famous places – Page 59 – IAMNOTASTALKER

March 20, 2009March 23, 2009

The Mentalist’s CBI Headquarters

My location obsession as of late has been the CBI Headquarters building where Patrick Jane and the gang report to work each week on my new fave show The Mentalist. I do love me some Simon Baker! He’s such a cutie! 🙂 Being that it is quite unique in appearance, I had an inkling that Mike, from MovieShotsLA, might recognize the building used on the show, but since he had never watched The Mentalist I was out of luck there – until this past Tuesday night when the episode entitled “Bloodshot” aired. For the first time ever, the cast and crew actually filmed on location at the Headquarters building (in the past it had only been used for set-up shots) and I was able to make quite a few screen captures to send to Mike. And, sure enough, he recognized the building immediately! He’s so my hero!

In actuality, CBI Headquarters is the rear entrance of the Pico House, a former luxury hotel and a National Historic Landmark located in Downtown Los Angeles. I am ashamed to admit that I have actually visited the Pico House several times, but never recognized it as the CBI Building, most likely because the front of the former hotel looks strikingly different from the back. The front of the Pico House is pictured above. The Pico House was built from 1869 to 1870 by Pio Pico, a former governor of Alta California. The building was designed by architect Ezra F. Kysor and at the time of its opening was considered the most upscale hotel in the L.A. area. It was also the first three story building located in Los Angeles. The luxurious hotel boasted 82 rooms, 21 ballrooms, a French restaurant, and bathrooms for “both sexes” on every floor. LOL Pio Pico lost the hotel due to financial difficulties just ten years after its grand opening. For the next thirty years, beginning in 1892, the hotel was known as The National and was a cheap boarding house. In 1953, the hotel was taken over by the City of Los Angeles who has managed it ever since. The Pico House was restored in the 60s and again in the 80s and 90s. Today it is no longer a hotel, but remains vacant and is used as an event location and for filming. You can see great interior photographs of the Pico House here.

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Once Mike told me that CBI Headquarters was really the Pico House, I dragged my dad right out to stalk it. He actually didn’t mind being dragged to this location, as The Mentalist is one of the few shows on television that he actually likes. My dad was especially excited to see the CBI building in person since he had just watched the “Bloodshot” episode, in which the Pico House is featured prominently, the night before. He kept saying “This is so cool – I just saw this place on TV last night!”

I am happy to report that the CBI building looks exactly the same in person as it does onscreen. The “Bloodshot” episode featured several parts of the Pico House, including the exterior stairwell area where the team exited the building after being evacuated due to a bomb threat;

the alleyway where Van Pelt met her boyfriend for an early morning cup of coffee and also where Jane’s team got evacuated;

the parking lot area where the car bomb exploded and later where a temporarily blind Jane drove Van Pelt’s car;

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and Hype Nightclub, which in actuality is not a nightclub at all, but the entrance to the Pico House’s central courtyard.

I highly recommend stalking the CBI Headquarters building to all Mentalist fans. Who knows, you might even catch them filming an episode while you’re there! Even though no filming was going on while I was stalking the Pico House, I can’t tell you how excited I was to finally be seeing CBI Headquarters in person! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Mentalist’s CBI Headquarters, aka the Pico House, is located at 430 North Main Street in Downtown Los Angeles. The back side of the Pico House, which is the area shown on The Mentalist, can be viewed on West Arcadia Street in between North Main and North Spring Streets. The area surrounding the Pico House is open to the public, so I would suggest parking your car and taking a walk around the historic building. The parking lot where the “Bloodshot” episode was filmed is really the El Pueblo De Los Angeles parking lot located on the corner of West Arcadia and North Spring Street. And the fake Hype Nightclub’s entrance is located on the Pico House’s South facing wall.

March 19, 2009March 18, 2009

Helen Twelvetrees’ House

A couple of weeks ago I picked up a book that is quickly shaping up to be my new stalking tome. It’s called Movie Star Homes: The Famous to the Forgotten and it features photographs and addresses of over 350 celebrity homes, most of them from the Golden Age of Hollywood. I have never really been much into the celebs of yesteryear (except for my girl Marilyn), but once I picked up this book I really couldn’t put it down. It wasn’t long before I had about thirty pages dog-eared and was dragging my boyfriend out the door with a whole new set of locations to stalk.

The first location on my list? The former home of a 30’s movie star whom you’ve probably never heard of, but whom I’ve always had a special place in my heart for – Helen Twelvetrees. I’ve never actually seen any of Helen’s movies, nor do I even really know what she looks like. But back when I was about 18, I came home from college one day and announced to my family that I was switching my major from pre-law to theatre because I wanted to become an actress. It was at that moment that my grandfather started calling me Helen Twelvetrees. My grandpa was always making up silly little nicknames for various family members, so I didn’t really think anything of it. For years this went on, with my grandpa saying “Well, if it isn’t Helen Twelvetrees!” every time I walked into a room and me thinking it was a name he had made up for me. It wasn’t until after my grandfather passed away in 2005 that I came across a listing for Helen on IMDB and realized that she had in fact been a real person – not to mention a big time movie star back in the ’30s.

So, when I saw the address of a home Helen lived in during the ’30s in my new stalking book, I just about fell out of my chair. And, of course, I immediately dragged my boyfriend right out to stalk it. So, Grandpa, this ones for you! 🙂 Helen’s former home is a very cute little Mediterranean style dwelling located on a one way street in the Whitley Heights section of Los Angeles. And, as it turns out, the house is currently for sale! While the real estate listing makes no mention of its famous former resident, it does indicate that the 3,000 square foot home, which was built in 1923, has parquet floors, crown moldings, and a hot tub. The asking price is a cool $1,150,000.

My favorite feature of the house, though, is the view of the Hollywood sign from the front yard. Love it! 🙂 You can see interior photos of Helen’s former home on its real estate listing here.

According to my buddy EJ over at The Movieland Directory, Rose McGowen and Rachel Bilson both owned a home located just a few doors down from Helen’s. The house pictured above was first owned by Miss McGowan who sold it to Rachel in November of 2004. Rachel then sold the house just a little over a year later in December of ’05. And it was sold yet again this past January for $1,075,000. I also read on this website that Busy Phillips owned the very same house at one point in time, but I haven’t been able to confirm that. Seems like it’s a pretty lucky house, though, being that several successful actresses have lived in it. I need to get me one of those! 🙂 You can see interior photos of the home here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Helen Twelvetrees’ former home is located just off the 101 Freeway at 6851 Iris Circle in Hollywood. Rachel Bilson and Rose McGowan’s former house is just down the road at 6867 Iris Circle.

March 18, 2009January 30, 2011

Tad Hamilton’s House

Another day, another Tad Hamilton location! Last week while searching for the Sex and the City honeymoon house I ran across aerial views of a Malibu home that looked very familiar to me (pictured above). It didn’t take long before I realized the house was used as Tad Hamilton’s ultra-modern white mansion in fave movie Win A Date With Tad Hamilton. So, of course, I dragged my boyfriend right out to stalk it! 🙂

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When I first saw Win A Date back in 2004, I assumed Tad’s house was just a set. I knew the pool area was most likely authentic, but the interiors seemed far too stylized to be real. But it turns out that Tad’s house is actually a real home located right on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu.

In Win A Date, both the interior and the exterior of the real home were used quite extensively. The pool area shows up most prominently in a scene that was deleted from the actual movie, but that is featured in the DVD’s deleted scenes section. In the scene, Paris Hilton parachutes from an airplane into Tad Hamilton’s pool in an attempt to meet the movie star (pictured above).

Also featured in Win A Date is Tad’s entryway;

the front of the home;

the living room area;

and the wet bar.

I can’t even imagine living in a place like Tad’s. It’s just so modern and so . . . what’s the word I’m looking for? Oh, yeah, “blue”. In real life and in the movie the home has an odd blue tint to it, as you can see in all of the screen captures pictured above. It does look like a great place to have a party, though. 🙂 And it’s not hard to see why producers chose it as the home of the gorgeous, but somewhat shallow and morally empty movie star Tad Hamilton. You can compare the above screen captures to these real life interior photos of the house.

This same home was also featured in the 1991 movie Terminator 2: Judgment Day where it was used as the residence of computer scientist Miles Dyson and his family. It is this home that Linda Hamilton shoots up in an attempt to kill Miles towards the end of the movie. As you can see in the above screen captures, the interior of the home has been extensively remodeled since then and looks nothing like it did when Terminator 2 was filmed there over 18 years ago.

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In fact, at first glance the Win A Date house and the Terminator 2 house seem like different homes altogether. But they’re not. Although it is slightly hard to see, the above screen captures show that the stairs leading down to the living room area, the doorway leading to the kitchen, and the stairway and landing that lead to the second level are in the exact same position. The house has been given a major facelift, but structurally it’s the same as it was all those years ago in Terminator 2.

I can’t really say that I recommend stalking Tad Hamilton’s house. The above photographs show what you can see of the home from the Pacific Coast Highway – which is minimal. Aside from a white cabana-like structure, exterior pool lights, and a cement sign with the address number on it, virtually nothing is visible from the street. So Tad Hamilton and Terminator 2 fans will just have to be satisfied with cyber-stalking the home instead.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Tad Hamilton’s house is located at 30065 Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu.

March 9, 2009March 8, 2009

Donna and David’s Wedding

A few months ago Mike, from MovieShotsLA, called to tell me that he had located the church where Donna married David on the very last episode of Beverly Hills, 90210. He mentioned something about the church being located in Sunland, a small town on the outskirts of Burbank, and for the first time ever I thought Mike, God of stalking, had actually gotten a filming location wrong. You see, I could say with absolute certainty that Donna and David did not get married in a church anywhere near Sunland. How could I be so sure about the location of their wedding? Because I was there! 🙂

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Back in the Spring of 2000, just a few weeks after I had first moved to Los Angeles, I was given the once in a lifetime opportunity of being an extra on the very last episode of Beverly Hills, 90210,entitled “Ode to Joy”. I had just registered with Central Casting, Los Angeles’ premiere extras casting agency, and was calling the hotline to see what jobs were available for the week when I heard words which I will never forget: “Be a part of television history – press one to be a guest at Donna and David’s wedding on the very final episode of 90210.” Well, let me tell I just about died! I believe I stood with the phone in my hand screaming for a good two minutes. LOL I swear if you had told me back in high school that one day I would be attending the wedding of Donna Martin and David Silver I probably would have had a heart attack right then and there. LOL You can see me in the above screen captures dancing at Donna and David’s reception. 🙂

Anyway, it turns out that Mike was not actually wrong about Donna and David’s wedding location. I should have known – he’s never wrong! 🙂 For whatever reason, producers chose to film the set-up shots of Donna and David’s wedding church at the First Baptist Church of Sunland. But all of the actual filming took place about twenty miles away from there in a small chapel right off the 101 Freeway in Hollywood. So, last weekend I decided I just had to revisit the site of one of my very first acting jobs and I dragged my boyfriend out to stalk the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood.

Donna and David’s wedding was not actually held in the First Presbyterian Church’s main building, but in a smaller venue named Wylie Chapel, which is also located on the church premises. The wedding ceremony took one full day to shoot, as did the reception scene, which took place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. And, if I remember correctly, we shot the reception scene first. Both days lasted well over 14 hours – and, let me tell you, I loved every single minute of them!!! I have to say that being on the final episode of 90210 was an absolutely magical experience for me. Especially since it was one of my very first encounters with Hollywood. I swear I spent the entire two days with stars in my eyes. 🙂 The cast and crew were incredibly nice – especially Luke Perry and Ian Ziering. I met Ian during one of our lunch breaks and I told him that in high school I had slept on 90210 sheets. Well, he was absolutely shocked that there was such a thing as 90210 sheets and next thing I know he’s screaming “Luke! Luke! You’ve gotta come hear this!” Well, I just about keeled over as Luke Perry, love of my high school life, walked right up to us and Ian told him about my sheets. Luke started laughing and said “Well, then I guess you can say we’ve slept together.” LOL Luke was even cuter in person that I ever imagined he could be and when I told him he was my first Hollywood crush he shook my hand and introduced himself. Sigh! I’m telling you, inside I was absolutely dying! I’m amazed I was actually able to get any words out of my mouth while talking to him. LOL And if you’re wondering – Jennie Garth was the least friendliest of the bunch, which really surprised me.

The First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood is actually used quite often for filming. Besides 90210, it was also featured in the 2007 movie Welcome to Paradise. And while we were stalking the place, filming crews for the television series Chuck pulled up. 🙂

The church was founded in 1903 and once boasted the largest Presbyterian congregation in the world! The main building, which is still used for church services today, was erected in 1923. The church property takes up an entire city block and has a huge courtyard and garden area which is where the extras hung out while 90210 was filming. I can still remember Brian Austin Green playing chess in the courtyard with the extras during his breaks. There is also a theatre on the church gounds. 🙂 First Hollywood Presbyterian also has amazing views of the Hollywood sign, but ironically enough, the church was there long before there ever was a Hollywood sign to view. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Donna and David’s wedding was held in the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood’s Wylie Chapel, which is located at 1763 North Gower Street in Hollywood. Their wedding reception was filmed in the Beverly Hilton Hotel’s former Coconut Club, which is now the Beverly Hills Ballroom.

March 3, 2009March 3, 2009

Tom and Gisele’s Big Day

Last Friday night while watching my new favorite show Talk Soup (why on earth I was not a regular watcher before is beyond me!!!!), a news flash splashed across my screen announcing that New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady had wed supermodel girlfriend Gisele Bundchen the previous evening. According to reports the hush-hush ceremony took place on the evening of February 26th at Saint Monica’s Catholic Church in Santa Monica and only a few guests were in attendance. Even though I am in no way, shape, or form a fan of Tom or Gisele, since I just happened to be in the area this weekend, I thought I’d stalk the church where their nuptials took place. 🙂

I’ve actually been to St. Monica’s Church quite a few times over the years, as it used to be my boyfriend’s local parish. It is an absolutely beautiful place, inside and out, and I am not at all surprised that Gisele and Tom chose it for their top-secret ceremony. The church was established way back in 1886, but the church that now stands at the corner of 7th Street and California Avenue wasn’t built until 1926. There is also an elementary school and a high school on the site. Since it’s inception over 123 years ago, St. Monica’s has grown to become one of the largest Catholic congregations in the Los Angeles area.

Saint Monica’s Catholic Church is no stranger to celebrity. It was featured in both the 1956 film Full of Life and the 1944 Academy Award winning musical Going My Way. Barry Fitzgerald, the lead character in Going My Way, was actually based on former St. Monica Monsigor Nicholas Conneally. Besides Tom and Gisele, other celebrities who are fans of the church include Martin Sheen, Brooke Shields, architect Frank Gehry, and Lawrence Welk. Lucy Lawless aka Xena, Warrior Princess, was married at St. Monica’s in 1998 and the memorial services for both Chris Farley and Lucille Ball were held there in 1997 and 1989 respectively.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Saint Monica’s Catholic Church is located at 725 Santa Monica Boulevard in Santa Monica.

February 27, 2009

Becky Bloomwood Takes on the El Capitan!

I have long been obsessed with the “Confessions of a Shopaholic” book series authored by British novelist Sophie Kinsella (aka Madeline Wickham). So obsessed in fact that about five years ago when I heard that Hollywood was optioning a screenplay based on the novels, I wrote to Sophie pitching myself for the movie’s lead role. I must say that I was absolutely born to play the story’s heroine, Becky Bloomwood – a slightly daft shopaholic with a completely unique and upbeat take on the world. So when Sophie Kinsella wrote me back, as you can imagine, I just about died!!! And then when it was announced that Sophie’s one and only West Coast stop on her Shopaholic and Baby book tour was going to be at my fave bookstore, Vroman’s, I thought it was a sign from above. In March of 2006 I did indeed get to meet Sophie at her book signing and – get this – she remembered me and my letters. Being that I decorated the letters with about a hundred sparkly shoe stickers that I made myself, I guess they were pretty unforgettable. LOL 🙂 So as you can imagine I was absolutely crushed when in late 2006 it was announced that Isla Fisher had won the much-coveted role of Becky.

The most crushing part of all for me was my belief that Isla Fisher was just simply not the right person to play Becky. If it wasn’t going to be me playing that part, then it better be someone darn perfect for the role! And Isla just wasn’t it. So yesterday after much begging and pleading my friend Blaze finally convinced me to see Confessions of a Shopaholic with him. And I have to admit that, surprisingly enough, I didn’t hate it. I didn’t love it either, mind you, I didn’t even really like it. But at least I didn’t hate it. LOL But they really should have given the movie a different title, because in no way, shape, or form does it resemble the novels I’ve grown to know and love. Aside from the characters’ names, the story is pretty much unrecognizable. And while Isla was funny – she just wasn’t Becky. I so wanted to see the warm-hearted, but hair-brained character I love so much up on that screen. And sadly, Isla wasn’t it. So, if you want my advice, don’t bother with the movie if you are at all a fan of the books. And if you’re not a fan of the books, but just want to see a romantic comedy, I’d instead recommend He’s Just Not That Into You. 🙂

The only good part about seeing Shopaholic yesterday was that we got to watch it in the famed and historic El Capitan Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. I so rarely go to the El Capitan and, honestly, I have no idea why as it is one of the most beautiful movie palaces in all of L.A. The El Capitan first opened up on May 3, 1926 and was strictly a live theatre venue. The exterior was designed in the Spanish Colonial style by art deco architect Stiles O. Clements, who was also the designer of the Wiltern and Mayan Theatres in Los Angeles. The interior was designed by San Francisco theatre designer G. Albert Lansburgh, who was also responsible for designing the Shrine Auditorium in L.A. and the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco. The interior alone cost over $1.2 million to construct. For over a decade the El Capitan had an enormously successful run showcasing live theatre performances starring such legends as Clark Gable, Buster Keaton and Will Rogers. During the Great Depression the theatre began to falter and was in danger of closing its doors. Until 1941 when a young director who was having trouble finding a theatre that would premiere his new movie asked if he could rent out the El Capitan. That director was Orson Welles and the movie was Citizen Cane. That premiere gave new life to the theatre and not long afterwards, theatre executives decided to close the space for a year in order to modernize it and customize it for film premieres. On March 18, 1942, armed with a new design and a new name, the Hollywood Paramount Theatre opened to the world. It’s first movie showing was Read the Wild Wind. The Paramount became wildly successful hosting premieres for all of the Hollywood greats, including my girl Marilyn Monroe. 🙂 In later years the theatre came to be owned by Pacific Theatres, who in 1989 partnered up with the Walt Disney Company and decided to restore the Paramount to its original glory. The theatre closed its doors once again. This time for two years, while undergoing a $14 million renovation. When it re-opened in 1991, the original name had been restored and the original glamour unearthed once again.

Today the El Capitan is where Disney holds most of its Hollywood premieres. In the past Lilo and Stitch, Monsters Inc., Bolt, Miracle, Herby: Fully Loaded, and countless, countless others have premiered there. Oftentimes, before the start of a movie, the El Capitan will feature a live-action pre-show starring some of your favorite Disney characters. And a display featuring props, costumes, and memorabilia from the movie currently playing is usually set up in the El Capitan’s basement for fans to enjoy. I took the above photo of some of Isla Fisher’s costumes from Confessions of a Shopaholic, but it didn’t come out very well. The El Capitan is absolutely breathtaking inside and its lobby and hallways have countless photographs showcasing the history of the legendary theatre and the hundreds of stars who have attended premieres there. My favorite part of the El Capitan, though, has to be the Disney Soda Fountain and Studio Store located just off the theatre’s main lobby. The Soda Fountain serves up some fabulous hot dogs and ice cream sundaes – and the walls are lined with photographs of the many stars who have dined there. I can’t recommend stalking the El Capitan enough – but I’d wait until Shopaholic leaves and a new movie comes. LOL

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The El Capitan Theatre is located at 6838 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, directly across from the Hollywood & Highland complex.

February 25, 2009August 20, 2013

The Robinson House from “The Graduate”

A few weeks back fellow stalker Scott, from the Film in America website, asked me if I knew the location of the Robinson house and the Braddock house from the 1967 movie The Graduate. He told me that he feared the locations of those homes were lost to history being that the movie was filmed over forty years ago and the addresses didn’t seem to be posted anywhere. So I just had to get Mike from MovieShotsLA on the case – and sure enough he found the houses. Well, the house, actually, but I’ll get to that later. 🙂 While doing some cyberstalking Mike came across this Wikipedia article stating that the Robinson home was located on North Palm Drive in Beverly Hills, and after a quick search of Google Maps he found the house, right where Wikipedia said it would be. 🙂

The Robinson house looks much different today than it did back in 1967 when The Graduate was filmed. At the time of filming, the home had an all white exterior while today it has a red brick facade. My initial belief was that the brick exterior was added to the house sometime after filming had been completed, but after seeing the above screen capture, I realized that, in actuality, the home has always been brick. When The Graduate was filmed the bricks were just painted white. 🙂

Because the Robinson house looks so very different today than how it appeared onscreen forty years ago, I was shocked Mike was able to locate it. But he found two “landmarks” of a sort on Mrs. Robinson’s house that he used while searching Palm Drive. The first landmark was the wierd brown wooden design that appears to the left of the front door. The second was the house’s small peaked roof area. Both are pictured above. But here’s where things get really weird!

While looking at aerial images of the Palm Drive house, I realized that the pool area and backyard looked a whole lot like Benjamin Braddock’s backyard from the movie. Armed with a pretty big hunch I grabbed my Graduate DVD and fast-forwarded through the entire thing. And sure enough, my hunch was correct – the front of the Braddock house is never shown in the Graduate – only the backyard is shown. And after looking at all of the Braddock backyard scenes one more time, I realized that the Braddock house and the Robinson house were one in the same! LOL

So last week I dragged my boyfriend out to Beverly Hills to stalk the (one and only) Graduate house and while I was there taking photographs the owner happened to drive up. So, of course, I just had to talk to her! 🙂 I asked her if she lived in the home at the time The Graduate was filmed and her mouth pretty much just fell to the floor and she said “HOW did you know this was The Graduate house?” LOL I told her that my friend Mike was a master stalker and that he had found the house by doing some cyber-stalking. She confirmed that her home was indeed used in The Graduate, but said that she didn’t live in it at the time. She said that when she purchased the house about twenty years ago, the real estate agent was marketing it as “the Robinson house”. LOL Then I asked her if her backyard was in fact Benjamin Braddock’s backyard and once again her mouth just hung open. Apparently she didn’t realize who she was dealing with! LOL She told me that, in actuality, Benjamin Braddock’s backyard existed only on a soundstage, but that his backyard and pool area were indeed modeled after hers. I’m not sure she’s entirely correct on that, though. While I have no doubt that her backyard was re-created on a soundstage and that most of the filming probably took place there, if you watch some of the Graduate pool scenes closely it becomes obvious that at least some filming did actually take place at the Palm Drive home.

So, there you have it, the mystery of The Graduate houses is finally solved. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Graduate house is located at 607 North Palm Drive in Beverly Hills.

February 24, 2009July 25, 2019

Get Out Of Line!

Those of you who read my blog regularly know that there’s only one thing I like better than stalking and that’s Starbucks. 🙂 Or any kind of coffee, really. So when Mike, from MovieShotsLA, called me up last Sunday morning and asked if I wanted to stalk a coffee shop with him, I believe my exact words were “How fast can you be here?” On a side-note, my grandma just started reading my blog and the other day she called me up and asked “So, who’s this Mike guy????” She was convinced my boyfriend must be upset about all the time Mike and I spend together stalking. And I really had to laugh at that one because I’m pretty sure my boyfriend wakes up every morning thanking his lucky stars that Mike and I found each other. You see, if Mike is out stalking with me, that means my boyfriend isn’t. And I’d say he’s pretty happy about that. No, I’d have to say that not only does my boyfriend not mind Mike and I spending so much time together, but I’m pretty sure that at this point Mike is probably in the running to be my boyfriend’s best man in our wedding.

Anyway, the coffee shop that Mike wanted to stalk is named Bean Town Coffee Bar and it was featured several times in the 2005 Will Ferrell movie Kicking and Screaming. I just rented the movie last week and I have to say that I was very pleasantly surprised watching it as it’s absolutely hilarious!! And my favorite scene in the whole movie is the one that takes place at Bean Town. In the scene, Will Ferrell has just become addicted to coffee and shows up at his favorite coffee shop for his morning fix. But on this particular day the rather long line is moving far too slowly and Will has a total coffee meltdown. I have to say that I almost died laughing watching that scene because, let me tell you, I’ve been there! There are some mornings at Starbucks where I just want to tear my hair out because the line is taking so long! My boyfriend bought me a taser (it’s pink!) a couple of months ago because he was worried about me walking to my car late at night after my acting classes and he’s always joking that one day he’s going to get a call from the police saying that I was arrested for tasing someone who was taking too long in the Starbucks line. While watching Will Ferrell’s meltdown scene, I was reminded of comedian John Pinette’s “Get Out Of Line” routine. It has to be my favorite comedy routine of all time!

In real life Bean Town is a super cute little coffee house, with exposed brick walls, comfy chairs, board games, outdoor tables, and live music on weekends. The staff is super friendly and boy is the coffee strong, but in a good way. 🙂 And no, the line didn’t move too slowly while we were there. Besides yummy coffee, Bean Town also serves up a wide array of homemade goodies, including cinnamon rolls, croissants, sandwiches, soups, and cookies. And even though I am a Starbucks girl at heart, I will for sure be returning! As the authors of the book Hometown Pasadena said “We’d live in Sierra Madre just for Bean Town – it’s the perfect coffee house.”

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Bean Town Coffee Bar is located at 45 North Baldwin Avenue in Sierra Madre. You can visit their website here.

February 20, 2009February 21, 2009

How To Spot a Movie Star!

Because so many of you have been asking lately, and in honor of the upcoming Oscar Weekend, I thought I’d do a post today on the best places to go in L.A. to see a star. But first let me start by saying that if your sole purpose in visiting L.A. is to see celebs – and let’s be honest, what other reason is there? 🙂 – the very best time of year to plan your trip is Oscar Weekend. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – Hollywood comes alive for the Oscars. I swear it’s like celebrities come out of the woodwork during that time of year and everyone who’s anyone is here. Last year this fellow stalker took my Oscar Weekend advice (you can read that advice – Part I and Part II – here) and saw 68 celebs – yes, she counted. 🙂 But if you can’t make it to L.A. this weekend – have no fear! I have advice for the other 51 weeks of the year, too! So where is the best place to go to see a movie star? The answer to that question is actually quite simple. It’s two words, really. Hotel bars! Or hotels in general for that matter – hotel lobbies, bars, restaurants – they’ll all do. A few years ago I realized that for whatever reason, almost every single time I visited a hotel restaurant or bar in the Hollywood/West Hollywood/Beverly Hills area I spotted someone famous. So now I’ve pretty much made a habit out of stalking hotel bars. And there are quite a few that stand out in my mind as celeb magnets.

So, without further ado, here is my list of must-stalk hotels (in no particular order, except for the last one):

1. Hollywood Renaissance Hotel – 1755 North Highland Boulevard in Hollywood. I’ve spotted Nikki Blonsky and Will Smith on different visits to this Hollywood hotel. The lobby was also featured in the movie Red Eye. The lobby bar is located just to the right of the main entrance.

2. The Mondrian Hotel – 8440 Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood. This is one of my favorite hotels in all of Los Angeles. The staff is always warm and friendly and the views from the pool and the hotel’s Asia De Cuba restaurant are to die for! I’ve spotted both Victoria Beckam and Spike Lee at the Mondrian. Britney Spears had one of her meltdowns during her shaved head period at the Mondrian’s pool. Pictured above is me standing with all of the paparazzi waiting to see Victoria Beckham a few years ago. 🙂 I’m the one poking my head out behind the guy in the blue blazer.

3. The Regent Beverly Wilshire – 9500 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. Besides being the hotel where Pretty Woman was filmed, the Regent Beverly Wilshire also hosts the Night Before the Night Before Party each year during Oscar weekend. I also spotted Jake Gyllenhaal in the hotel’s lobby one random Friday afternoon. And Spencer and Heidi are big fans of the restaurant Cut located inside the hotel.

4. Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel – 7000 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood. I’ve blogged about this hotel numerous times before as it is so steeped in Hollywood history. Almost every celebrity in history has been spotted at this hotel. Marilyn Monroe and Montgomery Clift used to live there and today celebs like Lauren Conrad and Nicole Richie hang out by the Tropicana Bar at the hotel’s pool. I even got to meet Kristin Cavallari once while hanging out at the Tropicana.

5. Sunset Tower Hotel – 8358 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Another of my favorite L.A. hotels. Both the Tower Bar and the Terrace Room boast A-MA-ZING views and serve up some great cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. I met Kate Bosworth on one of my visits to the Terrace Room and both Jen Aniston and Kevin Spacey are regulars at the Tower Bar. I really can’t recommend this place enough!

6. Raffles L’Ermitage – 9291 Burton Way in Beverly Hills. This is the place where Brenda and Dylan shared their first kiss on the original 90210 series, so of course it holds a special place in my heart. 🙂 I’ve heard that seeing a celeb at the hotel’s Writer’s Bar (where scripts of legendary movies line the walls) is pretty much a sure thing. While I was stalking the hotel I spotted James Woods who supposedly lives there.

7. Beverly Hills Hotel – 9641 Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills. This hotel hosts the Night Before Party every year during Oscar Weekend. And I almost always spot a celeb at the hotel’s legendary Polo Lounge Restaurant. While there I’ve seen Paris Hilton (first picture of this post), Rob Reiner, Elle Macpherson, and Reese Witherspoon. It’s one of my favorite bars in all of L.A. It’s pricey, but so worth it!

8. Beverly Hilton Hotel – 9876 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. This hotel plays hosts to OVER 200!!!!! celebrity events and awards show parties each year, including the annual Clive Davis Pre-Grammy Party. There is an event there pretty much every Saturday night and you can literally just park yourself in the lobby bar, order up a few champagnes, and enjoy your perfect view of celebrity arrivals through the front door.

9. Viceroy Santa Monica- 1819 Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica. Celebs LOVE this ultra-modern avant-garde hotel, especially Britney Spears and LLo who are regulars. Kate Beckinsale has also been spotted here.

10. Casa Del Mar -1910 Ocean Way in Santa Monica. Once while grabbing a drink at this seaside hotel, I spotted my girl Jen Aniston, Vince Vaughn, Joey Lauren Adams, and Jon Favreau who were all there doing publicity for The Break Up. Katie Holmes, Mandy Moore, Britney Spears and KFed have all stayed at the hotel at one time or another. Casa Del Mar is very historic and very upscale and it’s centralized lobby bar is situated in the perfect location for viewing the many celebs who enter the front door. Shutters Hotel located right next door to Casa Del Mar is also a notorius celeb hangout. The above pics were taken with my camera phone the day we saw Jen. The first pic is of me standing with the paps outside Casa Del Mar and the second is of Jen getting into her waiting car. You can’t really tell, but I am wearing my Team Aniston sweatshirt in the pics – when Jen saw it she pointed and said “Oh, thank you!” lol

11. Chateau Marmont – 8221 W. Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood. A list of celebrity hotspots would not be complete without at least a mention of the famed Chateau Marmont. The problem is I hate this place! The staff is pretentious and snooty and if you aren’t a celeb, they pretty much treat you like dirt. Which I’m sure is one of the reasons stars like the place so much. LOL COUNTLESS celebs have visited this hotel including Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan (who used to live there), Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, Ginnifer Goodwin, the late Heath Ledger and his wife Michelle Williams, etc., etc., etc. But if you happen to spot a celeb while visiting the Chateau DON’T EVEN THINK of going up to them or snapping their pic (no cameras of any kind are even allowed in the hotel! I’m not kidding). Which is, again, probably why celebs love the place so much – and why stalkers hate it. 🙂

It is at this point that I realize my list of hotels could go on and on. Why? Because looking back on my eight years of living in L.A. I can hardly think of a time I visited an upscale hotel and didn’t spot a celeb. You really can’t go wrong with any hotel you choose. What can I say – celebs love ’em. And why not? If I was rich and famous I’d be constantly staying in hotels, too. Who wouldn’t want daily turn down service and a nightly pillow mint? 🙂

Restaurants can also be good places to see celebs, but I’ve always had better stalking luck at hotels. If you want to try your hand at a restaurant, though, these are the ones I’d recommend: Marix Tex Mex Cafe (a Jen Aniston favorite located at 1108 N. Flores Street in West Hollywood – she sits on the patio), The Ivy (THE celeb stalking restaurant located at 113 North Robertson Blvd. in Beverly Hills – every celeb and their mother has dined here), Ago (the Robert Dinero owned Italian restaurant where Quentin Tarantino once punched out his dinner mate located at 8478 Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood), Nobu (another Jen Aniston – and every other celebrity – favorite located at 3835 Cross Creek Road in Malibu), Katsuya ( a celeb fave sushi spot located at 11777 San Vicente Blvd. #120 in Los Angeles), Orso (Simon Cowell’s favorite located at 8706 West 3rd Street in Los Angeles), Il Sole (Jen’s absolute fave and notorius celeb hot spot located at 8730 Sunset Blvd. in West Hollywood), and, finally, Madeo (the celeb restaurant du jour located at 8897 Beverly Boulevard in West Hollywood).

And finally, a few random locations where celebs always seem to congregate: the Brentwood Country Mart shopping center which seems to be Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck’s home away from home; the Santa Monica Farmers Market – an outdoor food bazaar that occurs on Arizona Avenue twice weekly (Wednesday and Saturday mornings) where a lot of celebs buy their produce; Malibu Country Mart – Malibu’s main upscale shopping center; and the place I blogged about on Monday, the Los Angeles Farmers Market. It seems celebs like farmers markets and country marts. 🙂 LOL

My final piece of advice? If you are in the Beverly Hills/Hollywood/West Hollywood area and you see a large group of men standing out in front of a hotel or restaurant, pull over immediately! Those men are paparazzi, which means there is a celeb in the vicinity!! 🙂 I’ve seen quite a few celebs just by spotting the paps. 🙂 And if you are lucky enough to come across one of those yellow signs that I love so much, stop!!! and ask the crew what is being filmed. Most crews are very friendly and will let you on set to watch!

So there it is – my advice on the best places to go celeb-stalking. Just visit a hotel, mill around the lobby a bit, grab a bite to eat or just a cocktail (much cheaper than an entire meal) and sit back and wait for the celebs to arrive. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

February 19, 2009February 21, 2009

Le Borghese Apartments

While Mike, from MovieShotsLA, was cyberstalking the ‘Til There Was You apartment building a few weeks ago, he came across a comment on a website which stated that the very same building from ‘Til There Was You was also used in the 2001 David Lynch thriller Mulholland Dr. Well, after doing a bit more research, Mike and I discovered that information is actually incorrect. While there was a Spanish style courtyard apartment building featured in Mulholland Dr., it was not the El Cabrillo apartments which I blogged about yesterday. The building used in Mulholland Dr. is actually named Le Borghese and while it does not look very similar to El Cabrillo, both buildings are extremely picturesque and serene and it is easy to see how they might have been confused for each other.

I have yet to see Mulholland Dr., but I really want to now after researching this post. Especially since the movie centers around an actress trying to make it in the bizarre world of Hollywood. I’m pretty sure I can relate. 🙂 I have heard from more than person, though, that Mulholland Dr. is by far the strangest movie they have ever seen. LOL In Mulholland Dr., Betty Elms (Naomi Watts) stays at the Le Borghese after moving to Hollywood to try her hand in show business. Ann Miller plays Betty’s apartment manager, CoCo, in her very last onscreen role.

Le Borghese was built back in 1929 by architect Charles Gault, who built a number of famous courtyard buildings in the L.A. area in the 1920s. Apparently a large olive tree existed on the lot where Le Borghese was to be built and instead of uprooting the tree, Charles ended up centering the building’s courtyard around it. That tree is still there today and is now over 100 years old. Luckily, Le Borghese’s front gates were wide open while I was stalking the place, so I got to venture inside for a little looksie. All I could think after stepping inside the building’s amazing central courtyard was “I want to live here!” 🙂 Le Borghese is quite an idyllic place. It is peaceful and serene, with koi fish and turtles swimming in the central fountain, numerous crawling wisteria vines, an outdoor fireplace, and light green benches tucked away in shaded alcoves. After seeing the building in person, it is no surprise that Le Borghese was chosen to be featured on the cover of the book Courtyard Housing in Los Angeles. The building was also featured in the 1996 movie The Truth About Cats and Dogs. I highly recommend stalking Le Borghese as it is one of the most beautiful apartments I have ever seen! You can see more photographs of the building here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Le Borghese apartments are located at 450 North Sycamore Avenue in the Hancock Park area of Los Angeles.