Tag: famous places

The Rocks from Jennifer Aniston’s Perfume Ad

This past April, the ad campaign for my girl Jen’s newly-released fragrance, which is named “Jennifer Aniston”, was revealed. The ads showed the actress, wrapped solely in a towel, sitting on a very rocky beach somewhere in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Well, let me tell you, once I saw those photographs, I became extremely hell-bent on finding the exact spot where they had been taken, especially since around that very same time my fiancé and I had just not-so-coincidentally finalized our Cabo San Lucas honeymoon plans. I say “not-so-coincidentally” because the only reason we even looked at honeymooning in Cabo in the first place was because of how often Jen vacations there. My now-husband originally wanted to spend the honeymoon in Hawaii, but I am EXTREMELY afraid to fly and suffer from terrible anxiety days, and sometimes weeks, before venturing on a long flight. I really didn’t want to be nervous or stressed about flying the day of my wedding, so I suggested we travel instead to a place a little closer to home. I started looking at Cabo, mostly because it is Jen’s favorite getaway spot, and when I discovered that it was a short one-hour-and-fifty minute plane ride from LAX I was sold! And then when the Grim Cheaper found out that we could book round-trip airfare to the Mexican city for a scant $150 each, it was pretty much “Cabo, here we come!” So, a few weeks later when fellow stalker Owen sent me Jen’s new perfume ad, I just about fell over. I mean, could it have been any more perfect? Here I was about to head to the very city where the photographs had just been taken! Yay!

I half-jokingly asked Owen if he could track down the rocks for me prior to our trip, and even though I figured it would pretty much be like trying to find a needle in a haystack, about an hour later there was an email from him in my inbox along with a six-page attachment. The email stated, “It’s pretty much impossible to find a couple of rocks without being there in Cabo, but I think I’ve got a good idea where you should look.” Amazingly enough, even though Owen was not familiar with the area, he had figured out that the rock formation which can be seen in the distance behind Jen was the famous Land’s End (pictured above), which is located at the very southern tip of the Baja peninsula. He also figured out that Jen’s head was blocking the three mountainous formations which can be seen at the far left of the above image. Sure enough, when I looked at the above photograph compared with Jen’s advertisement, the two backgrounds matched perfectly. From there, Owen scanned through aerial views of Cabo San Lucas to determine the exact location where Jen was sitting in the photograph. His best guess was that the rocks were located somewhere on the far east end of Medano Beach, between Riu Palace and Missiones Del Cabo. The six-page attachment he had included with his email provided detailed photographs, maps, and aerial views of the Cabo area, and, let me tell you, I printed that thing out and carried it with me EVERYWHERE I went in Mexico so that I could ask anyone and everyone who would talk to me where those rocks were located.

One of the very first people I asked was our airport shuttle driver, whom we met immediately upon landing at Los Cabos International Airport. The driver took one look at Jen’s picture and told us that it had been taken at the beach at Esperanza Resort, which I blogged about on Friday. Turns out our shuttle driver used to be a paparazzi and not only recognized the beach from the many times he had gone there to photograph celebrities, but also informed us that Jen had stayed at the hotel countless times over the years, so it was a place she would have been familiar with. He also pointed out that the structure visible in the background of the right-hand side of the picture (denoted with a blue arrow above) was the Sunset Da Mona Lisa Restaurant – a very popular Cabo San Lucas dining spot. Even though the shuttle driver seemed to really know what he was talking about, I continued showing Jen’s picture to everyone I encountered on the trip to see if they might know for sure where it had been taken. And it was mind-boggling how many different answers I received! One bartender I spoke with even went so far as to hypothesize that the photograph had been taken at Chileno Beach and that the Land’s End rock formation had been digitally added to the background of the picture while it was being edited – which I guess is possible, but not very likely. The answer we heard most often, though, was that the picture had been taken at the Esperanza Resort beach – which is pretty much the exact spot where Owen had originally told me to look. So, one day the Grim Cheaper and I rented a car and headed north to try to find Jen’s rocks.

And, let me tell you, it was quite the stalk! Definitely different than any of the other stalks I’ve experienced in my lifetime. Esperanza’s beach is extremely rocky, and when I say rocky, I mean ROCKY. The GC and I had to traipse over three, four, and five-foot tall boulders while making our way north. It was more of a mountain climb than anything else, actually. Oh, and did I mention that it was about 110 degrees at the time? I can only imagine what the people who saw us during our hike were thinking. Probably something along the lines of “Stupid-*ss gringos!” 😉 The GC and I walked about a kilometer north of the resort, which took us around ninety minutes, and examined every square inch of the beach. Finding Jen’s exact rocks proved to be rather difficult, though, as we had arrived at the Esperanza in the late afternoon during high-tide and I am almost certain that Jen was photographed in the early morning hours when the tide was much, much lower. Adding to the difficulty was the fact that Jen’s photograph had been taken with a wide-angle lens, which distorted the background of the image.

What we finally determined, without being able to find the actual rocks, was that Jen was photographed about five hundred feet north of Esperanza Resort. As you can see in the above photograph as compared with Jen’s advertisement, while it’s not the exact spot where Jen sat, I think we got pretty darn close. I am fairly certain that Jen’s photo was taken on the same rock formation where I am sitting in the above picture, but a bit farther out towards the sea. Because the tide was high while we were there, though, we unfortunately couldn’t venture out any farther into the water.

As you can see above, numerous photographs were taken for the Jennifer Aniston Perfume advertising campaign. My favorite, though, was definitely the one featuring Land’s End in the background. But truth be told, she looks amazing in all of them! Can you even imagine being 41 years old and having a body like that? Who am I kidding – can you even imagine being 21 years old and having a body like that??? Sigh! The photographs were all shot by renowned Italian photographer Mario Sorrenti and I honestly think that they are some of the best photos that Jen has ever taken.

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The perfume, which was originally called Lolavie (which some have reported as being a rough French translation for “laughing at life”), took 18 months to create and the actress made herself a part of every minute detail of the development process. Of the creation, Jen said, “It wasn’t just about showing up for a shoot and putting my name on the bottle. I felt like a little chemist. It’s turned out to be an extension of myself as opposed to slapping my name on something.” The perfume is supposed to smell clean and beachy, but unfortunately, because, it is only available at Harrods Department Store in London (and for whatever reason it cannot be shipped outside of the UK), I have yet to be able to catch a sniff of it. 🙁 But thankfully, my good friend and fellow stalker Kerry has a daughter, Jen, who has a friend who lives in London who is going to purchase a bottle for me and bring it with her to the states when she comes to visit next month. And, let me tell you, I cannot wait to get my hands on it! Of the scent, Jen said, “I am not a big perfume-y fragrance fan. I want people to go ‘What is that? You smell great!’” I have never been a perfume-fragrance fan, either, but if I did wear a scent, that is EXACTLY what I would want people to say about it, so I have a feeling I am going to LOVE Jen’s perfume. 🙂

Jen was recently on fave show Chelsea Lately where she spoke about her perfume, of which Chelsea said, “Oh, that smells EXACTLY like I think you would smell!” LOVE IT! LOVE IT! LOVE IT! And being that I would like nothing more than to smell like Jen, I am pretty sure Jennifer Aniston is going to become my signature scent. 😉 You can watch a clip of Jen’s Chelsea Lately appearance by clicking above.

Big THANK YOU to Owen for finding this location! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: I am fairly certain that the rocks from Jennifer Aniston’s perfume advertisements are located about 500 feet north of the Esperanza Resort, which is located at Carretera Transpeninsular KM 7 in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. I would recommend parking your car at the Esperanza and using their beach access. From there, walk due north to the rock formation denoted with the pink arrow above. Be forewarned, though, the beach north of the Esperanza is extremely rocky and makes for quite a precarious walk. Be extremely cautious and wear shoes with good tread. I’d also recommend stalking the beach early in the morning, during low tide.

September 9, 2010
The “Thirteen Days” House

While I mentioned last week that today’s blog would be most likely be about the Cabo San Lucas rocks where Jennifer Aniston posed for her recent Jennifer Aniston Perfume advertisement, I’ve actually decided to postpone that post until a later date and instead write about a location that can be found right here in Los Angeles – the supposed Washington, DC-area home where top presidential aide Kenny O’Donnell (aka Kevin Costner) lived with his family in the 2000 movie Thirteen Days. I found this location thanks to my one of my mom’s co-workers, Teresa, who attended last year’s Alhambra Historic Home tour, which is put on annually by the Alhambra Preservation Group. One of the stops on the tour just so happened to be the residence located at 504 North Almansor Street, and when the tour guide mentioned the property’s cinematic history, Teresa wrote down the address so that my mom could pass it along to me. The place has been on my ever-growing To-Stalk list ever since. So, when Mike, from MovieShotsLA, mentioned that he wanted to do some stalking in the Pasadena-area this past Tuesday, I told him that we first had to head over to Alhambra so that I could finally stalk the Thirteen Days house.

The Thirteen Days house was originally built in 1924 and boasts 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, and 3,383 square feet of living space. Because of its distinct “All-American” feel, it’s not very hard to see why producers chose to use it as the Washington D.C.-area residence of one of John F. Kennedy’s top-ranking aides.

Even though Thirteen Days was set in 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, not much of the residence was changed for the filming. In fact, it looks pretty much exactly the same in person as it did in the flick. Love it! 🙂

And, as you can see in the above photographs, which I got off of the home’s real estate website, the real life interior of the residence, right down to the window curtains hanging in the kitchen, were also used in the flick. So darn cool!

And, as you can see in the above photograph of the real life bedroom which stood in for the Connelly’s master bedroom in the flick, the owners even have a Thirteen Days poster out on prominent display. Love it!

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The very same residence also appeared in the 2006 made-for-television movie Though None Go With Me, where it was used as Will Bishop’s (aka David Norona’s) home.

Ironically enough, the Thirteen Days house is located right next door to the residence where Percy Jones (aka Bernie Mac) and his family lived in Guess Who, which just so happens to be the very same residence where the backyard scenes from both Father of the Bride movies were also filmed. So darn cool!

Big THANK YOU to Teresa for finding this location for me!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Thirteen Days house is located at 504 North Almansor Street in Alhambra, directly next door to the Guess Who/Father of the Bride house, which is located at 500 North Almansor.

September 8, 2010
Esperanza Resort

Another celebrity hot spot that my husband and I stalked while honeymooning in Cabo San Lucas last week was the world-famous Esperanza Resort hotel – a place my girl Jen A. has checked into frequently over the years. The 17-acre property, which is a member of the Leading Hotels of the World, is consistently referred to as Cabo’s most luxurious and exclusive resort. The hotel is made up of only 57 rooms – fifty individual casitas and seven over-sized suites – so it truly offers its guests, many of whom are movie stars, the ultimate in privacy – and service. Just a few of the amenities offered at the resort include a private beach, an award-winning spa with steam caves and waterfalls, an infinity pool overlooking the ocean, a yoga and Pilates studio where the classes are free, an art gallery, loaner iPods, and coconut-milk popsicles which are doled out regularly to those guests lying poolside. Needless to say, the hotel, which is part of the exclusive Auberge Resort chain, has won countless awards over the years, including three of Travel + Leisure Magazine’s 2010 “World’s Best Awards” – #1 Resort, #1 Spa, and #1 Service for their Best in Mexico section. It truly is a remarkable and absolutely beautiful place!

I absolutely fell in love with Esperanza’s The Signature Restaurant, which is pictured above. The restaurant is composed of three different levels of terraces, all of which overlook both the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortez, and is breathtakingly beautiful. I SO wanted to grab dinner there during our stay in Cabo, but the Grim Cheaper was having none of that. 🙁

Esperanza’s extensive celebrity guest list reads like a Who’s Who of Hollywood. Just a few of the stars who have been spotted there include Fergie and Josh Duhamel (the Esperanza was where the famous 2008 picture of Josh D. painting on the beach was taken), Chelsea Handler, Debra Messing, Courteney Cox and David Arquette, Sheryl Crow, Ashley Simpson and Pete Wentz, Jennie Garth, Usher, Owen Wilson, and Will and Jada Pinkett Smith. In 2003, Elizabeth Berkley married Ralph Lauren’s nephew, Greg, at the Esperanza. That same year Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin honeymooned there, as did Katherine Heigl and Josh Kelley in 2007. And according to this Forbes.com article, the Esperanza gifted a free weekend stay to all of the 2002 Academy Award winners.

And as proof that visiting the hotel almost guarantees one a celeb sighting, while we were there my husband and I spotted LeAnn Rimes and Eddie Cibrian, who were in town to celebrate LeAnn’s 28th birthday. To clarify, I should say that I actually spotted the two stars – the Grim Cheaper was absolutely clueless. He had gone to the restroom immediately upon our arrival at the hotel, while I grabbed a seat in the resort’s outdoor lounge. Shortly after I sat down, who should walk into the bar area but LeAnn Rimes followed by Eddie C. I recognized the two of them immediately and just about had a heart attack I was so excited! When the GC returned from the restroom, he told me that he wanted to head down to the beach right away to search for the rocks where Jennifer Aniston recently posed for the ad for her newly released perfume (the rocks were our sole reason for visiting the Esperanza and I will be blogging about them on Monday) and grab a drink afterwards. I started making faces at him to alert him to the fact that we were in the presence of celebrities, but he remained clueless. I finally grabbed some paper out of my purse and wrote the above-pictured note. GC took one look at the note, glanced over towards LeAnn, and then said, “Oh OK. Well, come on, let’s go down to the beach.” LOL Needless to say he was not at all impressed. We stayed at the bar for a few more minutes while I debated about going up to LeAnn and Eddie to ask for a photograph, but I ultimately decided against it. They were on vacation at an ultra-exclusive and ultra-private resort and I felt that it would be inappropriate to bother them. And I was happy enough just to have seen them in person, anyway. 🙂 When we returned from the beach about an hour and a half later, we again spotted LeAnn and Eddie swimming and eating nachos at the resort’s pool. And I have to say that while I’ve never thought LeAnn was especially attractive in photographs, she is absolutely GORGEOUS in person. I’d even go so far as to say that she was luminous. Needless to say, seeing her was one of the highlights of my honeymoon. 🙂

And, of course, the Esperanza is also a filming location! The hotel stood in for the Cabo San Lucas resort where Eddie (aka Ben Stiller) and Lila (aka Malin Ackerman) honeymooned in the 2007 movie The Heartbreak Kid.

On a side note, one of my former acting teachers, Roy Jenkins (pictured above), played the role of Buzz in The Heartbreak Kid. So darn cool!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Esperanza: An Auberge Resort is located at Carretera Transpeninsular KM 7 in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. You can visit the hotel’s official website here.

September 3, 2010
The One&Only Palmilla Resort

The Grim Cheaper and I just returned from our Cabo San Lucas honeymoon this past Tuesday evening and, let me tell you, we couldn’t have been sadder to say good-bye to the place! We had an amazing time in Mexico – relaxing, swimming, sunbathing, and, of course, stalking. And while I have plans to publish a whole slew of posts about our recent wedding day, which of course incorporated some stalking and celebrity elements, I am currently waiting on the official pictures from our photographer, so I am going to have to put those columns on the back burner for now. In the meantime, though, I thought I’d write about one of the locations I stalked while in Cabo San Lucas last week – the One&Only Palmilla Resort, which just so happens to be my girl Jennifer Aniston’s very favorite vacation spot.

The One&Only Palmilla, which is Cabo San Lucas’ oldest resort, was first built in 1956 by Don Abelardo Rodriguez, the son of then-Mexican president Abelardo Luis Rodriguez, and at the time was named simply the Palmilla Hotel. The property originally boasted a scant 15 rooms and was so exclusive that it was only accessible via boat or private plane. The completion of the Mexican Federal Highway in 1973 allowed easier access to the property, which only helped it to grow in popularity. In 1984 the hotel expanded to include 50 rooms, ten years later it added the Jack Nicklaus-designed Palmilla Golf Club, and in 1996 the number of rooms expanded once again to 115. In 2002, the resort shuttered its doors to begin a massive $90 million renovation and expansion project. It re-opened as the One&Only Palmilla Resort in February of 2004 and remains one of the city’s most sought after destinations. The hotel is world-renowned for its service, which includes 24-hour personalized butler service for each guest, fresh fruit delivered daily to each room, twice daily maid service, and aromatherapy turndown service each night.

One&Only Palmilla has won such a staggering number of awards over the past six years that it would be virtually impossible to list them all here. A few of them include: “The Gold List” in January 2010 from Conde Nast Traveler, “World’s Best Hotels” in January 2010 from Travel + Leisure Magazine, and “Best Butler Service in Mexico” in July/August 2010 from Bridal Guide. The place truly is one of a kind. As you can see in the above photographs, there are little hidden hammock alcoves which can be found throughout the Palmilla’s extensive property. Next to the hammock is a sign which informs guests that if they require assistance, such as beverage service or an iPod pre-programmed with relaxation music, they only need push the little button located next to the hammock. Sigh! Now that’s what I call the life! Because of its luxuriousness and exclusivity, the hotel has long been a celebrity magnet. Just a few of the stars who have checked in there over the years include Desi Arnaz, Lucille Ball, Bing Crosby, John Wayne, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Mario Lopez, Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher, Celine Dion, Mandy Moore, Richard Gere, John Travolta, Dustin Hoffman, and Eva Longoria. Giants quarterback Eli Manning tied the knot there in April of 2008, as did Oliver Hudson (Kate Hudson’s brother) in June of 2006. Kevin Jonas honeymooned there with his new wife Danielle Deleasa in December of 2009 and Christina Aguilera threw her bachelorette party there in 2005. And, as I mentioned above, Jennifer Aniston is a frequent guest. The actress loves the hotel so much, in fact, that she visits it several times a year.

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Palmilla One&Only is an absolutely BEAUTIFUL place and it’s not at all hard to see why Jen loves to vacation there. The property is closed to the public, however, and you must have a lunch or dinner reservation to be allowed past the front gates. I wasn’t aware of that little caveat at the time, though, so when we showed up to stalk the place we were almost turned away. The guard at the guard shack was incredibly nice, though – as were ALL of the One&Only employees – and he asked us to wait a moment while he called one of the hotel’s restaurants to see if we could be seated immediately. Thankfully, Breeze, the One&Only’s outdoor lounge, had room and we were able to dine there. And, let me tell you, the food was ABSOLUTELY incredible! Like honestly, some of the best food I’ve ever had in my life. I, of course, ordered a glass of champagne while there (hey, I was on my honeymoon!) and when the waiter arrived with a bottle of Veuve Clicquot to pour, I thought the Grim Cheaper was going to have a heart attack! After the waiter left, GC tuned to me and said, “From now on, honey, please ask for the house ‘sparking wine’ instead of the ‘champagne’.” LOL Being that Veuve is my favorite, though, I wasn’t complaining. 😉

The hotel is also, of course, a filming location. Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt held their Mexican wedding ceremony at the resort’s 50-year old chapel in November of 2008. The event was covered exclusively by US Weekly Magazine, but unfortunately I could only find the above-pictured photograph of it online.

And, for whatever reason, The Hills’s cameras failed to record the ceremony. The only part of the wedding ever shown on the series was in the Season 4 episode titled “Mr. and Mrs. Pratt”, in which Spencer and Heidi are shown watching a brief clip of their nuptials taken on a hand-held camera.

The Palmilla’s tiny chapel, which was originally built in 1956, is absolutely adorable in person and plays host to numerous wedding ceremonies each year.

The hotel was also used extensively in the Season 5 episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 titled “Hazardous to your Health”, where it stood in for the Punta Brava-area resort where Dylan McKay (aka Luke Perry) and Valerie Malone (aka Tiffany-Amber-Thiessen) set up a sting to win back Dylan’s stolen fortune.

Due to the recent renovation, though, the hotel looks a bit different now than it did back in 1995 when 90210 was filmed. Guests no longer drive up to the same entrance used by Dylan and Valerie – that area is still there, but it is now a walkway.

And while the shape of the pool is still the same, the area around it has been altered slightly. As you can see in the above photographs, there is now a restaurant located off to the left hand side of the pool and a large “palapa” (the Spanish word for a thatched umbrella) which covers an outdoor bar has also been installed. Thankfully, though, the hotel is still very recognizable from 90210. The real life Los Cabos International Airport was also featured extensively in that episode, but unfortunately I did not take any photographs of it while I was there.

On a side note – Everyone from fellow stalkers to my mom to a high school friend who I haven’t spoken to in over a decade has contacted me today to alert me to the fact that the date is 9-02-10! Yes, it’s officially 90210 day! How I didn’t realize this before is beyond me. I mean, it should be a national holiday or something! When I told my husband (that is SO weird to say!) the significance of today’s date he asked me if Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I were going to hold a seance or something. And then he begged me not to make a pilgrimage to the 90210 house, as Jack, the owner, “already thinks you’re weird enough!” LOL Anyway, just wanted to wish all of my fellow stalkers a VERY HAPPY 90210 day!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The One&Only Palmilla Resort is located at Km 7.5 Carretera Transpeninsular in San Jose Del Cabo, Mexico. The hotel is private and not open to the public, but if you book a reservation for lunch or dinner at one of the property’s three exceptional restaurants you will be granted access. You can visit the hotel’s official website here. Jennifer Aniston rented the One&Only Palmilla’s private, 8,500 square foot Villa Cortez beach house for her recent 41st birthday party this past February. The One&Only chapel, where Spencer and Heidi tied the knot, is located up the steps which lead away from the hotel’s main entrance.

September 2, 2010
Seattle’s Fairmont Olympic Hotel

Another location that I stalked back in May while visiting the Pacific Northwest was the famous Fairmont Olympic Hotel located in Downtown Seattle. The Olympic is a landmark Seattle building that has appeared in countless productions over the years and has played host to dozens of celebrities in its almost ninety-year history, so there was no way I was going to miss stalking it while visiting the area! The hotel, which first opened on December 6, 1924, was built on the former site of the University of Washington on an area of land known as the “Metropolitan Tract”. The Tract, which encompasses four square blocks, was donated to the University in 1861 by Arthur Denny, one of Seattle’s original founders, and is still owned by the school to this day. In the early 1920s, following the end of World War I, the Seattle Chamber of Commerce put together a committee dedicated to developing a luxury hotel in the downtown area. It was quickly decided that the hotel would be built on the former University of Washington site, which at the time was being leased out by the Metropolitan Building Company. After several battles with the Regents, construction of the hotel, which was made possible through a public bond drive, finally began on April 1, 1923.   Architectural firms George B. Post & Sons and Bebb & Gould were chosen to design the property, and construction, the cost of which totaled around $5.5 million, was completed in November of 1924. Amazingly enough, the property still looks very much the same today as it did when it first opened its doors over eight decades ago!

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The Olympic Hotel was constructed using only the finest materials including American Oak, granite, terra cotta, and Belgian marble. The room furnishings alone cost over $800,000 – and we’re talking 1920’s money! The hotel became an immediate success and despite suffering some economic loss during the Great Depression remains one of Seattle’s finest hotels to this day and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. That same year, management of the Olympic was taken over by the Four Seasons Group, who immediately commandeered a $60 million restoration of the property during which the number of guest rooms was actually reduced, in order to make suites larger and more comfortable. The hotel re-opened as the Four Seasons Olympic in 1981. In 2003, management of the property once again changed hands, this time with the Fairmont Hotels and Resorts group taking over, after which point the hotel became known as the Fairmont Olympic. And, as you can see in the above photographs, the property is absolutely breathtaking inside!

I honestly cannot recommend stalking the Olympic enough – not only is it beautiful, but the staff truly could NOT have been nicer! The concierge on duty spent about ten minutes speaking with me about the filming that has taken place on the premises over the years and even gifted me with this awesome Reel Life in Seattle film locations map. So darn cool!



And, in a lucky twist of fate, the property’s famed Spanish Ballroom happened to be unlocked while we were stalking the Olympic, so we got to go inside and take a quick peek at it.

The Fairmont Olympic Hotel has long played host to the rich and famous, including foreign dignitaries, presidents, and celebrities. A few who have stayed there over the years include Herbert Hoover, John F. Kennedy, Jimmy Hoffa, Elvis Presley, Joan Crawford, John Glenn, Bing Crosby, John Wayne, and Bob Hope. Most recently, Twilight actor Jackson Rathbone checked in to do some publicity for his new movie The Last Airbender.

And, as I mentioned above, the Olympic is also a filming location! In the 1994 thriller Disclosure, Tom Sanders (aka Michael Douglas) goes to the Fairmont to break into the room where his co-worker John Conley Jr. is staying in order to gain access to the “Arcamax” – a cutting-edge, digital reality machine.

According to the concierge that we spoke with, the hotel, which was then operated by the Four Seasons, was still using actual keys at the time and not key cards as was portrayed in the movie. For the scene in which John was shown fiddling with his key card, producers had to bring in a fake card reader to attach to one of the hotel’s real life doors. So cool!



In the 1987 thriller House of Games, con-man Mike (aka Joe Mantegna) and psychologist Margaret Ford (aka Lindsay Crouse) sneak into Room 1138 of the Four Seasons Olympic Hotel. It’s absolutely amazing to me that the property still looks so similar today to how it appeared in a movie which was filmed over 23 years ago!!!! At the time, much of the Olympic’s rich wood wall paneling was covered over with white paint, but otherwise the interior looks exactly the same today as it did then! So darn cool!



In 1987’s Black Widow, the Olympic was the Seattle hotel where murderess Catharine Peterson (aka Theresa Russell) holed up while trying to trap her latest mark.

The Olympic’s pool, which you can see a photograph of here, was also used in Black Widow as the spa where journalist Alex Barnes (aka Debra Winger) interviewed Etta (aka Diane Ladd) about her brother’s untimely death.

The Olympic’s former Seneca Street entrance also appeared very briefly in the 1989 flick The Fabulous Baker Boys. And the 1973 movie Harry in your Pocket, which starred James Coburn as a pickpocket, was also filmed at the hotel.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Fairmont Olympic Hotel is located at 411 University Street in Seattle. You can visit the hotel’s official website here.

August 31, 2010
Drew Barrymore’s Childhood Home

A few weeks ago, Drew Barrymore aficionado Ashley, from The Drewseum website, asked me and fellow stalker Owen for some help in tracking down the home where the young E.T. star lived from 1984 through 1988. Over the years, Ashley had accumulated a few clues as to the property’s location, mostly from Drew’s autobiography Little Girl Lost, which was published in 1990. In the book, co-author Todd Gold describes the house as “a lovely two-bedroom ranch-style home in Sherman Oaks, a comfortable upper-class neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley”. With that vague bit of information, Ashley tried to track down the residence’s location, but didn’t have much success. Then a few weeks ago, while looking at the Drew Barrymore Brasil fansite, she happened upon the above photograph of Drew from a 1987 photo shoot in which the then 12-year old actress was photographed while standing in front of her home.   And, lo and behold, an address number (4002) was visible! YAY! I just have to say here that I would absolutely die if I ever came across a photograph of my girl Jen A. standing in front of her childhood home. What I wouldn’t give to be able to stalk that residence! Anyway, armed with an address number, a city, and a picture of the front of the house, Owen set about tracking down the residence using aerial maps and Google Street View. And, amazingly enough, about ten minutes later he had an address for us. As it turns out, Drew’s former dwelling is not actually located in Sherman Oaks as author Todd Gold had described, but in the neighboring suburb of Studio City. In Todd’s defense though, the house is located right on the border of Sherman Oaks and Studio City and, for whatever reason, city boundary lines quite often get blurred in that area.

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Once Owen told me the address, I immediately dragged the Grim Cheaper – and both of my parents, for that matter – out to stalk the property. And I am VERY happy to report that it still looks much the same today, over 23 years later!, as it did in the photograph from Drew’s photo shoot.



Sadly, though, quite a bit of foliage has grown since the days when Drew called the place home, so I wasn’t able to take a picture that exactly matched Drew’s childhood photograph. The one pictured above was my best effort.



As you can see in the above photographs, though, several aspects of the house match up to Drew’s childhood picture, including the white door located next to the garage, the brick front stairwell, and the popped-out picture window located next to the front door. I was so hoping that the 4002 address post would still be standing at the front of the house, but alas that was not to be.





You can also see in the above aerial views that both the shape of the home’s pool and the shape of its deck area match the pictures taken during Drew’s 1987 photo shoot perfectly.

Drew’s former home is surprisingly normal-looking, especially considering that the E.T. phenomenon was living there during the height of her childhood fame. Of the home, Todd Gold says, “Compared to the West Hollywood bungalow they left behind, the move marked a significant leap up the economic ladder. Not that the Barrymores were rich. Not even close. But they were comfortable, and for the first time they were no longer encumbered by the constant worry of making ends meet each month”. The home, which was built in 1951, boasts two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and 1,763 square feet of living space. Drew’s mom, Jaid, sold the house in the summer of 1988 in order to move into a smaller condominium which was easier to maintain being that Drew was spending the majority of her time on location filming movies.

The above photographs were also taken at the star’s former home at what I’m guessing was around the year 1985.

On a side note – I just finished reading Little Girl Lost, Drew’s autobiography which she wrote in the winter of 1988 at the tender age of 14. For those who have yet to read the memoir, I highly recommend it! Drew’s story is absolutely heartbreaking at times, but it is also incredibly empowering and uplifting. I have always liked the actress, but I have such a massive amount of respect for her now after reading her story. It is absolutely mindboggling to me that she hit rock bottom at such a young age and then was able to somehow pull herself together after experiencing such a tumultuous childhood. She truly is an amazing person.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Owen for finding this location and to fellow stalker Ashley, from the Drewseum website, for challenging him to do so!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Drew Barrymore’s childhood home is located at 4002 Ethel Avenue in Studio City.

August 30, 2010
Franklin Library from “Beautiful Girls”

The final Beautiful Girls filming location that I stalked while visiting Minnesota this past May was the library where Tommy “Birdman” Rowland (aka Matt Dillon) met up with his married girlfriend Darian Smalls (aka Lauren Holly) and her daughter, Kristen (aka Sarah Katz), towards the end of the flick. I found this location, once again, thanks to fellow stalker Owen and his Beautiful Girls master locations list. And even though it was only featured in a very brief scene in the movie, for whatever reason, I was absolutely DYING to stalk the place. Unfortunately though, we ended up stalking it during our last day in the North Star State and it happened to be POURING rain at the time, which is why I look like such a dork in the above photograph.

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The Franklin Library first opened almost a century ago thanks to a gift from philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. In 1912, the Scottish-American businessman decided to donate $125,000 to the Minneapolis Public Library in order to build four new area branches. The Franklin Community Library, which was designed by New York architect Edward L. Tilton, was the first of those branches to be constructed. The land on which the library now stands was donated to the city by Minneapolis real estate tycoon Sumner T. McKnight. The Renaissance Revival-style building, which cost $41,000 to construct, first opened in August of 1914 and had its formal dedication ceremony on January 29, 1915. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000 and, while it underwent an extensive renovation in 2005, I am very happy to report that it still looks almost the same today as it did when it first opened.

And the staff there literally could NOT have been nicer – once they got over their initial confusion of why I was stalking the place, at least. Like the cashier working the front register at the Marine General Store in Marine on Saint Croix, which I had stalked just a few days beforehand, when I first asked about the filming of Beautiful Girls, the librarians on duty mistakenly thought that I wanted to rent the flick, not take pictures of where it had been filmed. 😉 Once they understood my purpose for being there, though, they were highly amused and one of them offered to take me and my parents on a mini-tour of the premises and then photocopied a bunch of historic information about the library for me to take home. Yay!

In Beautiful Girls, Tommy and Darian meet up, and then subsequently break up, while sitting in front of one of the library’s massively-large fireplaces. Because the library has no less than four similarly-looking fireplaces, though, pinpointing the exact one where filming took place proved to be a bit of a challenge. But after taking photographs of each of them and comparing those photographs to screen captures from the movie, I can say with 99.9% certainty that the east fireplace is the one which appeared in the movie.

As you can see in the above photographs, though, the fireplace and its surrounding area look a bit different today than they did back in 1996 when Beautiful Girls was filmed. According to the librarian that I spoke with, both the east fireplace and the one located directly across from it were restored back to their original 1914 state during the library’s 2005 renovation.

The super-cute student film Butterflies was also shot on location at the Franklin Library.

Big THANK YOU to Owen for finding this location! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Franklin Library from Beautiful Girls is located at 1314 East Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The scene between Birdman and Darian was filmed in front of the library’s east fireplace, which is adjacent to the American Indian book collection. You can visit the library’s official website here.

August 19, 2010
Nate ‘n Al’s Delicatessen

One location that I have been wanting to stalk for quite some time now is the historic Nate ‘n Al Delicatessen in Beverly Hills, but because I don’t get out to that area very often, the restaurant had remained an unchecked item on my extremely long “To-Stalk” list for over a year. Until a couple of weeks ago, that is, when I finally dragged my fiancé to grab a bite to eat there after we had stalked Will Rogers Memorial Park from 90210, which is located nearby. And I have to say that the place was definitely worth the wait! Although rather pricey (despite what some online reviews might state), the landmark restaurant serves up some FABULOUS food. And thanks to its huge deli counter, brown leather booths, and pastrami sandwiches stacked as high as the eye can see, eating there was like visiting a little slice of New York City right here in Southern California.

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Nate ‘n Al’s has been a veritable institution in Beverly Hills ever since it first opened way back on May 24, 1945. The deli was founded by Al Mendelson and Nate Reimer, who originally met while working at Boesky’s Deli in Chicago. The two entrepreneurs eventually decided to open their very own deli-style restaurant a few years later and figured LaLaLand was just the place to do so. At the time of its founding, the restaurant was Beverly Hills’ sole delicatessen and could only accommodate a scant 30 patrons. It became such an immediate success, though, that it was later expanded to its current, larger size which can hold up to 120 diners. Nate retired just a few years after the restaurant’s opening, but Al stayed on to helm the place and it is his ancestors who are still running it today. And I am happy to report that the restaurant is still going strong. According to this 2005 Daily News article, each year Nate ‘n Al’s serves up 130,000 matzo balls, 16,000 gallons of chicken noodle soup, and 80,000 pounds of corned beef! As I stated above, the food is phenomenal, but it’s also fairly expensive, so be prepared.

Because of its fabulous food and laid-back attitude, Nate ‘n Al’s has long been a celebrity magnet. You won’t find any autographed pictures decorating the establishment’s walls, though, because as founder Al Mendelson advised: “If you want them in the booths, keep them off the walls.” 😉 Just a few of the stars who have been spotted there over the years include Max Mutchnick (one of the co-creators of Will & Grace), Lew Wasserman, Suzanne Pleshette, Tom Poston, Robert Wagner, Neil Diamond, Jon Voight, Doris Day, Nicollette Sheridan, Jay Leno, Roseanne Bar, Adam Sandler, Dick Van Dyke, Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman, Jodie Foster, Nancy Sinatra, Courteney Cox, Rodney Dangerfield, Kareem Abdul Jabar, Tony Curtis, Sharon Osbourne, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Television host Larry King loves the place so much that he not only dines there every single morning (not kidding!), but he also purchased his house in Beverly Hills for the sole reason that it was within walking distance of the deli! Love it!

And while we didn’t spot any celebs while dining there, fellow stalker Karen was lucky enough to be seated next to Jason Reitman on a recent visit to the deli. Her daughter snapped the above photo of the Juno director on the down-low during their meal. Love it! Jason wasn’t the only celeb that Karen and her daughter spotted at Nate ‘n Al’s that day, though – Larry King and Clint Howard were also dining at the time. Lucky girls! As Karen said, talk about “hitting a trifecta”! From what I’ve heard, the best time to spot celebs at Nate ‘n Al’s is in the morning, which means I’ve gotta go back there sometime soon to grab some breakfast!

And the place is also a filming location! In the Season 5 episode of Entourage titled “The All Out Fall Out”, Nate ‘n Al’s is the spot where Vinnie Chase (aka Adrian Grenier) finds out from his business manager that he may need to file for bankruptcy. The 1957 flick Pal Joey, which starred Frank Sinatra and Rita Hayworth, was also filmed at the historic restaurant.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Nate ‘n Al Delicatessen, from Entourage, is located at 414 North Beverly Boulevard in Beverly Hills. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.

August 18, 2010
Holly’s Nashua House from “The Office”

Another location from The Office that I stalked recently was the supposed Nashua, New Hampshire-area house that Holly Flax moved into in the Season 5 episode titled “Employee Transfer”. I found this location, yet again, thanks to fellow stalker Owen who went on a mission a while back to try to track down as many Office locales as possible. So, thank you, Owen! Ironically enough, though, I actually didn’t need his help on this one because as soon as I first saw the “Employee Transfer” episode, I was fairly certain that the Nashua house scenes had been filmed either on or near Carroll Avenue in the Angelino Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles – an area which boasts the city’s largest concentration of Victorian-era homes. I was already quite familiar with Carroll Avenue and its architecture as the haunted house from Michael Jackson’s Thriller video and the Halliwell residence from the television series Charmed are both located there. And, sure enough, my stalking instincts were right on! While Holly’s house is not actually located on Carroll Avenue, it can be found just around the corner from it.

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In the “Employee Transfer” episode, Michael Scott (aka Steve Carell) and Darryl Philbin (aka the hilarious Craig Robinson) move Michael’s girlfriend Holly Flax (aka Amy Ryan) into her new home in Nashua, after she has been transferred back to the Dunder Mifflin branch where she formerly worked.

And I am very happy to report that the residence looks EXACTLY the same in person as it did on the show. Holly’s house is absolutely GORGEOUS and it is not very hard to see why producers chose to film there, although, in my mind at least, it looks far more like a San Francisco-area home than one that would be found in Nashua. I’ve never been to New Hampshire, though, so don’t quote me on that one. 😉

Holly’s Nashua house, which is known as the Jesse Hall Residence in real life, actually has quite a bit of history to it, as do most properties in the neighborhood. The Hall Residence was designed by contractor John M. Skinner in 1887 for $6,000 and it is a carbon copy of the property located directly to the east of it, which is known as the Henry G. Hall Residence. Because the homes are identical in appearance and were both owned by families with the last name of Hall, they are known in architectural circles as “the Hall Twins”. And while the house was originally a single-family dwelling, in 1915 Jesse Hall’s son, Tracey, transformed the property into a duplex and it remains so to this day. The Hall Twins were both designated Historic-Cultural Monuments in June of 1979. You can read more about their history on the Big Orange Landmarks blog here.

On an Office side note – EW Magazine is reporting that Amy Ryan will be back for a whopping eight episodes during the show’s upcoming seventh season. YAY! You can watch a clip of Amy appearing on fave show Chelsea Lately in which she talks about how she landed her recurring role as Michael Scott’s love interest Holly Flax. Apparently, after she was nominated for an Oscar for the movie Gone, Baby, Gone, she told her agent that she wanted to use her newfound Hollywood clout to land a guest spot on The Office, which was her favorite show. She ended up landing the part of Holly and when she arrived on the set the first day and told Rainn Wilson the story of how she booked the role, he told her “You really should aim higher.” LOL I first watched that interview long before I had ever seen an episode of The Office and remember being absolutely fascinated by the fact that Amy loved the show THAT much. But now that I’ve become an Office devotee, I TOTALLY get it. If I was nominated for an Oscar, I, too, would so try to use my clout to land a role on that show. 🙂

Big THANK YOU to Owen for finding this location! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Holly Flax’s Nashua house from The Office is located at 1347 Kellam Avenue in the Angelino Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. The house from Michael Jackson’s Thriller video is located just around the corner at 1345 Carroll Avenue and the Charmed residence is located at 1329 Carroll Avenue.

August 17, 2010
The Athenian Inn from “Sleepless in Seattle”

Another location at the very top of my Must-Stalk-While-in-the-Pacific-Northwest list was the Athenian Inn Seafood Restaurant and Bar, which made a brief, but quite memorable appearance in the 1993 romantic comedy Sleepless in Seattle. I had been absolutely dying to stalk the restaurant for what seemed like years for a couple of reasons. One, because as I’ve mentioned before, Sleepless has long been one of my very favorite movies. And two, because fellow stalker Kerry had previously visited the place and told me that there were numerous photographs of the filming displayed on the restaurant’s walls. As you can imagine, I could NOT wait to see those photographs for myself! So, after grabbing a coffee at the very first Starbucks store, which I blogged about a couple of weeks ago, Kerry, her husband Jim, the Grim Cheaper, and I all headed across the street to Pike Place Market, where the Athenian Inn has been located for over a century. Yes, you read that right! The Athenian Inn, which was founded by the three Pappadakis brothers, who hailed from Greece – hence the “Athenian” in the name – first opened over one hundred years ago, in 1909. Originally a bakery/candy shop/luncheonette, the establishment later transformed into a bar (in 1933, it was one of the first places in Seattle to be granted a liquor license to serve wine and beer) and then eventually into a full-blown restaurant. In 1964, the Inn was purchased by Bob and Louise Cromwell, who added a lounge and a balcony to the premises, and although Bob passed away in 2002, Louise still owns and manages the place to this day. You can read a more comprehensive history of the restaurant here.

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In Sleepless in Seattle, the Athenian Inn was the restaurant where Sam Baldwin (aka Tom Hanks) and his friend Jay (aka Rob Reiner) discussed dating in the ‘90s, “cute butts”, and the mystery that is tiramisu. And even though the scene that was filmed there took up only one minute and thirty-eight seconds of screen time, it made such an impact on the movie-going public that seventeen years later the place is STILL one of Seattle’s top tourist attractions! Isn’t that amazing?!?! Less than two minutes of screen time in a movie that is almost two decades old and the restaurant is still drawing crowds! INCREDIBLE! It reminds me of what happened with Magnolia Bakery in New York – a cupcakery that appeared in a one minute and seventeen second scene from an episode of Sex and the City which first aired over a decade ago, and fans are STILL lining up around the block to catch a glimpse of the place. I think it is so incredibly cool when a movie or television show creates such a monumental impact like that! But I digress.

The Sleepless in Seattle scene that was filmed at the Athenian Inn was shot at the northwest corner of the restaurant’s counter, right near the main entrance.



Not that I really need to explain that here, though, because the restaurant actually has plaques which denote the exact location where filming took place. How incredibly cool is that???? Oh, how I wish EVERY filming location would honor its cinematic history by doing something similar. LOVE IT!!! LOVE IT!!! LOVE IT!!!

And fellow stalker Kerry and I, of course, just had to recreate the Sleepless scene while we were there!

Thankfully, little has changed at the Athenian Inn in the more than 17 years since Sleepless was filmed there and the place looks pretty much EXACTLY the same today as it did then.

In fact, from what I’ve been able to discern, it seems that not much has been changed in the more than hundred years since the historic restaurant first opened. The neon sign that was first hung over the establishment’s front door by the Pappadakis brothers in 1933 is still hanging in the very same spot to this day! So darn cool!

I honestly cannot recommend stalking the Athenian Inn enough! The food was great, the prices reasonable, the views of Elliot Bay amazing, and the staff super friendly. Not to mention the many nods to the restaurant’s cinematic history which are proudly displayed on the walls. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Athenian Inn from Sleepless in Seattle is located at 1517 Pike Place, inside Pike Place Market, in Seattle. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here. In Sleepless, Tom Hanks and Rob Reiner sat at the northwest corner of the restaurant’s counter.

August 16, 2010