Famous houses – Page 7 – IAMNOTASTALKER

October 9, 2017June 22, 2018

The “One Hour Photo” House

Today’s location is not spooky – at all, in fact. It’s actually quite exquisite. But it did figure rather heavily in the creepiest scene from one of the creepiest movies I’ve ever seen, so I thought it would only be fitting to include it in my Haunted Hollywood postings. I am talking about the contemporary residence where the Yorkin family – Will (Michael Vartan), Nina (Connie Nielsen) and Jakob (Dylan Smith) – lived in One Hour Photo. I first got interested in tracking down the ultra-modern pad after coming across this The Straight Dope message board while researching Lacy Park, another of the 2002 thriller’s locations. In the thread, user Ins&Outs&What-have-yous inquired if anyone had any information on the dwelling, though no one seemed to. Shortly thereafter, I found my way to this page on the FilmGrab site in which a commenter named Melissa also inquired about the Yorkin home. Her query did not garner any responses, either. So, since facts about the house seemed to be nil, I decided it was my duty to track the place down and blog about it come October.

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Finding this spot took quite a while, I am loathe to admit. I knew from the movie’s production notes that the Yorkin home was located somewhere in Brentwood. My first stab at tracking down its exact address was to do a Google search for “Brentwood” and “modern house,” which yielded a slew of links to a slew of gorgeous properties, but none of them were the Yorkins’. I then added “filming” to the mix and scoured countless more links and images – so many that I ultimately do not remember the exact details of how I was finally led to the right place. At some point, though, I came across the video below which showed the pad as it appeared in an episode of Californication. The clip’s caption proved especially forthcoming, providing not only the property’s name, Benton House, but its architect, Ray Kappe. From there, Google prompted me to 90210Locations’ Californication page which detailed the residence’s exact address –136 South Canyon View Drive. Thanks, 90210Locations! I ran right out to stalk the place shortly thereafter.

In 1989, psychologist/mom/architecture buff Dr. Esther Benton purchased a large home on a shaded plot of land in Brentwood with the intention of performing a vast remodel. She commissioned Kappe for the job, but the incredibly prolific architect wound up razing the structure and rebuilding in his signature style instead, generating magic out of glass, wood and concrete. His creation, which took three years to complete (from 1991 to 1994), was designed with the working mom in mind. The residence boasts three large rooms, or “suites” as a 1998 New York Times article described them – a master bedroom suite, a suite for Esther’s daughter, and an office suite, which Kappe fashioned with a swiveling wall so that the doctor could “watch over the house without interrupting her time at work.” The property is also fashioned with 20-foot ceilings, a large skylight, Douglas fir embellishments, multiple fireplaces, a sunken bathtub, a frameless glass shower, and a towering glass and steel staircase. Zillow estimates the pad is worth a whopping $8.9 million today! Though absolutely stunning, as you can see in photos here and here, sadly none of it is visible from the street.

But, as I’ve said before, that’s why God created aerial views.

For those who have not seen One Hour Photo, the movie centers on Seymour Parrish (Robin Williams), aka Sy, a Sav-Mart photo developer who becomes obsessed with the Yorkins, a family whose film he regularly develops. Though things are definitely not perfect in Will, Nina and Jakob’s world, through Sy’s eyes, the family and their home is idyllic, arcadian and devoid of any typical everyday problems. As Williams is quoted as saying in the film’s production notes, “In the outside world Sy stands out, especially when you get near the Yorkins’ house, which is very warm and incredibly beautiful, almost painfully beautiful because it is his idealized home.” Production designer Tom Foden further describes the dwelling as “representing a place of dreams and ideals.”

In the movie’s creepiest scene, Sy ventures into the Yorkins’ residence while they are away and proceeds to look through their things, put on their clothes, use their bathroom, watch their TV, and generally just make himself at home. In the end, it turns out the experience was all just a fantasy taking place in Sy’s mind, but because Williams played the role to such creepy perfection, the segment is seriously disturbing. The real life interior of the Benton House was utilized in the scene . . .

. . . as well as throughout other portions of the film.

When I first started looking into the Yorkin home, I couldn’t help but think about how much it resembles the residence belonging to Sebastian Stark (James Woods) on the television series Shark. So I was not too surprised to discover during the course of my research that the Shark pad was designed by Ray Kappe’s son, Finn Kappe. That property, one of my favorite TV homes ever, can be found at 2315 Live Oaks Meadow Road in Malibu.

What I was absolutely bowled over to learn, though, was that the inside of the Benton House was utilized as the inside of Sebastian’s home in Shark’s pilot episode, which aired in 2006. I had always assumed the Live Oak Meadows residence had been used for both interiors and exteriors! You can check out photos of the inside of that property here. As you can see, it looks nothing like Sebastian’s pad.

The Benton House interior was later re-created on a soundstage for the filming of all of Shark’s subsequent episodes. That set re-creation is pictured below. (And yes, that’s a young Matt Lanter – my favorite actor – in the second screen capture! <3)

In the Season 1 episode of Californication titled “Girls, Interrupted,” which aired in 2007, the Benton House plays itself. Well, sort of. In the episode, Hank Moody (David Duchovny) takes his ex-wife, architecture enthusiast Karen (Natascha McElhone), to see the home of director Todd Carr (Chris Williams). Though said to be in Bel Air and not Brentwood, the pad is described as a Ray Kappe house in the segment.

The residence’s interior also appeared in the episode.

Back in 1999, the Benton House popped up in Cruel Intentions as the supposed Long Island, New York-area home of Blaine Tuttle (Joshua Jackson).

As Geoff from 90210Locations also informed me, the Benton House portrayed the residence of Samantha Winslow (Susan Sarandon) during the fifth season of Ray Donovan.

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

Big THANK YOU to Geoff, of 90210Locations, for finding this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Yorkin house from One Hour Photo is located at 136 South Canyon View Drive in Brentwood.

October 3, 2017October 3, 2017

The “Lights Out” House

“Lights Out Cast Accidentally Cursed the House Where they Filmed.” So blared a headline from an Entertainment Weekly article about the 2016 horror film. As you can imagine, the words had me drooling. I first learned about the movie back in January from fellow stalker “sparklesnow” who left a comment on one of my Instagram photos asking for some help in tracking down the large Tudor-style estate where virtually all filming took place. When I popped “Lights Out” and “house” in to a Google search, the EW column was the first item kicked back. In it, actor Alexander DiPersia was quoted as saying, “A week after we finished shooting the basement scene [which] is very terrifying, I got a call from friends saying, ‘Turn on the news.’ And the house was on fire, like right after we finished shooting. From the basement, smoke was emanating up. We cursed that place.” A locale that was not only featured in a horror flick, but that also got vexed by the production? Count me in! I couldn’t imagine a place more perfectly suited to my Haunted Hollywood postings. So I set right out to track it down.

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Thankfully, the search was not very hard. Being that Lights Out was released in July 2016, I knew that filming had to have taken place in 2015. So I scoured the internet for reports of any fires at L.A.-area residences that year and came across this Los Angeles Daily News article detailing a blaze that struck a three-story home located at 140 South Avenue 59 in Highland Park on November 7th. One look at Street View images of the dwelling in comparison to the pad shown in the movie’s trailer confirmed it was the right spot. Fortunately, the inferno, which was put out within 43 minutes of the fire department’s arrival, does not appear to have caused much damage to the locale because, as you can see below, the Lights Out house is currently standing and seemingly intact.

In real life, the property is known as the Finis E. Yoakum House, named for the doctor-turned-faith-healer who commissioned it. Following a serious buggy accident in Denver in 1894, Yoakum migrated to Los Angeles, hoping the city’s temperate climate would aid in his recovery from his many injuries. A few months after arriving in La La Land, he attended a Christian Alliance prayer meeting, where he was blessed by a priest and almost immediately healed. The experience inspired Yoakum to assist others who were suffering. In 1900, he opened up his Queen Anne-style residence at 6026 Echo Street in Highland Park to those in need, providing shelter, clothing and food for free. In return, the residents performed charitable acts and helped around the property, which Yoakum dubbed the Pisgah Home, named for the mountain from which Moses first spotted the promised land. It was not long before Finis’ crusade took on momentum, transforming into a religion that became known as the Pisgah Home Movement.

In short time, more space was needed to house Pisgah Home’s growing number of residents. Several cottages were added to the Echo Street property and those that couldn’t fit in the ancillary structures would sleep in tents in the yard. Yoakum and his wife even had to move into a tent themselves at one point so that their residence could be utilized for those in need. In 1915, Pisgah Home members constructed a new, much larger Tudor-style dwelling for Yoakum and his family just up the road at 140 South Avenue 59.

The doctor only lived in the lavish structure for five years before passing away in 1920. After his death, the various properties making up Pisgah Home, most of which still stand today, were divided up amongst his family and the Movement. The Finis E. Yoakum house, which is a Los Angeles Historic Cultural-Monument, was subsequently sold and today is a privately-owned residence.

The 19-room estate, which looks much the same today as it did when it was originally built, features 8 bedrooms, 5 baths, 6,140 square feet of living space, a finished basement, several fireplaces, a 0.41-acre plot of land, a large swimming pool, and a detached 2-car garage.

Sadly, not much of it can be seen from the street.

In Lights Out, the Finis E. Yoakum House served as the residence of Sophie (Maria Bello) and Martin (Gabriel Bateman). I watched the movie shortly before writing this post and, let me tell you, it is absolutely terrifying – in the best way possible. I mean, the trailer alone was enough to make me want to sleep with the lights on for at least a week.

The sprawling property was used extensively throughout the flick.

Even the real life interior (which is exquisite!) was utilized in the filming.

Though undeniably beautiful (that woodwork and detailing!), I can see why the house was chosen for the movie. It definitely has a looming quality to it. Those stairs and doors just look like they give good creak!

As Alexander DiPersia mentioned in the EW article, Lights Out’s basement scene was particularly harrowing. According to IMDB, the mannequins featured in the segment were not props, but actually belong to the Yoakum House owners, who store them in the cellar! Shudder! Whether or not the home was actually cursed during the production, causing the fire that later broke out there, I’ll never know, but one thing’s for sure – I wouldn’t ever want to set foot in that basement to find out!

The Yoakum House is actually a frequent horror film star. In the 2014 thriller Ouija, the property was featured as the home of Debbie Galardi (Shelley Hennig), though only interiors were used.

A residence just a few doors down at 5915 Echo Street was utilized for all exterior shots.

Well, almost all exterior shots. The Yoakum House’s pool did make an appearance in the film.

The dwelling also popped up in interior scenes in Ouija’s 2016 sequel, Ouija: Origin of Evil.

In non-horror-movie-related news, the Yoakum House portrayed the bed and breakfast owned by Heaton (Kevin Pollak) and Rita Upshaw (Illeana Douglas) in the 2013 dramedy Chez Upshaw. Both the exterior . . .

. . . and interior were utilized in the shoot.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Finis E. Yoakum House, aka Sophie and Martin’s residence from Lights Out, is located at 140 South Avenue 59 in Highland Park.

October 2, 2017September 29, 2017

The “Pacific Heights” House

I have been waiting for this day for months! Yep, that’s right folks – it is finally, finally time for my annual Haunted Hollywood postings and I could not be more excited! In honor of the occasion, I have added a Haunted Hollywood category to my site and while I typically only publish three columns a week during normal months, I am going to attempt to do a write up of a new spooky spot every single day of October. God knows I have enough material! We’ll see how it goes. For my first locale this year, I thought I’d cover the house from Pacific Heights. I stalked the picturesque pad, which can’t actually be found in the tony neighborhood the film was named for but about three miles south in Potrero Hill, last fall while visiting San Francisco. Though I actually find Pacific Heights to be more anger-inducing than scary, I still thought it would be fitting to include the dwelling that served as its focal point in my October postings.

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For those who haven’t seen Pacific Heights, the 1990 thriller – or “horror film for yuppies” as Roger Ebert dubbed it – tells the story of Patty Palmer (Melanie Griffith) and Drake Goodman (Matthew Modine), a young San Francisco couple who use all their savings to purchase a dilapidated, but still rather pricey (try $749,000!) Victorian home with two rental units supposedly located at 170 Pacific Street. Patty and Drake fix up the residence themselves, move into the top floor space and lease out the two rentals, one of them to maniacal con man Carter Hayes (Michael Keaton), who proceeds to terrorize the couple, as well as the occupants of the other unit, without paying so much as a dime of his monthly rent. Due to San Francisco’s pro-tenant property laws, Drake and Patty are powerless to stop Carter, evict him, or do much of anything really. Screenwriter Daniel Pyne was inspired to pen the film’s script after his own experience of trying to evict a deadbeat tenant from an apartment he once owned.

In the film, Patty and Drake’s real estate agent informs them that the turreted home was built around 1886 and “probably remodeled slightly in the ‘40s.”

In reality, the statuesque Queen Anne was constructed in 1895.

The three-story dwelling was made to look significantly run-down for the movie’s early scenes. According to William A. Gordon in his book Shot on This Site, “When the production company discovered it, the house had been recently repainted. To create a ‘distressed’ look, they masked the entire house with sound-blasting frisket, a substance with light adhesive on one side and paper on the other. The painted side was treated with chemicals to make the exterior look cracked and aged. After two days’ filming, the crew removed the frisket.”

After Drake and Patty complete their improvements, the property comes to resemble its actual self.

Only the exterior of the residence was utilized in the filming. Interior scenes were shot on a set built on a soundstage at The Culver Studios in Culver City.

The views shown in the film are real and absolutely breathtaking (though the San Francisco skyline has changed considerably since Pacific Heights was lensed almost 30 years ago).

In fact, in Shot on This Site, Gordon says the home was chosen for the movie because of its stunning panoramic views.

Along with spectacular views, in real life the residence also boasts a corner 0.06-acre lot, 4 bedrooms, a den, 3.5 baths, 3,200 square feet, 2 fireplaces, an eat-in kitchen, bay windows, parquet flooring, vaulted ceilings, separate guest quarters, a finished basement, a 1-car garage, a patio, a BBQ area, an attic, a garden, and a studio in-law apartment, just like in the movie. Per Zillow, the pad is currently worth a whopping $3.27 million.

Zillow also states that the property appeared in several episodes of Nash Bridges, but I am unsure of which episodes in particular. If anyone happens to know, please fill me in!

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Drake and Patty’s residence from Pacific Heights is located at 1243 19th Street in San Francisco’s Potrero Hill neighborhood.

September 29, 2017September 29, 2017

Bette Davis’ House from “Feud”

My favorite Big Little Lies quote belongs to Madeline Martha Mackenzie (Reese Witherspoon), who, in response to Celeste Wright (Nicole Kidman) advising her to let something go, quips, “I love my grudges. I tend to them like little pets.” A woman after my own heart, I swear! Oh yes, I am a definite grudge-holder. So I really should have loved Ryan Murphy’s 2017 anthology series Feud, the first season of which detailed the longtime rivalry between actresses Bette Davis and Joan Crawford (played by Susan Sarandon and Jessica Lange, respectively). The show just didn’t grab me, though. Not in the way that American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson, Murphy’s other recent anthology series, did. Don’t get me wrong – it’s not that I didn’t like Feud. I avidly watched all eight episodes and thoroughly enjoyed their historical nature, as well as the period costumes and elaborate (and extremely accurate) sets. But more often than not, the storyline seemed lacking and I kept finding myself feeling bored. I did have a massive fondness for the series’ locations, though, namely the grand Tudor that Bette called home. So when a fellow stalker named AB emailed me the pad’s address a few months back, I immediately jotted it down and couldn’t have been more excited when I finally made it out to Cheviot Hills to see it in person it last week.

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Bette’s sprawling mansion was featured repeatedly throughout Feud.

The stately property was utilized in both on location filming and establishing shots.

The Feud production team went to great lengths to keep the locations featured on the series true to life. The Cheviot Hills residence most closely resembles Ms. Davis’ Laguna Beach mansion located at 1991 Ocean Way, though that pad is situated on top of a cliff overlooking the Pacific. The front of it is much less grand than the manse that appeared on Feud, but the rear and side are pretty darn dramatic.

In real life, the massive 1926 estate boasts 7 bedrooms, 7 baths, 5,436 square feet of living space, 21 rooms, a wet bar, a pool, a barbeque area, a 3-car garage, a jetted tub, a fireplace, a 0.63-acre lot, a garden, a deck, and an in-law unit.

You can check out some amazing photographs of the home taken in 1928, shortly after it was built, here.

Only the exterior of the dwelling was utilized on Feud. Interior scenes taking place at Bette’s house were shot on a soundstage at 20th Century Fox Studios in Culver City, where much of the series was lensed.

In a February 2017 Variety article, Feud production designer Judy Becker describes Bette as a traditionalist when it came to her décor. She says, “Bette was from outside of Boston. She was a Yankee. We did a brown and green and earthy palette for her. She had a lot of American Colonial furniture, and she had a braided rug. You would think you were in New England, but this was in L.A.” In her research of the actresses’ homes, Becker found that despite moving several times throughout her life, Bette’s furnishings and design schematic always remained the same.

Unfortunately, I could not find any images of the interior of the Cheviot Hills residence, but man, oh man, would I love to see what it actually looks like. I can only imagine how gorgeous it must be!

I did learn, though, thanks to the Just Call Me Aggie website, that the pad was owned by actress Agnes Moorhead from 1946 to 1953. Upon moving in, Moorhead hired famed interior decorator Tony Duquette (whom you may remember from this post) to design the place.

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

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker AB for finding this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Bette Davis’ house from Feud is located at 2720 Monte Mar Terrace in Cheviot Hills.

August 4, 2017August 3, 2017

The “Mama’s Family” Houses

I have dreamed of writing this post for so long! One of the locations I get asked about the most (I literally get emails and comments about it all the time!) is the house that portrayed Thelma Harper’s (Vicki Lawrence) residence during the first two seasons of Mama’s Family. For those who aren’t familiar with the series and its locales, three different dwellings were actually used to represent the Harper family home throughout the show’s six-year run. Two of them have long been well-documented online. I even blogged about the most recognizable of the three (pictured above) back in April 2009. The third, though, which was featured in the series’ original opening credits, as well as all Season 1 and 2 establishing shots, remained elusive. While I logged quite a few hours searching for it over the years, I never had any luck pinpointing it, largely due to the fact that the only video I could find of the initial opening was an extremely poor quality YouTube clip. Then, last week, I received a tweet from @RLXREI asking about the locale and I thought I should revisit the hunt. This time, luck was on my side. (As I mentioned in Monday’s post, the stalking gods have seriously been smiling down on me as of late.)

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The first thing I did this go round was look for a high quality version of the original opening and, lo and behold, found a fairly decent upload of the pilot episode on Dailymotion. Upon initially viewing the low quality credits, I believed Mama’s house was located in Los Angeles, most likely in Hancock Park and its environs. But as soon as I watched the higher-res version and saw the lack of fencing and general openness of Mama’s front yard, as well as of the neighboring residences, I knew that the property had to be somewhere outside of California. In a fortuitous move, I headed back over to the YouTube clip to see if any comments had been posted about the home. As it turns out, there were several – and my stomach caught in my throat when I saw that a user named “Kelly Frech” had responded to a query stating that she had grown up in one of the residences shown in the intro. Kelly was even kind enough to provide some location information, stating that filming took place on West 59th Street in Kansas City, Missouri.

Not knowing anything about Kansas City or where to begin searching on West 59th (which runs for miles!), I headed over to Google Maps, randomly dropped the little yellow Street View man into a spot on the road, and my mouth dropped. There, right before my eyes, was the Harper home! Though I had picked the spot arbitrarily, fate had led me right to the Mama’s Family house, which I am thrilled to finally be able to report is located at 18 West 59th Street in Kansas City, Missouri! Thank you, Kelly Frech! Amazingly, per the Street View imagery above and below, the residence looks exactly the same today as it did when Mama’s Family originally aired in 1983!

The other houses seen in the opening credits are located just up the road to the west.

Because Mama’s Family was lensed in L.A., cast and crew could not utilize the Kansas City house for on location shots. So they found a pad closer to home – at 675 South Oakland Avenue in Pasadena, to be exact – to stand in for it when called for in an episode. That house is pictured below. Oddly, it does not resemble the Missouri dwelling in the slightest, though it was typically only featured in tight shots, so not much of it was ever shown.

The Oakland Avenue residence appeared in a handful of Season 1 and 2 episodes, including “Mama Runs for Mayor: Part 1” (pictured above) and “Mama Buys a Car” (pictured below). In the latter, we get one of the only full shots of the home shown on the series.

Due to low ratings, Mama’s Family was cancelled in 1984, after a scant two seasons. That should have been the end of the story, but in an innovative move, producer Joe Hamilton decided to try reviving the series via first-run syndication two years later. The revamped show, complete with a new opening and a new Harper residence (pictured below), premiered on September 27th, 1986. It was a resounding success and went on to air 100 episodes over the course of four seasons before ending its series run in 1990.

The residence utilized during those final four seasons can be found at 1027 Montrose Avenue in South Pasadena.

Interestingly, Mama’s Family’s original opening was replaced with the new one in all of the Season 1 and 2 episodes that aired in syndication, which is why audiences are most familiar with the Montrose Avenue house and why many do not even realize that a different home was ever utilized.

The Montrose Ave. residence also appeared – or at least a portion of it did – as Lynda’s (P.J. Soles) home in the 1978 thriller Halloween. As you can see below, very little of the property was shown in the film.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The house featured in the first two seasons of Mama’s Family is located at 18 West 59th Street in Kansas City, Missouri. The residence used in on location filming during those seasons can be found at 675 South Oakland Avenue in Pasadena. And the property featured in Seasons 3 through 6 (as well as in all syndicated episodes) is at 1027 Montrose Avenue in South Pasadena.

August 2, 2017August 3, 2017

The Campbell House from “Soap”

Something must be in the water, because this has been the most fortuitous week I’ve ever had when it comes to stalking. Over the course of the past few days, not only have three of my most-wanted locations been found, but I was even granted access to the interior of one and, remarkably, it still looks exactly the same despite the fact that 27 years have passed since filming took place! A post on that spot is coming soon. Today though, I’m covering the Campbell family residence from Soap, which I have been obsessively trying to track down ever since a reader named Andrew reminded me of the 1977 ABC series in early March. And this past Friday, track it down, I did!

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Thanks to the general look of the Campbell home and the exterior steps leading from the sidewalk to its front porch, I had a fairly solid hunch that it could be found in the Hancock Park/Windsor Square area. Adding to my certainty was the fact that the Tate mansion from the series is located in Hancock Park (511 South Muirfield Road to be exact) and productions often tend to stick to the same vicinity when it comes to shooting locales. So I began the search at 511 South Muirfield and worked my way outward. While I came across a lot of houses with an extremely similar look (like a ridiculous amount – 1524 South Victoria Avenue, 359 North Ridgewood Place, and 367 North Van Ness Avenue, just to name a few) none of them was an exact match to the spot that Burt Campbell (Richard Mulligan), Mary Campbell (Cathryn Damon), Chuck Campbell (Jay Johnson), Jodie Dallas (Billy Crystal), and Danny Dallas (Tedd Wass) called home.

So I decided to revisit my Soap DVDs to see if any episodes provided additional clues and was thrilled to discover some shots of the Campbell house which offered a glimpse of the neighboring property, along with its gambrel-style roof – a design element that is not very common in Los Angeles. Optimistic it was the key to pinpointing the locale, I started scouring aerial views in the Hancock Park area for a gambrel roofline and it was not long before I came across one at 344 North Van Ness Avenue in Larchmont. When I dropped Google’s little yellow man down into Street View, I saw what I was fairly certain was the Campbell house next door at 338 North Van Ness! As it turns out, the place is located just 1.6 miles from the Tate mansion.

Besides the obvious matching facades and gambrel-roofed neighbor, I pinpointed a few additional elements of the Campbell home that lined up with the Van Ness dwelling. Both properties have seven steps leading from the sidewalk to the front porch. Also, the driveway of the Campbell house is located on its left hand side, while its neighbor’s driveway is located just to its right. The driveway schematic is the same at the Van Ness pad.

Though it is just barely visible in the screen capture below, the front porch portico of the Campbell home has crisscrossing woodwork on its lower half. The portico of the Van Ness residence also bears the same design.

And on the frame of the Campbell pad’s front door, a three-digit address number is visible. While the numbers are too blurry to make out, the fact that there are three digits parallels the address of the Van Ness home.

Though many elements of the property line up, there was no smoking gun, no definitive feature that told me it was definitely the right spot. And because there are SO many similar homes in the area, I was not 100% sure of my find – especially considering the fact that the neighboring residence with the gambrel roof was not at all visible on Street View due to a massive amount of foliage, so I could not compare it to my screen shots. Also casting doubt on my find was the driveway of the Van Ness home. On Soap, the Campbell driveway was flush with the front lawn, but the driveway of the Van Ness residence is graded. So I called on my friends/fellow stalkers Michael (you may remember him from his many guest posts) and Owen (from the When Write Is Wrong blog) for their opinions. They both wrote back telling me they thought I had the right spot. As Michael pointed out, not only do the trees that flank both homes’ front yards greatly resemble each other . . .

. . . but the angled lawn lining the curb of the driveway of the Campbells’ neighbor’s home matches that of the neighboring home on Van Ness.

Owen mentioned the front yard trees, as well, and also brought up the matching crenelated roof eaves and notches located at the top of the portico posts, all of which gave me 99.9% certainty that we had the correct locale.

Then, while stalking the home this past Sunday afternoon, I found my smoking gun! During my Soap scanning earlier in the week, I had noticed some sort of metal bar situated at the bottom of the windowpane next to the Campbells’ front door. I wasn’t sure what the bar was, but thought it looked a lot like a mail slot (though it seemed to be a rather odd place for one being so close to the ground). Well, I just about fell over when I arrived at the Van Ness residence and my eyes zeroed in on a metal bar in the exact same spot! As it turns out, it is a mail slot! Bingo!

I was also able to catch a glimpse of the neighboring home with the gambrel roof. Unfortunately, short of actually walking up the driveway, the photograph below is the best shot I could take of the the property’s side. As you can see, the roofline, the half-circle window just below it, the two rectangular windows on the second floor, the first floor overhang, and the lower level windows all match what was seen on Soap. Again, bingo!

A more close-up view of the house next door is pictured below.

I also noticed that the driveway of the Van Ness home had been completely redone since filming took place – it is now comprised of stone instead of cement – which makes the grading of it all the more plausible.

In real life, the Campbell home was originally built in 1920 and boasts 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, and 2,636 square feet of living space.

Only the exterior of it was utilized on Soap. The interior of the Campbell residence was a set built on a soundstage at Sunset Gower Studios, where the series was lensed.

I cannot express how exciting it was to finally be standing in front of the Campbell house and to see a place so ingrained in my childhood memories come to life.

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

Big THANK YOU to my friends/fellow stalkers Michael (aka guest poster extraordinaire) and Owen (from the When Write Is Wrong blog) for their help in verifying this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Campbell family home from Soap is located at 338 North Van Ness Avenue in Larchmont.

July 31, 2017August 1, 2017

Carrie and Big’s Penthouse from the “Sex and the City” Movie

I know I am in the minority when I say that I like the 2008 Sex and the City movie. Was it the greatest flick ever? No. But I did enjoy it. Seeing it was like being with old friends again, friends I’d missed ever since the HBO television series went off the air in early 2004. The more I watch it, the more it grows on me. Though, again, I know I am in the minority. One aspect of the movie that audiences did pretty much unanimously adore was the exquisite penthouse apartment that Mr. Big (Chris Noth) purchased for longtime girlfriend Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker). So last April, while visiting New York, I, of course, was all about stalking the Ziegler House, which was used for interior shots of the penthouse. And, oh, what an interior it was!

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Before I get to the Ziegler House, though, I thought I should mention 1010 Fifth Avenue, the Upper East Side building that served as the exterior of Carrie and Big’s penthouse. I covered the property in a brief post back in 2008, but, in the interest of being thorough, figured it would be appropriate to detail it once again here.

The 15-story prewar building was designed by real estate developer Frederick Fillmore French in 1928.

The Italian Renaissance-style property, which was converted to a co-op in 1979, looks much the same in person as it did onscreen.

Located across the street from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the tony site is just the type of place I’d picture Mr. Big calling home. You can check out what a unit in the building looks like here.

1010 Fifth Avenue is also where Chuck Rhoades, Sr. (Jeffrey DeMunn) lives on the Showtime series Billions, though, as you can see below, the address is changed to “10101 Fifth Avenue” for filming.

Now back to the penthouse interior! As soon as Carrie and Big step over the threshold of 1010 Fifth, they are standing in the Ziegler House, located about 20 blocks south at 2 East 63rd Street. I first learned of the locale thanks to a reader named Allie, who wrote a comment on my 2008 post tipping me off about where the inside shots were lensed.

The historic residence was originally built in 1921 for William Ziegler, Jr., heir to the Royal Baking Powder Company fortune.

Designed by architect Frederick Sterner, the ornate 4-story, 75-foot wide pad is laid out with all of the rooms surrounding a central brick courtyard with a fountain. Along with said courtyard, the property boasts a grand entrance hall, two rear gardens, a library, a 25-foot by 40-foot living room, a formal dining room, a servants’ dining room, a massive kitchen that almost looks to be commercial-grade, two master suites (each with its own dressing room), and fireplaces galore. You can see some interior photos of the place here.

For whatever reason, Ziegler and his then wife, Gladys, only lived in the home for a year before moving out and putting it up for sale in 1925. The dwelling finally sold in 1929 to Norman Bailey Woolworth, of Woolworth five-and-dime fame. He owned the property for the next two decades before donating it to The New York Academy of Sciences, a scientific society that was originally founded in 1817.

NYAS put the house on the market in 2001 and it sold four years later to billionaire financier Leonard Blavatnik for $31.25 million. Blavatnik never moved in, though. Instead, the site, which today goes by the name “Academy Mansion,” is mainly used as a special events venue and for filming. While I really wish I could have taken a peek at the property’s stunning interior, I have to admit that the exterior is nothing to shake a stick at.

Seriously, the photo below looks like a postcard!

The Ziegler House popped up twice in Sex and the City. It first appeared in the beginning of the movie in the scene in which Carrie and Big go apartment-hunting with their real estate agent at 1010 Fifth. Sadly, the wrought iron and glass doors that Carrie and Big walk through in the scene cannot be seen from outside. You can check out a photo of them here, though.

The doors are actually located inside the home, behind the massive wooden entry doors pictured below.

In the scene, the Ziegler House’s palatial entrance hall masked as the lobby of 1010 Fifth. You can see a photo of what the entry hall looks like in real life here.

The elevator situated at the rear of the lobby was faked for the movie. In actuality, there is a doorway located in that area, as you can see here and here.

That doorway leads to the Ziegler House’s stunning living room, which actually looks more like a grand ballroom. It is that room that Carrie first sees upon entering the penthouse, causing her to exclaim, “Oh my God, I have died and gone to real estate heaven!” You can check out some pictures of the living room here, here, and here.

Carrie is next shown the penthouse’s rooftop terrace. In actuality, that space is the Ziegler House’s central courtyard and it is located on the ground floor of the property, not on the roof. You can see an image of it here.

The penthouse’s master bedroom was just a set built on a soundstage at Silvercup Studios in Queens, where much of the movie – and the television series – was lensed. You can check out images of the real Ziegler House bedrooms here, here, here, and here.

The Ziegler House was also utilized in the scene at the end of the movie in which Carrie returns to the penthouse to retrieve her never-been-worn $525 Manolos.

Though Carrie and Big have sold the penthouse by that point and broken up, when she sees him standing in the closet he built for her, all is forgiven, the two embrace, and Big gets down on one knee to propose. Heartbreakingly, Carrie’s spectacular custom closet was just a set. You can see what the Ziegler House’s dressing rooms look like here, here, and here. They’re not too shabby, either!

On a side-note – I actually have a version of the Timmy Woods Eiffel Tower purse that Carrie, ahem, carried in the scene in which she and Big first toured the penthouse! A dear and incredibly thoughtful friend named Marie gifted it to me for my birthday last year. I didn’t have it at the time I stalked the Ziegler House, sadly, otherwise I so would have posed with it outside! Winking smile

The Ziegler House has been utilized in a couple of other productions besides Sex and the City. In the Season 2 episode of White Collar titled “Point Blank,” which aired in 2010, the property masqueraded as the Russian Heritage Museum.

For the shoot, the Ziegler House’s living room, aka Carrie’s piece of real estate heaven, was dressed as a gallery and looked considerably different than it did in SATC.

“Point Blank” also gave us a great view of the property’s terrace.

In the Season 2 episode of Person of Interest titled “Masquerade,” which aired in 2012, the Ziegler House portrayed New York’s Brazilian Consulate.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The exterior of Carrie and Big’s penthouse from the Sex and the City movie is located at 1010 Fifth Avenue on New York’s Upper East Side. The film featured the building’s canopied main entrance, which can be found around the corner on East 82nd Street. The interior of Carrie and Big’s penthouse, aka the Ziegler House, aka Academy Mansion, is located at 2 East 63rd Street, also on New York’s Upper East Side.

May 5, 2017January 10, 2020

Guasti Villa from "Veep"

It’s no secret how much I hate incorrect filming location information. But sometimes errant info can lead to good things. Case in point – back in 2012, an article was published about the Los Angeles locales featured in The Artist. One of the sites detailed was Guasti Villa, aka Busby Berkeley’s former Jefferson Park mansion, which was said to have masked as the home of Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo) in the flick. (I cannot for the life of me remember what publication featured the article, nor can I find it online, but you can see reverberations of the Busby rumor here, here and here.) Prior to reading the blurb, I had been unaware of the historic residence, which is now part of the Peace Awareness Labyrinth & Gardens, but immediately headed on over there to stalk it. Upon arrival, I was thrilled to discover that the property is not only open to the public, but that tours are offered! I was less thrilled to learn, via our friendly tour guide, that the manse had not actually appeared in The Artist (Peppy’s pad was a similar looking mansion on Fremont Place, but more on that in a bit). I was filled in on some of the Villa’s other onscreen appearances, but somehow never got around to blogging about it. So when I saw it pop up in the most recent episode of Veep, I decided it was high time I amended the situation.

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The Beaux Arts/Italian Renaissance Revival-style mansion was originally built for Secundo Guasti, an Italian-born farmer who founded the Italian Vineyard Company on 5,000 acres of land in Ontario in 1904. The vineyard went on to become the largest winery in California and Guasti constructed a sprawling virtual city, or company town, there for his workers, with a store, a school, a post office, a bakery, a railroad station, a church, and a firehouse. Though the site is now part of the Guasti Redevelopment Project, many of the original buildings remain intact today.

In 1910, Guasti commissioned the Hudson and Munsell architecture firm to build an ornate mansion for him on a large plot of land on West Adams Boulevard.

Hudson and Munsell’s finished product, which took four years to execute, is a virtual work of art. The Grand Ballroom (below) alone features a curving staircase with an ornate balustrade, Carrara marble flooring, carved oak wood detailing, and a hand-painted ceiling mural.

The rest of the Villa boasts coffered ceilings, multiple fireplaces, a hydraulic elevator, servants’ quarters, a carriage house, ornate corbels, egg-and-dart mouldings, friezes, a gentlemen’s parlor, a ladies’ parlor, a porte-cochère, and a formal dining room (pictured below).

When Guasti passed away in 1937, his family sold the Villa to Hollywood director Busby Berkeley. You can see what the mansion looked like at the time that Busby lived there here.

Though Busby was an undeniable genius when it came to directing, choreography and cinematography, finances were not his forte. Due to mounting debt, he was forced to sell Guasti Villa in 1946. The manse was purchased by the Los Angeles Physicians Aid Association, who transformed it into a retirement home, adding two residential wings to the property. During the group’s ownership, the property fell into a bit of a decline.

In 1974, the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness (MSIA) acquired the Villa and turned it into their headquarters and learning center, painstakingly restoring the property in the process.

During the process, the church restored and revitalized much of the home’s original detailing. The result of their efforts is not only breathtaking, but fascinating and historically enlightening. I honestly could not have enjoyed the tour more.

Guasti Villa, which is a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument, is like a preciously preserved time capsule of what the city was like at the turn of the century.

MSIA not only revived the Villa, but its surroundings, as well. In 2002, the church added expansive meditation gardens to the premises, complete with a hand-carved stone labyrinth.

The labyrinth was closely modeled after the famous winding walk at Chartres Cathedral in France, which you can see photographs of here, here, and here. Made of travertine, it measures 40 feet in diameter and its pathway spans 1/3 of a mile. I was invited to walk the labyrinth while touring Guasti Villa and it was an entirely calming experience. My mind is constantly running, so only focusing on my steps and breath as I traversed the course was an extremely relaxing experience.

The lush meditation gardens also feature 16 fountains, a koi pond, a myriad of trees and plants, and countless tucked-away, shaded spaces.

Because of its unique and stunning beauty, it should come as no surprise that the site, which is known as the Peace Awareness Labyrinth & Gardens, has been featured onscreen numerous times.

In the Season 6 episode of Veep titled “Georgia,” Guasti Villa masked as the palace of Murman Shalikashvili (Eugene Alper), the Republic of Georgia president who, as Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) describes, “The poisoning and the torture and the death squads aside, I think Murman is really good people. Honestly. And he’s a hell of a storyteller.”

The site also appeared in Veep’s Season 6 finale titled “Groundbreaking.” In the episode, the labyrinth area masked as the Arizona spa, ahem, the Whispering Sands Wellness Center where Selina stayed after losing the presidency.

In that same episode, Guasti Villa’s formal dining room portrayed the office of Sherman Tanz (Jonathan Hadary).

Thanks to the Silent Locations website, I learned that the mansion not only appeared in the 1923 Stan Laurel short White Wings . . .

. . . but that it also portrayed the supposed Beverly Hills home of Colonel Wilburforce Buckshot (James Finlayson), where Laurel hid out with pal Oliver Hardy, in 1930’s Another Fine Mess.

In the Season 3 episode of Hunter titled “Hot Pursuit: Part 2,” which aired in 1987, Guasti Villa served as the residence of Big Jack Hemmings (Robert Ridgely). Both the exterior . . .

. . . and the interior appeared in the episode.

The mansion was featured extensively in Meat Loaf’s 2006 “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” music video.

The Villa’s interior was also utilized in the video.

You can watch “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” by clicking below.

The property portrayed two different spots in the Season 1 episode of Truth Be Told titled “Live Thru This.” It first popped up as the New Soul rebab center where Erin Buhrman (Annabella Sciorra) was once a patient.

And it is also where Poppy Scoville-Parnell (Octavia Spencer) interviews Erin’s sober coach.

As I mentioned above, the mansion did not appear in The Artist. Peppy’s residence, which does bear a striking resemblance to Guasti Villa (as you can see below), can actually be found about 3 miles away at 56 Fremont Place in the Mid-Wilshire area. That property is also an oft-filmed spot which I wrote about here.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Guasti Villa, from the “Georgia” episode of Veep, can be found at the Peace Awareness Labyrinth & Gardens, located at 3500 West Adams Boulevard in Jefferson Park. For information about touring the site, click here.

March 29, 2017July 16, 2019

Jane’s House from “Big Little Lies”

I am extremely biased when it comes to my former stomping ground of Pasadena, where I lived for close to 15 years. Though I’ve heard on more than one occasion from L.A. denizens that the city is too suburban and too far removed from the hustle and bustle of urban life, I think it is one of the best places in the world and miss it so much at times it almost breaks my heart. So whenever I hear of a movie or TV show that has done some filming in Crown City, I get a wee bit obsessed with tracking down the exact location or locations used – well, more obsessed than I usually do when it comes to locales. Such was the case with the bungalow where Jane Chapman (Shailene Woodley) and her son, Ziggy (Iain Armitage), live on the HBO miniseries Big Little Lies, which ends its run next week (oh, say it ain’t so!). I learned the home could be found in Pasadena via this recent Travel + Leisure article and immediately started trying to track it down.

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Though the exterior of Jane’s rental wasn’t featured very much in the first two episodes of Big Little Lies, thankfully, in the third, titled “Living the Dream,” a good view of the property and the street it is located on was shown. While watching, I noticed that Jane’s street not only abutted a one-way road, but also that it formed a “T” with another street two blocks away. Because of my familiarity with the city, I knew straight away that the residence had to be situated somewhere just north of Union Street in East Pasadena. Armed with that knowledge, I began searching aerial views of the area and found Jane’s house within minutes at 161 North Chester Avenue.

In person, Jane’s red and brown bungalow looks exactly as it does onscreen in Big Little Lies.

The only notable difference is the lack of a front yard light post in real life.

Outside of that, nothing was changed for the production. The place so resembles its onscreen self that, while there, I half expected Jane to coming walking outside in full running gear!

I mean, even the skewed address placard remains unaltered!

According to a recent Vulture article, only the exterior of the pad was utilized in Big Little Lies. For interior scenes, a set partially modeled upon the home was built because, as location manager Gregory Alpert stated, the property’s real interior “looked better on film than it actually was.”

The Vulture article also mentions that the residence landed its onscreen role thanks partially to “the canopy of trees on the street.” As you can see in the images below, as well as the other images in this post, the trees situated outside of the house and nearby are absolutely magical.

Per Zillow, the 1917 bungalow boasts 1,075 square feet of living space (though Redfin measures it at 928 square feet), 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, a fireplace, a garden, a 0.17-acre lot, a detached 1-car garage, and a large front porch.

The front porch has been utilized several times on Big Little Lies.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Jane’s house from Big Little Lies is located at 161 North Chester Avenue in Pasadena.

January 27, 2017January 25, 2017

The “Swingers” Party House

2016 was a great year for me as far as finding locations goes. So many of my most-wanted unknown locales were identified. Rod Tidwell’s home from Jerry Maguire, the Say Anything . . . amphitheatre, the Life Goes On house, the “Las Vegas” casino from the Season 4 episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 titled “And Did It . . . My Way” – I could go on and on. Another spot that I tracked down in 2016, but haven’t gotten around to blogging about until now is from Swingers. Though the vast majority of the 1996 comedy’s locations are well-known and have long been documented online, late last year I went on a trek to find some of the missing ones, namely the Spanish-style house where Mike (Jon Favreau), Trent (Vince Vaughn), and the gang attended a party. And I am happy to report that I was successful!

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I literally had nothing to go on with this locale outside of the fact that, per Favreau’s DVD commentary, it was located in the Hollywood Hills. In the scene leading up to the party, Mike and his four friends are shown driving (all separately!) on a curving L.A. road. I figured that the segment was likely shot in the same vicinity as the house where the party scene was lensed. Thankfully, while watching the Swingers Blu-ray, I was able to make out an address number of 7902 on the curb of a home that the boys pass. (Unfortunately, my computer does not have the capacity to play Blu-rays, so all of my screen captures were taken from a regular DVD, which is why the 7902 number is not clear in the image below.)

I started searching the Hollywood Hills for houses with a 7902 address number and fairly quickly discerned that the boys drove by the residence at 7902 Fareholm Drive on their way to the party. I was floored to make the discovery and immediately began scouring the area for the property where the soiree was held – unsuccessfully. Though there are several rambling Spanish-style homes located on Fareholm, none of them matched the pad from Swingers. So back to the drawing board I went.

Since the movie’s 20th anniversary was fast approaching, interviews with the cast and crew were popping up all over the internet. I decided to pour through every one I could find with the hope that some information about the party house would be revealed. I got lucky when I came across this fabulous article on the Grantland website titled “So Money: An Oral History of Swingers.” (If you’re a fan of the film, I highly recommend a read.) Not only did the article mention the party scene, but it detailed the exact street it was shot on! Thank you, Grantland! According to those interviewed, the production team could not afford to rent a home to shoot the soiree sequence, nor could they afford to hire the large amount of extras that would be required. So line producer Nicole LaLoggia and director Doug Liman asked some friends who lived in “this very cool old house” located “up in the Hollywood Hills on Temple Hill Drive” if they would throw a get-together and let them film it. Those words were music to my ears! I immediately started using Google Street View to search Temple Hill Drive for the residence used. It took me longer to find the place than expected due to the fact that it is situated on a corner and only a side view of it was shown in Swingers.

Very little of the dwelling’s exterior actually appeared in the movie, but, thankfully, enough detailing was visible for me to be able to identify it.

I was most excited to see the staircase that Trent and the guys headed up upon arriving at the party.

A better view of those stairs is pictured below.

Though the outside was only featured briefly in Swingers, the interior of the residence got quite a bit of screen time. It is while inside the home that Trent gets – and then immediately tears up – the digits of a “business class” girl who touts herself as having a Tina Yothers vibe.

In real life, the 1926 pad boasts 4 bedrooms, 4 baths, 3,872 square feet, and a 0.22-acre plot of land. As I mentioned above, the residence is situated on a corner. Pictured below is the side of it that fronts Temple Hill Drive.

The property is absolutely massive, much more so than it appears to be from the street. You can check out an aerial view of how it’s laid out below. (The castle-looking estate located next door is known as Moorcrest. Charlie Chaplin and Mary Astor have both called it home at different points in time and it currently belongs to actor Andy Samberg. A post on that locale will be coming soon.)

The Swingers party pad has quite the Hollywood pedigree. As actor/writer Mike White, who was present during the filming of the party scene, explains in the Grantland article, “The house was one of the centers of partying back then. There were four guys that lived there. Two of them have gone on to be successful producers — Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen. Their production company is called Temple Hill [Entertainment], in reference to the house. They produced all the Twilight movies, actually.” Godfrey and Bowen also gave us The Fault in Our Stars, Revenge and Rosewood! Not a bad resume. I cannot express how cool I find it that the duo chose to name their production company in honor of their former digs.

In his DVD commentary, Favreau described the property as such, “This is one of those big, great 1920s Hollywood Hills houses that sort of has fallen into disrepair, but people, like, all get together and become roommates and live in these huge mansions.” The residence remains in a state of disrepair today, sadly. Though I do kind of love the fact that, 20 years later, it still looks like a dwelling that a bunch of showbiz hopefuls got together to rent.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Swingers party house is located at 6161 Temple Hill Drive in the Hollywood Hills. It is the eastern side of the residence, which can be found on Vasanta Way, that appeared in the movie.