Arts District – IAMNOTASTALKER

January 15, 2020January 16, 2020

Anavrin from “You”

I loved Season 1 of You, but Season 2 was even more gripping, engrossing and enjoyable! I think a large part of that had to do with Anavrin (pronounced “uh-nah-vrin”), the impossibly idyllic grocery store where Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) landed a job in episode 1, “A Fresh Start,” and worked throughout. The charming market is Season 2’s central locale, one that I wanted to fully immerse myself in. The place is so inviting, in fact, that I was convinced it was purely the stuff of a production designer’s imagination, a picturesque set created inside of a vacant warehouse solely for the show. So I was shocked to learn via a Backstage article that filming had actually taken place at a real downtown L.A. grocery store named Urban Radish! To the top of my To-Stalk List the market went and I headed right on over there while in the area the first week of January.

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Opened in summer 2013, Urban Radish is the brainchild of business partners Carol Paxton and Keri Aivazis. Housed in a former glass factory in downtown’s Arts District, the whimsical 8,200-square-foot market was designed by Creative Space and Linear City Development. The transformation from former warehouse to upscale grocery store took nine months and $1.7 million to complete.

And it was worth every penny!

Along with the typical grocery store trappings, the specialty market boasts a gourmet deli, onsite butcher (who makes all sausage offerings in-house!), outdoor grill and patio, wine alcove, and espresso bar.

I can’t think of a prettier place to shop!

That produce section, amirite?

It isn’t very hard to see how the place came to be chosen for You.

Of the market, Joe, dripping with sarcasm, says, “In Los Angeles, grocery stores aren’t just the place you buy carrots. They’re a pristine, non-GMO Disneyland. And king among these is Anavrin. Come for the spring lettuce mix, stay for the perfect life that could be yours if you just spend enough and quit gluten, you f*cking *sshole! And yeah, obviously Anavrin is – wait for it – Nirvana spelled backwards.”

Joe might not have been able to hide his disdain for the shop, but I, understandably, fell in love with it upon sight.

Urban Radish was dressed pretty significantly for the You shoot. Per Google Street View imagery, the outside of the market was light gray up until March 2019, smack dab in the middle of the filming of the show’s second season. So it appears that the royal blue paint that now graces the exterior was a production decision that the owners chose to leave intact after the shoot wrapped. A pergola-shaded patio draped with flowers was also added to the premises . . .

. . . as was a florist stand. Sadly, both of those elements were dismantled when filming concluded.

Even without all the bells and whistles, though, Urban Radish is pretty darn special and entirely recognizable.

Though I would have loved to see it in its dressed state.

While Urban Radish’s exterior was used extensively throughout Season 2, the interior only appeared in “A Fresh Start.” It is in the market’s actual produce section that Joe orchestrates a meet-cute with Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti). Love also shops there prior to making a meal for Joe later in the episode. As you can see in Yelp photos taken pre-2019, the shop’s signage was formerly very different, so it appears the chic reclaimed wood display boards that now adorn the walls were another production decision the owners chose to leave intact post-filming.

Urban Radish’s deli area also appeared in “A Fresh Start,” though it was modified a bit with the rear exit door and metal wall paneling covered over.

The bulk of the Anavrin scenes, though, were shot on a studio-built set. Yes, sadly, the magical light-filled new-age café, book alcove and kitchen, where most of the action took place, are not actual elements of Urban Radish.

While the market does have an open kitchen in real life, it is less central, situated off the wine aisle, and much smaller than its onscreen counterpart.

Considering its fabulously unique aesthetic, I am surprised that Urban Radish has not been featured in countless other productions, but I could find no record of any additional cinematic appearances.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Urban Radish, aka Anavrin from You, is located at 661 Imperial Street in downtown Los Angeles. You can visit the market’s official website here.

November 6, 2019November 17, 2019

The Arts District Firehouse Hotel from “ER”

The Grim Cheaper likes to say that I fixate on the silliest of things. I typically scoff at the notion, but he’s 100% right. Case in point – a few months back favorite blogger Emily Schuman, of Cupcakes and Cashmere, did a photo shoot at the Arts District Firehouse Hotel, a stylish fire-station-turned-lodging in downtown L.A. While there, she recorded an Instagram story showing an assortment of blush matchbooks displayed at the check-in desk. As it so happens, I had recently changed up my kitchen décor by adding some pops of pink, including a bowl filled with two rose-colored matchbooks. One look at Emily’s story and I decided I had to snag some of the hotel’s matches ASAP to add to my new collection. When the GC and I headed out to L.A. to take care of some business a few weeks later, I, of course, tried to reserve a room at the property, but it was completely booked. Undeterred, I ventured right on over there as soon as we arrived in town to grab that matchbook – and an iced latte from the lobby coffee bar, natch. The Arts District Firehouse Hotel is so artfully designed and unique that I couldn’t help but snap some pics while waiting for my drink, which turned out to be quite fortuitous, because, as it turns out, the place is a filming location!

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The Arts District Firehouse Hotel began life as Engine Co. 17, which started servicing the downtown area on April 1st, 1905. Interestingly, it was situated in a slightly different location at the time – at 2100 East Seventh Street, about 100 feet north of its current home. At its inception, the handsome vine-covered building (which you can see here) sat facing Seventh Street, in pretty much the spot where Bread Lounge stands today When the Seventh Street Bridge, which ran in front of the station, was raised above grade in the mid-20s, Engine Co. 17 had to be re-located. I’ve come across a few reports stating that to accommodate the project, the entire building was picked up and moved the short distance to 710 South Santa Fe Avenue, but I don’t believe that to be true. Though similar, the edifice of the original Engine Co. 17 is quite different from that of the Arts District Firehouse Hotel. The former boasted an intricately paned, three-panel window with angled projections across its second floor (as you can see here), while the latter has six separate flat windows in that spot. And while the original featured one bay door, the hotel has two. Though subtle, the differences are just enough to lead me to believe the 1904 firehouse was razed during the bridge project and a replacement then built at the new location. Whatever the case, per LAFire the Santa Fe Avenue facility opened its doors on September 9th, 1927. The station operated at that site for the next five decades before being decommissioned in 1980, at which point Company 17 re-located once again to a new building eight blocks south at 1601 South Santa Fe.

The former firehouse was subsequently sold to photographer Robert Blakeman who transformed it into four separate artist studios which he shared with various contemporaries over the next 20 years. In 2006, he put the property up for sale for $2.95 million. At the time, the 8,721-square-foot, 2-story structure boasted the station’s original kitchen, an indoor handball court, and parking for 13 cars. There were no takers, though, and it was removed from the market in 2007.

At some point, Engine Co. 17 did change hands and the owners began making plans to transform the space into a hotel, but those plans did not reach fruition until hospitality magnate Dustin Lancaster was brought onboard in 2016. He quickly tapped interior designer Sally Breer, with whom he partnered on two prior projects, to reimagine the station’s interior. Sally worked her magic, converting the site into an operable lodging, all the while keeping intact all of the original firehouse elements that make it so unique. A woman after my own heart, she told the Los Angeles Times, “Always our job first and foremost is to respect the architecture and breathe some new life into it.” Yaaaaas! With that mantra in mind, Breer preserved the building’s concrete flooring, pressed-tin ceiling, and exposed beam work.

To say the finished project is stunning would be a gross understatement! Since the transformation, the hotel has been written up by everyone from Vogue to Architectural Digest to Time – and it’s not very hard to see why. The place is serious #designgoals!

Opened this past April, the boutique lodging features nine suites, a restaurant and bar, event space (the station’s former handball court now serves as a private dining room), a coffee bar, a large patio complete with a fire pit, and a small shop featuring Los Angeles- and California-themed wares.

I did not realize Engine Co. 17 had appeared onscreen until long after I got home, though it really shouldn’t have come as a surprise. A decommissioned firehouse with many of its original elements intact that operated as a studio (and therefore could easily be shut down for filming) for over two decades? Sounds like a dream site for any location manager working on a procedural!

In the Season 8 episode of ER titled “A River in Egypt,” which aired in 2002, Kerry Weaver (Laura Innes) confronts her paramour, firefighter Sandy Lopez (Lisa Vidal), at Engine Co. 17 for outing her to her fellow County General Hospital coworkers.

Thanks to firehouse expert Richard Yokley (you may remember him from this post and this post), I learned that Jack Malone (Anthony LaPaglia) and Danny Taylor (Enrique Murciano) investigated the disappearance of a firefighter at Engine Co. 17 in the Season 2 episode of Without a Trace titled “Trip Box,” which aired in 2003.

Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) interrogates Rod Halstead (John M. Jackson) at Engine Co. 17 about a fire her mother had been looking into in the Season 4 episode of Castle titled “Rise,” which aired in 2011, though little of the building is visible in the scene.

Richard also informed me that Captain Ray Holt (Andre Braugher), Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg) and Charles Boyle (Joe Lo Truglio) headed to Engine Co. 17 to apologize to Fire Marshall Boone (Patton Oswalt) in the Season 1 episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine titled “Sal’s Pizza,” which aired in 2013.

The episode gives us some nice glimpses of the firehouse’s Interior, as well.

The music video for A Great Big World’s 2014 song “Already Home,” which you can watch here, also largely took place at Engine Co. 17. The song tells the story of lovers who live on opposite coasts, which explains why the top screen capture below is split.

Per On Location Vacations, the pilot of Like Father was also lensed at the firehouse in 2012, but, sadly, it appears as if the show never made it on air.

And for those asking, pictured below are the matchbooks I went out of my way to procure – a fabulous addition to my collection, don’t you think?

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: The Arts District Firehouse Hotel, aka the former Engine Co. 17 from the “A River in Egypt” episode of ER, is located at 710 South Santa Fe Avenue in downtown Los Angeles. You can visit the lodging’s official website here.

April 17, 2012April 16, 2012

The “New Girl” Apartment Building

My good friend/fellow stalker Lavonna has been begging me to track down locations from New Girl for a good three months now, but because I had never seen an episode of the series I was unable to do so. Until last Monday evening, that is, when the Grim Cheaper and I finally sat down and started watching it from the beginning. Thank you, Hulu! I have to admit that I did not have very high hopes for the show as, for whatever reason, I am not that big of a fan of actress Zooey Deschanel (whose mom played Eileen Hayward on fave series Twin Peaks, but I digress). I ended up LOVING it, though, and both the GC and I are now absolutely hooked! After watching the first few episodes, I immediately started doing research on the warehouse-style loft apartment building where the New Girl gang lives (Lavonna’s most coveted locale from the series) and thankfully, Christine, over at fave website OnLocationVacations, had posted the address several times on her Daily Filming Locations page. So I dragged the GC right on out to the Arts District in Downtown L.A. this past Saturday afternoon to do some stalking of the place. (On a side-note, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, just taught me how to process my photographs using the soon-to-be defunct Picnik editing program, so I have been having a little fun with them today. Don’t mind me. Smile )

I had never before visited – or even heard of – the “Arts District” (or “Artists District” as it is sometimes referred to) until this past Saturday, but according to the Los Angeles Downtown Arts District website, the area is the site of an average of 900 movie shoots per year! Um, yes please – sign me up! It is basically a stalker’s heaven – and one of the coolest spots that I have been to in all of my stalking travels. The District became a haven for the artistically-inclined in 1976 thanks to the many affordable studio-type spaces available in the countless then-abandoned buildings and warehouses located there. Artists gradually began to take over the many spacious lofts, turning them into art studios and illegal living spaces (the area was not yet zoned as residential). In the 1980s, the Artists-In-Residence ordinance was passed which allowed lessees to use their flats as live/work spaces and, as a result, even more artisans flocked to the area. Today, the Arts District is a flourishing mecca of artists and hipsters and boasts fabulous brick buildings, sidewalk cafes and more galleries than you can shake a stick at. While there, not only did I feel like I had been transported back to my beloved Manhattan, but we ended up falling bass-ackwards into one of my most sought-after filming locations ever! But that is another story for another post.

In real life, the property where the New Girl gang lives is known as the Binford Building and it was originally constructed in 1906, but was not converted into a residential structure until the mid-1980s. The 36-unit domicile was the brainchild of real estate developer Michael Kamin, owner of the Mika Company, who, in a 1986 Los Angeles Times article said, “We wanted to make the building a statement and an art piece — something that says this is an exciting place to live, something to keep the focus on this street.” I would say he succeeded – in spades! The structure is definitely unique and the most eye-catching on the entire block.

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In New Girl, the Binford Building is where Jess (Zooey Deschanel), Nick (Jake M. Johnson), Schmidt (Max Greenfield), and Winston (Lamorne Morris) live. The exterior of the structure is shown weekly on the series.

The building’s main entrance has also popped up from time to time.

That entrance is shown above.

As you can see, the Binford’s real life directory and intercom are even visible on the show. Love it!

The interior of the gang’s apartment is just a set, though, located at Fox Studios where (I am fairly certain) the series is lensed. You can check out some photographs of the interior of an actual Binford Building unit here. As you can see, it does not look anything like the New Girl loft. I am absolutely IN LOVE with the group’s sprawling, FOUR-bedroom, industrial, brick-walled loft, by the way. The GC and I also live in a loft-style apartment that I ADORE, but it is 750-square feet, has no actual bedrooms and only ONE teeny-tiny closet! Yes, ladies, I have to share a closet with my husband – GASP! The GC recently commented that he has noticed his side of the closet getting gradually smaller over the years. Ha! And here I thought I was being all sly. Winking smile So yes, I have been known to drool copiously while watching New Girl. I definitely have apartment envy!

I could do without their public-style bathroom, though, which is an aspect of the show that I still do not entirely understand.

According to a message board on the Animation Nation website, the premiere episode of the cartoon Family Dog (which was part of Steven Spielberg’s anthology series Amazing Stories) was created by animator Brad Bird in one of the Binford Building lofts. The family in the series was even named “The Binfords” in honor of the property. Traction Avenue, the street where the Binford is located, was also mentioned (and briefly seen on a freeway sign) in Bird’s 2004 hit, The Incredibles.

Binford Lofts–the “New Girl” Apartment Building

You can watch a video about the Binford Building lofts by clicking above.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Lavonna for asking me to find this location (and for turning me on to New Girl) and to Christine, from OnLocationVacations, for tracking it down! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Binford Building, aka the New Girl apartment building, is located at 837 Traction Avenue in the Arts District of Downtown Los Angeles.