Downtown Los Angeles – Page 2

March 14, 2018April 19, 2018

Hop Louie from “I Love You, Man”

Los Angeles suffered numerous iconic restaurant closures in 2017 – Auntie Em’s Kitchen in Eagle Rock, Happy Trails Catering in Pasadena (I was particularly heartbroken over that one), and the Formosa Cafe in West Hollywood (though it is set to re-open this summer), just to name a few. 2017 also saw the final shuttering of historic Chinatown eatery Hop Louie. Though the kitchen and main dining room of the area landmark and onscreen stalwart shut down in August 2016, the lower level bar had remained in operation – and left Angelinos hopeful over the restaurant’s future. That all changed when the locale closed its doors for good last July. What is to become of the legendary site is anyone’s guess. I stalked Hop Louie way back in 2012 after becoming obsessed with it thanks to its appearance in I Love You, Man, but, sadly, never got to actually dine on the premises (more on that in a bit) and somehow failed to dedicate a blog post to the place. Then, last week, while doing some downtown L.A. stalking, the Grim Cheaper and I happened to drive through Chinatown and when my gaze caught sight of Hop Louie’s unique pagoda-shaped exterior, I decided it was high time I rectify that.

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Hop Louie’s eye-catching edifice, which towers over Chinatown, was originally constructed in 1941 to house a Cantonese eatery named Golden Pagoda Restaurant.

How it became Hop Louie is not really well-documented online, but from what I can gather the site was taken over in 1985 by restauranteurs Hop Louie Woo and Bill Ng, who met while working together at Latitude 20 in Torrance. The duo transformed the locale into a Cantonese/Mandarin eatery named after Woo. Though the fare was never especially noteworthy, the place quickly became a neighborhood staple due largely to its kitschy décor, generous servings, and reasonable prices. The cocktail lounge, situated on the lower level and known for serving stiff, inexpensive libations, was also a big part of Hop Louie’s draw.

Very little of the restaurant was changed throughout its thirty-year history, leaving patrons and online commenters to commonly refer to it as being “frozen in time.” The assessment was not at all far off – the place was a relic! A cigarette vending machine could even still be found on the premises as late as 2007.

Sadly, Hop Louie suffered from lingering profits in recent years, leading the owners to shut down the kitchen in August 2016. Though the bar was left open, everyone in the city, it seemed, mourned the restaurant’s demise, with Eater LA, LA Weekly, LAist, NBC Los Angeles, and TimeOut all lamenting the news.

Oddly, when the cocktail lounge shuttered a little less than a year later and the final nail was essentially put in Hop Louie’s coffin, the lights seemed to go out with no fanfare whatsoever. In fact, had it not been for a couple of mentions on Yelp and Instagram, I would not have even realized that the bar had closed and the historic restaurant was no longer.

When the GC and I visited Hop Louie in 2012, our experience left a bit to be desired. Upon entering, we headed upstairs to the dining area and I snapped the photos below along the way.

As we reached the second level and stood waiting to be seated, I took a picture of the dining room which apparently was a huge no-no because a man immediately ran over to us screaming and yelling that photos were not allowed. It was not the best way to be greeted, so, needless to say, we did not stay for a meal and the images above and below are the only ones I got of Hop Louie’s interior. You can check out some great shots of the inside of the place here, though.

You can also catch a glimpse of the restaurant via its myriad onscreen roles. In the 2009 comedy I Love You, Man, Zooey Rice (Rashida Jones) and Peter Klaven (Paul Rudd) host their engagement party at Hop Louie.

In an interesting twist, though, one that I did not realize up until writing this post, only the exterior of Hop Louie was utilized in the engagement party scene. Though the eatery is referred to by name in the movie and said to be Peter’s favorite spot to bring dates, it solely appeared in a brief establishing shot. All interior filming took place at the Great Wall Chinese Restaurant located at 18331 Sherman Way in Reseda. You can see some photographs of that site here.

Back in 1978, when the locale still housed the Golden Pagoda, it portrayed the restaurant owned by Miss Choy (France Nuyen) in the Season 7 episode of Columbo titled “Murder Under Glass.”

Once again, only the exterior was utilized in the shoot. Interiors were shot elsewhere.

In 1984, the Golden Pagoda popped up in the Season 2 episode of The A-Team titled “The Maltese Cow.”

As was the case with the previous two productions mentioned, only the exterior of the building appeared onscreen. Interiors were shot, I believe, on a set.

We finally catch a glimpse of Hop Louie’s interior in the 1990 comedy Sibling Rivalry, in the scene in which Marjorie Turner (Kirstie Alley) and her sister Jeanine (Jami Gertz) discuss Jeanine’s new love interest over lunch.

A fight between two rival kick-boxing gangs breaks out near Hop Louie’s entrance in the 1991 action flick Ring of Fire.

Haru (Chris Farley) goes undercover as a teppan chef at Hop Louie in order to spy on Martin Tanley (Nathaniel Parker) in the 1997 comedy Beverly Hills Ninja.

Once again, though, only the exterior of the site was utilized. Interiors were shot on what I believe was a set.

In 1998’s Lethal Weapon 4, Detective Lee Butters (Chris Rock) chases a waiter (Philip Tan) whom he mistakenly thinks is a bad guy through Hop Louie’s dining room.

The waiter winds up jumping out of Hop Louie’s second-story window onto the street below, where he is promptly arrested.

Furious (Ben Stiller) and his team head to Hop Louie to celebrate their first victory in 1999’s Mystery Men. Only the exterior of the site appeared in the movie. (Are you sensing a pattern here?)

Interior filming took place at The Prince, one of my favorite L.A. restaurants.

Hop Louie portrays three different spots in the 2007 comedy Big Stan. The exterior of the restaurant pops up in a couple of scenes as the outside of Master Cho’s Karate studio.

The main dining room is the spot where Big Stan (Rob Schneider) has dinner with The Master (David Carradine) and Lew Popper (M. Emmet Walsh).

And the lower level bar is where Lew meets Madame Foreman (Sally Kirkland).

In the Season 1 episode of Chuck titled “Chuck Versus the Sizzling Shrimp,” which aired in 2007, Hop Louie masks as Bamboo Dragon restaurant where Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi) encounters international spy Mei-Ling Cho (Gwendoline Yeo).

G. Callen (Chris O’Donnell) parks on the side of Hop Louie while chasing a criminal in the Season 1 episode of NCIS: Los Angeles titled “Chinatown,” which aired in 2010.

In the pilot episode of Stitchers titled “A Stitch in Time,” which aired in 2015, Hop Louie masks as the Chinese restaurant that stands as a cover for the secret headquarters of the Stitchers agency.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Hop Louie, from I Love You, Man, is located at 950 Mei Ling Way in downtown L.A.’s Chinatown. The restaurant and bar are both currently closed.

September 6, 2017February 20, 2018

The Southern Hotel from Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” Music Video

The Grim Cheaper often accuses me of beating a dead horse. While I typically don’t agree with him, today’s post is pretty concrete evidence that he’s right, because here I am yet again with yet another article about the diner from Michael Jackson’s 1983 “Beat It” music video. Today actually marks the fourth time I’ve written about this particular locale, making it the most covered spot ever featured on IAMNOTASTALKER. (To be fair, I’ve also written about the Walsh house from Beverly Hills, 90210 – my very favorite filming site – on four occasions, though one of the posts was a mash-up of several places from the Fox series.) This location has also been the most puzzling I’ve ever covered. I am happy to report, though, that the mystery surrounding it has finally, finally been put to rest thanks to a reader named Dave, who sent me an email in early July that just about made me fall off my chair.

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For those who haven’t been following along since the beginning, my coverage of the “Beat It” café started back in March 2010 when I wrote about the Monte Carlo Restaurant located at 109 East Fifth Street in downtown Los Angeles. I first came across the eatery via Google Street View while on a cyber-stalking mission to track down the locale and was struck by its resemblance to what had appeared onscreen. With its half-green/half-cream walls and curved counter, the Monte Carlo, which is still in operation today, looks like it was ripped straight out of the video. It is also located smack dab in the middle of Skid Row, where I knew “Beat It” had been lensed.

Despite those seeming connections, though, upon visiting the restaurant in person, I started to have doubts that it was the spot where MJ filmed. Not only is the Monte Carlo interior much smaller than that of the “Beat It” café, but an address number of 416 could also be seen in the video (it’s denoted with a pink circle below), which does not gibe with the Monte Carlo’s 109 address.

A sign reading “Special Café” was also visible in “Beat It,” as you can see via the pink arrows in both the screen capture and the photograph below, which was taken from Todd Gray’s book Michael Jackson: Before He Was King. (Please disregard the additional markings on the photo. They were added in reference to a since-solved mystery that my fellow stalkers were discussing in the comments section of my first Monte Carlo post). While it was entirely possibly the eatery’s name had been changed from “Special Café” to “Monte Carlo Restaurant” since filming took place, the discrepancy still gave me pause. So I opened the quest up to my fellow stalkers, asking for their opinions on the matter. Many chimed in, sharing their thoughts, but those thoughts didn’t lead to any sort of definitive conclusion. I re-stalked and re-blogged about the Monte Carlo later that same month in the hopes of clarifying things, but unfortunately, my second visit and post only provided more doubt and confusion – and more conversation amongst readers. Still though, no one was able to say with any sort of certainty whether or not we had found the right spot.

Cut to March 2013. An MJ fan named Justin, who had been following the hunt since the beginning, posted a comment on my original Monte Carlo post in which he shared a link to the 1955 photograph below. He came across the image via the USC Digital Library archives while searching for historic pictures of Skid Row and East Fifth Street and was floored to happen upon one of a restaurant with signage reading “Special Café,” located next door to a property with a 414 address number – all of which lined up with what was seen in “Beat It.” The windows and doorway of the eatery in the photograph were also a match to what appeared in the video.

Shortly thereafter, I learned how to search through old digitized Los Angeles phone records and found a listing for the Special Café at 416 East Fifth Street, which seemed to cement everything. Justin had solved the mystery! (Or so we thought – but more on that in a bit.)

As Justin informed me (incorrectly, as it turns out, but, again, more on that later), the café had been razed shortly after filming took place, much to my chagrin, and, after being utilized as a parking lot for close to three decades, a building was finally constructed on the site in 2013. I immediately ran out to stalk the locale and did a write-up on it, but, unfortunately, that post led to even more confusion thanks to the Historic Aerials website.

When I pulled up 1972 and 1980 views of the Special Café site while researching for the post, Historic Aerials showed that no building was located there during those years. Since I knew that the eatery was around from at least 1955 (the year the photograph Justin found was taken) to 1983 (the year “Beat It” was filmed), the building’s absence on Historic Aerials was absolutely mind-boggling! As my friend/fellow stalker David from Spain stated in the comments section of that post, “Oh my god, that’s a case for Mulder and Scully.”

Thankfully, Dave, an eagle-eyed fellow stalker from across the pond, figured things out. In his July email, he said, “Check out the attached image of the Southern Hotel, captured from the 1982 Charles Bronson movie Death Wish II. Compare it with your recent-ish photo of the site, paying particular attention to the red panels on the right hand side, i.e. the lower left of the Southern building. Everything should be clear! Do you see it?” Yes, I did see it – and just about fell out of my chair upon doing so!

As Dave’s email went on to explain, “The Special Café was never demolished as such – it’s still standing, and forms part of the main Southern building (which it always did). The storefront windows have been replaced with the red paneling and the door (or at least, a door) is still there, although it’s walled off with railings now.”

To say that I was in utter shock over Dave’s revelation would be an understatement. The Special Café site still stands? Say whaaa?

He broke things down further, pointing out, “As per the Death Wish II screencap: the doorway/entrance to the Southern Hotel was originally on the right-hand side of the building and classed as No. 412, the Café – on the left hand side of the building – was No. 416, the storefront in the middle – aka the ‘Church on Wheels Heartreach Mission’ – which has now been remodeled into the main entrance to the Southern, would have originally been No. 414.”

In researching the Southern Hotel, I learned that it had been completely gutted in 2000 – taken down to the studs, “its bones on display like a clanky skeleton,” according to a Los Angeles Times article – before being transformed into a 55-room apartment complex for homeless veterans. Despite that remodel, though, the building, which was originally constructed in 1920, is surprisingly still recognizable from Death Wish II.

In the movie, architect Paul Kersey (Bronson) books a room at the Southern while on the hunt for the five men who killed his daughter and housekeeper.

As Dave informed me, Death Wish II isn’t the first Charles Bronson movie to feature the hotel. Ten years earlier, the actor, playing the role of Arthur Bishop, walked on Fifth Street just west of the Southern in the 1972 thriller The Mechanic.

Dave also filled me in on, sent me links to, and provided screen captures of a myriad of the hotel’s other onscreen appearances and pop culture connections. As he informed me, photographer Sam Cherry snapped a picture of famed author Charles Bukowski on Skid Row standing across the street from the Southern in 1970. You can see the hotel, as well as the Special Café, on the right-hand side of the image below.

Chester (Harvey Gold) and Cooper (Jason Miller) walk by the Southern at the beginning of the 1974 drama The Nickel Ride. The Special Café exterior can even be seen in the second screen capture below.

In the Season 3 episode of Starsky & Hutch titled “The Heroes,” which aired in 1977, Det. Ken ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson (David Soul) and Det. Dave Starsky (Paul Michael Glaser) drive by the Special Café.

The eatery and hotel were also briefly seen in the Season 4 episode of Starsky & Hutch titled “Starsky vs. Hutch,” which aired in 1979.

When Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) and Adrian (Talia Shire) arrive at the Hotel Lorane (which, as Dave pointed out, is still intact!) in 1982’s Rocky III, the Southern is visible in the background.

The hotel is seen, briefly once again, in the opening montage of the Season 1 episode of Miami Vice titled “Glades,” which aired in 1984.

And in 1984’s Repo Man, the Southern and the Special Café are just barely visible from the window of Otto’s (Emilio Estevez) car during a driving scene.

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

Big, huge THANK YOU to fellow stalker Dave for finally putting an end to the “Beat It” café mystery, for doing all of the research for this post, and for providing the many screen captures! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Southern Hotel is located at 412 East Fifth Street in downtown Los Angeles. Special Café, aka the diner from Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” music video, was formerly situated in the eastern portion of the building’s ground floor, but is no longer there. This locale is not in the best of areas, so if you visit, please exercise caution.

August 7, 2017August 4, 2017

Scorpion Headquarters from “Scorpion”

The Grim Cheaper and I tend to get hooked on a new series every summer. Well, truth be told, we get hooked on new series all throughout the year (The Goldbergs, Veep, and Vanderpump Rules come to mind). But during the summer months, we typically pick out a new-to-us show and binge-watch it nightly to avoid dreaded reruns. In 2014, that show was Revenge. In 2015, Scandal. Last year, it was Suits. And this year, it’s Scorpion, the CBS procedural that focuses on a group of geniuses who aid Homeland Security in solving crimes. The series, said to be loosely based on the real life of software specialist Walter O’Brien (played by Elyes Gabel), can definitely be cheesy and the storylines completely over-the-top at times (you often have to reeeeeallllly suspend disbelief), but we love it. It is the quirky cast of characters – Toby Curtis (Eddie Kaye Thomas), Happy Quinn (Jadyn Wong), Sylvester Dodd (Ari Stidham), Paige Dineen (Katharine McPhee), Ralph Dineen (Riley B. Smith), Agent Cabe Gallo (Robert Patrick) and Walter – who keep us coming back. Not to mention, the show has got some serious heart. I tear up over pretty much every episode. So while in L.A. recently, I was all about stalking a few of its locations, namely the Team Scorpion headquarters.

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For those who haven’t watched Scorpion, I’ll let Walter explain the team and their unique dynamic via his narration from each episode’s intro – “My name is Walter O’Brien. I have the fourth highest IQ ever recorded – 197. Einstein’s was 160. When I was 11, the FBI arrested me for hacking NASA to get their blueprints for my bedroom wall. Now I run a team of geniuses tackling worldwide threats only we can solve. Toby’s our behaviorist, Sylvester’s a human calculator, Happy, a mechanical prodigy. Agent Cabe Gallo’s our government handler. And Paige? Well, Paige isn’t like us. She’s normal, and translates the world for us while we help her understand her genius son. Together we are Scorpion.” (And let’s not forget their pet ferret, Ferret Bueller, which has to be the greatest name ever!) Traditional office space would never suit such a nontraditional team, so the group instead heads to a large graffiti-covered brick warehouse for work each day.

That warehouse is located at 1935 Bay Street in downtown Los Angeles. I found the address thanks to Gary, from Seeing Stars, who has a page on his site dedicated to locations from the series’ early episodes.

As you can see below, Scorpion headquarters looks much the same in person as it does on TV.

The 13,260-square-foot warehouse was originally built in 1925.

It is not hard to see why the building was chosen to appear on Scorpion – its rich coloring, urban layout and industrial design translate extremely well to the screen.

While researching this post, I came across a quote from series creator Nick Santora about shooting in Southern California. He said, “CBS was very supportive of keeping this show in L.A. I imagined it in L.A. and wrote it in L.A., and it just stayed in L.A. I was constantly waiting for the phone call telling us, ‘Hey, let’s go scouting in Louisiana, New Mexico, and Toronto,’ but that call never came. I’m thrilled because though I’m a New Yorker through and through, there are parts of L.A. that are undershot and very interesting visually. L.A. is an old city, and there are old buildings here. There’s great architecture that gets beat down by 110 degree weather, and Santa Ana winds that have been whipping sand against it for a century now, and it just looks great on film. I wanted to try to tell a story in this town.” His quote perfectly encapsulates the warehouse. Though gritty, rough and covered in graffiti, it looks stunning through a camera lens.

I mean, look at it!

The building is just begging to be photographed.

I mean, that alley! Yaaaaaaas!

I want to frame pretty much every image I took of the place.

As is typical with most TV shows, a different location was used as the Team Scorpion warehouse in the pilot. It can be found at 2270 Jesse Street in Boyle Heights. A full view of the exterior of the site was never shown in the episode, oddly. In the early scene in which Walter arrives at work, though he parks in front of the warehouse, due to the camera angle, we only see the building located just to the east of it, at 653 South Anderson Street. You can see a matching shot via the Google Street View image below.

The episode also provided a brief glimpse of the warehouse’s entry doors, which can be seen below via Google Street View.

The interior of the Jesse Street warehouse was also utilized in the pilot as the inside of Scorpion headquarters. As you can see in these real life photographs of the interior, not much was changed for the shoot.

When Scorpion got picked up, the production set up shop at MBS Media Campus in Manhattan Beach, where the interior of the Jesse Street warehouse was very closely re-created on a soundstage.

The warehouse rooftop, where Team Scorpion often hangs out, can also be found at MBS Media Campus.

It is actually a temporary outdoor set constructed when needed on the top level of the studio’s large parking garage, in the area denoted with a red X below.

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

Big THANK YOU to Gary, from the Seeing Stars website, for finding this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Scorpion Headquarters from Scorpion is located at 1935 Bay Street in downtown Los Angeles. When visiting, please exercise caution as the site is not located in the best part of town. The headquarters building from the pilot episode can be found at 2270 Jesse Street in Boyle Heights. The warehouse rooftop is a set constructed on the top level of the MBS Media Campus parking garage at 1600 Rosecrans Avenue in Manhattan Beach.

April 4, 2016April 5, 2016

Jimmy’s Restaurant from “Grandfathered”

The Grim Cheaper and I were inundated with new shows we love during the Fall 2015 television season. Virtually every single one we sampled became must-see TV for us, including Blind Spot, Limitless, The Grinder, Quantico, The Family (which technically didn’t start until early 2016), Oil (really bummed that one was cancelled), Wicked City (ditto on the cancellation), Rosewood, and Lucifer. Considering we already had a fairly long list of can’t-miss shows, our DVR is now on overload. Though we have yet to see every episode, we also have a soft spot for the FOX comedy Grandfathered. I was especially thrilled while watching the pilot to spot Hatfield’s from Chef pop up as the interior of Jimmy’s, the restaurant owned by Jimmy Martino (John Stamos) on the series. I immediately started searching for the eatery used in exterior shots of Jimmy’s and fairly quickly found it – Faith & Flower at 705 West 9th Street in downtown Los Angeles. Though I added the info to my Hatfield’s post to reflect the new information shortly after the pilot aired in September, I did not make it out to stalk Faith & Flower until recently.

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Faith & Flower is located on the ground level of the Watermarke Tower. The luxury 214-unit apartment building was originally built in 2009 and was set to be a condominium complex, but its developer, Meruelo Maddux, declared bankruptcy shortly before construction was completed and the site remained vacant for a time.

In April 2010, the 35-story, 254,000-square-foot property was purchased by Watermarke Properties for a whopping $110 million and transformed into an upscale apartment complex.

Watermarke is considered one of downtown’s most luxurious apartment buildings and boasts amenities that seemingly never end, including a 20-seat theatre, a private wine cellar and tasting room, a spin room, two gyms, a yoga studio, a game room, a dog run, a basement lounge complete with a pool table and flat screen TVs that most residents refer to as a “nightclub,” a 75-foot infinity pool, a hot tub, two conference rooms, gardens, a ping pong room, BBQs, and a 24-hour concierge. Thrown in 24-hour room service and I’d be set!

In July 2012, a massive 7,000-square-foot, 200-seat eatery named Towne Food & Drink opened on the bottom floor of the building. Prior to Towne setting up shop, Watermarke’s ground level looked quite a bit different, as you can see in the Google Street View image from May 2011 pictured below as compared to my photograph. Restaurateur Armen Shirvanian spent $4 million building the space out. Of the exterior patio area he said, “We poured that terrace. There was nothing there. We built what we think is a European-style terrace that’s really inviting.” Sadly, despite the no-expense-spared construction, Towne Food & Drink shut its doors in March 2013, after only a scant eight months in operation.

Faith & Flower opened in the space, which sits at the intersection of West 9th and South Flower streets, in March 2014. The eatery’s name is derived from the fact that Flower Street was originally known as “Faith Street”.

Faith & Flower was designed with Old Hollywood in mind and features large booths, Chesterfield sofas, translucent curtains, and mid-century modern chandeliers. One of Bob Hope’s former dressing room doors is even on display.

On Grandfathered, the exterior of Faith & Flower is used in establishing shots of Jimmy’s restaurant.

Some on location filming has also taken place at the restaurant. In the pilot episode, Jimmy runs out of Faith & Flower, makes a left onto Flower Street, and then heads north while rushing his sick granddaughter to the hospital.

Interestingly, there is another exterior that is occasionally (and rather haphazardly) used in establishing shots of Jimmy’s. In fact, sometimes both exteriors appear interchangeably in the same episode!

That exterior is located on the CBS Studio Center lot, where Grandfathered is lensed. It is the eastern side of Building 2.

Fellow stalker Richard was nice enough to share a photograph he took of Building 2 while on a visit to CBS Studio Center. As you can see, the area where Jimmy’s restaurant was built is a carport in real life. The structure actually once served as offices for Mark VII Limited, the production company belonging to actor Jack Webb. According to Richard, Webb transformed the top level into an apartment, complete with a kitchen, sound studio, and air conditioning. In fact, it was the first spot on the lot to have AC capabilities. Big THANK YOU to Richard for this!

As I mentioned earlier, Hatfield’s was used as the interior of Jimmy’s restaurant in the pilot.

Once the series got picked up, that interior was re-created (with some changes) on a soundstage at CBS Studio Center.

The Watermarke Tower is also where Jimmy lives on Grandfathered.

The interior of one of the building’s actual units was utilized in the pilot episode.

As was the case with Hatfield’s, that interior was then re-created on a soundstage once Grandfathered was picked up.

The Tower has appeared onscreen in several other productions. Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) lived in one the Watermarke’s units the 2013 movie Her.

That same year, Towne Food & Drink was featured in the Season 5 episode of Castle titled “The Squab and the Quail” as the spot where Arthur Felder (Robert Craighead) was poisoned.

The building has been used twice – for virtually the very same date – on The Bachelor. It first popped up in the Season 15 episode titled “Week 4: Radio Show Date” during Bachelor Brad Womack’s one-on-one with Michelle Money. The two flew via helicopter to the Watermarke and then proceeded to rappel down it to the pool area where they ate a romantic dinner. In the Season 18 episode titled “Week 2: Book Cover Photo Shoot,” Bachelor Sean Lowe and Sarah Herron flew via – you guessed it – helicopter to the Watermarke and then – yep! – proceeded to rappel down it to the pool area where they drank champagne. Unfortunately, The Bachelor is not available to stream anywhere so I could not make screen captures of the episodes for this post. The building also apparently appeared several times on America’s Next Top Model, but again, the episodes weren’t available for streaming.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The exterior of Jimmy’s restaurant from Grandfathered is the exterior of Faith & Flower, which is located at 705 West 9th Street in downtown Los Angeles. You can visit the eatery’s official website here. The interior of Jimmy’s is a set based upon the interior of the former Hatfield’s restaurant, which was located at 6703 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood.

March 2, 2016February 26, 2016

New Discover L.A. Post – About the Millennium Biltmore Hotel

Be sure to check out my latest article for Discover Los Angeles about famous scenes shot at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel.

November 11, 2015December 30, 2019

The Daily Dose Café from “Scandal”

UPDATE – After closing and then reopening briefly as Café Société in 2018, this spot shuttered for good early last year. It currently remains vacant.

There’s pretty much nothing I love more than a cool coffee house. So when Cupcakes and Cashmere blogger Emily Schuman wrote about the Daily Dose Café, a downtown Los Angeles coffee shop “nestled between two large industrial buildings” that feels like “your own secret spot” this past August, I was mesmerized! I happened to be in the area when I read the post and ran right out to stalk it just a few minutes later. Emily’s description of the place was spot on and I fell in love with it on sight. I still consider the Daily Dose Café one of the coolest coffee shops I have ever visited. So when it popped up in the Season 5 episode of Scandal titled “Dog-Whistle Politics” a couple of weeks ago, I was floored! And while I had written about the café in My Guide to L.A. – Coffee article in August, I decided it was worthy of its own post. So here goes.

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The Daily Dose Café was founded by a real estate developer named Sarkis Vartanian, who became inspired to establish an “honest food” eatery after receiving a reality check from his doctor. Sarkis had been living on a fast food diet, was feeling crappy most of the time, and, when his doctor informed him that his unhealthy ways were taking a toll on his physical well-being, decided to make a major life change. What better way to do so than by setting up his own organic restaurant? Vartanian soon quit his real estate job and, along with partner/executive chef Christian Page, opened the Daily Dose Café in August 2011.

The tiny restaurant is situated in a small alley that sits tucked in between two non-descript buildings.

So tucked and so non-descript, in fact, that you could easily walk right by it without realizing it was there.

But what lies beyond the clandestine entry is nothing short of magical!

Vartanian set out to create a European-style coffee shop in the heart of downtown L.A. and it took a full two years for his vision to come to fruition.

One look at the space and it is not very hard to see why. Every square inch of it is teeming with charm, warmth and romance. With its canopy of strung Edison lights, towering shrub-covered walls, cobblestone flooring, and reclaimed wood furnishings, the Daily Dose Café evokes all the beauty and allure of a Parisian garden.

The Daily Dose Café also boasts an indoor space, but it was jam-packed while we were there, so I did not snap any photos of it – outside of the mugs on display, that is, which I fell in love with.

The eatery, which serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as a wide array of coffee drinks and fresh juices, is well-known for its organically grown non-GMO food offerings. While the meals I saw being served looked uh-ma-zing, the Grim Cheaper and I only partook of some java while we were there. And I have to say I was quite impressed! The iced latte I ordered was easily one of the best I have ever tasted.

In “Dog-Whistle Politics,” the Daily Dose Café stood in for the Café Graisseux (translation Greasy Coffee Shop) in Paris, where Jake Ballard (Scott Foley) and Charlie (George Newbern) waited for a contact.

Not only was the space dressed heavily for the shoot, but Parisian buildings were digitally added to the background in post-production, making the restaurant virtually unrecognizable.

I identified it immediately, though, thanks to the canopy of Edison bulbs visible throughout the scene.

The Daily Dose Café has appeared onscreen several times throughout the years. In the Season 3 episode of Revenge titled “Endurance,” which aired in 2014, the exterior of the eatery is briefly shown as the spot where Conrad Grayson (Henry Czerny) pays Jess (Nazneen Contractor) for a sneak peek at an upcoming issue of Voulez magazine.

Later that same season, in the episode titled “Impetus,” Margaux LeMarchal (Karine Vanasse) talks to Daniel Grayson (Josh Bowman) about the death of her father while standing outside of the Daily Dose Café, though virtually none of the restaurant is visible in the scene.

In the Season 1 episode of CSI: Cyber titled “Fire Code,” which aired in 2015, the Daily Dose Café masks as the Washington, D.C.-area coffee shop where Elijah Mundo (James Van Der Beek) asks his estranged wife, Devon Atwood (Alexie Gilmore), for another chance.

In the Season 6 episode of Rizzoli & Isles titled “Scared to Death,” it played the role of the Boston, Massachusetts-area cafe where Nina Holiday (Idara Victor) interviewed a hacking victim.

And it is the New York alley Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) runs down in order to escape Candace Stone (Ambyr Childers) in the first episode of the second season of the Netflix series You, titled “A Fresh Start.”

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Daily Dose Café, from the “Dog-Whistle Politics” episode of Scandal, is located at 1820 Industrial Street in downtown Los Angeles’ Arts District. It is currently closed.

October 29, 2015September 29, 2017

New “L.A.” Mag Post – About Hotel Cortez from “American Horror Story: Hotel”

Don’t forget to check out my latest Los Angeles magazine article, about the various locations that mask as Hotel Cortez on American Horror Story: Hotel! My articles typically get published in the early afternoon hours.

October 27, 2015September 29, 2017

Hall of Justice

In the early hours of August 5th, 1962, screen star Marilyn Monroe was found dead in the bedroom of her Brentwood home. Later that same day, her body was brought to the Hall of Justice in downtown Los Angeles for an autopsy. I only learned that factoid a couple of years ago and immediately became fascinated with the building. Upon doing further research, I became even more enthralled with the structure thanks to its long-standing connection to L.A.’s criminal element and dark underbelly. Figuring the place would be perfect for a Haunted Hollywood post, I set out to stalk it last fall. I was obviously having a blond moment that day, though, and mistakenly stalked the Los Angeles County Hall of Records instead. But this year I got it right!

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The Hall of Justice was designed in 1925 by the Allied Architects Association and, according to the Los Angeles Conservancy website, is “the oldest surviving government building” in L.A.’s Civic Center.

The granite exterior of the Beaux Arts-style structure is comprised of four identical facades.

The 14-story building was originally constructed to house the Los Angeles county court and jail facilities. Upon its completion, it contained 750 jail cells, 17 courtrooms, a morgue, and office space for court employees and law enforcement officers.

The top four floors of the structure housed the jail facilities, which, at one point or another, were home to some of the city’s most notorious criminals including Charles Manson, Sirhan Sirhan, and Bugsy Siegel. A few celebrities also did time there, such as Evel Knievel, who was jailed on assault charges (and famously hired twenty limousines to transport each of the inmates who were released the same day he was) and Robert Mitchum, who, as detailed in this Los Angeles magazine post, served an almost sixty-day sentence for smoking marijuana.

Countless famous trials took place at the Hall of Justice, as well, including those of Manson, Sirhan Sirhan, and Charlie Chaplin. Oh, if those walls could talk!

The morgue facilities were housed in the Hall of Justice’s basement. It was there that Marilyn’s autopsy was conducted by deputy coroner Dr. Thomas Noguchi, who determined the star’s cause of death as probable suicide from acute barbiturate poisoning. That determination has been disputed by fans, armchair detectives and conspiracy theorists alike ever since. So much so that District Attorney John Van de Kamp ordered a review of Marilyn’s death in 1982. The resulting 29-page report on the matter, which took three and a half months to compile, stated that “no credible evidence” of foul play was found. Doubters and theories continue to abound, though.

Dr. Noguchi also performed the autopsy of Robert F. Kennedy at the Hall of Justice on June 6th, 1968.

The Hall of Justice was severely damaged during the Northridge earthquake in 1994 and was subsequently shuttered for the two decades following. Beginning in 2004, the building underwent a massive 10-year, $231-million restoration and finally re-opened in late 2014. While many historic décor elements were left intact, including the ornate columned loggia, several areas were gutted. The morgue where Marilyn’s autopsy was conducted was a casualty of the renovation. The majority of the courtrooms and jail cells were also removed. One block of cells, which is said to include the cell where both Manson and Sirhan Sirhan were incarcerated, was kept intact and moved to the basement (yes, the same basement where Marilyn was autopsied) and will eventually be part of a public exhibit. You can check out some great pre-renovation photos of the building here (man, I would have loved to have toured it during that time!) and some fabulous post-renovation photos here.

The Hall of Justice is also a filming location!

The building was featured numerous times in establishing shots on the television series Perry Mason.

And it appeared each week in the Season 3 and 4 opening credits of Get Smart.

The building was also featured in The Big Fix, The Distinguished Gentleman and Absolute Power, none of which I had copies of with which to make screen captures for this post.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Hall of Justice is located at 211 West Temple Street in downtown Los Angeles.

September 17, 2015September 11, 2015

New “L.A.” Mag Post – Clifton’s Cafeteria

Don’t forget to check out today’s post for L.A.mag.com about Clifton’s Cafeteria’s many appearances onscreen. My articles typically get published in the late morning/early afternoon hours.

September 15, 2015September 14, 2015

Bob Hope Patriotic Hall from “Flashdance”

Anyone who has ever driven on the I-10 Freeway east of downtown Los Angeles has most likely noticed the A-line, red-roofed building that towers over the skyline to the south. That building is Bob Hope Patriotic Hall. I have passed by it hundreds of times and have always wanted to venture inside. A couple of weeks ago, while on our way back to the desert, the Grim Cheaper and I finally did. Though the Bob Hope Patriotic Hall website says that the property is open to the public, that is actually no longer the case. When the security guard manning the door saw my disappointment upon hearing this news, he took pity on us and allowed us to tour the lobby area. I am so thankful that he did because the space is nothing short of spectacular.

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Construction on the 85,000-square-foot building, which was originally named “Patriotic Hall,” began in 1925 and was completed in 1926. The ten-story Italian Renaissance/Romanesque-style site was designed by the Allied Architects Association and was the tallest building in Los Angeles at the time of its inception.

In late 2004, the structure, which is comprised of offices, a gymnasium, locker rooms, dining rooms, meeting spaces, ballrooms and an auditorium, was renamed Bob Hope Patriotic Hall in honor of the legendary comedian.

The property went through an extensive, $45-million, 7-year restoration process beginning in 2006 and the result is pretty darn amazing. I couldn’t take my eyes off of the ornate plaster ceiling.

Sadly, we were not able to venture upstairs to the upper levels of the building, but you can check out photographs of some of those areas here.

Bob Hope Patriotic Hall has been used in hundreds of productions over the years. Most famously, it was in the building’s Nimitz Room that Alex Owens (Jennifer Beals) auditioned for the Pittsburgh Dance and Repertory Company in 1983’s Flashdance.

That same room stood in for the Basil St. Mosley School of Dance in The Wedding Planner.

In 1986’s Back to School, Thornton Melon (Rodney Dangerfield) took his oral exams in another of the Patriotic Hall’s ballrooms.

The property’s lobby and a meeting room appeared in 1988’s Stand and Deliver, in the scene in which Jaime Escalante (Edward James Olmos) confronts the Educational Testing Service about his students’ AP Calculus test scores.

Bob Hope Patriotic Hall’s tenth-floor gym appeared in Patches O’Houlihan’s (Hank Azaria) informational video about dodgeball in the 2004 comedy Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story.

And while many sources say that the iconic opening scene from Patton, in which General George S. Patton Jr. (George C. Scott) delivered his famous Speech to the Third Army, was shot in the hall’s auditorium, I do not believe that information to be correct. Because only a large American flag and portions of a curtain were shown in the background of the scene, I was fairly certain upon watching that it was shot on a set. Then while researching this post, I came across an article titled The Photography of PATTON by George J. Mitchel that states that the scene was lensed at Sevilla Studios in Spain. Because there is so little to go on with this one, I cannot say for certain either way, but my best guess is that Mitchel is correct.

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We did get to tour the auditorium while visiting the Hall and, though my pictures don’t do it justice, the space is absolutely gorgeous.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Bob Hope Patriotic Hall, from Flashdance, is located at 1816 South Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles. The building is currently only open to veterans.