Tag: Celebrities

Oscar Weekend 2009!
Oh, how I love the smell of Awards Season in the morning! And let me tell you – this was the Academy Awards Weekend to end all Academy Awards Weekends for me! I had the absolute time of my life!!!!!!!!!!! It was so incredible that I am still pinching myself today. Bright and early Saturday morning I dragged my boyfriend out to Hollywood and Highland Mall to stalk Oscar’s red carpet and we didn’t make it home until after 3am the following morning. AND I still cannot believe this but we saw 128 stars! YES you read that right – ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-EIGHT MOVIE STARS! There were so many stars out and about that at times I didn’t know which way to look. My boyfriend said he thought my head was about to explode. LOL I almost feel like I should just throw in my stalking towel now as it just doesn’t get any better than this weekend – but don’t worry, I won’t! 🙂

Our first stop on Saturday morning was the Kodak Theatre where we got to check out the most famous carpet in the world. Although I have done this for three years in a row now, I don’t think I will ever get tired of it! For someone who grew up so far away from the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, to get to be that close to the Academy Awards red carpet is a dream come true. It’s almost surreal. And I LOVE every minute of it! I can’t wait for the day when I am walking down that red carpet for real. 🙂 A few of the pics I took at the Kodak:

Although the Oscar set-up was beautiful, as always, for some reason this year they had the red carpet area blocked off and fans could not walk across it. 🙁 Such a bummer! If you’ll notice in the above pics the carpet is completely tarped in plastic during the set-up, so that the hundreds of crew members traipsing across it don’t ruin it.

I was stoked to see a little champage stand set up alongside the red carpet, since champagne is my favorite drink – and it was my girl Marilyn Monroe’s, too. 🙂 How cool to be able to grab a glass of champagne, while making your way down the red carpet! LOVE IT! 🙂

Mr. Oscar looking pretty drab outside the Kodak – notice the blemishes on his arms. LOL

What they don’t show you on TV! LOL The ugly road closures and chain link fences at the start of the red carpet.

The massive press bridge built over Hollywood Boulevard

What the red carpet looks like from Hollywood Boulevard.

After stalking the red carpet, I dragged my boyfried out to do some stalking of the blue carpet at the Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica – and, yes, the carpet there really is blue! Much more relaxed than the Oscars, the Spirit Awards are held each year under a plastic tent that is set up in a public parking lot next to the beach in Santa Monica. We showed up just as the awards were ending this year and got to see a whole slew of celebs walking the short half-block from the show to the after-party. And, let me tell you, it was absolute pandemonium! There were about a million paparazzi and fans alike swarming the stars as they made their way to the Shutters Hotel where the afterparty was being held. You can see in the above pics the massive amount of paps that were on the scene. It was insane!!! While there we saw . . .

Rosie Perez

Mad Men star John Hamm and his girlfriend Jennifer Westfeldt. They were super nice and stopped to take pictures with every fan who asked!

Elisabeth Rohn from Law and Order – she seemed very sweet. 🙂

A very heavily made up Teri Hatcher – you can just barely see her in the above pic. She is standing behind the guy in the suit. As soon as she drove up, the paps went ABSOLUTELY NUTS and completely surrounded her, so I wasn’t able to get a very good pic. 🙁

The Office’s Rainn Wilson

Elisha Dushku (who you can just barely see in the above pics)

Ron Livingston (aka SATC’s Jack Berger) who looked to have just been in an accident of some sort. Ugh, it broke my heart to see him like that! 🙁 Poor Berger!

Film critic Leonard Maltin

And this guy who the paps and fans went absolutely CRAZY for – like so crazy I thought it might be Brad Pitt pulling up! – but I have no idea who he is!!!! LOL Does anyone recognize him?

And, finally, this actor who I am sad to say I also didn’t recognize. 🙁 Does anyone know who he is?

After stalking the Spirit Awards, I dragged my boyfriend from one end of L.A. to the other, hotel and bar hopping. There were Oscar parties galore going on literally every hundred feet or so and the celebs were out in full force! And I just about died over two celeb run-ins that I had. My personal fave was when my girl Jen Aniston came up and stood about two feet away from me for a good six minutes. Unfortunately we were inside a hotel at the time, and no hotels were allowing any sort of pictures to be taken last night. But even though I didn’t get to snap a pic of her, I was still in heaven. Jen looked A-MA-ZING! I’ve seen Jen in person on two other occasions and I have to say this was the best I’ve ever seen her. She seemed very healthy and happy. Forty years old suits her. 🙂 She is just so freaking adorable I can’t stand it! And she has the best laugh ever – it’s this huge guffaw that fills the whole room. And she was doing a lot of laughing last night. Needless to say I was mesmerized! 🙂

A bit earlier in the evening I just happened to spot Ginnifer Goodwin who stars in my favorite movie as of late He’s Just Not That Into You. She was the only celeb I saw yesterday that I just HAD to go up to. In a situation like yesterday, where there are tons of celebs around and hotels aren’t allowing photographs, I am very content to just sit and observe their comings and goings. Sort of like being in a celebrity zoo. LOL But when Ginnifer Goodwin walked by, I just couldn’t help myself! So I walked up to her and told her how amazing she was in He’s Just Not That Into You and how I absolutely loved the movie. And she was SO SWEET! She thanked me for coming up to her, shook my hand, and introduced herself. I just about died. She is completely adorable in person, too! I mean, does it get any better than that??

But I’d have to say that THE most exciting part of the night for me was when I got recognized! Yes, I got recognized!!!!! While I was eating dinner last night a lady came up to me and asked if I was the “I Am Not A Stalker Girl”! I am not kidding!!!! Someone actually recognized me and I just about died! I think I was more excited about that than the fact that Nicole Kidman was eating just a few tables away. LOL I’m always amazed to hear that people actually read my blog, as most of my loved ones just barely tolerate my stalking addiction. So the fact that there are people that actually care what I have to say is AMAZING! It’s nice to know that there really are other people like me out there. 🙂 My fan (and new best friend! LOL ) introduced me to her friends and one of them asked me how my dad was doing! I was like “Wow, you guys really do read my blog!” LOL They were the NICEST group of ladies, but unfortunately they live in another state – otherwise I think we’d all make a great stalking team! 🙂 When I woke up this morning I really had to think for a minute to be sure that that part of my evening wasn’t just a dream. LOL

Anyway, without further ado, here is the list of stars I saw in and around Hollywood on Saturday:
1. Nicole Kidman
2. La Toya Jackson – my boyfriend and I kept going back and forth as to whether it was La Toya or Janet. LOL
3. Mickey Rourke
4. Robin Wright Penn
5. Olivia Wilde
6. Sarah Silverman
7. Seth Rogan
8. Dax Shepard
9. Kristen Bell
10. Topher Grace
11. Dennis Leary
12. Amy Adams
13. Darren Le Gallo
14. Jason Bateman
15. Amanda Anka
16. Josh Radnor
17. Lindsay Price
18. Forest Whitaker
19. Zach Braff
20. Kevin Connolly – said hi to me as he walked by 🙂
21. Molly Sims
22. Chace Crawford
23. Deborah Messing – super pretty in person
24. Amy Poehler
25. Will Arnett
26. Tina Fey – sooooo short and tiny
27. Eric McCormack
28. Neil Patrick Harris
29. Kristin Davis – said “Hi” as she walked by and I was floored to see that she walked with a little bounce JUST LIKE Charlotte does on SATC!
30. Aaron Eckhart
31. Holly Robinson Peete
32. Rodney Peete (NFL)
33. Gwen Stefani – absolutely stunning in person!
34. Christian Siriano (Project Runway winner)
35. Elle Macpherson
36. Nikki Hilton
37. Christopher Walken
38. Ben Stiller
39. Christine Taylor
40. Laura Dern
41. Tobey Macguire
42. Jennifer Meyer
43. Kimora Lee Simmons
44. Djimon Hounsou (Kimora Lee Simmon’s baby daddy)
45. Victor Garber
46. Kathy Hilton
47. Jessica Alba – had the coolest red sequin shoes on! and she made my boyfriend practically drool!
48. Kerry Washington
49. Leo!!! – I can finally, finally cross Leo off my must-see celebrity list. SIGH! 🙂
50. Breckin Meyer
51. Rachel Bilson
52. Adam Rodriquez
53. Michael Chiklis
54. Andy MacDowell
55. Debra Winger
56. Sally Field
57. Ron Livingston (Jack Berger on SATC)
58. Tim Allen
59. James Marsden
60. William Shatner
61. Eddie Murphy
62. Kate Bosworth
63. Anne Hathaway
64. Christine Ricci
65. James Caan
66. Robert De Niro
67. Bill Maher – with his twelve year old looking girlfriend
68. Wentworth Miller
69. Michael Buble (sigh!) – such a cutie in person! I was practically swooning! 🙂
70. Josh Hartnett
71. Ellen Pompeo
72. Ellen Pompeo’s husband Chris Ivery
73. Jack Black
74. Tanya Haden (Jack Black’s wife – she’s a model)
75. Alyssa Milano
76. Michelle Monaghan (from The Best Man and Eagle Eye)
77. Chris Pine
78. Ron Howard
79. Josh Brolin
80. Diane Lane
81. Kathy Najimy
82. Michael Moore – just as unattractive in person as he appears in his movies
83. Chris Rock
84. Jenna Fisher
85. Heather Locklear
86. Jennifer Aniston
87. Josh Duhamel
88. Bridget Moynahan
89. Elton John
90. Steven Spielberg – thanks to a red fedora he looked like a total douchebag! LOL
91. Kate Capshaw
92. Hugh Laurie
93. Cameron Diaz
94. Brian Grazer
95. Stacy Keibler
96. Geoff Stults
97. Bradley Cooper
98. Whoopi Goldberg
99. Shirley MacLaine
100. Ginnifer Goodwin
101. Elisha Cuthbert
102. Fred Savage – looked really old!
103. Frances Fisher
104. Richard Jenkins
105. Melissa Leo
106. Taraji P. Henson
107. Claire Danes
108. Hugh Dancy
109. Josh Grobin
110. Prince Frederick von Anhalt (Zsa Zsa Gabor’s ex)
111. Steven Baldwin
112. Dule Hill
113. Kiersten Warren (At least I think it was her!)
114. Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire star)
115. Anil Kapoor (Slumdog Millionaire star)
116. Kirk Kerkorkian
117. Ralph Lauren
118. Valentino Garavano
119. Terri Hatcher
120. Elisabeth Rohn (D.A. from Law and Order)
121. Rosie Perez
122. John Hamm
123. Jennifer Westfeldt (star of Kissing Jessica Stein)
124. Michael Bolton
125. Leonard Maltin (movie critic)
126. Elisha Dushku
127. Dustin Lance Black (Academy Award and Independent Spirit Award winner for Milk screenplay)
128. Rainn Wilson
There were just so many that I am sure I forgot some of them somewhere along the way! LOL All in all an absolutely AMAZING DAY! And I can’t wait to do it again next year!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: I stalked so many hotels and bars this Oscar Weekend, that there are far too many to list here. For a detailed list of places to go to see movie stars, check out this blog post. The Spirit Awards are held the Saturday before the Oscars each year on the beach in Santa Monica just South of Shutters Hotel.
February 23, 2009
How To Spot a Movie Star!

Because so many of you have been asking lately, and in honor of the upcoming Oscar Weekend, I thought I’d do a post today on the best places to go in L.A. to see a star.   But first let me start by saying that if your sole purpose in visiting L.A. is to see celebs – and let’s be honest, what other reason is there? 🙂 – the very best time of year to plan your trip is Oscar Weekend. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – Hollywood comes alive for the Oscars. I swear it’s like celebrities come out of the woodwork during that time of year and everyone who’s anyone is here. Last year this fellow stalker took my Oscar Weekend advice (you can read that advice – Part I and Part II –  here) and saw 68 celebs – yes, she counted. 🙂 But if you can’t make it to L.A. this weekend – have no fear! I have advice for the other 51 weeks of the year, too! So where is the best place to go to see a movie star? The answer to that question is actually quite simple. It’s two words, really.   Hotel bars!   Or hotels in general for that matter – hotel lobbies, bars, restaurants – they’ll all do. A few years ago I realized that for whatever reason, almost every single time I visited a hotel restaurant or bar in the Hollywood/West Hollywood/Beverly Hills area I spotted someone famous. So now I’ve pretty much made a habit out of stalking hotel bars. And there are quite a few that stand out in my mind as celeb magnets.

So, without further ado, here is my list of must-stalk hotels (in no particular order, except for the last one):

1. Hollywood Renaissance Hotel – 1755 North Highland Boulevard in Hollywood. I’ve spotted Nikki Blonsky and Will Smith on different visits to this Hollywood hotel. The lobby was also featured in the movie Red Eye. The lobby bar is located just to the right of the main entrance.

2. The Mondrian Hotel – 8440 Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood. This is one of my favorite hotels in all of Los Angeles. The staff is always warm and friendly and the views from the pool and the hotel’s Asia De Cuba restaurant are to die for! I’ve spotted both Victoria Beckam and Spike Lee at the Mondrian. Britney Spears had one of her meltdowns during her shaved head period at the Mondrian’s pool. Pictured above is me standing with all of the paparazzi waiting to see Victoria Beckham a few years ago. 🙂 I’m the one poking my head out behind the guy in the blue blazer.

3. The Regent Beverly Wilshire – 9500 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. Besides being the hotel where Pretty Woman was filmed, the Regent Beverly Wilshire also hosts the Night Before the Night Before Party each year during Oscar weekend. I also spotted Jake Gyllenhaal in the hotel’s lobby one random Friday afternoon. And Spencer and Heidi are big fans of the restaurant Cut located inside the hotel.

4. Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel – 7000 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood. I’ve blogged about this hotel numerous times before as it is so steeped in Hollywood history. Almost every celebrity in history has been spotted at this hotel. Marilyn Monroe and Montgomery Clift used to live there and today celebs like Lauren Conrad and Nicole Richie hang out by the Tropicana Bar at the hotel’s pool.  I even got to meet Kristin Cavallari once while hanging out at the Tropicana.

5. Sunset Tower Hotel – 8358 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Another of my favorite L.A. hotels. Both the Tower Bar and the Terrace Room boast A-MA-ZING views and serve up some great cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. I met Kate Bosworth on one of my visits to the Terrace Room and both Jen Aniston and Kevin Spacey are regulars at the Tower Bar. I really can’t recommend this place enough!

6. Raffles L’Ermitage – 9291 Burton Way in Beverly Hills. This is the place where Brenda and Dylan shared their first kiss on the original 90210 series, so of course it holds a special place in my heart. 🙂 I’ve heard that seeing a celeb at the hotel’s Writer’s Bar (where scripts of legendary movies line the walls) is pretty much a sure thing. While I was stalking the hotel I spotted James Woods who supposedly lives there.

7. Beverly Hills Hotel – 9641 Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills. This hotel hosts the Night Before Party every year during Oscar Weekend. And I almost always spot a celeb at the hotel’s legendary Polo Lounge Restaurant.   While there I’ve seen Paris Hilton (first picture of this post), Rob Reiner, Elle Macpherson, and Reese Witherspoon. It’s one of my favorite bars in all of L.A. It’s pricey, but so worth it!

8. Beverly Hilton Hotel – 9876 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. This hotel plays hosts to OVER 200!!!!! celebrity events and awards show parties each year, including the annual Clive Davis Pre-Grammy Party. There is an event there pretty much every Saturday night and you can literally just park yourself in the lobby bar, order up a few champagnes, and enjoy your perfect view of celebrity arrivals through the front door.

9. Viceroy Santa Monica- 1819 Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica. Celebs LOVE this ultra-modern avant-garde hotel, especially Britney Spears and LLo who are regulars. Kate Beckinsale has also been spotted here.

10. Casa Del Mar -1910 Ocean Way in Santa Monica.  Once while grabbing a drink at this seaside hotel, I spotted my girl Jen Aniston, Vince Vaughn, Joey Lauren Adams, and Jon Favreau who were all there doing publicity for The Break Up. Katie Holmes, Mandy Moore, Britney Spears and KFed have all stayed at the hotel at one time or another.  Casa Del Mar is very historic and very upscale and it’s centralized lobby bar is situated in the perfect location for viewing the many celebs who enter the front door. Shutters Hotel located right next door to Casa Del Mar is also a notorius celeb hangout. The above pics were taken with my camera phone the day we saw Jen. The first pic is of me standing with the paps outside Casa Del Mar and the second is of Jen getting into her waiting car.   You can’t really tell, but I am wearing my Team Aniston sweatshirt in the pics – when Jen saw it she pointed and said “Oh, thank you!” lol

11. Chateau Marmont – 8221 W. Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood. A list of celebrity hotspots would not be complete without at least a mention of the famed Chateau Marmont. The problem is I hate this place! The staff is pretentious and snooty and if you aren’t a celeb, they pretty much treat you like dirt. Which I’m sure is one of the reasons stars like the place so much. LOL COUNTLESS celebs have visited this hotel including Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan (who used to live there), Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, Ginnifer Goodwin, the late Heath Ledger and his wife Michelle Williams, etc., etc., etc. But if you happen to spot a celeb while visiting the Chateau DON’T EVEN THINK of going up to them or snapping their pic (no cameras of any kind are even allowed in the hotel! I’m not kidding). Which is, again, probably why celebs love the place so much – and why stalkers hate it. 🙂

It is at this point that I realize my list of hotels could go on and on. Why? Because looking back on my eight years of living in L.A. I can hardly think of a time I visited an upscale hotel and didn’t spot a celeb. You really can’t go wrong with any hotel you choose. What can I say – celebs love ’em. And why not? If I was rich and famous I’d be constantly staying in hotels, too. Who wouldn’t want daily turn down service and a nightly pillow mint? 🙂

Restaurants can also be good places to see celebs, but I’ve always had better stalking luck at hotels. If you want to try your hand at a restaurant, though, these are the ones I’d recommend: Marix Tex Mex Cafe (a Jen Aniston favorite located at 1108 N. Flores Street in West Hollywood – she sits on the patio), The Ivy (THE celeb stalking restaurant located at 113 North Robertson Blvd. in Beverly Hills – every celeb and their mother has dined here), Ago (the Robert Dinero owned Italian restaurant where Quentin Tarantino once punched out his dinner mate located at 8478 Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood), Nobu (another Jen Aniston – and every other celebrity – favorite located at 3835 Cross Creek Road in Malibu), Katsuya ( a celeb fave sushi spot located at 11777 San Vicente Blvd. #120 in Los Angeles), Orso (Simon Cowell’s favorite located at 8706 West 3rd Street in Los Angeles), Il Sole (Jen’s absolute fave and notorius celeb hot spot located at 8730 Sunset Blvd. in West Hollywood), and, finally, Madeo (the celeb restaurant du jour located at 8897 Beverly Boulevard in West Hollywood).

And finally, a few random locations where celebs always seem to congregate: the Brentwood Country Mart shopping center which seems to be Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck’s home away from home; the Santa Monica Farmers Market – an outdoor food bazaar that occurs on Arizona Avenue twice weekly (Wednesday and Saturday mornings) where a lot of celebs buy their produce; Malibu Country Mart – Malibu’s main upscale shopping center; and the place I blogged about on Monday, the Los Angeles Farmers Market. It seems celebs like farmers markets and country marts. 🙂 LOL

My final piece of advice? If you are in the Beverly Hills/Hollywood/West Hollywood area and you see a large group of men standing out in front of a hotel or restaurant, pull over immediately! Those men are paparazzi, which means there is a celeb in the vicinity!! 🙂   I’ve seen quite a few celebs just by spotting the paps. 🙂 And if you are lucky enough to come across one of those yellow signs that I love so much, stop!!! and ask the crew what is being filmed. Most crews are very friendly and will let you on set to watch!

So there it is – my advice on the best places to go celeb-stalking. Just visit a hotel, mill around the lobby a bit, grab a bite to eat or just a cocktail (much cheaper than an entire meal) and sit back and wait for the celebs to arrive. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

February 20, 2009
The “‘Til There Was You” Apartment Building

Another day, another elusive location found thanks to Mike – God of Stalking – over at MovieShotsLA. 🙂 I have been challenged several times over the past few months to find the beautiful courtyard apartment building featured in the 1997 movie ‘Til There Was You. Unfortunately I had never seen the movie before and my local Blockbuster did not carry the title. And according to Amazon.com, the DVD had been discontinued by the manufacturer. So I thought I was really out of luck on this one, as without seeing the movie firsthand I had no idea what I was looking for. Then, a couple of weeks ago, I just happened to mention my quandry to Mike and he set out to find the location. Within about fifteen minutes Mike called me back with an address. Amazing! He had found the location by doing a simple Google search. And all this time I had been trying to find the DVD. But who needs a video or screen captures when you’ve got mad stalking skills like Mike? LOL  🙂

Once Mike had found the location – and once I found out that BOTH my girl Jen Aniston and SJP starred in the movie – I decided to make one last ditch effort to purchase the DVD. And sure enough, I found it on Ebay! The only problem? For sale was a Region 2 DVD, which meant it would only work on European DVD players. LOL  Thank God my boyfriend is good with computers, because somehow he was able to rig my laptop so that I could watch the movie.   So, finally – after about a six month long wait – I got to see ‘Til There Was You.  I must say that the movie was pretty cute. I wouldn’t recommend going through what I did to watch it, but if you happen to see it in a video store, it’s worth a rental. 🙂

The entire premise of ‘Til There Was You centers around the proposed demolition of a Spanish style courtyard apartment building named La Fortuna. In the movie the building has a very romantic quality to it and everyone who sets foot inside of its picturesque courtyard immediately falls in love with it. In real life that apartment building is named El Cabrillo and it is no stranger to the film industry. El Cabrillo was constructed in 1928 by none other than Cecil B. DeMille who needed a place to house his out of town actors. The building was designed by noted architects Arthur and Nina Zwebell, who built numerous Los Angeles courtyard style apartment buildings in the 1920’s, many of which are now on the National Register of Historic Places. Notables who have lived in the building at one time or another include transvetite actress Divine, actress Ann Harding, director Lowell Sherman, makeup artist Perc Westmore, and playwright John Willard.

Besides being featured in ‘Til There Was You, legend has it that El Cabrillo was also used in a Rudolph Valentino movie many moons ago. It is also currently being used as the home of the main character on the television series Chuck. Interestingly enough, Chuck’s pilot episode was actually filmed on location at El Cabrillo. The courtyard area and three different apartments were used for that episode. But once the show got picked up by NBC a replica of the apartments and the courtyard were rebuilt on a soundstage at Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank.

Sadly, El Cabrillo’s gates were closed while I was stalking it, so I did not get to see the interior courtyard area. From the outside El Cabrillo is amazingly non-descript and completely covered in foliage. You could easily drive right past the building without realizing the beauty that lies just on the other side of its gates.

But for those of you who would like an up-close-and-personal look at the building, I have some good news!   A few of the units are currently available as vacation rentals. And it appears from the rental website photographs that El Cabrillo’s interiors are absolutely beautiful!! They actually remind me a lot of the interior of Amanda Peet’s apartment in fave movie A Lot Like Love. In fact the interiors are so similar, that I can’t help but wonder if the A Lot Like Love set was modeled after the interior of a real El Cabrillo apartment (both are pictured above).

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The ‘Til There Was You apartment building, aka El Cabrillo, is located at 1832-1850 North Grace Avenue in Hollywood.

February 18, 2009
Meet Me At 3rd and Fairfax!

My boyfriend has some amazing celebrity karma!   He pretty much sees a movie star of some sort or another everywhere he goes. And for some odd reason it seems his celebrity karma is especially strong when I am not with him. It drives me nuts!!  Just a few of his celeb encounters that I somehow missed – he ate dinner once next to Calista Flockheart and Harrison Ford – and he didn’t even look to see what, if anything, Calista ate!!, he shopped for CD’s right next to Britney Spears at a Circuit City store, he sat next to Julia Louis Dreyfus during an outdoor theatre performance, and, my personal favorite, he stood behind Jennie Garth in line at a deli in San Ysidro. Ugh!!! Not that I am bitter about it or anything.  🙂 But I must say that the place where my boyfriend most often has a celeb sighting – I mean virtually EVERY SINGLE time he is there – is the Los Angeles Farmers Market located at the corner of 3rd and Fairfax (pictured above – that’s me and my good friend Stephanie in the pic).

So the other night, while my mom and I were walking through the Farmers Market after dinner, I told her to keep her eyes peeled for celebs. “Here???” my mom asked me in disbelief pointing to the numerous outdoor tables and metal folding chairs. “Yes!”, I told her. “No, here????” she asked me again. LOL She could not believe that the popular, but by no means upscale or fancy, outdoor market was a celeb hot spot. And wouldn’t you know it, just as we were having this little tete-a-tete, who should we walk by but Scott Caan – star of the Ocean’s 11 movies and son of movie star James Caan!   Due to my thrill over seeing him in person and the flurry over our slighty ill-timed conversation, I got just a bit flustered and immediately walked right into the men’s room which happened to be located straight ahead of me. LOL! I’m not kidding!   After I recovered from walking into the wrong restroom, I just had to ask Scott if he wouldn’t mind taking a pic with me. He was super nice and friendly (even though he is not smiling in the above pic) and said he would be happy to pose for a photo. After I got my pic and Scott walked away, I told my mom who she had just taken a picture of and she just about spazzed out at the fact that it was James Caan’s son. LOL   See what I mean, you’ve gotta keep your eyes open!

The Farmers Market (no apostrophe) was the brainchild of businessmen Roger Dahlhjelm and Fred Beck who in 1934 proposed creating an open air market on a vacant 30 acre parcel of land owned by oil tycoon Earl Bell Gilmore. During its early days local area farmers would pay 50 cents a day to park on Gilmore’s land and sell goods directly out of their trucks.  Those tailgate food stands became enormously popular and it wasn’t long before permanent stalls had to be created and, thus, the Los Angeles Farmers Market was born. Today the Market is an L.A. institution, housing over 70 permanent stalls and shops, employing more than 700 clerks, and serving up over 16 different varieties of native foods to an average of 3 million yearly visitors! Somewhere along the way someone coined the phrase “Meet me at 3rd and Fairfax” and it became almost as famous as the Market itself. 🙂

A few of you have been asking me lately for some information on the best place to spot celebs in L.A. – and I promise to do a post on that subject very soon. But for the time being let me suggest the Farmers Market, which the Los Angeles Times recently called “the number one place in L.A. to spot stars!”   If you are visiting Los Angeles and want to see a movie star, this is definitely one of the top places I’d stalk. 🙂 On a recent trip there I spotted the ENTIRE Wayans Family and on my last visit I saw David Edwards who starred in the Real World: San Francisco!   Also spotted at the Market and at the nearby Grove Shopping Center: my girl Jen Aniston, Jay Leno, Lauren Conrad and Steven Colletti, Jessica Simpson, Rihanna, Mischa Barton and Brandon Davis, Teri Hatcher, Will Ferrell, Drew Barrymore, and (sigh!) Luke Perry. The Market has had some historical brushes with celebrity, too. Supposedly on the morning of September 30, 1955 James Dean ate his last meal there. And legend has it that Walt Disney did some of his original sketches for what would later come to be known as Disneyland while sitting at the Market’s circular tables. Besides being a celeb hang out, the Market has also been featured in a few productions, including Body Double, Stigmata, an episode of Diagnosis Murder, and in the Season One episode of my fave The Hills entitled “Somebody Always Has To Cry”.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Farmer’s Market is located at 6333 West 3rd Street, at the corner of Third and Fairfax, in Los Angeles. I highly recommend eating at DuPars while visiting. Tyra Banks, Teri Garr, and He’s Just Not That Into You author Greg Behrendt are all fans of the 70 year old restaurant. For dinner you just can’t beat their “Beat the Clock” menu – a special menu where everyday between the hours of 4 and 6pm, the hour you arrive is the price you pay for your meal. Yes, that means that if you arrive at 5:30pm, your meal (not including a drink) costs $5.30! And the food is really good! For slightly more money, head on over to Monsieur Marcel – a superb restaurant with great food and even better service.

February 17, 2009
“It Never Rains In Southern California . . . “

As the old Albert Hammond song says “It never rains in Southern California, but girl, don’t they warn ya, it pours man, it pours!” And pour it did almost all last week all over the normally sun drenched landscape of Los Angeles.  While on my way to stalk Burbank’s Handy Grocery Store in the pouring rain this past weekend, I happened to pass right by Walt Disney Studios on Buena Vista Street and was reminded about a story I once heard that seemed quite fitting of the day’s weather.

According to The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book, journalist Peter J. Boyer stated in a Vanity Fair article that Disney is “a place so reviled that even its architecture inspires nasty rumors, such as the apocryphal story that architect Michael Graves arranged the drainage system in the Disney headquarters building [aka the Team Disney building] in such a way that the huge sculpted Seven Dwarfs atop the edifice would seem to be peeing on Disney executives whenever it rained.” LOL So, since it just happened to be raining at the time, I pulled over to see if Boyer’s story had any merit. 🙂 After seeing the Dwarfs in person in the pouring rain, I have to admit that I think the anecdote is somewhat of an urban legend, but it still makes for a great story and hopefully a great blog post. 🙂

Walt Disney built his Burbank studio in 1940 after the enormous financial success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs – the world’s first full length animated feature film.  At the time it was built the 41 acre lot was comprised of four full size soundstages (there are now six), a backlot that included a Western town, a town square, a residential street, and a small pueblo (the entire backlot has since been demolished), and recreation areas for employees which included ping pong tables and a volleyball court. Over the years many productions have been filmed on the historic Disney lot, including That Darn Cat, Something Wicked This Way Comes, The Absent Minded Professor, The Swamp Fox, The Princess Diaries, Eight Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter, Boy Meets World, Home Improvement, Lizzie Maguire, Less Than Perfect, and Mary Poppins. Ironically enough, Mary Poppins was filmed solely indoors, using up all four of the Disney Studio soundstages. Even the Cherry Tree Lane set where the Banks Family lived was built inside of a soundstage. Being a huge Mary Poppins fan myself, I was highly disappointed when I found this out as I had always hoped to one day see Cherry Tree Lane in person. 🙁  On an interesting side note, even though he passed away in 1966, Walt Disney still holds the record for most Academy Awards won by a single person.  In his lifetime, he won a incredible TWENTY-SIX Oscars!

Unfortunately, Disney does not currently offer tours of its studio. : (   But the good news is that the Team Disney building can be viewed from the street outside the studio gates.   If you are a big Disney fan, I highly recommend stalking the exterior of the building as it is very cool to see in person. The Seven Dwarf statues are absolutely HUGE. I was shocked at their size when I saw them in person as pictures simply do not do them justice!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Disney Studios is located at 500 S. Buena Vista Street in Burbank. The Team Disney building, with its Seven Dwarfs facade, can be viewed through the main gate located just around the corner on Alameda Avenue. Unfortunately the studio does not offer tours of its property. 🙁 But for $2,169 (per person!!!!!) you can purchase a 6 day/5 night “Hollywood and the Disneyland Resort” vacation from the Adventures by Disney Vacations company. One of the days consists of a behind the scenes tour of Walt Disney Studios.

February 13, 2009
Quake!

The other night while driving home from the hospital – yes, my dad is in the hospital yet again – I happened to hit a red light at the corner of Green Street and Arroyo Parkway in Pasadena. The light took a really long time to change and while waiting I just happened to gaze off to my left. What I saw almost made me run my car right off the road! LOL Just down the street from me on Green Street, I saw what looked a whole lot like the exterior of Quake Restaurant from the television series Charmed. Even though I never watched Charmed while it was on the air, I have been slightly obsessed with finding Quake’s exterior ever since some Charmed fanatics challenged me to find it this past summer. And let me tell you, it was one difficult location to find!

For Christmas Mike from MovieShotsLA bought me the entire Charmed series on DVD and I just started watching the first season last week. By scrutinizing some screen captures I could tell that the exterior of Quake was not the exterior of a real restaurant. Basically Quake’s entrance consisted of two pillars and an archway that producers spruced up a little by adding some foliage, potted plants, and a sign reading “Quake”. My best guess was that the pillars were the entrance to an apartment building or a commercial driveway of some sort. But trying to find two random pillars in L.A. proved to be quite difficult and to tell you the truth I had no idea even where to begin looking. Due to the vagueness of what was shown on TV, this is one location I had no hope of ever finding. Until Sunday night, that is!

What caught my eye as I drove by Green Street the other night were the twinkle lights covering “Quake’s” archway (pictured above). I’ve probably driven by this location about a hundred times in the past, but in the daylight I never really noticed it. At night, though, the bright twinkle lights caught my eye and triggered something in my mind. I immediately pulled off to the side of the road, snapped a few photographs, and sent them off to Mike. He called me back right away and said that the Green Street location was, indeed, Quake!!!!

It turns out that in real life the exterior of Quake is the entrance to an office building named the Pasadena Livery Building. The lit archway in front leads to a small brick courtyard located at the Livery’s entrance. While the archway and courtyard area are very cute in person, I’m sure it will be pretty disappointing for Charmed fans to find out that in real life Quake is just a nondescript office building that one could easily drive right by without even noticing. LOL I was still SUPER excited to find it, though!!

Now that I can check Quake off my must-find locations list, I can pour all of my stalking attention yet again into finding the ever elusive Girls Just Want to Have Fun apartment . LOL For some reason not even Mike, master stalker, can locate that apartment building. But like I told him the other day, if we can find two pillars and an archway that were used in the filming of a television series over 11 years ago, surely we can find the Girls Just Want To Have Fun apartment!!!! LOL

And it’s definitely true what they say – every cloud does have a silver lining. Because while my dad might have spent all week in the hospital, had I not been driving home from visiting him late at night I never would have discovered Quake. Sometimes you’ve just gotta keep your eyes open to what the universe is trying to show you. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The exterior of the fictional Quake restaurant is really the entrance to the Pasadena Livery Building located at 101 East Green Street in Pasadena.

February 12, 2009
The Friday the 13th Premiere

Hollywood rolled out the black carpet last night (and yes it really was black!) for the world premiere of the new horror film remake Friday the 13th – and amazingly, I got to be a part of it! My good friend Blaze Foster is obsessed with the Friday the 13th movie franchise and wanted someone to accompany him to the premiere so he dragged me along. I have to admit that I am not really into the whole slasher flick genre – I’ve never even seen the original Friday the 13th – but since I had never attended a movie premiere before, I was definitely game. 🙂

Apparently, tickets to movie premieres are quite easy to obtain – a fact I hadn’t realized before yesterday. A website named Gofobo was giving away the Friday the 13th premiere tickets and all fans had to do was print up a ticket, show up across the street from Mann’s Chinese Theatre, and wait in line – a line which was literally about 500 people long! (pictured above) Apparently Friday the 13th has quite a cult following, which I had never realized before yesterday. When we showed up across the street from the theatre at around 4:30pm (the premiere started at 7pm) the line was already wrapped around the block! I told Blaze that I wasn’t sure we would be getting in to see the movie with a crowd that large ahead of us, but Blaze is nothing if not determined. He had his sights set on introducing himself to Michael Bay at the premiere and when Blaze gets an idea in his head, there is absolutely no stopping him. So as we made our way through the line, Blaze made friends with a group of guys at the very front and miraculously they let us stand with them. I was extremely uncomfortable doing this as I am kind of a miss goody two shoes. LOL I don’t really break the rules. But like my girl Marilyn Monroe once said “If I’d observed all the rules, I’d never have got anywhere.” LOL How right she was – by cutting in line not only did we get in to see the movie, but we also got great seats! 🙂

While we were waiting in line, I tried to snap some pics of the red – ahem, I mean black – carpet. Unfortunately, due to the torrential rain plaguing Los Angeles for the past few days, the carpet was actually shortened and completely tented so that the celebs would stay dry while walking the press line. Due to the large plastic tenting, I couldn’t get very good pics of the black carpet, or the hundreds of Jason Voorhees hockey masks that lined it, but you can sort of get an idea of what it looked like in the above pics.

At around 6pm, we were finally led into the theatre. We entered Mann’s Chinese just to the side of the black carpet and did not get to walk through the press line. Bummer! I snapped the above photograph of the press area, but again, due to that darn rain tent, it didn’t come out very well. 🙁 Inside the main lobby of Mann’s Chinese, there were hundreds of popcorn bags and small sodas set out for us – for free, no less. It was awesome! Especially since I am the type of girl who can’t watch a movie without popcorn. 🙂

At a premiere, the fans are usually let into the theatre first, before any of the stars. So after finding our seats, I immediately started looking around the auditorium for celebs. And sure enough, there were plenty. I ran into Jordanna Brewster in the lobby on my way to the restroom (she didn’t seem very friendly) and I saw Dax Shepard in the popcorn line (he was by himself and slightly under-dressed in a hoody and jeans). Blaze got to meet actress Betsy Rue from My Bloody Valentine, Willa Ford, and Wes Craven! But I was most excited when Friday the 13th star (and Rory’s former love interest on Gilmore Girls) Jared Padalecki sat down about ten feet away from us. When the movie started I must say it was absolutely surreal to be watching Jared act onscreen knowing he was sitting just a few feet away. 🙂

After the movie, as we made our way out of the theatre we ran smack dab into Anna Faris – who I absolutely loved in Lost In Translation! I was SO excited to see her in person!!!! Anna was a total sweetheart and posed for a picture with me and gave Blaze a hug! And when she walked by us a few minutes later on Hollywood Boulevard, she stopped to say good-bye to us. See what I mean – total sweetheart! 🙂 She’s also super, super pretty in person.

But the high point of the night for me was when fate stepped in to give my friend Blaze his wish! Right after I took my picture with Anna Faris, Blaze noticed Michael Bay standing off to the side of Mann’s entrance. It was the opportunity Blaze had been hoping for and let me tell you, he took the bull by the horns! He marched right up to Mr. Bay, introduced himself, and told him about his dream of playing Glen Lantz in the new Nightmare on Elm Street movie! Michael was extremely receptive and talked to Blaze for a few minutes and then shook his hand. I couldn’t even believe it! Never in a million years could I have walked up to MICHAEL BAY and PITCHED MYSELF for an upcoming movie role! LOL But perhaps that is why Blaze has acted in a Jodie Foster movie and I haven’t. LOL In the above photo Michael Bay is the man wearing a white jacket and a blue shirt. And as a perfect end to our Hollywood evening, we saw Kevin James from King of Queens while driving out of the Hollywood & Highland parking lot. 🙂

We had such a blast at the Friday the 13th premiere. If you have yet to attend a movie premiere and are at all into celebrities and movies, I highly recommend you go to one! Oh and as for the movie – I actually liked it. I was thoroughly entertained – and scared out of my wits – the whole time. I was confused at the movie’s premise, though, as I really felt there wasn’t a point to it. But Blaze enlightened me to the fact that slasher flicks don’t ever have a point. LOL 🙂 If you are at all a fan of the horror genre, I highly recommend going to see the new Friday the 13th.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Mann’s Chinese Theatre is located at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard in the heart of Hollywood. You can check out upcoming events and premieres on Mann’s website. The premiere for Watchmen is currently scheduled to take place at Mann’s on March 2 and the premiere for Observe and Report is scheduled for April 6. For your best bet at getting tickets to any Hollywood premiere, check Gofobo’s website.

February 11, 2009
Top of the Tower

While there are several restaurants in New York that I LOVE, there is one in particular that stands out far above the rest. That restaurant is named the Top of the Tower and it is located on the 26th floor of the Beekman Tower Hotel. Although the Top of the Tower has been one of my favorite places in all of New York for several years now, I had yet to blog about it because up until a few weeks ago, I didn’t realize it was a filming location – in one of my dad’s favorite movies no less! Two weeks ago, while looking at the Top of the Tower website, I noticed a small section mentioning that it had been used in film and video shoots. So I asked Mike, from MovieShotsLA, to call up the hotel to ask what exactly it had been featured in. For some reason making phone calls like that absolutely terrifies me. I love speaking with people face to face, but phone calls – ugh. Mike, on the other hand, dreads the face to face, but likes making phone calls. LOL What can I say – we make the perfect team. 🙂 So anyway, Mike called up the Beekman Tower for me and found out that among other things, the exterior of the hotel was featured in the Matt Damon flick The Bourne Supremacy. And voila, a blog post was born. 🙂

The landmark art deco style Beekman Tower Hotel was built in 1928 by John Mead Howells. The building’s many ornamental Gothic details were designed by sculptor Rene Chambellan. The building, which was previously named the Panhellenic Tower, was originally built as an affordable apartment complex for recent female college graduates belonging to the Greek, or Panhellenic, system – hence the name. According to the book One Thousand New York Buildings, the Panhellenic instantly became a landmark building as it was “a perfect example of vertical force”. The twenty-six story building housed 400 separate living spaces, a roof solarium with 360 degree sweeping views of Manhattan (that space is now the Top of the Tower restaurant), and a cocktail lounge. Not bad for affordable housing, huh? 🙂 The Greek Alphabet, which was carved just to the left of the building’s entrance, is still visible to this day. In 1964 the Panhellenic was sold to a private company who turned it into a regular apartment building. In the early 90s the building was sold once again and was completely renovated and remodeled and turned into the upscale, all suite Beekman Tower Hotel. You can view some great photographs of the Panhellenic Building here.

The Beekman Tower has had several brushes with celebrity. Katharine Hepburn’s sister was a resident of the Panhellenic Tower in its early years and Ms. Hepburn visited the building frequently. The photo shoot for Jennifer Hudson’s March 2007 cover story for Essence Magazine took place at the Top of the Tower. You can see behind the scenes pics of that photo shoot here. In November of 2008, a party to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Miles Davis “Kind of Blue” album was also held at the Top of the Tower. And as I mentioned earlier, the exterior of the Beekman was used in the filming of The Bourne Supremacy.

I really can’t recommend stalking the Top of the Tower enough! The food is amazing – the mashed potatoes and mushroom risotto are some of the best I’ve ever had! – the art deco ambiance is beautiful, and the service is perfection. But more than anything else, it is the breathtaking views that set this restaurant apart. The Top of the Tower has some of the most amazing views I have ever experienced in my life – especially at night when the city lights make New York extraodinarily spectacular and romantic. If you only have one night to spend in Manhattan, the Top of the Tower is the place I’d spend it.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It:The Beekman Tower Hotel is located at 3 Mitchell Place, at the corner of 1st Avenue and 49th Street, in New York City. You can visit their website here.

February 10, 2009
I Am Just So That Into It!

On Friday night, literally the second my boyfriend got off work, I dragged him right out to see new movie He’s Just Not That Into You. He said afterwards that if he had known it was a two-hour-and-nine-minute-long-movie, he never would have agreed to see it. LOL Needless to say, he just wasn’t that into the movie. But I, on the other hand, was! I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT! LOVE LOVE LOVED IT! I was practically skipping out of the theatre afterwards, with a huge grin on my face, thinking to myself that movies like HJNTIY are the reason I moved to Hollywood. Movies like that make me want to act. 🙂 I’m not aiming to be the next Meryl Streep and I have no desire to be the darling of the independent film circuit – I just want to make people laugh and walk out of that movie theatre with a big ol’ smile on their face. 🙂 That’s the kind of acting I want to do – and HJNTIY is EXACTLY the kind of movie I hope to someday be a part of. So, in case you didn’t get it the first few times – I LOVED THIS MOVIE! 🙂

So, yesterday, after I found one of the movie’s filming locations, I, of course, ran right out to stalk it. 🙂 Although the movie is set in the East Coast city of Baltimore, most of the filming took place – of course – in Los Angeles. Only two weeks of filming actually occured in Baltimore and only four of the HJNTIY actors (Bradley Cooper, Scarlett Johansson, Jennifer Connelly, and Kevin Connolly) made the trip out to the East Coast. The film’s writers, Marc Silverstein and Abby Kohn, decided to set their story in Baltimore because they had never seen it done before. Most romantic comedies are set in either New York or Los Angeles and Marc and Abby were hoping to shake things up a bit. Since Marc had lived in Baltimore for ten years before moving to L.A. to pursue a screenwriting career, he knew the coastal city well and thought it was the perfect choice to set their story.

But since I couldn’t very well run right out to Baltimore to stalk HJNTIY, I decided to try to find some of the movie’s West Coast locations. I really wanted to stalk the coffee shop where Drew Barrymore met Kevin Connolly towards the end of the movie, but I struck out on that one. Instead, after a bit of Googling, I happened to find these paparazzi photos of Scarlett Johansson and Bradley Cooper filming a scene at a grocery store in Burbank. From there it was just a matter of finding the right grocery store. And sure enough, I did! 🙂

In real life the grocery store is called Handy Market and it is a very cute and very tiny little shop. According to one of the Handy Market checkers, back in October of 2007 the store was shut down for a full day and a half for the filming of the two short scenes that took place there. Scenes were filmed both inside the store – at the first check-out stand and in a few of the aisles – and outside on the market’s exterior West facing wall.

It’s not hard to see why producers chose to use Handy Market. According to this article about the filming of HJNTIY , director Ken Kwapis said “One of the things that I love about Baltimore is that the texture of the city can be summed-up in one word: brick. The brick textures of the interiors and the exteriors are, to me, so expressive, so distinctive. Being a resident of Baltimore, you may not realize it, but boy, it’s not easy to find a lot of brick in L.A.” LOL Handy’s all-brick exterior must have made it a shoe-in for being used in the movie.

So, for all of you out there who weren’t like me and didn’t catch HJNTIY on opening night, drop what you’re doing and go see it now! I guarantee you so will be that into it! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Burbank’s Handy Market is located at 2514 W. Magnolia Boulevard in – you guessed it! – Burbank. The Home Depot store located at 16800 Roscoe Boulevard in Van Nuys was also used in He’s Just Not That Into You, although I most likely won’t stalk that location. 🙂 My boyfriend would probably be really excited if I did, though. LOL

February 9, 2009
Only in L.A.!

The other day while I was on my way to acting class I experienced one of those “Only in L.A.” moments that I love so much. 🙂 While walking past Lucky Strike Lanes Bowling Alley on Highland Avenue in Hollywood I noticed a vending machine selling Movie Star Maps and I just about died laughing. LOL You gotta love it! I mean in every other city in America there are plenty of street-side vending machines selling newspapers, local publications, and maybe even the occasional apartment locator magazine. But L.A. is unique. L.A. is special. Here, right on the street smack dab in the middle of Hollywood, we have a vending machine which sells maps with the addresses of all of your favorite movie stars for the bargain price of $5. God, I love L.A.! 🙂

Even though the Movie Star Maps vending machine is not a filming location – that I know of! – I still just HAD to blog about it. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Movie Star Maps vending machine is located on North Highland Avenue, in between Hollywood Boulevard and Yucca Street, just a few feet north of Lucky Strike Lanes Bowling Alley.

February 8, 2009