David Silver’s Grandparents’ House from “Beverly Hills, 90210”

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One Beverly Hills, 90210  location that I have been dying to find pretty much ever since the episode it was featured in aired over 18 years ago is the house where David Silver’s grandparents’ lived in the Season One episode entitled “Palm Springs Weekend” (aka “A Fling in Palm Springs”).  For those who don’t know 90210 like the back of their hand like I do, in the episode Kelly, Donna, Brenda, and the gang head out to Palm Springs for Presidents’ Day Weekend and, because of an oversight on Steve’s part, wind up having to spend the entire three days at David Silvers’ grandparents’ house.  And while I was absolutely certain that the home used in the episode wasn’t located in Palm Springs, unfortunately, I had no idea of where it actually could be found.  My gut was telling me that it might be located in or around Encino and I actually spent quite a bit of time searching in that area.  It was actually this location that I was looking for when I stumbled upon the mansion where April Rhodes was caught squatting in “The Rhodes Not Taken” episode of fave show Glee, but I digress.  Anyway after spending countless hours searching the Valley for David Silver’s grandparents’ house, fellow stalker Chas got some insider information that the residence could actually be found in . . . Malibu of all places!  I swear, Malibu would have been the absolute LAST spot on earth I would have looked for this house as, in my opinion at least, it just doesn’t really look like a Malibu-type residence.  Anyway, once Chas had me divert my search to the ‘Bu  :), I found the home almost immediately.  YAY.  So, this past Friday, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, took the day off and the two of us headed out to Malibu to do some long overdue “Palm Springs” stalking.

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And let me tell you, I literally started screaming the moment we drove up to the house when I realized that – over eighteen years later – the place still looked EXACTLY – and I do mean EXACTLY – the same as it did when it appeared on 90210.  The only differences I noticed were that the trees in the front yard have since been changed, as have the front doors which are now made out of glass.  Other than those two minor details, though, the place still looks very much like Henry and Adele Silver’s house.  🙂  I cannot tell you how cool it was to finally be seeing this location in person and to be reliving the countless memories that being there brought back – memories of Dylan playing charades with Brenda in the living room, memories of David Silver’s random hookup with a girl named Tuesday whom he met at a gas station, and memories of Donna’s black daisy dress with the matching black daisy headband.  LOL  God, I miss that show! 

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As you can see in the above photograph, David Silver’s grandparents’ house is, sadly, gated, so Mike and I couldn’t venture in farther to get a better view.  🙁

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But he did manage to snap a few close-up pictures through the fence for me. 

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Silly as it may sound, Mike and I were most excited to see the little curved brick half-wall located in the middle of the home’s front lawn, as that same brick wall was also visible on 90210.  I almost couldn’t believe it was still there after all these years.

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I am fairly certain that the real life interior of the home was also featured in the episode.  Oh, what I wouldn’t give to see the inside of that place! 

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The backyard and pool area appeared quite a few times in the episode, too.

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Sadly, though, that area is not at all visible from the street.  But that’s why God created aerial images, right?  😉  And, as you can see, the pool still looks very much the same as it did on the show.

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Even Henry and Adele’s little hidden hot tub oasis is actually there in real life.  LOVE IT!   While we were stalking the place, Mike and I were hoping beyond hope that the owner would come outside so we could ask them all sorts of questions about the filming and maybe even get a peek at their backyard, but sadly it was not to be.  🙁

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On a side note – My good friend and fellow stalker Chas has finally started up his own filming locations website.  The website is called ItsFilmedThere.com and it focuses on locations in both the Los Angeles and the Chicago areas.  And, let me tell you, while his L.A. posts are great, it is the Chicago locations that have me absolutely fascinated.  Before coming into contact with Chas I had NO idea whatsoever that so many movies were filmed in the Windy City.  The first time I learned about Chas’ huge library of Chicago area locations was one night back in December during one of my father’s many hospital visits.  My dad had been taken to the emergency room and because only my mom was allowed to stay with him, my fiancé and I were stuck in the waiting room for hours, bored out of our minds.  Until I logged onto Facebook via my cell phone, that is, and started looking through all of Chas’ Facebook photos.  And, let me tell you, I just about died looking at his Chicago movie pictures.  My fiancé and I were literally mesmerized for hours looking at those photos – which is saying a lot being that the Grim Cheaper doesn’t normally care about movie locations – and ever since that night I’ve been absolutely itching to visit the Windy City.  Chicago honeymoon, anyone?  🙂  So, when Chas decided to start his own site last month I begged him to publish all of his Chicago photographs for stalkers such as myself – who had no idea the Windy City was such a treasure trove of locations – to enjoy.  You can check out his site here – www.itsfilmedthere.com.  🙂 

A big THANK YOU to Chas for helping me find this location.  🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: David Silver’s Grandparents’ house from Beverly Hills, 90210 is located at 6636 Portshead Road in Malibu.

Big Oaks Lodge from “Beverly Hills, 90210”

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Before I left on my New York vacation just about two months ago, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I spent a day together stalking in and around the San Fernando Valley.  And even though we had a long list of places to stalk, the location we were most excited about seeing had to be a place called Big Oaks Lodge, which was used in the Season 2 episode of Beverly Hills, 90210  entitled “Camping Trip”.  Before arriving at Big Oaks Lodge, I was actually a little nervous about the drive up there, though, as I had read that the place was located completely out in the middle of nowhere, but, as it turns out, it’s not really as out in the middle of nowhere as I had thought.  The Lodge is located a brief twenty minute drive from the City of Santa Clarita, and while the road which leads there is remote, windy, and lacks a Starbucks, it’s really not a bad ride at all.  🙂  Big Oaks Lodge was originally built in the 1920s as a rest stop and eatery for traveling stagecoaches.  In the 30s, 40s, and 50s, the Lodge and its surrounding area became something of a Hollywood hotspot for the likes of such legends as gangster “Pretty Boy” Floyd and the original Brangelina – Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford – who even ended up building their own private cabin near the restaurant.  In later years, the property served as a training spot for boxers like Mike Quarry and Michael Doakes and even boasted its own outdoor ring, which has since been removed.  The Lodge now serves as a meeting place and rest stop and features not one, but two different eateries on the property.  The first is a little food stand named the Char House, which serves up such culinary staples as hamburgers, chili, and tri-tip sandwiches and is popular with the Harley Davidson set.  The Lodge’s more upscale restaurant is named Cavi and it specializes in authentic homemade Italian food.  The Lodge is still popular with celebrities to this day and has played host to talk show host Jay Leno and members of the band ZZ Top.

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Big Oaks Lodge is actually much smaller than I expected it to be and consists solely of the main lodge area, which houses Cavi restaurant, the Char House shed, an outdoor patio, and two small cabins, which can be rented out nightly.  While stalking the place, Mike and I had the good fortune of meeting one of the Lodge’s owners, who absolutely could NOT believe that we had driven all the way out to Big Oaks just to see a location from an episode of 90210  which had aired over 18 years ago.  And, let me tell you, he just about fell over when we showed him Mike’s portable DVD player, where we had the “Camping Trip” episode all cued up.  LOL  🙂  The owner told us we were free to walk around the property and take all of the photographs we wanted.  And you really should have seen the two of us!  We could not have been more excited and were screaming like little schoolgirls pretty much the entire time!  “Oh, look there’s the firewood shed!” and “Ohmigod, there’s the tree Brandon leaned against!”  LOL  We were both pretty bummed out, though, that neither of the Lodge’s restaurants were open while we were there, as we had hoped to grab a bite to eat during our stalk.  🙁  But you know what that means, don’t you?  My fiancé will definitely be getting dragged out there in the near future so that I can re-stalk the place.  🙂 

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In the “Camping Trip” episode, thanks to a patch of bad weather, Brandon, Brenda and the gang get stuck at Big Oaks Lodge while on their way to a camping trip in Yosemite.   The entire episode was pretty much shot on location at the Lodge and made use of the entire Big Oaks property, which I am happy to report still looks very much the same as it did on 90210.  Pictured above is Big Oaks’ front entrance, which showed up several times in the episode.

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The firewood storage area, which looks a bit different today than it did when 90210  was filmed, was the spot where the gang first took shelter from the rain after pulling over at Big Oaks.

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Had to do it!  🙂  LOL 

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The “Char House” restaurant stood in for the Lodge’s main office where Brenda and Dylan booked a cabin for the group to spend the night.

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Once upon a time there were actually ten different cabins located on the Big Oaks property, but today there are only two and both of those cabins were featured in the “Camping Trip” episode.  The 90210 gang stayed in the wood shingled lodge, which at the time of the filming was painted red, but is now a light grey color.

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And the Newlyweds stayed in the rock cabin located directly next door. 

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And although a full exterior shot of the rock cabin was never shown during the episode, as you can see in the above screen capture and photograph, the front door still looks exactly the same today as it did during the filming.  Love it!  And I was very excited to find out that the real life interiors of both cabins were also used extensively in the episode.  Unfortunately, though, the owner didn’t have his keys on him while we were there, so he was not able to take us on a tour of the cabins.  🙁   Next time! 

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The picnic table area in front of the Char House was used as the location where the gang fretted about Dylan and Brandon’s early morning disappearance.

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The road in front of the Lodge and the main parking area showed up in the scene in which Brandon and Dylan return to the campsite after their little hiking mishap.

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And finally, a large tree in the Lodge’s dirt parking lot – aka “Brandon’s tree” – was featured as the spot where Brandon contemplated life after his near death experience of almost falling off a cliff.  So, of course, I just had to pose like him!  🙂 

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A little bit of 90210 trivia for you – The highly dramatic scene where Dylan downed a few airplane bottles of liquor (pictured above) was not actually filmed at Big Oaks Lodge, but in the backyard of the real life Walsh house!  Mike and I learned that little tidbit of information from the owner of Casa Walsh during our private tour of the home.  🙂  So cool!

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According to the Big Oaks Lodge website, the property has also been featured in the movies Frances, Enough, American Gun, and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, and in episodes of the television series  Dynasty  and Highway to Heaven, and in commercials for AT&T and Vonage.  It’s a very cool place and I highly recommend stalking it, especially to fans of the original 90210! 

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: Big Oaks Lodge from Beverly Hills, 90210 is located at 33101 Bouquet Canyon Road in Santa Clarita, just nine miles north of where Bouquet Canyon Road intersects with Plum Canyon Road.  You can visit the Big Oaks Lodge website here.  Cavi restaurant is open Wednesday through Sunday, beginning at 5 p.m.  The Char House is open Saturdays and Sundays, starting at 11 a.m.