Big Little Lies – IAMNOTASTALKER

June 12, 2020June 13, 2020

Mother Moo Creamery from “Big Little Lies”

Though Big Little Lies’ second season was an all-around disappointment, the biggest letdown of all was Meryl Streep and Reese Witherspoon’s infamous ice-cream-throwing scene – captured by paparazzi and splayed all over the internet – which never actually made it to the screen. The cut didn’t go unnoticed. Calling the lost segment “the biggest lie so far,” the Eater website opined, “The biggest mystery of season two revolves around a food fight that never happened.” Thanks to some signage visible on neighboring buildings in the paparazzi pics, I tracked down and stalked Mother Moo Creamery, the adorable Sierra Madre ice cream shop where the cone-tossing scene took place, long before the sophomore season premiered. So the disappointment over its non-airing was particularly stinging for me. Though Streep assured fans the footage would be included in the Season 2 DVD extras, that did not come to pass. Oh, BLL producers, why are you holding out on us? Regardless, I figured Mother Moo was still worthy of a post and, since restaurants are just starting to reopen, decided now was the perfect time to pen it!

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Bright, colorful, and cheery, Mother Moo Creamery is the cutest little ice cream shop you ever did see!

Pinwheels in the planter box? Come on! So adorable!

It’s like the ice cream parlor of your dreams!

And it’s even more charming inside!

The ice cream offerings at Mother Moo are plentiful. The Grim Cheaper and I opted for a scoop of the salty chocolate and it was literally the best cone of my life!

Besides the divine scoops, Mother Moo also sells gifts, candy, and other sundries.

It is not at all hard to see how the darling shop wound up onscreen, especially on a series as picturesque as Big Little Lies.

While the cone-throwing footage never made it to to the airwaves, Mother Moo Creamery – or at least the exterior of it – did! In the episode titled “Kill Me,” Madeline Martha Mackenzie (Witherspoon) and her daughter, Abigail Carlson (Kathryn Newton), have a terse interaction with Mary Louise Wright (Streep) outside of the parlor.

We get a better look at the jeweler next door than we do Mother Moo in the segment, though.

Fortunately, we have those paparazzi photos which largely went viral thanks to a fan named Matt who posted one on Twitter with the caption, “I am praying Reese pelts Meryl with that ice cream,” to which Reese responded, “Oh Matt! No need to pray. I got her!”

Of course, I had to do it!

Shortly before Big Little Lies’ Season 2 premiere, Reese posted an Instagram photo posing with her television daughter at the shop, so I had to emulate that, as well!

Long before Mother Moo Creamery moved in, the storefront that houses it appeared briefly as an electronics shop in the 1982 horror film Halloween III: The Season of the Witch. It is amazing how little of the space has changed in the almost forty years since the segment was lensed!

I am fairly certain the site was an electronics store in real life during that time because, thanks to fellow stalker Walter, I learned that in 1986 it also popped up in the Season 2 episode of Highway to Heaven titled “Close Encounters of the Heavenly Kind” as Jack’s Video Repair, where Harvey Milsap (Harold J. Stone) attempted to get a job.

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: Mother Moo Creamery, from the “Kill Me” episode of Big Little Lies, is located at 17 Kersting Court in Sierra Madre. You can visit the eatery’s official website here.

August 19, 2019August 16, 2019

The Filming Locations of “Big Little Lies” Season 2 – “I Want to Know”

Season 2 of Big Little Lies comes to an end with “I Want to Know,” as does my episode-by-episode coverage of its locations. Hope you enjoyed reading through the posts as much as I enjoyed putting them together. So, without further ado . . . (Note – as was the case with my posts about the locales from “What Have They Done?,” ”Tell-Tale Hearts,” “The End of the World,” “She Knows,” “Kill Me,” and “The Bad Mother,” because I have already extensively detailed BLL’s inaugural season, I will not be covering flashbacks. And places that appear in multiple episodes will be noted as such, so expect some crossover.)

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1. Celeste’s House (40 Yankee Point Drive, Carmel) – Celeste Wright’s (Nicole Kidman) magnificent home, featured throughout Seasons 1 and 2, sits cliffside on an exclusive tree-lined street in Carmel Highlands. The pad’s exterior and interior appear frequently onscreen, though the master bedroom – where Celeste discovers a disturbing video shot by her sons in “I Want to Know” – and the twins’ room were just sets.

2. Madeline and Ed’s House (30760 Broad Beach Road, Malibu) – Madeline Martha (Reese Witherspoon) and Ed Mackenzie’s (Adam Scott) residence, my favorite on the series, is located a good 300 miles from the Central Coast. You can find it just north of Zuma Beach in Malibu. The fab Cape Cod, which I dedicated a post to here, is a vacation rental in real life, so you can live out your very own Big Little Lies fantasy by booking some time there! It doesn’t come cheap, though – rates start at $3,000 a night.

It is in the property’s beachfront backyard that Madeline and Ed renew their vows in “I Want to Know” – one of the episode’s only high points in my opinion.

3. Jane and Ziggy’s Beach Talk (Del Monte Beach, 653 Del Monte Avenue, Monterey) – Ziggy Chapman (Iain Armitage) has a heart-to-heart with his mom, Jane (Shailene Woodley), on Del Monte Beach, declaring her to be a “whole ‘nother person – your whole face and stuff has been different” when she’s with Corey Brockfield (Douglas Smith) – though I have to say that I didn’t really see any of that come across onscreen. I thought she seemed much happier with Blue Blues’ owner Tom (Joseph Cross) in Season 1. (#bringbacktom!) Del Monte Beach also pops up in “What Have They Done?”, “The End of the World,” “She Knows,” and “Kill Me.”

4. Renata and Mary Louise’s Starbucks Run-In (1 Kersting Court, Sierra Madre) – In one of my favorite scenes of the season (which you can watch here – warning, it’s NSFW!), Renata Klein (Laura Dern) gets into a huge kerfuffle with Mary Louise Wright (Meryl Streep) at a supposed Monterey-area Starbucks. The coffee house is actually located in Sierra Madre, though. It is the same spot where Tori Bachman (Sarah Sokolovic) hit on Ed in “The Bad Mother.” You can check out a post I wrote about it here.

5. Katie Richmond’s Office (7427 Beverly Boulevard, Fairfax) – Katie Richmond (Poorna Jagannathan) unsuccessfully tries to convince Celeste not to question Mary Louise herself at her upcoming custody hearing during a meeting at her law office, which can be found in a unique Tudor-style building located on the corner of Beverly Boulevard and North Vista Street in Los Angeles.

6. Ira Farber’s Office (Scheper Kim & Harris LLP, The CalEdison DTLA, 601 West 5th Street, 12 Floor, downtown Los Angeles) – At another Los Angeles law office, this one located on the 12th Floor of TheCalEdison, Ira Farber (Denis O’Hare) cautions the ever-unpredictable Mary Louise to only answer the questions she is asked when she takes the stand at her upcoming hearing.

7. Monterey Superior Court (Superior Court of California, Marina Division, 3180 Del Monte Boulevard, Marina) – The bulk of “I Want to Know” takes place at the Marina Division of the Superior Court of California, where Celeste and Mary Louise furiously face off for custody of Celeste’s twin boys. The courthouse’s unique exterior is featured in full view in the episode.

And the lobby appears, as well.

But the actual courtroom itself is, I believe, just a set.

8. Monterey Bay Aquarium (886 Cannery Row, Monterey) – Jane and Corey rekindle their relationship in front of the Open Sea display at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, where they both work. Per the aquatic museum’s website, the million-gallon tank is one of the “largest live marine community exhibits in the world.” The romantic segment was shot during off hours, which gave producers the opportunity to capture the two lovebirds in front of the “bubble curtain,” a mechanism that helps fish maneuver through dark waters which is only utilized at night. The aquarium offers Romance Tours when the facility is closed, so you, too, can re-enact Jane and Corey’s kiss if you feel so inclined.

9. Cypress Community Hospital (Lanterman Developmental Center, 3530 Pomona Boulevard, Pomona) – Bonnie Carlson (Zoë Kravitz) ultimately says goodbye to both her mother, Elizabeth Howard (Crystal Fox), and her husband, Nathan Carlson (James Tupper), at an abandoned medical facility in Pomona known as Lanterman Developmental Center. The vast property, which once housed the developmentally disabled, pops up as Cypress Community Hospital in almost every episode of Season 2. (Big THANK YOU to my friend Owen for IDing this location! Smile )

10. Renata and Gordon’s House (27326 Winding Way, Malibu) – Renata also says goodbye to her husband, Gordon Klein (Jeffrey Nordling), in “I Want to Know,” coming to blows with him at their sprawling home, which is located in Malibu in real life. Though both the interior and exterior are featured throughout Seasons 1 and 2 . . .

. . . I believe Gordon’s mancave, which Renata takes a bat to, might have been a set.

11. Jane’s Apartment (Ocean Harbor, 125 Surf Way, Monterey) – In Season 2, Jane calls a unit at Monterey’s Ocean Harbor home, though we only catch a quick glimpse of the interior, which I am fairly certain was a studio-built set, in “I Want to Know.”

12. Bonnie and Nathan’s House (636 Crater Camp Drive, Calabasas) – At the end of the episode, Bonnie sends out an SOS text to the Monterey 5 from the bucolic home she shares with Nathan. Their pad, which is really located in Calabasas, was used throughout Season 1 and 2.

13. Carmel by the Sea Police Department (Junipero Avenue & 4th Avenue, Carmel) – In one of the most unfulfilling closing scenes I’ve ever witnessed, the Monterey 5 meet up at Carmel by the Sea PD (which plays itself) and the screen fades out as they walk inside, presumably to turn themselves in for Perry Wright’s (Alexander Skarsgård) murder. It was a definite “Wait, that’s it?” moment. As my friend Nat said after watching, “I had to check the episode information to verify that ‘I Want to Know’ was actually the finale!” As disappointing as the episode and the entire season turned out to be, though, I still loved spending time with Madeline and the gang and am sincerely hoping for a Season 3.

And that’s a wrap for me on Big Little Lies Season 2. Well, until the DVD comes out with the deleted scenes, at least!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

August 16, 2019August 16, 2019

The Filming Locations of “Big Little Lies” Season 2 – “The Bad Mother”

Turmoil abounds in the sixth episode of Big Little Lies’ second season, “The Bad Mother.” Celeste Wright (Nicole Kidman) and Mary Louise Wright (Meryl Streep) face off in court, Tori Bachman (Sarah Sokolovic) propositions Ed Mackenzie (Adam Scott), Bonnie Carlson (Zoë Kravitz) has a deathbed confession with her mom, Elizabeth Howard (Crystal Fox), and Renata Klein (Laura Dern) finds out about husband Gordon’s (Jeffrey Nordling) affair with the nanny! Phew! Read on for a list of where it all happened. (Note – as was the case with my posts about the locales from “What Have They Done?,” ”Tell-Tale Hearts,” “The End of the World,” “She Knows,” and “Kill Me,” because I have already extensively detailed BLL’s inaugural season, I will not be covering flashbacks. And places that appear in multiple episodes will be noted as such, so some crossover should be expected.)

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1. Corey’s House (263 Old Ranch Road, Sierra Madre) – “The Bad Mother” opens with Jane Chapman (Shailene Woodley) storming over to Corey Brockfield’s (Douglas Smith) home to find out if he’s working with the police. A small Sierra Madre cottage was utilized in the short segment and both the exterior . . .

. . . and the interior were seen, albeit very briefly. (Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Peter for identifying this location for me! Smile )

2. The Monterey 5’s Beach Meet-Up (White Point Park Parking Lot, 1801 West Paseo Del Mar, San Pedro) – Madeline Martha Mackenzie (Reese Witherspoon) and the gang have yet another secret parking lot meeting, this time at White Point Park in San Pedro, during which the cracks in their armor start to show. This locale also appears in episode 5, “Kill Me.”

3. Cypress Community Hospital (Lanterman Developmental Center, 3530 Pomona Boulevard, Pomona) – Bonnie makes several startling bedside confessions to her mother while sitting vigil in her room at Monterey’s fictional Cypress Community Hospital. Filming actually took place at the shuttered Lanterman Developmental Center in Pomona, which also popped up in “The End of the World,” “She Knows” and “Kill Me.” The facility, closed since 2014, formerly provided housing for the developmentally disabled, but currently sits vacant, which means I need to stalk it for a Haunted Hollywood post! There’s even a carousel situated on the grounds of the abandoned property – can you think of anything more eerie? (Insert scream face emoji here!)

4. Madeline and Ed’s House (30760 Broad Beach Road, Malibu) – Madeline attempts to reconnect to the person she was on her wedding day by trying on her wedding dress (“It doesn’t fit, but we’re not talking about that!”) at her gorgeous home – which is just the magic wand Ed needs to repair their marriage. Both the interior and exterior of Madeline and Ed’s Cape Cod-style pad are featured extensively throughout Seasons 1 and 2. I dedicated a post to the house – which is actually located in Malibu and serves as a vacation rental in real life – back in 2017.

Interestingly, the front of the Mackenzie residence, the driveway of which appears briefly in “The Bad Mother,” is a different location entirely. That property can be found at 2830 14th Avenue in Carmel.

5. Celeste’s House (40 Yankee Point Drive, Carmel) – The gorgeous home where Celeste lives with her twin boys, Max (Nicholas Crovetti) and Josh (Cameron Crovetti), is one of the few Monterey 5 residences actually located on the Central Coast. The rear patio and kitchen of the Carmel Highlands property appear in “The Bad Mother,” as well as in most Seasons 1 and 2 episodes, but the boys’ room and master bedroom were just studio-built sets.

6. Renata’s House (27326 Winding Way, Malibu) – Renata and Gordon call a humongous mansion in Malibu home on the series, though due to their bankruptcy proceedings, it sits largely empty, much like their marriage. In “The Bad Mother,” the backyard and living room of the property are featured.

7. Monterey Bay Aquarium (886 Cannery Row, Monterey) – Jane brushes off Corey’s attempts at a reconciliation at the Rocky Shore touch pools exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, where they both work as educators.

8. Monterey Superior Court (Superior Court of California, Marina Division, 3180 Del Monte Boulevard, Marina) – Celeste and Mary Louise’s custody hearing gets underway at an actual Monterey courthouse – the Superior Court of California, Marina Division. The site’s unique exterior is only briefly shown in the episode, though we catch a better glimpse of it in “I Want to Know.”

The building’s real life lobby (where Renata has more trouble with a metal detector!), hallway and an anteroom are also featured in “The Bad Mother.”

But I am fairly certain that the courtroom itself was a studio-built set.

9. Jane and Ziggy’s Bodysurfing Beach (Del Monte Beach, 653 Del Monte Avenue, Monterey) – Corey interrupts Jane’s bodysurfing session with her son, Ziggy Chapman (Iain Armitage), at Del Monte Beach in order to tell her that he is not going to give up on their relationship easily.

10. Tori and Ed’s Starbucks Meet-Up (1 Kersting Court, Sierra Madre) – Tori makes a major pass at Ed – and tells him about a rather disturbing diary that she keeps – at a Starbucks outpost in downtown Sierra Madre. You can read a post about the locale, which also pops up in “I Want to Know,” here.

11. Mary Louise’s Apartment (Ocean Harbor, 125 Surf Way, Monterey) – The actual interior of a unit at Monterey’s picturesque Ocean Harbor portrays the new apartment of Mary Louise, where Jane goes to confront her about her custody war with Celeste in “The Bad Mother.” Jane also calls the complex home on the series.

12. Bankruptcy Hearing (Spring Street Courthouse, 312 North Spring Street, downtown Los Angeles) – I am fairly certain that the scene in which Renata and Gordon’s nanny, Juliette (Nelly Buchet), seeks $160,000 in restitution for “other services rendered” – ahem, “stress management” – during a bankruptcy hearing was shot in a room at the Spring Street Courthouse in downtown L.A. The same spot also portrayed Gordon’s jail in “Tell-Tale Hearts” and was the site of another of the couple’s bankruptcy hearings in “She Knows.”

Be sure to check back Monday for my post on Big Little Lies’ season 2 finale, “I Want to Know.”

August 14, 2019August 13, 2019

The Filming Locations of “Big Little Lies” Season 2 – “Kill Me”

The fifth episode of Big Little Lies’ second season may have lacked pizzazz (especially since the much-anticipated ice-cream-throwing scene was cut!), but it sure boasted a lot of locations. Read on to discover which spots the Monterey 5 frequented in “Kill Me.” (Note – as was the case with my posts about the locales from “What Have They Done?,” ”Tell-Tale Hearts,” “The End of the World” and “She Knows,” because I have already extensively detailed BLL’s inaugural season, I will not be covering flashbacks. And places that appear in multiple episodes will be noted as such, so some crossover should be expected.)

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1. Jane’s Apartment (Ocean Harbor, 125 Surf Way, Monterey) – “Kill Me” opens at the new seaside apartment Jane Chapman (Shailene Woodley) shares with her son, Ziggy (Iain Armitage), located at Monterey’s Ocean Harbor. Though the inside of Jane’s place is, I believe, just a set . . .

. . . the actual interior of a unit is used as the home of Mary Louise Wright (Meryl Streep), who lives in the same complex.

“Kill Me” also offers us a rare glimpse of the exterior of Ocean Harbor towards the end of the episode as Mary Louise sits alone on nearby Del Monte Beach.

2. Celeste’s House (40 Yankee Point Drive, Carmel) – A gorgeous pad in Carmel Highlands stands in for the residence of Celeste Wright (Nicole Kidman) and her children, Max (Nicholas Crovetti) and Josh (Cameron Crovetti), on the show. Used extensively throughout Seasons 1 and 2, the home, more specifically its dining room, only appears briefly in “Kill Me.” Celeste’s bedroom and the twins’ room, which are also shown in the episode, were just studio-built sets.

3. Nathan and Ed’s Argument (Monterey Bay Coastal Recreation Trail, near 459 Ocean View Boulevard, Pacific Grove) – Nathan Carlson (James Tupper) calls Ed Mackenzie (Adam Scott) a “nut-f*ck” – the planet is inhabited by them! – on Monterey Bay’s gorgeous Coastal Recreation Trail, which runs 18 miles from Castroville to Pacific Grove. In the scene, the two men argue near the Lovers Point Mural, about 0.2 miles east of Lovers Point Beach.

4. Monterey Superior Court (Superior Court of California, Marina Division, 3180 Del Monte Boulevard, Marina) – Celeste and Mary Louise attend the first part of their custody hearing at an actual Central Coast courthouse located in Marina, a small town just north of Monterey. Little of the unique building is shown in the scene, though we catch better views of it in the Season 2 finale, “I Want to Know.”

I believe the actual interior of the courthouse also made an appearance in the episode.

5. Cypress Community Hospital (Lanterman Developmental Center, 3530 Pomona Boulevard, Pomona) – Bonnie Carlson (Zoë Kravitz) sits vigil at her mother Elizabeth Howard’s (Crystal Fox) bedside at what is supposed to be Monterey’s local Cypress Community Hospital. Filming actually took place at an abandoned former health facility in Pomona known as Lanterman Developmental Center. The same spot is also where Amabella Klein (Ivy George) was taken after her anxiety attack in “The End of the World” and where Elizabeth was admitted following her stroke in “She Knows.” (Big THANK YOU to my friend Owen for IDing this location! Smile )

6. Ziggy and the Twins’ Fist Fight (Carmel River Elementary School, 2770 15th Avenue, Carmel) – Though Ziggy, Max and Josh are suspended for pummeling a bully on the Otter Bay Elementary playground, Kenter Canyon, which typically portrays the school of the Monterey 5’s children on the series, was not used in the scene. Filming instead took place at Carmel River Elementary, with the bungalows of the neighboring Mission Ranch Hotel clearly visible in the background.

7. Otter Bay Elementary (Kenter Canyon Elementary School, 645 North Kenter Avenue, Brentwood) – Kenter Canyon does make an appearance in “Kill Me,” though. It in the school’s principal’s office that Celeste and Jane are informed of their children’s three-day suspension and outside of the school that Jane asks Ziggy what caused the fight.

8. Madeline and Ed’s Marriage Retreat (Seven Coves, 157 Spindrift Road, Carmel) – A massive compound in Carmel which also cameoed in the 1992 thriller Basic Instinct stood in for the “healing institute” where Ed and his wife, Madeline Martha Mackenzie (Reese Witherspoon), try to repair their marriage. The sprawling property, known as Seven Coves in real life, boasts 5 separate homes, more than 4 acres of land, 1,000 feet of coastline, 17,000 square feet of living space, 12 bedrooms, and 17 bathrooms. If you have an extra $52 million lying around, the whole thing can be yours, as it is currently on the market.

It is in the property’s quaint, one-bedroom Writer’s Cottage that Ed and Madeline attend the retreat’s infamous hugging seminar in “Kill Me.”

9. Renata and Gordon’s House (27326 Winding Way, Malibu) – In the hopes of getting her to drop the custody battle against Celeste, Renata Klein (Laura Dern) invites Mary Louise for tea at her massive modern mansion, now virtually empty due to her bankruptcy – which, of course, does not go unnoticed by Mary Louise. The pad, featured in both Seasons 1 and 2, can be found on a private road in the hills of Malibu above Escondido Beach. Both the interior and exterior are utilized extensively on the series.

10. Madeline and Ed’s House (30760 Broad Beach Road, Malibu) – Chloe Mackenzie (Darby Camp) offers her father, Ed, some solace in the form of a hug in the kitchen of their idyllic Cape Cod-style home in “Kill Me.” Like Renata’s place, the Mackenzie residence is located in Malibu. The stunning property is a vacation rental in real life, which means you, too, can live like the Monterey 5 – well, temporarily, at least. You can check out a post I wrote about the dwelling here.

11. Liberation Yoga (124 South La Brea Avenue, Hancock Park) – Bonnie hosts a “singing for sleep apnea” class and is confronted by her father, Martin Howard (Martin Donovan), at a real yoga studio in Hancock Park. Or at least it was. Sadly, Liberation Yoga, formerly located on La Brea Avenue, has since moved and the storefront that once housed it sits vacant, so you can no longer get your namaste on there. The site also popped up a couple of times in Season 1 and was where Elizabeth surprised Bonnie in Season 2’s “Tell-Tale Hearts.”

12. Ira Farber’s Office (Scheper Kim & Harris LLP, The CalEdison DTLA, 601 West 5th Street, 12th Floor, downtown Los Angeles) – Mary Louise’s lawyer, Ira Farber (Denis O’Hare), unsuccessfully tries to broker a joint custody deal between his client and Celeste at Scheper Kim & Harris, located on the 12th floor of The CalEdison in downtown L.A. The firm’s offices also showed up in episode 4, “She Knows.”

The building’s 12th floor elevator bay was utilized in “Kill Me,” as well.

13. The Monterey 5’s Parking Lot Meet-Up (White Point Park, 1801 West Paseo Del Mar, San Pedro) – Celeste calls for a late-night secret meeting in the parking lot of San Pedro’s White Point Park (quite a long way from Monterey!) to discuss the latest in Perry’s (Alexander Skarsgård) case and to inform the group that she might be required to take the stand in her custody hearing, which would put them all in jeopardy. The same lot also makes an appearance in “The Bad Mother.”

14. Bonnie and Nathan’s House (636 Crater Camp Drive, Calabasas) – Nathan tries to make a grand gesture to show his love for Bonnie by surprising her with a treadmill and running book at their bohemian-style residence, actually located in Calabasas. It is in the living room of the bucolic home, used in both Seasons 1 and 2, that Bonnie has a heart-to-heart with her dad about her childhood abuse in the episode.

15. Madeline and Mary Louise’s Ice Cream Run-In (Kersting Court, Sierra Madre) – In what proved to be the most disappointing scene of the season, Madeline and her daughter Abigail Carlson (Kathryn Newton) run into Mary Louise on a downtown Sierra Madre street after getting ice cream. Though the cone-tossing element of the segment never made it to the screen, the trio is shown having a terse conversation in front of Savor the Flavor gift store at 11 Kersting Court.

16. Corey’s Kayaking Beach (Whaler’s Cove, Point Lobos, Carmel) – Instead of keeping Max, Josh and Ziggy home during their suspension, Celeste and Jane decide to take them kayaking with Corey Brockfield (Douglas Smith) at Monterey’s famed Whaler’s Cove at Point Lobos State Natural Reserve. The pristine oasis, a popular kayaking destination in real life, is part of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.

Prior to heading out on the water, Corey engages in some horseplay with the boys in the Cove’s parking lot area, which also made appearances in “The End of the World.”

17. Tori Hits on Ed (City Tavern, 9739 Culver Boulevard, Culver City) – Tori Bachman (Sarah Sokolovic) rather awkwardly hits on Ed (though things are about to get a lot more awkward in the episodes to come!), at City Tavern, the very same bar where Celeste and Jane had cocktails in “She Knows.”

18. Carmel by the Sea Police Department (Junipero Avenue & 4th Avenue, Carmel) – Carmel by the Sea PD plays itself in several episodes of Big Little Lies’ second season. In “Kill Me,” Bonnie heads there on a late-night walk and makes the shocking discovery that Corey might be working with the police.

Don’t forget to tune in Friday for my post about episode 6, “The Bad Mother.”

August 12, 2019August 11, 2019

The Filming Locations of “Big Little Lies” Season 2 – “She Knows”

The fourth episode of Big Little Lies’ second season is pretty much when the show jumped the shark for me. Though there were some captivating moments – a pumpkin carving party, a disco soiree and that slap! – the majority of “She Knows” was just meh. Nevertheless, I proudly present to you its locations! (Note – as was the case with my posts about the locales from “What Have They Done?”, ”Tell-Tale Hearts” and “The End of the World,” because I have already extensively detailed BLL’s inaugural season, I will not be covering flashbacks. And places that appear in multiple episodes will be noted as such, so expect some crossover.)

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1. Madeline and Ed’s House (30760 Broad Beach Road, Malibu) – At the top of “She Knows,” the Monterey 5 and their children enjoy a brief respite from the drama surrounding them thanks to a pumpkin carving party hosted by Madeline Martha Mackenzie (Reese Witherspoon) at the gorgeous home she shares with her husband, Ed (Adam Scott). An unexpected visit from Mary Louise Wright (Meryl Streep) cuts the festivities short, though– and results in a slap in the face from Celeste (Nicole Kidman). Don’t go looking for the idyllic beachside pad where filming took place in Monterey as Madeline and Ed’s residence (my favorite of the series) can actually be found in Malibu. And it’s a vacation rental in real life! You can read a post I wrote about the dwelling, which appears throughout Seasons 1 and 2, here.

Interestingly, when the front of the Mackenzie home is shown later in the episode, a different spot is used. That pad, which is also seen a couple of times in Season 1, is actually on the Central Coast. It’s at 2830 14th Avenue in Carmel.

2. Jane and Corey’s Surfing Beach (Del Monte Beach, 653 Del Monte Avenue, Monterey) – During a surf session at Del Monte Beach, Jane Chapman (Shailene Woodley) invites her new love interest, Corey Brockfield (Douglas Smith), to Amabella Klein’s (Ivy George) disco-themed birthday party. Though he accepts, he is not especially enthused about the costume aspect of the event because of the huge “opportunity for embarrassment.” A man who doesn’t like costume parties? Jane, you can do better! This locale is also where Jane and Corey run into each other in “What Have They Done?” and where Corey gives Ziggy (Iain Armitage) surf lessons in “The End of the World.”

3. Blissful Drip Café (Lovers Point Park, 631 Ocean View Boulevard, Pacific Grove) – Mary Louise and Celeste discuss the respective ways they deal with grief at Monterey’s newest hot spot, Blissful Drip Café. As I detail in this post, the eatery is not a real place, but was a set constructed solely for the Big Little Lies shoot in Pacific Grove’s Lovers Point Park. Though featured religiously throughout episodes 1 through 4, “She Knows” marks the coffee shop’s last Season 2 appearance.

4. Bankruptcy Court (Spring Street Courthouse, 312 North Spring Street, downtown Los Angeles) – Renata Klein (Laura Dern) attends a bankruptcy hearing with husband Gordon (Jeffrey Nordling) at downtown L.A.’s Spring Street Courthouse where she gets into more trouble with a metal detector and is forced to relinquish her wedding ring. The same spot also served as Gordon’s jail in “Tell-Tale Hearts.”

As was the case in that episode, signage reading “Los Angeles” is visible in the background giving away the courthouse’s true location as a non-Central Coast site.

5. Renata and Gordon’s House (27326 Winding Way, Malibu) – Despite their financial woes, Renata and Gordon throw a lavish, over-the-top disco-themed costume party (headlined by Earl Young and The Trammps!) for their daughter Amabella’s 8th birthday at their massive home, which, like Madeline’s, can be found in Malibu.

6. Ira Farber’s Law Office (Scheper Kim & Harris LLP, The CalEdison, 601 West 5th Street, 12th Floor, downtown Los Angeles) – An actual law firm housed on the 12th floor of DTLA’s CalEdison building serves as the office of Mary Louise’s cutthroat custody lawyer, Ira Farber (Denis O’Hare). You can check out some interior photos of the space, which also pops up in “Kill Me,” here.

7. Cypress Community Hospital (Lanterman Developmental Center, 3530 Pomona Boulevard, Pomona) – Pomona’s Lanterman Developmental Center portrays the Monterey-area hospital where Elizabeth Howard (Crystal Fox) is admitted following the stroke she suffers at Amabella’s party. The massive 309-acre facility, closed since 2014, housed the developmentally disabled while in operation, but currently sits vacant. This is the same spot Amabella was taken post anxiety attack in “The End of the World” and it makes additional appearances throughout the rest of Season 2. (Big THANK YOU to my friend Owen for identifying this location! Smile )

8. Jane and Celeste Grab Cocktails (City Tavern, 9739 Culver Boulevard, Culver City) – After Amabella’s party, Jane and Celeste head to City Tavern to debrief. The cozy Culver City bar is also seen in episode 5, “Kill Me.”

9. Pizza Parlor (Bean Town, 45 North Baldwin Avenue, Sierra Madre) – Mary Louise takes the twins, Josh (Cameron Crovetti) and Max (Nicholas Crovetti), for the “best pizza in the woooooooorld” at Bean Town, a popular Sierra Madre coffee house. Because the eatery was heavily dressed to appear like an upscale Italian restaurant, not to mention barely shown, it is, unfortunately, not very recognizable in the scene. You can read a more in-depth post on the locale, and see photos of it decked out for the shoot, here.

10. Celeste’s House (40 Yankee Point Drive, Carmel) – While dropping the twins off at their gorgeous oceanside home, Mary Louise catches Celeste with a one-night stand and promptly slaps her with a custody suit. Celeste’s residence, which is featured in both Season 1 and 2, is one of the few Monterey 5 pads that can actually be found on the Central Coast. In real life, it sits perched atop a rocky cliff in Carmel.

11. Café Descanso (Descanso Gardens, 1414 Descanso Drive, La Cañada Flintridge) – Madeline and Renata have a terse run-in with Detective Adrienne Quinlan (Merrin Dungey) at their regular Season 2 hangout, Café Descanso. Like Blissful Drip, the eatery, which pops up repeatedly in episodes 1 through 4, makes its last Season 2 appearance in “She Knows.” Unlike Blissful Drip, this spot is a real place, located on the grounds of Descanso Gardens. I wrote about it here.

12. Mary Louise’s New Apartment (Ocean Harbor, 125 Surf Way, Monterey) – Jane confronts Mary Louise about her custody battle with Celeste at her new apartment in Monterey’s Ocean Harbor, the same beachside complex where Jane also lives.

While Jane’s apartment was a studio-built set, the actual interior of an Ocean Harbor unit was utilized as Mary Louise’s. Little of the space can be seen in “She Knows,” but you can check out some behind-the-scenes imagery of it here.

Be sure to check back Wednesday for a look at episode 5, “Kill Me.”

August 9, 2019August 14, 2019

The Filming Locations of “Big Little Lies” Season 2 – “The End of the World”

Not much changes with the women of Monterey in the third episode of Big Little Lies’ second season, “The End of the World.” Renata Klein (Laura Dern) is still on a tear, Bonnie Carlson (Zoë Kravitz) continues to “mope-a-dope” around, and Mary Louise Wright (Meryl Streep) just refuses to let anything go. And I’ve compiled a list of where it all happens! Read on for the complete locations guide to “The End of the World.” (Note – as was the case with my posts about the locales from episode 1 and episode 2, since I have already extensively detailed BLL’s inaugural season, I will not be covering flashbacks. And places that appear in multiple episodes will be mentioned as such, so some crossover should be expected.)

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1. Bonnie and Nathan’s House (636 Crater Camp Drive, Calabasas) – In “The End of the World,” Bonnie continues to make do with her mother Elizabeth Howard’s (Crystal Ryan) unwelcome visit to the secluded “Central Coast” home she shares with husband, Nathan (James Tupper). In reality, the pad, which also appeared in Season 1, cannot be found in Monterey, but on a sleepy street in Calabasas. Both the interior and exterior are featured fairly extensively on the show.

2. Bonnie’s Beach Walk (Carmel River State Beach, Carmelo Street and Scenic Road, Carmel) – A tormented Bonnie strolls along Carmel River State Beach – and straight into the water, fully clothed – while reminiscing about the childhood abuse she suffered at the hands of her mother. The beach’s parking lot was also used in an establishing shot of the spot where the Monterey 5 discuss Perry Wright’s (Alexander Skarsgård) murder case in “What Have They Done?”

3. Bonnie’s Childhood Pool (Maple Hill Family YMCA, 1673 Maple Hill Road, Diamond Bar) – During her walk, Bonnie flashes back to a traumatic swimming experience from her youth. The brief segment, in which a young Elizabeth (Khalilah Joi) dunks childhood Bonnie (Mykal-Michelle Harris) underwater, was shot at the Maple Hill Family YMCA in Diamond Bar.

4. Madeline and Celeste’s Beach Talk (Point Lobos State Reserve Parking, Cannery Point, Carmel) – I never thought I’d describe a parking lot as “gorgeous,” but that word perfectly encapsulates the oceanfront spot where Madeline Martha Mackenzie (Reese Witherspoon) tells Celeste Wright (Nicole Kidman) about her father’s affair. It is so arresting, in fact, that it was the number one spot I wanted to find upon first viewing the episode. Filming of the scene took place in the parking area of Whaler’s Cove at Point Lobos State Reserve. Madeline also apologizes to Celeste for not recognizing the signs of her abuse in the same parking lot later in the episode.

5. Monterey Bay Aquarium Skyway (886 Cannery Row, Monterey) – Mary Louise confronts Jane Chapman (Shailene Woodley) on a skyway connecting two buildings at the Monterey Bay Aquarium and asks her to submit her son, Ziggy (Iain Armitage), to a paternity test. As a surprise to no one, Jane’s answer is a hard no. I do not believe the footbridge used in the scene, which runs over Cannery Row, is publicly accessible in real life, so how Mary Louise gained access to it is one of the show’s many mysteries.

6. Otter Bay Elementary School (Kenter Canyon Elementary School, 645 North Kenter Avenue, Brentwood) – Kenter Canyon, the Brentwood site that stands in for the elementary school attended by the Monterey 5’s kids, is the real star of “The End of the World.” It is there that all of the shenanigans from episode 3 take place. Mr. Perkins (Mo McRae) teaches his second grade students that Charlotte’s Web is about sustainability in one of Kenter Canyon’s classrooms, sending little Amabella Klein (Ivy George) straight to the ER with an anxiety attack.

The school’s office is where Renata – the “f*cking Medusa of Monterey” – has an epic meltdown at Mr. Perkins and Principal Warren Nippal (P.J. Byrne), which you can watch here (warning, as is the case with most of Renata’s rants, this one is most definitely NSFW!).

And Madeline gives her heartbreaking Rainbow Connection speech in Kenter Canyon’s auditorium.

7. Cypress Community Hospital (Lanterman Developmental Center, 3530 Pomona Boulevard, Pomona) – The former Lanterman Developmental Center, which closed in 2014 and currently sits vacant, serves as the hospital where Amabella is taken post anxiety attack. The sprawling 309-acre site also pops up several times in the episodes that follow. (Big THANK YOU to my friend Owen for identifying this location! Smile )

8. Madeline and Ed’s House (30760 Broad Beach Road, Malibu) – The charming Cape Cod belonging to Madeline and her husband, Ed Mackenzie (Adam Scott), on the show is located in Malibu. You can check out an in-depth post I wrote on the home, my favorite from the series, here. (Bonus – it’s a vacation rental in real life!) Both the interior and exterior of the sprawling pad are featured in “The End of the World,” as well as in pretty much every other episode of the series.

9. Renata and Gordon’s House (27326 Winding Way, Malibu) – “Dr. Peep” (Kerri Kenney) – a children’s therapist who dresses as Little Bo Peep – meets with Amabella at the palatial home she shares with her parents to discuss her anxiety over climate change. Like Madeline’s, this residence can be found in Malibu. While the actual interior of the dwelling is utilized in the segment, as well as in countless other scenes from both Season 1 and 2, I believe Gordon’s (Jeffrey Nordling) mancave was just a set.

10. Jane and Corey’s Date (The Stage, 546 South San Fernando Boulevard, Burbank) – It is at Burbank’s gorgeous The Stage California Fusion Restaurant and Café that Corey Brockfield (Douglas Smith) finally takes Jane on a date – and teaches her all about land-based vs. net-pen raised seafood. The rather awkward rendezvous was shot in the eatery’s idyllic main courtyard. Though easily one of L.A.’s prettiest spots, oddly very little of it can be seen in the episode. But don’t worry – I took plenty of pics when I stalked it earlier this year.

11. Jane and Corey’s Non-Kiss (600 Block of Lighthouse Avenue, Monterey) – Following dinner, Jane and Corey’s date continues – a good 300 miles away from where it started – with a walk along Lighthouse Avenue in Monterey. It is in front of the Cat’s Meow clothing store (601 Lighthouse Avenue) that Corey unsuccessfully attempts to kiss Jane, causing her to caution him that she’s “gotta idle in neutral for a little bit.”

12. Celeste’s House (40 Yankee Point Drive, Carmel) – Celeste’s gorgeous cliffside estate, featured in both Seasons 1 and 2, is actually located on the Central Coast – in Carmel, to be exact. The home’s real living room and back patio appear in “The End of the World,” though the twins’ room, I believe, was just a studio-built set.

13. Jane’s New Apartment (Ocean Harbor, 125 Surf Way, Monterey) – Mary Louise creeps on Jane and Ziggy in the parking lot of their new apartment complex, Ocean Harbor. Though the interior of their place is shown in previous episodes, “The End of the World” gives us our first look at the exterior. The parking lot is also where Jane and Corey share an impromptu slow dance at the end of the episode.

14. Blissful Drip Café (Lovers Point Park, 631 Ocean View Boulevard, Pacific Grove) – Mary Louise tells Jane that she wants to be in Ziggy’s life – and then shoots herself in the foot by calling Perry, her son/Jane’s rapist, “gentle” and “tender” – at Blissful Drip Café, one of the gang’s regular Season 2 hangouts. Sadly, the bohemian-style eatery is not real, but was a set constructed for the Big Little Lies shoot in Monterey’s Lovers Point Park. Not much of the space is shown in “The End of the World,” but other episodes from the season afford us a better look at it. You can check out a post I wrote about the fictional coffee shop here.

15. Café Descanso (Descanso Gardens, 1418 Descanso Drive, La Canada Flintridge) – Madeline happens upon Ed having coffee with Bonnie at Café Descanso, the ladies’ other Season 2 hangout. Unlike Blissful Drip, this spot is a real place, located on the grounds of Descanso Gardens. Situated outside of the entrance gates, admittance tickets are not required to dine there.

16. Madeline’s Real Estate Office (Deasy Penner Podley, 30 North Baldwin Avenue, Sierra Madre) – Renata heads to Madeline’s “Monterey” real estate office to vent about Principal Nippal and winds up having an awkward encounter with Mary Louise. Filming of the scene took place at the Sierra Madre outpost of Deasy Penner Podley, which also made a cameo in “What Have They Done?” You can check out a post I dedicated to the site here.

17. Ziggy’s Surf Lesson (Del Monte Beach, 653 Del Monte Avenue, Monterey) – Corey gives Ziggy a surf lesson while Jane and Bonnie watch at Monterey’s scenic Del Monte Beach. This is the same spot where Jane runs into Corey in “What Have They Done?”

Be sure to check back Monday for a round-up of sites from episode 4, “She Knows.”

August 7, 2019August 8, 2019

The Filming Locations of “Big Little Lies” Season 2 – “Tell-Tale Hearts”

“Tell-Tale Hearts,” the second episode of Big Little Lies’ second season, boasts some of the series’ most quotable, meme-worthy moments, largely thanks to the inimitable Renata Klein (Laura Dern) – “Will somebody give a woman a moment??” It also features some of the show’s most memorable locales [the forest where Bonnie Carlson (Zoë Kravitz) hikes with her mom, amirite?], the majority of which are detailed below. (I am still missing a few, which I will add in as they are found.) As was the case with Monday’s post about sites from episode 1, “What Have They Done?”, since I have already chronicled filming of BLL’s inaugural season extensively, I will not be covering flashbacks. And places that appear in multiple episodes will be mentioned as such, so expect some crossover.

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1. Celeste’s Accident (Skyline Drive, just west of Mar Vista Drive, Monterey) – In the episode’s opener, Celeste Wright (Nicole Kidman) gets into an Ambien- induced accident on a tree-lined span of Skyline Drive in Monterey and has to be rescued by Madeline Martha Mackenzie (Reese Witherspoon).

As they drive away from the accident, Celeste and Madeline run into Bonnie, out for an early morning hike, on Skyline Road, a bit north of where it intersects with Shepherds Place.

2. Gordon’s Arrest (Malibu Country Mart, 3835 Cross Creek Road, Malibu) – Life starts to fall apart for Renata and her husband, Gordon Klein (Jeffrey Nordling), at the top of “Tell-Tale Hearts,” shortly after the two grab a beverage at SunLife Organics juice bar in the Malibu Country Mart.

While walking to their car, drinks in hand, Gordon is approached by the FBI and arrested for securities fraud outside of Kron Chocolatier. Both shops featured in the segment are situated in the center of the plaza, on Cross Creek Road in between Civic Center Way and the Pacific Coast Highway – though it took me a beat to figure that out. The Country Mart bears such an uncanny resemblance to Monterey’s Del Monte Shopping Center that at first blush I was convinced the shoot had taken place on the Central Coast. It was not until I took a closer look that I realized filming actually occurred in the ‘Bu.

3. Celeste’s House (40 Yankee Point Drive, Carmel) – The gorgeous home where Celeste lives, featured throughout both Seasons 1 and 2, is an actual Monterey residence. In “Tell-Tale Hearts,” the front of the property, garage, driveway, kitchen, dining room, rear patio and living room all appear.

4. Monterey Bay Aquarium (886 Cannery Row, Monterey) – While on their lunch break at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Corey Brockfield (Douglas Smith) asks Jane Chapman (Shailene Woodley) out on a “practice date.” Spoiler – she shuts him down due to the fact that he is “very strange.” [Couldn’t agree more, Jane! Bring back Tom (Joseph Cross)!] Per the aquatic museum’s website, one of the facility’s actual employee lounges was used for the scene.

5. Gordon’s Jail (Spring Street Courthouse, 312 North Spring Street, downtown Los Angeles) – Renata visits Gordon in jail, gets held up by a metal detector, spews some choice epithets at a security guard, and famously proclaims “I will not NOT be rich!” at downtown L.A.’s Spring Street Courthouse.

Comically, while the scene was supposed to take place in Monterey, a sign reading “Los A . . . “ (I can only assume the rest of it spells out “ngeles”), is visible in the background, giving away the site’s true location.

Gordon’s hearing is also held at the Spring Street Courthouse later in the episode.

6. Liberation Yoga (124 South La Brea Avenue, Hancock Park) – Bonnie receives a surprise – and unwelcome – visit from her mother, Elizabeth Howard (Crystal Fox), at the supposed Monterey-area yoga studio she owns. Filming actually took place in Hancock Park, at Liberation Yoga, the same spot used as Bonnie’s studio in Season 1.

7. Bonnie and Nathan’s House (636 Crater Camp Drive, Calabasas) – Bonnie and Nathan Carlson (James Tupper) argue about Elizabeth’s stay in the backyard of their supposed Central Coast home, which, in reality, can be found a good 300 miles south of Monterey in Calabasas. The same idyllic spot also portrayed the couple’s residence in Season 1.

8. Café Descanso (Descanso Gardens, 1418 Descanso Drive, La Cañada Flintridge – Renata spills the tea about her money troubles to Madeline at Café Descanso, the women’s regular Season 2 hangout.

Nathan also challenges Ed Mackenzie (Adam Scott) to a fight at the eatery, which is located on the grounds of Descanso Gardens, later in the episode. You can read an in-depth post I wrote on the location here.

9. Otter Bay Elementary School (Kenter Canyon Elementary School, 645 North Kenter Avenue, Brentwood) – Kenter Canyon Elementary pops up as Otter Bay, the school attended by the Monterey 5’s children, in virtually every episode of Season 1 and 2. In “Tell-Tale Hearts,” the facility’s front entrance, a classroom and main quad all appear.

10. Bonnie and Elizabeth’s Hike (Old Coast Road, south of Bixby Creek Bridge, Big Sur) – Elizabeth attempts to have a heart-to-heart with Bonnie on a majestic wooded stretch of Old Coast Road in Big Sur. The absolutely magical spot is also where Bonnie runs in episode 1, “What Have They Done?”

11. Celeste and Perry’s Date Flashback (Melrose Umbrella Co., 7465 Melrose Avenue, Fairfax) – In “Tell-Tale Hearts,” a grieving Celeste reminisces about happier times with Perry Wright (Alexander Skarsgård), more specifically one of their early dates in which they discuss their families. Though virtually none of the date restaurant can be seen, the tiered booth edge visible behind Celeste is a giveaway that the segment was shot at Melrose Umbrella Co.

12. Madeline and Ed’s House (30760 Broad Beach Road, Malibu) – The Cape Cod-style residence where Madeline and Ed live makes its first Season 2 appearance in “Tell-Tale Hearts.” Interestingly, the locale is a mash-up of a couple different places. The interior and backyard are part of a sprawling Malibu retreat, which you, too, can call home! Well, for a night or two, at least – the property operates as a vacation rental in real life. (I wrote a full-length post on it here.) The front of the house (seen in “She Knows,” as well as a few S1 episodes) is on the Central Coast at 2830 14th Avenue in Carmel.

13. Jane’s Apartment (Ocean Harbor, 125 Surf Way, Monterey) – Jane tells Ziggy Chapman (Iain Armitage) the truth about his father and later invites Celeste and the twins, Josh (Cameron Crovetti) and Max (Nicholas Crovetti), over for a family gettogether at her new Ocean Harbor apartment in “Tell-Tale Hearts.” Only the interior of the space (which I believe was a set) appears in the episode. The exterior of the complex is not shown until episode 3, “The End of the World.”

14. Blissful Drip Café (Lovers Point Park, 631 Ocean View Boulevard, Pacific Grove) – Jane and Celeste meet to discuss the newfound complications of their children’s relationship at Blissful Drip Café, which, along with Café Descanso, serves as a regular hangout in Season 2. As I documented here, the open air coffee shop is not a real place, but was a temporary set constructed solely for the series at Lovers Point Park.

15. Renata Ditches Gordon (General Jim Moore Boulevard, Seaside) – In what has to be my favorite scene from the season, Renata blows her top at Gordon while driving him home from prison and winds up leaving him by the side of a hilly, lush road, her hand lifted through the sunroof in a not-so-subtle gesture. The hilarious segment (which you can watch here – warning, it is definitely NSFW!) was lensed on General Jim Moore Boulevard, slightly north of Hilby Road, in Seaside.

Be sure to check back Friday for locales from episode 3, “The End of the World.”

August 5, 2019August 7, 2019

The Filming Locations of “Big Little Lies” Season 2 – “What Have They Done”

I’ve made no secret of my apathy for the second season of Big Little Lies. But I was, of course, still entranced by its locations, which I’ve been obsessively IDing ever since episode 1 aired in early June. So I figure it is only appropriate to follow up my complete guide to the locales from Season 1 by doing the same for S2. Because a great deal more sites were featured this time around (S1 utilized 25 spots total, while S2 boasted 18 in its premiere alone!), an episode-by-episode breakdown seems to make the most sense here. I apologize in advance to the non-Big Little Lies fans out there! (A couple of notes – since I have already covered Season 1 extensively, I will not be including any flashback scenes. Places that appear in multiple episodes will be mentioned as such, so there will be some crossover and repetition in the various posts. And I am also missing a few locales, but will add them in as they are found.)

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And now, without further ado, I present all of the locations from Big Little Lies’ Season 2 premiere, “What Have They Done?”, in order of appearance.

1. Celeste’s House (40 Yankee Point Drive, Carmel) – All of the women’s Season 1 residences, aside from Jane Chapman’s (Shailene Woodley), are re-used in Season 2, including the modern cliffside manse where Celeste Wright (Nicole Kidman) lives with her boys, Josh (Cameron Crovetti) and Max (Nicholas Crovetti). In “What Have They Done?,” the pad’s actual front entrance, rear patio, living and dining rooms are featured (the latter is the site of that infamous scream!), but, as was the case with Season 1, the enormous master suite was just a soundstage-built set.

2. Jane’s New Apartment (Ocean Harbor, 125 Surf Way, Monterey) – Season 2 finds Jane and her son, Ziggy Chapman (Iain Armitage), living in an apartment in Ocean Harbor, the same waterfront complex where Celeste leased a unit at the end of S1. Though the inside of their new place (which I believe was a set) is featured in “What Have They Done?” . . .

. . . the exterior is not seen until episode 3, “The End of the World.”

3. Otter Bay Elementary School (Kenter Canyon Elementary School, 645 North Kenter Avenue, Brentwood) – At the outset of Season 2, the children of the Monterey 5 embark upon their second-grade year at Otter Bay, once again portrayed by Kenter Canyon Elementary School in Brentwood. In “What Have They Done?”, the front of the school, exterior hallways, parking lot, quad, and auditorium are all featured.

The park at the southern end of the school is also where the kids dance in the opening credits.

4. Madeline Gets Cut Off (Intersection of Esplanade Street and Ocean View Drive, Pacific Grove) – In a nod to the Season 1 premiere, while heading to grab coffee with Celeste, Madeline Martha Mackenzie (Reese Witherspoon) gets cut off by a fellow driver and then aggressively lays on her horn (because, as she explains, “Once I lean in, you know how I am!”) in the very same spot where she fell and rolled her ankle in “Somebody’s Dead.”

5. Blissful Drip Café (Lovers Point Park, 631 Ocean View Boulevard, Pacific Grove) – After dropping their kids off for their first day of school, Madeline and Celeste hit up their new java hangout, Blissful Drip Café, where Madeline has an unfortunate tête-à-tête with Mary Louise Wright (Meryl Streep). The bohemian outdoor eatery is not a real place, but was a temporary set constructed solely for the show in a grassy expanse of Lovers Point Park, as I documented in this post.

In the scene, the women park in front of the former Lattitudes at Lovers Point restaurant (631 Ocean View Drive), which currently sits vacant.

6. Ed and Tori’s Grocery Store Encounter (Whole Foods Market, 331 North Glendale Avenue, Glendale) – Ed Mackenzie (Adam Scott) runs into Tori Bachman (Sarah Sokolovic) – and her new, ahem, assets – at the Glendale outpost of Whole Foods Market. (Big THANK YOU to my friend/Brady Bunch aficionado Michael for IDing this location.)

7. Bonnie’s Run (Old Coast Road, south of Bixby Creek Bridge, Big Sur) – The bucolic forested path where Bonnie (Zoë Kravitz) runs – and relives Season 1’s murder – can be found on Old Coast Road in Big Sur. The same trail is also where Bonnie and her mom, Elizabeth Howard (Crystal Fox), hike in “Tell-Tale Hearts.”

8. Bonnie and Nathan’s House (636 Crater Camp Drive, Calabasas) – The same gorgeous Calabasas bungalow from Season 1 serves as the home of Bonnie and Nathan Carlson (James Tupper) in Season 2.

9. Monterey Bay Aquarium (886 Cannery Row, Monterey) – Jane inexplicably goes from being an accountant in Season 1 to a Monterey Bay Aquarium educator in Season 2. The popular aquatic museum plays itself in “What Have They Done?” (as well as in several other episodes), with Jane and her new co-worker/love interest Corey Brockfield (Douglas Smith) leading a class in one of the site’s Discovery Labs.

10. Café Descanso (Descanso Gardens, 1418 Descanso Drive, La Cañada Flintridge) – Unlike Blissful Drip, Season 2’s other new coffee shop hangout, Café Descanso, is a real place. It is at the picturesque site, located on the grounds of Descanso Gardens, that Nathan begs Ed to take Bonnie to lunch in “What Have They Done?” The eatery also pops up in “Tell-Tale Hearts,” “The End of the World,” and “She Knows.” You can read a more in-depth post on it here.

11. Renata’s House (27326 Winding Way, Malibu) – Renata Klein (Laura Dern) poses for a “Women in Power” photoshoot at the same palatial mansion that served as her residence in Season 1. While the exterior and interior are both seen in the premiere episode (as well as throughout the rest of S2), I am fairly certain that Gordon’s (Jeffrey Nordling) beloved man cave was just a set.

12. Madeline’s House Showing (98 Yankee Point Drive, Carmel) – In Monterey, selling houses is “like printing money,” at least according to Madeline who has made the change from working in community theatre to peddling real estate. She is not very good at her job, though, as evidenced by the personal call she makes to Renata during a showing. The gorgeous seaside pad where she ignores her clients can be found right down the street from Celeste’s. A former real estate listing describes the place as being of “such innovative design, of such sheer drama that it vies for attention with the pounding Pacific Ocean itself.” You can see images of its interior here.

13. Sea Cliff High School (Ramona Convent Secondary School, 1701 West Ramona Road, Alhambra) – Abigail Carlson (Kathryn Newton) announces to Madeline and Nathan that she is not planning on attending college (which somehow results in a shoving match) during a parent/teacher conference at the fictional Sea Cliff High School. Filming took place at Ramona Convent Secondary, an all-girls Catholic preparatory in Alhambra.

14. Madeline’s Real Estate Office (Deasy Penner Podley, 30 North Baldwin Avenue, Sierra Madre) – The “Monterey” Sotheby’s office where Madeline works – and where she runs into Mary Louise in “What Have They Done?” – is the Sierra Madre branch of Deasy Penner Podley. I further detail the brokerage, which also appears in “The End of the World,” here.

15. Del Monte Beach (653 Del Monte Avenue, Monterey) – Jane’s solo shoreline dance is interrupted by Corey, who brashly asks about her involvement with the Monterey 5, at the Central Coast’s secluded Del Monte Beach. This spot is, coincidentally, just down the street from Jane’s new apartment.

16. Carmel River State Beach (Carmelo Street and Scenic Road, Carmel) – An establishing shot of the parking lot at Carmel River State Beach is shown in the scene in which the ladies discuss the latest developments in Perry Wright’s (Alexander Skarsgård) murder case.

I am fairly certain, though, that actual filming of the segment took place on Ocean View Boulevard near Lovers Point Park.

17. Side Door Café (Happy Trails Garden, 207 South Fair Oaks Avenue, Pasadena) – An oft-used locale from Season 1, Side Door Café only pops up once this time around. In “What Have They Done?” Celeste and Jane have a late-night meet-up there to discuss Perry’s estate. The striking space, formerly known as Happy Trails Garden, was sadly shuttered in early 2018 and currently sits vacant. You can read my 2017 post on it here.

18. Carmel-By-The-Sea Police Department (Junipero Avenue & 4th Avenue, Carmel) – In what becomes a regular occurrence throughout Season 2, Bonnie ventures over to the Carmel-By-The-Sea Police Department, which plays itself, at the end of “What Have They Done?”

Be sure to check out my look at episode 2, “Tell-Tale Hearts.”

July 29, 2019July 29, 2019

Bean Town from “Big Little Lies”

Big Little Lies sure made use of Sierra Madre this season (in case you missed my other posts on the city’s BLL appearances, you can check them out here, here and here). And it is not very hard to see why. The San Gabriel Valley town, situated just east of Pasadena, is charming, picturesque and extremely evocative of the past. It is like Pleasantville come to life! The place is also very reminiscent of Carmel, where the show is set, though it is even more quaint than the Northern California hamlet if you can believe it. And the hit HBO series utilized pretty much every square inch of it, including Bean Town, the beloved coffee house at 45 North Baldwin Avenue, which stood in for a pizza parlor, of all things, in episode 4. Though I blogged about the café back in February 2009, due to its recent small screen cameo, I decided it was time for a redo.

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I learned about Bean Town’s appearance on Big Little Lies thanks to the employees at Mother Moo Creamery (situated just down the road at 17 Kersting Court), whom I spoke with while researching my article about locales from the series for the June issue of Los Angeles magazine. They informed me that the coffee shop was altered significantly for the shoot and, boy oh boy, was it ever! So much so that, even with the insider information, I had a heck of a time figuring out what was lensed on the premises.

It was not until I started scanning through the café’s Instagram feed that I figured things out. During the March 2018 shoot, Bean Town’s owners graciously posted several photos of the space dressed for the filming. The set of images showed the coffee shop decked out to look like an upscale Italian restaurant, with large pieces of art dotting the walls, autumn decorations splayed on tabletops, and garlic strands hanging from the ceiling. One look and I knew immediately that Bean Town was the spot where Mary Louise Wright (Meryl Streep) took grandsons Josh (Cameron Crovetti) and Max (Nicholas Crovetti) for “the beeeeesssst pizza in the wooooooorld!” in “She Knows.” Virtually none of the café is actually shown in the scene (which is surprising considering the energy apparently spent on decorating it). What you see below is the extent of its appearance.

Despite the scant footage, though, enough was visible for me to be able to positively identify the place. As you can see, the artwork, fall wreath and decorative plate positioned behind Mary Louise in the segment match the décor pictured in Bean Town’s Instagram photo of the café’s back wall perfectly.

In everyday life, that back wall looks considerably different.

Per Bean Town’s Instagram, the coffee shop was closed for a full four days for the shoot, from Tuesday, March 27th through Friday, March 30th, so it is fairly gobsmacking that its appearance amounted to exactly sixty seconds of screen time! Typically, a scene of that length would require about a half a day of filming. And while the set dressing was extensive . . .

. . . I just can’t imagine that it necessitated three and a half days of prep and strike time.

So where did all that extra time go? My guess is that several additional segments were shot at the pizza parlor, but that they, like so much of Season 2, wound up on the cutting room floor. Who knows for certain, but man, what I wouldn’t give to see director Andrea Arnold’s original cut!

The Big Little Lies shoot required Bean Town and the Starbucks down the block (the only two coffee shops in the area!) to be closed simultaneously (the horror!), so, in an amazing gesture, the former set up an outdoor kiosk and offered free java so the community would not be without! The café, which was originally established in the ‘80s, actually has a long history of goodwill. When a horrible wind storm hit the San Gabriel Valley in December 2011, owner Matt Krantz powered the eatery with three generators so that locals could still get their fix. As he explained to the Patch, “We lost some signage, we lost a light and the awning tore up a bit but other than that, we’re here. Bumps and bruises. I could sit at home and not do anything, but I’d rather be here trying to keep everybody together and keep the sense of community that Sierra Madre is basically founded on.” He also delivered coffee and baked goods to the city crews working to get the town back up and running. And, in 2013, when a beloved barista unexpectedly passed away, Krantz not only shuttered the place for two full days to give friends and family a place to gather and mourn, but he also held a fundraiser on the premises to help with funeral costs. Bean Town is a café with heart! Oh, and their coffee is darn good, to boot!

As I mentioned in my 2009 post, Bean Town also appeared numerous times throughout the 2005 comedy Kicking and Screaming . . .

. . . most notably in the scene in which Phil Weston (Will Ferrell) has a minor breakdown over a too-long line. (I’ve been there, Phil! I’ve been there!) You can check out the hilarious segment here.

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: Bean Town, aka the pizza restaurant from the “She Knows” episode of Big Little Lies, is located at 45 North Baldwin Avenue in Sierra Madre. You can visit the eatery’s official website here. Several other spots from Season 2 can be found on the same block. The Starbucks where Tori Bachman (Sarah Sokolovic) propositioned Ed Mackenzie (Adam Scott) in “The Bad Mother” and where Renata Klein (Laura Dern) lashed out at Mary Louise in “I Want to Know” is just down the road at 1 Kersting Court. Mother Moo Creamery, where Madeline Martha Mackenzie (Reese Witherspoon) threw an ice cream cone at Mary Louise in a scene that was ultimately cut, is a few doors away at 17 Kersting Court. Deasy Penner Podley, aka Madeline’s real estate office, is at 30 North Baldwin Avenue. And the fictional Seaside Coffee Shop seen on Reese’s Instagram was created in the storefront that now houses Capelli Court Salon at 26 North Baldwin Avenue.

July 26, 2019July 27, 2019

Seaside Coffee Shop from “Big Little Lies”

My favorite filming location find from this season of Big Little Lies isn’t actually a filming location at all! Back on March 19th, 2018, shortly after shooting of S2 commenced, Reese Witherspoon posted an Instagram photo of herself sitting in front of the supposed Central Coast-area Seaside Coffee Shop with costar Laura Dern, captioning, “Watch out, Monterey, here we come! #BLL2.” Being that it was pretty much the first image of the season to be released, it naturally sent fans’ tongues wagging. I, for one, was practically drooling with anticipation upon seeing it! I also, of course, wanted to know exactly where the pic had been taken. I assumed (correctly) that Seaside Coffee Shop was not an actual eatery, but a mocked-up storefront. Because the series utilizes both the Central Coast and Southern California, though, I had no idea where to even begin looking. Figuring (incorrectly) that the café would appear in a scene during the upcoming season and I’d be better able to track it down then, I put my quest on the back burner. While it never did pop up onscreen, I was, thankfully, able to ID it anyway. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times – stalking begets stalking! The morning after the premiere, titled “What Have They Done?”, aired, I went on the hunt for its locations and quickly pinpointed the real estate office where Madeline Martha Mackenzie (Witherspoon) works as the Deasy Penner Podley brokerage firm situated on the bottom floor of Hotel Shirley in Sierra Madre. It was the coloring of the building that I recognized and, as soon as I did, a lightbulb went off in my head as I realized that Seaside Coffee Shop could be found in the same spot!

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While Hotel Shirley’s northern street-level storefront (on the left-hand side below) portrayed Madeline’s real estate office (as denoted in this post), Seaside Coffee Shop was erected next door in the southern unit.

During my stalk of both locales back in late June, I asked the incredibly friendly Deasy Penner Podley agents about the Seaside Coffee Shop set (which they were shocked I had identified). They informed me that at the time of the Big Little Lies shoot, the space was vacant and that they believed it was not utilized for any filming, but created solely for the background of the various scenes taking place at Madeline’s office. Aside from Reese’s Instagram (and Laura Dern’s), though, the place was never seen – in the background or otherwise – so I guess whatever was shot in its vicinity wound up on the cutting room floor.

Today, the storefront is home to Capelli Court Salon.

It is a shame that it never appeared onscreen because the charming little shop would have been a welcome addition to the rather lackluster landscape of Season 2.

Reese did post a second image taken at the locale to Instagram on June 10 of this year, the day after “What Have They Done?” aired, saying “Pull up a chair! Let’s spill some #BLL tea from last night’s premiere!”, so I guess she found it pretty picturesque, too.

Even though Seaside Coffee Shop was never used for a scene, I was thrilled to finally be able to ID and stalk it!

The fictional café was created in the Capelli Court space’s northern window.

To complete the look, the site was dressed with signage, curtains, flowers in the window planter, and a bistro set.

I was ecstatic to discover a table and chairs set up on the sidewalk a stone’s throw away from Capelli Court’s exterior when I showed up to stalk the place. While the table was too heavy for me to move into position, I did pull one of the chairs over to pose à la Reese.

Even without the chair and other café adornments, though, the locale is still extremely recognizable – a little slice of Monterey right here in L.A. for BLL fans to enjoy!

The interior of the Capelli Court site was utilized by another HBO series, as well. In the Season 1 episode of Camping titled “Going to Town,” which aired in 2018, Jandice (Juliette Lewis) and Miguel (Arturo Del Puerto) shop for a ring at a fictional antique store the production created in the then-vacant space.

Though the front of the shop did not appear in the episode, the rear entrance could briefly be seen.

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 fictional Seaside Coffee Shop from Big Little Lies was created in the storefront that now houses Capelli Court Salon at 26 North Baldwin Avenue in Sierra Madre. Deasy Penner Podley, aka Madeline’s real estate office from the show, is next door at 30 North Baldwin Avenue. Several other sites from Season 2 can be found on the same block including the Starbucks at 1 Kersting Court, where Tori Bachman (Sarah Sokolovic) propositioned Ed Mackenzie (Adam Scott) in “The Bad Mother” and where Renata Klein (Dern) lashed out at Mary Louise Wright (Meryl Streep) in “I Want to Know”, and Mother Moo Creamery at 17 Kersting Court, where Madeline threw an ice cream cone at Mary Louise in a scene that was ultimately cut.