Tag: Entertainment

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Frank The Tank!

I have been a student at The Groundlings School for about two years now. The Groundlings is an exceptional improv school that was started in 1972 and is practically a breeding ground for Saturday Night Live actors. Some of the comedic greats who got their start at the Groundlings include Kathy Griffin, Lisa Kudrow, Paul Reubens, Phil Hartman, Jennifer Coolidge, Pat Morita, Chris Farley, Jon Lovitz, Chris Kattan, and Frank the Tank himself, Will Ferrell. Every few months the Groundlings invites some of its famous alumni to participate in a question and answer session a la Inside the Actors Studio for the current Groundlings students. This past Monday night I was lucky enough to attend a Q&A session with funnyman Will Ferrell. I was even more excited because my Groundlings teacher, Roy Jenkins, was the one interviewing Will.

The evening was so much fun!! I had expected Will to be extremely hyper and keyed up during the interview, but he was actually very down to earth and normal. And absolutely hilarious! As an actress, it was amazing to be able to hear acting advice in person and straight from the horse’s mouth, so to speak. Will shared many stories with us about his acting career and his long road to success. He even told us that at times he still gets stage fright, as he did the last time he performed in a Groundlings show! That was very heartening to hear! Here I thought I was the only one. LOL 🙂

He even did a few impersonations for us – one of James Lipton, host of Inside the Actor’s Studio, and another of Harry Caray, an announcer for the Chicago Cubs – which were incredible to see in person. It was also a great learning experience to see my teacher, Roy, onstage with Will. The two studied at the Groundlings together and have known each other for over 16 years. It was amazing to see that not only was Roy just as funny as Will, but how they were able to work off of each other the entire time to make us laugh. I definitely saw them using some of the same Groundlings techniques and trainings during the interview that I am being taught in class. It was amazing to watch. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: You can stalk the Groundlings at 7307 Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. The improv and sketch comedy shows are HILARIOUS and are put on practically every single night of the week. Famous alumni even stop in on occasion to perform alongside current Groundlings castmembers! I recommend catching The Crazy Uncle Joe Show, my personal favorite, which is a long form improv show held every Wednesday night at 8pm. Tickets are $12.50 per person. If you are interested in studying with the Groundlings, you can set up an audition here.

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Casa Vega and the Great Mexican Food Debate!

I have long been a fan of Spencer and Heidi’s favorite Mexican restaurant Don Antonio’s in West LA. As far as I can see, it’s the only thing Spencer and I agree on. 🙂 Don Antonio’s serves up the best Mexican food I’ve ever tasted! In fact, the restaurant was the subject of my very first blog post. I really can’t say enough about the place!! But fellow stalkers Mike from MovieShotsLA and EJ from The Movieland Directory have both been telling me that the best Mexican food in LA can actually be found at a place called Casa Vega in Sherman Oaks. On their recommendation, I dragged my boyfriend out to Sherman Oaks this past Friday night to stalk the place.

After eating there, though, I can definitely say that Casa Vega does not hold a candle to my beloved Don Antonio’s. While the food was definitely yummy, and one of the better Mexican restaurants I have eaten at in the LA area, for me, it just does not compare to D.A.’s. Don Antonio’s is just in a league of its own. I also found Casa Vega’s menu to be on the pricey side and the service wasn’t the best. Very odd thing happened while we were there, too -while waiting for a table, my boyfriend and I snagged a seat at the bar and I ordered a glass of champagne – my fave. The bartender poured some champagne into a huge tumbler glass and then filled it to the top with CLUB SODA! Four days later I am still absolutely perplexed by that and cannot figure out what he was doing! LOL

Apparently, Casa Vega is somewhat of a celebrity haven. Numerous stars frequent the small restaurant, including Jessica Simpson and Tony Romo. Ironically, Nick Lachey and Vanessa Minnillo just dined there, as well, while on a recent trip to LA. While there, Mike from MovieShotsLA has seen Travis and Shana Barker, Brian Austin Green, Nikki Sixx, and Jillian Barberie. Sadly, we did not spot any celebs while we were there. 🙁

If you happen to be in the Sherman Oaks area, I definitely suggest stopping in for a bite at Casa Vega. But as for the best Mexican food in LA, this stalker’s heart will always belong to Don Antonio. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Judge for yourself! Casa Vega is located at 13301 Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks. Don Antonio’s can be found at 11755 West Pico Boulevard in West LA. Both restaurants can get pretty packed so be prepared for a long wait.

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Go Team Nicole!

My mom called me in a complete tizzy last week screaming at me to immediately turn my TV onto Bravo. It turns out that Nicole, Nick Arrojo’s assistant who worked on my mom’s hair during her appointment with Nick last December, is currently competing on Season 2 of the TV show Shear Genius. Shear Genius is a reality show hosted by Jacklyn Smith in which hair stylists compete in on-air styling challenges in order to win $100,000 and a styling job for a photo spread in Allure Magazine.

My mom and I absolutely fell in love with Nicole during the appointment with Nick. She was completely down to earth and adorable and she really could not have been nicer. She had a really sweet relationship with Nick, too. Nicole has been doing great on Shear Genius and I really think she has a good chance of taking home the final prize! Until then my fingers are crossed! Go Team Nicole!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: You can catch Shear Genius on Bravo, Wednesday nights at 10 p.m. ET/PT. Nick Arrojo’s studio is located at 180 Varick Street in the SoHo area of New York City. You can also visit the Arrojo Studio website here. I highly recommend making an appointment with Nick – he is truly amazing!

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Interview With the BBC!

Got a comment on my blog this morning from a man named Iain Mackenzie who works for the radio station BBC Radio 1 out of New York. Iain is currently in LA doing a piece on the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) and he thought that, while in town, he’d record a brief segment on the new 90210 series that is coming out this fall. He wanted to interview me as a sort of 90210 expert. How cool is that?? Good to know I’m an expert on something! My parents must be so proud. LOL 🙂 Anyway, I was very excited to do the interview and met up with Iain this morning at – where else? – Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena.

Iain is the US news reporter for BBC Radio 1 and an all around nice guy. We had a great chat about life and Hollywood and, of course, the first 90210 series and its stars. It seems he was quite a bit obsessed with the show back in the day, too. 🙂 He asked me some questions about the new 90210, if I thought it was going to be a hit, and why I thought the first 90210 became such a huge phenomenon. Iain was super friendly and I had an absolute blast doing the interview. I can’t wait for it to air!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: BBC Radio 1 is the second biggest radio station in the UK, with over 13 million listeners each week. Iain reports on the Newsbeat program which broadcasts twice a day. You can listen to Radio 1 on SIRIUS Satellite Radio’s Channel 11. You can also listen to the station on Radio 1’s website. I am not sure when the 90210 segment will air, but hopefully I can get an audio file of the interview to post here.

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Marilyn Merlot

I am still very much in the throws of my Marilyn Monroe obsession, and it is definitely true what they say – the more you think about something, the more you attract that thing to you. My father happened to be going through his wine collection last week and discovered a bottle of “Marilyn Merlot” wine that he had purchased almost a decade ago. No one in my family has ever been a big Marilyn fan, so it was a fairly random purchase. My dad says he came across the wine one day many years ago in a grocery store and he grabbed it thinking it might one day be a collector’s item. Due to my recent obsession, he of course gave the bottle to me and I quickly put it on display in my kitchen. Flash forward to this past weekend, when my parents were vacationing in Monterey, California. They made a visit to their favorite wine shop there, Terranova Fine Wines, and lo and behold, sitting on a shelf in the store was a vast collection of the Marilyn Wines, including the one my father had just given me. It’s present day worth? $225!! Guess he was right about it one day being a collector’s item. 🙂

Bob, the owner of Terranova, filled my dad in on the history of the Marilyn Wines. Apparently, in 1985 two Napa area brothers gained exclusive rights to Marilyn’s name and certain images of the starlet and decided to use them on bottles of wine. Beginning in ’85, the brothers released a new vintage of Marilyn Merlot each year on her birthday – June 1 – each with a different photograph of the screen legend. The wine was not extremely popular until its fourth vintage when it caught the attention of a Japanese businessman who formed a partnership with the brothers. They agreed that 60 percent of each year’s vintage would be sold exclusively in Japan, as Marilyn is still a huge icon there. They also agreed to only release a limited quantity of each year’s wine, so as to prevent overflooding of the market. Today the wines are hugely successful, with some vintages costing upwards of thousands of dollars. The brothers have branched out and now also produce Marilyn Cabernet, Norma Jeane Wines, the Velvet Collection, and Blonde de Noirs, their latest creation of sparkling wines. All royalties from the sales of the wines go to Anna Strasberg, the wife of Marilyn’s beloved acting coach, Lee Strasberg, to whom Marilyn left everything in her will. Anna allocates the money to the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute and the Anna Freud Fondation in London.

That same day that my parents learned the history of the Marilyn Wines, my boyfriend and I were actually stalking the Beverly Hills home Marilyn shared for a few short months with husband Joe DiMaggio. Monroe and DiMaggio rented the house in April of 1954 while Marilyn was in town filming There’s No Business Like Show Business. The home, which is most often referred to as Joe and Marilyn’s honeymoon home, is a very cute, but nondescript Elizabethan style house. It is amazing to me to that she lived in such a normal home at the height of her career.

On October 6, 1954 a distraught Marilyn held a press conference on the front lawn of this home announcing her divorce from Joe DiMaggio. The press were out in force that day, camped out in Marilyn’s front yard, to document the event. Marilyn vacated the home shortly thereafter. You can see a slide-show of the press conference that took place that day here. Although it is a very long slide-show, there are quite a few photographs where you can see the home in the background.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Marilyn and Joe’s honeymoon home is located at 508 North Palm Drive in Beverly Hills, just off Santa Monica Boulevard. Terranova Fine Wines is located at 315 Calle Principal in Monterey, California. If you visit the store, be sure to ask for Bob, who has a vast knowledge of Marilyn Monroe and the Marilyn Wines. You can also visit the Terranova website here.

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The New Peach Pit

Over the years there have been several locations used around LA for the filming of the Peach Pit on my fave TV show, Beverly Hills, 90210. And now there is one more location to add to the already long list. My buddy Mike over at MovieShotsLA gave me the scoop on last week’s filming of the new 90210, which is scheduled to premiere on the CW this fall. Apparently filming of the new Peach Pit took place at the Kokomo Cafe (formerly the Eat Well Cafe) on Beverly Boulevard. So, of course, I dragged my boyfriend right out to stalk it!

As we pulled up to the address I was literally shaking with excitement. I had heard that the Peach Pit signs were still up from last week’s filming and the 14 year old in me was absolutely ecstatic at the thought of seeing them in real life! But alas it was not to be. The Peach Pit signs had already been removed and the Kokomo Cafe signs put back up by the time we arrived. It was still very cool to be there, though! The Kokomo Cafe looks NOTHING like the Peach Pit of the old days – this one is much more modern, with a sleek purple and black interior. The exterior is completely different, as well. The new Peach Pit is located in the corner space of a Spanish style building with large potted plants and wrought iron balconies. Supposedly producers are building an exact replica of the new Pit on a soundstage for future filming. One thing that hasn’t changed at the 90210 gang’s old hangout, though? Nat! Apparently Peach Pit founder Nat (played by actor Joe E. Tata) has signed on to be a part of the new 90210. YAY! Now if they can only get Luke Perry on board!!! 🙂

You can see a picture of the Kokomo Cafe all decked out with Peach Pit signs here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The new Peach Pit can be found at the Kokomo Cafe located at 7385 Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles. Both the interior and the exterior of the cafe were used for the filming of the new 90210. The restaurant looks like a pretty cool place to grab a bite to eat. Apparently many stars were fans of the Kokomo Cafe’s former Farmer’s Market location and such celebs as Drew Barrymore and Denzel Washington were spotted dining there.

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More Charmed Locations!

My friend Chelsea is just about as obsessed with the TV series Charmed as I am with Beverly Hills, 90210. So while hanging out the other day she asked me to stalk a few Charmed filming locations for her. She was just dying to find Finn’s creepy looking house from the Season Four episode entitled “Size Matters”. In the episode Finn lives in a run-down, haunted-looking, Victorian-style home. The picture to the left is a screen capture of Finn’s house from the show. (I just learned how to do screen captures!!! YAY!)

As soon as I popped in Chelsea’s DVD of the “Size Matters” episode, I immediately recognized the house as what is quite possibly the most famous haunted house in the world. Turns out Finn’s house is the exact same house used in Michael Jackson’s Thriller video and I have visited it several times. In the Charmed episode the house looks a lot more run down than it actually appears in real life. I am not sure if the house was actually in a state of disarray back when the Charmed episode was filmed or if producers added a facade to make it appear more spooky. In any event, today the house is not quite as creepy as it was when it played Finn’s home. Ironically, the Thriller house is just a few doors down from the Victorian that is used as the Halliway Sisters’ home on the series.

The next location Chelsea wanted me to stalk was the tunnel used in the Season Six episode entitled “Forget-Me-Not.” In the episode, Piper’s toddler son Wyatt conjures up a dragon who ends up running wild all over San Francisco. In one scene, the dragon flies out of what Piper identifies as the “Presidio Tunnel”. The screen capture above shows the tunnel in the episode. I am so loving this screen capture thing! 🙂 Anyway, after doing a bit of Internet research I found this link on fave website Seeing Stars which led me to a tunnel in Griffith Park called the Mount Hollywood Tunnel.

I was very excited to learn that the Mount Hollywood Tunnel has quite a distinguished filming history. It was used in Back to the Future 2 as the “River Road Tunnel” where Marty tries to get his almanac back from Biff, in Who Framed Roger Rabbit it served as the entrance to Toon Town, in War Games it was the entrance to NORAD, Emma Roberts ran through it in the Nancy Drew movie, and it was also the location of the accident that killed Marissa Cooper in Mischa Barton’s final episode of The O.C. And after looking at the Seeing Stars page, I could immediately tell it was the same tunnel used in Charmed.

So yesterday I set out to stalk the Mount Hollywood Tunnel. I was excited to see that it looks pretty much exactly as it did in the Charmed episode. The only difference is that in Charmed signs were hung on the tunnel entrance saying “Presidio Tunnel”. Those, of course, were not there in real life. Also, for some reason, in real life cones have been put up running down the entire center of the tunnel. If you decide to stalk the tunnel for yourself, please exercise extreme caution! Cars barrel through it at about 40 mph, and I almost got hit while I was there. The tunnel is very dark and I don’t think drivers realize that there might be pedestrians inside – so be careful!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Finn’s house, aka the Thriller house, is located at 1345 Carroll Avenue in Echo Park, just down the street from the Charmed House, which can be found at 1329. Carroll Avenue is a historic neighborhood with a huge collection of beautiful Victorian homes. Walking tours of the neighborhood are conducted monthly and you can even take a tour of the interior of the Charmed house. The Mount Hollywood Tunnel is located in Griffith Park, just off Vermont Drive. Follow Vermont through the park, past the Greek Theatre. Once you pass the Observatory keep going straight on Vermont to where it turns into Mount Hollywood Drive and it will lead you right through the tunnel. Once you drive through the tunnel, there is small dirt parking lot where you can park your car and walk back to the tunnel entrance. The entrance near the parking lot is the side of the tunnel that was used in Charmed.

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MK & A’s Alma Mater

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

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

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

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

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The Millennium Biltmore Hotel

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

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

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

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

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

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

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

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Westin Bonaventure Hotel

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

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

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

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