famous places – Page 56 – IAMNOTASTALKER

May 6, 2009June 16, 2011

The Mansion Where Brad and Jen Got Married

There are some events in history that people remember as if they occurred just yesterday. For instance, my mom remembers exactly where she was, right down to what she was wearing, on November 22, 1963 when she found out that President Kennedy had been murdered. Well, I wasn’t alive when JFK was assassinated or when man first walked on the moon. But I do remember exactly where I was and what I was wearing on July 30thof 2000 when it was announced that Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston had finally gotten married. 🙂 Now, some may not qualify that event as being historic, or even memorable, but for me it was. I was in Hawaii with my family at the time and the day beforehand I had found out that one of my closest friends had passed away. I was absolutely inconsolable. My parents didn’t really know what to do with me, so they decided to bring me down to the hotel bar in the hopes that a cocktail and a sunset might bring me some sort of comfort. As we sat at that outdoor bar watching the waves crash on the sand, I heard Jennifer Aniston’s name on the television set behind me and my ears perked up. The announcer stated that sources had confirmed that my girl Jen had married Brad Pitt in a ceremony on a Malibu bluff the previous evening. And it was the first time I smiled in days. 🙂 So, a few weeks ago, when I found the location of the mansion where Brad and Jen tied the knot, I just had to go stalk it.

I had read long ago that Brad and Jen had tied the knot at a five acre seaside estate belonging to television producer Marcy Carsey (of 3rd Rock From the Sun, Roseanne, and The Cosby Show fame) that was located on the 33000 block of Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. But I had no idea of the home’s exact location. Until I found this fabulous website, which led me to the right spot. 🙂 Yay! From what I can tell from the few photographs released of the couple’s nuptials, the actual wedding ceremony took place on the circular patch of lawn located in front of Marcy’s home. Their reception took place in a large tent on an empty parcel of land located just south of the estate. You can see the wedding set up in the above paparazzi photograph, which was taken the day of Brad and Jen’s wedding.

Unfortunately, virtually none of the home is visible from the street. 🙁

If you head a few hundred feet up nearby Decker Canyon Road, you can just make out the outline of the mansion’s roof . . .

. . . and you can see the empty patch of land where Brad and Jen’s reception was held. But other than that, sadly, there’s not a whole lot to see. 🙁

Which is why God created aerial images. 🙂 LOL You can see a great aerial photo of Brad and Jen’s wedding mansion here.

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According to People Magazine, Brad and Jen’s wedding cost over $1 million and featured 50,000 flowers, a 13 minute fireworks display, four live bands, and a gospel choir! Their 200 person guest list was strictly A-List, and included Courteney Cox and David Arquette, Edward Norton and Salma Hayek (who were dating at the time), Cameron Diaz, Melissa Etheridge (who serenaded the couple), David Schwimmer, Kathy Najimy, Dermot Mulroney, Jon Lovitz, David Spade, and Lisa Kudrow. During their vows Jen promised to always make Brad’s “favorite banana milkshake” and Brad vowed to “split the difference on the thermostat”. Knowing how things turned out after that little homewrecker Angelina Jolie got her claws into Brad, doesn’t the whole thing kinda bring a tear to your eye? 🙁

Located directly next door to the estate where Brad and Jen got married, is the 19,340 square foot mega-mansion originally owned by Verna Harrah, widow of William F. Harrah, who was the founder of the famous casino hotels of the same name. In December of 1999, Verna sold her collosal mansion to Mark Reynolds Hughes, creator of Herbalife Vitamins, for a cool $27 million. Less than six months later, Hughes passed away of an alleged prescription drug and alcohol overdose in the master bedroom of the home. He was 44. The manse was subsequently purchased by billionaire venture capitalist Howard Marks.

And it looks to me as if Howard also purchased the once empty parcel of land where Brad and Jen held their tented wedding reception and which originally belonged to the Carsey estate. As you can see in the above aerial photographs of the two neighboring properties, it looks as if the Howards moved their property line over quite a bit.

Even though not much of Brad and Jen’s wedding mansion can be seen from the street, I was still floored to finally be stalking it. And even though their wedding occured during a difficult time in my life and their marriage ended rather unamicably, somehow thinking back on the day when I learned about my idol’s nuptials still manages to bring a smile to my face. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Brad and Jen’s wedding mansion is located at 33148 Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. Mark Reynolds Hughes’ former house is located directly next door at 33064 Pacific Coast Highway. For the best views of the homes, head a few hundred feet up Decker Canyon Road, which is located just south of the properties.

May 5, 2009May 7, 2009

sidebar at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel

Since I am now 100% on Team Speidi, this weekend I just had to drag my boyfriend out to sidebar, the Beverly Hills lounge where the reality TV duo hosted one of their two wedding receptions. Sidebar, which is spelled with a lowercase “s”, is located inside of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel – aka the Pretty Woman hotel – where many of the wedding festivities took place. Truth be told, I actually wanted to book a room at the Beverly Wilshire the weekend of the Speidi nuptials, but my boyfriend (aka the Grim Cheaper) was having none of that. LOL

Sidebar lounge is located directly adjacent to the Wolfgang Puck restaurant CUT, which has long been a favorite of the newlyweds and was where they held their rehearsal dinner on Friday, April 24th. In fact, the duo are such huge fans of the restaurant, that back in September of 2008 they were honored by Wolfgang himself, who placed two large photographs of the couple taken by renowned celebrity photographer Martin Scholler at the entrance to his restaurant. CUT actually has several celebrity photographs by Martin lining its walls, including those of Britney Spears, Arnold Schwarzenegger, George Clooney, and Jack Nicholson. But the photographs of Speidi are by far the largest, and most prominently placed, in the entire restaurant. Love it! When the photographs were first unveiled, Spencer said, “It feels better than winning an Academy Award.” LOL LOL LOL I have to say that if my favorite restaurant, POP Champagne Bar, placed a 5′ by 3′ photograph of me on their wall, I’d be pretty floored, too. 🙂 Spencer and Heidi are by no means the restaurant’s only celebrity fans, though. Mark Wahlberg, Courteney Cox, Isla Fisher, Chris O’Donnell, and Avril Lavigne have also all been spotted at the eatery.

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I have to say that I absolutely LOVED sidebar!!!! The staff was SUPER friendly, the champagne was A-MA-ZING, and the food was unbelievable!!!!! I just about died over their Kobe beef sliders and I don’t even like red meat! LOL Sidebar is very reasonably priced, too, especially for Beverly Hills, which made my boyfriend extremely happy. ; ) With your cocktail order comes a serving of some amazing marinated olives, homemade BBQ potato chips, wasabi peas, and cinnamon/nutmeg almonds – all for free! I can’t recommend stalking sidebar enough! I am fairly certain it will be a regular stalking spot for me now. 🙂

If you visit sidebar, be sure to check out the Pretty Woman display in the Beverly Wilshire’s lobby. I make it a point to stop by there everytime I visit the hotel. No matter how many times I see that display window, it never seems to get old. 🙂 On display are several stills from the movie and an early draft of the script, which was originally entitled “Three Thousand” – a reference to the amount Richard Gere pays to have Julia Roberts spend the week with him. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Both CUT and sidebar are located inside of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, which can be found at 9500 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. Although sidebar is reasonably priced for cocktails, CUT is a higher end restaurant, so, be prepared to pay. 🙂 The Pretty Woman display is located near the women’s restroom, just off the hotel lobby.

May 4, 2009October 6, 2022

Church of the Angels

A few weeks ago, my good friend and fellow stalker Kerry, who was a HUGE fan of the show Knots Landing during her high school years, set about to locate the church where the characters Joshua and Cathy got married in the Sixth Season episode of the series entitled “For Better, For Worse”. And it wasn’t long before she found it. That church turned out to be none other than Church of the Angels, a place that is no stranger to the silver screen. So, last weekend I dragged my boyfriend right out to stalk it.

Church of the Angels, which was built in 1889, has the distinction of being Pasadena’s oldest church. The church was built by the widow of one of the first settlers of the Pasadena area, Mrs. Frances E. Campbell Johnston, in memory of her husband, Alexander Robert Campbell Johnston. In 1883, the Campbell-Johnstons, who were natives of Great Britain, purchased 2,000 acres of what is now known as Pasadena and named it San Rafael Ranch. Alexander passed away only five years later in 1888 and his wife decided to build a church in his honor on their land. The church was designed by English architect Arthur Edmund Street and was based on Holmbury St. Mary’s Church in Surrey. The cornerstone of the church was laid in place on April 20, 1889 by Frances herself and construction was completed a short six months later on September 29, 1889. Originally named Mission of the Church of the Angels, the Episcopalian church is now simply called Church of the Angels.

When Frances passed away in November of 1893, her sons had a large sundial placed at the front of the church in her memory.

Church of the Angels is an absolutely idyllic place. It honestly looks like it came right out of the pages of a fairy tale. As we walked up to it I felt like I was in the middle of Disney’s Fantasyland – the sun was shining, the sky was bright blue, and (no joke) birds were chirping everywhere. I half expected Snow White to stick her head out of a window and start singing “Someday My Prince Will Come”. LOL It’s really no wonder why the church has been featured in hundreds of productions over the years. It’s a simply magical place.

Practically everywhere you look there is some small, but exquisite detail that adds to the church’s charm. The tiny wooden doors, the sandstone walls, the arched walkways, the three acres of beautifully maintained landscaping. It’s like no other church I’ve ever seen.

The interior of the church is just as beautiful as the exterior. The first thing you notice upon entering is the amazing stained glass window located behind the altar. The window, which illustrates the resurrection of Jesus, was built in London and, according to the Church of the Angels website, is said to be “one of the finest examples of stained glass in America”. Frances Campbell-Johnston actually commisioned the church to be built facing the West, so that the sun would better radiate through the amazing window.

The church’s walls are made of red pressed brick and the peaked ceiling is made entirely out of redwood, giving the interior the feeling of a medieval castle. The church is actually much smaller than it appears – it can accomodate only 130 patrons – thus creating a very warm, intimate atmosphere.

Along the sides of the church, there are several tiny, little doors built into the brick walls. The doors lead to stairways, offices, and restrooms. As is stated in the Church of the Angels’ informational brochure, the stairways are “steep and narrow. People in 1889 were smaller than we are today.” How cute is that??? 🙂

Church of the Angels has one of the biggest pipe organs I have ever seen!! It was built in 1889 at the Roosevelt Organ Works in New York City and is still in use today.

Amazingly enough, Church of the Angels still looks exactly the same today as it did when Knots Landing was filmed there back in 1985. You can watch Cathy and Josh’s wedding scene here.

Besides Knots Landing, the church was also featured in the Season 5 episode of Desperate Housewives entitled “The Story of Lucy and Jesse”, as the location of Carlos’ boss, Bradley’s, funeral.

It was also where Ashton Kutcher married Brittany Murphy in Just Married.

And it was the location of the many funerals in the 1988 movie Heathers. Yes, that’s Shannen Doherty in the above screen capture. 🙂

It was also recently featured in the Season 7 episode of The Office titled “Christening”, as the location where Jim and Pam Halpert (aka John Krasinski and Jenna Fischer) had their baby baptized.

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Church of the Angels was also featured in the Season 9 episode of The X-Files entitled “Hellbound”, the Season 4 episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer entitled “Who Are You”, several episodes of JAG, The West Wing, Lawnmower Man, Mick Jagger’s “God Gave Me Everything I Want” music video, and an episode of TLC’s A Wedding Story.

I HIGHLY recommend stalking Church of the Angels. It is literally one of the most beautiful and unique places I have ever seen! My boyfriend even enjoyed stalking it! I have to say it is one of the very few places he didn’t mind being dragged to. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Church of the Angels is located at 1100 Avenue 64 in Pasadena. You can visit their website here.

May 1, 2009December 6, 2013

San Francisco City Hall

I think it’s pretty safe to say that I’ve read just about every biography on my girl Marilyn Monroe that’s ever been published. So, imagine my surprise when I came across an article the other day which stated that the starlet married her second husband, baseball legend Joe DiMaggio, at San Francisco City Hall. How in the heck did I not know this before??? I grew up in San Francisco for Pete’s sake! City Hall was pretty much right in my own backyard! In fact, I even stalked the place back in October, during my last trip to the City by the Bay. I had yet to blog about it, though, because it was extremely windy the day I was there and I only got out of the car long enough to take one photograph – the one pictured above. Check out my hair! LOL So, the other day, after reading about Marilyn’s San Francisco wedding, I sent my good friend Nat, who lives in the area, on a stalking mission to take photographs of City Hall for me, so that I could finally blog about it. 🙂 Here goes!

San Francisco City Hall was built in 1915 by architect Arthur Brown, Jr., who also designed Coit Tower, the War Memorial Opera House and Pasadena City Hall. The Beaux-Arts style building that stands today is actually San Francisco’s second City Hall. The first, which was built in 1899 and stood at the corner of Grove and Larkin Streets where the public library is now located, was completely destroyed during the 1906 earthquake. Rescue workers were able to salvage the statue that stood atop of the original City Hall’s dome and planned on placing it on the new building. Unfortunately, the statue fell off the back of a flat bed truck while being transported to its new location and was destroyed. LOL LOL LOL How’s that for irony?? The current City Hall measures over 500,000 square feet, takes up two entire city blocks, and cost over $3.5 million to build! Over ten acres of marble were used in the construction. The building’s dome stands at 307.5 feet tall, trumping Washington D.C.’s Capital Building’s dome by 14 inches.

Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio’s wedding took place on January 14, 1954 in the third floor chambers of Judge Charles S. Perry, who was a close friend of Joe’s. DiMaggio’s other good friend Reno Barsocchini and his former manager Lefty O’Doul were the couple’s only guests. Sadly, the marriage was short-lived. Marilyn filed for divorce only 274 days later. City Hall is also the location where Mayor George Moscone and County Supervisor Harvey Milk were shot to death by Dan White on November 27, 1978.

San Francisco City Hall has been featured in countless movies and television shows over the years. The interior of the building’s rotunda showed up at the very end of Raiders of the Lost Ark, where it stood in for the Washington D.C. building where Indiana Jones agreed to let Marion Ravenwood buy him a drink (pictured above). City Hall was also used in Bedazzled, The Rock, A View to a Kill, Dirty Harry, Milk, Tucker: The Man and His Dream, The Towering Inferno, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Dharma and Greg (in the “Much Ado During Nothing” episode), Foul Play, and Bicentennial Man, just to name a few!

I highly recommend stalking San Francisco City Hall. It is an absolutely beautiful building and just seeing the dome alone in person is worth a drive by! And, although I didn’t venture inside while I was stalking the place, the first floor area is open to the public. Free tours are also given three times daily, Monday through Friday, at 10 a.m., 12 p.m., and 2 p.m. San Francisco City Guides also offers free interior tours of City Hall every Thursday at 11:00 a.m. You can visit their website for further details.

Big THANK YOU to my surrogate stalker Nat who took all of the above photos. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: San Francisco City Hall is located at 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place in San Francisco.

April 29, 2009April 27, 2009

The Poppa’s Popcorn House!

Quite a few months back, I challenged Mike, from MovieShotsLA, to find the house the Ashe family moved into in the Season 2 episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 entitled “Ashes to Ashes”. In the episode, the African-American family moves in to a home just down the street from the Walshes, causing quite a stir in their normally quiet neighborhood. The patriarch of the family is none other the “Poppa of Poppa’s Popcorn”, which just so happens to be Brenda’s favorite popcorn brand. 🙂 Vivica A. Fox, in one of her very first roles, plays the Ashe Family daughter, Charise, in the episode.

Mike found the house pretty much immediately, thanks to the address number shown on the Ashe family’s next door neighbor’s home in the scene when Charise’s boyfriend, Devo, gets arrested by the Beverly Hills Security Patrol (pictured above). Five digit address numbers are usually found in Encino, so Mike started his search there. And, sure enough, that’s exactly where the house was located! So, this weekend I just had to drag my boyfriend out to stalk it!

The exterior of the Encino house shows up several times in the “Ashes to Ashes” episode, most prominently as the location where Brandon and Charise get into a minor car accident. The interior of the home was also featured numerous times. And while the house may be located in Encino, it does look like it could have been found in the Walsh neighborhood, so it’s easy to see why producers chose to use it. It’s also less than four miles away from the Van Nuys studio where 90210 was filmed, which must have made it the easy choice for filming.

I am happy to report that the Poppa’s Popcorn house looks exactly the same today as it did when the “Ashes to Ashes” episode first aired back in 1991. The trees out front have grown quite a bit since then, of course, but otherwise the house looks pretty much the same. I will say that the home is HUGE in person, though, even bigger than it seemed on 90210. When I first drove by, it felt like the house just kept going and going and going. Needless to say, it was very exciting for me to finally be stalking the Poppa’s Popcorn house. In fact, when we first drove up to it I was immediately transported back to high school and I could almost picture Brandon backing his classic yellow mustang out of Charise’s driveway. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Poppa’s Popcorn House is located at 15912 Woodvale Road in Encino.

April 28, 2009June 16, 2011

The Beverly Hills, 90210 Spring Dance!

A few weeks ago, I happened to pop in my Beverly Hills, 90210 Season 1 DVDs to watch the “Spring Dance” episode – one of my very favorite 90210episodes of all time! As I scrolled through the DVD menu, I realized that, unbelievably, I had yet to watch that episode accompanied by the commentary by series’ creator Darren Star. So, I settled in with a nice Starbucks Iced Latte to listen to what Darren had to say. And I am SO glad I did, because besides dishing juicy little tidbits of information (such as Shannen Doherty and Luke Perry were not getting along at all that day), Darren also stated that the West Beverly High Spring Dance sequence had been filmed at the Universal Sheraton Hotel in Universal City. So, I of course, grabbed my boyfriend and my camera and immediately headed over there! 🙂

Unfortunately, last year the Sheraton Universal Hotel underwent a $25 million renovation project and now looks completely different than it did back in 1991 when 90210 was filmed there. 🙁 Even the hotel’s main entrance has changed significantly and the circular awning which was shown as the gang drove up to the prom venue has been replaced. : ( According to the hotel’s General Manager, Peter Walterspiel, the forty year old Sheraton “needed a facelift pretty badly”.

First opened in 1969, the twenty story, 451 room hotel is now ready to face the 21st Century. Although I never saw the Sheraton pre-remodel (except on 90210, that is!) , I absolutely love the way it now looks! The lobby is shiny and modern and full of bright, open spaces. And there are many black and white photographs of old time movie stars, like Audrey Hepburn and my girl Marilyn Monroe, lining the lobby walls! Gotta love it! 🙂

I really wanted to grab a cocktail in the hotel’s Club Lounge (where the lights change colors based on the cycle of the sun!), but alas it was only 4 in the afternoon when I was there. 🙁 Oh well, next time!

The Beverly Hills, 90210 Spring Dance scenes were filmed in the hotel’s Grand Ballroom, which, thankfully, looks much the same today as it did eighteen years ago when it appeared on 90210. 🙂 Although some parts of the room have changed since that time, you can see in the above photos that the dark wood doors, wainscoting, and even the wallpaper are still the same.

You can see in the above photos that the wierd lights located above the ballroom doors also haven’t changed since the filming. The screen capture I made of the lights didn’t come out very well, but if you watch the episode you can see the lights more clearly.

Many other productions besides Beverly Hills, 90210 have also been filmed at the Sheraton Universal Hotel. The reality series Cougar used the hotel for both location filming and as the place where all of the contestants were put up during the filming. According to the concierge the escalators leading down to the hotel’s conference rooms were used repeatedly on the show (pictured above). Contestants from the reality series America’s Got Talent were also put up at the Sheraton Universal. And on an episode of Hogan Knows Best, Brooke Hogan and her father, Hulk, checked into the Sheraton while visiting Los Angeles. A recent episode of the television series Chuck was filmed in the Club Lounge and the hotel was also featured in both Desperate Housewives and CSI: Las Vegas.

The Universal Sheraton, which is nicknamed the “Hotel of the Stars”, often plays host to celebrities, as well, including George Clooney, B.B. King, Michael Jackson, Ava Gardner, Tom Hanks, Sophia Loren, Gladys Knight, John Travolta, Dolly Parton, Matthew McConaughy, and my girl Jen Aniston. Telly Savalas, Jen’s godfather, actually LIVED in the hotel for over 17 years!!!! Apparently, Telly began staying at the Universal Sheraton while starring in the television series Kojak, which was filmed just down the road at Universal Studios. He was so keen on the hotel that he ended up moving his wife and kids in and making it his permanent residence. Supposedly, he used to hang out quite often in the lobby bar and was always willing to take pictures and sign autographs for hotel guests. 🙂 Sadly, on January 22, 1994, Telly passed away in his Universal Sheraton Hotel suite. He was only 70 years old. 🙁

I HIGHLY recommend stalking – or even staying at – the Universal Sheraton. In fact, I am trying to think of a good excuse to drag my boyfriend there for a weekend. 🙂 The staff was incredibly nice to me and answered all of my silly questions about the filming that had taken place there over the years – although no one remembered the 90210 Spring Dance being filmed there back in 1991. LOL For all of you tourists who are planning a trip to Universal Studios, the Sheraton Universal would be the place to stay as it is literally a hop, skip, and a jump away from the theme park. You wouldn’t even have to rent a car. 🙂 Oh, and my favorite part of the hotel? The mini Hollywood sign located at the Sheraton’s main entrance (pictured above). LOVE IT! 🙂 I’ve gotta get me one of those for my backyard! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Sheraton Universal Hotel is located at 333 Universal Hollywood Drive in Universal City. You can visit their website here. The Beverly Hills, 90210 Spring Dance took place in the hotel’s Grand Ballroom, located just downstairs and to the right of the main lobby.

April 26, 2009April 30, 2009

Speidi’s Wedding

Well, it finally happened! Yesterday was the big day! The reality TV event of the season! What I’m sure was for some fans the wedding of the century! I, of course, am talking about the nuptials of Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag that took place yesterday at around 5 p.m. in Pasadena. And, I, of course, was on the scene to stalk the whole thing! 🙂 My boyfriend and I arrived at Westminster Presbyterian Church at around 12:30 yesterday afternoon. The original plan was to snap a few photos of the wedding set-up, leave, and then come back at around 4 p.m.to take some more pics. Well, what’s that quote about the best laid plans of mice and men? 🙂 I took one look at the absolute pandemonium that was already in place at 12:30 and that was it for me! I was not going anywhere! LOL So, yes, I stood out on the sidewalk in front of that church from 12:30 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. yesterday watching the incredible media shitstorm that Speidi had created. And, let me tell you, I loved EVERY SINGLE MINUTE OF IT! 🙂

I actually have to say that “shitstorm” doesn’t even begin to describe what was taking place yesterday! The wedding was originally scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. and three and a half hours prior to that there were already about forty photographers and paparazzi lining the street. The entire city block surrounding the church had virtually been shut down and there were at least 50 policemen and another 50 private security guards on duty. It was absolute insanity! Honestly, it was bigger than any film shoot I’ve ever witnessed. When we first arrived at the church, Heidi and Spencer were already inside getting ready and their Rolls Royce Phantom was parked right outside (pictured above).

From the outside, it looked as if a film shoot was taking place, complete with a ginormous lighting truck set up shining bright lights through the church windows. Being that the whole event was being taped for The Hills, I guess in a sense a film shoot was taking place. But standing outside watching everything, I almost forgot it was a real life wedding that I was there to see. 🙂

The security for the wedding was INTENSE! Every single guest had to show their drivers license upon entering the church, sign photo releases, and have their photographs taken. There were also metal detectors set up inside of the church, which I am pretty sure were there to ensure that no guests brought cameras inside.

Early in the afternoon, Heidi’s real father stepped outside the church in full cowboy regalia to make a phone call. LOL

Lauren and Audrina were some of the first guests to arrive. Lauren arrived at around 2 p.m. and Audrina at around 2:30. All of The Hills stars were shuttled in through a back entrance so we didn’t get to see any of them until after the ceremony was over. 🙁 The only Hills stars who did make an appearance prior to the wedding were Brody Jenner and his girlfriend Jayde Nicole, who were dropped off right in front of the church. Unfortunately neither of them waved or even looked up at the photographers or fans who were screaming their names. 🙁

And then things got really exciting!! All of a sudden I noticed all of the security guards and policemen looking up at the sky. It turns out that Spencer had hired a plane to write both “Spencer Loves Heidi” and “Heidi’s #1 Hit On iTunes” in the sky.

Next thing I know, out walks the man himself, Spencer Pratt, to see the skywriting for himself! 🙂 YAY! Spencer was actually shorter than I thought he would be, maybe about 5’7″, and better looking than he appears on TV. As soon as Spencer walked out, the crowd went absolutely NUTS. And he was extremely friendly, waving and smiling for the cameras. He actually seemed a lot different in person than the guy he portrays on TV. That ever-present chip that seems to reside on his shoulder whenever cameras are rolling didn’t appear to be there yesterday. He actually didn’t seem like a jerk at all. I can’t tell you how excited I was to see Spencer in person!!!! I even yelled out “Congratulations” and he said back “Thank you!” LOL

By the time Spencer had come outside, the skywriting had all but disappeared and one of the young girls standing across the street told him she had taken pictures of the writing. So, Spencer walked across the street to take a look at her photos and then posed for a picture with her and her friends, which I thought was so sweet. NO ONE else from The Hills did anything even remotely close to this yesterday, in fact most of them wouldn’t even wave to the fans, so that’s really when my opinion of Spencer started to change.

The next “celeb” to arrive was Perez Hilton, who pretty much looked like he just rolled right out of bed for the event. He was actually wearing khaki pants and a hoodie!! underneath a blazer. What a complete and total douchebag! I cannot even believe he got invited to the wedding! I so should have been invited instead! 🙂

Next up was Justin Bobby, who arrived solo. And Justin Bobby’s outfit pretty much made Perez Hilton look like a fashion model!!! Justin actually showed up in what can best be described as pirate pants! I’m not kidding! They were calf length and completely frayed at the bottom. Coupled with his black combat boots, the guy looked like he had come directly off the set of Pirates of the Caribbean. WHAT A MORON! I couldn’t zoom in close enough to get a good pic of his pants, but you can kind of see them in the above photo.

Next up was Heidi’s boss, Brent Bolthouse, who is literally about five feet tall, and Brody’s BFF Frankie Delgado.

And then, up walked “Stacey the Bartender”, and all of the fans in attendance pretty much gasped all at once. LOL After the drama she caused between Spencer and Heidi this season on The Hills we could not figure out WHY in the heck she would be invited! It is at this point that I should mention that most of the fans in attendance were 13 year old girls. Why is it always me and the 13 year old girls? LOL

Even though the ceremony was scheduled to begin at 4 p.m., it didn’t actually start until right around 5. You can see Heidi’s real dad entering the church in his cowboy style tuxedo right before the ceremony began. LOL

These two idiots didn’t show up to the church until about 5:15 (over an hour and fifteen minutes late!) and, because the ceremony had already started, weren’t allowed inside! LOL LOL LOL What a couple of douchebags! If you were lucky enough to have scored an invite to Spencer and Heidi’s wedding, wouldn’t you have MADE SURE you arrived there on time??

Speidi’s wedding ceremony only lasted about thirty minutes or so. During that time everyone pretty much just hung around, waiting with bated breath for the two to make their appearance. Earlier in the day I had made friends with an event photographer who was on hand to cover the Speidi wedding, so the two of us just chatted while the ceremony was taking place. She was incredibly nice and told me about all sorts of adventures she has had being a celeb photographer. Then next thing we knew, hordes of policemen started walking across the street, I guess as a means of crowd control. They told us to take all the photographs we wanted, but to please not run across the street when Spencer and Heidi exited the church. By this time there were so many people there it was almost unbelievable! There had to be over 100 paparazzi on the scene and easily over 300 fans. Paparazzi were literally climbing the roofs of nearby apartment buildings to get good shots. LOL

The first guest to leave the church after the ceremony was over was Lauren Conrad, aka LC. It seemed as if she left the place pretty much as soon as she could. It was a real bummer, too, as she kept her head down upon exiting the church and would not even wave or smile to the paparazzi or the fans that were there. I thought that was a pretty crappy thing to do, especially being that all of the fans on site were little kids. I can’t say I was surprised, though, as I didn’t get a very good impression of her when I watched The Hills being filmed back in August.

Right after Lauren left, all of the wedding guests filed out of the church and made their way to the front entrance for the bouquet toss;

including Heidi’s dad in his classy tux! LOL 🙂

While the normal guests filed out of the church’s side doors, all of The Hills stars came out of the front entrance, including Heidi’s mom Darlene (who is super tiny in person!) and her sister, and maid-of-honor, Holly;

Brody Jenner and girlfriend Jayde Nicole;

Frankie Delgado and Spencer’s grandma, aka “Nana”;

Audrina;

Spencer’s sister, and Heidi’s lone bridesmaid, Stephanie Pratt;

and my fave Kristin Cavallari, who looked AMAZING and who was also very friendly to the paparazzi and fans :). I can’t tell you how excited I will be if the rumors are true and Kristin really is joining The Hills once Lauren leaves. 🙂

At this point there were SO many people lined up outside the church that Brent Bolthouse actually started taking pictures of us all with his cell phone. LOL

And then came the moment we had been waiting all day for! Out walked the newlyweds – Mr. and Mrs. Spencer Pratt! Heidi looked absolutely beautiful. I loved her dress – it looked like frosting. 🙂

Then, of course, the couple kissed for us. 🙂

And, finally, Heidi tossed her bouquet, which was caught by Kristin Cavallari. Incidentally, all of the female stars of The Hills were strategically placed right in front of Heidi so that one of them would be sure to catch it. 🙂

Speidi then said hello to all of the fans in attendance and Heidi blew everyone a kiss.

Then, after saying goodbye to everyone,

the newlyweds made off in their Rolls Royce.

After Speidi left, Lo, Audrina, Kristin, and Stephanie hung around and chatted for a bit.

And, then, next thing we knew, there were Spencer and Heidi pulling up in their Rolls once again to say hi to all the fans, which I thought was SUPER sweet! A bunch of little girls ran up to take pics with the newlyweds, but unfortunately the paparazzi immediately swarmed the car, so no one could get photos of anything. I guess one of the little girls was getting pushed out of the way by the paps, and Spencer yelled out “Hey, come on you guys! She’s a little girl! Be careful!!!” See, what I mean, he’s a nice guy! 🙂 After that, Speidi took off once again and the guests and paparazzi pretty much dispersed.

Here’s a pic of Holly’s bridesmaid dress, which came from BCBG and was really, really pretty. 🙂

And there you have it – the whole event from start to finish from a stalker’s point of view. 🙂 I have to admit that, thanks to yesterdays festivities, my opinion of Spencer Pratt, and consequently his new wife Heidi, has completely changed. I love these two now. 🙂 Sure, people are going to say OF COURSE Spencer came outside and posed for the paps and the fans because he is a publicity hound. But that’s really not the impression I got. He seemed like a genuinely nice guy. I mean, he walked across the street and posed for photos with his fans when no one else from the show would. At one point fans were BEGGING Heidi’s sister, Holly, who is an absolute nobody, to come across the street to take pictures, but she refused. I have a soft spot in my heart for any celeb who is nice to their fans, especially their little girl admirers. Because once upon a time I was that little girl and I can’t even imagine how excited I would have been had I had the chance to meet my favorite star and he was nice to me! From what I observed yesterday, Spencer did not come off as the arrogant douchebag that he portrays himself to be on The Hills. I honestly think that in real life he is a nice guy, who realized very early on that the more outrageous he and Heidi acted, the more money they could cash in on. And now I think the two of them are laughing all the way to the bank. So, you know what, more power to ’em! 🙂 And I thank them sincerely for being so media friendly and announcing to the world exactly when and where their wedding would be taking place so that I could be a part of it, as it was an experience I will never forget! 🙂

Big THANK YOU to my boyfriend who acted as my paparazzi for the day and took all of the above photos! Yes, he actually stood out there with me for the entire six hours! My own father wouldn’t even do that for me, so I guess I really have to hold on to this one. 🙂

Side note – I will not be writing a new blog for Monday, since this one took me pretty much all day to write. 🙂 But I’ll be back on Tuesday with some more stalking!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Spencer and Heidi’s wedding church is Westminster Presbyterian Church located at 1757 North Lake Avenue in Pasadena.

April 24, 2009April 23, 2009

On Location With “Peep World”!

Yesterday, while heading to fave bookstore Vroman’s to pick up a stalking book I had special ordered, I happened upon a small crew filming on the sidewalk at the store’s entrance. One of the policemen on duty was extremely nice and told me that the movie being filmed was a low-budget indie entitled Peep World. The flick actually has a great cast including Sarah Silverman, Michael C. Hall (who plays Dexter on the Showtime series of the same name), and The Office’s Rainn Wilson, but unfortunately none of them were on hand while I was there. I was actually really hoping Michael C. Hall would show up as I love me some Dexter, but, alas, that was not to be.

The only actors on set that I saw were Ben Schwartz (from I Hate Valentine’s Day);

and Kate Mara (who starred in the movies Shooter and We Are Marshall). I didn’t recognize either of them, though, which is surprising being that I usually recognize anyone and everyone. 🙂 At first, I actually thought that Kate Mara was Joanna Garcia from TV’s Privileged, as the two look strikingly alike!

I only stuck around to watch the filming for about ten minutes because, sadly, the crew was NOT at all nice or friendly. One of the production guys actually tried to feed me some nonsense about it being illegal for me to take pictures of the production. But being that I was standing on a public sidewalk, talking to the policeman on duty while taking those pictures, the guy pretty much didn’t have a leg to stand on. LOL Oddly enough, some paparazzi were also on the scene taking pics and one of the crew members had a policeman ask them to leave. HUH???? Wouldn’t you think that a low budget movie would want all the publicity it could get???? I am actually shocked that the paparazzi were even there to begin with, as no one even remotely famous was on the set. It’s always such a bummer to me when film crews aren’t friendly. I find it quite ironic that the crew of a fairly low-budget indie film would be so rude, when one would expect the opposite to be true. In my experience, though, it is the big budget, A-List crews that are the nicest. Oh well, I just have to resign myself to the fact that not all film crews are as friendly as the crew of CSI: Miami.

Surprisingly enough, I also got bored quite quickly while watching the filming. And for me to get bored on a film set is almost unheard of! But nothing much was really going on. The crew was also so disorganized that it was almost comical. They scene they were filming involved a taxi carrying Ben Schwartz pulling up to Vroman’s front entrance. But because no one from the crew was stationed on the sidewalk to stop cars from entering the filming area, quite a few people were driving up and parking in the exact spot where the taxi cab was supposed to go. LOL They actually had to repeatedly stop filming to ask the drivers to move. During one take, when an older gentleman tried to walk past the camera, a crew member put his hand out and whispered “Can you hold on a minute?” The man, who was obviously hard of hearing due to his age, said really loudly “WHAT?” LOL LOL LOL So, at least I got a few laughs out of watching the filming. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Vroman’s Bookstore is located at 695 East Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena. You can visit their website here.

April 23, 2009April 23, 2009

The Knots Landing Cul-De-Sac

The first time I heard about the wildly popular 80s primetime soap opera Knots Landing was when it was referenced in the Season 2 episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 entitled “Wild Fire”. In the episode, after getting into a fight with Brenda over Dylan McKay’s affections, Emily Valentine announces “This isn’t Beverly Hills, it’s Knots Landing! When I got to school they should have given me a scorecard instead of a class schedule so I could keep track of everyone’s boyfriends.” LOL Love it! But for my good friend and fellow stalker, Kerry, during her teenage years Knots Landing was her 90210. She loved the show so much, in fact, that one day she actually called up the production company and asked where the famous cul-de-sac from the series was really located. And they told her! See why we’re such good friends? 🙂 So, since I was in the area this weekend, I decided to stalk it!

The Knots Landingseries, which has the distinction of being one of the longest running primetime dramas in the history of television, centered around the happenings of a group of families living in a beachside cul-de-sac named Seaview Circle. In real life that cul-de-sac is known as Crystalaire Place and it is not located anywhere near the beach. It’s actually in Granada Hills in L.A.’s San Fernando Valley. Producers actually edited the beach into the series opening credits to make it appear as if the cul-de-sac overlooked the ocean. LOL

Even though I’ve never seen even one episode of the series, I was still super excited to be stalking the famous Knots Landing cul-de-sac. All I could think about while I was there was how cool it would be if Wisteria Lane from TV’s Desperate Housewives was a real life residential street that fans could visit. 🙂 I realize that people can stalk the Wisteria Lane set at Universal Studios, but somehow it’s just not the same.

All in all, five houses on Crystalaire Place were used in the filming of Knots Landing, including the Ewing house;

the Mackenzie house;

the Cunningham house;

the Avery house;

and the Ward house.

I am happy to report that aside from some minor changes like paint color, all of the houses are very recognizable from the series. 🙂 If you were at all a fan of Knots Landing, I highly recommend stalking Crystalaire Place. And please excuse some of my photos. I stalked the cul-de-sac on a very bright day and in some of the pictures my camera picked up quite a glare. 🙁

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Knots Landing cul-de-sac is really Crystalaire Place in Granada Hills. Gary Ewing’s house is at 16966 Crystalaire Place. Karen Mackenzie’s house is at 16972. The Avery house is number 16975. The Cunningham house is at 16969. And the Ward home can be found at 16961.

April 22, 2009April 22, 2009

Hugh Jackman’s Hand and Footprint Ceremony

Got a call from my good friend Blaze on Monday morning who told me that Hugh Jackman’s Hand and Footprint Ceremony was scheduled to be held the following day at Mann’s Chinese Theatre. So, of course, we made plans to attend. 🙂 I was incredibly excited to see a handprint ceremony in person, not so much because I am a huge fan of Hugh Jackman, but because the event is so historic. That being said, Hugh Jackman is an AMAZING talent and he completely rocked this year’s Oscars, so I was pretty excited about seeing him in person, too. But truth be told, I would have been excited to see just about anyone. 🙂

The Hand and Footprint Ceremonies, or Inductions into the Forecourt of the Stars as they are also called, take place fairly rarely. Previous to yesterday’s ceremony, the last movie star to be immortalized in cement was Michael Caine on July 11, 2008. In 2007, there were three induction ceremonies, one for the cast of Ocean’s 13 (Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Matt Damon, and producer Jerry Weintraub), one for the stars of the Harry Potter movies (Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint), and one for superstar Will Smith. So, I really could not have been more floored to attend! Sadly, though, the event was incredibly disappointing! Even more so for me because I had been so excited about it. 🙁 As you can see in the above photograph, the ceremony was slated to begin at 10 a.m. But that’s not really what happened.

Blaze and I showed up to Mann’s Chinese Theatre at around 8:30 a.m. to stake out a place in line. By that time there were already about a hundred people lined up. Within an hour, about 500 more people arrived. Who knew Hugh was so huge! Needless to say, the event was packed. Right around 9:30 a.m., we were led to a set of bleachers which had been set up in the middle of Hollywood Boulevard. Now, even though it was only 9:30 in the morning, the temperature had already reached 90 degrees! For those of you who don’t live in the area, L.A. has been experiencing a bit of a heat wave the past few days. And the bleachers were located in direct sunlight, so, let me tell you, it was HOT. I’m actually surprised that no one passed out, it was that hot. At around 10:15 when the ceremony had not yet begun, I was starting to feel a bit woozy. At 10:25 I was ready to pack up and call it a day.

At 10:32, when a group of men started hanging a sign at the foot of the stage, I was ready to scream! The ceremony was set to start at 10 and 32 minutes after the fact they are still hanging signs???? I took the above photos of some nimrod with a tape measure who was trying to center the sign correctly, just to make sure it was all really happening and I wasn’t suffering from some heat-induced hallucination. LOL I don’t have a lot of patience to begin with, so for me this was torture. And I LIVE for this sort of thing! So, I can only imagine how the people in attendance who weren’t quite so into the whole Hollywood thing were dealing. When I attended the Friday the 13th premiere back in February, everything went off without a hitch, so I was really surprised at how disorganized this event was.

Anyway, the event FINALLY got underway right at 11 a.m., exactly one hour past the scheduled start time. Just a few minutes before Hugh was introduced, six men walked out carrying the cement block Hugh would soon be standing in. I couldn’t believe it took six men to hold it!!!!

Then, Jay Leno, who was emceeing the event, came out and made a very brief speech introducing Hugh. Jay was much larger than I expected him to be and seemed to have on a ton of makeup. Jay said that Hugh is one of the nicest celebs he’s ever had on his show. He said that you can tell a lot about a person from how they treat the people working behind the scenes in show business, and that Hugh is always extremely kind to everyone from the makeup crew to the production staff at The Tonight Show.

Then, finally, Hugh came out! HJ is very good-looking and VERY tall – 6’2″ according to IMDB – in person. He is in excellent shape, too. Hugh posed for some quick media photographs before heading over to the podium to make a speech.

In his speech, which was also very brief, Hugh said that about 12 years ago when he and his wife first moved to L.A., they visited Mann’s Chinese Theatre and he put his hands in Peter Sellers handprints, which I thought was really cute. Maybe someday I’ll be up at that very podium saying that I once put my hands in Marilyn Monroe’s handprints. 🙂

Hugh also thanked his wife and two children who were in attendance. Apparently, Hugh’s nine year old son told him he would only come to the ceremony if Daddy promised not to make a long, boring speech. LOL

Also in attendance at the ceremony was 20th Century Fox owner Rupert Murdoch and his wife, Wendi Deng.

Then came the moment we’d all been waiting for – the handprints! It was actually pretty bizarre to see the handprint process in person, as three men were actually surrounding Hugh the whole time, physcially guiding him through it. You can see in the above photographs how the two men on either side of him actually placed his hands in the cement for him and then held them down. What was also odd was that he had to leave his hands in the cement for a good minute before taking them out. I’m not sure if that was strictly so that the media in attendance had time to snap photographs or if it had something to do with the time it takes for cement to set.

It was very apparent how excited Hugh was to be recieving this honor. His grin was absolutely HUGE. So cute! 🙂

Then, HJ signed his name in the cement with a little wooden stick, which he ended up giving to someone in the crowd. 🙂

Then, this time with the help of four men, Hugh placed his feet in the cement.

As with his hands, Hugh also had to keep his feet in the cement for quite a long time – at least one full minute.

As he was wiping his feet off, one of the fans in the bleachers called out “Can I have your shoes?” LOL Hugh said no to that one, though. I’ve heard that Mann’s actually provides the shoes that celebrities wear during the footprint ceremony, but in this case it appeared that HJ wore his own shoes. They didn’t look new.

After his feet and hands had been immortalized in cement, Jay and Hugh returned to the podium and thanked everyone for coming. At that point Hugh turned to the bleachers and thanked all of his fans, whom he said he knew he wouldn’t be here without. And that was pretty much it. All in all the ceremony took about ten minutes. LOL

And literally the second it was over, Jay Leno was out of there!! He pretty much immediately dashed off stage and into a waiting car without signing any fan autographs. 🙁 I think that had a lot to do with the heat, though. As you can see in the above photograph, Jay looks as if he’s about to wilt. Check out his hair! LOL

After the ceremony was over, Hugh announced he was going to sign autographs for the many fans in attendance. I was extermely impressed by this being that it was so darn hot outside. Blaze and I didn’t stick around for an autograph, but instead walked to a nearby grocery store to buy some much needed bottled water. Twenty minutes later, as we made our way back to Mann’s, Hugh was STILL there signing autographs!! He seemed like a genuinely appreciative, kind, and humble guy. And while it was extremely exciting for me to see a hand and footprint ceremony in person, I don’t know that I’d ever do it again. 🙁 Well, maybe if it was for my girl Jen. But even then I’d have to think long and hard about attending.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Mann’s Chinese Theatre is located at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood. You can visit their website here. Hugh Jackman’s handprints and footprints are currently on display in the center of the Chinese Theatre’s Forecourt to the Stars.