Brenda Walsh – IAMNOTASTALKER

May 19, 2011May 20, 2011

The Cravens Estate from “Commander in Chief”

As I mentioned a few weeks back, because of my love for Matt Lanter, the Grim Cheaper and I recently purchased and sat down to watch the first – and only – season of the short-lived television series Commander in Chief, on which the cutie actor portrayed the role of First Son Horace Calloway. I absolutely fell in love with the show and immediately started creating a list of locations to stalk from it, the most important being Pasadena’s former Cravens Estate, now the American Red Cross’ San Gabriel Pomona Valley Headquarters, which was used several times to stand in for the White House on the series. And as soon as the GC and I finished watching the final episode, I dragged my dad right on out to stalk the place. I have actually written about the Cravens Estate once before, back in July of 2008 just a few months after I first started my blog, but it was a very brief post and did not include any photographs of the interior of the property. So, I figured the place was definitely worthy of a re-post.

The Cravens Estate was originally built in 1930 for Mr. John S. Cravens and his wife Mildred and was designed by San Francisco-area architect Lewis P. Hobart, who was also responsible for constructing the City by the Bay’s Grace Episcopal Cathedral and the Crocker Building on Market Street. After migrating to Pasadena in 1900, the Cravens first commissioned an English-style mansion to be built on a 16-acre plot of land on what was then known as “Millionaires’ Row”. Three decades later, after vacationing in France, the couple decided to tear down their existing abode and build a new one based upon the design of the the Chateau Vaux-le-Vicomte, located just south of Paris. That new manse became known as the Cravens Estate and it cost a whopping $310,000 to construct, making it one of Pasadena’s most expensive homes at the time. After the Cravens, who had no children, passed away in the 1940s, the property went through a succession of owners until finally being donated to the American Red Cross in 1962, whereupon it became their San Gabriel Pomona Valley Headquarters. The mansion is both a Pasadena Cultural Landmark and a Landmark of Historical Significance. In 2010, it was chosen to be used as the Pasadena Showcase House of Design, whereupon numerous designers came in and completely restored the property, which had lost a bit of its luster over the years, back to its original grandeur.

When I originally dragged my dad out to stalk the estate, I was hoping that we might be allowed to take a quick peek at the interior of the property and snap a few pictures. Well, imagine my surprise when the SUPER-nice receptionist said that if we were interested we could schedule a full-blown tour of the building. If we were interested? IF WE WERE INTERESTED??? Um, heck yes, we were interested!!! So I immediately scheduled a tour and dragged my dad back out to the estate once again just a few days later. What we ended up being given, though, was not what I had expected at all. Our SUPER-nice tour guide was extremely excited over how much I already knew about the estate and my enthusiasm for its filming history, so she wound up taking us on a TWO-AND-A-HALF-HOUR excursion through the property during which she showed us its every nook and cranny, including the attic area, the servants’ quarters and the basement. I can honestly say that it was one of the best stalking experiences of my life! Even my dad enjoyed it! The estate, which boasts four levels, 50 rooms, and just under 20,000 square feet of living space, is an absolutely remarkable piece of property! Pictured above is the entryway, which features hand-painted murals depicting the grounds of the Chateau Vaux-le-Vicomte.

Our tour included the Cravens Estate’s reception room;

dining room;

Mrs. Cravens’ former sitting room;

a sun room;

the media room;

one of the original bathrooms;

the upstairs balcony;

the bridal room;

Mrs. Cravens’ original closet;

and the back side of the estate.

The area of the home that I was most excited about seeing, though, was the kitchen, which stood in for the White House Residence’s kitchen on the first few episodes of Commander in Chief.

The Cravens Estate kitchen was actually remodeled in 2010 for the Pasadena Showcase House of Design, but thankfully, as you can see above, it still looks very much the same as it did on the series.

We also got to see one of the property’s upstairs rooms . . .

. . . which was featured on Commander in Chief as the office of First Gentleman Rod Calloway (aka Kyle Secor).

And we were shown the central stairwell and glass-plated dome area . . .

. . . which popped up in the series as a White House stairwell in the episode titled “The Price You Pay”.

I just about died when our tour guide said I could pose for a picture on that very same stairwell. LOVE IT!

The exterior of the Cravens Estate also appeared in “The Price You Pay” episode as a supposed Washington, D.C.-area restaurant where President Mackenzie Calloway (aka Geena Davis) and her husband, Rod, take Attorney General nominee Carl Brantley (aka Alan Arkin) and his wife, Sue (aka Elizabeth Dennehy), out for dinner.

The Cravens Estate was also used extensively as Dalton Academy during this past season of Glee – a show which has gotten so bad that I can hardly bear to watch it anymore. Anyway, it first showed up in the Season 2 episode titled “Never Been Kissed” in the scene in which Kurt Hummel (aka Chris Colfer) spies on a rival Glee club known as the Warblers. Kurt later transfers to Dalton and joins the Warblers, after which time the estate was featured regularly on the series. Areas of the estate which appeared on the show include the central staircase;

the entryway;

the reception room;

and the dining room.

The Cravens Estate was also featured weekly as the supposed Falls Church, Virginia-area JAG headquarters on the television series of the same name. According to the official Cravens Estate website, JAG producer Donald P. Bellisario used to regularly receive letters from fans stating that they had searched high and low for the property while on stalking expeditions in Falls Church, Virginia, not realizing that it was actually located right here in Pasadena.

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The Cravens Estate was also used extensively as the Silverberg & Blake law firm where Robert Clayton Dean (aka Will Smith) worked in the 1998 thriller Enemy of the State. Areas which appeared in the movie include the exterior;

the dining room;

the central stairway;

and the same upstairs room that was used as Rod Calloway’s office on Commander in Chief.

In the 2001 movie Swordfish, the estate was where Stanley Jobson’s (aka Hugh Jackman’s) daughter, Holly (aka Camryn Grimes), went to school.

The back of the estate stood in for the French Consulate where a limo was bombed towards the beginning of the 2007 flick Rush Hour 3.

The estate’s reception room also appeared in Rush Hour 3.

According to the book The Worldwide Guide to Movie Locations, the above-pictured scene from the 2001 movie Traffic, in which Robert Wakefield (aka Michael Douglas) is briefed by the White House Chief of Staff (aka Albert Finney), was filmed in a room at the Cravens Estate, although because only a tight shot of it was shown, I am not able to verify this or make a guess as to the exact room where filming took place.

The estate was also where Chauncey Gardiner (aka Peter Sellers) and Eve Rand (aka Shirley MacLaine) attended a cocktail party in the 1979 movie Being There.

The estate also stood in for the University of Minnesota dorm where Brenda Walsh (aka Shannen Doherty) briefly lived in the Season 4 episodes of Beverly Hills, 90210 titled “So Long, Auf Wiedersehen” and “The Girl from New York”.

In the Season 5 episode of Desperate Housewives titled “Look Into Their Eyes and You See What They Know”, the estate stood in for Beecher Academy, where Edie Britt’s (aka Nicolette Sheridan’s) son Travers (aka Stephen Lunsford) attended school. After Edie’s death, the women of Wisteria Lane – Bree Hodge (aka Marcia Cross), Lynette Scavo (aka Felicity Huffman), Gabrielle Solis (aka Eva Longoria), Susan Mayer (aka Teri Hatcher), and Karen McCluskey (aka Kathryn Joosten) – travel to the school in order to bring Edie’s ashes to Travers.

The entryway of the Cravens Estate was transformed into a restaurant in the Season 3 episode of Mad Men titled “The Gypsy and the Hobo” for the scene in which Roger Sterling (aka John Slattery) takes Annabelle Mathis (aka Mary Page Keller, who, ironically enough, also had a recurring role on Commander in Chief) out for dinner.

Fellow stalker/Jennifer Love Hewitt-aficionado Owen also let me know that the estate appeared as Parkdale Academy in the Season 4 episode of Ghost Whisperer titled “Delusions of Grandview”.

Both the exterior . . .

. . . and the interior of the property were used quite extensively in the episode.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The American Red Cross’ San Gabriel Pomona Valley Headquarters, aka the Cravens Estate from Commander in Chief, is located at 430 Madeline Drive in Pasadena. Here is a map link to the location. You can visit the property’s official website here. If you would like a tour of the estate, please call to schedule an appointment first.

December 16, 2010December 16, 2010

The Shannen Doherty “Badass” Book Signing

This past Tuesday night, the Grim Cheaper, fellow stalker Erika, and I all headed out to the Grove Shopping Center in Los Angeles to attend the Shannen Doherty Badass book signing and, as you can probably well imagine, I could NOT have been more excited about it! As I was telling the GC on our drive over there, I can count the number of celebrities that I would absolutely DIE to meet on one hand and Shannen is in the top three of that list – and has been for the past twenty years. Number one and number two are, of course, Jennifer Aniston and Michael Buble. And while I know that Beverly Hills, 90210 has been off the air for more than a decade now and that Shannen left the show way back in 1994,for whatever reason, Brenda Walsh has left a permanent footprint on my heart and she is still my very favorite television character of all time. I’m sure that when I’m in my nineties, I’ll still be watching my DVDs of the series and shaking my cane at the television set in anger every time Kelly Taylor does something mean to Brenda. Winking smile So, when I found out that I would have the opportunity to meet my teenage idol, it was almost more than I could bear! As you can see in the above photograph, I even made a “Team Brenda” shirt for the occasion.

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When we arrived at the signing, we were given the informational sheet pictured above and I just about had a heart attack upon reading the words, “Posed photography WILL BE allowed.” I absolutely could NOT believe it as I am quickly discovering that the vast majority of celebrities, sadly, do not pose for photographs at signings. I was also floored when I found out that Shannen would be personalizing books because Raquel Welch had refused to do so when I went to her book signing back in April and I’m still kind of ticked off about it. So, needless to say, once I found out that I would be able to get a photograph with my girl AND a personalized autograph, I was beyond, BEYOND excited. I literally had butterflies in my stomach the entire time I was waiting in line!

And then when Shannen came out I just about died!! She looked absolutely STUNNING! She’s tiny in person, probably about 5’2”, and in FABULOUS shape – her arms are to die for! It’s amazing to me that she is almost forty years old ‘cause she definitely does not look it. I absolutely LOVED, LOVED, LOVED her outfit, too. It was classy, simple, and understated. Very Jen Aniston! Smile Oh, and she was also wearing Christian Louboutin high heels! Love it!

Shannen started out the signing by posing for a few minutes for the paparazzi who had been invited to the event. I am not sure f it was Barnes & Noble or Shannen’s people who actually invited the paparazzi, but I would like to go on the record here and state that it was a FABULOUS idea! Because they were allowed to stand at the front and take pictures for the first five minutes of the signing, the photogs were not pushy or obnoxious and once they got their shots, they left. It was all pretty painless and, in my never-to-be-humble opinion, the perfect way to handle things. When I went to the Tori Spelling book signing at Vroman’s back in July, the paparazzi were chasing Tori through the parking lot and absolutely swarming her and the fans. It was all very chaotic and after seeing how differently the paparazzi behaved at Shannen’s signing, I am convinced that allowing them inside is the way to go.

Because Erika, the GC, and I were in the middle section of the line, we got to watch Shannen interact with quite a few people while we waited and – and I honestly cannot say this enough! – she was SO incredibly nice! She took her time with people, engaged them in conversation, and seemed genuinely happy to be speaking with her fans. I know there are those out there who will say that she’s an actress and that the whole thing was simply an act, but I did not get that impression AT ALL. Shannen seemed INCREDIBLY genuine. I know that SD got a bad rap while on 90210, but in my heart of hearts (and after my bad experience meeting Jennie Garth a few years back), I just do not believe the hype. Something in my gut told me she was going to be a sweetheart and, as it turned out, she was! I’ve read in countless interviews that Shannen is a very honest, upfront person and that she doesn’t take any guff off of anyone (which also describes me to a T, actually), and while there are those who equate honesty and strength with meanness, I can honestly say that, in person, Shannen came across as bubbly, warm, and genuine. If it’s at all possible I love her even more now than I did before.

When I finally got up to the front of the line, I was literally shaking I was so darn excited! And Shannen noticed my “Team Brenda” shirt immediately which was so incredibly cool. Smile

When she started signing my book, I told her how much I had adored her for the past twenty years and that she was in my top three list of celebrities that I’d do just about anything to meet.

The picture above is her reaction to that statement. She was truly shocked and touched that she was in my top three and promptly asked who the other two were. When I told her Jen Aniston and Michael Buble, she said that she was happy she was in good company. Then I told her that I had been to the MB concert the previous night (which I will be blogging about soon, I am just waiting on some pictures from my dad) and she asked if I had gotten to meet him. When I told her no, she said jokingly, “That bastard!” Winking smile She then asked if I had ever met Jen before and when I told her that I had, she said, “Isn’t she such a sweetheart?” Smile LOVE IT! Shannen then told me that I should have played Kelly Taylor on 90210 since I kind of have the same hair as Jennie Garth, to which I said, “And then we could have become best friends!” Smile

And here you have it! The photograph that I’ve been waiting over twenty years to take! Me and Shannen Doherty! Sigh!

Pictured above is what Shannen signed in my book. It reads, “Lindsay, So honored I’m in your top 3! <3 Shannen Doherty” So cute!

Fellow stalker Erika was actually lucky enough to have met and taken a picture with Shannen last year while at a restaurant in Malibu, so she printed up an 8 x 10 copy of the photograph they had taken together in the hopes that Shannen would sign it. Shannen’s reaction upon being shown the photo, which you can see above, was absolutely priceless. So incredibly cute! She even remembered meeting Erika and taking the picture with her! And not only did she sign the picture, but Erika had actually printed out three copies of it just in case one got ruined while en route to the signing and Shannen signed ALL THREE! Smile

Erika’s pic with Shannen also turned out fabulous.

All in all it was an ABSOLUTELY fabulous night and Shannen could NOT have been nicer! She and David Caruso are without a doubt the two nicest, friendliest celebrities I have EVER met in my ENTIRE life!

On a Brenda Walsh side note – Jack, the owner of the real life Walsh house, recently gave me the 90210 keepsake to end all 90210 keepsakes! When it was originally decided that filming would take place at his house, producers came around and changed a few things on the property, most notably adding the famous Walsh basketball hoop to the front of the garage. Another change they made, though, was to swap out many of the home’s windows with new ones, including three in the room that was supposed to belong to Brenda. Those windows remained on Jack’s house for the following twenty years, until this past Fall when he had some of them replaced, including all of the ones in Brenda’s room. He subsequently gave the former windows to his brother to use for scrap wood, which I just about died upon hearing. Scrap wood????? Really?????? As fate would have it, though, one window got left behind in his garage and he offered it to me! As you can imagine I just about had a heart attack over that one! As you can also imagine, because it is a rather large window, the GC was not AT ALL happy when I came walking in our front door with it! We ended up hanging it behind our bed, though, and it looks fabulous! Even the GC now loves it as he thinks it gives our bedroom a “New York” feel. Every time I walk into my bedroom now, I can’t help but pinch myself upon seeing it! I mean, I’ve got Brenda Walsh’s window hanging in my bedroom! I honestly think I can die a happy woman now! Winking smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: You can purchase “Badass” by clicking here. You can find out about upcoming events at the Barnes & Noble Bookstore at the Grove by clicking here or on my Upcoming Celebrity Events page here.

November 3, 2010November 2, 2010

The Gas Station from the “Palm Springs Weekend” Episode of “Beverly Hills, 90210”

One location that I have wanted to stalk for what seems like forever now is the gas station where Brenda Walsh (aka Shannen Doherty), Kelly Taylor (aka Jennie Garth), Donna Martin (aka Tori Spelling), Steve Sanders (aka Ian Ziering) and David Silver (aka Brian Austin Green) fueled up their cars in the Season 1 episode of fave show Beverly Hills, 90210 titled “Palm Springs Weekend” (aka “A Fling in Palm Springs”). Because “Palm Springs Weekend” was one of my all-time favorite episodes of the entire series, and was also coincidentally the very first episode of the show that I ever saw, it holds an extremely special place in my heart and I was absolutely dying to stalk all of the locations featured in it. And while I had found most of the other “Palm Springs Weekend” filming sites a while back, for whatever reason, try as I might, I just couldn’t seem to track that gas station down. So, I recently enlisted the help of fellow stalker Chas, from ItsFilmedThere, who contacted one of the show’s former crewmembers, who happened to remember that the gas station was located on Thousand Oaks Boulevard just a few blocks west of Hampshire Road in Thousand Oaks. As soon as Chas gave me that detailed information, I immediately dragged the Grim Cheaper out to the Valley to look for the place. Amazingly enough, though, even with the crew member’s detailed directions, I just could not seem to find it. So, after returning home I emailed fellow stalker Owen and asked if he might be able to lend a hand. Magically, Owen found the gas station almost immediately! As it turns out, the GC and I had relegated our search to too small of an area and had only stalked the short stretch of Thousand Oaks Boulevard located immediately to the west of Hampshire Road. Had we ventured just one more block west, though, we would have found the station right there on the corner of Thousand Oaks Boulevard and Live Oak Street. UGH! So, this past weekend, while on our way to Santa Barbara, I made the GC take a little detour off the 101 so that I could finally, finally stalk the “Palm Springs Weekend” gas station!

In the “Palm Springs Weekend” episode, which originally aired almost twenty years ago on February 21, 1991, Brenda and the gang stop by the gas station while on their way to Palm Springs, where they are all spending President’s Day weekend. Quite a lengthy scene takes place at the station, at one point during which Steve informs David that if he wants to hang out with him and pick up girls he needs to “at least attempt to be cool”, to which David says, “Oh, OK, so you think I should, like, hold off and give ‘em, like, a Johnny Depp-type attitude thing?” That line absolutely amazes me every time I hear it being that it still holds true to this day, almost two full decades later, as Johnny Depp is still considered the epitome of cool in Hollywood! Talk about a star having staying power!

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Today, the 90210 gas station, which at the time of the filming was operated by Shell Gas Company, is now an auto repair shop named Steve’s Automotive. I had the pleasure of speaking with Steve, the super-nice owner, while I was stalking the place and he was pretty excited to learn that his shop had once appeared on the iconic series. He also informed me that it had been used a few times in car commercials in more recent years.

Amazingly enough, even though the property has since changed ownership and is no longer a gas station, it still looks much the same today as it did nineteen years ago when filming took place. I was most excited to see that the bathroom area, where David met Tuesday (aka Shana Furlow), was still there and that it still looks EXACTLY the same as it did in the episode! So incredibly cool!!!!

And, of course, I just had to take a picture in the spot where Kelly had parked her car in the episode. 🙂

Big THANK YOU to both Chas from It’sFilmedThere and fellow stalker Owen for finding this location! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Steve’s Automotive, aka the gas station from the “Palm Springs Weekend” episode of Beverly Hills, 90210, is located at 2658 East Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Thousand Oaks. The bathroom where David met Tuesday, which is denoted with the pink arrow in the above aerial view, can be found just to the left of and around the corner from the front of the auto shop. The area where Kelly was parked is located under the carport, directly in front of the entrance to the office portion of Steve’s Automotive and is denoted with a blue “X” in the above aerial image.

February 3, 2010February 3, 2010

The Walsh Family’s Minnesota House from “Beverly Hills, 90210”

One Beverly Hills, 90210 location that both Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I have long wanted to stalk was the Walsh Family’s former Minnesota residence which briefly appeared in the Season Four episode entitled “So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye”. Sadly, though, because no address number or background information which would point us to the home’s location were visible in the episode, we had no idea where to even begin looking. So, this past week I called upon the usual suspects, fellow stalkers Owen and Chas, to help us track down the residence. And sure enough, they did! Chas ended up getting into contact with a former 90210 crew member who remembered that the home was located somewhere in Altadena, in the very same vicinity as Casa Walsh. So, Owen got to cyberstalking aerial views of the area and, voila, fairly quickly found the home! YAY! As it turns out, the “Minnesota” house is located a mere two blocks away from Casa Walsh, so it looks like when the Walsh’s moved, they didn’t go very far. 😉 And, let me tell you, once Owen gave me the address, I immediately hopped into my car and dragged my fiancé right out to stalk the place! As fate would have it, when we pulled up to the house, the owner – an incredibly nice woman named Judy – just happened to be standing outside, so I of course had to strike up a conversation with her. 🙂

Judy truly could not have been nicer and did not find it at all weird that I was stalking her home. 😉 She even shared some interesting tidbits of behind-the-scenes information with us, the most exciting of which was the fact that not only did her home appear in the “So Long, Farewell” episode of 90210, but also in the opening credits of the Season One episode entitled “The Green Room” – which you can watch here. In the credits, the house is featured in one brief scene in which a mailman is shown picking up the Walsh’s forwarded mail from their snow covered former home in Minnesota. For some reason, though, that particular segment appeared only in “The Green Room” episode’s opening credits and never again. It’s too bad, too, because I think it would have been a really cute way to start off each show. Judy told us that it was about 105 degrees in Altadena on the day that scene was filmed and that the producers were having a hard time keeping the “snow” – which in reality was just a soap suds mixture – from evaporating in the heat.

In the “So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye” episode, Brenda returns to Minneapolis for the first time since her family’s move to Beverly Hills in order to begin her Freshman Year at the University of Minnesota. Before school starts, Cindy takes Brenda to see their former home and she knocks on the front door, hoping to take a peek at her old bedroom, but unfortunately no one is home. Is it while standing in the front yard of her former home, though, that Brenda first starts to have doubts about attending college in Minnesota. Those doubts soon turn into all out misgivings and in the following episode she leaves Minnesota and heads back to Beverly Hills to attend CU with Brandon, Kelly, and the rest of the gang. 🙂

In the scene, Brenda mentions that as kids she and Brandon used to play on a tire swing that their father had hung from a tree in their former home’s front yard. So, I was absolutely floored when I noticed that the house had a swing hanging from a tree in the front yard in real life, too, as you can see in the above photograph. So cool!

Judy also told us that for the past eight years her family has hosted a huge – and I do mean HUGE – annual Halloween spectacular in their front yard, consisting of a 40 foot maze, creepy clowns, life-size animatronics, monsters with chainsaws, and screenings of horror movies, along with numerous other tricks and treats to both terrorize and delight. Judy’s a woman after my own heart, I swear, as Halloween has always been my very favorite holiday. 🙂 The “Haunted Yard”, as it has come to be known, attracted some 3,500 spectators this past year, including the Los Angeles Clippers Cheerleading Team who led the entire crowd in a spontaneous rendition of Michael Jackson’s zombie dance from Thriller. Which begs the question, HOW IN THE HECK DID I NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS???? I mean, I would have absolutely DIED to have seen that!!!! And it was all happening just a few miles from where I live! Oh, how I wish I had been there. 🙁 Ugh. Maybe I can convince the Clippers to do a repeat performance next Halloween! 😉 You can read more about the annual “Haunted Yard” on fave website AltadenaBlog here.

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A big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, Owen, and Chas for finding this house. This one was definitely a group effort! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Walsh Family’s Minnesota house from Beverly Hills, 90210 is located at 1640 Braeburn Road in Altadena.

October 2, 2008February 13, 2009

We’ll Always Have Paris

Once again I am indebted to Mike over at MovieShotsLA for finding yet another location that had eluded me – a location I had been searching for for close to 16 years! During Season 3 of the original 90210, Brenda and Donna spend their summer in Paris. In the episode entitled “Shooting Star/An American In Paris” Brenda meets a tall, dark and handsome college student named Rick in a beautiful French garden. Later on in the episode the two walk underneath a curved rose-covered trellis and it is that trellis that I have been searching for ever since that episode aired way back in August of 1992. A few years after that episode aired, my parents took me on a trip to Europe as a present for my high school graduation. Our first stop was France and I remember walking around the streets of Paris carrying a small picture of Brenda and Rick under that trellis, stopping every native French person I could find to ask if they knew where it was located. Yes, I really am that blonde! 🙂 My naive 18 year old self truly believed that Shannen Doherty and Tori Spelling had actually flown to France to film their Paris scenes. That reality was shattered this past summer when I took the Universal Studios tour and discovered that most of “Paris” was actually filmed at the Universal backlot. Not filmed at Universal, though, were the garden scenes. So I still had no idea where Brenda and Rick’s trellis was located. Knowing how obsessed I was with finding Brenda’s garden, Mike stayed up very late one night this week and located it for me and I was able to actually stalk it yesterday!! Let me tell you, I could not have been more excited!!

Mike and I were fairly certain that Brenda’s garden was located in one of the three main botanical gardens in LA, and since I had stalked the Arcadia Arboretum on Sunday without finding it, Mike set his sights on the Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens in San Marino. He stayed up late one night searching Google images until he finally located Brenda’s trellis in the Rose Garden area of the Huntington, a good 5,000 miles from Paris, France. THANKS MIKE!!!! So yesterday, I dragged my dad out to the Huntington, in 103 degree heat no less, to do some 90210 stalking.

The Huntington shows up three times in the “Shooting Star/An American in Paris” episode. We first see it in the scene when Brenda and Rick first meet. In that scene, Brenda is sitting on a circular bench underneath a large oak tree. Sadly, that circular bench was removed long ago and the tree Brenda sat under is now surrounded by foliage, so the area looks very different. But there was a similar bench located just a few yards away, so I had to take a picture sitting on that. 🙂

The area where Brenda actually sat sixteen years ago is located on the very Southeast corner of the North Vista lawn, pictured above. The path Rick walks through when he first comes upon Brenda is now gone and filled in with foliage. Such a bummer!!!!

This same tree and bench area also show up in the episode following “Shooting Star/An American in Paris”, which is entitled “Castles In The Sand”. It is shown in the scene when Brenda dreams about Rick on her plane flight home to LA.

The next location I dragged my dad to stalk was the white flowered trellis Brenda and Rick walk under on their last night in Paris together. This is the location where “Reek” tells Brenda that if she were truly in love with Dylan she wouldn’t be standing there with him and then the two share their final Paris kiss. This particular trellis is located in the Rose Garden area of the Huntington, just off of the Tea Room.

This same location also shows up in the Hil D. movie A Cinderella Story. In the movie Hilary attends a masquerade ball at the Huntington. The exteriors of the ball location were filmed outside of the Huntington Gallery building (the interiors were actually filmed at a theatre in Downtown LA). During the ball, Chad Michael Murray takes Hil on a walk under the same trellises Rick and Brenda walked under 12 years before. After walking under the trellises, Chad leads Hilary to a gazebo where the two share a moonlit dance. That gazebo was brought in by producers and put in the Brown Garden especially for the filming and was removed when the three day shoot was complete.

Next up was the site I was most excited about seeing in person, the location I had wandered the streets of Paris trying to find – the curved rose-covered trellis Brenda and Rick walk beneath during their tour of Paris. Even sixteen years later, I could not have been more excited to see this location in person. 🙂 I truly felt like a high school girl all over again! The trellis appeared in the scene where Brenda takes Rick on a walking tour of Paris and I am happy to report that it looks EXACTLY the same as it did when it appeared on 90210, except that due to the time of year, the flowers usually covering it were not in full bloom yesterday. This trellis is also located in the Huntington’s Rose Garden; it covers the path which leads to the Japanese Garden area.

Interestingly enough, this very same location showed up on 90210 some years later as the location where Steve and Janet tie the knot. Producers added some black street lights to the site which are not normally there. Otherwise it looks much the same as it did when it first appeared on 90210.

The Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens was originally the private home of Central Pacific Railroad owner Henry E. Huntington and his wife Arabella. Originally called the San Marino Ranch, Henry and his wife purchased the property in 1902 and began creating a truly incredible botanical garden in their backyard. Throughout his lifetime, Henry also collected fine art and books and today it is his art, library and gardens that make up the Huntington. The 207 acre property is an absolutely beautiful place to spend an afternoon. I am usually not big on museums, but the Huntington is simply breathtaking. The gardens alone cover over 120 acres and consist of painstakingly maintained landscapes from different areas of the world. It really takes more than one visit to discover all of this amazing place. The grounds are serene and peaceful and when visiting, you will feel a million miles away from Los Angeles. The Rose Garden is exquisite, the Bonzai Court and Zen Garden are truly unique, the Japanese Garden is incredible with its winding koi ponds and bamboo forests, and the newly built Chinese Garden with its enormous lake is absolutely gorgeous. This is one location that is a must-see, not just for stalkers, but for anyone visiting the Los Angeles area.

Besides 90210 and A Cinderella Story, The Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens has appeared in countless movie and television productions, including First Daughter, Be Cool, Legally Blonde 2, The Bachelor reality show, The Wedding Planner, Beverly Hills Ninja, The West Wing, American Wedding, Monster in Law, Charlie’s Angels, as well as hundreds of others. It was also the location of Robert and Anna’s wedding on the soap opera General Hospital. Anytime you see a garden popping up on one of your favorite television shows or movies, chances are it was filmed at the Huntington.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens is located at 1151 Oxford Road in San Marino. You can visit their website here. You can also visit their filming website here.

May 18, 2008February 13, 2009

"I am a Spring Princess!"

One of my favorite lines of all time from Beverly Hills, 90210 was said during the Spring Dance episode from the show’s first season. In the episode, Kelly gets nominated for Spring Queen making her a “Spring Princess” in the interim until the awards are announced. When Kelly arrives at the Walsh’s house on the night of the dance, she finds that she and Brenda are wearing the exact same dress. A fight ensues and Brenda tells Kelly to go change her dress to which Kelly responds “Brenda, I am a Spring Princess!” Love it! Now whenever my boyfriend asks me to do something I don’t want to do, like clean the dishes, I always say “I am a Spring Princess!” LOL

Anyway, the store where Kelly and Brenda first find their matching dress is located in a small section of Rodeo Drive called Rodeo Collection. The Rodeo Collection is a specialized outdoor mall of sorts, although it doesn’t much look like any of the malls I frequent. Rodeo Collection is a five story, 66,000 square foot conglomerate of high end stores and it is set up in the style of a European Piazza. There are meandering walkways, gardens, and terraces mixed in with some very ritzy boutiques. Rodeo Collection was actually only used for the exterior of Brenda and Kelly’s prom dress shop; the interior looks like it was most likely just a set built on a studio sound stage. Rodeo Collection was also featured each week during the opening credits of 90210. It was also used quite a bit in the movie Body Double.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Rodeo Collection is located at 421 North Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. If you get a chance, after stalking the Rodeo Collection, go visit Crumbs bakery at 9465 Santa Monica Boulevard for some yummy cupcakes! 🙂