Brody Jenner – IAMNOTASTALKER

April 11, 2012April 10, 2012

Grub Restaurant from “The Hills”

While scanning through episodes of The Hills this past weekend looking for the scene that was filmed at Pinches Tacos in West Hollywood, which I blogged about yesterday, I just about fell off my chair when I spotted Grub Restaurant pop up in Season 5’s “Can’t Always Get What You Want”. Amazingly, way back in February of 2011, I had dragged the Grim Cheaper out to Grub as part of his Valentine’s Day scavenger hunt across L.A. (during which we had stalked LACMA, Boardner’s of Hollywood, and the HMS Bounty Bar and Restaurant), but at the time I was completely unaware that the place was a filming location. Thankfully, I snapped some pictures of it regardless, as I am always apt to do when visiting new eateries. I first learned about Grub thanks to fave book Peaceful Places Los Angeles: 110 Tranquil Sites in the City of Angels and Neighboring Communities, which I read while planning the GC’s hunt. Of the Hollywood hideaway, author Laura Randall had this to say, “Hidden by a high trellis bloom-full of seasonal morning glories, the restaurant’s small patio is marked by homey touches such as potted plants, mismatched umbrellas, and flea-market antiques. It sort of feels as if you’re eating in a friend’s back garden.” Because the place sounded so absolutely idyllic, I decided to make it the very first stop on our hunt.

Grub Restaurant was founded in 2001 by former San Francisco actress Betty Fraser and Arkansas native Denise DeCarlo, BFF’s who originally met a few years prior while waitressing at a L.A.-area California Pizza Kitchen. The two first launched a catering company in 1995, which they dubbed “As You Like It Catering” and ran out of a 1920s-era bungalow-style duplex in the heart of Hollywood’s Post-Production District. When neighbors began suggesting that they open an eatery in the charming little space, they thought “Why not?” and Grub Restaurant was born. The eclectic and humorous menu (one entrée is named “Our Friggin’ Amazing French Toast”) features upscale “California comfort food” with offerings such as the White Truffle Burger – a large patty topped with roasted mushrooms, Swiss cheese, caramelized onions, white truffle oil, and fresh arugula, and served on a toasted brioche bun – and the After School Special – a cheddar and Swiss grilled cheese sandwich on thick sourdough bread paired with a cup of homemade Creamy Dreamy Tomato Soup. Um, love it! Grub Restaurant has won countless well-deserved accolades over the years including LA Citysearch’s “Best Lunch Spot” in 2003, 2004, and 2005 and “Best Breakfast in Los Angeles” in 2009 and 2010, Los Angeles Magazine’s “Best Tuna Melt in LA” in 2009, and Zagat Survey’s “Top Five Breakfast Spots” in 2007.

Thanks to Grub Restaurant’s proximity to various Hollywood studios and post-production offices, the place has become a mecca for celebs. Just a few of the stars who have gotten their grub on there (see what I did there Winking smile ) include Sacha Baron Cohen, Charlize Theron, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Tom Sizemore, Jim Caviezel, Bob Guiney, Galen Gering, Zac Efron, Luke Wilson, and Daryl Hannah. Owner Betty Fraser is even a minor-celebrity herself, having appeared on Top Chef, The Today Show and Rachel Ray’s Tasty Travels.

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In the Season 5 episode of The Hills titled “Can’t Always Get What You Want”, Brody Jenner and my girl Kristin Cavallari discussed Brody’s tumultuous relationship with ex-girlfriend Jayde Nicole over breakfast at Grub. Upon first arriving at the eatery, Brody turned to Kristin and said, “You swear by this place”, so I am guessing that KCav used to be a frequent customer.

On a Hills side-note – while watching Season 5 of the series way back in 2009, I became just a wee-bit obsessed with the gold square-shaped necklace that KCav wore in almost every episode. And while I spent countless hours scouring the web trying to figure out who made the darn thing, I came up completely empty-handed. Then, last October, I happened to come across a post on the fabulous The Budgetista blog detailing exactly where I could order one. I ended up buying a gold-plated replica of the necklace (the GC would have killed me had I spent $300 on the actual thing) and not only is it absolutely adorbs, but it is also now one of my favorites. (I am wearing it in the above pic with Idris Elba.) Can’t thank you enough, Budgetista!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Grub Restaurant, from the “Can’t Always Get What You Want” episode of The Hills, is located at 911 Seward Street in Hollywood. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.

April 10, 2012April 9, 2012

Pinches Tacos from “The Hills”

As always seems to happen when Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I get together, while out doing some stalking in West Hollywood this past Thursday afternoon, the two of us stumbled upon a filming location without even meaning to do so. After stopping by the Sunset Strip’s new Pink Taco to grab some lunch and finding it inexplicably closed, we headed across the street to a different pink-hued Mexican eatery named Pinches Tacos. Upon ordering our food, we made our way to the restaurant’s patio area and, as I am apt to do when dining at a new place, I started doing some iPhone research to see if, on the off chance, Pinches had ever been used as a filming location. Well, let me tell you, I just about fell off my chair when I came across some behind-the-scenes footage of my girl Kristin Cavallari shooting an unspecified Season 5 episode of fave show The Hills in the very spot where I was then sitting! How I had missed that tidbit when the episode originally aired is beyond me, but needless to say I was absolutely floored over the information and promptly grabbed my camera and ran inside to snap some pics and speak with the manager.

The Sunset Strip Pinches Tacos was first founded in 2007 by brothers Miguel, Jorge and Javier Anaya – nephews of Jose Prado, the former longtime chef of The Ivy turned restaurateur who established The Original Cha Cha Cha in Silverlake, Cocina Primavera in Beverly Hills, Prado Restaurant in Larchmont Village, and Cha Cha Chicken in Santa Monica and Northridge. Everything that the fast-fix hot spot serves – from the salsa to the tortillas – is homemade daily using hundred-year-old secret family recipes from the Anaya brothers’ hometowns of Guadalajara and Jalisco. Thanks to its extremely reasonable prices, fresh fare, and late-night hours (Pinches is open until 3 a.m. each Thursday through Saturday), the eatery became insanely popular virtually overnight and three more outposts have since been launched. Besides West Hollywood, the chain currently boasts restaurants in Culver City and Santa Monica, all of which are family-owned and operated. And Alabama native Ty Taylor loved the place so much that he convinced the Anaya brothers to partner with him in founding an annex in Taylor’s hometown of Homewood. That restaurant opened in January of 2011 and is doing so well that the group is already looking to establish another outpost in Birmingham.

And for those wondering where the name “Pinches” came from, while a note on the eatery’s door states that the term is Spanish slang for “kitchen boy”, Google translate dug up a far more interesting (and far more NSFW) meaning, which you can take a look at here. All I can say is LOL.

While the interior of Pinches Tacos is quite adorable, the patio area, which overlooks the Sunset Strip, is where most people choose to eat, including Mike and me. I cannot tell you how cool it was to sit there, just feet from the bustling Strip, and watch all of the cars zipping by, not to mention the countless Hollywood tour buses – one of which you can see in the background of the above picture. Love it!

Because I am extremely picky about my meat, I opted to order Pinches vegetarian tacos and not only were they bursting with flavor – not something one expects from vegetables – and FABULOUS, but, at $2.95 a piece, were less expensive than a Starbucks latte! I am so going to have to bring the Grim Cheaper back there for lunch. Winking smile

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Oddly enough, the behind-the-scenes footage of The Hills that Mike and I watched while at Pinches did not look at all familiar to me, so when I got home I popped in my DVDs of the series and scanned through each and every Season 5 episode. As it turns out, the Mexican eatery appeared in the episode titled “It’s On Bitch” as the spot where Brody Jenner, Jayde Nicole, Stephanie Pratt, Lo Bosworth, Stacie the Bartender (I so love that she was never referred to by her full name), Justin “Bobby” Brescia, and my girl Kristin Cavallari celebrated Frankie Delgado’s birthday. “It’s On Bitch” was actually the very first episode of The Hills that KCav appeared in, so I am extremely embarrassed that I failed to recognize it. I must be losing my mojo or something! Winking smile Besides being a filming location, Pinches Tacos is also something of a celebrity hotspot. Just a few of the stars who have been spotted there include Kat Von D, Jesse James, Leonardo DiCaprio, Emma Roberts, Megan Fox, Brian Austin Green, Australian celebrity chef Curtis Stone, Gabriel Aubry, Balthazar Getty, Isabel Lucas, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, and Top Chef’s Padma Lakshmi.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Pinches Tacos, from the “It’s On Bitch” episode of The Hills, is located at 8200 West Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood. You can visit the restaurant chain’s official website here.

July 13, 2011July 12, 2011

Lucky Strike Lanes in Hollywood

Two weekends ago, while doing some stalking in the Hollywood area, I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to the Hollywood & Highland Shopping Center to grab a quick drink at Lucky Strike Lanes, an oft-used filming location and celebrity hot-spot. While I had first heard about the bowling alley/lounge when it originally opened eight years ago and knew of its appearance on numerous reality series, for whatever reason I did not have much interest in stalking the place. Then, a couple of months ago, fellow stalker Lavonna happened to tell me a little bit of trivia about the alley that had me absolutely chomping at the bit to go see it.

Lavonna informed me that when the iconic Hollywood Star Lanes, which first opened in 1960 and was where the majority of the movie The Big Lebowski was filmed, was torn down back in 2003 to make way for a new elementary school, the owners of the soon-to-be opened Lucky Strike decided to purchase all of the wood that comprised Hollywood Star’s Lane #7. They then proceeded to use that wood to construct the bar at their new establishment. How incredibly cool is that?

They also purchased the exterior neon signage from Hollywood Star Lanes to use as a wall hanging. Love, love, love it!

As you can see above, Lucky Strike Lanes is a VERY cool little spot. Unfortunately, I have to say that I was not all that crazy about the food. And sadly, the GC and I did not have time to do any bowling while we were there, but fellow stalker Lavonna has plans to hit the place up when she comes to visit L.A. in November, so you know what that means – I will definitely be doing a re-stalk!

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As I mentioned above, Lucky Strike Lanes in Hollywood is an oft-used filming location. In the Season 6 episode of The Hills titled “The Elephant in the Room”, Kristin Cavallari, Brodie Jenner, Frankie Delgado, Stacie Hall (aka Stacie the Bartender), and Audrina Patridge and her new boyfriend, singer Ryan Cabrera, spent the evening bowling and flirting at Lucky Strike.

Ryan Cabrera returned to the bowling alley to film the Season 1 episode of the ULTRA-stupid reality show Pretty Wild titled ”The Hearing”, in which he angers series star Tess Taylor by inviting a friend to accompany them on their date.

Vinnie Chase (aka Adrian Grenier), Eric Murphy (aka Kevin Connolly), Johnny ‘Drama’ Chase (aka Kevin Dillon), and Turtle (aka Jerry Ferrara) took their girlfriends, one of whom was Gossip Girl’s Leighton Meester, to Lucky Strike for an evening of bowling in the Season 1 episode of Entourage titled “Date Night”.

In the Season 11 episode of America’s Next Top Model titled “Fierce Eyes”, J Alexander hosted a runway challenge at Lucky Strike in which the models had to practice walking down the super-slippery bowling lanes while wearing high heels.

In the Season 1 episode of No Ordinary Family titled “No Ordinary Sidekick”, Jim Powell (aka Michael Chiklis), along with his family, Stephanie (aka Dexter’s Julie Benz), Daphne (aka Kay Panabaker), and J.J. (aka Jimmy Bennett), and their friends Katie Andrews (aka The O.C.’s Autumn Reeser) and George St. Cloud (aka Romany Malco), spend the evening using their super-powers to bowl at Lucky Strike.

And while I had originally believed that the Season 1 episode of fave show 90210 titled “Lucky Strike” was filmed at the Lucky Strike Lanes in Hollywood, as it turns out filming actually took place at the chain’s Torrance location, inside of the Del Amo Shopping Center.

And the Season 2 episode of Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County titled “Since You Been Gone” was filmed at the chain’s Block at Orange location.

As I mentioned above, Lucky Strike Lanes is also a veritable celebrity magnet. Just a few of the stars who have been spotted there include Drew Barrymore, Liv Tyler, John Mayer, Glee’s Cory Monteith, The Bachelorette’s Ali Fedotowsky and Roberto Martinez, Demi Moore, Bruce Willis, Rumor Willis, Geena Davis, Robin Williams, Paris Hilton, Nick Carter, Matthew Lillard, Fergie and Taboo from the Black Eyed Peas, Mandy Moore, Judy Greer, Vanessa Hudgens, Courteney Cox, Nicole Richie, Trevor Donovan, Jessica Simpson, and even my girl Jen Aniston. I once spotted David Arquette walking into the bowling alley for some sort of celebrity event back in December of 2008 and while I tried to take the above photograph of him, as you can see, it did not turn out very well due to the bright lights on the red carpet. You can definitely tell it is him, though.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Lavonna for telling me about this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Lucky Strike Lanes is located at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard, inside of the Hollywood & Highland Shopping Center, in Hollywood. You can visit the bowling alley’s official website here.

September 29, 2010September 28, 2010

The Street Where “The Hills” Finale Was Filmed

One location that I have been on the lookout for for a couple of months now is the street where Kristin Cavallari said good-bye to on-again/off-again boyfriend Brody Jenner in the final scene of the series finale of fave show The Hills, which aired on July 13th of this year. For whatever reason, though, I was having a heck of a time pinpointing the exact spot where filming had taken place. Until this past Friday, that is. Thankfully, fellow stalker “Diggy” posted a comment on that day’s blog post in which I wrote about the home where Kristin had lived during the last season of the show. In the comment, Diggy stated that the final scene had been filmed on “Beachwood Drive, just north of Franklin”. Sadly though, even with that detailed information, I was unable to find the right spot! Enter master stalker Chas, from ItsFilmedThere, who texted me later that same night with an exact address – 2107 North Beachwood Drive. And sure enough, once I pulled up the location on Google Street View, I saw that he was right! Thank you, Chas! So, yesterday, after Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I finished our tour of Paramount Studios, we headed right on over to Beachwood Drive to do some Hills stalking.

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The Hills’ final scene centers around the premise that after suffering a broken heart thanks to Brody Jenner, series star and narrator Kristin Cavallari decides to leave Los Angeles to begin a new adventure in a foreign land because, as she says, “I feel if I’m really gonna move and do this, it needs to be a big change and I need to be completely uncomfortable and I need to be scared again and the only place I can really think about would be somewhere in Europe.” When Brody finds out she is leaving the country, he heads to her house to say good-bye and just happens to catch her right as she is walking out her door to drive to what is presumably the airport. In the scene, Brody pulls up and parks in front of the apartment building located at 2107 N. Beachwood Drive.

Kristin subsequently walks out of the house located across the street at 2117 Beachwood Terrace, which is not where the reality star was actually presumed to be living on the show. The house where Kristin lived during the series’ Sixth Season, which I blogged about last week, is located almost five miles away in West Hollywood. Thanks to the tall hedges which completely surround both properties, though, the two residences do bear a striking resemblance to each other.

Kristin then walks to her waiting limousine, which was parked in front of the home located at 2110 North Beachwood Drive.

After Kristin shares a tear-filled good-bye with Brody, her limousine proceeds to drive south on Beachwood, presumably heading to the airport.

The camera then closes in on a distraught-looking Brody for a few poignant moments before the background behind him begins to move and it is revealed that he is actually standing on the backlot of Paramount Studios in Hollywood and that Kristin’s limo had only been driven a few feet off screen. Brody then walks up to Kristin, hugs her, and says, “You outta here?” before the two nonchalantly walk off. I found the ending, which was a tongue-in-cheek reference to the fact that many viewers believe the show to be fake, ingenious. What better way to acknowledge that some of the show was in fact “produced” than to have its final moments be shot on a soundstage? Of the finale, Brody said, “I think the show has always battled with what’s real and what’s fake, and this ending was perfect because you still don’t know what was real, what was fake and it’s kind of like L.A. in a sense.” And while the ending leaves no doubt (in mind at least) that the show wasn’t entirely “real”, some fans still swear up and down that it was. But being that Kristin never in fact moved anywhere, least of all not to Europe, and that she later tweeted “I think I shld finally let everyone know I’m not going 2 Europe. It was 4 the show.”, I think we can all rest assured that the reality series was most definitely manipulated, if not out and out scripted. Which was the exact impression I got when I watched an episode of it being filmed back in August of 2008 – yes, it’s a “reality” show, but a heavily, heavily manipulated one.

Anyway, because Mike and I were at Paramount yesterday, I just had to stalk the exact spot where the finale was filmed – which was at the corner of Avenue A and 3rd Street, just southwest of Stage 23, in front of the studio’s former film vaults.

Big THANK YOU to Chas, from ItsFilmedThere, and fellow stalker “Diggy” for finding this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The final scene from The Hills was filmed in front of 2110 and 2172 North Beachwood Drive in Hollywood. In the scene, Brody parked in front of the apartment building located at 2107 North Beachwood Drive, Kristin walked out of the house located at 2117 Beachwood Terrace, and the two said good-bye to each other in front of the house located at 2110 North Beachwood Drive. The scene which took place on the Paramount lot was filmed on the corner of Avenue A and 3rd Street, just southwest of Stage 23.

September 24, 2010September 23, 2010

Kristin Cavallari’s House from Season 6 of “The Hills”

Literally just around the corner from Philippe Chow, the restaurant that I blogged about on Tuesday where Brenda and Donna ate veal brains on Beverly Hills, 90210, is the home where Kristin Cavallari lived during Season 6 of fave show The Hills. I am embarrassed to say that I spent an exorbitant amount of time looking for this particular location and had absolutely no luck whatsoever in finding it. Thankfully though, fellow stalker Britney embarked on her own hunt to track it down and quickly stumbled upon this Shelterpop article which stated that Kristin’s home was formerly owned by “celebrity” hairstylist Eric Bilardi (apparently Eric has tressed everyone from Daryl Hannah to Jane Seymour). Britney then searched for information on Eric online, wound up finding some public records which listed his former address, and voila, it was the right place! Yay! So, after my father and I finished lunch at Philippe’s last Friday afternoon, we headed right on over to stalk Kristin’s former pad.

Unfortunately though, because the property is surrounded by extremely tall hedges and a very high fence, not a whole lot of it can be seen from the street.

Nor can much be seen from aerial views.

But that’s why God created real estate listings! Kristin’s Spanish-style home, which was originally built in the 1920s, was available for rent earlier this year at a rate of $5,750 per month. The property, which last sold in 2007 for $1.3 million, boasts two bedrooms, two bathrooms, 1,400-square feet of living space, a garden, hardwood flooring throughout, a covered patio, several fountains, and an outdoor fire pit.

The house first showed up in the second episode of The Hills’ sixth season, which was titled “Rumor Has It”, in which Kristin throws a little housewarming shindig for herself. I am fairly certain, though, that, like most of The Hills residences, Kristin never actually lived on the premises, but that it was used for filming purposes only. And from how it appears in the real estate photos, producers seem to have used all of the real life homeowner’s actual furnishings during filming –

– right down to the cups in the kitchen cupboards . . .

. . . and the cushions on the living room couch. You can check out more photos of the house on the Shelterpop website here.

Ironically enough, the finale scene, in which Kristin walks out of her house and says a tearful good-bye to both Los Angeles and Brody Jenner, was not actually filmed in front of the property, as it was made to appear. And unfortunately I have not yet been able to discern exactly where that scene was shot. Ideas, anyone?

Big THANK YOU to Britney for finding this location! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Kristin Cavallari’s house from Season 6 of The Hills is located at 819 North La Jolla Avenue in West Hollywood. Philippe Chow, the restaurant where Brenda and Donna ate veal brains on Beverly Hills, 90210, is located just a half a mile south at 8284 Melrose Avenue, also in West Hollywood.

September 21, 2010September 21, 2010

The Restaurant Where Brenda and Donna Ate Veal Brains on “Beverly Hills, 90210”

One location that I have been on the lookout for for over eighteen years now is the Paris restaurant where Donna Martin (aka Tori Spelling) and Brenda Walsh (aka Shannen Doherty) ate veal brains in the Season 3 episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 titled “Too Little, Too Late/Paris, 75001”. Because almost two decades have passed since filming took place, though, and because there were virtually no clues visible in the background of the veal-brains-eating scene, this one proved to be a VERY tough find. So, a few weeks back I finally decided to call in the team – Mike, from MovieShotsLA, Chas, from ItsFilmedThere, and fellow stalker Owen – and, amazingly enough, Owen found the restaurant in record time – in less than an hour, in fact! Not joking! I really need to start taking lessons from Owen, as he always comes up with extremely innovative ways of tracking locations down. In this particular case, he decided to contact a few of the guest star actors who appeared in the episode, one of them being a girl named Lindsey Rosin. Now, to someone like Owen who has never in his life watched an episode of 90210, the name Lindsey Rosin doesn’t mean a whole lot, but to all of us diehard fans out there, the girl is a celebrity! For those who are not in the know, Lindsey just happens to be the daughter of 90210’s longtime executive producer Charles Rosin and, as a child, she appeared in several episodes of the series, including the “Too Little, Too Late/Paris, 75001” episode. When Owen told me he had contacted her, let me tell you, I just about died from excitement! Even more exciting, though, was the fact that not only did she write him back almost immediately, but she also knew exactly where the filming of the veal brains scene had taken place. YAY!

As it turns out, Brenda and Donna’s Paris restaurant was named Le Chardonnay and it used to be located on Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood. Sadly, though, the eatery closed its doors for good just about a decade ago. Since that time, the property has undergone several renovations and has re-opened as a few different restaurants, including the now-defunct French bistro Carafe and the Danny Masterson/Wilmer Valderrama/Ashton Kutcher-owned eatery Dolce. Today, the space which once housed Le Chardonnay is an upscale Chinese food restaurant named Philippe Chow and even though it no longer looks anything like it did when it appeared on 90210, I just HAD to stalk the place. So, this past Friday afternoon, since we were in the area running some errands, I dragged my dad there to grab some lunch.

Philippe Chow is a SUPER cute little restaurant that serves up some FABULOUS food! Especially the chicken satay in cream sauce, which the restaurant is famous for. The food is pricey, though – a bottle of sparkling water cost me a whopping $10!!!!!!!! – but, as they say, you get what you pay for, and the grub at Philippe Chow is EXTREMELY good! The service was also fabulous and definitely lacking in the typical hoity-toity attitude one comes to expect from upscale L.A. eateries. I honestly can’t recommend the place enough!

In the “Too Little, Too Late/Paris, 75001” episode of Beverly Hills, 90210, Brenda and Donna go out for dinner on one of their very first nights in Paris, France. Neither one can speak the language very well and they end up ordering the one item on the menu that contains a word they recognize, Cerveaux de Veau – “veau” meaning veal. As it turns out, though, Cerveaux de Veau actually translates to veal brains – something they don’t discover until after they have already sampled the dish. The scene is absolutely hilarious, mostly due to the comedic antics of Tori Spelling, who spits a bite of the brains out onto her plate and then proceeds to gargle with a glass of water. And they say Tori Spelling can’t act! In my never-to-be-humble opinion, I think she was FABULOUS in that particular scene –

– which can watch by clicking above.

And while there is absolutely no trace of Le Chardonnay left on the Philippe Chow premises, there is some good news about this location. After doing some research online, I discovered that Le Chardonnay was actually an almost-exact replica of the famous Restaurant Vagenende in Paris, France, which is still open, and as you can see in the above photographs, looks VERY similar to the restaurant which appeared on 90210. So, while Le Chardonnay is no longer stalk-able, Vagenende thankfully is! And, believe you me, if I ever go back to Paris, I am FOR SURE going to stalk the place!

Beverly Hills, 90210 is not the only production to have filmed on the Le Chardonnay premises. Back when the restaurant had first been purchased by Wilmer Valderrama, Ashton Kutcher, and Danny Masterson, it was used in the Punk’d episode in which Ashton plays a prank on Wilmer by having a jealous boyfriend pretend to destroy his beloved Escalade – which you can watch by clicking above.

At the time Punk’d was filmed, Dolce had yet to open and was undergoing an extensive renovation process, and, as you can see in the above screen capture, the walls had yet to be painted and were still the same color pink that they were on 90210. Love it!

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Philippe Chow also recently appeared in the Season 5 episode of The Hills titled “Can’t Always Get What You Want” as the spot where Kristin Cavallari and Brody Jenner meet up and discuss his wanting to get back together with ex-girlfriend Jayde Nicole.

Philippe Chow is also something of a celebrity magnet. Just a few of the stars who have been spotted there include Charlize Theron, Rihanna, Nick Nolte, Matt Kemp, Stephanie Pratt, Kelly Osbourne, Paris and Nicky Hilton, Lauren Conrad, Lindsay Lohan, Nick Jonas, Sofia Vergara, Selena Gomez, Lamar Odom, Kobe Bryant, and Kim and Khloe Kardashian. Unfortunately, we didn’t spot any celebs while we were there, though.

Big THANK YOU to Owen – and to Lindsey Rosin! – for finding this location! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Philippe Chow, the former Le Chardonnay restaurant where Brenda and Donna ate veal brains on Beverly Hills, 90210, is located at 8284 Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood. You can visit the Philippe Chow website here. Vagenende, the restaurant that Le Chardonnay was modeled after, is located at 142, boulevard Saint-Germain, in Paris, France. You can visit the Vagenende website here.

March 5, 2010March 4, 2010

Sierra Towers – Brody Jenner’s Building on “The Hills”

A few weeks ago, while out doing some stalking with my fiancé in West Hollywood, I made a little pit stop at the place where Brody Jenner is shown to reside on fave reality show The Hills, a West Hollywood building which is known as the Sierra Towers. I found this location once again thanks to fellow stalker Virginie who, being that she also managed to track down Spencer and Heidi’s new house and Kristin Cavallari’s beach abode, has proven to possess some absolutely mad Hills stalking skills! My hat is most definitely off to you, Virginie! 🙂 As us die hard Hills stalkers are well aware of, though, MTV has been known to pull the wool over its viewers eyes when it comes to the various cast residences shown on the series. So, while the Sierra Towers building is definitely the place shown for the establishing shots of Brody’s residence on The Hills, I can’t say for certain that the reality star actually lives there. According to this Los Angeles Times article, in March of 2007 Brody leased an apartment in the Villa Malibu complex in Malibu, so its quite possible he may still live there. But regardless of whether Mr. Jenner is a resident of Sierra Towers or not almost seems to be entirely beside the point, since the building’s registry reads like a who’s who of Hollywood. Pretty much anyone who’s anyone in this town has called the place home at one time or another.

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The 32-story Sierra Towers, which was built in 1964 by architect Jack A. Charney, originally consisted of apartments and was called the Spoon Apartment Building. The complex was converted into condominium units at some point thereafter – I am unsure of the exact date – and, due to its exclusivity, proximity to Hollywood, and many upscale amenities, became an almost immediate celebrity magnet. In fact, so many notables currently live in the building that paparazzi are pretty much a constant presence there. In recent years, the Sierra Towers has been given a new hipster image thanks to a savvy real estate agent named Russ Filice. Just a few of the amenities that the building currently boasts include maids quarters, a ballroom, a catering kitchen, a gym and a spa with his and her locker rooms, a swimming pool, and a 24 hour support staff made up of porters, valets, doormen, and security guards. And I can personally attest to the fact that the Sierra Towers security is pretty darn tight, as they were keeping a VERY close eye on my fiancé and I while we were snapping pictures of the place from across the street. There are currently 148 separate units in the building, six to a floor, each of which features its own eight foot wide balcony, floor to ceiling windows, and sweeping views of the Los Angeles skyline.

As you can see from the above photographs which were taken from a lookout point on North Doheny Drive, Sierra Towers is the tallest building in its vicinity, so its views are pretty much unparalleled. Can you even imagine living in a place like that? Sigh!

The exterior of the Sierra Towers building pops up pretty much weekly on The Hills,

but if you compare the interior of Brody’s apartment, which is shown above, to these photographs of a real life Sierra Towers unit, the two don’t seem to match. From what I’ve been able to discern by looking at photographs of various Sierra Towers units online, most of the condos boast floor to ceiling glass walls, a feature which Brody’s apartment doesn’t seem to have. So, I am fairly certain that the interior shots of his residence were filmed at another location altogether. Besides The Hills, the Sierra Towers building has also appeared in several episodes of the reality show Million Dollar Listing.

And now on to the Sierra’s famous celebrity residents! 😉 Just a few of the notables who have called the building home over the years include Matthew Perry, Elton John (you can see pictures of his unit here), Kate Moss, Joan Collins, George Hamilton, David Janssen, Diahann Carroll, Nino Tempo, fashion designer Edith Flagg, Julian Burke, PJ Harvey, Peter Morton, Jim Morris, Rachel Zoe, Fred Durst, Evander Holyfield, David Geffen, Peter Lawford, Jack Webb, Lindsay Lohan, Vincent Gallo, Patty Duke, Rhonda Fleming, Donald Ayres, Michael Milken, Vickie Morgan, Sidney Poitier, Tawney Kitaen, Bill Shoemaker, and Cher. Phew! That’s quite a list! The building is so famous, in fact, that there is not only a Wikipedia page dedicated to it and its many famous residents, but a Facebook page, as well! And being that in 2006 Variety Magazine proclaimed the building to be one of the most expensive in all of Los Angeles, costing a whopping $2,000 per square foot, you pretty much have to be a celebrity to live there! You can see a more detailed list of the building’s residents, both past and present, on my good friend and fellow stalker E.J.’s website, The Movieland Directory.

Big THANK YOU to Virginie for finding this location! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Sierra Towers, aka Brody Jenner’s condo from The Hills, is located at 9255 Doheny Road in West Hollywood. You can visit the building’s website here.

March 1, 2010February 28, 2010

Kristin Cavallari’s Beach House from “The Hills”

Just down the street from Jennifer Aniston’s former beach house, which I blogged about on Friday, is the residence that Kristin Cavallari called home during this past season of fave reality show The Hills. So, since we were already in the area a couple of weeks ago, I just had to drag fellow stalker Mike, from MovieShotsLA – who I am sad to say is not at all a fan of the MTV show – over to stalk the place. I found this location thanks to fellow stalker Virginie who posted Kristin’s former address in the comments section of my site way back in October of last year and it’s been high up on my “To-Stalk” list ever since. Thank you, Virginie! Unfortunately, though, since I so rarely get out to the ‘Bu, I had yet to stalk the residence. And while I realize that The Hills ended its current season over two and a half months ago and that I am just slightly late to the game on this one, as I always say, it’s far better to be late than never. 🙂

The four bedroom, four bath beach house pictured above, which was built in 1969 and measures 2,972 square feet, first showed up when Kristin Cavallari joined the cast of The Hills in the Season Five episode entitled “It’s On Bitch”. But she didn’t stay there long. The Laguna Beach alum moved out of this location just ten episodes later, on the show’s season finale which was entitled “Boys of the Summer”. I am fairly certain that Kristin never actually rented this house, though, and quite possibly never even truly lived there, but that the property was leased by MTV solely for filming purposes.

And quite a bit of filming did actually take place on location at the residence. In fact, the house showed up in all ten episodes which featured Kristin during Season Five. The back side of the property was the area most often featured on the show . . .

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. . . and was the site of Kristin’s many beach parties and get-togethers. Oh, how I wish I had stalked this place back when The Hills was still filming so that I could have seen her little tiki bar and patio furniture in person. Sadly, all of the outdoor decor that appeared on the show has long since been removed.

And, of course, I just had to get a picture of the house’s back stairwell, which appeared numerous times on the show. I so wanted to pose for a picture while standing on the stairs, too, but being that someone was inside the property while we were stalking the place, I didn’t think that would be a very smart move. 😉

The inside of the home was also featured numerous times on the show and while I have to say that the residence’s interior is absolutely GORGEOUS, it doesn’t, in my opinion at least, really match up to the exterior, which seems to be a bit dated and weathered.

For whatever reason, the front entrance to the house was only ever shown once on The Hills, at the very beginning of the “It’s On Bitch” episode, in the scene in which Kristin is shown getting into her car and driving off on Pacific Coast Highway on her way to make an appearance at Spencer and Heidi’s “Welcome Home” party.

Amazingly enough, while doing research for this post I discovered that appearing on The Hills isn’t the home’s only claim to fame. The property actually has a long and storied Hollywood history. According to this article, in the early ‘80s the beach pad belonged to music executive Jerry Goldstein. In the ‘90s, it was purchased by another music man, record promoter and Giant Records president Charlie Minor. Sadly, on March 19, 1995, Minor, who had worked with both Sting and Janet Jackson during the course of his highly successful career, was murdered in the house by a former girlfriend named Suzette McClure who shot him nine times after catching him in bed with another woman. But the house’s notoriety doesn’t end there, for it was also used as one of the locations of the Silver Spoon Beach House – the notorious party pad where throngs of young Hollywood stars would hang out during the summer months. Just a few of the celebs who were seen there include Lindsay Lohan, Ali Landry, The Real Housewives of Orange County’s Slade Smiley (Ugh, gag me!) and Gretchen Rossi, Brody Jenner, and ironically enough, even Kristin Cavallari, who not only partied at the house, but also once did a photo shoot there.

A big THANK YOU to Virginie for finding this location! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Kristin Cavallari’s beach house from The Hills is located at 22058 Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. Jennifer Aniston’s former Malibu home is located just a few houses east of Kristin’s at 22164 Pacific Coast Highway.

April 26, 2009April 30, 2009

Speidi’s Wedding

Well, it finally happened! Yesterday was the big day! The reality TV event of the season! What I’m sure was for some fans the wedding of the century! I, of course, am talking about the nuptials of Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag that took place yesterday at around 5 p.m. in Pasadena. And, I, of course, was on the scene to stalk the whole thing! 🙂 My boyfriend and I arrived at Westminster Presbyterian Church at around 12:30 yesterday afternoon. The original plan was to snap a few photos of the wedding set-up, leave, and then come back at around 4 p.m.to take some more pics. Well, what’s that quote about the best laid plans of mice and men? 🙂 I took one look at the absolute pandemonium that was already in place at 12:30 and that was it for me! I was not going anywhere! LOL So, yes, I stood out on the sidewalk in front of that church from 12:30 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. yesterday watching the incredible media shitstorm that Speidi had created. And, let me tell you, I loved EVERY SINGLE MINUTE OF IT! 🙂

I actually have to say that “shitstorm” doesn’t even begin to describe what was taking place yesterday! The wedding was originally scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. and three and a half hours prior to that there were already about forty photographers and paparazzi lining the street. The entire city block surrounding the church had virtually been shut down and there were at least 50 policemen and another 50 private security guards on duty. It was absolute insanity! Honestly, it was bigger than any film shoot I’ve ever witnessed. When we first arrived at the church, Heidi and Spencer were already inside getting ready and their Rolls Royce Phantom was parked right outside (pictured above).

From the outside, it looked as if a film shoot was taking place, complete with a ginormous lighting truck set up shining bright lights through the church windows. Being that the whole event was being taped for The Hills, I guess in a sense a film shoot was taking place. But standing outside watching everything, I almost forgot it was a real life wedding that I was there to see. 🙂

The security for the wedding was INTENSE! Every single guest had to show their drivers license upon entering the church, sign photo releases, and have their photographs taken. There were also metal detectors set up inside of the church, which I am pretty sure were there to ensure that no guests brought cameras inside.

Early in the afternoon, Heidi’s real father stepped outside the church in full cowboy regalia to make a phone call. LOL

Lauren and Audrina were some of the first guests to arrive. Lauren arrived at around 2 p.m. and Audrina at around 2:30. All of The Hills stars were shuttled in through a back entrance so we didn’t get to see any of them until after the ceremony was over. 🙁 The only Hills stars who did make an appearance prior to the wedding were Brody Jenner and his girlfriend Jayde Nicole, who were dropped off right in front of the church. Unfortunately neither of them waved or even looked up at the photographers or fans who were screaming their names. 🙁

And then things got really exciting!! All of a sudden I noticed all of the security guards and policemen looking up at the sky. It turns out that Spencer had hired a plane to write both “Spencer Loves Heidi” and “Heidi’s #1 Hit On iTunes” in the sky.

Next thing I know, out walks the man himself, Spencer Pratt, to see the skywriting for himself! 🙂 YAY! Spencer was actually shorter than I thought he would be, maybe about 5’7″, and better looking than he appears on TV. As soon as Spencer walked out, the crowd went absolutely NUTS. And he was extremely friendly, waving and smiling for the cameras. He actually seemed a lot different in person than the guy he portrays on TV. That ever-present chip that seems to reside on his shoulder whenever cameras are rolling didn’t appear to be there yesterday. He actually didn’t seem like a jerk at all. I can’t tell you how excited I was to see Spencer in person!!!! I even yelled out “Congratulations” and he said back “Thank you!” LOL

By the time Spencer had come outside, the skywriting had all but disappeared and one of the young girls standing across the street told him she had taken pictures of the writing. So, Spencer walked across the street to take a look at her photos and then posed for a picture with her and her friends, which I thought was so sweet. NO ONE else from The Hills did anything even remotely close to this yesterday, in fact most of them wouldn’t even wave to the fans, so that’s really when my opinion of Spencer started to change.

The next “celeb” to arrive was Perez Hilton, who pretty much looked like he just rolled right out of bed for the event. He was actually wearing khaki pants and a hoodie!! underneath a blazer. What a complete and total douchebag! I cannot even believe he got invited to the wedding! I so should have been invited instead! 🙂

Next up was Justin Bobby, who arrived solo. And Justin Bobby’s outfit pretty much made Perez Hilton look like a fashion model!!! Justin actually showed up in what can best be described as pirate pants! I’m not kidding! They were calf length and completely frayed at the bottom. Coupled with his black combat boots, the guy looked like he had come directly off the set of Pirates of the Caribbean. WHAT A MORON! I couldn’t zoom in close enough to get a good pic of his pants, but you can kind of see them in the above photo.

Next up was Heidi’s boss, Brent Bolthouse, who is literally about five feet tall, and Brody’s BFF Frankie Delgado.

And then, up walked “Stacey the Bartender”, and all of the fans in attendance pretty much gasped all at once. LOL After the drama she caused between Spencer and Heidi this season on The Hills we could not figure out WHY in the heck she would be invited! It is at this point that I should mention that most of the fans in attendance were 13 year old girls. Why is it always me and the 13 year old girls? LOL

Even though the ceremony was scheduled to begin at 4 p.m., it didn’t actually start until right around 5. You can see Heidi’s real dad entering the church in his cowboy style tuxedo right before the ceremony began. LOL

These two idiots didn’t show up to the church until about 5:15 (over an hour and fifteen minutes late!) and, because the ceremony had already started, weren’t allowed inside! LOL LOL LOL What a couple of douchebags! If you were lucky enough to have scored an invite to Spencer and Heidi’s wedding, wouldn’t you have MADE SURE you arrived there on time??

Speidi’s wedding ceremony only lasted about thirty minutes or so. During that time everyone pretty much just hung around, waiting with bated breath for the two to make their appearance. Earlier in the day I had made friends with an event photographer who was on hand to cover the Speidi wedding, so the two of us just chatted while the ceremony was taking place. She was incredibly nice and told me about all sorts of adventures she has had being a celeb photographer. Then next thing we knew, hordes of policemen started walking across the street, I guess as a means of crowd control. They told us to take all the photographs we wanted, but to please not run across the street when Spencer and Heidi exited the church. By this time there were so many people there it was almost unbelievable! There had to be over 100 paparazzi on the scene and easily over 300 fans. Paparazzi were literally climbing the roofs of nearby apartment buildings to get good shots. LOL

The first guest to leave the church after the ceremony was over was Lauren Conrad, aka LC. It seemed as if she left the place pretty much as soon as she could. It was a real bummer, too, as she kept her head down upon exiting the church and would not even wave or smile to the paparazzi or the fans that were there. I thought that was a pretty crappy thing to do, especially being that all of the fans on site were little kids. I can’t say I was surprised, though, as I didn’t get a very good impression of her when I watched The Hills being filmed back in August.

Right after Lauren left, all of the wedding guests filed out of the church and made their way to the front entrance for the bouquet toss;

including Heidi’s dad in his classy tux! LOL 🙂

While the normal guests filed out of the church’s side doors, all of The Hills stars came out of the front entrance, including Heidi’s mom Darlene (who is super tiny in person!) and her sister, and maid-of-honor, Holly;

Brody Jenner and girlfriend Jayde Nicole;

Frankie Delgado and Spencer’s grandma, aka “Nana”;

Audrina;

Spencer’s sister, and Heidi’s lone bridesmaid, Stephanie Pratt;

and my fave Kristin Cavallari, who looked AMAZING and who was also very friendly to the paparazzi and fans :). I can’t tell you how excited I will be if the rumors are true and Kristin really is joining The Hills once Lauren leaves. 🙂

At this point there were SO many people lined up outside the church that Brent Bolthouse actually started taking pictures of us all with his cell phone. LOL

And then came the moment we had been waiting all day for! Out walked the newlyweds – Mr. and Mrs. Spencer Pratt! Heidi looked absolutely beautiful. I loved her dress – it looked like frosting. 🙂

Then, of course, the couple kissed for us. 🙂

And, finally, Heidi tossed her bouquet, which was caught by Kristin Cavallari. Incidentally, all of the female stars of The Hills were strategically placed right in front of Heidi so that one of them would be sure to catch it. 🙂

Speidi then said hello to all of the fans in attendance and Heidi blew everyone a kiss.

Then, after saying goodbye to everyone,

the newlyweds made off in their Rolls Royce.

After Speidi left, Lo, Audrina, Kristin, and Stephanie hung around and chatted for a bit.

And, then, next thing we knew, there were Spencer and Heidi pulling up in their Rolls once again to say hi to all the fans, which I thought was SUPER sweet! A bunch of little girls ran up to take pics with the newlyweds, but unfortunately the paparazzi immediately swarmed the car, so no one could get photos of anything. I guess one of the little girls was getting pushed out of the way by the paps, and Spencer yelled out “Hey, come on you guys! She’s a little girl! Be careful!!!” See, what I mean, he’s a nice guy! 🙂 After that, Speidi took off once again and the guests and paparazzi pretty much dispersed.

Here’s a pic of Holly’s bridesmaid dress, which came from BCBG and was really, really pretty. 🙂

And there you have it – the whole event from start to finish from a stalker’s point of view. 🙂 I have to admit that, thanks to yesterdays festivities, my opinion of Spencer Pratt, and consequently his new wife Heidi, has completely changed. I love these two now. 🙂 Sure, people are going to say OF COURSE Spencer came outside and posed for the paps and the fans because he is a publicity hound. But that’s really not the impression I got. He seemed like a genuinely nice guy. I mean, he walked across the street and posed for photos with his fans when no one else from the show would. At one point fans were BEGGING Heidi’s sister, Holly, who is an absolute nobody, to come across the street to take pictures, but she refused. I have a soft spot in my heart for any celeb who is nice to their fans, especially their little girl admirers. Because once upon a time I was that little girl and I can’t even imagine how excited I would have been had I had the chance to meet my favorite star and he was nice to me! From what I observed yesterday, Spencer did not come off as the arrogant douchebag that he portrays himself to be on The Hills. I honestly think that in real life he is a nice guy, who realized very early on that the more outrageous he and Heidi acted, the more money they could cash in on. And now I think the two of them are laughing all the way to the bank. So, you know what, more power to ’em! 🙂 And I thank them sincerely for being so media friendly and announcing to the world exactly when and where their wedding would be taking place so that I could be a part of it, as it was an experience I will never forget! 🙂

Big THANK YOU to my boyfriend who acted as my paparazzi for the day and took all of the above photos! Yes, he actually stood out there with me for the entire six hours! My own father wouldn’t even do that for me, so I guess I really have to hold on to this one. 🙂

Side note – I will not be writing a new blog for Monday, since this one took me pretty much all day to write. 🙂 But I’ll be back on Tuesday with some more stalking!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Spencer and Heidi’s wedding church is Westminster Presbyterian Church located at 1757 North Lake Avenue in Pasadena.