Celebrity Homes – Page 9

September 29, 2009September 27, 2009

Kendra Wilkinson’s House

A few months back, fellow stalker Ashley challenged me to find the home belonging to Kendra Wilkinson and Hank Baskett on the E! television series Kendra. And while I did actually spend quite a bit of time looking for this location, for some reason I just couldn’t seem to track it down. I do have to admit, though, that because I am not the biggest of Kendra Wilkinson fans – her laugh is pretty much like nails on a chalkboard to me! – I gave up on finding this location rather quickly. But thankfully, Ashley kept on the case and, just last week, posted a comment on my site letting me know that she had finally found the house! Thank you, Ashley! 🙂 So, this past Friday, while doing some stalking in the Valley, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I stopped by Kendra and Hank’s house to snap some pics.

This house first showed up in the Season 5 episode of The Girls Next Door entitled “Transitions Part I”, in which Kendra, accompanied by Hef’s other two girlfriends Bridget Marquardt and Holly Madison, tours various houses for sale in the L.A. area. Kendra ends up purchasing the brick Colonial-style home pictured above and shortly thereafter moves out of the Playboy Mansion to begin a new life – and a new reality series – on her own. The house was then featured weekly on Kendra’s self-titled reality show and it wasn’t long before boyfriend Hank Baskett moved in. Sadly, though, Kendra and Hank moved out of the house this past July and relocated to the New Jersey area, so it will actually not be featured in upcoming episodes of the series.

While Mike and I were stalking the house on Friday, we spotted several empty moving boxes propped up near the trash cans and also heard dogs barking in the backyard, so it seemed as if someone new had moved into Kendra’s old pad. But, according to the home’s real estate website which was just updated on September 24th, the five bedroom, six bath home, which measures 4,900 square feet, is currently vacant and available for rent at the bargain price of $6,000 per month. The website also mentions that the house is, of course, available for filming, as well. 🙂

While there I just had to take a picture of the home’s mailbox, which was featured prominently in the Season 1 episode of Kendra entitled “Preggers Can’t Be Choosers”. In the episode, Kendra and Hank are shown attempting to mail out their wedding invitations, which they soon discover are too large to fit in their mailbox.

Kendra’s solution? Leave the entire box of invitations on the ground next to the mailbox, along with a note addressed to the postman saying “Please take and send all invitations.” She then walks back into the house telling Hank, “I hope no one steals them.” LOL LOL LOL

Big THANK YOU to Ashley for finding this location! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Kendra Wilkinson and Hank Baskett’s former home is located at 6014 Greenbush Avenue in Van Nuys.

September 25, 2009April 20, 2010

Michael Jackson’s First L.A. Home

Last week, on the recommendation of fellow stalker Grant, I picked up a FABULOUS new book about the life and times of the King of Pop by author J. Randy Taraborrelli named Michael Jackson: The Magic, The Madness, The Whole Story, 1958-2009. For anyone who is at all interested in MJ’s life, the 765 page tome is a must-read! Taraborrelli first met Michael on May 2, 1970, at a Jackson 5 concert in Philadelphia. Both boys were just youngsters at the time. Taraborrelli went on to become a best-selling author and journalist and a trusted friend of the King of Pop, writing many feature articles about him throughout his life and career. Besides sharing some amazing insight on what really took place behind-the-scenes of MJ’s life, Taraborrelli also divulges some fabulous tidbits of information in his book, such as the address of the home that Michael and his family lived in when they first moved to Los Angeles in 1969. YAY! So, I, of course, had to run right out and immediately stalk it. 🙂

In November of 1969, just as the Jackson 5 group was starting to hit it big, Motown founder Berry Gordy rented a house in West Hollywood for the family to live in. At the time, Joe and the rest of the boys had been living in various L.A. area hotels, Katherine, La Toya, Randy, and Janet were still back in Gary, Indiana, and Michael had spent the past month staying with Diana Ross. It was time to bring the family together. Their new Mediterranean-style home boasted four bedrooms, four bathrooms, a sparkling view of L.A., and a spacious 2,962 square feet of living space. According to Taraborrelli, the Jackson’s new living room alone was twice the size of their entire house back in Gary. But, as it turns out, as much as they liked their new home, they wouldn’t stay long. In May of 1970, just seven months after moving in, the Jacksons were relocated to another house leased by Berry Gordy – this one on Bowmont Drive in Beverly Hills. According to Taraborrelli, Gordy said, “They were kicked out of several houses. You see, they would make too much noise. They had their band, and we would put them in a house, and then they would get kicked out. We’d lease another place, and they would make too much noise, and they would get kicked out.” LOL The Jackson family finally purchased their own home – located at 4641 Hayvenhurst Avenue in Encino – and put an end to their constant moving on May 5, 1971.

While researching this house, I actually came across quite a few conflicting online reports about its exact address. While in the book, Taraborrelli had written that the house was located at 1601 Queens Road, I found several websites which stated that the Jacksons actually lived at number 1616, while still others reported an address number in the 6000 range. I wasn’t quite sure who to believe. But, as luck would have it, while stalking the house I happened upon an older gentleman walking his dog. I asked him if the Jackson family had actually lived at the home I was currently snapping photographs of and he said that yes, indeed, they had. I told him about the differing online reports and he assured me that I was stalking the correct house. He told me that while he didn’t know the Jacksons personally when they lived in the home, he definitely knew of them, as they were just starting to become famous and all of the neighborhood children would go over to their house to play. 🙂

I highly recommend stalking the Jackson family’s first L.A. home as it is a very pretty place and – best part of all – has no front gate blocking it from view, as is the case with their Hayvenhurst mansion! YAY! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Jackson Family’s first Los Angeles home is located at 1601 Queens Road in West Hollywood.

September 2, 2009May 23, 2012

The Zane Grey Pueblo Hotel

While in Catalina this past week, as much as I wanted to stay at the Pavilion Lodge, my family instead opted to book a room at a little place called the Zane Grey Pueblo Hotel. And even though it’s never been a filming location, because the hotel was once the private residence of world-renowned author Zane Grey, I deemed the site to be blog-worthy. 🙂 For those who have never heard of him (like myself prior to my recent stay at his former home), Zane Grey is the best selling author of 89 Western style novels, including Riders of the Purple Sage, The Lone Star Ranger, and Call of the Canyon. Zane, who was born on January 31, 1872, actually started out his professional career following in the footsteps of his father as a dentist. Zane’s true passion was always writing fiction and playing baseball, but his father vehemently discouraged both pursuits. In fact, when Zane was a young boy, his father discovered a story he had written and not only tore it up, but severely beat him because of it. After marrying his wife, Dolly, in 1905, Zane began to finally pursue writing as a career. It wasn’t long before he became a household name and one of the first authors in history to earn a million dollars. At one point in time, Zane was also America’s highest selling author.

In his lifetime, Zane Grey published over one hundred novels which in turn sold over forty million copies. While most of his works were Western adventure stories, Zane also wrote books about his other passions, including sport fishing, hunting, and baseball. Zane’s novels became so popular that after his death in 1939, his publishing company, Harper & Brothers, continued to release one of his unpublished manuscripts each year for the next twenty-four years. All were wildly successful. Fifty of Zane’s novels were turned into one hundred different Western movies and he has over 120 writer, director, producer and actor credits on IMDB. What I wouldn’t give for that resume! Zane even formed his own production company at one time to handle the high demand for movies based on his books. One of Zane’s novels, The Vanishing American, was even filmed on Catalina Island. Legend has it that Zane brought in a herd of fourteen bison for the filming and left them there after the production wrapped. The bison took to Catalina quite naturally and spawned into a herd of over 150 buffalo that now call the island home.

In 1926, after falling in love with Catalina Island while vacationing there, Zane bought a parcel of land high on a hill in Avalon from William Wrigley and built a pueblo. Zane called his home “a place for rest, dream, peace, sleep”. Sometime after his death, Zane’s heirs turned the Pueblo into a small hotel. What a FABULOUS idea! I wish all celebrity heirs would follow suit!

The tiny hotel features only sixteen rooms, each named after one of Zane’s popular books. And while all of the rooms boast a view of some sort, none have a television, a phone, or a clock – an idea my fiance wasn’t too keen on. The whole point of staying at Zane Grey is to really get away from it all. The place touts itself as a quiet, peaceful retreat where you can spend a few days in total relaxation. And I have to say it was pretty darn amazing!

The hotel’s setting is simply breathtaking, with sweeping ocean . . .

. . . and mountain views,

large adobe verandas;

a living room featuring Zane Grey’s original furnishings and a grand piano,

and wild animals roaming the property. My fiance woke me up extremely early one morning to show me a buck he had noticed wandering the grounds (pictured above). The hotel is also blissfully quiet – whispering in common areas and out by the pool is encouraged. Because I am not big on noise, I LOVE quiet, peaceful hotels. In fact, the more quiet and peaceful, the better. And it doesn’t get much quieter or more peaceful than at the Zane Grey. Ironically enough, the only people not adhering to the “quiet” rule, were the people who worked on the property. The receptionist and housekeeper were SO darn loud, it was almost comical. So, other than wanting to strangle the two of them during most of the trip, my stay was highly relaxing. And I would recommend the Zane Grey to anyone. Even though the accommodations are a bit run-down and the service is highly sub-standard, we really enjoyed our stay there.

A bit of celebrity trivia for you – directly across the street from the Zane Grey hotel is a huge, modern style home that, according to several people I talked to on the island, Sharon Stone was interested in purchasing at one time.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Zane Grey Pueblo Hotel is located at 199 Chimes Tower Road in Avalon on Catalina Island. You can visit their website here. The accomodations are very basic and sparse, so if you are looking for a fancy hotel this is DEFINITELY not the place for you. For higher end accomodations, I’d instead recommend the Inn on Mt. Ada. The house Sharon Stone thought about buying, but didn’t, is located directly across the street from the Zane Grey Pueblo at 124 Chimes Tower Road.

July 7, 2009April 20, 2010

Neverland Ranch

Since we were in the area this past weekend celebrating the Fourth of July, I just had to drag my fiance out to Neverland Ranch yesterday to stalk pop star Michael Jackson’s former home. I had actually stalked the Ranch once before, back in November of 2007, but I wanted to stop by once again to see what sort of pandemonium would be taking place there due to the pop star’s recent death. Even though MJ hadn’t lived on the property since 2005, the home has been a mecca of sorts for the music legend’s fans ever since his sudden passing on June 25th. Michael purchased the 2,600 acre property, which at the time was known as Sycamore Valley Ranch, from resort and golf course developer William Bone in 1988. It was on this land that Jackson built his fantasy home, comprised of two railroads, a zoo, a ginormous swimming pool, a lake, a ferris wheel, a carousel, bumper cars, numerous other amusement park rides, an arcade, a private movie theatre, and a whopping twenty-two buildings. He dubbed the property Neverland after the home of his favorite storybook character, Peter Pan, aka the boy who wouldn’t grow up. In 2005, after being acquitted of child molestation charges, Jackson vacated the property and vowed never to return. He said that during the police investigation, the officers who searched his property for evidence had “violated” it and he no longer felt at home there. The property narrowly escaped foreclosure a few years later in May of 2008 when Jackson sold his loan and a part of his property rights to an investment company named Colony Capital LLC for about $35 million. The land is currently owned jointly by both Colony Capital LLC and Michael’s estate. At this point it is not known what is to become of the King of Pop’s former home, but there are talks of turning it into a sort of Graceland/Michael Jackson museum, which I think would be absolutely incredible to visit! But, yesterday, I had to settle for just stalking the Ranch’s exterior.

On the way to Neverland, I started to get a little nervous that due to massive crowds we wouldn’t be able to get anywhere near the property. About four miles away from the Ranch, the above traffic sign was posted which blinked the warnings “Slow Traffic Ahead” and “Caution: Congestion Ahead”.

The city had also placed countless “No Parking” signs along the five mile stretch of rural road which leads to MJ’s former home.

Thankfully, while there were a lot of people paying their respects at Neverland Ranch yesterday, we were still able to stalk it quite easily. As you can see in above photograph, there were a ton of media vans and reporters on site staked out to cover the goings-on at the Ranch. Police were also on duty, patroling the area.

The media crews were camped out in front of the property to stake out their section of land , much like was the case over at Forest Lawn Memorial Park where Michael is set to be buried.

Also much like at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, CNN had apparently decided that they didn’t need to actually physically be on site to stake out their claim on a section of land, but that a set of cones would do. LOL I was so tempted to move their cones! 🙂

In anticipation of the many visitors to the Ranch, numerous porta-potties had been set up by the city, which I was very grateful for.

A few entrepreneurial individuals were actually selling Michael Jackson memorabilia, like t-shirts and buttons, out in front of his former home. What’s even more amazing to me is that people were actually buying the stuff! Nice, huh?

The entrance to Neverland Ranch looked much different yesterday than when I visited it in 2007. In an ironic juxtaposition, while the last time I visited the Ranch when Michael was still alive, the property was quiet and almost barren, yesterday it was full of life and absolutely crawling with people. I’m guessing there were about fifty fans outside of the Neverland gates who had come to pay their respects to the singer. While there, my fiance spoke to two gentlemen from Spain who had flown all the way to California just to visit the Ranch and pay their respects to Michael! Not everyone was there for the pop star, though. At one point, a man in an SUV drove up to where my fiance was standing and asked him what all the commotion was about. My fiance was like “Um, this is Michael Jackson’s house.” The guy, who had obviously been born under a rock, had absolutely NO idea that he was driving past one of the most famous celebrity homes on earth. LOL LOL LOL

Practically every square inch of the Ranch’s front entrance was covered over with personalized signs, balloons, stuffed animals, and flowers that people had left for Michael. Signs had even been hung from the trees! It was absolutely incredible to see!

As I mentioned the last time I stalked the place, unfortunately there isn’t a whole lot of Neverland to see from the road. But my fiance managed to snap a few pics through the entrance gate. There seemed to be quite a few people on duty at the Ranch, including gardeners, security guards, and what looked to be ranchers of some sort.

Because the perimeter of Neverland isn’t really fenced in, floodlights had been set up to ward off nighttime trespassers.

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Los Olivos, the sleepy town where Neverland Ranch is located, is no stranger to the spotlight. The tiny town, which is made up of only one main street that stretches four short blocks, stood in for Mayberry in the 1986 made-for-TV movie Return to Mayberry. And a small local restaurant named Los Olivos Cafe was the spot where Miles, Jack, Maya, and Stephanie shared a romantic meal in the 2004 movie Sideways.

The town is something of a celebrity hotspot, as well. A few years ago, my fiance ate lunch next to Jennie Garth and her husband Peter Facinelli at Los Olivos’ Panino restaurant. But while I’ve been to Los Olivos quite a few times, sadly I’ve never encountered a celeb there. 🙁

The above sign, which I spotted in a gift shop window yesterday morning, pretty much perfectly sums up the tiny, sleepy town. 🙂

For those fans who would like a more in-depth view of Neverland, you can read an AMAZING article and see some INCREDIBLE pictures taken by a photographer named Jonathan Haeber who snuck into the Ranch back in December of 2007 here. TMZ also posted some great pics of the interior of Michael’s actual home which was located on the Neverland Ranch property. Matt Lauer also gave viewers an indepth tour of Michael’s home just a few days after his untimely death, which you can watch here. And finally, you can see a video Larry King posted of the Neverland property here. My dad and I had the pleasure of stalking the Michael Jackson Exhibit by Julien’s Auctions earlier this year. My photos of the exhibit, which included all of the pop singer’s Neverland Ranch furniture and much of his music memorabilia, can be viewed here.

It was very nice to be able to pay my respects at the Ranch yesterday, especially since I was not one of the chosen few who received tickets to Michael’s memorial at Staples Center. 🙁 I had so been hoping to win those. So, instead I will be watching the event live at home, along with the rest of the world.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Neverland Ranch is located off of the 154 Highway at 5225 Figueroa Mountain Road in Los Olivos, about 30 miles north of Santa Barbara and about five miles Northeast of central Los Olivos .

July 6, 2009July 7, 2009

The Old School House

A few weeks ago, while out stalking, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I decided to pay a little visit to the house where Luke Wilson lived and set up his fictional Lamdba Epsilon Omega fraternity in the 2003 comedy Old School. The house is located on a quiet, tree-lined street that has long been a favorite of location scouts. South Pasadena’s Bushnell Avenue has shown up in everything from the movies Back to the Future and Ghost Dad to the television series thirtysomething. I promise to devote a future post to the other famous homes located on the oft-filmed street, but today’s post will be dedicated solely to the Old School house. 🙂

I am happy to report that aside from a few minor changes, the Old School house looks exactly the same in person as it appeared onscreen. Unfortunately, the sun was shining very brightly the day we stalked the house, so my pictures did not turn out very good. 🙁

Because the Old School house was supposed to be located very close to, or as Vince Vaughn says “practically on”, a college campus, producers brought in a mailbox, a kiosk, and several parking meters to make the area look less residential. They also created fake parking places in front of the home, much like was done at the nearby Bedtimes Stories house.

The house shows up many times throughout the movie, most notably as the site of Vince Vaughn’s Mitch-A-Palooza Party, where he hires Snoop Dogg to perform.

Will Ferrell’s streaking expedition was also filmed in front of the Old School house. Before heading over to Honolulu Avenue in nearby Montrose, Frank-the-Tank tries to lead his fellow Mitch-A-Palooza partiers on a streaking trip down Bushnell Avenue. Unbeknownst to him, he is the only one streaking. LOL

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My friend and fellow stalker Owen, informed me that the Old School house was also used in the 1989 flick Back to the Future II. In the movie, bully Biff steals a little kid’s ball and tosses it up onto the balcony of the Old School house.

In a very random side note, the Old School fraternity house actually belonged to Will Ferrell at the time of the filming. In the movie’s DVD commentary, Will Ferrel says, “And this was actually my house. My little craftsman house in Pasadena. I was cool with it, even though you guys ruined the hardwood floors with all the equipment.” Actors Vince Vaughn and Luke Wilson also took part in the DVD commentary and since there was quite a bit of joking around going on during their talk, I can’t say with absolute certainty that the house ever actually belonged to Will. He very well could have just been joking around. But he does continally refer to the house as being his throughout the entire commentary, so I think it might actually be true. At one point he even said that his wife was extremely upset when she saw the house set up for the post-Mitch-A-Palooza scene (pictured above). According to property records, the home was sold to a new owner in 2006, so while I can’t say for sure that Will owned it during the filming of Old School, I can say he for sure that he doesn’t own it anymore.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Old School house is located at 1803 Bushnell Avenue in South Pasadena. The house located at 1727 Bushnell was used as both Lorraine’s 1955 house in Back to the Future and Michael J. Fox’s house in Teen Wolf. George McFly’s 1955 house is located at 1711 Bushnell, while Biff’s from Back to the Future Part II is at 1809. At 1710 Bushnell is the home that was featured as Ken Olin and Mel Harris’ in the television series thirtysomething. Ghost Dad was filmed at both 1615 and 1621 Bushnell. I will write a more detailed post on all of those locations at a later date. 🙂

June 17, 2009August 17, 2009

The “Joey” Apartment Building

For quite a while now I have been begging Mike, from MovieShotsLA, to locate the apartment building where Joey Tribbiani lived with his nephew, Michael, on the Friends spin-off Joey. So, imagine my surprise when I came across the address randomly in The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book. In the book, the address is listed as an almost after-thought, which is why it took me so long to notice it. LOL Apparently, most stalkers aren’t as interested in finding Joey filming locations as I am. 🙂 LOL Being that the show was canceled after only 14 episodes, I can’t say I’m all that surprised. But, because Joey was always my favorite Friends character (besides Rachel, of course!), I absolutely loved that show! “How you doin’?” 😉

On the show, Joey lived in a large apartment building named Monroe Manor, located directly beneath the Hollywood sign. Apparently, production designer John Schaffner chose the 50s style building because of its mid-century appeal. He said, “I didn’t want to do another Los Angeles show in a Spanish house or Craftsman cottage. I was more inspired by architects like Frank Lloyd Wright and Rudolph Schindler, who worked in natural materials that create a more casual feeling.” Monroe Manor definitely has a unique appearance to it and evokes a feeling of old time Hollywood.

The Monroe Manor complex was constructed in 1949 and is made up of ten terraced, duplex-type units built right into a Hollywood hillside. Each of the twenty apartments in the complex is entirely different in size and style. A side view of the building, which shows its tiered design, is pictured above. As you can see in the above photograph, the building is actually much larger than it’s front exterior would lead you to believe and much larger than it appeared onscreen in Joey. I read online that Monroe Manor was supposedly modeled after my girl Marilyn Monroe, but – call me crazy – I just don’t see the resemblance. 😉 LOL I think it is safer to say that the building was most likely just named after her. 🙂

In an interesting side note, after Joey was cancelled in 2004, a paramedics company in Charlotte, North Carolina purchased the entire set from the show (pictured above) to be used for their training simulations! Apparently, simulations are acted out on the former Joey set and recorded for later review and evaluation. How incredibly cool is that?? I so think I need to go work for that company!!!! North Carolina, here I come! 😉

In an even more interesting side note, when Matt LeBlanc first came to Hollywood, long before hitting it big with Friends, he actually lived at Monroe Manor!!!!! It was a complete coincidence years later when production designer John Schaffner chose the building to be used as the residence of struggling actor Joey Tribbiani. This was definitely a case of art imitating life! 🙂 Ironically, my good friend Maura has been asking me to find Matt LeBlanc’s house for some time now – so, Maura, this one’s for you. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Joey apartment building, aka Monroe Manor, is located at 2232 North Beachwood Canyon Drive in Hollywood. Joey lived in Apartment #7. In real life, Matt LeBlanc lived in #16.

May 6, 2009June 16, 2011

The Mansion Where Brad and Jen Got Married

There are some events in history that people remember as if they occurred just yesterday. For instance, my mom remembers exactly where she was, right down to what she was wearing, on November 22, 1963 when she found out that President Kennedy had been murdered. Well, I wasn’t alive when JFK was assassinated or when man first walked on the moon. But I do remember exactly where I was and what I was wearing on July 30thof 2000 when it was announced that Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston had finally gotten married. 🙂 Now, some may not qualify that event as being historic, or even memorable, but for me it was. I was in Hawaii with my family at the time and the day beforehand I had found out that one of my closest friends had passed away. I was absolutely inconsolable. My parents didn’t really know what to do with me, so they decided to bring me down to the hotel bar in the hopes that a cocktail and a sunset might bring me some sort of comfort. As we sat at that outdoor bar watching the waves crash on the sand, I heard Jennifer Aniston’s name on the television set behind me and my ears perked up. The announcer stated that sources had confirmed that my girl Jen had married Brad Pitt in a ceremony on a Malibu bluff the previous evening. And it was the first time I smiled in days. 🙂 So, a few weeks ago, when I found the location of the mansion where Brad and Jen tied the knot, I just had to go stalk it.

I had read long ago that Brad and Jen had tied the knot at a five acre seaside estate belonging to television producer Marcy Carsey (of 3rd Rock From the Sun, Roseanne, and The Cosby Show fame) that was located on the 33000 block of Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. But I had no idea of the home’s exact location. Until I found this fabulous website, which led me to the right spot. 🙂 Yay! From what I can tell from the few photographs released of the couple’s nuptials, the actual wedding ceremony took place on the circular patch of lawn located in front of Marcy’s home. Their reception took place in a large tent on an empty parcel of land located just south of the estate. You can see the wedding set up in the above paparazzi photograph, which was taken the day of Brad and Jen’s wedding.

Unfortunately, virtually none of the home is visible from the street. 🙁

If you head a few hundred feet up nearby Decker Canyon Road, you can just make out the outline of the mansion’s roof . . .

. . . and you can see the empty patch of land where Brad and Jen’s reception was held. But other than that, sadly, there’s not a whole lot to see. 🙁

Which is why God created aerial images. 🙂 LOL You can see a great aerial photo of Brad and Jen’s wedding mansion here.

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According to People Magazine, Brad and Jen’s wedding cost over $1 million and featured 50,000 flowers, a 13 minute fireworks display, four live bands, and a gospel choir! Their 200 person guest list was strictly A-List, and included Courteney Cox and David Arquette, Edward Norton and Salma Hayek (who were dating at the time), Cameron Diaz, Melissa Etheridge (who serenaded the couple), David Schwimmer, Kathy Najimy, Dermot Mulroney, Jon Lovitz, David Spade, and Lisa Kudrow. During their vows Jen promised to always make Brad’s “favorite banana milkshake” and Brad vowed to “split the difference on the thermostat”. Knowing how things turned out after that little homewrecker Angelina Jolie got her claws into Brad, doesn’t the whole thing kinda bring a tear to your eye? 🙁

Located directly next door to the estate where Brad and Jen got married, is the 19,340 square foot mega-mansion originally owned by Verna Harrah, widow of William F. Harrah, who was the founder of the famous casino hotels of the same name. In December of 1999, Verna sold her collosal mansion to Mark Reynolds Hughes, creator of Herbalife Vitamins, for a cool $27 million. Less than six months later, Hughes passed away of an alleged prescription drug and alcohol overdose in the master bedroom of the home. He was 44. The manse was subsequently purchased by billionaire venture capitalist Howard Marks.

And it looks to me as if Howard also purchased the once empty parcel of land where Brad and Jen held their tented wedding reception and which originally belonged to the Carsey estate. As you can see in the above aerial photographs of the two neighboring properties, it looks as if the Howards moved their property line over quite a bit.

Even though not much of Brad and Jen’s wedding mansion can be seen from the street, I was still floored to finally be stalking it. And even though their wedding occured during a difficult time in my life and their marriage ended rather unamicably, somehow thinking back on the day when I learned about my idol’s nuptials still manages to bring a smile to my face. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Brad and Jen’s wedding mansion is located at 33148 Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. Mark Reynolds Hughes’ former house is located directly next door at 33064 Pacific Coast Highway. For the best views of the homes, head a few hundred feet up Decker Canyon Road, which is located just south of the properties.

March 26, 2009March 26, 2009

George Clooney’s Former Digs

This past weekend, thanks to my new favorite book Movie Star Homes: The Famous to the Forgotten, I was able to stalk George Clooney’s former Studio City house. Now, to be completely honest, I am not a big fan of George Clooney. I’ll admit that he’s OK-looking, but for some reason he just doesn’t do it for me. No, this stalker’s heart will forever and always belong to Josh Duhamel. 🙂 But, being that pretty much every woman on earth is absolutely gaga for GC, I know that I am in the vast minority on this one. So ,when I saw the address of his former home listed in the Movie Star Homes book, I just had to stalk it. For my readers, of course. 🙂

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George Clooney’s former home is a really pretty 5 bedroom, 4 bathroom Mediteranean mini-manse, located on a windy street in the hills of Studio City. He lived in this 3,282 square foot home during the years 1990 to 1997, smack dab in the middle of his ER fame. Which is surprising being that the home isn’t that private – you can actually see quite a bit of it from the street. George shared the house with former wife Talia Balsam during their brief four year marriage, from December of 1989 to September of 1993. After his separation, George invited good friend, actor Matt Adler, to move in with him for a brief period of time. But the list of celebrity inhabitants doesn’t end there! From 2000 to 2004, Jamie Pressly of My Name is Earl fame owned George’s former digs. She then sold the house to Malcom in the Middle star Justin Berfield, who lived there for two years before selling it to a non-celeb.

I highly recommend stalking George’s former pad, as it is one of the few movie star homes that isn’t completely hidden behind a large gate. 🙂 I couldn’t snap many good pics of it, though, as George’s former street is quite narrow and my camera couldn’t zoom back far enough to get the whole house in the shot. 🙁 I so need to spring for a fisheye lens! But the good news is you can cyber-stalk his former home here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: George Clooney’s former house is located at 11655 Laurelcrest Drive in Studio City.

March 23, 2009March 23, 2009

Where The American Idol Contestants Live

Even though American Idol is not a show I regularly watch, I was completely floored to find a two page article in this week’s US Magazine featuring the mansion the current Idol contestants are calling home. I love me some celebrity real estate! And while US didn’t give the exact location of the Idol pad, it did publish several photos of the 35,000 square foot manse and stated that it was located somewhere in Bel Air. Well I, of course, got to cyberstalking and it wasn’t long before I had located the Mediterranean style home. And I immediately dragged my boyfriend right out to stalk it. 🙂

In years past, the Idol contestants were put up in an exclusive apartment building called The Marlow which I blogged about last year. Well, the economy may be bad, but the Idol finalists are movin’ on up, because this season they are residing in a rented four story, nine bedroom, twenty bathroom (I’m not kidding!) mansion that sits on over an acre of well-manicured land. According to one real estate website, the home, which was originally built in 1927, boasts two pools (one indoor, one outdoor), a gym, a screening room, a bowling alley, an elevator, an indoor basketball court, a steam room, a jacuzzi, and private guest quarters. It sounds like Disneyland! I swear, put in a Starbucks and I’d never leave the place. 🙂 FOX has also sprung for a live-in chef, who cooks up healthy meals for the Idols daily. You can see great indoor photos of the house on some real estate websites here and here. And you can watch a video of the Idols moving into their new home here.

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Sadly, there’s not a whole lot of the home that is visible from the street, excluding some large exterior gates. I could see about ten cars parked in the driveway, though, so it seems that the Idols were allowed to bring their cars with them to California. 🙂

There are numerous differing online reports as to whether the Idol mansion is currently for sale. From what I can gather from the many conflicting accounts I’ve read, I believe the mansion was on the market for quite some time back in 2006 at a price of $43 million. After over 200 days with no sale, that price was dropped to $29,995,000. After an $18,500,000 deal fell through in 2008, the house was eventually taken off the market altogether. It is currently available for lease at a rate of $85,000 per month. The sign pictured above was on the ground in front of the mansion when I was stalking it. I wonder if one of the Idol hopefuls took it down in hopes that they would be able to buy the mansion themselves after landing a record deal. LOL If you have the $85,000 a month to shell out to rent the place, it should be available in about ten weeks when Idol is over. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The American Idol mansion is located at 277 St. Pierre Road in Bel Air.

March 19, 2009March 18, 2009

Helen Twelvetrees’ House

A couple of weeks ago I picked up a book that is quickly shaping up to be my new stalking tome. It’s called Movie Star Homes: The Famous to the Forgotten and it features photographs and addresses of over 350 celebrity homes, most of them from the Golden Age of Hollywood. I have never really been much into the celebs of yesteryear (except for my girl Marilyn), but once I picked up this book I really couldn’t put it down. It wasn’t long before I had about thirty pages dog-eared and was dragging my boyfriend out the door with a whole new set of locations to stalk.

The first location on my list? The former home of a 30’s movie star whom you’ve probably never heard of, but whom I’ve always had a special place in my heart for – Helen Twelvetrees. I’ve never actually seen any of Helen’s movies, nor do I even really know what she looks like. But back when I was about 18, I came home from college one day and announced to my family that I was switching my major from pre-law to theatre because I wanted to become an actress. It was at that moment that my grandfather started calling me Helen Twelvetrees. My grandpa was always making up silly little nicknames for various family members, so I didn’t really think anything of it. For years this went on, with my grandpa saying “Well, if it isn’t Helen Twelvetrees!” every time I walked into a room and me thinking it was a name he had made up for me. It wasn’t until after my grandfather passed away in 2005 that I came across a listing for Helen on IMDB and realized that she had in fact been a real person – not to mention a big time movie star back in the ’30s.

So, when I saw the address of a home Helen lived in during the ’30s in my new stalking book, I just about fell out of my chair. And, of course, I immediately dragged my boyfriend right out to stalk it. So, Grandpa, this ones for you! 🙂 Helen’s former home is a very cute little Mediterranean style dwelling located on a one way street in the Whitley Heights section of Los Angeles. And, as it turns out, the house is currently for sale! While the real estate listing makes no mention of its famous former resident, it does indicate that the 3,000 square foot home, which was built in 1923, has parquet floors, crown moldings, and a hot tub. The asking price is a cool $1,150,000.

My favorite feature of the house, though, is the view of the Hollywood sign from the front yard. Love it! 🙂 You can see interior photos of Helen’s former home on its real estate listing here.

According to my buddy EJ over at The Movieland Directory, Rose McGowen and Rachel Bilson both owned a home located just a few doors down from Helen’s. The house pictured above was first owned by Miss McGowan who sold it to Rachel in November of 2004. Rachel then sold the house just a little over a year later in December of ’05. And it was sold yet again this past January for $1,075,000. I also read on this website that Busy Phillips owned the very same house at one point in time, but I haven’t been able to confirm that. Seems like it’s a pretty lucky house, though, being that several successful actresses have lived in it. I need to get me one of those! 🙂 You can see interior photos of the home here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Helen Twelvetrees’ former home is located just off the 101 Freeway at 6851 Iris Circle in Hollywood. Rachel Bilson and Rose McGowan’s former house is just down the road at 6867 Iris Circle.