmore Bowl and Regency Room, also pops up a couple of times in A Star Is Born – first in the scene in which Ally leaves work to head to her gig at Bleu Bleu and then later when she and Ramon (Anthony Ramos) get picked up by Jackson Maine’s (Bradley Cooper) driver to go to one of his shows.

The loading dock pops up in the “College Kids” episode of The West Wing, as well.

As I mentioned earlier, the Biltmore had ties to A Star Is Born long before the latest version was filmed. In the 1937 original, Vicki Lester (Janet Gaynor) and Norman Maine (Fredric March) attend an Academy Awards ceremony at what is said to be the Biltmore Bowl.

I am unsure if filming actually took place in the ballroom or on a studio-built set, though.

My hunch is that a set was utilized being that not much of what was shown onscreen matches early photographs of the Bowl. The wide shot of the room featured in the movie (pictured below) also looks to me like a matte painting of some sort.

I can say with certainty that the Biltmore Bowl was the site of the Grammy Awards in the 1976 version of A Star Is Born. You can see some behind-the-scenes photos of the segment being shot here.

Esther Hoffman (Barbra Streisand) and John Norman Howard (Kris Kristofferson) even head up the escalators situated adjacent to the South Galleria in the scene. It is on the escalator landing that Howard punches a paparazzi.

The Biltmore Bowl is also the site of the Leadership in Journalism Awards gala in the Season 1 episode of The Morning Show titled “A Seat at the Table,” which aired in November 2019.

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 Millennium Biltmore Los Angeles, from A Star Is Born, is located at 506 South Grand Avenue in downtown L.A. You can visit the property’s official website here. The Regency Room and its bathrooms are situated underneath the Biltmore Bowl on the south side of the hotel and can be reached via the South Galleria. The kitchen from the film is also located in the basement of the hotel. Unfortunately, neither area is open to the public. The loading dock can be found just south of Coffee on Grand at 530 South Grand Avenue.

February 6, 2019February 5, 2019

The Virgil from “A Star Is Born”

I got a text from my friend Liz the other day saying, “Don’t see A Star Is Born . . . OMG!” followed by a bunch of crying face emojis. As Liz and most of my fellow stalkers are well aware, I do not like sad or depressing movies – at all. Liz needn’t have worried. While I have never watched any of the A Star Is Born iterations, I am familiar enough with the storyline to know that they are just not my cup of tea. My friend Lavonna is on the other end of the spectrum, though. She saw the latest installment as soon as it came out, became absolutely obsessed, and, during a recent visit to L.A., stalked a bunch of its locations, including The Virgil, which masked as Bleu Bleu in an opening scene. As fate would have it, upon arriving at the East Hollywood bar, she stumbled upon some crew members from Glow striking set pieces from a shoot that had been done on the premises the day prior. Lavonna struck up a conversation with one them who invited her inside to take a closer look and snap pictures. Figuring it would make for a good blog post, she forwarded the photos on to me. And while I still have yet to see A Star Is Born, thanks to Vudu, where it is available for streaming, I was able to scan through the beginning to familiarize myself with it a bit in preparation for this write-up.

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The Virgil was originally established in June 2012 by nightlife impresarios Louie and Netty Ryan, of Temple Bar Concepts, who also founded Townhouse/The Del Monte in Venice and Santa Monica’s famed Temple Bar (which is now closed), among a slew of others.

The lounge, known for its specialty craft cocktails, occupies a space on the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and North Virgil Avenue that formerly housed Little Temple, another of the Ryans’ watering holes which opened in mid-2004. Prior to that, the site was the longtime home of The Garage, a rock club owned by Steve Edelson.

Comprised of two spacious areas, the “Stage” room and the “B Side” (the latter of which Lavonna did not get any photos of, but you can see what it looks like here), The Virgil has a distinctly bohemian vibe . . .

. . . with some Moroccan elements thrown in.

With curtains flanking wide openings . . .

. . . and unique carvings adoring various doorways, The Virgil looks like a really cool place to hang out.

In A Star Is Born, Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper) pops by “Bleu Bleu” to get a drink while on his way home from a performance. The exterior of the bar is only shown briefly in the segment.

Though, as Lavonna informed me, the billboard out front does provide some foreshadowing of the movie’s ending. (And she wonders why I’m resisting watching it! Yeah, that’s gonna be a hard ‘no’ from me!)

It is at The Virgil that Jack first lays eyes on Ally (Lady Gaga) as she spectacularly performs “La Vie en Rose.”

Due to low lighting and rather tight camera angles, not much of the bar can be seen in the movie. We do get a better glimpse of it later in the scene, when Jack is invited to perform onstage while he waits for Ally after Bleu Bleu has closed for the evening. Despite some major set dressing that was added for the shoot (which, per Vulture, took two days to complete), the place is still definitely recognizable from its appearance.

I am unsure if the Bleu Bleu dressing room segments were shot at The Virgil, as well, but I am guessing that they were.

The Virgil is also featured twice in the Season 1 episode of Strange Angel titled “The Sage,” which aired in 2018. The B Side area first pops up as the bar where Jack Parsons (Jack Reynor) laments to his friend Ernest Donovan (Rupert Friend) about not being allowed in to an important business function.

The Stage room then masks as the gentleman’s club that Jack and Ernest visit later in the episode.

As I mentioned earlier, Glow also did some filming at The Virgil, so be sure to look for it in an upcoming episode of the third season.

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

Big THANK YOU to my friend Lavonna for stalking this location for me!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Virgil, aka Bleu Bleu from A Star Is Born, is located at 4519 Santa Monica Boulevard in East Hollywood. You can visit the bar’s official website here.