Tag: Entertainment

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San Francisco Stalking!

This weekend while visiting San Francisco, my friend Nat put together a custom made stalking tour of The City by the Bay for me. She said she had a new found respect for me, as she hadn’t realized how much time and energy finding locations took until she put together the tour for me. I make it look so easy! LOL 🙂

One of the first stops on our tour was the park where the Tanner Family had their famous picnic in the opening credits of Seasons 1-4 of Full House, one of my fave sitcoms of the 80s. The Tanner’s picnic was held in Alamo Square Park, right in front of the famous Seven Sisters homes. The Seven Sisters, or Painted Ladies, as they are more commonly referred to, are a group of seven very famous, very beautiful Victorian homes that were built in the 1890s. The homes are such a huge tourist trap and frequent filming location that they are also known as “Postcard Row.” You can see the picnic location and the Seven Sisters in the opening credits of Full House here.

Our next stop was the Tanner Family home from Full House. Their red-doored house is not one of the Seven Sisters as is commonly believed, but is actually a different VIctorian home located a few blocks away on Broderick Street. The front door is no longer painted red and there is now a large tree blocking most of the front of the home, but it is still very recognizable! You can see the home in the Full House opening credits here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It:The Full House house is located at 1709 Broderick Street, just off Divisadero Street, in San Francisco. Alamo Square Park is located in the Western Division area of San Francisco. Invasion of the Body Snatchers also featured a scene filmed in Alamo Square Park. The Painted Ladies can be found just across the street from the park at 712-720 Steiner Street. The man who built the homes, Matthew Kavanaugh, lived in number 722 during the 1890’s.

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Cooking by JLo!

Two weeks ago, while in Pasadena, my boyfriend I happened to walk by Madre’s, the restaurant owned by Miss Jennifer Lopez. Madre’s, which opened up in 2002, serves up Latin food inspired by JLo’s grandmother’s recipes – food she ate when she was still just Jenny from the Block. When you step inside Madre’s, there is no denying that it is a JLo creation – it is very frilly, very girly, and very ornate. It definitely has its charm. Madre’s is also a frequent filming location, and was used in a recent episode of Desperate Housewives. It was the restaurant where Gaby had her first lunch with Mayor Victor Lang, whom she later marries.

My boyfriend and I ended up not eating at Madre’s, but ventured on down the street to Magnolia Lounge – an adorable little bar and restaurant that occupies a space that was a former speakeasy. The restaurant, which is pretty much hidden behind an antique store, was, according to Pasadena legend, the location of the San Gabriel Valley’s first speakeasy back in the Prohibition days. We spoke with the owner who said that when she was excavating the property before the restaurant opened, she found extremely old wine bottles in the cellar, which are now on display in the main dining area. Magnolia is a very cool little place, with a great center courtyard, and it was really fun sitting there sipping champagne, imagining how it looked back in the 20s.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Madre’s is located at 897 Granite Drive, just off of Lake Avenue, in the historic South Lake Avenue Business District in Pasadena. Magnolia Lounge is located just a block south at 492 S. Lake Avenue.

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Santa Monica Cop

This weekend I dragged my boyfriend to stalk the mansion that Eddie Murphy and his new cop buddies storm at the end of the movie Beverly Hills Cop. The house is not actually located in Beverly Hills, but a good 20 minutes in Santa Monica. The home is absolutely ginormous – I mean the guard shack at the front of the property is easily bigger than my whole house!! 🙂

While stalking the house, we met the man who lives in the home across the street and he told us some really good gossip. During the filming of Beverly Hills Cop, the man came home to find his car had been towed and his mailbox had been torn out and replaced with a new one – apparently neither his car nor his mailbox fit in with the image the producers were trying to portray in the movie! LOL According to the neighbor, the mansion is an oft used filming location and has appeared in several commercials, TV shows and movies. He told us the home is currently owned by director Herny Jaglom, but his ex wife lives there while Henry lives in a home up the street.

Sadly, you can’t see very much of the home from the street. But you will immediately recognize the gates and the guard shack from the scenes in Beverly Hills Cop when Eddie Murphy stakes the place out. You can see better views of the house by cyber-stalking it on Zillow.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Beverly Hills Cop mansion is located at 609 E. Channel Road in Santa Monica. After stalking the mansion, head over to the nearby Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica – one of my favorite shopping destinations. The Promenade is a large outdoor retail area with tons of cute shops, kiosks and restaurants. It’s also where Pee Wee Herman’s bike was stolen in the movie Pee Wee’s Big Adventure.

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How I Became Prince of a Town Called Bel Air

Fresh Prince House? Got a challenge from Byron a couple of weeks ago to find the house from the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. According to several Hollywood tour books, including my fave, the location on the left was the home used in the filming of the TV sitcom. However, after watching a few clips of Fresh Prince on YouTube, I am not convinced that it is truly the house. It doesn’t match up perfectly. There are a few reasons why this might be. It is quite possible that the owners of the home changed the exterior after the filming took place and it is also possible that the producers actually changed or added elements to the facade of the real house during filming which changed its appearance. It is also entirely possible that the tour books might have just gotten the location wrong – which does happen on occasion.

You can see clips of the Fresh Prince here and here and judge for yourself. But it looks like I have to do a bit more research on this stalking location. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The supposed Fresh Prince house is located at 417 Amapola Lane in Bel Air. Amapola Lane is a very small street just off Copa De Oro Road. The house located at 363 Copa De Oro Road has been owned by several celebrities including Nicolas Cage, Tom Jones and Dean Martin. The Bel Air Hotel is not too far from this location. I highly recommend stalking the hotel – it is one of the most beautiful locations in Los Angeles.

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The “You, Me and Dupree” House

A couple of years ago, long before I had a blog to write, I set out to find the You, Me and Dupree house. While I was a big fan of You, Me and Dupree, the real reason behind my mission actually had nothing to do with that movie. What I was actually hoping to find was Jenna Rink’s pink dream house from the final scene of 13 Going On 30, which according to the trivia section on IMDB, was the exact same house used in You, Me and Dupree.

Unfortunately, upon stalking the Dupree house, it became obvious that it was not the same location used in 13 Going On 30. Even so, the Dupree house is adorable and in a really cute neighborhood. It is also another fine example of that Craftsman architecture that filmmakers love so much. I must give props to Kerry, a fellow stalker, for getting the address of the Dupree house for me. I stalked this location so long ago (and failed to write down the address) that I couldn’t remember its exact location. Armed with only the picture I took of the house, which showed the house number, and knowing its general vicinity, she cyber-stalked the home and got the address for me! Thanks, Kerry! 🙂

Side note – I still have yet to find the 13 Going On 30 house – if anyone happens to know where it is – Help me! Please!! 🙂

UPDATE – Mike, from MovieShotsLA, found the 13 Going On 30 house for me a while back.  You can read the post I wrote on it here and you can see interior pictures of the house here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The You, Me and Dupree house can be found at 2406 Gramercy Park in the historic West Adams district of Los Angeles, not far from the location of the Numb3rs house. Even if you are not a fan of the film, I highly recommend stalking the house, as it is located on an adorable street in a neighborhood chock full of beautiful, historic homes. As always, take care not to disturb the residents.

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The Hills are Alive!

FIDM I must say this season of The Hills is so much better than I ever could have hoped! Is it sad that I get a little depressed every Monday night at around 11pm because I have to wait a whole week until a new episode airs? LOL Anyway, on the show, Lauren (and now Stephanie Pratt) attend the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles, and after last weeks’ episode, I decided I just had to go out and stalk it!

FIDM is located in Downtown Los Angeles, just off the 110 Freeway. The Fashion Institute looks much like it does on The Hills, except that it is much smaller in person than it looks on TV. The campus is attached to a newly rennovated park named Grand Hope Park. It is a beautiful little park complete with fountains, trees, walkways, and benches to sit on and enjoy the sunshine. I was highly bummed that while we were there, I didn’t have any LC or Stephanie sightings. 🙁 Maybe next time!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: FIDM is located at 919 South Grand Avenue, on the corner of West 9th Street and Grand Avenue, in Downtown Los Angeles. Grand Hope Park would be the perfect place to enjoy a summer picnic. You can visit FIDM’s website here.

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Casbah Cafe – The Coffee Shop from “A Lot Like Love”

After finding Amanda Peet’s apartment from A Lot Like Love, I just had to stalk the other locations featured in the movie. Much of the movie was filmed in Sunset Junction, a small community in the Silverlake area of Los Angeles. When Amanda Peet and Ashton Kutcher first reconnect, on New Year’s Eve, they head out to Sunset Junction for dinner. While I am sad to say that I have yet to find the Chinese food restaurant where they eat their silent dinner (which, according to the director’s commentary on the DVD, is located somewhere in Pasadena), I did stalk most of the other locations.

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 Before dinner, Amanda Peet parks her stationwagon in the parking lot of a dry cleaners. You can see the words “Wash and Fold” painted on the brick wall in front of her car. This is also the spot where, after dinner, she changes into a party dress behind a dumpster.

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 Directly after dinner, Oscar and Emily walk to a cafe for some coffee. That spot is The Cashbah Cafe, located at the corner of Sunset and Hyperion. The Cashbah is a cute little bohemian coffee shop – and when I say little, I mean little! I am shocked they were able to film inside of it! They do make some good coffee, though!

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The art gallery where Amanda Peet’s photographs are featured later in the movie, was in fact an empty store at the time of the filming. Today it is a really cool bartending shop called “The Barkeeper.” The laundermat, across from the art gallery, where Ashton waits for Amanda to show up is actually a laundermat in real life and is really located directly across the street from “The Barkeeper.”

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Sunset Junction is located in Silverlake, where Sunset Blvd. meets Santa Monica Blvd. Sunset Junction is a cute place to grab a cup of coffee and do some shopping on a Saturday afternoon. The Cashbah Cafe is located at 3900 W. Sunset Blvd., at the corner of Sunset Blvd. and Hyperion Street. Sunset Laundry is located at 3812 W. Sunset. Amanda Peet’s art gallery, aka “The Barkeeper”, can be found at 3910 W. Sunset, where it is now “The Barkeeper”. If you visit the store, be sure to ask for Joe, “the Barkeeper” and owner of the shop – he could not be a nicer guy! He filled me in on all the scoop on filming in Sunset Junction.