IAMNOTASTALKER

Tag: Celebrities

  • MK & A’s Alma Mater

    I must admit that I have long been a fan of the Olsen twins. What can I say – they are my guilty pleasure. Even today I still enjoy renting their movies (New York Minute is a personal favorite!) and, yes, I even have the Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen fashion dolls! LOL Currently, I do think the twins are a bit odd and I am so not into their whole homeless-chic wardrobe thing, but about five or six years ago I was absolutely obsessed with them. So I was stoked to find out while reading last month’s Elle Magazine that during high school MK & A attended Campbell Hall Episcopal School in North Hollywood, and I immediately dragged my boyfriend right out to stalk it.

    Campbell Hall Episcopal School was started in 1944 and currently has approximately 1,000 students. The K-8 school advocates an education of the heart as well as the mind, and favors a well-rounded curriculum by encouraging the study of art, athletics, music, drama and dance. Apparently their performing arts department is incredibly strong, so it’s no wonder that MK & A chose to attend school there. Mary-Kate and Ashley both attended Campbell Hall for, I believe, all of their schooling and graduated on June 7, 2004. Shortly thereafter Mary-Kate entered a rehabilitation facility to allegedly battle anorexia.

    Campbell Hall sits on about 12 acres right on Laurel Canyon Boulevard. Although we did not venture onto school grounds, looking in through the gates, the school looked really beautiful and peaceful. Campbell Hall actually looks more like a national park than a school and the grounds reminded me a lot of L.A.’s Griffith Park. There are huge eucalyptus trees as far as the eye can see surrounded by long, winding dirt pathways. Despite being on Laurel Canyon, the grounds were extremely quiet. Standing there, I really just wanted to grab a good book and a blanket and lay out under one of the trees and read all afternoon. 🙂

    Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

    Stalk It: Campbell Hall Episcopal School is located at 4533 Laurel Canyon Boulevard in North Hollywood. The yearly tuition costs between $18,440 to $23,460 depending on grade level!!

  • The Millennium Biltmore Hotel

    One of my favorite places to visit in all of LA is the Millennium Biltmore Hotel, located in Downtown Los Angeles. The hotel is also a favorite of film producers and it has been used in more productions than I can blog about. The hotel was built in 1923 and at the time was simply called The Biltmore. The building is absolutely gorgeous inside and out and definitely looks like it came out of a different era. Besides being a popular filming location, the hotel has played host to the Academy Awards on eight separate occasions between the years of 1931 and 1942. The hallway on the way to the hotel pool has many framed photographs of old time Hollywood celebrities who stayed at the Biltmore.

    Movie buffs will probably most easily recognize the Biltmore from the first Beverly Hills Cop movie where it was used as the hotel where Eddie Murphy sets up camp during his stay in Beverly Hills. Molly Ringwald’s prom from Pretty in Pink was held in the hotel’s Crystal Ballroom, a room which was also used in Rocky III, The Sting, Ghostbusters, Alien Nation and The Fabulous Baker Boys. The Biltmore’s indoor art deco style pool was the pool where Ryan Phillipe and Reese Witherspoon take a midnight dip in the movie Cruel Intentions. The pool was also used in Bugsy and The Fan.

    The movie Bachelor Party also filmed extensively at the Biltmore where it was used as the location of Tom Hanks’ wild bachelor party. And yes, they really did put a live donkey in the hotel’s elevator during the filming! Both Bachelor Party and Beverly Hills Cop were filmed in the Biltmore’s former lobby. Currently that room is a part of the hotel’s Smeraldi’s restaurant and is used for high tea and dinner. Today, the lobby is located in the hotel’s former Music Room, which was used in 1960 by JFK as the location of his official campaign headquarters. The Music Room’s ornate glass and wrought-iron ceiling (pictured below next to the “Stalk It” paragraph) was the model for the dining room ceiling of the ship in The Poseidon Adventure.

    Alfred Hitchcock used the Biltmore’s 11 story high back staircase for the vertigo sequences in his 1958 movie of the same name. Hang over the ledge of the staircase on the 11th floor and you might catch a bit of vertigo yourself! In all, over 300 productions have been filmed at the hotel, including Species, The Nutty Professor, Independence Day, Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, True Lies, The American President, In the Line of Fire, Mother, and the short lived TV show Vanished. Britney Spear’s Overprotected video was filmed in a large hallway just off the lobby of the hotel. You can watch that video here. Once you’ve visited the Biltmore, you will recognize it popping up all over the big and small screens.

    The Gallery Bar is one of my favorite spots at the Biltmore. It is dark and quiet and definitely evokes an aura of Old Time Hollywood. The Bar was most recently used in National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets as the location of Abigal’s date at the beginning of the movie. But the Gallery Bar’s main claim to fame is its signature drink – the Black Dhalia Martini, named for one of LA’s most famous unsolved murder cases. Actress Elizabeth Short, whose nickname was the Black Dhalia, walked out the Biltmore Hotel doors on January 9, 1947 at approximately 6:30pm. She was never seen again. Her mutilated body was found six days later in an abandoned field. The last person to ever see the Black Dhalia alive was the Biltmore doorman who tipped his hat to her as she walked south down Olive Avenue. Although garnering widespread media attention and public fascination that exists even to this day, the case has yet to be solved.

    The last time I stayed at the Biltmore, there were FIVE separate productions being filmed in and around the hotel – a car commercial, a fitness water commercial, the TV shows Alias and Standoff, and the pilot episode of Capitol Law with Joshua Jackson. I was especially excited to see Josh because Pacey was always my favorite Dawson’s Creek character. I so heart Josh! The grainy photo to the left is one I snapped of him during filming. 🙂

    Until next time, Happy Stalking!

    Stalk It: The Millennium Biltmore Hotel is located in Downtown Los Angeles at 506 South Grand Avenue. I highly recommend staying there if you find yourself in the LA area. The rooms are exquisite and extremely reasonable. Be sure to ask the hotel’s concierge about the Biltmore’s filming history – they usually have some great stories to share and they will also give you a print out of every single production ever filmed at the hotel.

  • Westin Bonaventure Hotel

    Chances are, if you’ve ever taken the 110 Freeway through Downtown Los Angeles, you’ve noticed the futuristic, space-age style structure located on the west side of the freeway. That building is the Westin Bonaventure Hotel, and it has been featured in countless movie and TV productions. The hotel, which is just as futuristic and space-age looking on the inside as it is on the outside, was most prominently featured in the Johnny Depp movie Nick of Time.

    The ultra-modern cement and glass hotel was built in 1974 by architect John Portman and is the largest hotel in Los Angeles. The hotel stands 367 feet tall and has 35 floors. The top floor of one of the hotel’s towers is actually a revolving cocktail lounge and observation tower with INCREDIBLE views of Los Angeles. Step inside the Bonaventure and you’ll have no doubt as to why producers have returned to the hotel over the years for filming. The building is one hundred percent unique with tall glass towers and elevators, large cement pillars, beams and floors, and countless fountains and ponds located throughout the lobby area.

    Besides Nick of Time, the hotel has also starred in countless other movie and TV productions including Forget Paris, Mission Impossible III, Hard to Kill, Escape From LA, Epicenter, This is Spinal Tap, CSI and In the Line of Fire. Arnold Schwarzenegger rode a horse into one of the glass elevators in the movieTrue Lies and the waitresses from the 80s TV show It’s A Living worked in the hotel’s revolving BonaVista Lounge located on the 34th floor. If you walk through the hallway leading from the parking garage to the hotel lobby, you will see the movie posters from each of the productions filmed at the Bonaventure. Each elevator also has a plaque notating which feature film was filmed there.

    Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

    Stalk It:The Westin Bonaventure Hotel is located at 6th Street in Downtown Los Angeles. Be sure to hit up the BonaVista Lounge while you are there – the views alone are worth the trip! 🙂

  • Hollywood Renaissance Hotel

    Yesterday, while killing time before an acting class, I decided to stop into the Hollywood Renaissance Hotel which is attached to the famous Hollywood & Highland shopping center. When I stepped inside, I noticed a few excited teenage girls standing in the lobby with cameras and autograph books in hand. I just had to walk over to them to ask who they were waiting for. They told me that Will Smith had just walked through the lobby and was standing “RIGHT THERE!” I looked around and did not see him and they kept saying “He’s RIGHT THERE!” LOL Turns out Will was standing just a few yards away from me waiting to get into his SUV. I had just missed him walking through the lobby by mere seconds.

    The teenage girls told me that Will was SUPER nice and had stopped to take pictures with each of them. Even though his bodyguard kept telling him that he didn’t have time to stop, Will took individual pictures with all of the girls. How sweet is that! Apparently Will was at the Renaissance for a pre-party before the premiere of his new movie Hancock. Will was much thinner in person than I thought he would be. I guess I expected him to be larger than life, due to the characters he portrays onscreen. In real life he is tall, about 6′, but pretty lanky and really thin. Everything happened so fast that I did not have time to snap a picture of him. 🙁

    Besides being a favorite stomping ground of celebrities – last time I was there I saw Nikki Blonsky from Hairspray – the Renaissance is also a filming location! It was portrayed as the hotel where Rachel McAdams works in the movie Red Eye. The brightly colored lobby stood in for the lobby of the Miami Beach hotel where McAdams character was head of customer service. The Renaissance is a great place for celeb stalking as many stay there during premieres and press junkets due to its close proximity to downtown Hollywood.

    Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

    Stalk It: The Hollywood Renaissance Hotel is located at 1755 North Highland Avenue, right next to the Hollywood & Highland Shopping Center. You can visit their website here.

  • Sad Day for Stalkers!

    Sad news!! Tony just posted a comment on my Top Gun Bar post letting me know that a fire destroyed Kansas City Barbeque, aka the Top Gun Bar, this past Thursday afternoon. This has NOT been a good month for fires and filming locations – first Universal and now this. 🙁 At approximately 2:15PM on Thursday, a fire broke out in an open fire pit in the kitchen area and quickly spread throughout the rest of the restaurant. Even though firefighters had the blaze put out in twenty minutes, most of the restaurant had already been gutted. The owners of Kansas City Barbeque did manage to save Goose’s piano, as well as some other Top Gun memorabilia, but most of the restaurant is sadly gone. They do plan to rebuild, but I can’t help feeling like a piece of movie history has been lost. 🙁 Such a sad day for stalkers!!

    You can read the whole story on the fire here and here. You can also watch a news video which shows footage of the restaurant here.

  • The “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” House

    Ferris Bueller’s Day Off has long been one of my favorite movies. So I was completely floored when I found out that Ferris’ house from the movie was located in Southern California! Ferris Bueller’s Day Off was filmed almost entirely on location in Chicago, Illinois, but for some reason producers chose a house on the West Coast, in Long Beach, California, to use as the Bueller family home. As soon as I found the address, I immediately dragged my boyfriend (on his birthday, no less!) to go stalk it. This was quite a few years back and we took pictures of the house using a cell phone, so they aren’t the best. 🙁 You will immediately recognize the large colonial style home, though, and its circular driveway, as they look EXACTLY the same as they did over two decades ago when the movie was filmed. It was so much fun to see the house in person, and I really wanted to ring the doorbell to see if Ferris’ taped doorbell recording would play. 🙂

    A couple of weeks ago, I was doing some cyber-stalking and found some interior pictures of the home on a movie location website. I was shocked to see that the interior of the real home matched the interior of the home from the movie, as I had always assumed that a set was used for the interior shots. But from what I can see from the pictures, the interior of the Long Beach home was obviously used for filming, as well. You can see the interior of the house here. You’ll recognize the staircase and the kitchen as almost a perfect match to Ferris’ house in the movie.

    The Ferris Buehler house was also used in the Silence of the Lambs sequel Red Dragon and in Not Another Teen Movie as the house where the massive party is thrown.

    A little bit of Ferris trivia – Cindy Pickett and Lyman Ward, the actors who played Ferris’ parents, met while filming the movie and ended up getting married after filming was completed. 🙂

    Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

    Stalk It: Ferris Buehler’s house can be found at 4160 Country Club Drive in Long Beach. Many other homes in the same neighborhood have been featured in other movies and TV shows. Check out Seeing Stars, which does a great write up on this neighborhood and its famous homes.

  • Marilyn Monroe’s Former Home

    For some reason lately I have been obsessing on Miss Marilyn Monroe. I never really had any interest in her until recently, had never even seen any of her movies all the way through, and generally never really had an opinion about her one way or another. But that all changed about two weeks ago when my acting teacher recommended that I study some of Marilyn’s films. I rented The Seven Year Itch and ever since have become completely obsessed. I had no idea how absolutely adorable Marilyn was! She completely lit up the screen anytime she was on it. For those of you who have yet to see any of her movies, I highly recommend renting The Seven Year Itch. My favorite scene is when she leans out of her second story window and announces to her neighbor “I just washed my hair!” with the same excitment as if she had just booked a movie role. It’s hilarious! 🙂

    So last week, when I found the address of one of Marilyn’s first residences, a small studio apartment, in my fave stalking book, I dragged my boyfriend right out to stalk it. Marilyn lived in the property during the year 1942. At the time, Marilyn, who was then known as Norma Jean Baker, was 16 years old and had just married her first husband Jim Dougherty. Some refer to the studio as her “first honeymoon home”. But when we arrived at the address, we discovered that Marilyn’s former home is no longer there. 🙁

    When my boyfriend and I pulled up to the address, we saw a sign announcing an apartment for rent in what I assumed was Marilyn’s former building. In what definitely constitutes a stalker maneuver, we called the phone number and asked for a tour of the available apartment. 🙂 I was hoping the vacant apartment was the one Marilyn had actually lived in back in 1942. But the super nice property manager explained to me that long ago there used to be a single family home and a small studio sized guest house located on the property. The guest house is where Marilyn lived in 1942. Both homes were torn down many years back to make room for the apartment building that is standing there today. Today stalkers can only visit the land where Marilyn’s former home once stood.

    Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

    Stalk It: The apartment building where Marilyn’s former home used to be located can be found at 4524 Vista Del Monte in Sherman Oaks. The property manager said tourists flock to the building constantly to take pictures. He said he’s even seen news-people holding newscasts in front of the building on occasion. 🙂

  • Tom C. Ruz

    During high school I was completely and totally head-over-heels for Tom Cruise. Let me clarify that I now think the man is an absolute loon, but back in the day I thought Tom Cruise was the bees knees. 🙂 Each week in my high school Spanish class we were assigned three 5 minute conversations, to be conducted outside of class entirely in Spanish. We were required to keep detailed logs of when, where and with whom these conversations took place. My girlfriends and I would always sign at least one conversation each week with the code name “Tom C. Ruz” in honor of our movie star crush. Looking back, I am pretty sure our teacher knew exactly what we were up to, but we thought we were hilarious. 🙂

    So when I found out, while browsing the Internet this week, that the Tom Cruise movie Valkyrie – under the code name “Rubicon” – was being filming at a church in Pasadena on Thursday, my inner-high-school-girl forced me to do some stalking. I was also really hoping to spot Katie Holmes, who has really been growing on me ever since she cut her hair. 🙂 So, at around lunch time on Thursday, I headed to the Valkyrie set. Between the hours of 12 and 1PM is usually the best time to stalk a film set, as the actors usually break for lunch around that time and you have a good chance of spotting them walking from the set to their trailers.

    I am very sad to report that even though I spent a good 4 hours on the set!!!!!!, I did not get to see Tom OR Katie (who was there WITH Suri). 🙁 Apparently, Tom never comes outside during film shoots. One of the crew members told me that he wouldn’t be surprised if Mr. Ruz had an underground tunnel built from the church to his trailer so that he wouldn’t have to set foot outside! LOL All was not lost, though, as I did get to see Bill Nighy, who walked right past me on his way to lunch. Bill played musician Billy Mack in the movie Love Actually, one of my favorite romantic films of all time. Bill was very friendly and even said hi and saluted as he walked by (he was in military costume at the time). 🙂

    Even though there was no TomKat sighting, it was still super exciting to be on the set. And let me tell you, it was quite a production! There was even an on-set barista, making mocha’s and frappaccino’s for the crew all day long. 🙂 Most of the crew was extremely nice and friendly and I even got to snap some pictures of the filming, which is usually a big no-no on movie sets. I was surprised at how laid-back the set actually was, being that the biggest movie star in the world was there.

    Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

    Stalk It: The Westminster Presbyterian Church is located at 1757 N. Lake Avenue in Pasadena. The church has been around since 1928 and is a frequent location for weddings. The movie American Wedding filmed just across the street froom Westminster Presbyterian at Saint Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Church, which is located at 1879 N. Lake Avenue, on the corner of Lake and Woodbury. The picture to the left is of Saint Elizabeth’s.

  • Stumbling Upon Sarah Silverman

    Yesterday, I happened to stop into my favorite bookstore on the planet – Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena – and was floored to see a sign on the door saying “Filming in Progress”. I couldn’t believe my luck and I rushed inside to find out what was being filmed. Turns out it was The Sarah Silverman Program and Sarah Silverman herself was actually there! What was even more exciting was that they did not close any part of the store down for filming and you could literally walk right through the scene as long as you didn’t “look directly at the camera.” I parked myself in an aisle right near filming and just watched as Sarah performed take after take. As an actress, it was fascinating to observe.

    In the scene, Sarah confronts a man who she believes is her father. He tells her that he is not her father and she says “Well if you’re not my father, then it would not be wierd at all to make out right now.” They kiss and both get grossed out and the guy admits that he is her father. The picture to the left is a shot of them filming and that is Sarah in the blue and white stripped baseball style t-shirt. I only had my blackberry on me at the time, so the pictures didn’t turn out great. Sarah Silverman was absolutely adorable, though – one hundred times cuter than she appears on screen and a lot taller than I imagined. She looked to be about 5’7″. She seemed very nice and friendly, too, although I did not go up and talk to her.

    Vroman’s is a fabulous bookstore and I highly recommend stalking it. I could literally spend whole afternoons just browsing the shelves there. It is a great store not only for books, but for fine stationary, scrapbooking supplies, and gifts. The people who work there are highly knowledgeable about books, too, and I absolutely love that. You can literally go in there and say “I just heard about a book that’s about a girl, but I don’t know the title or the author” and they will find it for you! They’re great!! They were also recently voted Bookseller of the Year 2008 by Publishers Weekly. I’ve blogged briefly about Vroman’s once before in my 40 Year Old Virgin post, as it was used as the interior of the bookstore where Beth works in the movie.

    Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

    Stalk It: Vroman’s Bookstore is located at 695 East Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena. You can visit their website here to view upcoming events and signings.

  • The Chinese Food Restaurant from “A Lot Like Love”

    After what seems like months of searching, I have FINALLY found the Chinese Food restaurant from my fave romantic comedy A Lot Like Love. For the past few weeks, I have dragged my poor father to literally every single Chinese and Japanese restaurant in the greater Pasadena area, because according to the director’s commentary on the A Lot Like Love DVD, the restaurant used was his “mother’s favorite Chinese food place in Pasadena.” But the director didn’t specify the name of the restaurant, which means that this stalker had her work cut out for her! The hostess at one of the restaurants I stalked said I was actually the third person in the past few months who had stopped into her restaurant to ask the exact same question! 🙂 LOL

    Then last week, while walking around Old Town Pasadena with my boyfriend, when I had just about given up hope, we happened to walk by Vive Lounge on the corner of Raymond Avenue and Union Street. I peeked in the windows and immediately realized I had found my location! We went inside and asked the restaurant manager, Randy, if the Lounge had in fact been used in A Lot Like Love. He wasn’t sure, so he called up the owner for me who confirmed it! Yahooooooooo! At the time of filming the restaurant was actually a Chinese-Malaysian fusion place called Nonya. Nonya closed down two years ago and Vive Lounge opened in its place. While the decor is a bit different, it is definitely recognizable as the restaurant where Amanda Peet and Ashton Kutcher spit water at each other while enjoying a New Year’s Eve dinner. 🙂

    Last night we were finally able to return to Vive to grab a drink and a bite to eat and I am happy to report that we had a fabulous time! The food was amazing (especially the shrimp spring rolls!!!), the atmosphere was very New York-y complete with an exposed brick wall, and the service was spectacular! Jim, the bartender (a cutie for all you single girls) and Randy, the manager, spent most of the evening chatting with us, discussing Pasadena history, wine and champagne (Randy is somewhat of a wine connoisseur), and of course, filming locations. I was amazed to discover that neither man had ever seen A Lot Like Love!!! I tried to explain to Randy that he needs to tout Vive as the restaurant featured in A Lot Like Love and that stalkers everywhere would flock there, but I am not quite sure he believed me. 🙂

    Vive is a great place to spend an evening, and I highly recommend stalking it! On weekdays, the place has a laid-back, relaxed feel (which I actually prefer), but on weekends the vibe changes and becomes more of a dance club/lounge. And every Sunday night, the restaurant turns into a salsa lounge complete with free salsa dancing lessons. Rob Schneider even showed up for some salsa dancing a few weeks ago. 🙂

    Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

    Stalk It: Vive Lounge is located at 61 N. Raymond Avenue in Old Town Pasadena. You can visit their website here. A meal there will cost you about $30 per person. The bar also features a great nightly happy hour with super reasonable, really tasty hors d’oeuvres.