Tag: Celebrities

The “Mask” House

While I realize that I still have quite a few posts to publish from my recent stalking trip to the Palmdale/Lancaster area (including the Four Aces and Club Ed movie sets), as well as a few filming-related posts to write from my nuptials last August (most notably the venue), I decided to dedicate today’s blog to my good friend and fellow stalker Kerry who has been experiencing a very emotionally-trying couple of weeks as of late. So, Kerry, this one’s for you! I hope it brings a smile to your face! Back in September, after finding out out that my parents had recently moved to Monrovia, Kerry asked me to track down the house where Roy L. ‘Rocky’ Dennis (aka Eric Stoltz) and Florence ‘Rusty’ Dennis (aka Cher) lived in the 1985 Peter Bogdanovich-directed movie Mask. She had heard that the residence was located somewhere in the Monrovia area and figured I would most likely be able to track it down. Because I had never actually seen the flick, though, I enlisted the help of Mike, from MovieShotsLA, who is pretty much a virtual encyclopedia of 80’s movies filming location knowledge thanks to the fact that he grew up in the area. And this case was no different – Mike knew the address of the Mask house right off the top of his head! Thank you, Mike! So, yesterday morning, after meeting my dad for coffee, I headed on over to the property to snap a few pics.

The house, which is located on a sleepy Monrovia corner just a few blocks east of Old Town, is actually featured quite a bit throughout the movie.

And, amazingly enough, it still looks VERY much the same today as it did back in 1985 when Mask was filmed.

Even the wall unit air conditioner and mailbox which appeared in the movie are still there in real life, over two and a half decades later! SO INCREDIBLY COOL!

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I am fairly certain from the way that the movie was shot that the home’s real life interior was also used in the flick.

On a Mask side note – Wow, Cher was absolutely beautiful back in the day! I had NO idea! That skin and those cheekbones are to die for!

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for finding this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Mask house is located at 138 Grand Avenue, at the corner of Grand Avenue and Pearl Street, in Monrovia.

February 4, 2011
Drago Ristorante from “Entourage”

Last Monday afternoon, I found myself having to kill a few hours of time while my car was being repaired at a mechanic’s shop on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, so I headed across the street to grab a latte and some lunch at a restaurant named Aroma Bakery & Café. I had never before dined at Aroma, but thought the name sounded vaguely familiar and had a brief recollection that it had once been featured on the hit HBO television series Entourage. Well, my memory is obviously not quite as good as I thought because as it turns out the restaurant was never actually featured on the show (it was Urth Café that I had been thinking of), but my mis-memory ended up to be very fortuitous. While I was researching Aroma Bakery on my Blackberry, I came across a thread on the Chowhound website detailing numerous area restaurants which had been featured on Entourage and I almost fell off of my chair when I saw that one of the eateries mentioned was Drago Ristorante in Santa Monica, a place that I have actually dined at numerous times before, but had never realized was a filming location! Then I almost fell off my chair once again when I received a call from the Grim Cheaper a few days later, informing me that his boss had just invited us to dinner at Drago Ristorante that Friday night!!! Talk about synchronicity! So, a few days later the GC and I headed out to the West Side for some dinner and some Entourage stalking. Yay!

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Drago Ristorante was originally opened in 1991 by native Sicilian chef Celestino Drago, who had previously founded Celestino restaurant in Beverly Hills. Drago became a virtual overnight success and now, almost two decades later, it is a veritable Santa Monica institution. Celestino has also become something of a celebrity chef along the way and has since opened up several other eateries including Dolce Forno bakery in Culver City, Entoneca Drago and Il Pastaio, both in Beverly Hills, Drago Centro in Downtown Los Angeles, and Celestino in Pasadena. And I have to say that Drago is EXCELLENT! I opted for the Petto Di Pollo, Funghi Trifolati entrée which featured king trumpet mushrooms that were quite possibly the largest mushrooms I have ever seen in my entire life! They were A-MA-ZING and I would have honestly been happy eating a handful of them by themselves, but I , of course, also chose to gouge myself on the chicken which was doused in a light truffle sauce. And, oh my lord, was it good! I should forewarn my fellow stalkers that the restaurant is on the pricey side, so if you are looking for a reasonable night out, Drago would not be a good choice. If you don’t mind dropping a couple pennies, though, it is ENTIRELY worth the expense.

In the “Oh, Mandy” episode of Entourage, Vince Chase (aka Adrian Grenier) meets up with Mandy Moore, who played herself on the series, at Drago Ristorante in order to talk about the upcoming movie Aquaman, in which they are both set to star. While the two are dining, Eric Murphy (aka Kevin Connolly), Johnny ‘Drama’ Chase (aka Kevin Dillon), and Turtle (aka Jerry Ferrara) wait for Vince in their car out in front of the restaurant. Drago Ristorante also appeared in an early season episode of fave reality show The Bachelor, although I am not sure of exactly which episode or which season. The place is also something of a celebrity hot spot. The GC’s boss saw Ed ‘Neill, Anne Bancroft, Mel Brooks, and Garry Marshall there all on one night a few years back!

On an Entourage side note – Thanks again to the Chowhound website, I recently discovered that HBO has a locations tab on the Entourage section of its website which lists the main locales featured in each and every episode of the show. HOW INCREDIBLY COOL IS THAT??? Why do ALL shows not do this???? Love it! Love it! Love it!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Drago Ristorante, from the “Oh, Mandy” episode of Entourage, is located at 2628 Wilshire Boulevard in Santa Monica.

February 3, 2011
Adam Sandler’s Hollywood Walk of Fame Star Ceremony

Last Thursday morning while in Santa Monica running some errands, my dad and I, of course, stopped into a nearby Starbucks to grab a quick latte and who should we spot while standing in line, but Robbie Hart himself, aka Mr. Adam Sandler. He was sitting inconspicuously with his wife and youngest daughter having a quiet breakfast and, amazingly enough, no one else in the entire store seemed to recognize or even take any notice of him. Because the place was jam-packed, I did not want to call any attention to the fact that he was there or bother him in any way, so I did not ask for a photograph, but I did go up to him to tell him how much I appreciated his always thanking the troops while on the red carpet and at awards shows. One of my very best friends sadly passed away while on active duty in the Navy and both my dad and my uncle served in Vietnam, so I have always been extremely appreciative of Adam’s vocal and constant support of the armed forces. Adam was EXTREMELY sweet when I went up to him, shook my hand, introduced himself, and thanked me for coming to talk to him. Well, needless to say, after that encounter I loved the guy even more than I had before. So, when I found out that he would be receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame this week, I immediately called up my dad and asked if he wanted to go to the ceremony with me. Now, as I have mentioned many times before on this blog, my dad pretty much hates all things Hollywood, excluding, of course, David Caruso and CSI: Miami and, ironically enough, Adam Sandler. My dad said he’d love to attend the event and we both added the date to our calendar. Sadly though, he wasn’t feeling well yesterday morning, so I had to head out to Hollywood on my own.

I am typically not the type of person who enjoys doing things by myself, so I was not looking forward to attending Adam’s ceremony alone, but as it turned out I had a fabulous time! I ended up meeting a really nice gentleman who was not only a big fan of Adam’s, but of Hollywood in general and the two of us spent the entire morning talking and sharing our stalking stories. If you are ever considering going to one of these events, but are nervous about attending alone, after today I have to say don’t sweat it at all!

While a fairly huge crowd did accumulate for Adam’s ceremony, there were not nearly as many people there as I had assumed would be. I would say that there were about 150 people in attendance, with a large group standing on the roof of the W Hollywood Hotel (pictured above). The ceremony was actually set up much differently than Kyra Sedgwick’s ceremony which I attended back in June of 2009. During Kyra’s event, fans were only allowed to stand on one side of the podium, but for Adam’s we were allowed to stand along all four sides of it. I ended up snagging a spot directly next to the stage, which was absolutely INCREDIBLE. It was literally the PERFECT, PRIMO spot and allowed me an amazing unobstructed view of the ceremony.

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The event started right on time (yay!) with Adam arriving on the scene promptly at 11:30. On his way to the stage, he stopped to have his picture taken with some of the policemen on duty and a few of the fans in attendance.

His two little girls (pictured above) and his wife were also there . . .

as were Henry Winkler (aka The Fonz!) and Kevin James;

and David Spade.

David Spade actually went over to the crowd to take pictures and sign autographs at the start of the event, but he was pretty far away from where I was standing and because I did not want to lose my primo spot, I did not try to get a photo with him.

Hollywood Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Leron Gubler opened up the ceremony by introducing Adam and welcoming him to the stage, along with his two daughters who absolutely refused to leave their father’s side. It was really cute to watch.

Then Henry Winkler came onstage to honor Adam with a speech.

Henry said that his first encounter with Adam was when he mentioned him in 1994’s comedy hit “The Chanukah Song”. Adam later asked him to play the role of Coach Klein in 1998’s The Waterboy and the two have since acted together in several movies, including Little Nicky, Click, and You Don’t Mess With the Zohan. Henry called Adam one the “kindest souls in show business” and I honestly believe that to be true. Henry also informed the crowd that his own star was located directly across the street from Adam’s, in front of the historic Pantages theatre.

Kevin James spoke next and called Adam “the man who is responsible for employing everyone in this town” and he said he was honoring him in one of the best ways he knew how, by wearing slacks to the ceremony which he would “not do for just anybody”.

Then Leron Gubler took the stage again and presented Adam with a certificate and the plaque pictured above and officially declared the day “Adam Sandler Day” in Hollywood.

Adam then made a brief speech, during which a tour bus drove by to whom Adam yelled out, “Hey you guys, how are you all doing?” So cute!

Adam said he could not believe he was standing there receiving such an honor as it is not something he ever thought would happen. At one point during his speech, his youngest daughter Sunny tugged on his leg and asked to be picked up.

Sunny then grabbed the microphone and yelled out “I love my daddy!” His other daughter Sadie then immediately walked up, stood on her tip toes, and announced into the mic, “I love my daddy!” The two girls then went back and forth for a few minutes, each proclaiming their love for their “daddy” and then for their “mommy”. It was a very cute moment which culminated with Adam saying, “I love you, too, more than anything in the world!” He then thanked his wife and said he was most grateful for his career because it led him to her, which I thought was incredibly sweet.

Adam’s star was then unveiled and the group posed behind it for the many members of the media who were in attendance. As you can see in the above photographs, I unfortunately did not have the best view for that portion of the ceremony.

After the ceremony, while Adam was speaking to the press, the man I had been hanging out with called Henry Winkler over for an autograph. Henry only signed the one photo, though (pictured above) and then said that he did not have time for anything else as he had to do interviews. And while he seemed nice enough, after the interviews were finished being taped, he did not go up to anyone else in the crowd and, as far as I know, did not sign any other autographs or take any photographs with fans.

Adam Sandler, on the other hand, signed a huge number of autographs, but unfortunately the fans were being EXTREMELY aggressive and were pushing and shoving to get closer to him, so I kind of stayed in the background and did not end up getting a photograph with him. One of the journalists who was covering the event, though, said that Adam was one of the nicest celebrities he had ever met and that he wouldn’t be surprised if the actor stayed around as long as necessary to give autographs to everyone who attended the ceremony.

Sadly though, the whole thing got just a bit too crazy with people swarming Adam (he is somewhere in the middle of the mass frenzy pictured above) and he was, sadly, not able to stick around for very long. And even though I did not get a photograph with him as I had hoped, the event was still extremely fun to attend! If you happen to find yourself in the Hollywood area on the day of a star ceremony, I honestly cannot more highly recommend attending!

Adam’s unveiled star is pictured above.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Adam Sandler’s Walk of Fame star can be found at 6262 Hollywood Boulevard, directly in front of the W Hollywood Hotel, in Hollywood. You can find out about upcoming Walk of Fame ceremonies and other celebrity events on the Upcoming Celebrity Events page of my blog.

February 2, 2011
Susina Bakery & Cafe from “90210”

One location that I have been on the lookout for for almost two years now is the café where Adrianna Tate-Duncan (aka Jessica Lowndes) ran into former boyfriend Navid Shirazi (aka Michael Steger) in the Season 1 Valentine’s Day-themed episode of 90210 titled “Of Heartbreaks and Hotels”. What can I say? Because I am such a coffee fiend, I am an absolute sucker for any sort of filming location that involves a café of some sort. For whatever reason, though, I just could not seem to find the place and, after a few months of looking, promptly forgot about it. Then, two weeks ago, the Grim Cheaper and I were out doing some stalking in the Beverly Hills area when we decided to grab a quick bite to eat. In a fortuitous turn of events, I consulted my Blackberry to find restaurants near to where we were stalking and happened upon the website for Susina Bakery & Café. Thanks to its distinct yellow-colored walls and cherry wood décor, I recognized the place immediately as Navid and Adrianna’s coffee shop. And while we did not end up eating there that day, I quickly added the restaurant to my ever-growing To-Stalk list and finally dragged the GC out there this past Saturday afternoon for a late lunch. Yay!

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Susina Bakery & Cafe, which originally opened in late 2002 under the name Sugar Plum Bakery, resembles an old-fashioned European patisserie and was designed by Bill Brzeski, the award-winning production designer responsible for the look of such films as Matilda, As Good As It Gets, The Hangover, Catwoman, and Stuart Little 1 and 2. The shop was founded by Jenna Turner, a chef who grew up in the business thanks to her mom who owned and operated SugarPlum Bakery in Deal, New Jersey.   After receiving a Masters in Business and training under such legendary chefs as Wolfgang Puck and Fred Eric, Jenna teamed up with pastry chef Anna Delorefice to open a bakery of her very own. The place was a virtual overnight success, with such stars as Halle Berry, Audrina Patridge, and Oliver Martinez all stopping by for a bite to eat. In 2004, the duo changed the name of their restaurant to Susina, which means “plum” in Italian, so as not to be confused with the commercial bakery Sugar Plum, Inc. in Virginia Beach.

And while the cakes and sweets at Susina are rumored to be out of this world, because I am diabetic, I regretfully was not able to sample any. But I did absolutely fall in love with the “Kiss Me”/”Hug Me” cookies pictured above. Aren’t they adorable?!?! And I can honestly say that Susina’s cobb salad was hands down one of the best I have ever eaten in my entire life!   I honestly don’t know what was in that thing, but it was unlike any other salad I have ever before experienced! I literally ate every last bite – there was not one scrap of lettuce or morsel of blue cheese left in that bowl! It was simply A-MA-ZING! The GC also loved his homemade turkey and white cheddar cheese panini. Susina is also absolutely ADORABLE and it is not very hard to see how it ended up being featured as a location on 90210.

In the “Of Heartbreaks and Hotels” episode of 90210, recently-broken-up former flames Navid and Adrianna accidentally run into each other at Susina Bakery & Cafe on Valentine’s Day and awkwardness, of course, ensues. It was quite lucky that we happened to stalk the bakery when we did as it was all dressed up for Valentine’s Day, much the same as it was when it appeared on 90210.

The “Of Heartbreaks and Hotels” episode of 90210 will always hold a very special place in my heart as it marks the first time that fave actor Matt Lanter appeared as bad boy Liam Court on the show. But I digress.



Oddly enough, Susina Bakery & Café VERY closely resembles a different coffee shop (pictured above) where Adrianna and Navid, who have once again broken up, accidentally run into each other in the Season 2 episode of 90210 titled “Another Another Chance”. And unfortunately, as was the case with Susina, I am having quite a bit of trouble tracking this one down. Ideas anyone? It seems to be some sort of a florist/cafe and if I had to guess I’d say it was located somewhere in the San Pedro/South Bay area.

I honestly cannot recommend stalking Susina Bakery & Cafe enough! The food and ambiance are both FABULOUS and the prices are very reasonable, which pleased the GC to no end. I have a feeling the restaurant is going to become one of my regular haunts in the very near future.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Susina Bakery & Café, from the “Of Heartbreaks and Hotels” episode of 90210, is located at 7122 Beverly Boulevard, just off of North La Brea Avenue, in Los Angeles. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.

February 1, 2011
Pamela’s House from “Teen Wolf”

A little over two weeks ago, fellow stalker Owen went on a mission to try to track down all of the locations used in the 1985 comedy Teen Wolf, which starred his favorite actor Michael J. Fox. And the locale that he was most interested in finding was the house belonging to Pamela Wells (aka Lorie Griffin), Scott Howard’s (aka MJF’s) love interest in the flick. Because Scott’s house in the movie was located in South Pasadena – ironically enough, it was the very same residence where the teenaged Lorraine Baines (aka Lea Thompson) lived in the Back to the Future movies – Owen had a feeling that Pamela’s house was most likely also located somewhere in that same vicinity. So, without so much as even an address number or a street name to guide him, but armed with a pretty great hunch, he started using Google Street View to search through the properties situated near the Howard residence and happened upon Pamela’s house rather quickly. Amazingly enough, it is located right around the corner and just a scant .2 miles away from the Howard home! Yay! So, this past Friday afternoon, I set out to stalk the place, even though it has been YEARS since I have watched Teen Wolf!

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Pamela’s house only actually shows up once in Teen Wolf, in the scene in which Scott walks Pamela home after a date at the local bowling alley – a locale which I blogged about back in June of 2009. It is while walking her home that Pamela breaks Scott’s heart by telling him that she will not go to the school dance with him because she already has a boyfriend.

Amazingly enough, Pamela’s house looks VERY much the same today as it did when the filming of Teen Wolf took place back in 1985. Aside from a change in paint color and the removal of the front window shutters, the residence is virtually indistinguishable from its onscreen counterpart, which I find so incredibly cool. Although I do have to admit that I much prefer the way the house looked in 1985 than to how it appears now.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Owen for finding this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Pamela’s house from Teen Wolf is located at 1980 Oak Street in South Pasadena. Scott Howard’s house from Teen Wolf, which was also Lorraine Baines’ house in Back to the Future, is located just around the corner at 1727 Bushnell Avenue in South Pasadena.

January 31, 2011
The “Crossroads” Gas Station

One location that I was absolutely dying to stalk while visiting Palmdale last week was the supposed Texas-area gas station where Lucy Wagner (aka Miss Britney Spears) stole the keys to Ben’s (aka Anson Mount’s) Buick Skylark convertible in the 2002 movie Crossroads. I had known from watching the flick’s DVD commentary with director Tamra Davis and writer Shonda Rhimes that the gas station scene was filmed somewhere in the Palmdale/Lancaster area, but unfortunately its exact location was not specified. So, the night before my dad and I were set to head out that way, I got to work looking at aerial views of what I thought was every single gas station located within the Palmdale/Lancaster city limits. Unfortunately though, I came up completely empty-handed. So, imagine my surprise the following morning when I spotted what I was fairly certain was the Crossroads station while driving to the famed Four Aces movie set. I just about had a heart attack, slammed on my brakes, did a U-turn in the middle of the street, and headed right on back to the station to get a closer look.

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And, as it turns out, my instincts were right! The Super Store 6, as it is called in real life, was in fact the gas station from Crossroads! So, I immediately headed right on inside to speak with the owner who truly could NOT have been nicer. She told me that Britney had been very friendly and down-to-earth during the filming and that it had been a fairly low-key shoot. The owner also informed me that her station had appeared in both ZZ Top’s “Gimme All Your Lovin’” music video and the final scene from the original Terminator movie. Unfortunately though, the gas station has been completely remodeled since that time and looks quite a bit different today than it did in the early 1980’s when those productions were filmed.

Thankfully though, Crossroads was filmed after the remodel took place, so it still looks very much the same in person as it did onscreen. In what turned out to be one of my very favorite scenes from the movie, Lucy, Ben, and their friends Mimi (aka Taryn Manning) and Kit (aka Zoe Saldana), stop by the station to fill up their car with gas while making their way from Louisiana to California. After grabbing a snack in the station’s mini-mart, Lucy, Mimi, and Kit discover that Ben has fallen asleep in the backseat of his car and, even though they have been warned that they are not allowed to touch the car under any circumstances, they decide to steal his keys and drive to their next destination themselves.

Mimi nominates Lucy to steal the car keys from Ben’s pocket because, as she says, “Well, Kit and I voted and you lost!” (LOVE IT!) So, Lucy snatches the keys and the girls drive off into the sunset.

But not before snapping the above photograph of themselves which I think is just about the cutest thing ever. I love, love, love that famous cross-eyed, tongue-out Britney face . . .

. . . which she later duplicated in her Super Bowl commercial for Pepsi Cola, but I digress.

In Crossroads, Ben’s Buick is parked at the station’s southeastern-most pump, in the spot where I am standing in the above photograph. Because there was a large truck parked right near the pump, though, my dad had to take the picture from the opposite direction from which the camera was facing in the movie.

In the very final scene of The Terminator, Sarah Connor (aka Linda Hamilton) stops by the Super Store 6 to fill her tank with gas and winds up having her photograph taken by a young boy. I am fairly certain that the station was never actually colored pink and green in real life, but that producers had it painted solely for the filming of the movie and then painted it back to its original color when the production was wrapped. Because the gas station is supposed to be located somewhere in the Mexican desert in the flick, producers also added quite a bit of set dressing, including Spanish signs, piñatas, and souvenirs, making the place look quite a bit different than it actually appeared at the time.



ZZ Top’s “Gimme All Your Lovin’” music video takes place almost in its entirety at the Crossroads/Terminator gas station.



In the video, the woman in red parks her car in the exact same spot that Sarah Connor parked her Jeep in The Terminator, but the camera is facing in the opposite direction in the video than it was in the movie so the view is a bit different.

But, as you can see in the above screen captures, the square-shaped bars that cover the mini-mart’s windows . . .

. . . and the roofline and roof shape from the “Gimme All Your Lovin’” video exactly match that which appeared in The Terminator.

“Gimme All Your Lovin’” Music Video at Palmdale Gas Station

You can watch the “Gimme All Your Lovin’” music video by clicking above.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Super Store 6, aka the gas station from Crossroads, the final scene in the first Terminator movie, and ZZ Top’s “Gimme All Your Lovin’” music video, is located at 37202 90th Street East, at the corner of 90th Street East and Avenue S, in Palmdale. Some maps also list the gas station as being located in the town of Littlerock. In Crossroads, Ben’s car was parked at the pump located in the northeast corner of the station, in the area denoted with a pink “X” in the above aerial view. At the end of The Terminator, Sarah Connor was parked in front of the station’s western-most pump, in the area denoted with a blue “X” in the above aerial view. ZZ Top’s “Gimme All Your Lovin’” music video was filmed in the exact same spot that was used in The Terminator.

January 28, 2011
The “Kill Bill” Church

One location that my dad and I visited while stalking in the Lancaster and Palmdale areas last week was the Sanctuary Adventist Church which was used prominently in the 2003 and 2004 Quentin Tarantino movies Kill Bill: Volume 1 and Kill Bill: Volume 2. And although I have never actually seen either of the Kill Bill flicks, I was dying to stalk the church because, thanks to fave book Hollywood Escapes: The Moviegoer’s Guide to Exploring Southern California’s Great Outdoors, I found out that it also had a very small, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo in the 2002 Britney Spears movie Crossroads, in which I was an extra. I should mention here that if you are planning to spend a day stalking in Palmdale – and I do HIGHLY recommend doing so – I suggest you print out maps of each and every location that you are wanting to visit before heading out the door. I failed to do so and had planned on using my navigation system to lead me to each locale, but, let me tell you, that did NOT pan out very well. At most points during our journey, my navigator had no idea where on earth we were – more than once it told me I was driving on a road that didn’t exist! LOL – and a few times it even took us on routes through dirt roads that wound up at dead ends. And while Palmdale and Lancaster are not exactly desolate – there’s even a Starbucks there! – most of the filming locations in that area are pretty far removed from civilization. I suggest that you not make a stalking journey out there alone and that you arrive with a full tank of gas and a car that is in good working order.

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The Sanctuary Adventist Church, which up until recently was known as the Calvary Baptist Church, is an actual working religious facility that, sadly, does not appear to currently be in the best of shape. The tiny Spanish-style chapel definitely has a Southwestern feel to it and it is not very hard to see why Quentin Tarantino chose to use it as the site of the wedding day massacre in his two-part action flick. Especially with that lone Joshua tree that stands in front of it and gives the church a very picturesque, very cinematic feel.

As you can see in the above photograph, the church is also located on a very desolate and very remote stretch of desert road, which gives it a very non-L.A., non-California feel. In fact it is hard to believe that the place is located just a scant sixty miles away from the hustle and bustle that is Los Angeles.

In Crossroads, the church stood in for the supposed Arizona-area Native American souvenir stand that Lucy (aka Britney Spears), Kit (aka Zoe Saldana), Mimi (aka Taryn Manning), and Ben (aka Anson Mount) stop at during their journey from Louisiana to California. It is while at the stand that Lucy asks her friends for advice on whether she should show up at her estranged mother’s house unannounced or call her beforehand.

Ironically enough, even though the church is supposed to be a roadside souvenir stand in the movie, for whatever reason producers decided to leave the Calvary Baptist Church sign up during the filming.

In Kill Bill: Volume 1 and 2, the Sanctuary Adventist Church stood in for the supposed El Paso, Texas-area Two Pines Wedding Chapel where the Deadly Viper Assassination Team (aka Vivica A. Fox, Lucy Liu, Daryl Hannah, Michael Madsen, and David Carradine) attempt to kill “the Bride” (aka Uma Thurman).

I am fairly certain that the real life interior of the church, which you can see a photograph of here, was also used in the production of both films.

The church has also been featured in numerous other productions, as well. In fact, the intersection of 198th Street East and East Avenue G, where the church is located, is quite a famous little stretch of land. In the 1981 movie True Confessions, the Sanctuary Adventist Church is where Detective Tom Spellacy (aka Robert Duvall) visits his brother Father Des Spellacy (aka Robert DeNiro).

The 1999 Jean-Claude Van Damme action flick Dessert Heat (which, for some reason, is also named Inferno), was filmed almost in its entirety in both the former High Vista Diner and the sundries store located directly across the street from the Sanctuary Adventist Church. The church is visible in the background throughout the vast majority of the movie.

Jubal Early (aka Pat Morita) is also shown ringing the church bell at one point in the movie, although that bell is no longer there in real life.

In Desert Heat, the High Vista Diner is where both Rhonda Reynolds (aka Gabrielle Fitzpatrick) and Dottie Matthews (aka Jaime Pressly) worked. In real life, the place was not a real working restaurant, but, much like Four Aces and Club Ed, was solely built for use as a filming location. Sadly though, the structure was torn down back in early 2008 and is now nothing more than a dirt lot. You can see a photograph of what it used to look like here and here.

Right next to the former High Vista Diner location is another vacant building which stood in for the Elis Emporium Sundries and Surplus store in Desert Heat. And while that structure is still currently standing, I am not sure for how long that will be the case.

As you can in the above photographs, the building does not look to be in the best of shape, although it is apparently still available for filming.

The Elis Emporium structure was also visible in the background of the opening scene of True Confessions and I do believe that it was a real working grocery store at one point in time.

The little motel that Henry Howard (aka Robert Symonds) and his wife (aka Priscilla Pointer) owned in Desert Heat used to be located directly behind the Elis Emporium building, but it has also since been torn down.

In Nurse Betty, the High Vista Café stood in for the supposed Williams, Arizona-area Canyon Ranch Bar where Betty (aka Renee Zellweger), and later Wesley (aka Chris Rock) and Charlie (aka Morgan Freeman), stop while making their way towards California.

I am fairly certain that the interior of the Canyon Ranch Bar was filmed elsewhere though, as it looks nothing like the interior of the diner from Desert Heat and also appears to be quite a bit larger than the former High Vista Diner building. My guess is that the interior Canyon Ranch Bar scenes were filmed on a soundstage somewhere in Hollywood.

The Kill Bill church is also just barely visible in the background of Nurse Betty in the scene in which Charlie and Wesley arrive at the Canyon Ranch Bar.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Sanctuary Adventist Church, aka the Kill Bill church, is located at the intersection of 198th Street East and East Avenue G in Lancaster. The High Vista Diner was formerly located directly across the street from the church at the southeast corner of 198th Street East and East Avenue G. The Elis Emporium Sundries and Surplus Store from Desert Heat is located at the southwest corner of 198th Street East and East Avenue G.

January 27, 2011
The Los Feliz “Murder House”

I can honestly say that out of all of the locations that I have ever stalked in my entire life, the subject of today’s post is hands down the most perplexing and mind-boggling! Last week, when I called up Mike, from MovieShotsLA, to tell him that Geoff, from the 90210locations website, had tracked down the residence belonging to Donna Martin (aka Tori Spelling) during Season One of Beverly Hills, 90210, he fell silent with shock. As it turns out there is another very famous, or perhaps very infamous, property located just up the road from Donna’s house and it is a property that Mike has actually been to countless times in the past. He then proceeded to tell me about the Los Feliz “Murder House”, or “Murder Mansion” as it is also sometimes called, which I had never before heard of. And, let me tell you, once Mike filled me in on the story of the home I was literally up ALL NIGHT reading articles on the subject and I also immediately ran right out to see the place in person the very next day.

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The story – and it is absolutely fascinating – is as follows . . . On the night of December 6, 1959, Dr. Harold Perelson, a wealthy Inglewood heart specialist, bludgeoned his wife, Lillian, to death with a ball-peen hammer and severely beat his 18-year-old daughter, Judye, while his other two children slept soundly in their bedrooms. Judye survived the beating and ran down the hillside to a neighbor’s home at 2471 Glendower Place to call for help. In the meantime, the two younger children awoke and asked their father about the screaming. Harold told them that they had been having a nightmare and to go back to sleep. He then took a cocktail of pills, killing himself instantly. The police arrived shortly thereafter and took all three Perelson children into custody. The mansion was locked up and the children were sent to live with relatives back east. The motive behind the brutal murder/suicide was never completely known, although some speculate that the Perelsons were in financial trouble. But here’s where the story gets weird.

About a year after the murder/suicide, the Perelson’s 5,050-square-foot, Spanish Revival-style mansion was purchased by Emily and Julian Enriquez via a probate auction. And while the couple, who lived in Lincoln Heights at the time, visited the mansion on occasion and even stored some of their possessions there, for reasons that remain unclear they never inhabited the property, nor did they ever move the Perelson’s belongings out! To this day, over five decades later, the mansion remains in almost the exact same state it was in on the night of December 6, 1959! According to a February 6, 2009 Los Angeles Times article written about the case, not only is the Perelson’s furniture still as it was on that evening, but their Christmas gifts remain sitting on the kitchen table, as if someone was interrupted mid-wrap, and their Christmas tree still stands in the living room!! I’m not making this up! Even stranger still is the fact that even though Emily and Julian have since passed away and their son has owned the property since 1994, it still remains in its December 1959 state. The Los Angeles Times article reports that numerous buyers have contacted Rudy wanting to purchase the home, but that, for whatever reason, he refuses to sell.

The mansion, which was built in 1925 and was quite beautiful in its day, boasts four master bedrooms, three bathrooms, a conservatory, maid’s quarters, a 20-foot by 36-foot ballroom, sweeping views of Los Angeles, and sits on over half an acre of land. Sadly though, the house has fallen into severe disrepair during the past fifty-plus years that it has remained vacant. As you can see in the above photographs, the driveway is severely cracked and the mailbox is almost completely toppled over. Neighbors do what they can to keep the grounds in order and a burglar alarm has recently been installed to keep trespassers out, but other than that the house remains frozen in time and most believe that it will eventually have to be torn down. Ron Shinkman, of The Irony Supplement Blog, wrote a very interesting post on the Perelson mansion back in early 2009 and actually managed to snap a few photographs of the interior of the property, in which some of the Perelson’s former furniture and even one of the children’s former board games are visible. Personally I think there has to be something more to the story and that perhaps the Enriquez family knew the Perelsons and had a personal reason for leaving the house in its 1959 state, but the truth of the matter is that we will most likely never know the whole story.

Another famous property, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Ennis house, is located directly behind the Perelson mansion and is denoted with the pink arrow in the above photograph. The house, which I have yet to blog about, is one of the most famous properties in the entire world, architecturally speaking, and has appeared in such films as 1959’s House on Haunted Hill, The Day of the Locust, Blade Runner, and Rush Hour.

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for telling me about this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The former Perelson mansion, aka the “Los Feliz Murder House”, is located at 2475 Glendower Place, just off of Glendower Avenue, in Los Feliz. Donna Martin’s house from the first season of Beverly Hills, 90210 is located at 2405 Glendower Avenue and the Ennis house is located at 2607 Glendower Avenue.

January 26, 2011
Donna Martin’s House from the B.Y.O.B. Episode of “Beverly Hills, 90210”

One location that I have been wanting to stalk for just about as long as I can remember now is the mansion where Donna Martin (aka Tori Spelling) lived in the Season 1 episode of fave show Beverly Hills, 90210 titled “B.Y.O.B”. For whatever reason, though, I could just NOT seem to track the place down. Over the past few months I had managed to contact a few of the crew members who had worked on the episode and even a few of the actors who had appeared in it, all of whom told me that they did not recognize the screen capture of the house that I had sent them and that the property where filming took place was located somewhere in the Valley. One of the crew members also told me that he was 99.9% certain that the establishing shot of the mansion which appeared in the episode had been a stock photograph and that no actual filming had taken place there. This news pained me to hear as, because stock photographs are most often purchased from stock location libraries, it meant that the chances of tracking the place down were slim to none. So, imagine my surprise last Friday when I received a tweet from Geoff, from the 90210locations website, informing me that he had somehow managed to find the mansion! Let me tell you, I just about died of excitement and dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out to stalk the place the very next day! Thank you, Geoff!!

Sadly, while I am VERY happy to report that the mansion still looks almost EXACTLY the same today as it did when it appeared on Beverly Hills, 90210 over two decades ago, the property is gated and is not very visible from the street. The house, which was originally built in 1926, is definitely beautiful, though, and absolutely GINORMOUS! In real life, it boasts 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and 8,260 square feet of living space.

As fate would have it, when Mike, from MovieShotsLA, went to stalk the home later that very same day, the gate happened to be open and he was able to take the above photograph which matches the screen capture from the “B.Y.O.B.” episode perfectly! So incredibly cool!

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The mansion pictured above was actually only used as Donna’s residence in the “B.Y.O.B.” episode of Beverly Hills, 90210. In later episodes, two different properties stood in for her home – one located at 18515 Wells Drive in Encino, which I blogged about back in November of 2008, and another located at 1060 Brooklawn Drive in Bel Air, which in real life is owned by Barron Hilton, Paris’ grandfather, and which was also used as the Colby mansion on the television series The Colbys. In the “B.Y.O.B” episode, Donna throws a massive party at the mansion while her parents are out of town, during which Steve Sanders (aka Ian Ziering) spikes Brandon Walsh’s (aka Jason Priestley’s) drink – aka his “mucho ‘mahvelous’ mango margarita”.

As I mentioned above though, all of the actual filming of “B.Y.O.B.” took place at a different residence (pictured above), which, according to all of the crew members and actors that I spoke with, is located somewhere in the Valley, most likely Encino.

While I was scanning through the “B.Y.O.B” episode to make screen captures for today’s post, I noticed something a bit coincidental. In the scene in which Brenda Walsh (aka my girl Shannen Doherty) spots her brother Brandon standing in Donna’s backyard, a green awning-type structure is visible in the background.

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Well, as it just so happens, there is a very similar looking – and very similarly situated – green awning-type structure in the backyard of the home located at 18515 Wells Drive in Encino, the very same dwelling which stood in for the Martin residence during the later years of the show. The brick patio flooring of the Wells Drive home also matches that of the home from “B.Y.O.B”. Wouldn’t it be ironic if the property used as Donna’s house in the “B.Y.O.B.” episode from Season 1 was the very same property which ended up being used as her home nine years later during Seasons 9 and 10? Without more close-up images of the backyard, it is impossible to tell either way, but nevertheless I found the whole thing very interesting!

Big THANK YOU to Geoff, from 90210Locations, for finding this location and to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for snapping the incredible photograph of it which appears in this post!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Donna Martin’s house from the first season of Beverly Hills, 90210 is located at 2405 Glendower Avenue in Los Feliz.

January 25, 2011
Hanging Out at the Rehearsals for the Golden Globe Awards

Two Saturdays ago, as the Grim Cheaper and I were heading out to Santa Monica to run some errands, I got a text message from fellow stalker Lavonna reminding me that the Golden Globe Awards were being held the following evening at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills. Lavonna suggested that I stop by the hotel to see if anything exciting was going on and thankfully the GC didn’t object, so we immediately drove right on over there. And, let me tell you, it could not have been more exciting! Had I known what was in store for me that day, I never would have been able to sleep the night before!

We arrived at the Hilton to pretty much mass chaos. Both the hotel’s front and back entrances were completely shut down and production trucks and set workers were absolutely EVERYWHERE!

There were also huge tents set up on the outskirts of the hotel property. The tent pictured above, which was situated across the street from the hotel in the parking lot of the now-defunct Robinsons-May department store, was for the Fox Searchlight Golden Globes After Party.



The Beverly Hilton Hotel is actually closed to the public on both the day before and the day of the Golden Globes ceremony and because security around the hotel was extremely tight, I did not think we would be able to get inside. The stalking gods were DEFINITELY shining on me when we showed up to stalk the place, though, because miraculously – and thanks to a very big connection my dad has at the hotel – we were allowed in! I literally could NOT believe it! The farther we ventured inside, the more often I kept turning back to look at the GC, my mouth hanging open in absolute shock.

Before being allowed inside, I was not sure if there would be all that much to see or if any celebrities would even be on the premises, but, as it turns out, rehearsals for the ceremony were taking place in the hotel’s International Ballroom. A small section of the Hilton’s lobby had been cordoned off and hotel guests were allowed to stand in that area for meet and greets with all of the celebrities who ventured past. Well, as you can imagine I just about DIED upon finding that out and parked myself in that area for the next eight hours. I’m not kidding! (Pictured above is the back of Carson Daly, who was the first celeb to walk by after I got there. He was not at all friendly, though, and did not stop for photos or to sign autographs.)

As it turns out, the Hilton offers a very special – and very pricey – Golden Globes Package each year, which, besides the rehearsal-meet-and-greet, also includes a two-night stay at the hotel, a Golden Globes gift bag complete with an autograph book, a sit-down breakfast and box lunch the day of the ceremony, and – are you sitting down for this??? – two VIP bleacher seats on the actual Golden Globes’ red carpet!   Oh, what I wouldn’t give to purchase that package! Because it costs between $3,000 and $3,900, though, I seriously doubt that is ever going to happen! Pictured above is the room key that Golden Globes Package guests receive upon check-in. So incredibly cool! All of the people situated in the meet-and-greet area were Golden Globe Package guests and I spent the entire day hanging out with them, while the GC parked himself in the hotel’s lobby bar to watch the football game on TV. I cannot tell you how much fun it was to spend the day waiting around to see stars with like-minded, celebrity-obsessed people. I had an ABSOLUTE BLAST and met some very cool fellow stalkers in the process!

After Carson Daly, the next celeb to walk by was E! News’ Giuliana Rancic, who was running late for a hair appointment and therefore could not stop to pose for pictures with any of us. She did seem very friendly, though, and apologized several times for not being able to stop. After Guiliana, there was a steady stream of celebrities who filtered through the lobby the entire rest of the day. It was a virtual movie star parade and, as you can imagine, I was in ABSOLUTE HEAVEN!

Next up was Kelly Osbourne, who is absolutely ADORABLE in person. I LOVED the little bow she had tied in her hair. SO INCREDIBLY CUTE! Kelly is also VERY thin. I’m talking TEENY, TEENY TINY! Far smaller than she appears to be on E!’s Fashion Police.

Kelly stopped to pose and sign autographs with every single person who was there, including me, which I was beyond thrilled about!

The star I was most excited about seeing, though, was Leighton Meester, whom I absolutely ADORE on Gossip Girl. I had so badly wanted to get a photograph with Leighton back in October of 2009, when I saw Gossip Girl being filmed while on vacation in New York, but that sadly did not happen. So I was BEYOND excited when she stopped to pose at the Hilton. YAY!

I had read in the January 2011 issue of Allure Magazine, for which Leighton was the cover girl, that the actress was just about as far removed from her Gossip Girl persona Blair Waldorf as one could possibly be. According to the editors of the beauty mag, not only did Leighton introduce herself to each member of the crew when she arrived for the shoot, but she also thanked each of the crew members individually upon leaving. And I have to say that my experience with her was much the same. Leighton was incredibly friendly, warm, personable, and down-to-earth. She stayed in the lobby a really long time in order to get a photograph with everyone who wanted one. She was a total and complete sweetheart and, after meeting her, I can honestly say that I love her even more now than I did before. Some celebrities wind up being a rather large disappointment when you meet or see them in person, but I am very happy to report that that was definitely not the case with Leighton.

Not all of the stars who present awards at the Golden Globes actually show up for a rehearsal. A lot of celebrities have stand-ins who rehearse for them, as was the case with Steve Carell whose stand-in is pictured above. I love that the stand-ins had to wear their celeb’s name-tag around their neck. Too funny!

Other stars who were in attendance that day included Modern Family’s Julie Bowen, who sadly only had time to sign a few autographs as she was running late for a birthday party for one of her son’s friends;



Olivia Wilde, aka “Thirteen” from House, M.D., who despite having no make-up on looked absolutely stunning;





Academy Award winner Tilda Swinton, who actually seemed a bit aloof;

Home and Away and Star Trek star Chris Hemsworth, whose arms were literally the size of both of my thighs put together – I honestly do not think I have ever seen arms that muscular before in my entire life;

Hailee Steinfeld, whom I absolutely LOVE, mostly because she recently spoke out about getting majorly snubbed by super-diva Lea Michele while on the Paramount lot auditioning for True Grit;

TRON: Legacy star Garrett Hedlund, who was INCREDIBLY sweet;

and pop star Justin Bieber, whom I unfortunately did not get a good photograph of because he was ushered out of the lobby at lightning speed by his massive bodyguards. You can just barely see him in the above picture – he is wearing the white shirt and beaded necklace and is carrying a cell phone in his hand. Justin was SUPER cute in person, but a lot tinier than I had expected.

At around 6 p.m., most of my fellow stalkers started to pack up to leave as the only star left who was set to rehearse that day was Megan Fox and none of us were really interested in seeing her. I actually started to pack up my belongings, as well, but then a thought occurred to me – Brian Austin Green just might be accompanying Megan that night as the two of them seem to do just about everything together and if I could have gotten a photograph of him, but didn’t, I would ALWAYS regret it later. So, while everyone else went back to their rooms, the GC and I stuck around the lobby. And I am SO glad we did because about fifteen minutes later who should walk in but comedienne Loni Love, whom I absolutely – pardon the pun – LOVE. Loni is a frequent round-table guest on fave show Chelsea Lately and she is absolutely HILARIOUS!   As soon as I spotted Loni, I gasped and said loudly to the GC, “OH MY GOD, it’s Loni Love!” Well, Loni heard me say this and looked over and smiled. I pointed to her and then to myself and mimed taking a picture with my hands and she IMMEDIATELY walked right on over to snap a photo with me! Loni was so incredibly nice and had a very warm personality and was easily one of my favorite people I met all day. It was especially exciting because my dad is also a HUGE fan of hers.

I also got a picture with Brad Wollack and Sarah Colonna who are also frequent guests on Chelsea Lately and both of whom were VERY nice.

Then, just as I turned to the GC and said, “I wish Ross Mathews was here!”, who should walk through the lobby doors but Ross himself and I just about had a heart attack! When Ross saw that we were looking at him, he immediately called us over and spent a good five minutes talking with us about the Golden Globes and which celebs we had seen that day. Ross is INCREDIBLY down to earth and the whole time we were talking to him, it felt as if we were speaking with an old friend – a celeb-obsessed old friend, of course. Ross is also incredibly bubbly and REALLY funny. I absolutely love, love, LOVE him. Even more so now than I did before.   And about three hours after we took the above photograph, Ross happened to walk by the GC and me once again and stopped to say hello and asked if we had seen any other celebs since we had spoken to him last. SUCH an incredibly nice guy.

Ross, Sarah, Brad, and Loni were all at the Hilton to rehearse for the LIVE on E! Golden Globes After Show, the set of which is pictured above.

Then, right at 7 p.m., Megan Fox walked through the doors of the lobby, followed by none other than David Silver himself, Brian Austin Green! And let me tell you, I could NOT have been more excited!

And while I let Megan walk right by, I called out to Brian and asked him to take a photograph with me, which he did. Brian was REALLY nice and when I told him how much I had loved 90210 he thanked me. It was literally the perfect end to a perfect day! Sigh!

After getting my photograph with Brian, the GC and I headed downstairs to the hotel’s legendary Trader Vic’s restaurant – which I will be blogging about later – to grab a bite to eat.   The restaurant was undergoing preparations for the following night’s HBO After Party so I just had to pose celeb-style in front of the backdrop that was being set up.

On our way out the door, after spotting director Oliver Stone whom we did not get a photograph of, I posed for a picture in front of the CNN and Inside Edition portions of the Golden Globes’ red carpet. You can see how blindingly bright the red carpet lights were in the above photographs. It was about 9 at night when those pictures were taken!

And I also just had to snap a pic in the back of the hotel, where another red carpet had been set up. Love it! All in all, it was a magical day and I can’t wait to do it all again next year! That is, if I can get past the front door.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Lavonna for reminding me about the Golden Globe Awards and suggesting that I stalk the Beverly Hilton that day!   You rock, my friend!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Beverly Hilton Hotel, where the Golden Globe Awards are held each year, is located at 9876 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. You can visit the hotel’s official website here. For more information about the Golden Globes Package, you can contact the hotel directly.

January 24, 2011