famous restaurants – Page 24

March 30, 2009April 6, 2009

Cafe-Club Fais Do-Do

Back before she was going shoeless in public restrooms and flashing her privates to anyone with a camera, I was majorly obsessed with pop princess Britney Spears. The hair, the cute little outfits, her music – I absolutely loved everything about the girl! I attended her 2001 Live From Las Vegas concert event, I learned the steps to “Oops! . . . I Did It Again“ and performed a mini-Britney concert with some of my sixth grade students back when I was a substitute teacher, and I dressed up like her every chance I got. The above photo is from a Christmas costume party back in 2000 when I dressed up like Britney and made my good friend Ty dress up like Justin Timberlake. He’s such a big guy, though, that everyone thought he was supposed to be Britney Spears security. LOL

So, in Spring of 2001, when a co-worker of mine told me that her good friend was responsible for casting the extras in all of Britney’s music videos, I almost died on the spot! I begged her to pass my phone number on to her friend in the hopes that maybe someday she’d hire me as an extra and I’d get to see my idol in person. Well, not three days later I got a call from the friend asking if I wanted to do background work in the Britney Spears MOVIE that was currently filming. I’ll never forget standing there screaming “Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god!” into the phone, and the friend saying – a bit nervously – “OK, you can’t do that once you get to the set!” LOL So, bright and early the next morning I set out for a three day shoot on the set of the Britney Spears movie. And I really could not have been more excited!

Britney’s movie was originally entitled What Are Friends For and the scene being filmed was the karaoke contest scene where BritBrit and her friends sang Joan Jett’s famous “I Love Rock N’ Roll” in the fictional Club Bayou, which was supposedly located in New Orleans. In reality, though, the club where Britney performed is named Cafe-Club Fais Do-Do and is located just off the 10 Freeway in Los Angeles. Even though quite a bit of Crossroads was actually filmed in Louisiana, the karaoke scene was filmed in L.A. Go figure. You can see the exterior of the fictional Club Bayou which is shown in the movie and the exterior of the real club where filming took place above.

The filming of the karaoke scene took three long days to complete, but, of course, I was loving every minute of it! I think it is pretty much safe to say, though, that no other extra was quite as excited to be there as I was. 🙂 During the three day shoot I made friends with a few of the background actors and they all teased me incessantly over my love for BritBrit. LOL Needless to say they weren’t big fans of hers. 🙂 (Pictured above are my group of extra friends hanging out on the set – I’m the one in the middle. This was long before I cut my hair and dyed it blond, so I look a bit different today.) If I remember correctly, there were about 75-100 extras hired for the karaoke scene and right before filming began one of the assistant directors gave us each an exact place to stand during the scene and told us what we were to be doing. As I was getting my instructions, a very thin blond woman came up to me and introduced herself. She told me that she LOVED my outfit and that she wanted me to be sitting front and center during Britney’s performance. She led me over to the bar area, just a few feet away from where Britney would be performing, and sat me next to an actor wearing a blue shirt. Well, it turns out that the thin blond woman was Crossroads director Tamra Davis and the actor she sat me next to was Britney’s love interest in the film, Anson Mount!!!!

Needless to say I was THRILLED!!! Not only was I sitting thisclose to Britney while she was performing onstage, but I was also right next to the movie’s lead actor! Ironically, the outfit that director Tamra Davis so loved wasn’t what I had originally intended to wear that morning. (A little known fact – 95% of the time movie and TV extras wear their own clothes during filming.) All Crossroads extras were told to wear New Orlean’s style club attire to the shoot. And on the morning of my first day on the set I had put on something entirely different. But my mom stopped me as I had one foot out the door and said “You don’t look very New Orleansy. Why don’t you wear that cute halter top you got in Hawaii with your blue capris.” Well, of course, I argued with her as I thought the shirt and pants she was talking about didn’t really match, but in the end she won out. And, as luck would have it, had I not worn that outfit I never would have gotten noticed by Tamra Davis. The moral of the story? Ladies – always listen to your mother! 🙂 As a result of my mother’s foresite, not only did I have a front row seat for Britney, but I also got considerable screen-time in the movie. 🙂 (That’s me next to Anson Mount in the above screen capture.)

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When I first saw Crossroads I just about died as you can see me quite a bit in the karaoke scene. Being that I was such a HUGE fan of Britney, it was pretty darn cool that I shared my big screen debut with her. 🙂

And let me tell you, filming that scene was quite an experience. For pretty much three days straight I sat around watching Britney perform “I Love Rock N’ Roll” on a stage that was about two feet away from me! I was literally pinching myself the whole time thinking “I’m getting paid for this????” You have to remember that this was at the height of Britney’s career – she still had that cutesy, good girl image, “Oops! . . . I Did It Again” was multi-platinum, and she and Justin Timberlake were madly in love. I mean, do you know how many 13 year old girls would have died to have been in my shoes! I was 24 at the time, but that’s besides the point. LOL 🙂 The highlight of the filming for me was when Britney Spears, Pop Princess!!!! actually started a conversation with me! I am amazed I was even able to get any words out to talk to her. LOL During one of the many breaks from filming, BritBrit walked right up to me with a big smile on her face and asked me what I was doing with my drink. I had actually been sticking my finger in the drink I was holding playing with the fake ice in my glass. In movies and television, whenever anyone is drinking, the ice in their glass isn’t real – fake ice made out of a gelatin formula is used. Real ice has a tendency to clink against glasses, thereby making noise and disrupting filming. So clear jello-like cubes are used instead – and, boy, are they fun to play with! When I told Britney this, she started laughing hysterically and said “Oh mah gawd, you’re so funny!” Apparently, she thought this was the funniest thing she had heard in a long time. LOL It really wasn’t all that funny, but I was on cloud nine, nonetheless. Britney Spears thought I was funny!!!! 🙂 BritBrit was very nice, fairly quiet, and extremely down to earth. It almost seemed as if she had no idea how truly famous she really was. She also spoke with a very heavy Southern accent, which I wasn’t expecting. And I have to say that while she seemed very sweet and SUPER cute in person, it was quite obvious that she’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer. 🙂

For me, being an extra in Crossroads was an AMAZING experience. It was truly everything I hoped it would be. I’m am so lucky it was my first movie experience, as it was such a good one. And while the actual movie didn’t turn out that great, I will always look back on my time working on it with fondness.

You can watch the entire “I Love Rock N’ Roll” scene here.

I can’t really recommend stopping by Cafe-Club Fais Do-Do for a drink as the only time I ever visited it was while we were filming. Since I’m not really a clubbin’ kind of girl, I’ve never been back to check it out. But if you’re into that kind of thing, it seems like a pretty cool place to grab a drink. The Fais Do-Do (which means “Nighty-Night” in French) building was originally constructed in 1930 and at the time housed the First Citizens Savings Bank and Trust. The club, which definitely has a New Orlean’s vibe to it, has remained a popular nighttime hotspot since its opening in 1990.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Cafe-Club Fais Do-Do is located at 5257 W. Adams Boulevard in Los Angeles. 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 17, 2009February 17, 2009

Meet Me At 3rd and Fairfax!

My boyfriend has some amazing celebrity karma! He pretty much sees a movie star of some sort or another everywhere he goes. And for some odd reason it seems his celebrity karma is especially strong when I am not with him. It drives me nuts!! Just a few of his celeb encounters that I somehow missed – he ate dinner once next to Calista Flockheart and Harrison Ford – and he didn’t even look to see what, if anything, Calista ate!!, he shopped for CD’s right next to Britney Spears at a Circuit City store, he sat next to Julia Louis Dreyfus during an outdoor theatre performance, and, my personal favorite, he stood behind Jennie Garth in line at a deli in San Ysidro. Ugh!!! Not that I am bitter about it or anything. 🙂 But I must say that the place where my boyfriend most often has a celeb sighting – I mean virtually EVERY SINGLE time he is there – is the Los Angeles Farmers Market located at the corner of 3rd and Fairfax (pictured above – that’s me and my good friend Stephanie in the pic).

So the other night, while my mom and I were walking through the Farmers Market after dinner, I told her to keep her eyes peeled for celebs. “Here???” my mom asked me in disbelief pointing to the numerous outdoor tables and metal folding chairs. “Yes!”, I told her. “No, here????” she asked me again. LOL She could not believe that the popular, but by no means upscale or fancy, outdoor market was a celeb hot spot. And wouldn’t you know it, just as we were having this little tete-a-tete, who should we walk by but Scott Caan – star of the Ocean’s 11 movies and son of movie star James Caan! Due to my thrill over seeing him in person and the flurry over our slighty ill-timed conversation, I got just a bit flustered and immediately walked right into the men’s room which happened to be located straight ahead of me. LOL! I’m not kidding! After I recovered from walking into the wrong restroom, I just had to ask Scott if he wouldn’t mind taking a pic with me. He was super nice and friendly (even though he is not smiling in the above pic) and said he would be happy to pose for a photo. After I got my pic and Scott walked away, I told my mom who she had just taken a picture of and she just about spazzed out at the fact that it was James Caan’s son. LOL See what I mean, you’ve gotta keep your eyes open!

The Farmers Market (no apostrophe) was the brainchild of businessmen Roger Dahlhjelm and Fred Beck who in 1934 proposed creating an open air market on a vacant 30 acre parcel of land owned by oil tycoon Earl Bell Gilmore. During its early days local area farmers would pay 50 cents a day to park on Gilmore’s land and sell goods directly out of their trucks. Those tailgate food stands became enormously popular and it wasn’t long before permanent stalls had to be created and, thus, the Los Angeles Farmers Market was born. Today the Market is an L.A. institution, housing over 70 permanent stalls and shops, employing more than 700 clerks, and serving up over 16 different varieties of native foods to an average of 3 million yearly visitors! Somewhere along the way someone coined the phrase “Meet me at 3rd and Fairfax” and it became almost as famous as the Market itself. 🙂

A few of you have been asking me lately for some information on the best place to spot celebs in L.A. – and I promise to do a post on that subject very soon. But for the time being let me suggest the Farmers Market, which the Los Angeles Times recently called “the number one place in L.A. to spot stars!” If you are visiting Los Angeles and want to see a movie star, this is definitely one of the top places I’d stalk. 🙂 On a recent trip there I spotted the ENTIRE Wayans Family and on my last visit I saw David Edwards who starred in the Real World: San Francisco! Also spotted at the Market and at the nearby Grove Shopping Center: my girl Jen Aniston, Jay Leno, Lauren Conrad and Steven Colletti, Jessica Simpson, Rihanna, Mischa Barton and Brandon Davis, Teri Hatcher, Will Ferrell, Drew Barrymore, and (sigh!) Luke Perry. The Market has had some historical brushes with celebrity, too. Supposedly on the morning of September 30, 1955 James Dean ate his last meal there. And legend has it that Walt Disney did some of his original sketches for what would later come to be known as Disneyland while sitting at the Market’s circular tables. Besides being a celeb hang out, the Market has also been featured in a few productions, including Body Double, Stigmata, an episode of Diagnosis Murder, and in the Season One episode of my fave The Hills entitled “Somebody Always Has To Cry”.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Farmer’s Market is located at 6333 West 3rd Street, at the corner of Third and Fairfax, in Los Angeles. I highly recommend eating at DuPars while visiting. Tyra Banks, Teri Garr, and He’s Just Not That Into You author Greg Behrendt are all fans of the 70 year old restaurant. For dinner you just can’t beat their “Beat the Clock” menu – a special menu where everyday between the hours of 4 and 6pm, the hour you arrive is the price you pay for your meal. Yes, that means that if you arrive at 5:30pm, your meal (not including a drink) costs $5.30! And the food is really good! For slightly more money, head on over to Monsieur Marcel – a superb restaurant with great food and even better service.

February 10, 2009February 13, 2009

Top of the Tower

While there are several restaurants in New York that I LOVE, there is one in particular that stands out far above the rest. That restaurant is named the Top of the Tower and it is located on the 26th floor of the Beekman Tower Hotel. Although the Top of the Tower has been one of my favorite places in all of New York for several years now, I had yet to blog about it because up until a few weeks ago, I didn’t realize it was a filming location – in one of my dad’s favorite movies no less! Two weeks ago, while looking at the Top of the Tower website, I noticed a small section mentioning that it had been used in film and video shoots. So I asked Mike, from MovieShotsLA, to call up the hotel to ask what exactly it had been featured in. For some reason making phone calls like that absolutely terrifies me. I love speaking with people face to face, but phone calls – ugh. Mike, on the other hand, dreads the face to face, but likes making phone calls. LOL What can I say – we make the perfect team. 🙂 So anyway, Mike called up the Beekman Tower for me and found out that among other things, the exterior of the hotel was featured in the Matt Damon flick The Bourne Supremacy. And voila, a blog post was born. 🙂

The landmark art deco style Beekman Tower Hotel was built in 1928 by John Mead Howells. The building’s many ornamental Gothic details were designed by sculptor Rene Chambellan. The building, which was previously named the Panhellenic Tower, was originally built as an affordable apartment complex for recent female college graduates belonging to the Greek, or Panhellenic, system – hence the name. According to the book One Thousand New York Buildings, the Panhellenic instantly became a landmark building as it was “a perfect example of vertical force”. The twenty-six story building housed 400 separate living spaces, a roof solarium with 360 degree sweeping views of Manhattan (that space is now the Top of the Tower restaurant), and a cocktail lounge. Not bad for affordable housing, huh? 🙂 The Greek Alphabet, which was carved just to the left of the building’s entrance, is still visible to this day. In 1964 the Panhellenic was sold to a private company who turned it into a regular apartment building. In the early 90s the building was sold once again and was completely renovated and remodeled and turned into the upscale, all suite Beekman Tower Hotel. You can view some great photographs of the Panhellenic Building here.

The Beekman Tower has had several brushes with celebrity. Katharine Hepburn’s sister was a resident of the Panhellenic Tower in its early years and Ms. Hepburn visited the building frequently. The photo shoot for Jennifer Hudson’s March 2007 cover story for Essence Magazine took place at the Top of the Tower. You can see behind the scenes pics of that photo shoot here. In November of 2008, a party to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Miles Davis “Kind of Blue” album was also held at the Top of the Tower. And as I mentioned earlier, the exterior of the Beekman was used in the filming of The Bourne Supremacy.

I really can’t recommend stalking the Top of the Tower enough! The food is amazing – the mashed potatoes and mushroom risotto are some of the best I’ve ever had! – the art deco ambiance is beautiful, and the service is perfection. But more than anything else, it is the breathtaking views that set this restaurant apart. The Top of the Tower has some of the most amazing views I have ever experienced in my life – especially at night when the city lights make New York extraodinarily spectacular and romantic. If you only have one night to spend in Manhattan, the Top of the Tower is the place I’d spend it.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It:The Beekman Tower Hotel is located at 3 Mitchell Place, at the corner of 1st Avenue and 49th Street, in New York City. You can visit their website here.

January 21, 2009February 13, 2009

I’ve Got the Hippy Hippy Shake!

I have been a fan of Tom C. Ruz ever since my early teens and during that time Cocktail was, of course, one of my very favorite movies. So I was floored when I found the address of the bar Tom Cruise first worked at in the movie in a book I picked up just before my recent New York trip called Manhattan On Film: Walking Tours of Hollywood’s Fabled Front Lot . So, while in New York last month, I of course dragged my boyfriend out to stalk the Cocktail bar – also known as Baker Street Pub and Restaurant. 🙂

At the time Cocktail was filmed back in 1988, the space was occupied by a T.G.I. Friday’s Restaurant – the very first T.G.I. Friday’s restaurant, actually. Friday’s was opened up in 1965 by Alan Stillman, a single New York perfume salesman and wannabe singer who was dying to meet the many stewardesses and models who lived in his Upper East Side neighborhood. The solution to his single woes? Buy an old dive bar on the corner of 1st Avenue and 63rd Street, dress it up with what would come to be known as the typical Friday’s decor, and hope that the ladies would follow. The bar would soon became a smashing success. So much so that only a week after its grand opening police had to be called in to control the lines outside! The original Friday’s moved out of the space on 1st Avenue and 63rd Street about thirty years later and an Irish bar named Baker Street Pub and Restaurant moved in.

Sadly, we didn’t get a chance to grab a drink while we were stalking Baker Street, but I did poke my head inside for a quick peek and it looks like a very cool place to grab a drink and a bite to eat. 🙂 And amazingly, even though Cocktail was filmed over twenty years ago and the bar has since changed hands, it still looks almost exactly the same today as it did during filming – minus, of course, all of the T.G.I. Friday’s “flair”. 🙂 You can see interior photographs of the bar as it appears today on the Baker Street Pub website. Supposedly an exact replica of the interior of the bar was built on a Toronto soundstage and all of the filming of Cocktail took place there, but after watching the movie earlier today it is obvious that at least some filming did actually take place in the real Manhattan bar. Interestingly enough, the bar named Cell Block that Tommy Boy worked at towards the middle of the movie was an actual Toronto jail that was dressed up to look like a Manhattan Night Club. You can see pictures of the interior of the jail on MovieShotsLA.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Baker Street and Restaurant is located at 1152 1st Avenue on New York’s Upper East Side. You can visit their website here.

January 19, 2009February 14, 2009

The Campbell Apartment

One of my favorite bars in all of New York is called the Campbell Apartment and it is located right inside the most famous train depot of them all, Grand Central Station. I discovered the bar thanks to a guide book I was reading during my first trip to New York, back in December of 2005.

The Campbell Apartment was never actually an apartment at all, but rather the business office of millionaire railroad tycoon John William Campbell. In 1920, after retiring from his position as chairman of Credit Clearing House, Campbell became a member of the board of the New York Public Railroad and decided to find a suitable office for himself close to Grand Central Station. In 1923, Campbell found his perfect office – a 3,500 square foot single room located right inside Grand Central Station. The room measured 35 feet wide, 60 feet long, and had 25 foot high ceilings. Campbell hired New York architect Augustus N. Allen to renovate the large room into his dream Florentine-style office – and no expense was spared in doing so. The office became a sort of museum, housing a million dollar art collection which consisted of vases, statues, rare books, and antique rugs. One of those rugs covered the entire floor of the large room and was worth a reported $300,000. The office featured gorgeous leaded windows, dark wood-paneled walls, a large marble fireplace, 13th Century Italian furnishings, a huge steel safe, a grand piano and a pipe organ. Besides conducting his business affairs there, Campbell and his wife would often entertain in his office, as well, hosting large groups of friends for dinner, dancing, and cocktails.

Those parties perhaps served as the inspiration for Mark Grossich, current owner of the Campbell Apartment. Mark purchased the space in 1999, 42 years after John Campbell’s death. In the interim between Campbell’s death and Grossich’s purchase, the once grand space fell into serious disarray, at different times serving as a warehouse, a storage room, and even a jail! Mark had the foresite to restore the beautiful space to its former glory, hoping that Grand Central commuters of today would step into the grand office of yesterday to sip “cocktails from another era”. And indeed they did. Ten years later they are still coming – in droves. As I learned on my first visit to the Campbell Apartment, most nights it’s standing room only.

On that first visit back in 2005, I pulled what my boyfriend likes to call my “Sex and the City coup”. In the Season One episode of SATC entitled “The Power of Female Sex”, Carrie and the girls are repeatedly denied entrance to hot new New York eatery Balzac. After their final failed attempt to dine at the eatery, Carrie makes a pit stop at Balzac’s restroom. While there she runs into the hostess who denied them entry only moments before and who is currently in need of a tampon. Carrie provides it, and after her good deed, never again has trouble getting a table at Balzac. 🙂 Well, on our first trip to the Campbell Apartment, we put our names in with the hostess and were told it was going to be at least an hour wait. It was at that point that I noticed the hostess’ sparkling, two carat, princess cut, diamond engagement ring and proceeded to drool all over it. Ever since I was old enough to know what an engagement ring was, I have known that I want a princess cut one. I don’t care how big it is, or what “clarity” or “color”, but my boyfriend knows that if he wants me to say yes, he had better be proposing with a princess cut. 🙂 Well, the hostess LOVED that I loved her ring and even let me try the huge rock on. I was dying, it was so beautiful . . . and big! Well, not five minutes later we were seated at one of the best spots in the bar. 🙂 As my mom always says, the quickest way to a girl’s heart is to compliment her engagement ring. 🙂

I am actually very surprised that Campbell Apartment was not featured in an episode of Sex and the City – it seems like just the place Carrie and the girls would kick back a few cosmos. But the Campbell Apartment was featured in the pilot episode of the ever-popular teen soap Gossip Girl as the location of Serena and Nate’s illicit affair (pictured above). The bartender told us that the bar was also used in one of this season’s GG episodes, but he was unsure of which one. I guess he’s not a big Gossip Girl fan. 🙂 The bar has also been host to many movie wrap parties and industry get-togethers.

I can’t recommend stalking the Campbell Apartment enough! It is an absolutely fabulous place to grab a drink. Stepping through the doors is like stepping back in time to a more glamorous and fabulous era – the era of Old New York.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Campbell Apartment is located at 15 Vanderbilt Avenue, inside Grand Central Station, in New York. Baseball caps and tennis shoes are not permitted, so dress appropriately. You can visit the Campbell Apartment website here.

January 16, 2009April 3, 2018

Gray’s Papaya

I know I have blogged about this location briefly once before in my You’ve Got Filming Locations page, but I think this is one location that is worthy of its very own blog post. So here goes. 🙂 I have long been a fan of Gray’s Papaya, a small hot dog stand/restaurant chain that was started in 1973 on New York’s Upper West Side. Today, 36 years later, it is practically a New York institution. Gray’s serves up the BEST darn hot dogs I have ever eaten in my life. I honestly don’t know what they put in there that makes ’em taste so darn good, but I sure want them to keep doing it! Every year, during my December New York vacation, I gain a few pounds in my stomach region thanks to Gray’s and its fabulous hot dogs. So I was super excited, while watching Sex and the City reruns this past week, to see Gray’s pop up in a Season 5 episode entitled “Plus One is the Loneliest Number”.

That episode centers around the launch party for Carrie’s newly published book – a party for which she has no date. When she leaves the celebration all alone, her limo driver happens to ask her what the party was for. When Carrie tells her that she has just published a book, the driver says that they have to celebrate the occasion and the two stop off at Gray’s Papaya for a midnight snack. And, after hearing about Carrie’s new book, the Gray’s worker gives them the hot dogs for free. This scene was actually based on the real life experience of SATC write Cindy Chupack. According to fave book Sex and the City: Kiss and Tell , after winning her first Emmy, dateless Cindy left the post-Emmy party alone and was headed home when the limo driver asked her about her night. When the driver found out Cindy had just won an Emmy, she immediately headed to a McDonald’s drive-through to commemorate the occasion. After the driver announced that Cindy had just won the award, the McDonald’s worker gave her a free chocolate shake. 🙂 For the SATC episode, producers decided to use Gray’s Papaya instead of McDonald’s because SJP has always been a big fan of the hot dog chain. 🙂

Gray’s was also featured quite notably near the end of You’ve Got Mail, as the location where Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks eat lunch just before Meg heads off to meet NY152 for the first time (pictured above).

Besides You’ve Got Mail and Sex and the City, Grey’s also showed up in one of my very favorite movies, For Love or Money (pictured above). It was also featured in Down to Earth, Crossing Delancy, and (very briefly) Die Hard With A Vengeance.

Nicholas A.B. Gray opened up the first Gray’s Papaya in 1973 with the belief that a good hot dog didn’t have to be costly. Thirty-six years later Gray’s is still serving up excellent dogs at low prices, even if they’ve had to raise those prices a few times over the years. In October of 2008, due to increased business expenses, Gray’s raised the cost of its ever-popular Recession Special (two hot dogs and a drink) from $3.50 to $4.45. Still not bad for what is easily the best hot dog in New York. I highly recommend stalking Gray’s – your pocketbook won’t mind at all. Your pants’ size might, but not your pocketbook. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: There are several Gray’s Papaya outposts dotted across Manhattan. The one from Sex and the City is located at 402 6th Avenue in Greenwich Village. The one from You’ve Got Mail can be found at 2090 Broadway on the Upper West Side. Yet another is located at 539 8th Avenue in Midtown. All Gray’s restaurants are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

January 14, 2009February 13, 2009

Location Scout-ing!

While in New York, I just had to take a jaunt over to the real life bar which stood in for Scout, the watering hole owned by Carrie and Miranda’s exes, Steve and Aiden, on Sex and the City. The bar first showed up in the Season Four episode entitled “Ghost Town”, in which Miranda and Carrie are forced to face the ghosts of their relationships past at the grand opening of their exes’ new bar. Scout (real name Onieal’s Grand Street) showed up quite a few times during Sex and the City’s run, most notably during Season Four.

Although I didn’t have a chance to step inside and grab a cocktail at Onieal’s on this trip – as I have said before there was just so much to stalk and so little time – from looking at the interior photographs of the restaurant online, I am guessing that producers chose to use the bar because of its rich mahogany interior. In SATC, Carrie’s furniture-maker ex-boyfriend Aidan was supposed to have built the entire interior of the bar by hand, and Onieal’s hand carved ceiling (which was flown in from Venice many years ago) and wood-paneled walls fit in perfectly with that idea.

I found this location thanks to fave stalking book New York: The Movie Lover’s Guide, but Onieal’s is also featured in a fabulous book that I purchased for my boyfriend this past Christmas called The Histories and Stories of the Best Bars of New York . The chapter on Onieal’s chronicles its sordid history as a speakeasy, a brothel, and a gambling establishment. Owner Chris Onieal opened up the bar in 1995 on the corner of Grand Street and Centre Market Place, in a space that has housed a bar of one type or another since 1875. The most notorious bar that stood on that spot was named the Press Room and it was located directly across the street from NYPD headquarters. During prohibition a tunnel was dug connecting the bar to the police department so that New York’s finest had easy (and secret) access to a watering hole.

Interestingly enough, in the SATC episode entitled “Ghost Town”, Carrie brings Aidan a mulberry bush as a bar-warming gift. She says “Because your new bar is located on Mulberry Street.” Well, that’s not exactly true. Onieal’s Grand Street is located on Grand Street, as the name suggests, in between Mulberry Street and Centre Market Place, but on the Centre Market Place side. Mulberry Street is actually a full block down from Onieal’s entrance. In the above screen capture, you can see that they even went so far as to put up a street sign saying “Mulberry” outside of the bar. LOL

Even though I didn’t have a chance to grab a cocktail at Onieal’s, it is definitely high up on my list of things to do next year. It looks like a very cool place to spend an evening and I highly recommend stalking it. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Scout aka Onieal’s Grand Street Bar is located at 174 Grand Street in SoHo. You can visit their website here.

January 12, 2009February 14, 2009

Billy’s Bakery

At the risk of looking like a total and complete dork (not to mention a fool!), I thought I’d post some pretty idiotic photographs that I took on my very first trip to New York. At the time I was completely obsessed with Katie Holmes. This was in December of 2005, in the pre-Suri days, before her Jackie O. transformation, back when she was known as Katie, not Kate. A few months before my trip to New York, Katie was featured in a cover story for InStyle Magazine which chronicled her new single gal status, her life in Manhattan, and her favorite NYC hangouts. Most of the photo shoot for the article took place in Chelsea at Katie’s favorite bakery and cupcakery, Billy’s – a place she frequented almost daily at the time. As Tom once said about his wife, “She loves cupcakes, okay? I mean the girl loves cupcakes.” 🙂 Well, I absolutely LOVED that InStyle article. So much so that my copy of that issue is still sitting on my bookshelf all these years later. So, on my first trip to the big apple, I just HAD to drag my boyfriend out to Chelsea to stalk Katie’s fave cupcake maker. And, while there, I also just had to recreate her photo shoot. Yes, I am that big of a dork. 🙂 LOL

The story behind Billy’s is actually quite an unusual one. Billy Reece, a cupcake aficionado who idolized Martha Stewart, founded Billy’s Bakery with two partners in December of 2003. Billy started his baking career working at the ever-popular Magnolia Bakery in Greenwich for two years before quitting to begin his own baked goods venture. Billy’s Bakery became an overnight success. Not long afterwards Billy Reece changed his name to Lauren Reece and, thanks to some hormone treatments and a surgery, Billy ceased to be. Shortly after that, Lauren sold her stake in Billy’s to her two co-founders, Marc and Wayne, and is now enjoying her new life as a woman. So, in a city where change seems to be the only constant, it’s only fitting that not even a popular cupcake bakery’s namesake could remain the same.

But even without the original Billy at the helm, the small bakery has remained a success. The owners are currently planning to expand their business with another location in the same neighborhood. I can’t help but think that Katie may have had something to do with the shop’s blitz of success. Even after she met Tom and moved back to L.A., Katie remained faithful to the bakery. Billy’s not only supplied the cupcakes for Katie’s 27th birthday party at F.A.O. Schwartz in December of 2005, but they also reportedly made the cake for her 2006 wedding. But Katie is certainly not Billy’s only celebrity fan. Ethan Hawke, Mandy Moore, and Bungalow 8 club founder Amy Sacco are also fans of the neighborhood bakery. Billy’s has also been featured on Queer Eye For the Straight Guy, MTV Diary Katie Holmes, The Today Show, MTV’s Boiling Point, the CBS Early Show, the Food Network’s Roker On The Road, and Martha Stewart’s television show Martha.

Billy’s Bakery is an adorable little cupcake shop and with its yellow painted brick walls and cute and homey decor, it looks like it came straight out of a kitchen advertisement from the 1940s. I wanted to spend all day there. 🙂 But while the cupcakes were tasty, I have to say that they are just not as good as my, and SJP’s, New York fave Magnolia Bakery. But I still highly recommend stalking Billy’s, as much for the homey ambiance as for the desserts. Besides cupcakes, they also serve pies and cakes, which are supposed to be out of this world, as well.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Billy’s Bakery is located at 184 9th Avenue in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood. You can visit their website here.

January 8, 2009February 13, 2009

Kansas City Barbeque – Back and Better Than Ever!

I thought I’d take a little break today from my NYC blogging – and yes, I do have many more Manhattan filming locations to write about 🙂 – to do a little post about an old favorite of mine – Kansas City Barbeque in San Diego, or as it is more commonly known, the Top Gun Bar. The restaurant, which suffered from a devastating fire on June 26th of last year, recently reopened this past November – just in time to serve up it’s annual free Thanksgiving dinner for active duty military. And I had yet to stalk the place since it’s grand reopening. So a few weeks ago, while in San Diego celebrating my best friend’s college graduation, I dragged my boyfriend out for a little post-fire stalking.

I am happy to report that despite the interior of the restaurant needing to be almost entirely redone due to smoke and fire damage, Kansas City Barbeque still looks pretty much the same as it did in Top Gun. Some of the changes that were made – the bar area was remodeled and altered slightly, skylights were added to the dining room, the kitchen was entirely rebuilt, and new exterior awnings were installed. But other than looking a bit shinier and newer, it’s still the same old Kansas City Barbeque we all knew and loved. 🙂 And I am very, very happy to report that much of the Top Gun memorabilia actually survived the fire, including Goose’s piano, which was actually owner Martin Blair’s childhood piano.

Some items that were sadly ruined in June’s fire? The many autographed headshots of celebs who had frequented KCBBQ in the past. A few stars were kind enough to send in replacement pics, though, after being contacted by Martin after the fire. How cool is that?? Brooke Shields, Andre Agassi, Richard Dean Anderson, a few Padres players, and Jerry Lewis all sent in new headshots to be placed on KCBBQ’s new walls. Ostensibly missing from the headshot wall, though, is Tom Cruise, who was apparently contacted for a new pic, but has yet to send one in. Personally I think that’s pretty darn crappy, especially since Maverick was the role that made him a star. But, hey, I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt because, despite his couch-jumping antics and Pro-Scientology rants, I still believe that deep down Tommy is a really nice guy. I just can’t help it. 🙂 I am guessing that Tom C. Ruz is a pretty hard guy to get ahold of and maybe his publicist just isn’t giving him KCBBQ’s message. So Tommy, if you’re out there, do the right thing and send your headshot to Kansas City Barbeque. While you’re at it, thrown in one of Katie and Suri, as well. 🙂 Other stars who have frequented the legendary restaurant include Lorenzo Llamas, Dennis Rodman, and Dallas’ Charlene Tilton.

I highly recommend stalking KCBBQ, even if you are not a Top Gun fan. The bar has a great atmosphere and serves us some fabulous food – especially the French fries. I ate an entire plate of them! Not kidding. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It:Kansas City Barbeque is located at 610 W. Market Street in Downtown San Diego.