Beverly Hills 90210 – Page 6

April 29, 2009April 27, 2009

The Poppa’s Popcorn House!

Quite a few months back, I challenged Mike, from MovieShotsLA, to find the house the Ashe family moved into in the Season 2 episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 entitled “Ashes to Ashes”. In the episode, the African-American family moves in to a home just down the street from the Walshes, causing quite a stir in their normally quiet neighborhood. The patriarch of the family is none other the “Poppa of Poppa’s Popcorn”, which just so happens to be Brenda’s favorite popcorn brand. 🙂 Vivica A. Fox, in one of her very first roles, plays the Ashe Family daughter, Charise, in the episode.

Mike found the house pretty much immediately, thanks to the address number shown on the Ashe family’s next door neighbor’s home in the scene when Charise’s boyfriend, Devo, gets arrested by the Beverly Hills Security Patrol (pictured above). Five digit address numbers are usually found in Encino, so Mike started his search there. And, sure enough, that’s exactly where the house was located! So, this weekend I just had to drag my boyfriend out to stalk it!

The exterior of the Encino house shows up several times in the “Ashes to Ashes” episode, most prominently as the location where Brandon and Charise get into a minor car accident. The interior of the home was also featured numerous times. And while the house may be located in Encino, it does look like it could have been found in the Walsh neighborhood, so it’s easy to see why producers chose to use it. It’s also less than four miles away from the Van Nuys studio where 90210 was filmed, which must have made it the easy choice for filming.

I am happy to report that the Poppa’s Popcorn house looks exactly the same today as it did when the “Ashes to Ashes” episode first aired back in 1991. The trees out front have grown quite a bit since then, of course, but otherwise the house looks pretty much the same. I will say that the home is HUGE in person, though, even bigger than it seemed on 90210. When I first drove by, it felt like the house just kept going and going and going. Needless to say, it was very exciting for me to finally be stalking the Poppa’s Popcorn house. In fact, when we first drove up to it I was immediately transported back to high school and I could almost picture Brandon backing his classic yellow mustang out of Charise’s driveway. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Poppa’s Popcorn House is located at 15912 Woodvale Road in Encino.

April 28, 2009June 16, 2011

The Beverly Hills, 90210 Spring Dance!

A few weeks ago, I happened to pop in my Beverly Hills, 90210 Season 1 DVDs to watch the “Spring Dance” episode – one of my very favorite 90210episodes of all time! As I scrolled through the DVD menu, I realized that, unbelievably, I had yet to watch that episode accompanied by the commentary by series’ creator Darren Star. So, I settled in with a nice Starbucks Iced Latte to listen to what Darren had to say. And I am SO glad I did, because besides dishing juicy little tidbits of information (such as Shannen Doherty and Luke Perry were not getting along at all that day), Darren also stated that the West Beverly High Spring Dance sequence had been filmed at the Universal Sheraton Hotel in Universal City. So, I of course, grabbed my boyfriend and my camera and immediately headed over there! 🙂

Unfortunately, last year the Sheraton Universal Hotel underwent a $25 million renovation project and now looks completely different than it did back in 1991 when 90210 was filmed there. 🙁 Even the hotel’s main entrance has changed significantly and the circular awning which was shown as the gang drove up to the prom venue has been replaced. : ( According to the hotel’s General Manager, Peter Walterspiel, the forty year old Sheraton “needed a facelift pretty badly”.

First opened in 1969, the twenty story, 451 room hotel is now ready to face the 21st Century. Although I never saw the Sheraton pre-remodel (except on 90210, that is!) , I absolutely love the way it now looks! The lobby is shiny and modern and full of bright, open spaces. And there are many black and white photographs of old time movie stars, like Audrey Hepburn and my girl Marilyn Monroe, lining the lobby walls! Gotta love it! 🙂

I really wanted to grab a cocktail in the hotel’s Club Lounge (where the lights change colors based on the cycle of the sun!), but alas it was only 4 in the afternoon when I was there. 🙁 Oh well, next time!

The Beverly Hills, 90210 Spring Dance scenes were filmed in the hotel’s Grand Ballroom, which, thankfully, looks much the same today as it did eighteen years ago when it appeared on 90210. 🙂 Although some parts of the room have changed since that time, you can see in the above photos that the dark wood doors, wainscoting, and even the wallpaper are still the same.

You can see in the above photos that the wierd lights located above the ballroom doors also haven’t changed since the filming. The screen capture I made of the lights didn’t come out very well, but if you watch the episode you can see the lights more clearly.

Many other productions besides Beverly Hills, 90210 have also been filmed at the Sheraton Universal Hotel. The reality series Cougar used the hotel for both location filming and as the place where all of the contestants were put up during the filming. According to the concierge the escalators leading down to the hotel’s conference rooms were used repeatedly on the show (pictured above). Contestants from the reality series America’s Got Talent were also put up at the Sheraton Universal. And on an episode of Hogan Knows Best, Brooke Hogan and her father, Hulk, checked into the Sheraton while visiting Los Angeles. A recent episode of the television series Chuck was filmed in the Club Lounge and the hotel was also featured in both Desperate Housewives and CSI: Las Vegas.

The Universal Sheraton, which is nicknamed the “Hotel of the Stars”, often plays host to celebrities, as well, including George Clooney, B.B. King, Michael Jackson, Ava Gardner, Tom Hanks, Sophia Loren, Gladys Knight, John Travolta, Dolly Parton, Matthew McConaughy, and my girl Jen Aniston. Telly Savalas, Jen’s godfather, actually LIVED in the hotel for over 17 years!!!! Apparently, Telly began staying at the Universal Sheraton while starring in the television series Kojak, which was filmed just down the road at Universal Studios. He was so keen on the hotel that he ended up moving his wife and kids in and making it his permanent residence. Supposedly, he used to hang out quite often in the lobby bar and was always willing to take pictures and sign autographs for hotel guests. 🙂 Sadly, on January 22, 1994, Telly passed away in his Universal Sheraton Hotel suite. He was only 70 years old. 🙁

I HIGHLY recommend stalking – or even staying at – the Universal Sheraton. In fact, I am trying to think of a good excuse to drag my boyfriend there for a weekend. 🙂 The staff was incredibly nice to me and answered all of my silly questions about the filming that had taken place there over the years – although no one remembered the 90210 Spring Dance being filmed there back in 1991. LOL For all of you tourists who are planning a trip to Universal Studios, the Sheraton Universal would be the place to stay as it is literally a hop, skip, and a jump away from the theme park. You wouldn’t even have to rent a car. 🙂 Oh, and my favorite part of the hotel? The mini Hollywood sign located at the Sheraton’s main entrance (pictured above). LOVE IT! 🙂 I’ve gotta get me one of those for my backyard! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Sheraton Universal Hotel is located at 333 Universal Hollywood Drive in Universal City. You can visit their website here. The Beverly Hills, 90210 Spring Dance took place in the hotel’s Grand Ballroom, located just downstairs and to the right of the main lobby.

April 15, 2009April 14, 2009

The Adamson House

I spent all last week on the hunt for a location from my fave 90s TV show Beverly Hills, 90210. The spot I was looking for was the location that stood in for Baja, Mexico in the Season 2 episode entitled “Mexican Standoff”. In the episode, Brenda sneaks off to a Mexican resort town for the weekend with Dylan without telling her parents. I knew from this amazing website that the “Mexico” scenes were actually shot near the beach in Malibu, so I started my hunt there. And it wasn’t long before I found the right spot!

While watching the “Mexican Standoff” episode, I noticed an abundance of intricate Spanish tile in the background of pretty much every scene. (You can see an example of that tile behind Dylan in the above screen capture.) The tiles were my big tip-off, as there is actually a famous house in Malibu that is known for its exquisite tile work. In fact, the house has been deemed the “Taj Mahal of tile”. I had done some research on the home a few years back when I was working and immediately thought of it when I watched the “Mexican Standoff” episode this past week. The home, which is named the Adamson House, is owned by the State of California and has been open to the public as a museum since 1983. So, I, of course, dragged my boyfriend right out there this weekend for a tour.

In 1891, a man named Frederick Hastings Rindge purchased what is now known as the city of Malibu for the bargain price of $10 per acre. Rindge’s wife, May, was fiercely protective of her family’s privacy and did everything she could to keep outsiders out, including fencing off the 17,000 acre property and hiring armed guards who patrolled the area day and night. For close to forty years the Rindges were Malibu’s only occupants. But in the 30s, May ran into some financial trouble and had to sell off parcels of her property. Not wanting to sell to just anyone, May made sure she sold her land to wealthy, distinguished individuals who understood the need for privacy. Most of those individuals were movie stars. And thus, the city of Malibu, celebrity haven, was born. It was Frederick and May’s daughter, Rhoda Agatha Rindge, and her husband Merritt Adamson who in 1930 built the 4,000 square foot Mediterranean style home that is now known as the Adamson House.

Rhoda and Merritt’s custom home, which was designed by Stiles O. Clements, took a year and a half to build and is situated directly above the Malibu Lagoon. May Rindge, who was a tile connoisseur and owned her own tile company named Malibu Potteries, commissioned all of the custom, handmade tile that eventually made her daughter’s home so famous and, in the end, saved it from demolition. In 1966, four years after Rhoda’s death, the State of California was granted eminent domain on the Adamson House and its surrounding property. The state purchased the home from Rhoda’s heirs for $2.6 million and set about razing the property to build a beach parking lot. Unbelievable!! Thankfully, the Malibu Historical Society and the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation stepped in and fought to stop the demolition of the home. That fight turned into a ten year battle. During that time, the chancellor of Pepperdine University leased and lived in the property. In 1976, thanks to the home’s unique tile work and its historical significance to the city of Malibu, the house was saved from the wrecking ball. In 1983, after a lengthy renovation process, the home was opened to the public as a museum. The Adamson House is currently both a California Historic Landmark and on the National Register of Historic Places.

And, let me tell you, it is an absolutely incredible place to visit. The tile work in the home is nothing short of A-MA-ZING! I’ve never seen anything like it before in my life and doubt I ever will again. I was shocked when I heard that construction on the home took only a year and a half to complete, as the detailing is so incredibly intricate and elaborate that I would have expected it to have taken much longer. Everything from the clock in the kitchen to the heater grates in the ceiling are made from hand-painted tiles! The house could not be more exquisite and I HIGHLY recommend taking the tour to see it for yourself.

That being said, I have to say that the actual tour was one of the most BIZARRE experiences of my life. There are simply no words to accurately describe our tour – or our docent for that matter. I’m not quite sure what was wrong with her, but I think it is safe to say she was a few bricks shy of a load. A sample bit of her dialog from the tour: “Now we are in the upstairs . . . the ceiling . . . has . . . and you can see . . . and there are . . . this piece of . . . . . . . . . . . . . string . . . during World War II . . . there were bombs . . . who can guess why there are no lights?” And I’m pretty much QUOTING her! LOL When I asked why the Rindge family sold the Adamson House to the State of California she told me it was because “they were tired of it”. LOL LOL LOL At one point during the tour, my boyfriend turned to me and said “Please don’t ask if 90210 was filmed here – that might just make her head explode!” Within the first five minutes I became convinced we were on a hidden camera show – I was hoping it was I Get That A Lot – and at any moment a camera crew was going to jump out at us from behind a wall. I was actually laughing so hard on more than one occasion that I had to completely turn away from the group and stare at the wall. LOL I haven’t laughed that hard in a really long time, so I guess the tour wasn’t a total bust! In fact, as I sit here writing about it, I’m STILL laughing. 🙂 We even made friends with another couple, who were just as bewildered over our docent’s behavior as we were. At the end, one of them said to us, “I realize that they are all volunteers, but isn’t there some sort of screening process???” LOL But I must say that despite our nimrod of a tour guide, seeing the house in person is still an experience I’d recommend.

Oddly enough, only a very small section of the Adamson House was used in the “Mexican Standoff” episode of Beverly Hills, 90210. Of course our docent had no clue whatsoever where, or even if, 90210 had filmed on the property back in 1992 and I had a surprisingly difficult time locating the exact spot used on my own. After the tour on Saturday, I went home and watched the “Mexican Standoff” episode once again and finally figured out where it had been filmed. Unfortunately, I had only taken one photograph of that spot while on the tour. LOL So, I actually had to drag my boyfriend BACK to the house the following day to take some more pictures. Thank the lord our docent was nowhere to be found. 🙂 The area featured on Beverly Hills, 90210 was the little porch and driveway located to the side of Adamson House garage.

In the scene, Brenda and Dylan get into an argument over a girl that Dylan dated the previous summer. Brenda is in quite the little snit until a mariachi band strolls over and serenades them with a Spanish version of the Morris Albert song “Feelings”. The two make up and then dance the night away under the Mexican sky. GOD I LOVE THAT SHOW! 🙂 The new one doesn’t even compare!!! You can watch the scene filmed at the Adamson House here.

The “Baja” beach where Brenda and Dylan surf the following morning is very obviously the Malibu Lagoon State Beach, which is located directly in front of the Adamson House.

The location where Brenda and Dylan run into Jake Hanson in the beginning of that same episode is the beach parking lot located just south of the Adamson House. It is actually the place where you must park your car if you are going on an Adamson House tour. That’s the Malibu Pier in the background behind Dylan.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Adamson House is located at 23200 Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. The grounds are open daily to the public from sunrise to sunset. You do not need to be part of a tour to walk around the grounds. The interior of the house is only made available to the public via docent led tours. Tours are held Wednesday through Saturday from 11am to 3pm, with the last tour beginning at 2pm. Tours cost $5 per adult and $2 per child under the age of 16. Kids 5 and under are free. You can visit the Adamson House website here.

March 9, 2009March 8, 2009

Donna and David’s Wedding

A few months ago Mike, from MovieShotsLA, called to tell me that he had located the church where Donna married David on the very last episode of Beverly Hills, 90210. He mentioned something about the church being located in Sunland, a small town on the outskirts of Burbank, and for the first time ever I thought Mike, God of stalking, had actually gotten a filming location wrong. You see, I could say with absolute certainty that Donna and David did not get married in a church anywhere near Sunland. How could I be so sure about the location of their wedding? Because I was there! 🙂

wedding2

Back in the Spring of 2000, just a few weeks after I had first moved to Los Angeles, I was given the once in a lifetime opportunity of being an extra on the very last episode of Beverly Hills, 90210,entitled “Ode to Joy”. I had just registered with Central Casting, Los Angeles’ premiere extras casting agency, and was calling the hotline to see what jobs were available for the week when I heard words which I will never forget: “Be a part of television history – press one to be a guest at Donna and David’s wedding on the very final episode of 90210.” Well, let me tell I just about died! I believe I stood with the phone in my hand screaming for a good two minutes. LOL I swear if you had told me back in high school that one day I would be attending the wedding of Donna Martin and David Silver I probably would have had a heart attack right then and there. LOL You can see me in the above screen captures dancing at Donna and David’s reception. 🙂

Anyway, it turns out that Mike was not actually wrong about Donna and David’s wedding location. I should have known – he’s never wrong! 🙂 For whatever reason, producers chose to film the set-up shots of Donna and David’s wedding church at the First Baptist Church of Sunland. But all of the actual filming took place about twenty miles away from there in a small chapel right off the 101 Freeway in Hollywood. So, last weekend I decided I just had to revisit the site of one of my very first acting jobs and I dragged my boyfriend out to stalk the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood.

Donna and David’s wedding was not actually held in the First Presbyterian Church’s main building, but in a smaller venue named Wylie Chapel, which is also located on the church premises. The wedding ceremony took one full day to shoot, as did the reception scene, which took place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. And, if I remember correctly, we shot the reception scene first. Both days lasted well over 14 hours – and, let me tell you, I loved every single minute of them!!! I have to say that being on the final episode of 90210 was an absolutely magical experience for me. Especially since it was one of my very first encounters with Hollywood. I swear I spent the entire two days with stars in my eyes. 🙂 The cast and crew were incredibly nice – especially Luke Perry and Ian Ziering. I met Ian during one of our lunch breaks and I told him that in high school I had slept on 90210 sheets. Well, he was absolutely shocked that there was such a thing as 90210 sheets and next thing I know he’s screaming “Luke! Luke! You’ve gotta come hear this!” Well, I just about keeled over as Luke Perry, love of my high school life, walked right up to us and Ian told him about my sheets. Luke started laughing and said “Well, then I guess you can say we’ve slept together.” LOL Luke was even cuter in person that I ever imagined he could be and when I told him he was my first Hollywood crush he shook my hand and introduced himself. Sigh! I’m telling you, inside I was absolutely dying! I’m amazed I was actually able to get any words out of my mouth while talking to him. LOL And if you’re wondering – Jennie Garth was the least friendliest of the bunch, which really surprised me.

The First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood is actually used quite often for filming. Besides 90210, it was also featured in the 2007 movie Welcome to Paradise. And while we were stalking the place, filming crews for the television series Chuck pulled up. 🙂

The church was founded in 1903 and once boasted the largest Presbyterian congregation in the world! The main building, which is still used for church services today, was erected in 1923. The church property takes up an entire city block and has a huge courtyard and garden area which is where the extras hung out while 90210 was filming. I can still remember Brian Austin Green playing chess in the courtyard with the extras during his breaks. There is also a theatre on the church gounds. 🙂 First Hollywood Presbyterian also has amazing views of the Hollywood sign, but ironically enough, the church was there long before there ever was a Hollywood sign to view. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Donna and David’s wedding was held in the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood’s Wylie Chapel, which is located at 1763 North Gower Street in Hollywood. Their wedding reception was filmed in the Beverly Hilton Hotel’s former Coconut Club, which is now the Beverly Hills Ballroom.

March 5, 2009March 5, 2009

The Pilot House!

One filming location that has pretty much been the bane of Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and my existence for quite some time now is the home that the Walsh family lived in during the very first of episode of Beverly Hills, 90210. Mike and I fondly, and sometimes not so fondly – LOL – refer to this location as “The Pilot House” since it was used in one episode and one episode only of our favorite 90’s series – the pilot episode. The home was never seen again on the series and the question as to why the Walshes lived in a different house when the show began than in later episodes has remained a location mystery for the past twenty years. It’s actually quite common, though, for certain elements of a television series, i.e. locations or actors, to be changed after a pilot episode is filmed. Pilots are usually filmed with extremely small budgets months before regular series filming begins. After a pilot is filmed, it is then shopped around to different networks in the hopes of being sold. The sad truth is that less than twenty five percent of the television pilots that are filmed ever get picked up by the networks, so producers aren’t usually willing to spend a boatload of money to shoot them. But even so the questions as to where the original Walsh home was located and as to why the Walsh home changed from the traditional style home pictured above to the famous Spanish style home that we all know and love have never been answered. Until now! 🙂

A few weeks ago while Mike was watching the pilot episode of 90210 he noticed the number 130 located above the front door of the Walsh home – a little location clue neither of us had picked up on before. (Pictured above). So pretty much immediately the two of us started searching 100 blocks in Los Angeles and its surrounding areas. We must have scrutinized almost every single square inch of L.A. looking for this house! With no luck, I might add. Mike’s instincts kept telling him that the house was located in a gated community due to the fact that the street in front of the home appeared extremely narrow on TV. But, knowing that the shooting budget for the pilot was most likely meager and that filming on a private road is usually a whole lot more costly than filming on your average city street, I disagreed with him. Until last week, that is.

While driving through Brentwood with my boyfriend last week I saw a gated community that I had never noticed before. I could tell just by driving by that it bore a striking resemblance to the 90210 pilot neighborhood. So when I got home that night I did some cyberstalking and quickly found a house in the community with a 130 address that looked a whole lot like the Walsh’s first Beverly Hills home. But I couldn’t be certain it was the Pilot House until I saw the property with my own two eyes. And I was really worried that, being that the home is located in a gated community, I would never get that chance. Well, I must have a guardian angel watching over me, because on a whim, last weekend, I asked my boyfriend to drive by the neighborhood. I knew there was a house for sale just up the road from the pilot house and I had a bit of a hunch. Sure enough – right as we drove up to the community, there on a sign in big red letters were the words I was hoping beyond all hope to see – OPEN HOUSE! 🙂 YAY! And that was my ticket in!

Let me tell you, as we came around the corner and the Pilot House came into view, I was so excited I thought my heart was going to beat right out of my chest!!!! 🙂 I was pinching myself the whole time! It was so surreal to finally be standing there in front of a filming location I had wondered about for almost twenty years! I almost felt as if any second I would wake up at home in bed only to realize that none of it was real. LOL The Pilot House is a lot smaller in person than it appeared on the show, but otherwise, even twenty years later, it looks EXACTLY the same as it did on 90210! And I could not have been more ecstatic to finally be seeing it with my own two eyes!!!!! The neighborhood where the Pilot House is located is really beautiful, too, with towering trees, huge lawns, and hilly, winding roads. The house for sale wasn’t too shabby, either – yes, of course, we went to go see it! 🙂

And once I determined that the home was located in a gated community, the other part of the 90210 pilot house mystery was solved, too. Upon entering, I just happened to ask the guard on duty at the guard shack if the community allowed filming of any sort to take place on the premises. He told me that in fact filming is not allowed and he laughed as if he gets asked that question all the time. I am sure location scouts come a-knockin’ at the guard shack door all too often. My best guess is that back in 1990, when the pilot episode was filmed, there was no ban on filming in the neighborhood. The pilot house was probably the first home on the premises ever used for filming of any sort. And I am pretty sure it must have belonged to someone on the production team – ie. the director, producer, art director, etc. It actually happens more often than you’d think that someone involved with a lower budget production will offer up their home for filming to keep costs down. Because the Pilot House is a beautiful home located in an upscale community, and since the 90210 pilot budget was most likely quite small, I think that is exactly what happened. Otherwise I just don’t see how they could have afforded to film there. If you’ve seen the pilot episode as many times as I have, you’ll remember that most of the location shooting at the Walsh house took place at night, which I am sure angered quite a few neighbors. Night shoots usually last from sunset to sunrise and can be loud, messy, and annoying to anyone whose house is nearby. So I am gonna go out on a limb and say that during the production of 90210, a few of the neighbors probably got a little miffed about the filming and as soon as the pilot wrapped, members of the small community (there are only 67 houses on the property) made certain nothing like that would ever happen again. So when Beverly Hills, 90210 got picked up as a series three to six months later, the producers were left without a home to use for filming. And that’s how we ended up with Casa Walsh. 🙂

Now we can FINALLY put to bed one of the greatest filming location mysteries of all time. Now if only I could find that darn Girls Just Want To Have Fun apartment! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The 90210 Pilot House is located at 130 North Gunston Drive in the Brentwood Circle community. Please remember that this home is located in a private, gated community, and unless they open their gates for a reason (ie. an open house), you should not be on the property.

February 26, 2009February 26, 2009

Isn’t It Romantic!

A few weeks ago while watching my all time favorite episode of Beverly Hills, 90210, entitled “Isn’t It Romantic”, I noticed something I had never noticed before in all of my previous times watching it. In the episode, Dylan takes Brenda on a date to a scenic lookout point to discuss their burgeoning relationship. While watching that scene I noticed that Dylan and Brenda walk right by a sign reading “Mulholland Scenic Corridor” (pictured above). And I almost jumped right out of my chair as I knew exactly where Brenda and Dylan were standing. My boyfriend had taken me to that exact same spot about four or five years ago. My boyfriend – stealing romantic moves from Dylan McKay! Who knew? LOL

So immediately after watching the episode, I dragged my boyfriend out to stalk the overlook that he had taken me to all those years ago. But when we got there I realized immediately that we were in the wrong place. For some reason it just didn’t look to me like Brenda and Dylan’s overlook. My boyfriend kept telling me “Lindsay, the episode was filmed 20 years ago! Surely the place is going to look different now!” LOL Well, come to find out, we were in the wrong place! Turns out there are EIGHT different scenic overlooks located along the twisty turny 24 mile stretch of Mulholland Drive known as the Mulholland Scenic Corridor and Parkway. LOL I believe it was at that point that I became a bit unglued and told my boyfriend that we were going to drive to EACH AND EVERY ONE of those overlooks until I found the right one. LOL I know, I know, it’s amazing that he puts up with me!

Well, lucky for my boyfriend, we didn’t actually have to go to all eight overlooks. I believe we only made it to five of them. 🙂 The funny thing is that by that point I didn’t even care so much about seeing Brenda and Dylan’s overlook in person – it was more the frustration over not being able to find it that was driving me. Anway, the overlook used on Beverly Hills, 90210 is named the Nancy Hoover Pohl Overlook and as soon as I saw it in person I had to give myself a mental kick. I am sad to say that I really should have figured this one out sooner, as the Pohl Overlook is pretty much the only Mulholland overlook that has any sort of parking lot. And parking lots are definitely one thing location scouts look for when scouting locations. They need a place to park all of those massive production trucks! The Pohl Overlook has a HUGE parking lot that can fit over 40 cars, so it would have been the obvious choice for the filming of my fave 90s show. UGH! I can be such a blond sometimes! LOL

I HIGHLY recommend stalking ANY of the Mulholland Scenic Parkway and Corridor overlooks. All five that we visited boasted absolutely majestic views of Los Angeles. The eight overlooks are located on Mulholland Drive in between the 101 and 405 Freeways. Their names are: Barbara A. Fine Overlook, Hollywood Bowl Overlook, Nancy Hoover Pohl Overlook, Stone Canyon Overlook, Universal City Overlook, The Groves Overlook, Las Virgenes Overlook, and Seminole Overlook.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Nancy Hoover Pohl Overlook is located at 8401 Mulholland Drive in Los Angeles.

February 6, 2009February 13, 2009

The 90210 Pilot Church

A few days ago I sent Mike, from MovieShotsLA, a screen capture of the church featured in the pilot episode of Beverly Hills, 90210. I had a hunch he might know where it was located – and, sure enough, he did! He immediately called me and said “That’s the Spiderman church!” as it was also used in the filming of Spiderman 3. 🙂 God, he’s good! St. Brendan Church – or as Mike and I like to call it, the “pilot church” – was built in 1927 by Los Angeles area architect Emmett Martin.

In the pilot episode of 90210, Brenda, not wanting her new twenty-something boyfriend Jason to know that she is only sixteen years old and still living at home with her parents, lies and says that she is attending UCLA and living in a sorority house named Sigma Rho Tau. After their first date, Jason drops Brenda off in front of her fake sorority house, which just happens to be located next door to a church. That church is St. Brendan and that sorority house is not really a sorority house at all, but the church rectory. As you can see in the above screen captures, all the producers had to do was add a sign with the sorority’s name to the outside of the rectory and cover up the stained glass window with a bulletin board – and voila, they had themselves a sorority house!

While researching St. Brendan Church earlier today I remembered something very ironic from my past. I can’t even believe I’m admitting to this – in a public forum no less – but you only live once, so here goes! When I was in high school I receieved the Sacrament of Confirmation. At the time I was fifteen years old and deep in the throws of my 90210 obsession. So much so in fact, that I chose Brendan, after St. Brendan, as my confirmation name. In the Catholic faith, when ones receives the Sacrament of Confirmation, they are to adopt the name of a patron saint who is said to then guide and protect them. Confirmation candidates are supposed to study the history of the saints and find one that represents the type of Christian they want to become. But for me the choice was easy. Once I found out there was a saint named Brendan, that was it for me! Of course, the female version of the name Brendan is Brenda. 🙂 Yes, I was THAT obsessed. LOL Being that my mother wanted to kill me when she found out the saint name I chose, this little episode of my life has been a long running joke in my family. LOL So earlier today when I found out that St. Brendan was the name of the 90210 church, I just about fell out of my chair.

St. Brendan actually has quite a rich filming history. Besides the pilot episode of Beverly Hills, 90210, the church was also featured in Armageddon as the location of Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler’s wedding.

You can watch the wedding scene below:

It was the location of Stephanie Seymor and Axl Rose’s wedding in the Guns N’ Roses music video for the song “November Rain”.

On a side note – I must say that I absolutely LOVE Stephanie Seymour’s wedding dress from the video (pictured above). I am gonna have to get me one of those for my wedding! LOL As if!! 🙂 You can watch the “November Rain” music video below:

In the Season Four episode of CSI: Miami entitled “From the Grave”, my fave Horatio Caine confessed his sins at Saint Brendan.

The church was also featured in the 1953 version of War of the Worlds (as the location where the residents of L.A. gather during the final scenes of the movie), Spiderman 3 (the interior is where Topher Grace prayed for God to kill Peter Parker), Fight Club (Edward Norton’s cancer support group was held there), and an episode of Unsolved Mysteries. You can see interior pics of the church on the Saint Brendan website.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Beverly Hills, 90210 pilot church, aka St. Brendan, is located at 310 South Van Ness Avenue in the Hancock Park area of Los Angeles.

January 28, 2009February 17, 2009

Beverly Hills, 90291

A few weeks back while I was out stalking the Californication house, Mike (from MovieShotsLA) and I set out on a mission to find Kelly Taylor’s house from the new 90210 series.

I had been searching for the house for quite some time and on this particular day I called Mike at work (poor guy!) and said “We are going to find that house today!” I’m nothing if not determined! Mike and I knew the house was located in Venice from an article that appeared in Entertainment Weekly this past summer, and since I was already in the area, I realized it was now or never! I was not leaving Venice without finding that house. 🙂

Kelly’s house has appeared on 90210 quite a few times, beginning with the pilot episode. And each time it appears, a plaque with the numbers “2229” is clearly visible in the background. But neither Mike nor I could seem to find any area in Venice with house numbers in the 2200 range. We found blocks with addresses of 2100, 2300, and 2400, but for some reason 2200 was nowhere to be found. Mike had become convinced that the “2229” sign was just a prop added to the house for filming, but I held out hope. Something told me that sign was really there.

Since Google Street View does not cover the Venice area, I acted as Mike’s eyes and ears driving around Venice while he sat in front of his computer at work looking at aerial maps. LOL My boyfriend always says how amazing it is that Mike and I managed to find each other. I mean who else in their right mind would do this stuff with me?? LOL Anyway, after driving around for a while I was just about ready to give up hope. Then all of sudden, an idea struck Mike and he told me to head to Glyndon Avenue. He had remembered working once in a quaint little section of Venice and thought it might be the area where Kelly’s house was located. So, using my trusty GPS, I drove over to Glyndon Avenue and sure enough, there was the house – “2229” sign and all. See, you should always trust a woman’s intuition! 🙂

Many episodes of 90210 were filmed at the actual Venice Beach house and I also believe that some interior filming took place there, as well. This is apparent in both the pilot episode, in which fellow teacher Ryan stops by Kelly’s house, flowers in hand . . .

. . . and the episode entitled “Secrets and Lies” in which Silver’s house party gets slightly out of hand.

Kelly’s house is very cute and very picturesque in person. In fact, it is just the type of house I would expect to find a grown-up Kelly Taylor living in. Especially since she is so obviously still carrying a torch for Dylan and this house is so reminiscent of Dylan’s Craftsman style home from the original series. 🙂 I absolutely loved stalking Kelly’s house. In fact, driving around Venice that day while talking to Mike on the phone will always be one of my fondest stalking memories!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Kelly Taylor’s house is located at 2229 Glyndon Avenue in Venice.

December 5, 2008February 13, 2009

Donna Martin, Rose Princess

When I first moved to Los Angeles about eight years ago, one of the very first items on my stalking agenda was to visit the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Headquarters. I wanted to sign up for their annual Rose Court Pageant just like Donna Martin did in the Season 6 episode of 90210 entitled “Everything’s Coming Up Roses”. 🙂 I was absolutely flabbergasted when after asking for an application the receptionist explained to me that in order to apply for the Rose Court I had to currently be in high school or in my first year of college (at the time I had just graduated from college). I calmly told him that that simply wasn’t true as Donna was in her third year of college when she entered the pageant on 90210, to which he replied “Yes, but that was a TV show!” LOL I cannot believe 90210 decieved me like that!! Anyway, even though my attempts at becoming Rose Queen were thwarted even before they began, I still loved being at the Tournament House and seeing where 90210 had filmed. 🙂

The Tournament House was originally built for the Wrigley Family – yes, Wrigley as in the spearmint gum. Construction on the home took over eight years and was finally completed in 1914. At the time Orange Grove Boulevard was known as “Millionaires’ Row” due to the countless opulent mansions lining both sides of the street. Sadly, most of those mansions are now long gone, torn down many years ago to make room for apartment complexes and smaller homes. But the Tournament House remains. When Mrs. Wrigley passed away in 1958, she deeded the home to the City of Pasadena with the specific instruction that it was to be used as the Tournament of Roses Headquarters, which it has remained ever since.

The Tournament House, which sits on over 4 1/2 acres of beautifully manicured rose gardens, is absolutely beautiful in person. The interior of the mansion is supposedly incredibly beautiful, as well, although I have never seen it. Free tours of the House are offered every Thursday between 2pm and 4pm during the months of February through August and I think I am definitely going to have to partake in one soon. 🙂

The Rose Queen tradition began in 1905 and continues to this day. It is so named because the Rose Queen reigns over Pasadena’s Annual Tournament of Roses Parade each New Years, riding on a special float. Each year over 1,000 girls compete for the Rose Queen title, in a process that takes a month to complete. Out of those thousand, one girl will become the Rose Queen and six others will become Rose Princesses in her Royal Court. An interesting side note – actress Sophia Bush (of One Tree Hill fame) won the Rose Queen title in the year 2000. 🙂 You can see a photograph of Sophia with her Court here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Tournament of Roses House is located at 391 South Orange Grove Blvd. in Pasadena.

December 4, 2008February 13, 2009

90210’s Baby Mama’s House

While stalking the 90210 house last week, the owner, Jack, told Mike [of MovieShotsLA – as if you didn’t already know by now :)] and me about a few Beverly Hills, 90210 filming locations that we had yet to locate. One location was the home of Brandon’s love interest from the Season 1 episode entitled “One Man and a Baby”. In the episode Brandon dates an Ivy League hopeful named Melissa whom he later finds out is also a single, teenage mother. The house used as Melissa’s in the episode just happens to be located directly across the street from the Walsh home in Altadena. While re-watching the episode last night, I was cracking up at the scene when Brandon drives up to Melissa’s house to pick her up for their date, because in reality her home is located a hop, skip and a jump away from his home on the show. LOL

According to Jack, Melissa’s house looks very different today than it did when 90210 was filmed there back in 1990. Today there is a large stucco wall surrounding the front of the home, which hides most of the property. Sadly, the front door is the area of the home that was featured most prominently on 90210 and it is no longer visible from the street. 🙁

Jack also told us that the same home’s pool area was also used in a few different 90210 episodes and I found one of those episodes yesterday. In the Season 1 episode entitled “Every Dream Has Its Price”, the pool belonged to Brenda’s shoplifting friend Tiffany. A short scene takes place there where Brenda confronts her sticky-fingered friend and gives her a lesson in good old Midwestern values.

The very same pool, diving board, and bikini clad actress from that scene were also featured each week in 90210’s opening credits. 🙂

The house was also featured in the 2008 film Finding Amanda where it was used as Matthew Broderick’s home and in the Eva Longoria flick Over Her Dead Body where the backyard was used for a wedding scene. The home is currently for sale and for a mere $2,850,000 you can own a piece of 90210 history! You can visit the home’s real estate website, which has interior pics of the house, here. Ironically, the stairwell in the home looks very similar to the stairwell from the set of the Walsh house. The real estate website also features some clips of movies featuring the home. LOVE IT!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Melissa’s house is located at 1690 Altadena Drive, right across the street from the Walsh house.