famous places – Page 48 – IAMNOTASTALKER

September 8, 2009September 8, 2009

The Marlin Club from “Bring It On”

A few weeks ago, my parents, my fiance, and I went down to San Diego for a few days for a short little summer vacay. When I told fellow stalker Owen where I was headed, he set out on a mission to find pretty much every single location used in 2000’s Bring It On, a teen comedy which was filmed in its entirety in the beachside city. Well, imagine my disappointment when I received an email from Owen listing ALL of the Bring It On locations – including the two main houses featured in the movie! – a few days later while in the car on the way home from that trip! Being that we were already outside the city limits by the time I read his email, and being that my parents outright refused to turn the car around (I know, the nerve!), there was no way I would be able stalk the Bring It On locales that day. Needless to say, I could NOT have been more disappointed!!! 🙁 The only silver lining to the whole situation was the fact that since I find myself in the San Diego area at least once a month, I knew I would be able to stalk the locations in the very near future. So, last week, when my parents announced that they would be traveling to San Diego for a few days, I just about had a heart attack and told them that, like it or not, I would be joining them on their trip. 🙂 So, bright and early Friday morning, I headed down to sunny San Diego. The first item on my Bring It On stalking agenda? The Shelter Island Marlin Club, where the brief, but memorable bikini car wash scene took place. 🙂

In Bring It On, the Rancho Carne Toros Cheeleading Team decides to host a massive car wash event at the Marlin Club in order to raise money to hire a professional choreographer who will hopefully give them the leg up at their upcoming regional competition. To attract potential car wash clients, the team, which includes cheerleaders Kirsten Dunst and Eliza Dushku, conducts the entire event in their bathing suits, which is perhaps why this particular scene has become the most well-known out of the entire movie. Well, amongst males anyway. My personal favorite scene is, of course, Jesse Bradford and Kirsten Dunst’s toothbrushing scene, which has got to be one of the best movie scenes of all time!!! So, darn cute! 🙂 And if you don’t happen to know the scene of which I am speaking, obviously you have yet to see Bring It On, in which case you must go out and rent it RIGHT NOW! 🙂 But, I digress.

In actuality, the Marlin Club is not a car wash at all, but a fishing club and free, certified fish weighing station located on a tiny peninsula in San Diego known as Shelter Island. The Club, which was started on September 15, 1931, is open year-round for local and visiting fisherman who want to get their recent catches weighed for free. In 1952, the Marlin Club built their clubhouse, which can be seen in the background of the above screen capture and photograph. And in 1958, the Club became incorporated as a non-profit organization. The Marlin Club now boasts several hundred members, each paying annual dues which go to help support the free weighings provided to the public. According to their website, they invite any and all fishing enthusiasts to “drop in and share a fish story” anytime.

Ironically enough, a Marlin can even be seen hanging in the background of the car wash scene in Bring It On, although the camera moved far too fast for me to get a good screen capture of it.

Because the Marlin Club is, in essence, a large parking lot with a gorgeous view, it’s not very hard to see why producers chose to use it for the Bring It On car wash scene. And I am very happy to report that the Club still looks pretty much identical to how it appeared onscreen almost a full decade ago. And, even though, it’s really “just” a parking lot, it is still very easily recognizable from the movie.

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Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Marlin Club from Bring It On can be found at 2445 Shelter Island Drive on Shelter Island, which is located just outside of Point Loma, in San Diego. You can visit the Marlin Club’s website here.

September 4, 2009September 3, 2009

The Obsessed House

A few weeks ago, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, called me up and said, “Where is that big pink house in Altadena that you stalked a while back?” Well, I had absolutely no idea what on earth he was talking about! For some reason, a “big pink house in Altadena” just wasn’t ringing any bells with me. And it really should have, being that I actually know the house he was speaking about quite well. I mean, it’s practically an Altadena institution! Heck, I’ve even blogged about it before! LOL But that’s the blonde in me, I guess. 🙂 Anyway, about an hour after Mike’s phone call, it all of a sudden hit me like a ton of bricks – he had been asking me about the famous Balian Mansion, or, as I like to call it, the real Clark W. Griswold house. 🙂 Mike had been inquiring about the mansion because it was featured briefly in the 2009 movie Obsessed, which he had just finished watching. Mike had an inkling that Beyonce Knowles’ house from the film (pictured above) was most likely located in the same area. And, sure enough, he was right! Just a few clicks through Google Maps later and the two of us were able to locate it, literally right around the corner from the Balian Mansion. 🙂 So, of course, we immediately ran right out to stalk both homes. 🙂

Because only one view of the Obsessed house – the view pictured above – was ever shown in the movie, it looks quite different in person than how it appeared onscreen. For some reason, producers filmed at an angle which cut out the entire garage area. (You can see what the garage looks like in the first picture featured in this post.) The only reason I can think of behind this decision is that producers wanted the home to appear smaller than it really was.

Which makes absolutely no sense to me! You see, while watching the movie I became completely obsessed (ha ha) with the fact that the interior of Beyonce’s home looked a whole lot bigger than the exterior. It’s as if the two just didn’t match up. The inside of her house was absolutely HUGE, yet the outside appeared quite average in size. It was bizarre and completely distracted me throughout the entire movie. I just couldn’t seem to get past it! I kept pausing the DVD to ask my fiance if the dichotomy in sizes was bothering him as much as it was bothering me. (It wasn’t, by the way. LOL) Anyway, as you can sort of see in the above screen capture, the interior of the house appears to be GINORMOUS, which does not at all fit with the exterior that was shown.

Further complicating the matter is the fact that the exterior of the Obsessed house is Mediterranean in style, painted in bright terracotta colors, yet the interior has a classic Colonial style feel. Needless to say, the whole thing just didn’t work for me and I spent the entire movie distracted by the discrepancies between the interior and exterior of the house. LOL Now, it’s quite possible that these variances were not necessarily a production decision and that the studio based their sets on the home’s real life interiors, but somehow I really doubt that. Ironically enough, Mike and I got to see the interior sets of the Obsessed house while taking the Sony Pictures Studio Tour last November. Sadly, though, we weren’t allowed to take any photographs of them. 🙁

Another thing I became obsessed with while watching Obsessed, was the home’s gorgeous, intricately carved mailbox. I absolutely FELL IN LOVE with it! Being that the mailbox was so unusual, I was fairly certain it was a prop that had been brought in solely for the filming. So, you can imagine how FLOORED I was when Mike and I pulled up to the house to find that mailbox standing there! So cool! 🙂 As soon as I buy my first house, I am SO getting one of those! In fact, I’d buy one right now, but I think it’d look a little silly standing out in front of my apartment. LOL

After stalking the Obsessed house, Mike and I made our way down the street to stalk the Balian Mansion. The mansion is actually only featured very briefly in the movie, in the scene when Beyonce turns her car around after realizing she forgot to turn on her home’s security system.

On a humorous side note – As you can see in the above screen capture, the Google Maps Street View photograph of the Obsessed house was apparently taken after the property had just been TP’ed. LOL LOL LOL Talk about your bad timing! Can you imagine your house being forever immortalized on Google Maps with toilet paper strands hanging from every tree??? LOL LOL LOL Too darn funny! The kids who pulled this off must be seriously patting themselves on the back right now!!!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Obsessed house is located at 2345 Midlothian Drive in Altadena. The Balian Mansion is located just down the street at 1960 Mendocino Lane.

September 3, 2009September 3, 2009

The Warner Grand Theatre

This past Saturday, my family and I returned from Catalina Island via the Catalina Express high speed catamaran that docks in San Pedro Harbor. When the captain announced that we had finally reached our destination, I suddenly realized that a filming location I have LONG been dying to stalk was actually located in the very city where we now found ourselves! The Warner Grand Theatre, where Rosalee Futch took Tad Hamilton on a date in fave movie Win A Date With Tad Hamilton, was in fact located just a few miles away from where our boat had just docked. 🙂 I have absolutely no idea why I hadn’t realized it sooner. So, I begged my dad to drive me over to the theatre as soon as we gathered our luggage and, amazingly enough, he obliged. Thank you, dad!

Warner Brothers first opened the Warner Grand Theatre on January 20, 1931. It was co-designed in an Art Deco style by architect B. Marcus Priteca, who also constructed the Pantages Theatre, and interior designer Anthony Heinsbergen. Priteca and Heinsbergen had also created two other theatres for the Warner Brothers Company – one in Beverly Hills and one in Huntington Park. Unfortunately, though, the Warner Grand is the only one of the three that is still intact. In 1982, the City of Los Angeles declared the 1,400 seat theatre a Cultural and Historic Monument. Sadly, though, in the 1990’s it fell into a serious state of disarray and was almost demolished. The theatre was saved in January of 1996 when the City of Los Angeles stepped in and purchased it for $1.2 million and began a slow, painstaking restoration process. It has since been named a National Historic Place. The Grand is currently open for business, showing foreign and independent films on its fifty foot screen almost every weekend and showcasing various events including concerts, plays, and even graduations. And it is also a frequent filming location! 🙂

The Warner Grand actually shows up three times in Win A Date With Tad Hamilton, where it stands in for the local Fraziers Bottom, West Virginia movie theatre. The movie’s very first scene takes place at the theatre, in which Rosalee, Pete, and Cathy watch Tad’s latest film entitled A Man Called Jackson.

Later on in the movie, Rosalee takes Tad to the Warner Grand for their second date.

It is at the theatre that one of my favorite lines from the movie is spoken. In the scene, while walking by a poster for one of Tad’s movies, Rosalee says “You look so sad there”, to which Tad replies “Give me a break. I just lost my wife . . . and my goat.” LOL LOL LOL

The theatre last shows up in what was to be the movie’s original ending, which is shown in the DVD’s Special Features section. In the scene, Pete, Cathy, Rosalee, and Rosalee’s father are at the Warner watching A Good Man is Hard to Find, Tad’s latest movie which tells the story of his relationship with Rosalee.

The Warner has also been featured in countless other productions. In the 2001 movie Pearl Harbor, the Warner Grand was the Oahu theatre where Kate Beckinsale and Josh Hartnett watched the MovieTone News clip about the war.

Later on in the scene, they grab a bite to eat at the “Black Cat Diner”, which is located directly next door to the theatre and which, in reality, is an art gallery named the Findings Art Center. Unfortunately, I didn’t snap any photos of the Black Cat location as I didn’t learn about its use in Pearl Harbor until after I got home and started researching the theatre. 🙁

In the same scene, while Kate and Josh are eating inside the Black Cat Diner, their friend Ray proposes to his girlfriend Betty on the street outside the Warner Grand.

In the Season One episode of The O.C. entitled “The Proposal”, the Warner stood in for the Newport Beach theatre where Ryan, Seth, and Summer took Marisa to cheer her up after she had discovered that her ex-boyfriend, Luke, was sleeping with her mother. Nice mom, huh?

After seeing the movie, the gang heads over to a Jamba Juice located in the Arcade Building on Sixth Street directly across the street from the theatre, where they run into – you guessed it – Marisa’s mother and ex-boyfriend, Luke.

Because my parents were not too keen on waiting around while I stalked all of West 6th Street, I didn’t get to venture inside the Arcade Building. But I did manage to snap the above pic from across the street.

The Warner has also been featured in the television series Cousin Skeeter, 7th Heaven, Melrose Place, Party of Five, and ESPN’s Reel Classics, and the movies Wharf Rats to Lords of the Dock, Worth Winning, Seabiscuit, Ghosts of Mississippi, Invasion Earth: The Aliens are Here, and What’s Love Got To Do With It (where it stood in for Harlem’s Apollo Theatre).

The Warner is an absolutely beautiful place and I can’t tell you how excited I was to finally be stalking it! Sadly, though, the lobby area wasn’t open while we were there, so I didn’t get to venture inside. But you know what that means! I’ll just have to go back to stalk the place again! 🙂 According to the Warner’s website, though, the theatre’s original seats were just recently restored, so the interior looks quite different now than how it appeared in the many movies pictured above. 🙁

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Warner Grand Theatre is located at 478 West 6th Street in San Pedro. You can visit their website here. The Black Cat Diner from Pearl Harbor, aka the Findings Art Center, is located at 470 West Sixth Street, next door to the Warner. The Arcade Building on Sixth Street, which was featured in The O.C., is located at 479 West Sixth Street, directly across the street from the theatre.

September 2, 2009May 23, 2012

The Zane Grey Pueblo Hotel

While in Catalina this past week, as much as I wanted to stay at the Pavilion Lodge, my family instead opted to book a room at a little place called the Zane Grey Pueblo Hotel. And even though it’s never been a filming location, because the hotel was once the private residence of world-renowned author Zane Grey, I deemed the site to be blog-worthy. 🙂 For those who have never heard of him (like myself prior to my recent stay at his former home), Zane Grey is the best selling author of 89 Western style novels, including Riders of the Purple Sage, The Lone Star Ranger, and Call of the Canyon. Zane, who was born on January 31, 1872, actually started out his professional career following in the footsteps of his father as a dentist. Zane’s true passion was always writing fiction and playing baseball, but his father vehemently discouraged both pursuits. In fact, when Zane was a young boy, his father discovered a story he had written and not only tore it up, but severely beat him because of it. After marrying his wife, Dolly, in 1905, Zane began to finally pursue writing as a career. It wasn’t long before he became a household name and one of the first authors in history to earn a million dollars. At one point in time, Zane was also America’s highest selling author.

In his lifetime, Zane Grey published over one hundred novels which in turn sold over forty million copies. While most of his works were Western adventure stories, Zane also wrote books about his other passions, including sport fishing, hunting, and baseball. Zane’s novels became so popular that after his death in 1939, his publishing company, Harper & Brothers, continued to release one of his unpublished manuscripts each year for the next twenty-four years. All were wildly successful. Fifty of Zane’s novels were turned into one hundred different Western movies and he has over 120 writer, director, producer and actor credits on IMDB. What I wouldn’t give for that resume! Zane even formed his own production company at one time to handle the high demand for movies based on his books. One of Zane’s novels, The Vanishing American, was even filmed on Catalina Island. Legend has it that Zane brought in a herd of fourteen bison for the filming and left them there after the production wrapped. The bison took to Catalina quite naturally and spawned into a herd of over 150 buffalo that now call the island home.

In 1926, after falling in love with Catalina Island while vacationing there, Zane bought a parcel of land high on a hill in Avalon from William Wrigley and built a pueblo. Zane called his home “a place for rest, dream, peace, sleep”. Sometime after his death, Zane’s heirs turned the Pueblo into a small hotel. What a FABULOUS idea! I wish all celebrity heirs would follow suit!

The tiny hotel features only sixteen rooms, each named after one of Zane’s popular books. And while all of the rooms boast a view of some sort, none have a television, a phone, or a clock – an idea my fiance wasn’t too keen on. The whole point of staying at Zane Grey is to really get away from it all. The place touts itself as a quiet, peaceful retreat where you can spend a few days in total relaxation. And I have to say it was pretty darn amazing!

The hotel’s setting is simply breathtaking, with sweeping ocean . . .

. . . and mountain views,

large adobe verandas;

a living room featuring Zane Grey’s original furnishings and a grand piano,

and wild animals roaming the property. My fiance woke me up extremely early one morning to show me a buck he had noticed wandering the grounds (pictured above). The hotel is also blissfully quiet – whispering in common areas and out by the pool is encouraged. Because I am not big on noise, I LOVE quiet, peaceful hotels. In fact, the more quiet and peaceful, the better. And it doesn’t get much quieter or more peaceful than at the Zane Grey. Ironically enough, the only people not adhering to the “quiet” rule, were the people who worked on the property. The receptionist and housekeeper were SO darn loud, it was almost comical. So, other than wanting to strangle the two of them during most of the trip, my stay was highly relaxing. And I would recommend the Zane Grey to anyone. Even though the accommodations are a bit run-down and the service is highly sub-standard, we really enjoyed our stay there.

A bit of celebrity trivia for you – directly across the street from the Zane Grey hotel is a huge, modern style home that, according to several people I talked to on the island, Sharon Stone was interested in purchasing at one time.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Zane Grey Pueblo Hotel is located at 199 Chimes Tower Road in Avalon on Catalina Island. You can visit their website here. The accomodations are very basic and sparse, so if you are looking for a fancy hotel this is DEFINITELY not the place for you. For higher end accomodations, I’d instead recommend the Inn on Mt. Ada. The house Sharon Stone thought about buying, but didn’t, is located directly across the street from the Zane Grey Pueblo at 124 Chimes Tower Road.

September 1, 2009September 1, 2009

Catalina’s Hamilton Cove

While vacationing in Catalina this past week, I, of course, spent much of my time asking the local merchants which celebrities had been spotted on the island. And I just about died when one store owner told me that Michael Buble, who has recently replaced Josh Duhamel as the celebrity love of my life, had vacationed there! Sigh! But MB is hardly the first celeb to visit Catalina. I was actually quite shocked to learn of the sheer number of famous visitors that the island has seen over the years. In the Golden Age of Hollywood, stars such as Charlie Chaplin, John Wayne, authors Zane Grey and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, John Barrymore, Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Jean Harlow, Mickey Rooney, Clark Gable, Orson Wells, Judy Garland, Robert Mitchum, Henry Fonda, and presidents Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover all spent time on the island. In more recent years, Nicolas Cage, Lisa Marie Presley, Barbra Streisand (my least favorite celebrity of all time!), James Brolin, Sharon Stone, Gwen Stefani, Gavin Rossdale, Edward Norton, Rob Lowe, Paul Newman, Robert Downey Jr., Bob Saget, Diane Keaton, and members of the Spencer Davis Group rock bank have all been spotted on Catalina.

For those who have yet to visit, Catalina is a very small, quaint little island measuring 22 miles long and 8 miles wide with a population of only 3,696 residents. Only a small number of cars have been allowed on the island, which has resulted in local homeowners and tourists relying on gas-powered golf carts for transportation. The use of golf carts instead of cars coupled with the fact that there are no chain stores or restaurants of any kind on the island – not even a Starbucks! – has allowed Catalina to retain its quaint, charming feel. In fact, when William Wrigley Jr. – the chewing gum entrepreneur – purchased the island in 1919, he went to great lengths to keep it from turning into a bustling tropical city a la Miami or Honolulu. But because Catalina has been kept small, there are no resort-style hotels whatsover on the island. Most of the hotels are actually very small, bed-and-breakfast type establishments. So, I couldn’t figure out exactly where a visiting celebrity would stay that would afford them some modicom of privacy. Until I learned about a gated, guarded resort-style community named Hamilton Cove (pictured above).

Hamilton Cove is located just a mile and a half outside of Downtown Avalon. The upscale, extremely private, gated condominium community offers a private sandy beach, a sparkling pool and jacuzzi, complimentary golf cart use, a croquet court, an 18 hole putting course, sand volleyball court, BBQs, private dock, three story clubhouse, tennis courts, a gym, and amazing views. And, a majority of the Cove’s “villas” are available as vacation rentals. According to pretty much every local I spoke with, Hamilton Cove is THE place to be on Catalina Island. So, if you want to spot a celeb while visiting Catalina, book a room at Hamilton Cove! Unfortunately, being that the community is closed to the public, I wasn’t able to visit it. 🙁 But I did manage to snap a few photos of the Cove while traveling along Catalina’s coast on a boat we rented one day. Even from far away the place looked beautiful. The 1, 2, and 3 bedroom villas rent for anywhere between $175 to $1000 per night. I am really pushing for my family to book a room at Hamilton Cove for our next Catalina trip, more for the celebrity sightings than anything else, of course. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Hamilton Cove is located at 23 Camino de Flores Street in Avalon on Catalina Island, but it is a private, gated, guarded community that does not allow visitors of any sort. So, NO TRESPASSING! The only way to gain admission to the complex is to book a stay there, which you can do via this website and this website.

August 31, 2009August 30, 2009

El Galleon Restaurant

Another Catalina Island stalking location I found thanks to Robert Wagner’s fabulous autobiography, Pieces of My Heart, was the restaurant El Galleon where Natalie Wood ate one of her last meals. According to the book, on November 27, 1981, shortly after docking their boat, Splendour, at Avalon Harbor on Catalina Island, Natalie Wood, Robert Wagner, aka “RJ”, and their guest Christopher Walken went ashore to do some shopping. Later that evening, the threesome headed to El Galleon Restaurant, which has been a Catalina Island tradition since 1967, for some margaritas and beers. After returning to the Splendour later that night, RJ and Natalie got into a fight and, as I blogged about last week, she asked the captain to take her ashore so she could spend the night alone at the island’s Pavilion Lodge. The next day, after Natalie returned, Robert had the Splendour moved to Two Harbors, on the other side of the island, to avoid some brewing stormy weather. At around 3 pm, while RJ napped aboard the yacht, Wood and Walken headed ashore alone to grab a bite to eat and kick back some cocktails at Doug’s Harbor Reef Saloon. When RJ awoke a couple of hours later, he was highly annoyed at the situation and headed ashore himself. At around 5 pm, the threesome ate dinner together in the dining room of Doug’s Harbor Reef Restaurant. The meal would be Natalie’s last. Five hours later, the fairly tipsy threesome headed back to the Splendour where a heated fight broke out between RJ and Walken. Voices were raised and at one point Wagner threw a wine bottle against a table where it shattered. Natalie retired to her stateroom sometime during the arguement and was, sadly, never seen alive again. At around 7:45 the following morning, her body was found drowned in a nearby harbor.

So, while visiting Catalina Island this past week, stalking Doug’s Harbor Reef Restaurant where Natalie ate her last meal was at the very top of my stalking agenda. Unfortunately, though, being that the restaurant is located on the complete opposite side of the island from where we were staying, no one in my family wanted to travel over there. 🙁 So, I had to settle for instead stalking El Galleon, where Wood, Walken, and Wagner ate dinner the night before Natalie’s death. Ironically enough, while renting a golf cart one day, I happened to ask the owner of the Island Rentals golf cart company if he knew anything about the death of Natalie Wood. It turns out that he was born and raised on the island and knew the owners of El Galleon quite well. He told me that Natalie and RJ were regulars at the New Orleans themed restaurant and that the night before her death she purchased a painting from one of the local art shops which she brought with her to dinner. Because it was raining, Natalie asked the owner of the restaurant to wrap up the painting for her so that it wouldn’t get damaged on the way to the boat. The owner happily obliged and that was the last time she ever saw Natalie. 🙁 According to the Island Rentals guy, numerous celebs have popped into El Galleon over the years, including Ed McMahon (who even sung karaoke there!), and John Wayne.

And, while we didn’t have a chance to dine at El Galleon during this trip, the last time my fiance and I visited Catalina Island back in 2005 we grabbed a cocktail at the restaurant and had a blast while there! El Galleon features nightly karaoke – which just happens to be my very favorite past-time 🙂 – so, of course, I just had to get a few songs in while there. Needless to say my fiance was not pleased. LOL Besides karaoke, the restaurant also boasts an outdoor patio with ocean views, a semi-private banquet room, and a HUGE menu featuring live Maine and local lobster, applewood smoked BBQ ribs, USDA corn fed steaks, rack of lamb, fresh abalone, and – my personal fave – chicken strips! I highly recommend stalking El Galleon – as much for the yummy food as the fun, laidback, island-style atmosphere! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: El Galleon restaurant is located at 411 Crescent Avenue in Avalon on Catalina Island. You can visit their website here. Harbor Reef Restaurant, where Natalie Wood ate her last meal, is located in Catalina’s Isthmus Cove . You can visit their website here.

August 28, 2009December 6, 2013

Marilyn Monroe’s Catalina House

The most important item on my Catalina Island stalking list was the home where a very young Marilyn Monroe lived with her first husband James Dougherty during the years 1943 to 1944. This was long before Miss Monroe became a Hollywood icon and household name, back when she was just a girl who was known simply as Norma Jeane Baker. Norma married James in 1942 at the tender ago of 16. Yes, you read that right – 16!!! The family who was taking care of her at the time was moving out of state and rather than take Norma with them, opted to basically marry her off to one of the neighbor boys. After only one short year of marriage, James was shipped off to Catalina Island to begin his basic training with the Merchant Marines. Marilyn moved to Catalina with him and remained on the island for about a year and a half. So, as you can probably imagine, I was absolutely busting at the seams to find her former home – a task that proved to be much easier than I had anticipated.

While waiting at the Catalina Island taxi station yesterday, I happened to notice a flyer for a movie called Hollywood’s Magical Island: Catalina with a picture of Marilyn on it posted on a wall. So, of course, I just had to ask the taxi operator if he knew anything about the movie, which he, sadly, didn’t. So, I said, “Shoot! I was hoping it might have information about where Marilyn’s Catalina house was located.” Well, lo and behold, the cab operator got this funny look on his face and said “I know where her house is – it’s at 310 Metropole Avenue!” I totally thought the guy was pulling my leg, as what would be the odds that the very first person I ask about her house would know its exact location??? Well, I must have some seriously good stalking karma because the guy really did know the correct address. He told me that just about a year ago a Japanese film crew had descended on the island to make a documentary about the starlet and they actually filmed part of it at her house! Turns out the taxi guy knew the location, because it’s located just three blocks up the street from his little taxi stand and he saw the filming! Honestly, what are the odds????? 🙂

So, of course, I immediately dragged my parents and my fiance right up the street to stalk Marilyn’s former residence. 🙂 Marilyn’s house is an adorable little beach bungalow that looks pretty much exactly like I pictured it would! So darn cute!!!! The home is actually a duplex, I believe, rather than a single family residence, as there seem to be two separate front doors, as you can see in the above photograph.

But, being the overly-anal person that I am, I just had to ask around town for further verification that the house I had just stalked was definitely Marilyn’s former home. I hate putting information on my blog unless I know with absolutely certainty that that information is correct. And all I had to go on for this one was the word of a random cab operator. So, I wanted further verification. Well, as it turns out there are COUNTLESS stories floating around out there as to where the starlet’s former house is located. While most locals I talked to had no idea that Marilyn had even lived on the island LOL LOL LOL, those few that did had differing stories. I heard everything from “She lived somewhere on Whitley Avenue” to “No, no, no, her house is on Descanso Avenue between Beacon and Third Streets” to “Marilyn Monroe lived here? Are you sure?” And that last one came from a guy who WORKS AT THE CATALINA ISLAND MUSEUM! LOL LOL LOL Needless to say I was just a tad bit frustrated over all of the differing theories. I mean, come on people! This is Catalina history! Someone should know where MM lived!!!! Finally, I ended up locating two different books about the history of the island, both of which said Marilyn’s former home was located on Metropole Avenue – just like the cab guy had said! 🙂 So, while I can’t say with absolute certainty that Marilyn Monroe did at one time live at 310 Metropole Avenue on Catalina Island, I am going to go out on a limb here and trust the word of two history books, a local taxi operator, and a Japanese film crew. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Marilyn Monroe’s Catalina house is (most likely) located at 310 Metropole Avenue in Avalon.

August 27, 2009August 27, 2009

Catalina’s Pavilion Lodge

This morning my family and I traveled to Catalina Island for a little summer vacay. We’ve been planning this trip for quite some time now and, let me tell you, I could not have been more excited to finally arrive! Ever since my grandmother gave me Robert Wagner’s autobiography, Pieces of My Heart: A Life, for Christmas last year, I have been dying to do some Catalina stalking! : ) For those of you not in the know, actor Robert Wagner and his movie star wife Natalie Wood were vacationing on Catalina Island the night of her mysterious drowning. So, the first item on my stalking agenda? Pavilion Lodge, the hotel where Natalie Wood spent her last night alive.

There has always been a shroud of mystery surrounding Natalie Wood’s death, but according to Robert’s book, the story is as follows. Natalie and Robert were frequent visitors to Catalina Island. The two owned a yacht, named “Splendour” in honor of Natalie’s 1961 movie Splendor in the Grass, and would often sail from Los Angeles to Avalon to spend a few nights on their boat. On the weekend of November 27th, 1981, Natalie invited Christopher Walken, with whom she was filming the movie Brainstorm, to spend the weekend with her and Robert off the coast of Catalina on their yacht. Robert was a little uncomfortable with Natalie and Walken’s blooming friendship and was fearful that an affair between the two co-stars might be brewing. Things got a bit heated between the three during their first night together, and, rather than spend the night on the boat with her husband, Natalie had the ship’s captain take her ashore where she booked a room at the Pavilion Lodge.

The following day, Natalie returned to the ship and made up with her husband. And here’s where the mystery comes into play. On the night of November 28, 1981, after a full day and night of drinking (and arguing) with Wagner and Walken, Natalie disappeared from the Splendour. No one knows when or why the actress left the yacht, but early the following morning she was found dead, floating in a cove, drowned at the tender age of 43. Numerous theories abound as to what happened to Natalie that night. Some think she was pushed overboard by her jealous husband, others guess she accidentally fell off the ship while trying to travel ashore to spend yet another night alone in a Catalina motel room. The world will perhaps never know the full story, as Robert says that not even he is sure of what happened that night. And, until Pieces of My Heart was published late last year, neither Walken nor Wagner had ever spoken publicly about Natalie’s death, nor has Wagner ever returned to the island where his wife met her untimely end. Such a sad story!

So, one of my first stops after arriving on Catalina Island this morning was, of course, the Pavilion Lodge, where Natalie spent her final night, the night of November 27, 1981. I was actually shocked to find that the place was still in existence! And it’s a LOT bigger than I had anticipated. While most hotels on the island are fairly small, the Pavilion Lodge property seems to just keep going and going and going. It’s HUGE! It is, however, by no means fancy and I was very surprised that Natalie, one of the biggest movie stars of her day, would have chosen to stay there. But because it is located directly across the street – and within walking distance – from Catalina’s pier, I am guessing it was the first place she happened upon after arriving on the island that night.

And while I would have much preferred to stay at the Pavilion Lodge as it would have made for a much more interesting blog post, sadly, my family opted to book a room elsewhere. LOL But from what I saw today, the Lodge looks like a very nice place to spend a few nights. It is located directly across the street from the beach on a large piece of property, with a nice cental lawn area, and a perfect view of the ocean.

And I absolutely fell in love with their retro-fabulous sign. 🙂

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For those who haven’t yet read Pieces of My Heart, I HIGHLY recommend it! Robert really dishes up some good Hollywood dirt in it! So LOVED it!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Pavilion Lodge is located at 513 Crescent Avenue in Avalon on Catalina Island.

August 26, 2009August 25, 2009

The Almost Famous House

Thanks to fellow stalker Chas, way back in the beginning of July, I was able to stalk the main house used in the 2000 award winning movie Almost Famous. Somehow, though, in all this time, I’ve yet to blog about it. What can I say – so many places to stalk, so little time to write about them. 😉 Anyway, back in early July I happened to mention to Chas that I would be spending the day in the Santa Monica area and he asked me if I wanted the address of the little bungalow featured in the movie Almost Famous, as he had just located it. IF I wanted address??? IF I wanted the address??? Hello!!!! Is the pope Catholic??? Of course I wanted the address! 🙂 And once Chas gave it to me, I was on my way!

In the movie, the tiny little bungalow pictured above belongs to Frances McDormand, Zooey Deschanel, and Patrick Fugit, who plays main character William Miller, and is supposedly located in the San Diego area. And, while some scenes from the film were actually filmed in San Diego, such as William’s high school and the opening concert scenes, for the Miller’s family home producers chose to use a residence located about 130 miles North of San Diego, on a sleepy little street in Santa Monica. And a little bit of movie trivia for you – Almost Famous is loosely based on the real life teenage years of director Cameron Crowe and the high school he chose to use in the movie is his real life alma mater – University of San Diego High School. He even cast his real life high school journalism teacher in a small role in the flick, which is just about the coolest thing ever! 🙂

And I am happy to report that the Almost Famous house looks very much the same today as it did when the movie was filmed over nine years ago. In fact, the only difference I noticed – besides the abundance of Fourth of July decorations 🙂 – was a change in paint color from blue to yellow. Otherwise, the adorable little bungalow looks pretty much identical to how it appeared in the movie. And, while the house pops up several times throughout Almost Famous, unfortunately the entire exterior was never shown all at once, so I was not able to make any good screen captures. : (

I was actually very surprised to hear that the Almost Famous house was located in Santa Monica, as it really doesn’t look like the typical Santa Monica area home to me. I would have expected to find it in Pasadena, instead. So, I’m really glad that Chas decided to track down the house, as I’m pretty positive I never would have been able to.

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Big THANK YOU to Chas for finding this location! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Almost Famous house is located at 1047 Maple Street, at the corner of Maple and 11th Streets, in Santa Monica.

August 25, 2009August 25, 2009

The Win A Date With Tad Hamilton Grocery Store

One movie location that I have wanted to stalk for what seems like forever is the L.A. area grocery store that stood in for the Fraziers Bottom Piggly Wiggly Supermarket in fave romantic comedy Win A Date With Tad Hamilton. Josh Duhamel! Sigh! 🙂 I was so obsessed with finding this location, in fact, that a few years ago when I happened upon a real Piggly Wiggly store while visiting a small town in Arkansas, I just about died of excitement! Because Piggly Wigglys can only be found in the Southeastern United States, I had never seen one in person before. So, I immediately made my fiance pull the car over so that I could take a photograph out in front (pictured above). 🙂 Anyway, thanks to the production notes on my Win A Date DVD, I knew that producers had used a 14,000 square foot vacant supermarket somewhere in Van Nuys to represent the West Virginia grocery store where Kate Bosworth, Topher Grace, and Ginnifer Goodwin worked in the movie. With that information in hand, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I pretty much scoured the entire Van Nuys area looking for the store, but, sadly, came up completely empty handed. I even went so far as to have my dad, who used to work in the grocery industry, call up some of his old business contacts to ask them if they knew of a Van Nuys grocery store that was used in the filming of a movie back in 2003. Sadly, none of them did. At that point I honestly thought the Win A Date With Tad Hamilton Piggly Wiggly was going to be a lost cause. Until master stalker Chas entered the picture and promised to help me locate the ultra-elusive store. And locate it, he did! In just a few short hours, no less!

Since Chas knew that Mike and I had pretty much already turned the entire city of Van Nuys inside out looking for the Win A Date store, he decided to disregard the production notes and begin his search just outside the city limits. And it’s a good thing he did because it turns out that the Win A Date supermarket is not actually located in Van Nuys, but in the neighboring city of North Hills. Today, the Win A Date grocery store is actually a 99 Cents Only Store, but at the time of the filming it was a recently vacated former supermarket. According to the DVD’s production notes, the crew decked out every square inch of the empty market with signage and props received on loan from the Piggly Wiggly Corporation. The crew did such a good job of dressing up the store, in fact, that people from the neighborhood stopped in and actually tried to shop! LOL Lucy Fisher, one of the Win A Date producers, said “When we tried to explain that it was a movie set , they still tried to push their way in. Everything looked so bright and shiny and delicious, but it was all fake. Still there seemed no way to convince the neighbors that it was not a real market.” LOL LOL LOL Oh, how I wish I could have seen the store all dressed up as a Piggly Wiggly – that would have been just about the coolest thing ever!

I am very happy to report that, despite some changes, the exterior of the 99 Cents Only Store is still very recognizable from the film. The Piggly Wiggly signage has, of course, long since been removed and a small facade has now been added to the market’s sloped roof, but otherwise it still looks pretty much the same as it did in the movie.

The only major difference I noticed while stalking the place is the fact that in the movie there were two sets of entrance doors, one located on each side of the market, while today there is only one set of doors, located in the center of the store. I asked my dad about the change and he said that it is a fairly common alteration for grocery stores to make, as having only one means of exit greatly cuts down on the possibility of theft.

Although the interior of the market was used extensively in the filming of Win A Date , it, sadly, has been changed quite significantly since the 99 Cents Only Store took over. In fact, it looks as if the 99 Cents Only Company had the building completely gutted and remodeled before they moved in. 🙁 While stalking the place, I actually walked around the entire store, hoping to find some small remnant leftover from the filming that took place there just six short years ago, but, unfortunately, there was not one single thing.

Even though the Win A Date Piggly Wiggly looks considerably different post-filming and even though in reality it’s just your average, everday grocery store, I could NOT have been more excited to finally be stalking it! I was literally pinching myself the whole time, as this was one location I never thought I’d actually find.

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Big THANK YOU to Chas for finding this location! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Win A Date With Tad Hamilton grocery store is really the 99 Cents Only Store located at 8723 Sepulveda Boulevard in North Hills.