David Duchony – IAMNOTASTALKER

December 15, 2014December 12, 2014

Chaya Venice from “The Holiday”

It’s finally that time of year again, folks! Time for some Christmas-themed posts! And I could NOT be more excited. First up is a locale that I had been searching for for years – the sushi restaurant where Iris Simpkins (Kate Winslet) and Miles (Jack Black) dined towards the end of The Holiday. During my lengthy search for the eatery, I spent countless hours inputting terms like “sushi restaurant,” “The Holiday” and “filming” into Google, but always came up empty-handed. Then, this year, I decided to ask for some help and called in my friend Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, to see if he could work his magic in finding it. Sure enough, he did! After numerous Google inquiries using, as he stated, “Soooooooo many combinations and permutations” of terms, he sent an email to The Holiday’s production manager who got back to him right away and informed him that the restaurant was in Venice. Adding “Venice” to his search terms led him to a Yelp review of Chaya Venice, in which a patron named Hayley M. mentioned that the place had appeared in The Holiday. Yahoo! So I ran right on over there for lunch while I was in L.A. a couple of weeks ago.

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Chaya Venice was originally founded by the Tsunoda family in 1990. The Tsunodas’ tenure in the culinary field is an extensive one that has lasted almost forty decades. Yes, you read that right – forty decades! About 390 years ago, the family set up shop, so to speak, under a large tree in Hayama, Japan, where they served tea and snacks to travelers on horseback who happened to pass by. At some point thereafter, they opened an inn on the site, which was eventually transformed into a Japanese restaurant that they named “Hikage Chaya.” (Chaya means “teahouse” in Japanese.) It is still open today. A second restaurant, La Maree de Chaya, which served French food, soon followed.

In the 1980s, the Tsunodas migrated to the United States and, in 1984, opened Chaya Brasserie in Beverly Hills. It, too, is still in operation today. Sister restaurants, including Chaya Venice, soon began to pop up and there are currently four Chaya outposts located throughout California. The eateries, which serve French/Japanese cuisine, are headed by executive chef Shigefumi Tachibe, who just so happens to be the inventor of tuna tartare. He created the dish at Chaya Brasserie the same year that the eatery opened, after a patron requested an alternative to the steak tartare that was then being offered on the prix-fixe menu. The rest, as they say, is history.

I absolutely loved my experience at Chaya Venice! While I am not a fan of sushi (I do not like most fish), I opted for some veggie rolls and they were delish! The staff also could not have been nicer to me and answered all of my silly little questions about the filming of The Holiday. The atmosphere of the place is quite beautiful, too. It is not very hard to see why Chaya Venice wound up being featured on the silver screen.

I was particularly obsessed with the restaurant’s painted ceiling. Gorgeous!

In The Holiday, Chaya Venice was where Miles and Iris were eating lunch when Miles’ ex-girlfriend, Maggie (Shannyn Sossamon), called to tell him she wanted him back.

As you can see, the place looks much the same in person as it did onscreen.

“Accidental boob graze!”

The Holiday is not the only production to have been lensed at Chaya Venice. In the Season 5 episode of The Hills titled “Mess with Me, I Mess With You,” which was filmed in 2009, Stephanie Pratt and Audrina Patridge grabbed lunch at the eatery and discussed Kristin Cavallari and Justin Bobby’s burgeoning relationship.

And in the Season 5 episode of Californication titled “The Ride-Along,” which aired in 2012, Chaya Venice was where Richard Bates (Jason Beghe) got naked while standing on a sushi bar.

The entrance to Chaya Venice also appeared in the episode.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Owen, from the When Write Is Wrong blog, for finding this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Chaya Venice, from The Holiday, is located at 110 Navy Street in Venice. You can visit the eatery’s official website here.

June 20, 2014July 11, 2014

Hal’s Bar & Grill from “13 Going on 30”

Last week, while shopping in Venice Beach with my girls Lavonna, Kim, Katie and Kaylee, we made a brief stalking stop at Hal’s Bar & Grill, which appeared in one of my favorite movies of all time, 13 Going on 30. During our visit, we happened to have the good fortune to speak with Don Novack, one of Hal’s owners (that thick Southern accent of Lavonna’s worked for us once again!), and I just about fell over when he informed us that the eatery had appeared in Single White Female in 1992! So even though I’ve already blogged about the place once before, I decided Hal’s was most definitely worthy of a redux.

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Don’s foray into the restaurant world was a circuitous one. While working as a real estate broker in 1985, he unwittingly found himself part-owner of a sandwich shack/antique shop named Merchant of Venice after a business deal fell through. Don remained a silent partner for two years, until he learned that the eatery was facing certain financial failure. He decided to take over operations of the place at that point and brought in his wife, Linda, to help. He also partnered up with Hal Frederick, a fellow real estate broker, whom he had just recently met. The group remodeled the space into an upscale venue, gave the menu a full revamp and renamed the site “Hal’s Bar & Grill.” The property opened its doors to the public in 1987 and very little of it has been changed since.

Hal’s became an immediate success, despite the fact that the neighborhood was rough (to say the least) at the time. Abbot Kinney Boulevard has since experienced a major revitalization and patrons continue to flock to Hal’s, 27 years after its inception. The eatery is also a major celebrity hot spot. Just a few of the stars who have been spotted dining there include Jessica Simpson, Eric Johnson, Robert Downey Jr., Mike Tyson, Lindsay Lohan, Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, Sammy Davis Jr., Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, Tom Hanks, Kobe Bryant, Julia Roberts, Julianne Nicholson, Dermot Mulroney, Ewan McGregor, Reese Witherspoon, Rachel McAdams and Josh Lucas.

Hal's Bar & Grill (5 of 8)

In the 1992 thriller Single White Female, Hal’s stood in for the supposed New York restaurant where Allison Jones (Bridget Fonda) made a deal to sell her computer program to Mitchell Myerson (Stephen Tobolowsky).

Surprisingly, although 22 years have since passed, the eatery still looks much the same today as it did onscreen in Single White Female. LOVE that!

In 2004’s 13 Going on 30, Hal’s masqueraded as the New York City bar where Jenna Rink (Jennifer Garner) hit on a teenage boy. Only the interior of Hal’s appeared in the movie.

The exterior of the restaurant can actually be found about 3,000 miles away in New York’s SoHo neighborhood. You can read the post I wrote on the exterior here.

Don also informed us that Hal’s had appeared in two episodes of Californication. Because I am not very familiar with the Showtime series, I asked fellow stalker Geoff, of the 90210Locations website, if he happened to know which two episodes had been lensed on the premises. Sure enough, he did. Thank you, Geoff! In 2007, Hal’s was the site of the very bad double date between Hank Moody (David Duchovny) and Meredith (Amy Price-Francis) and Charlie (Evan Handler) and Marcy Runkle (Pamela Adlon) in Californication’s pilot episode.

Hal’s also popped up this year in the Season 7 episode of Californication titled “Faith, Hope, Love,” in a flashback scene in which Hank remembers going on another double date, this time with his ex-wife, Karen (Natascha McElhone), and Charlie and Marcy. Several areas of the eatery appeared in the episode, including the exterior;

the front entrance and bar;

and main dining room.

Don told us that Hal’s was featured in an episode of another show that I am unfamiliar with, Curb Your Enthusiasm. So I enlisted the help of fellow stalker Owen, from the When Write Is Wrong blog, to figure out which episode and, thankfully, he came through. Hal’s stood in for Primo Trattoria in Season 6’s “The TiVo Guy,” which aired in 2007. In the episode, Larry David (who plays himself) gets snubbed by his favorite restaurant after his wife, Cheryl David (Cheryl Hines), leaves him. Both the interior . . .

. . . and the exterior of Hal’s (which I somehow failed to get any photographs of) were shown several times throughout “The TiVo Guy.”

For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Hal’s Bar & Grill, from 13 Going On 30, is located at 1349 Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice Beach. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.

June 4, 2014June 4, 2014

Phil’s Diner from “The X-Files”

When I was in L.A. last week, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I spent two full days stalking. Our adventures took us from one end of Los Angeles to the other. At one point, while in North Hollywood, we passed by Phil’s Diner at 5230 Lankershim Boulevard and stopped to snap some pics. I figured the historic-looking restaurant had to have appeared onscreen at some time, so I did a quick Google search on my iPhone and just about fell over when I learned that the eatery had been used in my very favorite episode of The X-Files EVER, Season 2’s “Humbug.” (“I’ve seen the future and the future looks just like him!”) Talk about a lucky twist of fate!

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Phil’s Diner was constructed in 1926 for the J.F. Phillip restaurant chain (hence the name). It was designed in a train-car style by Charles Amend and originally stood (according to this article) near the intersection of Ventura and Lankershim Boulevards. The eatery was relocated at some point to 11138 Chandler Boulevard, where it spent the bulk of its years. (There are several online articles which state that the café was moved countless times throughout its history, once sitting on Crenshaw Boulevard, near the corner of West Adams. I am fairly certain that information is incorrect, though. I believe that storefront was a different Phil’s outpost – one that is no longer standing.) You can check out some fabulous early photographs of Phil’s at its Chandler Boulevard location here.

For over two decades, beginning in the 1970s, Phil’s Diner was run by Charles and Wendy Hong, a native Korean couple who served up no-fuss American comfort food with an Asian flair. The restaurant flourished under their leadership. Then, in the mid-90s, nearby MTA Red Line construction and tunneling caused a severe downfall in patronage and in 1997 the couple was forced to shutter the café. While it was purchased by a man named Casey Hallenbeck the next year, it stood abandoned for the following decade. The structure was eventually moved to a vacant lot in 2009, where it sat on blocks in a sad graffiti-covered state.

While sitting abandoned, Phil’s vintage signage was stolen and never ended up being recovered. The sign that currently stands in front of Phil’s is a replica.

In 2011, Phil’s was moved to its current location and plans were made to reopen it as part of the new NoHo Commons complex. After a $1.1-million restoration, the eatery opened in April 2011, but sadly only lasted eight months. By December, the restaurant, which is California’s oldest dining car and the only surviving outpost of the Phil’s chain, was shuttered. It remains closed to this day.

Though closed, I managed to snap a few photographs of Phil’s interior through the windows.

As you can see, despite being out of operation for several years, the eatery is still in great shape. The wood-detailing is simply gorgeous! And what I wouldn’t give to catch a close-up glimpse of those headshots lining the ceiling!

Thanks to its historic look, Phil’s Diner has been featured in numerous productions over the years. Phil Everly, of the Everly Brothers, shot the cover of his 1974 solo album, aptly titled “Phil’s Diner,” in front of the eatery.

The diner was visible in the background of a 1977 informational video for the Emergency Medical Service titled “Life or Death,” which you can watch here.

Phil’s Diner briefly appeared in 1986’s Night of the Creeps, in the scene in which Detective Ray Cameron (Tom Atkins) raced to a death scene.

In the Season 2 episode of The X-Files titled “Humbug,” Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) travel to Gibsonton, Florida to investigate a murder that took place in a rural community of sideshow circus performers. Upon first arriving in town, the duo head to a local café to speak to Sheriff Hamilton (Wayne Grace) about the killing. Phil’s Diner was used for the establishing shot of that café.

Interior filming took place elsewhere, though – somewhere in Vancouver where the series’ first five seasons were lensed. As you can see below, the interior of the diner that was used was substantially larger than the interior of Phil’s.

Phil’s Diner was also featured in episodes of Baretta, The Millionaire Matchmaker, Hart to Hart and The White Shadow, and in one of the Friday the 13th movies. I am unsure of the particulars of those productions, though, but if any of my fellow stalkers have information on the filmings, please fill me in.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Phil’s Diner, from the “Humbug” episode of The X-Files, is located at 5230 Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood. The restaurant is currently closed.

February 20, 2014February 19, 2014

The All American Burger from “Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead”

I was devastated to learn back in early 2010, thanks to fellow stalker Amanda, that The All American Burger on Sunset Boulevard, which masqueraded as Clown Dog restaurant in 1991’s Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead, was being turned into a Chipotle Mexican Grill. I never expected that the historic eatery was going to be demolished in the process, though, so when I drove by it later that same year, I was shocked to discover a vacant lot. All that remained of the once-popular burger shack was its neon signage. It was not until two weeks ago, though, while I was on my way to stalk Parisian Florist, that I saw the Chipotle outpost that now stands in its place. Sad as I was, I figured I might as well pull over and snap some pics so that I could write an updated post on the property.

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The All American Burger was originally founded in 1963 by a successful stockbroker named Aaron Binder. The company grew fairly quickly and, by 1970, four sister eateries had opened up throughout L.A. For reasons that are unclear, things took a turn for the worse in 1981 and the chain filed for bankruptcy. Binder was later found guilty of fraud (stemming from a tax shelter investment scheme) and sent to prison for ten years. He wound up serving 42 months. It is unclear what happened to the restaurants following the bankruptcy and Binder’s imprisonment, but I believe they were sold to several new owners. Each branch was eventually shuttered, except for the Sunset Boulevard location which, according to LA Weekly, was the last remaining of the chain, until it, too, closed its doors in early 2010. The subsequent demolition of the restaurant and rebuilding did not take long as Chipotle opened on the site in November of that same year.

I originally visited The All American Burger in December 2009 and it turned out to be one of my favorite stalking experiences ever. You can read about that stalk – in which I got to don an All American Burger uniform and go behind the counter – here.

Sadly, the Chipotle building looks nothing at all like the former The All American Burger. As I mentioned, the sole remnant of the historic eatery is its signage – or at least a portion of it. As you can see below, the hand pointing to the parking lot that was part of the All American Burger sign was incorporated into Chipotle’s new sign.

I would say I love the fact that Chipotle made the gesture, but I’m too darn sad that The All American Burger was demolished in the first place.

While doing research for this post I learned that it was directly across the street from The All American Burger, on the curb in front of 7677 Sunset Boulevard, that Hugh Grant infamously picked up a prostitute named Divine Brown in the early morning hours of June 27th, 1995. Hugh then drove Divine three blocks to the corner of Hawthorn and North Curson Avenues, where the two indulged in “lewd conduct” and were eventually arrested. Oddly, neither seemed to be negatively affected by the arrest. Hugh’s career did not miss a beat and, according to this 2010 Daily Mail article, Divine made about $1 million off of the 20-minute encounter and wound up leaving the “business” for good. She currently runs a music production company in Atlanta.

In Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead, The All American Burger stood in for Clown Dog restaurant, where Sue Ellen Crandell (Christina Applegate) worked for a day and met her future boyfriend, delivery boy Bryan (The Good Wife’s Josh Charles).

The real life interior of the eatery was also used in the movie.

The All American Burger was featured in a couple of other productions during its too-short lifetime. In the Season 2 episode of Californication titled “La Petite Mort,” which aired in 2008, the restaurant was where Hank Moody (David Duchovny) confronted his daughter’s boyfriend, Damian (Ezra Miller).

And in 2009, the eatery was where Officer John Cooper (Michael Cudlitz) and Officer Ben Sherman (cutie Ben McKenzie – sigh!) responded to a 911 call from a customer complaining that her regular lunch spot was out of chicken nuggets (LOL) in the Season 1 episode of Southland titled “Derailed.”

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The All American Burger, aka Clown Dog restaurant from Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead, was formerly located at 7660 West Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. The property is now the site of a Chipotle Mexican Grill.