famous movie locations – Page 3

January 5, 2012January 4, 2012

The Reno Main US Post Office from “Sister Act”

While visiting my grandmother in Sparks, Nevada over Christmas, I dragged her, along with my parents, out to stalk the Reno Main US Post Office, which masqueraded as the Reno Police Station in the 1992 movie Sister Act. I first found out about this location from fave book Shot on This Site: A Traveler’s Guide to the Places and Locations Used to Film Famous Movies and TV Shows (which was gifted to me by fellow stalker Lavonna Smile ) while doing research on the area in preparation for my July trip out to the Silver State. For some reason, though, while I had managed to stalk the Washoe County Courthouse from The Misfits during my visit, I had somehow forgotten all about the post office – which is a pretty incredible feat being that the two buildings are located directly across the street from each other! As I have said countless times before on this blog, I am such a blonde! So during this recent visit, I made it a point to trek the family out to Downtown Reno once again so that I could finally do some Sister Act stalking.

The Reno Main US Post Office was originally constructed in 1932 by Frederic DeLongchamps, the prolific Nevada-area architect who also designed the Washoe Country Courthouse, the Riverside Hotel, and countless other noteworthy buildings across the Silver State. The structure was built on the site of what was formerly Reno’s very first public library. When the library was moved to a new location in 1931, DeLongchamps set to work on building the post office, which did not officially open for business until 1934. The Reno Main US Post Office, which also houses several Federal agency offices, is considered to be one of the finest examples of Zigzag Moderne architecture – a highly decorative style of Art Deco design that employs sunken vertical panel windows, flat roofs, geometric ornamentation, repetitive angular patterns, and astrological imagery – in all of Nevada. The structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 28th, 1990.

The interior of the Reno Main US Post Office is nothing short of breathtaking and not at all what I had been expecting when I first walked in. I mean, the Pasadena Post Office is quite beautiful as well, but nothing like this!

The detail in the design of the interior was absolutely astounding! There are ornate cast aluminum fixtures, like the one pictured above, fastened to the corner of every single marble tile which covers the lobby walls.

And each bank of mailboxes is adorned with an elaborately-carved border. Every time I turned around, I found myself discovering some new miniscule detail that I had not previously noticed. Simply amazing!

The original blue prints for the Reno Main US Post Office were even on display in the lobby, which I thought was so incredibly cool! Smile

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The Reno Main US Post Office shows up twice in Sister Act. It first appears very briefly in the beginning of the movie, in the scene in which Deloris Van Cartier (aka Whoopi Goldberg) reports to the police that her boyfriend, Vince LaRocca (aka Harvey Keitel), has just killed his limo driver. According to the IMBD Sister Act trivia page, producers decided to film at the post office because they did not think that the actual Downtown Reno police station looked like a police station. LOL Ah, Hollywood!

The post office next shows up in the scene in which Vince leaves the police station with his lawyers after having been interrogated for six hours.

And while I had originally assumed that the interior of the Reno Main US Post Office had been used as the interior of the police station in Sister Act, as you can see above, that does not appear to have been the case. The interior does not look to have been a set, though, either, so I guess I am going to have to do a bit of digging to track down where filming actually took place.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Reno Main US Post Office, aka the police station from Sister Act, is located at 50 South Virginia Street in Reno, Nevada. The Washoe County Courthouse, from The Misfits, is located across the street at 117 South Virginia Street.

December 23, 2011December 22, 2011

The Brass Monkey Bar from “Bad Santa”

Another Christmas-themed location that I stalked recently was the Brass Elephant bar – the Monrovia-area watering hole that stood in for the similarly-named “Brass Monkey” bar where Sue (aka Lauren Graham) worked in my least-favorite holiday movie of all time, 2003’s Bad Santa. Fellow stalker Chas, from the It’sFilmedThere website, had tracked down the establishment a while back and once I learned that it was located inside of the Aztec Hotel, an extremely unique structure that had intrigued me ever since I first moved to the San Gabriel Valley over eleven years ago, I decided that I just had to stalk the place. And this past Tuesday morning, I finally did just that.

The Aztec Hotel was originally built in 1925, on what was then the historic Route 66, by Robert Stacy-Judd, the English-born architect who also designed the Masonic Temple in North Hollywood, the First Baptist Church in Ventura, and the incredible Atwater Bungalows in Echo Park. The hotel was Stacy-Judd’s first commercial design job in the United States and he credited his inspiration for the project to John L. Stephen’s 1841 tome Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan. Although technically Mayan in design, the architect named the property the “Aztec Hotel” because, as he is quoted as saying in the 1993 book Robert Stacy-Judd: Maya Architecture and the Creation of a New Style, “When the hotel project was first announced, the word Maya was unknown to the layman. The subject of Maya culture was only of archaeological importance, and, at that, concerned but a few exponents. As the word Aztec was fairly well-known, I baptized the hotel with that name, although all the decorative motifs are Maya.”

And while the Aztec Hotel enjoyed immense success and was one of the most exclusive lodgings in the area for a brief period, it fell upon hard times due to both the Great Depression and the realignment of Route 66 and was forced to shutter its doors in 1935, less than a decade after opening. It was sold, by auction, shortly thereafter for $50,000. The new owners renovated the place and it once again became a popular retreat thanks to the proximity of the newly-opened Santa Anita Park race track. Such luminaries as Bing Crosby, Mickey Rooney, Clark Gable, and my girl Marilyn Monroe were all reportedly counted as guests at one time or another. Sadly though, the property fell, once again, into disrepair in the years following and served as everything from a drug den to a brothel. The 44-room, two-story hotel, which was named a National Historic Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was just recently purchased by new owners who have set about restoring the historic site to its former glory. Amazingly, numerous elements of Stacy-Judd’s original design remain in place to this day, including the tile floor in the lobby, ceiling light fixtures, stained glass windows, several murals, and a fireplace.

Sadly, the Brass Elephant bar, which is located just off of the Aztec Hotel’s lobby, was closed when I showed up to stalk it, but I did manage to snap the above pictures through an open window.

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In Bad Santa, the Brass Elephant stood in for the Brass Monkey – the supposed-Phoenix, Arizona-area mall bar where disgruntled Santa Willie (aka Billy Bob Thornton) first met bartender Sue. It popped up in two scenes in the movie – first in the scene in which Willie successfully hits on Sue before getting into a fist-fight with a fellow patron.

And later in the scene in which Gin (aka Bernie Mac) tries to blackmail Willie and his partner-in-crime, Marcus (aka Tony Cox). As you can see in the screen captures above, the Brass Elephant was dressed heavily for the filming, with special booths brought in, walls retouched, and bright lighting installed, and is virtually unrecognizable from its appearance onscreen.

Because the Brass Monkey was supposed to be located adjacent to a mall in Bad Santa, the real life exterior of the Aztec Hotel did not appear in the flick. A fake exterior for the bar was instead created at the Del Amo Fashion Center in Torrance, where the vast majority of the movie was lensed.

The Aztec Hotel was also featured extensively in the 2009 movie Spooner, as the place where Rose Conlin (aka the adorable Nora Zehetner), the object of Herman Spooner’s (aka the even more adorable Matthew Lillard’s) affection, stays for a few days after her car breaks down.

Quite a bit of the hotel appeared in the movie, including the front entrance;

the lobby;

several hallways;

the Aztec Barber Shop, which is an actual place;

one of (what I believe is) the hotel’s real life rooms;

and the Brass Elephant bar. And while I only scanned through Spooner in order to make screen captures for this post, I have to say that it looks like an incredibly cute movie that I definitely need to watch in its entirety in the very near future.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Chas, of the It’sFilmedThere website, for finding this location. Smile You can check out Chas’ extensive Bad Santa filming locations page here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Brass Elephant, aka the Brass Monkey from Bad Santa, is located at 311 West Foothill Boulevard, inside of the Aztec Hotel, in Monrovia. You can visit the hotel’s official website here and you can visit the bar’s official Facebook page here.

December 21, 2011December 20, 2011

The Ohara House – aka Miles’ House from “The Holiday”

One location that my good friend/fellow stalker Lavonna suggested that I blog about during my Christmas-themed stalking week was the modernist abode where Miles (aka Jack Black) lived in the 2006 Nancy-Meyers-directed flick The Holiday. Ironically enough, just a few days after my conversation with Lavonna, my mom and I happened to catch The Holiday on TV and when a scene showing Miles’ residence popped up onscreen, she said, “Oh my gosh, what a cool house! Lindsay, you have got to find it!” Talk about synchronicity! So I started doing some research and quickly stumbled upon the flick’s production notes, which, amazingly enough, spelled out the property’s exact location. Whoo-hoo! I so love it when that happens! So I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out there to stalk the place this past weekend.

The Holiday’s incredibly informative production notes stated, “Miles’ house was designed by Richard Neutra, the Vienna-born master of Southern California modernism and is situated on Neutra Place in L.A.’s Silverlake [sic] area, near downtown.” As it turns out, in the 1950s and 60s, the legendary Neutra, who also designed the famous Kauffman house in Palm Springs which I blogged about last December, constructed ten residences on Silver Lake Boulevard and an adjoining cul-de-sac that is now known as Neutra Place. All ten dwellings were built in the Pavilion style – a design characterized by box-shapes, horizontal planes, open floor plans, and large plate glass windows. And towards the very end of that short Pavilion-home-lined cul-de-sac sits the property where Miles lived in The Holiday. In real life, it is known as the Ohara house and it was originally built in 1961 for June and Hitoshi Ohara and their two daughters. Sadly though, as you can see above, not much of it is visible from the street.

Because I was absolutely itching to see the property in person, I just had to climb up the front steps a tiny bit to catch a better peek. And I am very happy to report that the residence did not disappoint! As you can see above, it is absolutely spectacular in person! Even the Grim Cheaper, who is not fazed by much of anything, was impressed with it. In real life, the Ohara house boasts 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1,564 square feet of living space, and a .23-acre plot of land, and was last sold in December of 2003 for a cool $1.2 million.

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The exterior of Miles’ house showed up only once, and very briefly at that, in The Holiday. I absolutely LOVE how it appeared in the movie, with its expansive front yard and cantilevered roofline all lit up. Sigh! What I would not give to live in a house like that!

The interior of the property, which is also quite spectacular, was featured a few times in the movie, as well.

On a celebrity side-note – While out doing some Christmas shopping in Beverly Hills this past weekend, the GC and I stopped into Madame Chocolat, which I blogged about back in January of this year, and who should be there but Madame Chocolat herself, Hasty Torres. I had met Hasty once before at the shop and did not ask her for a photograph, which I have always regretted. Well, believe you me, I was not going to make the same mistake twice and I am very happy to report that Hasty seemed seriously flattered when I approached her and could not have been more excited to pose with me. Love it! For those not in the know, Hasty is the proprietor of the ever-popular Madame Chocolat and has appeared in such shows as The Girls Next Door and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Ohara house, aka Miles’ house from The Holiday, is located at 2210 Neutra Place in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles.

December 19, 2011December 16, 2011

The “Bad Santa” House

A couple of weeks ago, my good friend/fellow stalker Lavonna suggested that I do a Christmas movie stalking theme during the entire month of December. I absolutely LOVED the idea, but, unfortunately, by that time it was too late for me to get enough locations together and actually stalk them prior to December 1st. I usually start preparing for my Haunted Hollywood posts in August of each year as it takes quite a bit of time to research and compile enough themed locations to fill a whole month. So, while next year one of my goals is to do both a Haunted Hollywood month and a Christmas month (fingers crossed that it will work out!), for this year I thought I would do a Christmas-themed week, instead. I hope that you enjoy it! So, while in the San Fernando Valley area two weekends ago, I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to stalk the house where “The Kid” aka Thurman Merman (aka Brett Kelly) lived in the absolutely HORRIBLE 2003 Christmas movie Bad Santa. Now you might be wondering why I would stalk a location from a movie that I thoroughly hated, but the sad truth is that when it comes to flicks of the holiday variety, very few were filmed in L.A. And being that fellow stalker Chas, of the It’sFilmedThere website, had already tracked the place down, it required no work on my part aside from driving out to stalk it. Beggars can’t be choosers, as they say. Winking smile

As you can see above, the dwelling’s address number was changed from “7211” to “41” for the filming, but Chas was able to find the place thanks to a very helpful crew member.

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In Bad Santa, disgusting and disgruntled mall Santa Willie Stokes (aka Billie Bob Thornton) takes up residence with The Kid and Grandma (aka Cloris Leachman) because, as he tells them, “things are all f*cked up at the North Pole”. Now I have to say that that particular line did make me LOL, as did Willie’s line to his neighbor, “Well, you see, we don’t celebrate Christmas around here. We’re Muslims.” LOL LOL LOL Other than those two very brief moments, though, the movie is downright terrible!

I am very happy to report that, despite a change in the color of the garage and front doors, the Bad Santa house looks much the same in person as it did onscreen. In real life, the gargantuan abode, which was originally built in 1997, boasts 5 bedrooms, 5 baths and 4,100 square feet of living space.

As luck would have it, the Bad Santa home was listed for sale late last year and you know what that means, my fellow stalkers! Yessiree, we get to take a peek inside! I so love it when that happens! As you can see in the real estate listing, the actual interior of the home also appeared in the flick.

As well as the real life backyard and pool.

In an extremely random side-note – I have to ask, why in the heck was Leonardo DiCaprio given special thanks in the movie’s end credits?

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Lavonna for giving me the idea of doing a Christmas theme and to fellow stalker Chas, of the It’sFilmedThere website, for finding this location. You can check out Chas’ extensive Bad Santa filming locations page here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Bad Santa house is located at 7211 Whitehall Lane in West Hills.

December 16, 2011December 15, 2011

David Santiago’s House from “Post Grad”

Unfortunately, this stalker is currently suffering from a bad cold (which, for some reason, always seems to happen to me right before the holidays) and thanks to the fact that I cannot breath out of my nose and have taken copious amounts of NyQuil, I am feeling just a wee bit out of it today. So I have to apologize if this particular post is somewhat off, but, regrettably, my head is somewhere in the clouds right now, instead of sitting on top of my shoulders in front of the computer screen where it should be. I will do my best to be coherent, though, so here goes. Located directly across the street from the house where Ryden Malby (aka Alexis Bledel) lived in Post Grad, which I blogged about yesterday, is the residence that belonged to her mysterious neighbor – zany, Brazilian infomercial director David Santiago (aka Love Actually’s/Lost’s Rodrigo Santoro). So I, of course, dropped by to stalk it while in the neighborhood last weekend.

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David’s one-story, stone-and-wood, ranch-style abode shows up numerous times throughout Post Grad. And oddly enough, while I actually think the exterior is quite similar in appearance to the Malby house, according to the Post Grad production notes David’s pad was supposed to represent a more “cosmopolitan” lifestyle, the very type of lifestyle that Ryden was seeking. In the notes, production designer Mark Hutman states, “The house we found for the Malbys is a single story, ranch-style house, which is very common in the Valley. It’s not new, but it’s not old either, it’s just somewhat non-descript. For David’s environment, we went very stylish and masculine. His house is more modern, with dark leather couches and a minimalist color palette. And he has a pool.”

As luck would have it, the real life owners of David’s house walked outside just as we showed up to stalk the place and they literally could not have been nicer! They spoke with us for quite a while and answered all of my silly little questions about the filming. Just a few of the tidbits they shared with us were that the shoot lasted just over three weeks and that a lot of filming did take place inside of their actual home.

As well as in their backyard and pool.

They also informed us that the production team replaced their entire back and side fence for the filming. And they mentioned that the experience was the most fun they had ever had in their entire lives. Um, you’re telling me! I think I would just about die if a movie set up shop in my apartment for over three weeks!

In real life, David’s house, which was built in 1960, measures 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, and 2,767 square feet. And I am very happy to report that it looks exactly the same in person as it did onscreen.

I was actually struck by how much it resembles the party house from fave movie Clueless, a location that has been the bane of my existence for years now as I just cannot seem to find it anywhere!!!! UGH! But I digress!

On a random side-note – while getting my hair blown out the other day, I was lucky enough to run into Summer Bishil, who plays Navid Shirazi’s (aka Michael Steger’s) sister Leila Shirazi on fave show 90210! Summer could NOT have been nicer and readily agreed to pose for a pic with me even though she had no make-up on and her hair had yet to be done. Love it! And when I told her that Matt Lanter was the love of my life, she said, “I think he’s pretty much the love of everyone’s life!” Love it even more!

On another side-note – I would like to wish my wonderful father a VERY happy 65th birthday today!! I love you so much, Dad!

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Chas, from the It’sFilmedThere website, for finding this location! Smile You can check out Chas’ extensive Post Grad filming locations page here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: David Santiago’s house from Post Grad is located at 5901 Farralone Avenue in Woodland Hills. Ryden’s house from Post Grad is located directly across the street at at 22200 Tiara Street, also in Woodland Hills.

December 15, 2011December 14, 2011

Ryden’s House from “Post Grad”

Another location that I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to stalk while in the San Fernando Valley area this past weekend was the ranch-style house where Ryden Malby (aka Alexis Bledel) and her extremely odd, but extremely loveable family – dad Walter (aka Michael Keaton), mom Carmella (aka Jane Lynch), brother Hunter (aka Bobby Coleman), and crazy Grandma Maureen (aka the always fabulous Carol Burnett) – lived in Post Grad. I saw the 2009 romantic comedy back when it first came out on DVD early last year and absolutely fell in love with it. So I, of course, immediately started attempting to track down all of its featured locations, especially the Malby residence, but I am sad to say that I was a complete and total failure at the endeavor. In my defense, though, it was not entirely my fault as the movie did somewhat lead me astray.

As you can see above, in one of Post Grad’s early scenes, Ryden is shown being dropped off by a taxi, on the door of which is written “North Hollywood Cab Co.”, so I made the incorrect assumption that the Malby residence was located in that area. And while I really should have known better, being that movies “cheat” that sort of thing all the time, the home just looked like a North-Hollywood-type residence to me. So I spent more than a few fruitless hours searching NoHo (as Angelinos are now referring to it) before calling off the hunt. Enter fellow stalker Chas, of the It’sFilmedThere website, who is pretty much the biggest Gilmore Girls/Alexis Bledel/Lauren Graham fan on the planet and who a few months later had begun his own trek to find the home. And find it, he did, thanks to a very helpful crew member. Once Chas told me of the location, I immediately added it to my “To-Stalk” list, but because I rarely get out to Woodland Hills, it took me quite a long time to actually visit the place.

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In Post Grad, after losing out on her book-publishing dream job, recent college graduate Ryden Malby is forced to return home to live with her parents in their quirky-looking abode.

I am very happy to report that the Post Grad house, which in real life measures 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, and 2,500 square feet, and was originally built in 1960, looks exactly the same in person as it did onscreen.

I was especially excited to see that the wooden wishing well that was situated in the home’s front yard in the movie was actually there in real life, as well. Love it!

Sadly, the little white fence that flanked the property’s front steps was not there, though.

I am fairly certain that the real life interior of the residence was also used in the filming, but I, unfortunately, could not find any photographs of the interior online with which to verify that hunch.

Big THANK YOU to Chas, from the It’sFilmedThere website, for finding this location. You can check out Chas’ extensive Post Grad filming locations page here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Ryden’s house from Post Grad is located at 22200 Tiara Street in Woodland Hills.

December 13, 2011December 12, 2011

The El Torito Grill from “Crazy, Stupid, Love.”

As I have mentioned numerous times before on this blog, this stalker has absolutely obsessed herself silly over the movie Crazy, Stupid, Love. So when I discovered, thanks to the flick’s exceedingly extensive production notes, that a couple of scenes had been filmed at the El Torito Grill in the Sherman Oaks Galleria, I immediately added the place to my “To-Stalk” list and dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out there to grab some lunch this past weekend. And I could not have been more excited to do so because if there is one thing this stalker loves more than Crazy, Stupid, Love., it’s Mexican food! And I would just like to mention here how much I appreciate the abundant efforts the author (or authors) of the CSL production notes put into writing them. I am currently searching for the gorgeous bar that was featured in the opening scene of 2003’s Bad Santa and am having absolutely no luck whatsoever in finding it. If only the filmmakers had followed Crazy, Stupid, Love.’s example and published some decent production notes, I would have been able to stalk the place in time for Christmas. Hmph! But I digress.

Oddly enough, when the Grim Cheaper and I first ventured into the El Torito Grill, it did not look familiar to me at all. In Crazy, Stupid, Love., the place appeared to be fairly small and intimate, but, as you can see above, in real life it is very large and consists of one huge open room with a smaller anteroom off to the side. The restaurant was so unrecognizable, in fact, that I had to ask the bartender to pinpoint the exact area where filming took place so that I could take the proper photographs. It was just slightly disheartening – I mean, am I losing my touch here? Winking smile

And while unrecognizable from Crazy, Stupid, Love., I am very happy to report that the El Torito Grill serves up some FABULOUS food! I ordered the Tableside Grilled Fajitas Salad, which was mixed right in front me, and, ohmygod, was it delicious! Honestly one of the best salads that I have ever had in my entire life! Yum, yum, yum! And contrary to what has been reported in numerous Yelp reviews, El Torito Grill does in fact serve chips and salsa, both of which are also fantastic! Man, I am in love with this place! And I am not the only one – such stars as Paula Abdul, Nicole Kidman, Keith Urban, and Miley Cyrus have all been spotted dining there at one time or another.

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The El Torito Grill in Sherman Oaks, which is made to seem as if it is located inside of the Westfield Century City Shopping Mall, shows up twice in Crazy, Stupid, Love. It first pops up in the scene in which Richard (aka Josh Groban) takes his girlfriend “Hannah Banana” (aka Emma Stone) and her friends and co-workers out for a pre-bar-exam dinner. It is during this scene that one of my very favorite lines from the entire movie is uttered. When Richard announces that he is also going to host Hannah’s post-bar-exam celebratory dinner at the El Torito Grill and that it is going to be a “special night”, Hannah turns to her best friend Liz (aka the hilarious Liza Lapira) to ask if she thinks Richard is planning on proposing to which Liz responds, “At the El Torito Grill? God, I hope not!” LOL LOL LOL LOVE it!

The El Torito Grill next appears in the scene featuring the aforementioned post-bar-exam celebratory dinner, during which Richard does not, in fact, propose, leaving Hannah in a hilarious state of shock.

The exterior of the restaurant is also shown in that scene.

Both of Hannah’s dinner scenes were shot in the very front of the El Torito Grill, just behind the main entrance, at a large table that is, for some odd reason, usually surrounded by a sheer circular curtain. I would say that the curtain contains a VIP section of some sort, but because it is completely transparent and VIP sections are usually private, that would not make much sense. Anyway, for the filming, which according to the Before the Trailer website took place on April 26th and 27th of 2010, producers removed the curtain and also attached some multi-color sombreros to the walls.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The El Torito Grill from Crazy, Stupid, Love. is located at 15301 Ventura Boulevard, inside of the Sherman Oaks Galleria, in Sherman Oaks. You can visit the chain’s official website here.

December 7, 2011December 11, 2011

Judge Crawford’s House from “Fracture”

After tracking down the hilltop abode Willy Beachum (aka cutie Ryan Gosling) called home in fave movie Fracture, which I blogged about last Tuesday, I became just a wee bit obsessed with finding the large brick mansion where Judge Gardner (aka Bob Gunton) lived in the flick. Even though the dwelling showed up only briefly in the movie, because it was pretty much the only location I had yet to track down, I was absolutely itching to find it. The fabulously extensive Fracture production notes stated that some filming had taken place “at a private residence in Hancock Park” and I assumed that the private residence that was referred to had to be Judge Crawford’s. So I started searching aerial views of the area and after about 45 minutes stumbled upon the right property. YAY! And while out and about running some errands in Santa Monica yesterday, I took a little detour through Hancock Park so that I could stalk the place.

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In Fracture, Willy’s love interest, Nikki Gardner (aka Rosamund Pike), invites him to her parent’s home on Thanksgiving to eat dinner with her family.

Later on in the flick, Willie returns to the house to ask Nikki’s father, who is a judge, to sign a court order prohibiting Ted Crawford (aka Anthony Hopkins) from pulling the plug on his comatose wife, Jennifer Crawford (aka Embeth Davidtz).

In real life, the Georgian-Revival-style mansion, which was originally built in 1914, boasts 6 bedrooms, 5 baths, 6,175 square feet of living space, and almost half an acre of land. The house was designed by Meyer & Holler, the noted Los-Angeles-based architecture firm that was responsible for the Alex Theatre in Glendale, Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, Culver Studios in Culver City, and the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. Thanks to the fabulous The Houses of Hancock Park and JCB blogs, I discovered that the property is currently owned by famed Los Angeles interior designer Suzanne Rheinstein and her husband, Fred. The Rheinsteins purchased the dwelling over thirty years ago and immediately began an extensive redesign of the interior, a lengthy process that was reported on by several home magazines. The residence is nothing short of GORGEOUS in person and is, ironically enough, exactly the type of spot that my mom and I refer to as a “Thanksgiving House” – an idyllic and picturesque dwelling that makes one think of coming home for the holidays. I mean, the place could not look any more like it came out of a Folgers Coffee Christmas commercial if it tried! Winking smile

The interior of the abode, which is BEAUTIFUL, was featured prominently in Suzanne’s 2010 book At Home: A Style for Today with Things from the Past. (The pictures featured above remain the sole and private property of Suzanne Rheinstein and photographer Pieter Estersohn.)

As you can see above, the photographs featured in Suzanne’s book match up to what appeared onscreen, which means that the real life interior of the home, along with some of the furniture, was also used in the filming.

On a side-note that falls into the obscenely-cool category – yesterday I dropped by my very favorite store, Lula Mae in Old Town Pasadena, and just about died when Marci, the adorable owner who has come to be my good friend, informed me that she had just named me the shop’s very first “Customer of the Month”. Um, LOVE IT! For those who have never been there, LA Weekly recently awarded Lula “Best One-Stop Gift Shopping 2011” and in their write-up said, “You know that friend of yours who always upstages the $10 bottle of wine you pull out of your purse when she shows up at parties with the most adorable, clever little trinket wrapped perfectly in a colorful vintage bag? Well that smug b*tch probably has been shopping at Lula Mae for years now.” LOL Couldn’t have said it better myself! The store is so insanely cute, colorful, and fun that I find myself dropping in at least five times a week. It has become an addiction! Lula Mae is the first place I head whenever I am depressed, have writer’s block, or just need a good giggle! So to be named their Customer of the Month was just about the best honor I could have received! Thank you, Marci, Julia, Alison, and Lula Mae! <3

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Judge Crawford’s house from Fracture is located at 435 South Windsor Boulevard in the Windsor Square section of Hancock Park. Lula Mae is located at 100 North Fair Oaks Avenue in Old Town Pasadena.

November 28, 2011November 27, 2011

Julia Harris’ House from “Horrible Bosses”

Another location that the Grim Cheaper and I ventured out in the pouring rain to stalk two weekends ago was the ultra-modern abode where Dr. Julia Harris, D.D.S. (aka my girl Jen Aniston) lived in the (horrible) 2011 comedy Horrible Bosses. I was informed of this location via a text from fellow stalker Chas, of the It’sFilmedThere website, who prefaced giving me the address with the query, “Did you like Horrible Bosses?”, to which I wrote back, “Not at all!” When he asked if my dislike stemmed from the fact that the movie was “too crude”, I wrote back, “No! It stemmed from the fact that it was seriously stupid!” Winking smile The GC and I had gone to see Horrible Bosses on opening night in a theatre, as I do with pretty much every new Jen Aniston movie, and were both so bored to tears that we almost walked out! I just did not find the flick funny, like at all, and, for some reason, Charlie Day, who played Dr. Harris’ dental assistant Dale Arbus, seriously grated on my nerves, especially his gravely voice. It was like fingernails on a chalkboard to this stalker, but I digress. Anyway, I was extremely excited to receive Chas’ text, regardless of my feelings about the movie, as I am always, always up for stalking a location that has anything whatsoever to do with my girl.

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Julia’s house actually only shows up twice in Horrible Bosses – first in the scene in which Dale’s friend Kurt Buckman (aka Jason Sudeikis) stakes out the property with the intent of murdering Julia and later on in a flashback scene in which he describes what happens while there. According to the Horrible Bosses production notes, “The deviant doc’s house is stylistically similar to her office — that is, what can be seen of it through its wide street-facing picture windows, which afford her the opportunity to put on the kind of show she couldn’t get away with at work.”

In real life, the five-bedroom, four-bath, 3,906-square-foot home, which was completely rebuilt in 2008, is pretty darn spectacular! The property features a double-sided fireplace, a floating staircase, an open floor plan, Cherry wood and poured concrete flooring, exposed steel beams, a six-burner range, and three fireplaces. The property sold on July 22 of this year for $1.73 million. You can check out some great interior photographs of the place here.

Big THANK YOU to Chas, from the It’sFilmedThere website, for finding this location. You can check out Chas’ extensive Horrible Bosses filming locations page here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Julia Harris’ house from Horrible Bosses is located at 2361 Midvale Avenue in the Westside area of Los Angeles.

November 11, 2011October 23, 2011

The Weaver House from “Crazy, Stupid, Love.”

Back in August, on the recommendation of my girl Miss Pinky Lovejoy, from the Thinking Pink blog, I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to see Crazy, Stupid, Love. and I can honestly say that it was one of the best movies I have seen all year. In fact, I might even go so far as to say that it was one of the best movies I have seen ever! And while I have long thought that Ryan Gosling is one of the most gifted actors of our generation, he entered a whole new level in Crazy, Stupid, Love. and blew all of his past performances right out of the water! The guy is simply phenomenal! And can you say “heartthrob”?! I also absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE me some Emma Stone and she, too, was nothing short of fabulous. If you have yet to see the movie, I cannot more highly recommend doing so! Like now! Stop reading this post, in fact, and go right out and rent it! Seriously! Anyway, because I loved the flick so much, I could absolutely NOT wait for it to come out on DVD – which it finally did last week – so that I could start tracking down some of its locations. And one of the first that I found, thanks to a very helpful crew member, was the residence where the Weaver family lived. So I ran right out to stalk it – Grim Cheaper in tow, of course – just a few days later.

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In Crazy, Stupid, Love., recently-separated Emily Weaver (aka Julianne Moore) and her two children, Robbie (aka Jonah Bobo) and Molly (aka Joey King), live in the two-story Anywhere, U.S.A.-style house pictured above.

The backyard was the area of the property that actually appeared most often in the flick, most notably during Cal Weaver’s (aka Steve Carell’s) late-night gardening sessions. According to the Crazy, Stupid, Love. production notes, of the residence, production designer William Arnold said, “We were really lucky to find that house, which had this beautiful back sun porch. The owners graciously let us tear down their old glass doors and put in windows and doors that opened the house up to the backyard, lending itself to Cal’s late-night ‘visits’ to his garden. He could see almost all the way through the house, but was, tellingly, on the outside looking in.”

The backyard also appeared in my very favorite scene from the movie, in which Cal’s surprise for Emily goes a bit haywire. I will not say anymore than that, as I do not want to spoil the scene for those who have yet to see the movie – and if that is the case, then you really should not be reading this post! You should be out renting Crazy, Stupid, Love. like I told you to before! Winking smile

The real life interior of the house was also used in the flick. Amazingly, according to the production notes, almost all of Crazy, Stupid, Love. was filmed on location at actual sites. Only two sets were constructed for use in the movie – Cal’s post-separation apartment and Plus, the bar where Jacob Palmer (aka Ryan Gosling) taught Cal the finer points of seducing women – which I found shocking!

In real life, the 3-bedroom, 3-bath, 2,270-square-foot home, which was originally built in 1949 and sits on over half an acre of land, looks much the same in person as it did onscreen, except for the cement front walkway, which appears to have been swapped out for a stone one during the filming.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Weaver residence from Crazy, Stupid, Love. is located at 2002 Minoru Drive in Altadena.