famous museums – IAMNOTASTALKER

July 22, 2019July 21, 2019

The Philadelphia Museum of Art from “Rocky”

The Philadelphia Museum of Art has been called the world’s second most famous filming location, falling only behind Grand Central Station in New York. While the latter has been captured on celluloid copious times, the former is known mainly for one significant appearance. It was there that Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) embodied triumph by scaling the site’s massive east entrance stairs, fists pumping in the air, in what is arguably one of cinema’s most iconic moments from the 1976 boxing classic Rocky. Even though I have never seen the movie (I know, I know!), I was very familiar with the archetypal segment (which you can watch here), so there was no way I was going to miss stalking the museum to re-create it while vacationing in the City of Brotherly Love in 2016!

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The Philadelphia Museum of Art as we know it today opened to the public on March 26th, 1928, though its roots date all the way back to 1876 when the city hosted the Centennial Exhibition, the first official World’s Fair to take place in the United States. One of the event’s most popular exhibits was the Art Gallery, situated inside the gorgeous Memorial Hall which still stands today at 4231 Avenue of the Republic. It proved so beloved in fact, that following the fair’s closure, it continued to function, becoming a permanent part of Philadelphia’s cultural landscape. By the 1890s, the need for a bigger space to house the museum’s growing collection had developed and city leaders began making plans to erect a larger gallery, though ground would not be broken on the new site until 1919 and construction would not be completed for another nine years after that.

Towering atop Fairmount Hill, the city’s highest point, the grand structure was designed by the Zantzinger, Borie and Medary and the Horace Trumbauer architecture firms.

The massive facility houses more than 220,000 works in 200 different galleries and features large-scale installations including a ceremonial Japanese teahouse, a pillared hallway fashioned from the ruins of 3 Indian temples and the former main entrance to France’s Abbey Church of Saint-Laurent, as well as pieces by Vincent van Gogh, Edward Hicks, Thomas Eakins, Pablo Picasso, and Henri Matisse.

Though the views of the city it boasts are just as picturesque as the art which hangs on its walls.

Today, PMOA is one of the largest, most visited art museums in the country. And thanks to Rocky, its east staircase is just as big a draw as the museum itself.

The “Rocky Steps,” as they are colloquially known, pop up twice in the flick – first mid-film, in the scene in which the fledgling boxer, while training for a big fight, unsuccessfully attempts to scale them during a nighttime jog.

Later in the movie, he finally makes it to the top and we see the museum . . .

. . . and its views in all of their glory. Rocky’s legendary run is actually immortalized with a set of footprints at the top of the stairs, but I was, unfortunately, unaware of that fact when I stalked the place, so I failed to get a photo of them. You can see what they look like here, though.

Several of the movie’s sequels have also made use of PMOA, including 1979’s Rocky II in which the Italian Stallion once again trains for a big fight by running up to the museum’s 72nd step.

In 1982’s Rocky III, the now famous boxer is honored with a bronze statue of himself that is displayed atop the museum’s east staircase. During the dedication ceremony early in the film, he is heckled by Clubber Lang (Mr. T).

Later in the movie, Rocky goes to see the statue during a nighttime motorcycle ride.

The A. Thomas Schomberg-designed piece, which stands 8’6” tall, was commissioned by Stallone for Rocky III and then left in place at the top of the steps when filming wrapped, a gift from the actor to the museum. While City Commerce Director Dick Doran embraced the move, proclaiming that Sylvester had done “more for Philadelphia’s image than anyone since Ben Franklin,” not all locals were as enthused, especially PMOA executives who felt that the sculpture was nothing more than a movie prop. In a rather contentious move, the work was eventually moved to the Wachovia Spectrum in South Philadelphia.

Though it was temporarily brought back to the museum in 1990 for a brief scene in Rocky V, as soon as the shoot wrapped it was relegated to the Spectrum once again.

Finally in 2006, the statue was given a new home just east of the base of the Rocky Steps where it still stands today.

That same year, the museum was featured in the closing credits of Rocky Balboa in a montage showing fans running up the staircase, re-creating the famous moment from the first movie . . .

. . . before flashing to an image of Rocky standing on the steps alone while snow falls around him.

And at the end of the 2015 sequel Creed, Rocky takes Adonis Johnson (Michael B. Jordan) to the staircase.

The Rocky franchise is hardly the only production to showcase the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Lisa Brandt (Janet Margolin) runs away to the museum in the 1962 drama David & Lisa.

The interior masks as New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, where Kate Miller (Angie Dickinson) meets Warren Lockman (Ken Baker), in the 1980 thriller Dressed to Kill.

Will Smith (Will Smith), imitating Rocky, runs up the staircase while training for a fight in the Season 4 episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air titled “The Philadelphia Story,” which aired in 1994.

Rose (Toni Collette) also pays homage to Rocky by running up the museum steps a couple of times in the 2005 drama In Her Shoes.

Kate (Tina Fey) and Rob (Greg Kinnear) kiss in front of the museum in the 2008 comedy Baby Mama.

Dr. Karen Fletcher (Betty Buckley) is briefly seen looking at Paul Cézanne’s The Bathers there in the 2016 thriller Split.

Shazam (Zachary Levi) heads to the Philadelphia Museum of Art with Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer) shortly after discovering his superhero alter ego in 2019’s Shazam!

He also perfects his laser abilities on the museum steps (with “Eye of the Tiger” from Rocky III playing in the background) later in the movie.

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 Philadelphia Museum of Art, from Rocky, is located at 2600 Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park. The steps featured in the movie can be found on the eastern side of the property. You can visit the museum’s official website here.

April 30, 2018May 1, 2018

The Disney Garage

Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows that I am obsessed with all things Disney – especially Disneyland. I can hardly pass by the “Disneyland Drive” sign on the 5 Freeway without feeling a twitch. Not surprisingly, whenever I find myself in Orange County, my only interest is visiting the park and spending every waking moment there. I am definitely a show-up-before-opening-stay-until-closing-and-then-spend-an-extra-hour-on-Main-Street kind of girl. As such I’ve never really ventured out to do much stalking in the area. One local spot I’d been dying to see for ages, though, was the Disney Garage, aka Walt Disney’s very first animation studio which is on permanent display at the Stanley Ranch Museum in Garden Grove about two miles south of the Happiest Place on Earth. I finally got my chance last March thanks to a doctor appointment in the OC that I accompanied my dad to. While there was not enough time during our quick trip to allow for a Disney day, I made sure to schedule a stop at Stanley Ranch and we headed right on over there upon arriving in town.

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I briefly covered the story of the Disney Garage in a May 2014 Scene it Before post for Los Angeles magazine, but a more thorough recap is in order here. Upon returning home to Missouri after serving in World War I, Walt secured a job at the Kansas City Slide Company which produced both live-action and animated film advertisements. The work fascinated the 18-year-old and it wasn’t long before he was creating his own animations using a borrowed camera in his father’s garage. (Garages seem to be a theme in young Walt’s life.) In 1921, Disney partnered with cartoonist Ub Iwerks and under the label Laugh-O-Gram Films started producing shorts including one about a live-action character named Alice who lived in a cartoon world. The company failed after less than two years and in July 1923 Walt headed west to Los Angeles, where he rented a room at $5 a week from his uncle Robert who lived at 4406 Kingswell Avenue in Los Feliz. (That’s Uncle Robert’s house pictured below.) Of the move, he said, “I packed all of my worldly goods – a pair of trousers, a checkered coat, a lot of drawing materials and the last of the fairy-tale reels we had made – in a kind of frayed cardboard suitcase. And with that wonderful audacity of youth I went to Hollywood, arriving there with just 40 dollars.”

After a brief stint trying to break into the production world, Walt returned to his original passion, transforming his uncle’s small detached garage into a make-shift animation studio, which Robert charged him an additional $1 a week to use. Fashioning a cartoon stand out of lumber and plywood boxes, Disney got to work creating cartoon gag reels with the hope that he could sell them to the Pantages Theatre chain to play before movies. You can check out some historic photos of the garage, which was formerly located down the driveway on the home’s east side, here and here.

The Pantages plan was abandoned when producer Margaret Winkler tapped Disney to create more Alice cartoons (which later became known as the Alice Comedies) in October 1923. In conjunction with the deal, Walt partnered with his brother, Roy, and moved his studio out of his uncle’s garage and into the back of a real estate office located down the street at 4651 Kingswell Avenue. By February 1924, the brothers needed more space and secured a lease on the storefront next door at 4649 Kingswell. Today, that spot, which has since been renumbered 4647, houses a print shop named Extra Copy (pictured below). It is the Kingswell building that The Walt Disney Company officially recognizes as Walt’s first studio. He wasn’t there long, though.

A little over a year later, the brothers put down a deposit on some vacant land on Hyperion Avenue in Los Feliz and proceeded to build a small single-story studio which they moved into in January 1926. As the company grew, so did the space. In his book The Art of Disney: From Mickey Mouse to the Magic Kingdoms, Christopher Finch says, “It was constantly being expanded.” (Sadly, that site was torn down in 1966 and a Gelson’s Market currently stands in its place.) The brothers eventually ran out of room to expand any further at that location and switched their sights to Burbank where they purchased 51 acres and began construction on a much larger studio. The company moved to their new digs at 500 South Buena Vista Street about a year later. The Walt Disney Company still calls the site home today. I was lucky enough to tour it in July 2009. The photos below are from that visit.

But back to the garage. In 1981, a foamer named Paul Maher was perusing old photographs of historic sites and came across an image of Uncle Robert’s garage. A stalker at heart, Maher decided he had to see the place in person and headed over to Kingswell Avenue the next morning. What he found shocked him. Not only was the bungalow undergoing a renovation in order to be turned into a rental, but the famous garage was set to be razed. Thankfully, Paul stepped in. He quickly tracked down the residence’s owner who offered to sell him the standalone, single-car structure for $6,400 – if he agreed to also become her new tenant. He moved in shortly thereafter. Maher soon ran into financial problems, though, and had to vacate the premises. He subsequently put the garage up for auction for $10,000, but incredibly there were no takers. As fate would have it, Art Adler, the senior contractor for the purchasing department at Disneyland, happened to be at the auction and couldn’t bear the thought of Walt’s former studio being lost to the ages. He started chatting up other auction-goers asking them to chip in funds to save the structure and quickly had $8,500 in hand thanks to a band of 8 people who were promptly dubbed “Friends of Walt Disney.” The group later grew to 18 members, all of whom worked tirelessly to preserve the garage.

All the Friends of Walt Disney needed now was a place to display the structure. The group contacted several museums, including the Smithsonian Institution and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, but none could guarantee the garage a permanent exhibition space. Art finally approached the Stanley Ranch Museum, run by the Garden Grove Historical Society, and the organization was thrilled to accept the piece.

The historical society quickly got to work in preparing the 12-by-18-foot structure for its new home. A concrete slab was poured, broken slats were replaced, protective weather coating was added, and Disney memorabilia was set up inside. (You can take a peek at the interior here). The restored garage was dedicated on October 20th, 1984.

Even though Walt technically created the first Alice short in his father’s garage and even though The Walt Disney Company doesn’t officially recognize it, Uncle Robert’s garage is though of by most fans as Walt’s first studio. Of the structure’s importance, Adler said, “He may not have done a lot of work here, but this is where he started – and that’s what counts. It is important that this garage be preserved so children can look at the humble beginnings of a man who would later create an empire that brought happiness and joy to children all over the world. It’s a way to tell kids that you can start from nothing and, in a relatively short time, achieve great things.”

In the interest of being thorough – and to provide some armchair tourism for those who can’t make it out to Stanley Ranch Museum themselves – I snapped photos of each of the garage’s four sides. That’s its west side below.

There’s the rear.

And the pics below are the best I could get of the east side.

The Disney Garage is hardly the only historical structure located on the grounds of the Stanley Ranch Museum.

The open air site was originally the family home/ranch of horticulturist Edward G. Ware. In 1970, Ware’s daughter, Lillian Agnes Stanley, donated the two-acre parcel to the Garden Grove Historical Society. The following year, Stanley’s son gifted the group Ware’s original 1892 residence, a barn, a tank house, and his own Craftsman-style pad. And thus, a museum was born.

Since that time several of the area’s most historic homes and structures have been donated and moved to the site. The museum now boasts 17 buildings, including one of the city’s first post offices, originally opened in 1877;

a former Main Street storefront that housed an electric shoe store and a barber shop at various times;

a replica of a firehouse once located on Garden Grove Boulevard;

. . . and many others.

Cloaked in history, Stanley Ranch Museum is a fabulous place for both Disney and non-Disney fans alike to enjoy a sunny Southern California day.

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: Stanley Ranch Museum, the home of the famous Disney Garage, is located at 12174 Euclid Street in Garden Grove. Tours are offered the first and third Sunday of every month at 1:30 p.m., so plan accordingly. Robert Disney’s house, where the garage was originally located, can be found at 4406 Kingswell Avenue in Los Feliz. Extra Copy, aka Walt Disney’s first official studio, is located just three blocks west at 4647 Kingswell.

October 17, 2017October 17, 2017

The Mütter Museum of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia

I am into some admittedly weird stuff – murders, hauntings, all things macabre. But a place I learned about while planning my 2016 trip to Pennsylvania seemed even a bit too morbid for me. As DK Eyewitness Travel Guide described, The Mütter Museum of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia exhibits “curious and unusual items, including preserved specimens and wax anatomical and pathological models.” While the book’s photograph of The Mütter’s display of 139 real human skulls had me drooling, I feared the site might be a bit too disturbing. But I added it to my Philly To-Stalk List nonetheless. When I showed the Grim Cheaper info on the museum, he became pretty dead-set against visiting, though, and I did not attempt to sway him. Then fate stepped in during our first night in the City of Brotherly Love. While eating dinner at a fabulous sidewalk table at Devon Seafood Grill (another DK Eyewitness Travel suggestion), we happened to strike up a conversation with the couple next to us. Our new friends, Philadelphia natives both, were excited to share local recommendations and, as it turned out, one of their favorite places in the area was The Mütter Museum. They assured us we couldn’t leave town without a visit – which is how we found ourselves knee-deep in medical curiosities just a couple of days later.

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The Mütter Museum was originally established thanks to Jefferson Medical College professor of surgery Thomas Dent Mütter. In 1858, the doctor donated $30,000 as well as his vast collection of more than 1,700 specimens to The College of Physicians of Philadelphia with the request that they build a fireproof gallery to house the artifacts, which he hoped would be added to over the years, and hire a curator. The school obliged, constructing a two-story brick building at the northeast corner of Locust and South 13th Streets in 1863. The bottom level comprised the original Mütter Museum and the second floor served as The College’s headquarters. A third story was eventually added as more space was needed. (Sadly, the structure was torn down in 1930 and the spot where it once stood is now a parking lot.)

By the turn of the century, The College was in need of even more space and the Cope and Stewardson architecture firm was commissioned to design a larger headquarters at 19 South 22nd Street. The stately New Beaux Arts-style building was completed in 1909 and still houses the school, as well as The Mütter Museum, to this day.

The handsome structure has a haunting Midnight-in-the-Garden-of-Good-and-Evil-feel to it, which was made even stronger by the rain that started to fall as we arrived at the site.

The Mütter, which today houses more than 25,000 relics all related to medicine, health and disease, is considered one of the finest medical history museums in the world. Sadly, due to the fact that there are actual human bodies and body parts on display, none of the exhibits can be photographed. While I typically hate a no-photography rule, in this case, I completely understood the site’s use of discretion.

Only the main exhibit hall is off-limits to cameras, though. Photography is allowed in other areas, including Hutchinson Parlor, a space near The Mütter’s entrance which reminded me of the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland. I literally wanted to move right in, pour myself a glass of champagne, light a fire, and curl up with a good mystery novel in one of the cozy red armchairs.

Pictures are also allowed in the Thomson Gallery, the museum’s temporary exhibit space which was hosting Perfect Vessels: Works by David Orr at the time we visited.

The incredible installation consisted of massive round photographs of human skulls which had been digitally altered by artist David Orr to appear perfectly symmetrical.

As you can imagine, I was completely taken with the images.

I would LOVE to have each and every one on display at my house during Halloween. Heck, who am I kidding? I’d keep them up year-round if I could get my hands on them!

Sadly, Perfect Vessels ended its run in January, but you can read more about the exhibit here.

Situated just off the Thomson Gallery is the Sir John Templeton Veranda and Medicinal Herb Garden, another area open to photography.

And let me tell you, it is striking!

The Midnight-in-the-Garden-of-Good-and-Evil-feel of the property is continued out onto the terraced oasis . . .

. . . and made even more prominent thanks to the rather gothic-looking church that abuts it.

With its dramatic greenery and . . .

. . . and stunning brick façade . . .

. . . it is no wonder the garden has become an extremely popular wedding venue.

It literally looks like something out of a fairytale.

I think that’s Hansel and Gretel’s house right there!

The property’s interior is no less striking thanks to what Mütter’s official website describes as “a 19th-century cabinet museum setting.” Handsome wood cupboards housing all manner of artifacts are positioned in every corner of the dramatic space. Prior to my visit, I had never seen a museum laid out in such a way and loved exploring the myriad of displays, pulling out drawers and walking around 360-degree glass cases. The site feels more like the ornate private library of a wealthy eccentric scientist than a public museum. (The image below, which shows The Mütter’s main room, is a screen capture from an episode of the Anthony Bourdain series The Layover, but more on that in a bit.)

Just a few of the unique curios housed at The Mütter include the largest human colon on display in the world (the “Mega-Colon,” as the museum refers to it, which measures 8 feet, 4 inches when stretched, is pictured below with Anthony Bourdain), slides of Albert Einstein’s brain (his brain was 15% larger than the average brain!), the aforementioned collection of 139 skulls (which once belonged to Viennese anatomist Joseph Hyrtl), a death cast of the original “Siamese” twins Chang and Eng, a portion of John Wilkes Booth’s vertebra, actual shrunken heads, and the Soap Lady.

The Mütter is a somber place and the experience of visiting it quite sobering. But it is also utterly fascinating. I am typically not one for museums. At all. I find myself easily bored while wandering through exhibits, the display cards far too tedious and time-consuming to read. My best friend loves to recount the time we visited the Guggenheim in Manhattan. As he tells it (while making a circling motion with his finger), “While we were all still on the first floor looking at the artwork, here comes Lindsay, zipping down the ramp, heading for the exit.” Yep, I had already ventured up to the sixth floor and back down again while my best friend, his girlfriend, his mom, my parents, and the GC were all still perusing the lowest level. That’s typically my modus operandi at museums. At The Mütter, though, I looked at every single exhibit and read through every single information card. I was transfixed by each item on display. I honestly cannot more highly recommend a visit. Even the GC enjoyed himself and he had been so reluctant to go.

Bonus – The Mütter is also a filming location! The 2011 Quay Brothers documentary short Through the Weeping Glass: On the Consolations of Life Everlasting was not only shot on location at the museum, but details its many collections.

As I mentioned above, Anthony Bourdain shot an episode of The Layover at The Mütter, Season 2’s “Philadelphia,” which aired in 2012.

During his visit, Bourdain apparently declared The Mütter’s onsite gift shop “the best gift shop ever.” He’s not alone in that assertion. The store was named Best Museum Gift Shop by Philadelphia magazine in 2012. And I wholeheartedly agree. It’s like a Halloween wonderland! I purchased quite a few things there, including the coaster pictured below which is hands-down my favorite souvenir that I picked up while in town.

In the Season 1 episode of Ozzy and Jack’s World Detour titled “Iron Mountain Men,” which aired in 2016, Jack Osbourne took father Ozzy on a private, after-hours tour of The Mütter Museum as a surprise for the Prince of Darkness’ birthday.

While The Mütter also served as the inspiration for the American Morbidity Museum on American Horror Story: Freak Show, which aired in 2014, no filming actually took place there.

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 Mütter Museum of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia is located at 19 South 22nd Street in the city’s Rittenhouse-Fitler Historic District. You can visit the museum’s official website here. The property is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

February 17, 2011February 17, 2011

Los Angeles County Museum of Art from “My So-Called Life”

Since I spend the majority of my weekends dragging the Grim Cheaper out on various stalking adventures, this past Saturday, in honor of our first Valentine’s Day together as a married couple, I decided to create a scavenger hunt for him based on his many likes and hobbies. I do have to admit that while most of our destinations were places that I had little to no interest in visiting, the hunt was not entirely an un-selfish endeavor on my part. A few of our stops were, in fact, stalking locations – most notably the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, aka LACMA, which was featured in an episode of fave show My So-Called Life. As I mentioned a few weeks back, I just recently started re-watching My So-Called Life from the beginning and I became just a bit obsessed with tracking down the museum where Angela Chase (aka Claire Danes) and the gang go on a field trip in the episode titled “Why Jordan Can’t Read”. Because the series was filmed so prominently in the Pasadena area, I had a hunch that the museum used was the Huntington Library – a place where I just so happen to have a filming contact. So, I emailed a few screen captures from the episode over to Dinah, my contact, to see if she could confirm or deny my suspicion. As it turns out, though, my hunch was wrong – hey, it does happen! Winking smile – Huntington was not the museum which appeared in the episode. Thankfully though, Dinah knows her museums! She informed me that she was 99.9% certain that filming had taken place at LACMA. So, because the GC absolutely LOVES visiting museums, while I typically do not, I immediately added the place to his Valentine’s Day scavenger hunt and we headed out there this past Saturday morning. And, let me tell you, once he found out that we would spending the day at a museum, he could NOT have been more excited.

In the “Why Jordan Can’t Read” episode of My So-Called Life, Angela and her classmates, Jordan Catalano (aka Jared Leto), Rayanne Graff (aka A.J. Langer), Rickie Vasquez (aka Wilson Cruz), and Brian Krakow (aka Devon Gummersall), spend the morning on a field trip at a supposed Three Rivers, Pennsylvania-area museum, during which Jordan is nice to Angela, as she says, “like out of nowhere!”

Because the museum has been remodeled in recent years and various artworks relocated to different galleries, it was quite difficult to pinpoint the exact spot where filming had taken place. I had a few clues to help me out on my quest, though, most notably a set of numbers that was visible in the background of several scenes. As you can see in the above screen captures, those numbers were all in the 200 range.

Oddly enough, though, I could only find numbers like that in one area of the museum – on the third floor of the Hammer Building in the Art of the Ancient World section – yet those numbers were all in the 300 range, which left me completely puzzled. As fate would have it, though, I happened to run into an EXTREMELY helpful and EXTREMELY friendly museum docent who became determined to assist me with my quest. I had downloaded twenty or so screen captures from the “Why Jordan Can’t Read” episode onto the GC’s iPad – which he was gifted for Christmas from his boss and which is an absolutely AMAZING stalking tool – which I proceeded to show to my new friend. After seeing those 200 numbers, he informed me that the third level of the Hammer building was actually known as the second level back in the ‘90s when My So-Called Life was filmed, and had only be re-numbered in recent years during the remodel. Which meant that I was in the right spot! Yay!

By looking at the screen captures, the docent and I were able to determine that all of the filming of the episode had taken place on the now third floor (former second floor) of the museum’s Hammer Building in the Charles E. and Flora L. Thornton Gallery and a few of the smaller galleries which surround it.

As you can see in the above screen capture and photograph, the wainscoting on the gallery walls and the molding on the gallery entrances match up perfectly to what appeared onscreen.

Once I figured out that I was in the right place, I then proceeded to go on a scavenger hunt of my very own to track down a few of the specific works of art that had appeared in the episode. And, let me tell you, I had an absolute blast doing so! In fact, it was quite possibly the most fun that I have had at a museum in my entire life! A few of the works that I was able to locate include a Rembrandt portrait;

a painting titled “Portrait of Cardinal Roberto Ubaldino” by Guido Reni;

the sculptures that Angela, Jordan, and Brian looked at;

the portrait that Angela and Jordan were standing in front of when he invited her to watch his band, the Frozen Embryos, rehearse;

and the scary-looking sculpture that the camera panned in on towards the end of the museum scene.

I was most excited, though, to spot the statute where Jordan and Angela first started talking in the episode.

And I, of course, just had to re-create Jordan’s pensive stare after I found it, which the GC was NOT at all happy about. Winking smile The statue is currently displayed on a much shorter base than it was when My So-Called Life was filmed, which is why it appears to be so much lower to the ground in my photograph than it appeared onscreen.

Sadly, the sculpture room where Sharon Cherski (aka Devon Odessa) and her boyfriend Kyle Vinnovich (aka Johnny Green) spent the majority of the field trip has since been dismantled. Although I did manage to locate one of the sculptures which appeared in that scene.

Even sadder still was the fact that I could not for the life of me track down the display case where Rayanne inadvertently left Angela’s love letter to Jordan.

The very same area of LACMA also appears briefly in the 1991 comedy L.A. Story, in the scene in which Harris K. Telemacher (aka Steve Martin) roller-skates through a museum while his friend Ariel (aka Susan Forristal) video-tapes his exploits.

The “Portrait of Cardinal Roberto Ubaldino”, which appeared in My So-Called Life, was also featured in L.A. Story.

As was Jordan and Angela’s statue. Love it!

LACMA was also the site of the black-and-white ball, to which superstar Cher wore red, in 1992’s The Player.

In the Season 4 episode of Melrose Place titled “Drawing Henry”, Brooke Armstrong (aka Kristin Davis) and Jack Parezi (aka Antonio Sabato Jr.) meet up at LACMA to discuss their burgeoning affair and wind up being spotted by Billy Campbell (aka Andrew Shue).

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Located in front of LACMA’s main entrance is the famous Urban Light display, which I blogged about back in April of last year after its appearance in a Vanity Fair photo shoot featuring the male members of the cast of Glee. That very same light instillation was also used in the recently-released No Strings Attached, in the scene in which Adam (aka Ashton Kutcher) takes Emma (aka Natalie Portman) out on a Valentine’s Day date. LACMA was also featured in Breaking All The Rules, Strong Medicine, Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles, Born Yesterday, The Rockford Files, From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and Now You See It, Now You Don’t.

LACMA also has a few celebrity connections, as well. There is a statue titled “Michael Jackson and Bubbles”, which was designed by artist Jeff Koons in 1988, on display in the Broad Contemporary Art Museum building.

I so love that Mr. Koons captured MJ’s ever-present loafer-and-white-sock-combination so perfectly!

And there is also a Tiffany lamp from Barbra Streisand’s personal collection on display in the Ahmanson Building.

Also in the Ahmanson Building is an extremely ornate rosewood mirror which boasts an intriguing history. The massive mirror, which was designed by New York’s Herter Brothers interior design firm in 1873, originally belonged to Milton Slocum Latham, a former U.S. senator and governor of California, and was on display in his 50-room Menlo Park mansion, Thurlow Lodge. Slocum went bankrupt shortly after construction on his mansion was completed and then passed away in 1882. His former home was demolished in 1942 and the mirror was subsequently transferred to none other than the prop department of a Hollywood movie studio – although I am unsure of which one – where it remained until 1991, at which time it became the property of LACMA. So incredibly interesting! I am going to have to keep my eyes peeled from now on to see if that mirror pops up in any movies that were made between 1942 and 1991!

For those fellow stalkers who are also interested in seeing works of art as well as filming locations Winking smile , the museum features some amazing pieces, including paintings by both Monet and Picasso.

There is also a great view of the Hollywood sign which can be seen from the top of the Broad Contemporary Art Museum building.

Big THANK YOU to Dinah, from the Huntington Library, for finding this location for me! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, from My So-Called Life and L.A. Story, is located at 5905 Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. You can visit the museum’s official website here. Both My So-Called Life and L.A. Story were filmed in the museum’s Art of the Ancient World section, which can be found on the third floor of the Hammer Building, in the Charles E. and Flora L. Thornton Gallery. The works of art that appeared in MSCL are spread out among the different galleries located on the third floor of the Hammer Building.

August 9, 2010August 7, 2010

The Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco

Last Sunday morning, after checking out of the spectacular San Francisco loft where my bachelorette party was held, my friend Nat and I headed over to the historic former Presidio Army Base to stalk the recently-opened Walt Disney Family Museum. Knowing what a Disney freak I am, Nat figured that the museum would be right up my alley, which it, of course, was! The Walt Disney Family Museum, which was founded by Walt’s heirs through the Walt Disney Family Foundation, first opened a little under two years ago on October 1, 2009. After the Presidio Army Base closed down in 1989 and the property was taken over by the US National Parks Service five years later, the Walt Disney Foundation set about renovating three of the former bases’ main buildings to house their new museum. And while it might seem a bit random to open a gallery about the world’s most famous animator on a former Army Base, I must say that the place’s setting is nothing short of spectacular!

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As you can see in the above-pictured photographs, the museum boasts absolutely gorgeous – albeit majorly fog-filled – views of the Golden Gate Bridge. Amazingly enough, I had never actually heard of the museum before this past weekend and was shocked to discover that the legendary imagineer had a museum dedicated to him in the City by the Bay, because, as far as I knew, he had no connection to the area. As it turns out, though, Walt’s eldest daughter Diane Marie Disney, moved to Northern California in the early 1970’s and still lives there to this day. Because the museum focuses on the history of Walt’s life and career and boasts a massive collection of memorabilia from both, it makes sense that it would be opened in the city where his closest living heir now lives. And once you see the museum’s breathtaking surroundings, it makes sense why Dianne chose to honor her father there.

The Walt Disney Family Museum consists of ten permanent galleries, each of which focuses on a different aspect of the icon’s life, including his early years, his arrival in Hollywood, his animation, the historical 1937 production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, his marriage to Lillian Disney, and, of course, the creation of Disneyland. Sadly, though, no photographs of any kind were allowed in any of the galleries. Pictures were allowed in the museum’s lobby area, though, and, amazingly enough, Walt’s Academy Award collection was displayed there, so I did get to snap some photographs of that. As it turns out, Walt Disney has the distinction of holding the record for most Academy Award nominations received by a single person in the history of the Academy – he was nominated a whopping 59 times! He won 26 of those nominations, including an honorary Oscar in 1939 for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first full-length animated feature film. The award, whose inscription reads, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, recognized as a significant screen innovation which has charmed millions and pioneered a great new entertainment field”, is the only Academy Award of its kind and befittingly features one large Oscar statuette flanked by seven miniature ones.

I cannot tell you how absolutely floored I was to be seeing that Oscar, which was presented to Walt at the 11th Annual Academy Awards Ceremony by a then-six-year-old Shirley Temple, in person. I had first read about the one-of-a-kind award many, many years back and had thought it was just about the coolest thing ever! So, when I read in the museum’s brochure that some of Walt’s Oscars were on display in the main lobby, my mind immediately flashed to that Snow White award, but, because it is so valuable, never in my wildest dreams did I think it would actually be there. So, as you can imagine, I just about died upon seeing it! So darn cool!

Also on display in the museum’s main lobby is a furniture set that used to be housed inside of the Disney Family Apartment, which is located inside of the original Disneyland theme park, above the Disney Fire House on Main Street U.S.A. I had never actually heard about the private apartment until fellow stalker Kerry pointed it out to me last summer after the two of us had eaten at Club 33. According to Kerry, whenever Walt stayed at the apartment, the lamp in the main window was lit to alert Disney Cast Members of his presence. Following his death on December 15, 1966, the lamp was turned on and has been left permanently lit ever since. The Walt Disney Family Museum also boasts an absolutely GINORMOUS 3-D diorama of the “Disneyland of Walt’s imagination” in one of its galleries and if you look at it closely you can see an apartment located above the Disney Fire House – and there is, of course, a lamp flickering inside of the window. So darn cool! You can read more about the Disney Family Apartment and see photographs of the inside of it here.

The Walt Disney Family Museum is an absolutely fascinating place and I honestly can’t recommend stalking it enough. It was such a treat to learn about the life and times of the man who created one of my favorite places in the entire world. Walt truly was a fascinating person and I was amazed to discover how little I knew about him before visiting the museum. More than just an innovator and an animator, Walt was a family man who loved his wife and children above all else. It was absolutely heartwarming to learn about the incredible love that he had for them. I also highly recommend stalking the museum’s gift store as they have some FABULOUS items in there!

Big THANK YOU to Nat for taking me stalk this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Walt Disney Family Museum is located at 104 Montgomery Street, on the former Presidio Army Base, in San Francisco. You can visit the museum’s official website here. The museum is closed on Tuesdays and all major holidays. Tickets for adults are $20, seniors and students are $15, children ages 6-17 are $12.50, and children ages 6 and under are free.

July 30, 2009November 27, 2011

Madame Tussauds Hollywood

This past weekend, while out stalking in Hollywood, my fiance and I walked right past the new Madame Tussauds wax museum and I just about had a total meltdown right there on the sidewalk of Hollywood Boulevard! The museum, which was supposed to open to the public on August 1st, was hosting a special preview event when we walked by and was absolutely booming with people! I’d been awaiting the unveiling of the new Madame Tussauds location ever since hearing the news months ago that one was being built in Hollywood!!! I had never been to a Madame Tussauds before, but had heard amazing things about the place and was absolutely DYING to visit one. So, I, of course, BEGGED my fiance to let me stalk it!

Well, as you can probably guess, the Grim Cheaper wasn’t too keen on shelling out the $20-a-piece special preview admission fee to gain entrance to the museum, but I took one look at the Marilyn Monroe figure they had posed outside – dressed in the EXACT same outfit she wore to her Hand and Footprint Ceremony back in 1953, no less – and that was it!! I was NOT taking no for an answer! We were GOING to Madame Tussauds!!!! 🙂

As Madame Tussauds themselves are quick to point out, the facility is not so much a museum per se, but, rather, an attraction. At a museum, visitors walk around simply looking at different items. Touching those items is usually a rather big no-no. At Madame Tussauds, however, not only are you encouraged to touch and feel the figurines, but the place is set up so that you can actually interact with them, as well!!!! In the American Idol room, not only can you sing a karaoke song and get judged by Simon Cowell himself, but you can actually sit in the judges booth . . . .

. . . or get interviewed post-song by none other than Ryan Seacrest. 🙂

You can also share a breakfast at Tiffany’s with Audrey Hepburn;

take a Psycho-style shower with Alfred Hitchcock directing,

seduce Dustin Hoffman;

have a red carpet interview with Joan Rivers;

re-enact a scene from The Godfather;

strike a pose with Marlene Dietrich,

and sit on Forrest Gump’s bench! Oh, and did I mention that Madame Tussauds also has a myriad of wigs, costumes, and props on hand to enhance your whole experience???

The vast majority of the figures on display in Madame Tussauds’ new 40,000 square foot, $55 million “attraction” are incredibly realistic looking! So realistic looking, in fact, that my fiance was even slightly creeped out by the whole thing! Each figure takes about six months to contruct at a cost of approximately $300,000. Madame Tussaud founded her unique wax sculpting technique over 200 years ago in London. She got her start by sculpting political figures of the day and taking them on the road as part of a traveling attraction. Her first standing museum was established in 1835 at the Baker Street Bazaar, where curiosity seekers paid a sixpence to see figures such as Benjamin Franklin, Sir Walter Scott, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Today there are nine different Madame Tussauds (spelled without an apostrophe) locations stretching all across the globe, from places like Berlin and Shanghai to New York and Las Vegas. The celebrities themselves pose for Madame Tussauds’ artisans, in a detailed photography and measurement sitting which can take anywhere from fifteen minutes to four hours. Most sittings are done at Merlin Studios in London, but due to the demanding schedules of some of the featured celebrities, artisans have had to take measurements and fittings as far East as Mumbai, India to the Ivy Restaurant in Hollywood. I’m not kidding! Madame Tussauds’ artists use hundreds of measurements and photographs and go to painstaking lengths to ensure that the height, proportion, look, feel, and spirit of each figure is exactly precise. Oftentimes the celebrity will donate their own clothing, jewelry, and even shoes for their counterpart to wear. For those few times when a celebrity does not donate their own outift, exacting replicas are made. So, pretty much every single aspect of every single wax figure displayed at Madame Tussauds is authentic! So cool! You can read more about Madame Tussauds incredible waxing technique here.

My personal favorite figurine of the entire attraction was, of course, my girl Jen, who sadly was one of the least realistic-looking. 🙁

By far, the most realistic looking figurine was that of Miss Britney Spears. Hers was truly unbelievable! I couldn’t take my eyes off of it!

And I was AMAZED at the height of both John Wayne and Clint Eastwood. To give you a frame of reference, I am 5’4″”, which makes these two absolutely GINORMOUS!

Other stars on hand at the attraction include Cameron Diaz,

Carrie Underwood,

Justin Timberlake,

Eddie Murphy,

Robert Redford and Paul Newman,

George Burns and Bob Hope,

Jim Carrey,

Sarah Michelle Geller,

Steven Spielberg – also one of the most realistic looking,

James Dean,

George Clooney,

Zac Efron,

and the subject of my girlhood crush, Leo DiCaprio – sigh!,

who was far too tall for me to kiss! LOL

Ostensibly missing from the attraction was a figurine of the King of Pop, which I found especially odd since I knew he had posed for one in the past as I saw a replica of it on display when I visited the Michael Jackson Exhibit by Julien’s Auctions this past April. When I asked one of the workers about it, she said that because of his recent passing, Madame Tussands is currently in the process of sculpting a brand new tribute statue. 🙂 Thankfully, though, his hand cast – along with those of several other celebrities – was on hand for all of his fans to appreciate.

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Needless to say, I had an absolute BLAST at Madame Tussauds!! I loved every single minute of it! It was just SO MUCH FUN! I’m even pretty sure that my fiance, who could care less about anything having to do with Hollywood, had a good time. 🙂 I really can’t recommend stalking Madame Tussauds enough!!!!! The attraction also features a sports section – which I, of course, zipped right through without a second glance LOL – for those who aren’t into the whole Hollywood thing. 🙂 Oh, and please accept my apologies for being in pretty much EVERY SINGLE picture featured on this post, but I just couldn’t help myself!!!!! I was like a kid in a candy store and just HAD to pose with ALL of the figures! 🙂

Oh, and there was also a certain celebrity couple on hand that I just had to give a piece of my mind to! 🙂 Felt SO good! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Madame Tussauds is located at 6933 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, right next door to Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. Madame Tussauds is open daily from 10am to 8pm. During the summer months, they remain open until 10pm. Tickets are $25 per adult, $18 per student aged 13 to 18, $15 per child between the ages of 7 and 12, and children under the age of 7 are free. You can visit their website here.