Anaheim – IAMNOTASTALKER

July 7, 2017July 5, 2017

Off Limits Cocktail Lounge from “Rosewood”

I’m still in quite a bit of shock – not to mention completely heartbroken – over the recent cancellation of Rosewood. The cancellation was especially stinging being that there are a couple of locations from the former Fox series that I stalked, but have yet to blog about – namely Off Limits cocktail lounge, the supposed Miami-area dive-y bar that Dr. Beaumont ‘Rosie’ Rosewood, Jr. (Morris Chestnut) and partner Det. Annalise Villa (Jaina Lee Ortiz) regularly frequented. In reality, the watering hole (which, like Rosewood, was recently shut down) can be found in Orange County – Anaheim, to be exact – where the vast majority of the Florida-set series was lensed.

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I discovered this locale thanks to an April 2016 The Orange County Register article in which Rosewood co-executive producer Vahan Moosekian was quoted as saying, “We were scouting locations for a bar and house and we looked all over and we found them in Anaheim. The house (on Lemon Street) looked like it belonged in Florida and then we found the (Off Limits) bar just a few miles away.” Thank you, OC Register!

Sadly, by the time I stalked the place in mid-March of this year, it had been shuttered, so I only got to see the exterior. Yelp still has photos of the interior posted, though. You can check them out here.

As I learned from commenters on Off Limits’ Facebook page, the bar’s owner passed away earlier this year and the property was subsequently sold. Much to the dismay of the many longtime regulars, the site’s future is currently up in the air.

Thankfully, the watering hole’s signage has been left intact for the time being.

And what fabulous signage it is!

I’m kind of obsessed. I absolutely love retro roadside signs.

Off Limits cocktail lounge was originally established way back in August 1990. Prior to that, the space housed an upscale cook-your-own steak eatery/piano bar known as The Roberts Room.

Off Limits first popped up in Rosewood’s second episode, titled “Fireflies and Fidelity.” In the episode, Villa explains to Rosie that she “basically grew up” at the bar, spending many afternoons drinking Arnold Palmers while her dad hustled money out of gullible pool players. Despite her classification of the place as a “dump,” it holds special meaning for her. She says, “It’s my sanctuary. Some people go to church. I come here.”

The bar went on to become Rosie and Villa’s regular hangout, appearing almost weekly on the series.

It was utilized so often, in fact, that I am surprised a set re-creation of it wasn’t built at MBS Media Campus, the Manhattan Beach studio where the show was shot. That does not appear to have been the case, though. From what I can tell, the many scenes that took place at Off Limits were actually shot on location at the bar.

Though it was Off Limits’ interior that was mainly featured on Rosewood, the exterior – with its fabulous sign – did show up on occasion.

Off Limits was only utilized throughout Rosewood’s first season. Though it was never discussed on the series, Rosie and Villa just stopped hanging out there during Season 2.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Off Limits cocktail lounge from Rosewood was formerly located at 819 South Euclid Street in Anaheim. The site is currently closed.

January 9, 2017January 4, 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! Smile

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

April 18, 2014April 17, 2014

The Disneyland Locations from “Saving Mr. Banks”

In February (on what turned out to be an exorbitantly crowded day), the Grim Cheaper and I visited The Happiest Place on Earth with Miss Pinky Lovejoy, of the Thinking Pink blog, and her husband, Keith Coogan. Since I had just recently watched – and fallen in love with – Saving Mr. Banks, I decided to do a little stalking of the Disneyland locales that appeared in the flick while I was there.

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In Saving Mr. Banks, which chronicles the making of the 1964 film Mary Poppins, Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) takes P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson) to Disneyland for the day in the hopes that the trip will soften the prickly author and make her more a bit more agreeable to work with. When P.L. arrives at the park, she is driven right through the main gates and up to the the back side of Disneyland Railroad’s Main Street Train Station, where Walt is waiting for her.

The Main Street Train Station and Disneyland Railroad are both original attractions, opened the same day that the park was on July 17th, 1955. The Victorian-style station is one of four located throughout the property and is serviced by five different trains. The locomotives, which run on bio-diesel fuel, are all historically accurate in their design, with one, the C.K. Holiday train, boasting a special caboose named the Lilly Belle. The Belle, which was originally part of the now-retired Retlaw 1 train, was redesigned with luxurious appointments in 1974 in order to act as a special passenger car for VIPs. You can check out some photographs of it here. The car is still in operation to this day and is open to the public, pending availability. If you would like to ride the Lilly Belle, inquire at the front desk of the Main Street Railroad Station as soon as the park opens and, if it is running that day and is available, you and your party will be given a scheduled ride time. Passengers are even given special train tickets to commemorate the experience. (There are rumors floating around the internet that the public is no longer allowed on the Belle. While this website claims the rumors have been confirmed, I am not sure if that is accurate.)

While outside the Main Street Train Station, Walt is shown jovially greeting admirers and handing out pre-signed autographs, which never ceases to crack me up as your chances of catching Tom Hanks happily interacting with fans are slim to none. The guy’s a great actor, but not AT ALL friendly – in fact he was downright mean to me when I met him a few years back. He was also deemed one of The Top Ten Worst Autograph Signers of 2013 by Mike the Fanboy – and rightly so. You can read Mike’s write-up here.

Walt and P.L. then make their way down Main Street, U.S.A. Mid-walk, Walt gazes up longingly at a window that bears his father’s name.

That window, located above the Emporium (Disneyland’s largest gift shop), is, too, a park original and has been there since opening day. It reads “Elias Disney, Contractor, Est. 1895.” Elias held a number of different jobs throughout his lifetime, including mail carrier, orange farmer and railroad crewman. He also did some work contracting houses in Chicago and it is believed that he might have started his own contracting business in 1895, hence the year listed on the window.

Walt then manages to get P.L. on a ride – the King Arthur Carrousel – although she does so very begrudgingly.

The King Arthur Carrousel (which utilizes a British spelling) is also a Disneyland Opening Day attraction and has been in operation since 1955. (It was in fact a carousel, the one at Griffith Park, that inspired Walt to create Disneyland in the first place.) The merry-go-round was originally built in 1922 and, prior to its relocation to The Happiest Place on Earth, had been a part of Sunnyside Beach Park in Toronto, Canada. Walt had the ride enlarged and remodeled before it made its Disney debut. The carousel features 68 hand-carved wooden horses (each has a name – supposedly, you were once able to stop by Disneyland City Hall and pick up a list of those names), one chariot and 3,328 sparkling bulb lights. Jingles, the horse that P.L. rides in Saving Mr. Banks, is one of the attraction’s actual steeds and its most ornately-decorated. In an ironic twist, on April 8th, 2008, as part of the park’s 50th anniversary celebration, Jingles was dedicated to none other than Mary Poppins herself, actress Julie Andrews.

The Disneyland locations can be seen briefly in the Saving Mr. Banks trailer, which you can watch by clicking 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! Smile

Stalk It: Disneyland Resort is located at 1313 Disneyland Drive in Anaheim. You can visit the park’s official website here. The areas used in Saving Mr. Banks include the rear side of the Main Street Train Station, just beyond the park’s front entrance; the Elias Disney window, which can be found on the west side of Main Street, on the second floor of the Emporium, next to and just south of the Crystal Arcade storefront; and the King Arthur Carrousel, which is in Fantasyland, just north of Sleeping Beauty’s Castle.