Entertainment – Page 10 – IAMNOTASTALKER

May 2, 2013May 1, 2013

Sara’s Apartment Building from “L.A. Story”

After tracking down the location of the “talking” freeway sign and Now! clothing store from fave movie L.A. Story (which I blogged about here and here, respectively) a couple of weeks ago, I embarked upon a mission to uncover all of the unknown locales from the 1991 flick. And with a lot of help from the usual suspects – fellow stalkers Mike, from MovieShotsLA, Owen, from the When Write Is Wrong blog, and Geoff, from the 90210Locations website – I managed to do just that! One location that I actually found all on my own, though, was the unique sloped-roof building where Londoner Sara McDowel (Victoria Tennant) stayed while visiting Los Angeles in the movie. So I ran right out to stalk it while in SoCal this past weekend.

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Thankfully, this one was quite the easy find. I had an inkling that Sara’s building was located in the West Hollywood area, where a considerable amount of L.A. Story was lensed. So I did a Google search for “West Hollywood apartment building” and “butterfly roof” and, sure enough, one of the results was a WeHo.org page that included a write-up about the historic Hollywood Riviera building located at 1400 North Hayworth Avenue, which turned out to be the right spot. (Although it actually houses condominiums, not apartments.) Woot woot!

The Hollywood Riviera was designed by prolific Los Angeles-based architect Edward H. Fickett in 1954. The extremely unique, 38-unit, post-war-modern-style building features a sloped butterfly roofline, louvered windows, floating exterior staircases, canted (yeah, I had to look that one up, too) balconies, and a central courtyard with a swimming pool.

It also has a pretty cool retro-style sign.

Incredibly, of the 37 West Hollywood apartment buildings that Fickett designed during his lifetime, only five are known to remain standing to this day. Most were demolished to make way for larger, more modern structures. Due to this sad fact and the building’s unique architecture, the West Hollywood Historic Preservation Commission designated the Hollywood Riviera a Historic Cultural Resource in 2010.

In L.A. Story, Sara, the love interest of Harris K. Telemacher (Steve Martin), stays at the Hollywood Riviera while in town to write an article about Los Angeles for The London Times. The building shows up numerous times throughout the movie.

The areas of the Riviera that appeared in the flick include the front exterior;

the front door of one of the units (I am guessing that the unit’s real life apartment number was used in the filming);

and the courtyard and pool.

I am fairly certain that the real life interior of one of the units was utilized in the shoot as well, although Sara’s homestead was two stories, while all of the Hollywood Riviera condos that I have found real estate listings for online consist of only one story, so who knows. You can check out a real estate listing for an actual unit here to see how it compares.

I am also fairly certain that Sara’s balcony was a real Hollywood Riviera balcony.

The Hollywood Riviera was also where Elaine (Lesley Ann Warren) lived in 1999’s The Limey.

And while several websites (including this one and this one) state that the building has appeared in numerous movies and television shows, I could not find the names of any of the other productions that filmed on the premises.

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Sara’s apartment building from L.A. Story, aka the Hollywood Riviera, is located at 1400 North Hayworth Avenue in West Hollywood.

May 1, 2013May 1, 2013

My Weekend with Michael Buble!

This past weekend was an absolute whirlwind – so much so that I am still trying to process the whole thing. It all started a couple of weeks back when I received a phone call from a good friend who informed me that the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, of which he is a member, was going to be hosting “An Evening with Michael Buble” – a special question and answer session and mini-concert with the cutie crooner – on April 28th. He had reserved two tickets for the event and, because he says he can’t hear the name Michael Buble without thinking of me, invited me to be his plus-one. As you can imagine, I was absolutely ESCTATIC over the news! Especially since I had been experiencing a particularly tough week with my dad. Flash forward to last Wednesday evening. I received another phone call from my friend informing me that he had heard (this friend knows absolutely EVERYONE in the business) that Michael would be arriving at LAX that Saturday at 1 a.m. and that if I wanted a photograph with him, going there would be my best bet. So even though I am SO not a night owl (I am typically in my PJs, glass of champagne in hand, by 6 p.m. every night), for MB I rallied! As did the Grim Cheaper – and I am so glad that we did because it turned out to be a magical experience. (And yes, I do realize that I can no longer call myself “not a stalker” now that I have gone to the airport to meet a celebrity! Winking smile )

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When the GC and I arrived at LAX, I was shocked to see that there were about twenty paparazzi and autograph dealers (aka “graphers”) already waiting for Michael. Those who read my site regularly know that I am not AT ALL a fan of the graphers – they are extremely aggressive and typically try to get between 20-30 items signed each, thereby taking up all of a celebrity’s time. (Not to mention, they are obnoxious! A TSA agent walked by at one point and asked who we were waiting for and one of the dealers responded, “Michael Buble – he’s a nobody.” Yeah, that guy’s lucky he didn’t get a fist to the face! Winking smile ) I am not an aggressive person by nature and do not do well in situations involving graphers and paparazzi, so I was fearful that the evening was not going to go well. Come to find out, I never should have worried. Not only is Michael Buble THE NICEST celebrity that I have ever met (Shannen Doherty runs a close second), but the GC was my absolute HERO that night and totally had my back! When MB walked out of the gate area, the graphers and paparazzi, of course, surrounded him and kept shoving photos and Sharpies into his face and hands. I called out to Michael from the sidelines and asked if he would pose for a picture, to which he said, “Sure! Just let me finish signing.” Well, anyone who has ever experienced the graphers knows that there is not ever a “finish” to their autograph seeking. These people carry hundreds upon hundreds of photographs with them at all times. (I’m not joking – some of them even cart around portable filing cabinets filled with celebrity pictures!) Well, MB pretty much signed his life away and it did not appear that the graphers were ever going to stop, so the GC yelled out, “Michael – this girl is a HUGE fan! She flew to Vancouver just to see the grocery store from your video!” (You can read my blog post on the Killarney Market from MB’s “Haven’t Met You Yet” video here.) Michael could not believe that and seemed really excited about it. Just then, his handler stopped him, saying, “OK we are done here. Come on, Michael, we’re leaving.” To which MB said, “Hold on, I need to take a picture with this sweet girl over here.” As you can imagine, I almost died right there on the spot!

My friend took the picture below in which I was telling Michael that he was my number one favorite celebrity. Smile

I was just slightly ecstatic.

The photo below perfectly encapsulates how Michael interacts with his fans. He was SO incredibly friendly, cordial and engaging to everyone who was there – almost unbelievably so. Miss Pinky Lovejoy, of the Thinking Pink blog, likes to describe fan-friendly celebrities as “braid-your-hair nice”, in that they are so accommodating, they’d braid your hair if you asked them to. Well, braid-your-hair nice doesn’t even being to describe Buble. He is more like “take-the-shirt-off-his-back-and-give-it-to-you nice.” The poor guy had been on a flight for over five hours and it was 1 o’clock in the morning (4 a.m. his time) when he arrived at the airport, yet he still stood there for what seemed like forever signing autographs and posing for pictures!

My dad, who (if possible) loves MB even more than I do, had asked if I would try to get a CD and a photograph signed for him. Right after Michael took the picture with me, he signed the CD – both the actual CD and the CD cover, which was so incredibly cool. (I framed it as soon as I got home and the result is below. My dad LOVES it.)

After Michael signed my dad’s CD, he headed outside to wait for his car. In all of the excitement, I had completely forgotten about the photograph that my dad wanted signed. It was a picture that I had taken on December 13th, 2010 at Michael’s Crazy Love concert at the Staples Center (which I blogged about here). The GC and I had surprised my dad with tickets to the concert for his birthday that year and then for Christmas, which was a few weeks later, I framed one of the photos from the night and gave it to him. It’s been hanging in his office ever since. (Ironically enough, that same Christmas my dad gifted me with a framed photograph of MB that he had also taken at the concert! Smile ) Well, as soon as Michael stepped outside of the airport, the graphers and paparazzi went crazy all over again and surrounded him. At that point, Michael’s handler got wise to the fact that these people were not fans and told him not to sign anything else. Michael then said, “OK guys, I’m not signing anymore, but I’ll take all the photos you want.” Well, that started a whole other sh*tstorm, with even the paps jumping in trying to get pictures with the singer and everyone saying, “My picture didn’t come out, can I get another?” In the midst of the chaos, I went up to MB’s handler and asked if he could please sign one more photograph for my dad. The handler emphatically told me, “NO!” He was annoyed – and I don’t blame him in the slightest. The whole thing was absolutely ridiculous! You can kind of see the mayhem below – and me in the back trying to avoid the graphers.

Michael’s car arrived a few minutes later, but he still stayed outside taking photographs with people. When I told the GC how disappointed I was that I couldn’t get my dad’s picture signed (especially because that concert is such a special memory for the two of us), he grabbed it and went right up to Michael and said, “Look, we are actual fans. Her dad loves you and is very sick and would love to have this picture signed.” To which Michael replied, “Oh man, of course!” As I said, the GC was my hero that night! I NEVER would have gotten my dad’s photo signed – and personalized!!! – without him. I told the GC that while I had fallen in love with MB a little bit more than I already was that night, I had fallen in love with my husband A LOT more. Smile On the drive home, while in total disbelief, I said, “Do you realize that I now have photographs with my top four favorite celebs (Michael Buble, Matt Lanter, Kristin Cavallari, and Shannen Doherty)? The GC’s reply? “Great! Can we retire from this now?” LOL Not surprisingly, I did not sleep at all that night and could not believe that I still had Sunday’s “An Evening with Michael Buble” to look forward to!

Flash forward to Sunday. My friend and I showed up about three hours early to “An Evening with Michael Buble” and wound up with fabulous sixth-row seats!

The Q&A portion of the event, which was hosted by Extra’s Terri Seymour, featured Michael Buble, NBC President of Late Night, Specials and Alternative Programming Paul Telegdy, producer Brad Lachman, Michael Buble’s manager Bruce Allen, and producer Bill Bracken.

The panel discussed the taping of Michael’s 2012 NBC Christmas special, Michael Buble: Home for the Holidays. The group shared some great behind-the-scenes stories and a video was shown explaining how the segment in which MB sang with Bing Crosby was made, which was fascinating to watch. And while the entire evening was taped, I am unsure of when or where it will air. If I had to guess, I would say that NBC is planning to sell DVDs of Michael Buble: Home for the Holidays come December and that the Q&A will be included as a special feature, but that is just a hunch.

After the Q&A session, Michael performed three songs from his new album, To Be Loved. He opened with the classic Michael Jackson ballad “Who’s Lovin’ You” and after belting out the long opening “When I” sequence, suddenly cut into “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”. The whole band immediately went silent and MB said, “You should see my musical director’s face right now!” LOL Michael is completely at home on the stage, so incredibly fun to watch and, as usual, absolutely brought down the house. The guy is a perennial performer and I could sit there and watch him sing all night, although I am pretty sure that goes without saying. MB’s set list also included “Young at Heart” and “To Love Somebody” and everyone in the audience was sent home with a To Be Loved CD!

After the show, Michael’s people rushed him outside and through the massive crowd leaving the theatre (which I do not think had been their intention) and even though it was complete chaos, Michael did stop to sign autographs and pose for pictures – including one with me! – as he was being dragged towards his car. The guy is SO flipping nice! <3 <3 <3 The entire weekend was an amazing experience and I am so thankful that I got to be a part of it all. This is one high that I don’t think I’ll ever come down from!

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: There is no stalking location for this post.

April 26, 2013April 26, 2013

Kelly Gulch from “Parks and Recreation”

Right next door to Pat’s Topanga Grill, which I blogged about on Tuesday, is an oft-filmed-at residence known as Kelly Gulch. Fellow stalker Mike, from MovieShotsLA, had mentioned the property to me back in early December while the two of us were in the midst of our hunt for the Topanga Canyon house where Paula (Sissy Spacek) lived in Four Christmases (which I blogged about here). Because Kelly Gulch has been featured in countless productions over the years (far more than I could ever chronicle in a single blog post), including fave show Parks and Recreation, he thought it might be a good location for me to stalk. So I did just that, late last December, right after the Grim Cheaper and I grabbed breakfast at Pat’s.

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Kelly Gulch was constructed by Michelene (who goes by Mike) and Frank Kelly in 1978. The couple had moved from Los Angeles to Topanga Canyon with their two young children in 1970. Quickly realizing that their 750-square-foot bungalow was not large enough for a family of four, they wound up purchasing an 8.5-acre plot of oak-shaded, creek-side land, that Frank had found in the classified ads, for $20,000 in 1976. Two years later, Frank started building a picturesque three-bedroom log cabin, from a “Real Log Homes” kit, on the site. The residence, which they dubbed “Kelly Gulch”, took a year to complete. A detached one-room writer’s studio and a large, two-story, 1,152-square-foot, standalone barn that doubled as a workshop/studio apartment soon followed.

Fate took a hand in 1984 when a location scout stopped by a Topanga Canyon real estate office looking for a log cabin in which to shoot Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter. The real estate agent pointed him in the direction of Kelly Gulch and the rest is history. According to a Topanga Messenger article, a whopping two hundred productions have since been lensed at the remote residence! Its most famous appearance, though, remains in Friday the 13th. In fact, due to that appearance, in which it stood in for the Jarvis family home, the property has become a landmark of sorts to horror film buffs.

Both the interior and the exterior of the cabin were used extensively in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter and, according to the same Topanga Messenger article, filming on the premises took a full three months to complete!

The large Victorian house located next to the Jarvis home in the movie was just a prop building that was constructed for the shoot.

In mid-2012, the Kellys decided that they needed to move to a place with less upkeep and put their beloved Topanga cabin on the market for $1.675 million. They subsequently moved to the seaside city of Camarillo. According to Redfin (on which you can check out some fabulous interior photographs of the home), Kelly Gulch was sold on December 31st, 2012 for $1,515,000. When asked by the Messenger if she would miss being a part of regular filmings, Mike said, “Not really. There were 14- to 16-hour days and Frank and I could never leave the property during a shoot. As we’ve gotten older, we couldn’t do it anymore.” And even though hundreds of celebrities have set foot inside her home over the years, she stated, “The only thing that ever impressed me was the check.” LOL

The property seems so incredibly rural and remote, it is hard to believe it is located on a bustling canyon road right next door to a restaurant.

Sadly though, as you can see below, not much of it is visible from the street.

The gate, which looks like something from a movie set (and who knows – it might be! Winking smile ), was pretty darn cool to see, though.

In 1986, the cabin popped up in Murphy’s Law as the home of Ben Wilcove (Bill Henderson), where Jack Murphy (Charles Bronson) and Arabella McGee (Kathleen Wilhoite) sought refuge.

The interior was also utilized in the filming.

The Friday the 13th franchise returned to Kelly Gulch to film a few brief scenes for the 1998 sequel titled Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood. Although the majority of the flick was lensed in Alabama, the scene in which Robin (Elizabeth Kaitan) is killed was filmed at the Topanga residence. You can check out a photograph of the room that segment was shot in here.

According to the Camp Blood website, Kelly Gulch was also used in the scene in which Jason is shown looking up at the house. You can see a photograph of that particular angle of the house here.

Kelly Gulch was where the group of teenaged campers hid out after accidentally killing Billy Harley (Matthew Hurley) in 1989’s Pumpkinhead.

The interior of the cabin was used in the filming, as well.

In 1994’s My Girl 2, the residence is where Vada Sultenfuss (Anna Chlumsky) tracked down her mom’s first husband, Jeffrey Pommeroy (JD Souther).

A different interior was used in the filming, though.

In the 1996 movie Eraser, the cabin was where a federal witness named Allison hid out and was later murdered.

The interior of the residence was used in the filming of that movie, as well.

In the 2000 thriller Ed Gein (a true story that inspired the movie Psycho), the cabin was where the Anderson family lived.

The interior was also used in the movie.

Kelly Gulch was where the body of Jessica Garner (Elena Fabri) was found in the Season 2 episode of Medium titled “Judge, Jury and Executioner”, which aired in 2005.

In 2008, the cabin was where Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier), Eric Murphy (Kevin Connolly), Johnny ‘Drama’ Chase (Kevin Dillon), and Turtle (cutie Jerry Ferrara – sigh!) were put up during the filming of Vince’s new movie Smokejumpers in the Season 5 episode of Entourage titled “Pie”.

The interior also appeared in the episode.

In the Season 2 episode of Parks and Recreation titled “Hunting Trip”, which aired in 2009, Kelly Gulch stood in for the Slippery Elm Park ranger station where Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman) hosted his annual hunting trip – and got shot in the head.

The interior of the house was also used in the episode.

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for telling me about this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Kelly Gulch, from the “Hunting Trip” episode of Parks and Recreation, is located at 1801 North Topanga Canyon Boulevard in Topanga Canyon.

April 24, 2013April 24, 2013

Pat’s Topanga Grill from “Medium”

Way back in December, after stalking the Topanga Canyon house where Paula (Sissy Spacek) lived in the 2008 Yuletide comedy Four Christmases (which I blogged about here), the Grim Cheaper and I passed by Pat’s Topanga Grill and decided to pop in for some breakfast. Because the GC always likes to joke that businesses in Topanga, an area known for its bohemian lifestyle, only accept beads or wares in trade for goods rather than cash, I was a little reticent about dining at the eatery, but as it turned out, we both absolutely LOVED the place! Come to find out, Pat’s is also a big time celebrity hot spot AND a filming location. Talk about a fortuitous stop!

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Pat’s Topanga Grill, which has long been a Topanga Canyon staple (although I am unsure of the exact year in which it opened), was founded by Pat and Kathi Burke. Amazingly enough, despite being an area landmark, I could find virtually no information about the place’s history online or in my extensive collection of Los Angeles-themed books, which seems to be a pattern lately. I had the same problem with the Sierra Pelona Motel from Crossroads (which I blogged about here) and the Malibu Hindu Temple from Beverly Hills Ninja (which I blogged about here). Boo!

Thankfully though, we did get to meet Kathi while we were dining at the Grill and she could NOT have been nicer. When I asked about filming on the premises (as I invariably do whenever visiting a new place), she informed me that a Season 1 episode of Medium had been shot there. She also chatted with us about some of the celebrities who have dined at the restaurant over the years, which as you can see below, is quite an extensive list. Just a few of the stars who have been spotted at Pat’s Topanga Grill include Kate Hudson, Wendie Malick, My So-Called Life’s A.J. Langer (whom I was most excited about), Vinessa Shaw, Rosanna Arquette, Kyle Chandler, Anthony Crivello, Gene Simmons, and Dave Grohl.

While I was fairly certain that Pat’s breakfast menu would be comprised of mostly tofu items, I was floored to discover that was not the case. The restaurant does serve some vegan options, but most of the cuisine is made up of down-home cooking, and, thankfully, sausage (both links and patties – my fave) and eggs are also offered. And I am very happy to report that the food was FABULOUS!

As was the vintage, haphazard décor, which makes one feel as if they have stepped into an eatery miles away from city life. I absolutely fell in love with the antique Topanga freeway sign pictured below. How cool would it be to have that hanging in your home?

Unfortunately, Kathi could not remember which episode of Medium had been filmed at the Grill, only that the restaurant had been turned into a gas station for the shoot. So I did quite a bit of scanning yesterday to figure it out. Thank God for Netflix! As it turns out Pat’s popped up in the Season 1 episode titled “Coded” as the supposed Springville, Arizona stop-and-go gas station and minimart where Henry Yellen (Joe Chrest) received weekly phone calls from his imprisoned brother, Darrell Yellen (Don Harvey).

As Kathi had mentioned, the interior was dressed heavily for the filming to make the restaurant look like a minimart and is not very recognizable in person.

Although the counter, where the GC and I ate, is visible in the episode, which I was floored to see.

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Pat’s Topanga Grill, from the “Coded” episode of Medium, is located at 1861 North Topanga Canyon Boulevard in Topanga Canyon. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.

April 18, 2013April 17, 2013

The Hideaway Saloon from “90210”

While watching the Season 5 episode of 90210 titled “Misery Loves Company” a few months back, I became just a wee bit mesmerized by the Hideaway, the biker bar where Naomi Clark (AnnaLynne McCord) and Adrianna Tate-Duncan (Jessica Lowndes) tried to track down Naomi’s lost wedding ring. The series’ fabulous costume designer, Kime Buzzelli, had posted pictures of the site on her Instagram page (@kbuzzy), so I commented asking for its real name (for whatever reason, I had incorrectly assumed that the name shown in the episode was a fake). She wrote back right away (she’s great about interacting with fans) saying, “It was this place called the Hideaway and it was LEGIT! Loved it.” When I told her I was going to have to stalk it in the near future, she replied, “I’d love to go back, it seems like it’s actually like we shot it. Smile Perfect amount of tough and scary.” So I immediately added the place to my To-Stalk list and dragged the Grim Cheaper right on over there a few weeks later. And I just have to say here that I am seriously depressed over the fact that 90210 was cancelled. Yes, the show had gone downhill in recent months (The Hangover-themed “Dude, Where’s My Husband” episode starring a few of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills was a definite low point), but I still loved watching it and am beyond sad that, come next season, I will no longer be able to. And I swear, if Annie Wilson (Shenae Grimes) and Liam Court (my man Matt Lanter) do not get together in the final episode, CBS will be receiving a very strongly worded letter from me! Winking smile

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The Hideaway, which was constructed in 1917, originated as a stagecoach stop. It went through a few different incarnations after that, but started serving alcohol in (I believe) 1947 and has been going strong ever since.

I am fairly certain that the decidedly rustic décor has not changed much since the property’s beginnings almost a century ago.

The Hideaway is actually the perfect name for the site because it is completely hidden away from view. So much so that the GC and I almost drive right past it! As you can see below, it is tucked below the road and virtually impossible to see.

The place is so seemingly remote and peaceful – it even butts up to a little stream! – that it is hard to believe it is located just one mile from the busy 210 Freeway.

And while I originally thought that the hitching posts out front were a décor choice, I was way off!

While we were exploring the place, the GC spotted more hitching posts in the back of the bar, as well as, ahem, evidence of horses having been on the premises, and a sign stating, “Do not tie horses to fence.” According to a 2001 L.A. Weekly article, the Hideaway is one of only three bars in the county that allows patrons to hitch their steeds to the posts out front. How incredibly cool is that?

The Hideaway’s payphone booth, which is painted to look like wood, is pretty cool, too.

Unfortunately, the Hideaway was not yet open when we showed up to stalk it (it opens at 11 a.m. on weekends), so we were not able to venture inside. We did happen to meet a few nearby homeowners who were nice enough to fill us in on the site’s filming history, though. And being that the bar offers karaoke (my favorite!), as well as live music, dancing, darts, and pool, I am going to have to drag the GC back there one evening when it is open.

In the “Misery Loves Company” episode of 90210, Naomi convinces Adrianna to go for a Thelma & Louise-style road trip up the coast, “minus the Grand Canyon suicide dive, of course.” During the drive, the two stop to skinny-dip in a natural spring (why not?) leaving their designer duds behind in Naomi’s convertible (of course). As you can guess, the clothes – and Naomi’s wedding ring, which was in her pants pocket – get stolen and, acting on a tip from some local hippies who happen to be walking by, the girls head to a biker bar just up the road in order to confront the culprits. (In that episode’s side story, Liam gets kidnapped by his psycho bodyguard who plans to take him to Mexico in a three foot by five foot box. Oh, and Annie gets shot. There’s a reason the GC has turned to me while watching 90210 over the past couple of weeks and said of the series’ cancellation, “Really, you didn’t see this coming?” Winking smile )

The real life interior of the bar was also used in the episode.

As you can see below, the Hideaway even has a little anteroom for dancing and is much larger than its exterior would have you believe.

Due to its rugged look and isolated feel, the Hideaway has been a favorite of location scouts since way back when. Thanks to the Falcon Crest website, I learned that in the Season 1 episode titled “The Tangled Vines”, which first aired in 1981, the watering hole masqueraded as the supposed Tuscany Valley-area bar where Lance Cumson (Lorenzo Lamas) took his cousins Cole Gioberti (William R. Moses) and Vickie Gioberti (Jamie Rose) for a drink. Both the exterior . . .

. . . and the interior of the bar were used in the scene.

In the 2000 black comedy Drowning Mona, the Hideaway stood in for the Verplanck, New York-area bar where Murph Calzone (Mark Pellegrino) worked.

The interior of the bar also appeared in the movie.

How much does Casey Affleck, who plays Murph’s brother, Bobby in the flick, look like Zac Efron, by the way?

In The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning, the Hideaway was where Daisy Duke (April Scott) worked. At least I think it’s where she worked. Unfortunately, the movie was not available to stream anywhere online, so I was only able to watch a preview of it and while I did spot the Hideaway, I am not exactly sure of what function it served in the 2007 flick.

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

Big THANK YOU to 90210 costume designer Kime Buzzelli for telling me about this location! Smile You can check out Kime’s official website here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Hideaway, from the “Misery Loves Company” episode of 90210, is located at 12122 Kagel Canyon Road in Kagel Canyon. You can visit the bar’s official website here.

April 17, 2013April 16, 2013

Malibu Hindu Temple from “Beverly Hills Ninja”

A couple of weeks back, while doing research on the Calabasas-area mansion where the contestants live on the fabulous Bachelor parody series Burning Love (which I blogged about here), I came across a blurb in fave book Los Angeles Attractions detailing the Malibu Hindu Temple. I had never before heard of the place, but my interest was immediately piqued when I read the words, “It was the setting for scenes in Beverly Hills Ninja.” Um, sign me up! So I immediately added the site to my To-Stalk list and headed right on over there with Mike, from MovieShotsLA, while I was in L.A. for a couple of days last week.

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As we pulled up to the temple, which sits on 4.5 acres nestled in the Santa Monica Mountains, my first thought was, ‘How in the heck had I not known about this place until just recently?’ As you can see below, not only is it absolutely HUGE, but it is also quite spectacular.

The sanctuary, which is also known as the Sri Venkateswara Temple, was originally constructed in the Chola style by Indian craftsman in 1981 and is owned and operated by the Hindu Temple Society of Southern California. According to Los Angeles Attractions, it is the largest Hindu temple on the West Coast, with 120,000 worshipers visiting annually.

The temple complex consists of two sections – the upper (and main) portion (pictured below), which is presided over by Lord Venkateswara . . .

. . and the lower portion (pictured below), which is presided over by Lord Shiva.

Amazingly enough, for being such an impressive structure, I could find virtually no information about the place online, other than the fact that Britney Spears attended services there in 2006 with son Sean Preston.

While there, I did, of course, venture into the temple, even though I had to remove my shoes to do so – and immediately started having visions of the Season 6 episode of Sex and the City titled “A Woman’s Right to Shoes” (one of my all-time favorites!), in which Carrie Bradshaw’s (my girl Sarah Jessica Parker’s) Manolo Blahniks were stolen after she was forced to doff them while attending a party. Before heading inside, I did vow to “register” for a new pair of wedges, like Carrie did in the episode, if mine were stolen. Winking smile They weren’t, thankfully. (Speaking of Sarah Jessica Parker and shoes, the actress will be auctioning off three pairs of hers to benefit the LaGuardia High School of Music, Art and the Performing Arts on April 24. You can bid here.)

The temple is quite beautiful on the inside, as well.

In Beverly Hills Ninja, which premiered in 1997, Malibu Hindu Temple was where Martin Tanley (Nathaniel Parker) met with a rival gang in order to pick up counterfeiting plates, shortly after capturing Haru (Chris Farley). While at the temple, Allison Page (Nicollette Sheridan) rescues Haru, but winds up being captured by Martin herself just a few minutes later.

The interior portion of the temple also appeared in the movie.

In 1998, the temple was featured during a musical sequence in the Indian Tamil move Jeans.

Malibu Hindu Temple also popped up in Fog & Smog’s 2001 parody music video “Yoga Girl”.

You can watch that video by clicking below.

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Malibu Hindu Temple, from Beverly Hills Ninja, is located at 1600 Las Virgenes Canyon Road in Calabasas. You can visit the temple’s official website here.

April 16, 2013May 30, 2013

The Parker Palm Springs Hotel

This past Sunday afternoon, in the hopes of spotting some of the countless celebrities in town for the Coachella music festival, I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to a few of the desert’s more upscale hotels. And while we did not end up seeing any stars during our venture, we did discover one of the coolest places I have visited in all my years of stalking – the Parker Palm Springs hotel. Although I wouldn’t really consider the place a filming location – it was the subject of Bravo’s short-lived reality series Welcome to the Parker, which I never saw or had even heard of until doing research for this post – because it has a vast celebrity history and is one of the most aesthetically fascinating locations that I have ever seen, I thought it was most-definitely blog-worthy.

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The Parker Palm Springs was originally established in 1959 as a Holiday Inn of all things. In fact, it was California’s very first Holiday Inn. In 1961, the non-descript concrete and cinderblock property was purchased by singing cowboy Gene Autry for the main purpose of lodging his newly acquired baseball team, the California Angels, during Spring Training. He changed the name of the site to Melody Ranch (it was also often called The Autry Hotel) and added a few luxury touches, like a second pool, tennis courts, a bar, and a couple of restaurants. He also placed his famous silver-trimmed saddle on display in the lobby. Love it!

In 1994, Autry sold the resort to his hotel director, Rose Narva, who immediately set about remaking the site into an ornate, French-themed wonderland in affiliation with famed Breakfast at Tiffany’s-fashion-designer Hubert de Givenchy. Narva also renamed the site the Givenchy Hotel and Spa. Interestingly enough, for several years afterward Gene and his wife, Jackie, continued to live at a large private home located at the rear of the property. The two-bedroom, two bath house still stands to this day and is leased out as a part of the resort. You can see photographs of it here.

In 1998, the hotel was purchased by Merv Griffin, who promptly renamed it Merv Griffin’s Resort Hotel and Givenchy Spa. It became quite a celebrity magnet at that time, attracting such legends as Lauren Bacall, Gregory Peck, John Travolta, and Barbra Streisand. It was during Merv Griffin’s tenure as owner that, over Thanksgiving Weekend 2000, Robert Downey Jr. was arrested in Room 311 after police received an anonymous 911 tip that the actor had drugs and guns in his possession.

In 2002, Griffin sold the space to Epix Hotels and Resorts. It then sat vacant until 2003 when it was purchased by hotelier Jack Parker, who hired designer Jonathan Adler to give the space a $27-million facelift. The property re-opened in 2004 as Le Parker Meridien, or Parker Palm Springs as it is better known. According to the 2005 book Palm Springs Legends, at the time it was the city’s only five-star resort.

Today, the 13-acre, 144-room property boasts fire pits, a tropical palm garden, petanque and croquet courts, four pools (two indoor, two outdoor, one saltwater), red clay tennis courts, two restaurants (Norma’s and Mister Parker’s), an outdoor café (The Lemonade Stand), an 18-hole executive golf course, and a 16,500-square-foot award-winning spa named the Palm Spring Yacht Club which boasts 21 treatment rooms, two of them outdoor.

In the book Explorer’s Guide Palm Springs & Desert Resorts, of the unique décor author Christopher P. Baker says, “Frankly, many of the pieces look like they were picked up at a garage sale. But the overall effect is magnificent.” I’d say the hotel is more “flea market” than “garage sale”, but the effect is magnificent indeed! I literally could not stop taking pictures of the place.

My favorite portion of the resort had to be the Mini Bar, a lush, mirrored spot with seating for six tucked into a tiny alcove off the hotel’s lobby.

The Lemonade Stand is pretty amazeballs, though, too.

Love the lemon-stuffed shell.

And the tree-shaded dining area, where you can order a Pimm’s and learn how to play croquet.

The Parker Palm Springs has played host to countless celebrities over its nine-year history, including Jonah Hill, Adrien Brody, Drew Barrymore, Will Kopelman, Lindsay Lohan, Wilmer Valderrama, Eva Mendes, Charlize Theron, Kevin Spacey, Liam Neeson, Teri Hatcher, and Ozzy Osbourne. Lake Bell’s Bachelorette Party was held at the Parker just a few weeks ago and pal Cameron Diaz was in attendance. And Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie famously stayed there – at opposite ends of the property, according to their publicists – on March 25th and 26th, 2005 while shooting the “Domestic Bliss” cover story for W Magazine. (I blogged about the Kenaston Residence where the shoot took place here). According to the Hotel Chatter website, the duo, who were at the time ferociously fighting rumors of a relationship, checked in under the aliases Jasmine Pilaf and Bryce Pilaf. Nyuck nyuck nyuck! Winking smile It is not very hard to see why stars flock to the Parker – the hotel is full of tucked-away spaces and is incredibly intimate, serene and cozy despite its large size.

Being there feels more like hanging out at a good – and ultra-hip – friend’s house (Cupcake and Cashmere’s Emily Schuman’s house, perhaps – oh, if only we were friends! Winking smile ) than staying at a hotel. I would SO love to book a room there for a little stay-cation, but being that rates start at around $300 a night, I am sure the GC will be having none of that!

UPDATE – a fellow stalker named TJ recently posted a comment alerting me to the fact that the Parker actually IS a filming location. The hotel was featured extensively in the Season 1 episode of the short-lived HBO series The Comeback titled “Valerie Relaxes in Palm Springs”, in which fledgling actress Valerie Cherish (Lisa Kudrow) vacations in the desert with her husband, Mark Berman (Damian Young). Areas of the hotel that appeared in the episode include the front entrance;

the lobby;

the pool;

and Norma’s restaurant.

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Parker Palm Springs is located at 4200 East Palm Canyon Drive in Palm Springs. You can visit the hotel’s official website here.

April 15, 2013April 12, 2013

Now! Clothing from “L.A. Story”

My second most-wanted location from the 1991 classic comedy L.A. Story was Now!, the ultra-hip clothing store with unisex dressing rooms where SanDeE* (my girl Sarah Jessica Parker) worked. (My first most-wanted was, of course, the iconic freeway sign that I blogged about last Thursday.) So I was floored to see that the locale was included in “The L.A. of L.A. Story” special feature on the movie’s 15th Anniversary Edition DVD. In the feature, which was lensed in 2006, production designer Lawrence Miller said, “This was a clothing store at the intersection of La Cienega and Santa Monica Boulevard and is now, regrettably, a Sav-on drug store.” I was shocked to learn this information as Now! had always looked like a Venice Beach-type shop to me and I had even spent quite a bit of time looking for it in that area. D’oh! Well, believe you me, once I had the correct address, I immediately added it to my To-Stalk list and ran right out there just a few days later, while in L.A. for a brief visit. It was not until I started doing research for today’s post, though, that I discovered what a ridiculously vast history the place has – such a vast history, in fact, that while I had intended on publishing this column last Friday, I was still compiling information at 8 p.m. on Thursday night and had to postpone it until today.

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Now! clothing is currently a CVS pharmacy. (CVS Caremark acquired all Southern California Sav-on drug stores in 2006.) Amazingly enough, though, it still looks almost exactly the same today as it did 22 years ago when L.A. Story was filmed! But more on that later.

The location has gone through many different incarnations during its lifetime, each of them quite unique and notable. It was originally constructed in 1940 as a 22-lane bowling alley named La Cienega Lanes, which you can see a photograph of here.

La Cienega Lanes, which was owned at one point by Art Linkletter, was featured numerous times in the 1956 thriller Man in the Vault, as the hangout of locksmith Tommy Dancer (William Campbell). Both the exterior . . .

. . . and the interior of the alley appeared in the movie.

La Cienega Lanes closed sometime in the late 1970s. In July 1979, music producer Denny Cordell opened a private, members-only “roller boogie palace” named Flippers at the site. The exclusive club, which had a cap of 1,000 members who paid $200 annually plus a $7 entrance fee for each visit, boasted a bar, a restaurant, a custom skate shop, and a skating floor made of polyurethane. You can check out a photograph of the exterior of the rink in all of its bright blue and purple glory here. By February 1980, the tropical-themed club ceased being a members-only institution and was opened to the public. It also became a popular concert venue at that time, with such legends as The Go-Go’s, John Cougar, The Ramones, and Prince on the line-up. The band Cerrone even featured the exterior of the rink on the cover of their 1984 album Club Underworld. Flippers was also a major celebrity hot spot and in its heyday such stars as Cher (who was rumored to be part-owner of the place), Olivia Newton-John, Cheryl Ladd, Loni Anderson, Robin Williams, Jane Fonda, Aretha Franklin, Jacqueline Bisset, Patrick Swayze, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar all got their skate on there.

Flippers has a bit of a filming history, as well. The club was featured in the Season 4 episode of Charlie’s Angels titled “Angels on Skates”, in which the Angels – Kelly Garrett (Jaclyn Smith), Kris Munroe (Cheryl Ladd), and Tiffany Welles (Shelley Hack) – investigated the kidnapping of a young skater named Rita Morgan (Lory Walsh).

The interior of the roller disco was also used in the episode.

Fellow stalker Mike, from MovieShotsLA, let me know that Flippers was also featured in the Season 3 episodes of CHiPs titled “Roller Disco: Part 1” and “Roller Disco: Part II”. Unfortunately, Season 3 of CHiPs has not yet been released on DVD, nor is it available for streaming on iTunes, Amazon, or Netflix, but I was able to make the grabs below thanks to the Melissa Sue Anderson Fan website.

According to both Wikipedia and IMDB, the roller disco set from Skatetown, U.S.A. (which was built inside of the Hollywood Palladium) was based on the real life interior of Flippers, but I think that information is actually incorrect. Flippers opened its doors in July 1979 and Skatetown was released just a mere three months later, in October 1979. Being that movies typically take at least eight months to edit, even if they had done a rush job on the flick, the timing simply does not add up. Not to mention that the Skatetown set looks nothing at all like Flippers.

And while a few websites have stated that 1979’s Roller Boogie was filmed at Flippers, that information is also incorrect. The exterior roller rink scenes from the movie were shot at at Moonlight Rollerway in Glendale, which I blogged about back in October 2010.

I am unsure of where the interior scenes were filmed, but, as you can see below, it was not Flippers. According to a poster named “Wanda Pr of Arlington” on Flickr, who was in the movie, the interiors were shot at “an old dance hall on Sunset.”

For whatever reason, Flippers did not last long. In 1983, the space was purchased by Doug and Susie Tompkins, owners of the popular San Francisco-based Esprit de Corp. clothing brand. The site was to become the company’s first freestanding retail store. The couple quickly began a $15-million, 15-month renovation of the building and hired famed designer Joseph D’Urso to carry it out. He remodeled both the interior and the exterior of the property and added a three-story, 150-space parking lot (pictured below). The 32,000-square foot store, which became Esprit’s flagship, opened in December 1984.

According to a 1985 Milwaukee Journal article, D’Urso designed a swirling ramp at Esprit’s entrance to provide handicapped access as well as a “ceremonial route” to the double front doors.

He also designed a small “tree-shaded plaza” in the hopes that “people would feel more protected from the traffic” cruising by on the busy Santa Monica and La Cienega Boulevards.

It was during its time as an Esprit store that the building was used in L.A. Story. The location popped up twice in the movie, first in the scene in which Harris K. Telemacher (Steve Martin) went shopping with his girlfriend, Trudi (Marliu Henner), and wound up meeting SanDeE*, who sold him a pair of white pants. Only the interior of the store was shown in that scene.

In “The L.A. of L.A. Story”, Lawrence Miller stated that the interior, which featured Zolatone walls, metal catwalks, and black waxed cement, was left pretty much as-is for the shoot. He also said they were “blessed” to such a find such a perfect interior in which to film and that it worked perfectly as “part of the build-up” to Harris and SanDeE* meeting in an environment that “shows how inappropriate she is”. Man, what I wouldn’t give to have seen that interior!

Harris later returns to Now! to pick up his pants, which were being altered, and it is in that scene that the exterior of the building is shown. As you can see below, aside from a few very minor changes, the site stills looks exactly the same today as it did then!

As you can imagine, I could hardly contain myself when I arrived at CVS and saw how much it still looked like Now! SO INCREDIBLY COOL! It was all I could do not to start spinning out in front of the store like SJP did in the flick. Winking smile

Despite immense popularity among the teen set, Esprit de Corp. suffered a major downfall in the late ‘80s, due in large part to Doug and Susie’s messy divorce, and the flagship store closed its doors in 1994. The site sat vacant for a decade, despite talks of the city of West Hollywood purchasing it to use as their City Council chambers and a library. Sometime in 2004 or 2005, the building was turned into a Sav-on. Thankfully, though, the exterior was left intact for all of us stalkers to appreciate. And, according to this April 2013 article on the WeHoVille blog, the shadow of the Esprit sign is STILL visible on the side of the building! I so wish I had known that before stalking the place! For those who are interested, the shadow is located on the eastern-most side of the parking structure. You can just barely see it in the Google Street View image below.

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Now! Clothing from L.A. Story, aka CVS pharmacy, is located at 8491 West Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood.

April 11, 2013April 10, 2013

The “L.A. Story” Freeway Sign

One locale that the Grim Cheaper suggested I track down a few years back – and that I have wondered about ever since – was the spot where the freeway sign from the 1991 classic comedy L.A. Story once stood. Because it was a prop sign that was situated on a long expanse of a non-descript Southern California road, though, I figured that, short of getting ahold of a crew member, it would be a virtually impossible find. Cut to two weeks ago when, while doing research on the O’Neil house from Beverly Hills, 90210, I came across this Wikimapia page which stated that the L.A. Story freeway condition sign had been located on Burbank Boulevard in Encino. I just about fell out of my chair upon learning this news because I had never before seen it mentioned anywhere. And while I tried to find other articles that backed up the claim, I came up empty-handed. I knew that the information had to have come from somewhere, though, so I searched Amazon to see if a DVD commentary for the movie was available. While no such commentary exists (how is that possible?!?!), I did come across a listing for the 15th Anniversary Edition of L.A. Story which included – are you ready for this? – a vignette titled “The L.A. of L.A. Story: An Interactive Map of the Popular Sites Filmed for L.A. Story”. Um, yes, please! The DVD is sadly out of print, but I did find a used copy of it on eBay for $5 and, let me tell you, it was the best $5 I ever spent – although I am sure the GC would disagree. Winking smile

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The L.A. of L.A. Story, which was shot in 2006 and is absolutely amazeballs, features production designer Lawrence Miller (who sadly passed away in 2009) returning to ten of the movie’s most iconic locations to tell the stories behind them. LOVE IT! One of the locales visited was, of course, the famous freeway sign. In the piece, Lawrence describes shooting on Burbank Boulevard, just east of Hayvenhurst Avenue, but never specifies the exact spot where the sign stood. I was having a heck of a time pinpointing the location via Google Street View, so I enlisted the help of Mike, from MovieShotsLA, who found the right area almost immediately. Thank you, Mike! As you can see below, the two double-pronged trees visible behind Lawrence in the feature match up perfectly to the spot that Mike found on Burbank Boulevard. So the two of us ran right out to stalk the site this past Sunday afternoon while I was in town for a couple of days.

In L.A. Story, wacky weatherman Harris K. Telemacher (Steve Martin – who also wrote the screenplay!) encounters a rather cheeky freeway condition road sign that instead of foretelling traffic statuses, predicts the future of his life. According to Lawrence, the sign was custom-built and was programmed to “talk” to Harris in several different languages so that its lines would not need to later be dubbed when shown in foreign countries. So interesting!

As you can see below, the Los Angeles cityscape was digitally added to the background of the road sign scenes.

In real life, the area behind where the sign once stood is comprised of a massive amount of foliage.

In The L.A. of L.A. Story, Lawrence also states that Burbank Boulevard was chosen as the sign site because it is a “freeway lookalike” that is easy to close down, and that he was the person who actually chose the exact spot where the sign would be installed on the day of the shoot.

As you can see below, the area still looks very much the same today as it did in 2006 when the special was filmed.

Unfortunately though, there is currently quite a bit more plant growth than there was when Lawrence visited the site seven years ago.

Which is especially upsetting because when The L.A. of L.A. Story was filmed, he was actually able to find the hole where the sign once stood, which I just about lost my mind over! And while Mike and I ferociously dug through the underbrush looking for that hole (we were pretty much on our hands and knees pulling back weeds – I can only imagine what passersby were thinking!), we were unable to uncover it. I did vow to go back with a rake and a shovel one day, though, so have no fear! I will locate that darn hole if it’s the last thing I do! Winking smile

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for finding this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The L.A. Story freeway sign was located on eastbound Burbank Boulevard, just east of Hayvenhurst Avenue at what Google Maps lists as 16388 Burbank Boulevard, in Encino.

April 8, 2013April 5, 2013

Neptune’s Net from “The Hills”

One location that had been at the top of my To-Stalk list for a couple of years, but had, for whatever reason, remained unstalked was Neptune’s Net – an oft-filmed-at eatery and Malibu institution that was featured on one of my favorite shows of all time, The Hills, in a scene featuring none other than my girl Kristin Cavallari. I had driven by the beachside restaurant countless times (my former boss used to live almost directly across the street from the place) and seen its exterior, but in all my years of living in Southern California had never ventured inside. So when the Grim Cheaper and I were visiting Los Angeles two weekends ago, I decided to take a trip up the coast early one (very overcast) morning to finally stalk the place.

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Neptune’s Net was originally established in 1958 – over five decades ago! – by an aerodynamicist (of all things) named Eastman Jacobs. At the time it was named Jake’s Diner and was considerably smaller than it is today. (I am not sure why the sky looks pink in my photographs below, but, hey, I’ll take it! Winking smile )

The eatery has only changed hands twice during its existence, first in 1974, when it was purchased by Paul and Dolly Seay (who doubled the size of the place and renamed it Neptune’s Net) and then again, in 1991, when it was sold to Michelle Lee and her husband, Chong Sun. Other than the name and size change made almost four decades ago, as well as a patio addition in the early ‘90s, very little of the place has ever been altered. In a September 2001 Los Angeles Times article Lee, a woman after my own heart, says, “This look has never changed. People love to come here because of that. You have sun and ocean and food. Some people say this is the California dream place, because it’s natural and not changing.” Exactly! I have always been of the firm belief that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

While the place has often been called a “dive restaurant”, celebs have flocked to it since the beginning. Just a few of the stars who have dined there over the years include Drew Barrymore, Pink, Carey Hart, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michelle Pfeiffer, U2’s Bono, Adam Sandler, Martin Sheen, Charlie Sheen, Emilio Estevez, Tom Green, Flip Wilson, Jay Leno, Cher, Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Taylor, Larry Fortensky, Pierce Brosnan, Jerry West, Patrick Swayze, Keanu Reeves, Nicolas Cage, Cameron Diaz, Bill Murray, Tori Spelling, Dean McDermott, LeAnn Rimes, Eddie Cibrian, Luke Wilson, Anthony Edwards, Jonathan Winters, Cheech Marin, Heather Locklear, Gene Hackman, Bob Dylan, and Barbra Streisand.

The Zagat-rated beach shack has won numerous awards over the years including being named “Best Seafood Dive” by Coastal Living magazine in 1999. Unfortunately, it was around 10:30 in the morning when I arrived at The Net, far too early for lunch, so I was not able to sample any of the fare. It looked pretty darn good, though. Patrons of the eatery are able to choose their own fresh shellfish from out of the restaurant’s tanks, hand it over to the cooks and have it steamed for them right then and there. So incredibly cool! According to the Los Angeles Times article that I referenced earlier, during the summer months, Neptune’s goes through 200 pounds of Maine lobster and 150 pounds of Alaskan crab a week! That’s a lot of shellfish! For those not into seafood, the restaurant also serves hamburgers, veggie burgers, patty melts, and my personal faves, hot dogs and chicken strips.

In the Season 6 episode of The Hills titled “Mess with Me, I Mess with You”, Neptune’s Net was where Justin “Bobby” Brescia took Kristin Cavallari took on her first motorcycle ride.

Thanks to its unique atmosphere, Neptune’s Net has been featured onscreen countless times over the years. In 1983’s Losin’ It, the restaurant was where Woody (Tom Cruise), Dave (Jackie Earle Haley), Spider (John Stockwell), and Wendell (John P. Navin Jr.) got into a food fight. Of the scene, former owner Dolly Seay said in a June 1997 Los Angeles Times article, “For two years after, I was cleaning up the mess.” LOL

As you can below, the exterior of the eatery looked quite a bit different at that time sans its exterior patio.

In 1991’s Point Break, Neptune’s Net was where Tyler (Lori Petty) worked and where Johnny Utah (Keanu Reeves) begged her to teach him how to surf.

In the 2001 flick The Fast and the Furious, Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) told Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) that he wanted in on whatever illegal activity he was a part of while the two were lunching at Neptune’s Net.

In the Season 3 episode of So Little Time titled “Manuelo in the Middle, Part 2”, which aired in 2001, Manuelo Del Valle (Taylor Negron) quit his job as a housekeeper for Riley Carlson (Mary-Kate Olsen) and Chloe Carlson (Ashley Olsen) and became a chef at Neptune’s Net. Only the exterior of the restaurant appeared in the episode, though.

The interior was just a set.

In the 2012 drama People Like Us, Sam (Chris Pine) took Frankie (Elizabeth Banks) and Josh (Michael Hall D’Addario) out for lunch at Neptune’s Net.

And in the soon-to-be released Iron Man 3, a replica of Neptune’s Net was built in Dania Beach, Florida. You can see some great photographs of it on The Comics Factory Facebook page here.

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for making the Losin’ It screen captures that appear in this post! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Neptune’s Net, from the “Mess with Me, I Mess with You” episode of The Hills, is located at 42505 Pacific Coast Highway, just north of the Ventura County Line, in Malibu. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.