famous restaurants – Page 3

June 21, 2019July 16, 2019

Blue Blues Café from “Big Little Lies”

Two episodes in to the latest season of Big Little Lies and I am still missing Blue Blues, the café that figured so prominently in Season 1. As the Huffington Post recently stated, the loss has left a “Venti cappuccino-sized hole” in my heart. So I figured it was only proper to devote a blog to the seaside coffee shop – or at least to the eatery that inspired it. Those who have read my other posts on the hit HBO series (which you can check out here, here and here) know that Blue Blues was not a real place. Though countless online sources claim that Big Little Lies’ café scenes were shot at Paluca Trattoria, a popular restaurant on Monterey’s Old Fisherman’s Wharf, that is not true. Sadly, Blue Blues was nothing more than a set constructed on a soundstage at The Culver Studios, where the show’s inaugural season was lensed. Paluca did serve as the model for the charming space, though, so when my friend Nat informed me that she was heading to Monterey a few weeks back, I recruited her to stalk it for me.

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Paluca Trattoria was originally established in 2000 by Sicilian-born chef Sal Tedesco and his wife, Ashley. The duo opened the eatery, named after their two sons Paolo and Luca, in a picturesque corner spot on Old Fisherman’s Wharf that formerly housed Captain’s Gig, a landmark restaurant that had been in operation since the early 1970s. You can check out some photos of the site during the Captain’s Gig days here.

Per a reader named Barbara who commented on my 2017 A Round-Up of Big Little Lies Filming Locations post, Captain’s Gig used to feature a basket that ran between the eatery’s first and second floors which the cook would put orders into and then lift to the top level for patrons to retrieve.

Today, the upscale restaurant, which serves Italian-inspired seafood dishes, is the definition of farmhouse chic, sporting shiplap walls, hardwood flooring, floor to ceiling windows, a large patio area, and stunning views of the bay.

Paluca’s use on Big Little Lies came about in a rather organic way. While scouting Central Coast locales for Season 1, director Jean-Marc Vallée patronized the establishment and, in doing so, quickly befriended Sal. As Ashley tells the Huffington Post, “The director would come over to our place and just hang out in the mornings and have coffee and come and have lunch and he just sort of chatted with my husband. He’s there every day. They sort of hit it off and that’s how it came to be, just on the fly.” Per Eater, the Trattoria had the exact aesthetic Vallée was seeking – “a snug hideaway that’s just a bit rough around the edges.” For a plethora of reasons, mainly having to do with the ever-present fog that plagues Monterey, it was decided that instead of filming on the premises, the eatery would be re-envisioned onstage in Los Angeles. Eater explains, “The production team took measurements of the Paluca space, filmed the surrounding area, and re-created the restaurant at a studio using a green screen so that they could fill in plate shots of the harbor in post-production.”

Though a sign outside of Paluca Trattoria misleadingly proclaims, “Our little gem by the Bay was selected as one of the filming locations for the HBO series Big Little Lies,” no scenes were actually lensed there. All filming took place on set. As you can see in my images as compared to screen captures from the show above and below, though Blue Blues does greatly resemble Paluca, there are enough differences to know that the two places are not one and the same.

That is especially true when you take a look at the two interiors.

Of Blue Blues’ cozy, inviting inside, production designer John Paino told Eater, “I’ve done a lot of shows in Atlanta, and I’ve looked at a lot of cafés there that were run by women that had a lot of those silly knick-knacks that say, like, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ I loved that aesthetic, that reclaimed farmhouse look, but in our case it would be reclaimed marine.” Paino truly nailed the style he was going for. Blue Blues was quaint, charming and warm – much more so than I find Blissful Drip this season.

The inside of Paluca, while pretty, is much less homey and much more sleek than its onscreen counterpart.

Nevertheless, many fans still contend that filming took place there. I am here to assure you that none actually did. Both the interior and exterior of Blue Blues were part of a large set that existed only on a soundstage. Still don’t believe me? I’ve got the receipts to prove it thanks to a couple of videos (which you can check out here and here) put together by REAL by FAKE, the Montreal-based production company that handled Big Little Lies’ digital effects.

As you can see above and below, I’ve compiled a bunch of screen grabs from the two reels as well as comparison shots from the series that show the whole café was studio-built and situated in front of a huge green screen.

The massive screen wrapped around the entire Blue Blues set so as to be visible from inside the café, as well.

During post-production, REAL by FAKE digitally swapped in a background showing views of Monterey Harbor that matched those of Paluca Trattoria.

The company also added faux sunshine and shadows to make the women appear to be outside while sitting on Blue Blues’ deck.

Of the process (which you can see take shape in this fascinating video), Big Little Lies visual effects coordinator Marc Côté says, “We did 1,428 visual effects for the entire series, about 220 per episode. I hope you were not able to see them.” Amazingly, that goal was achieved – the effects are perfectly seamless. Green screen magic at its finest!

Despite the fact that Paluca Trattoria never actually appeared on Big Little Lies – or more correctly, because of the misinformation floating around about its supposed cameo – fans stalk the restaurant in droves. I can’t tell you the number of Instagram photos I’ve come across of people posing at “Madeline’s regular table,” as evidenced here, here and here. The place has become such a draw that Sal told Eater, “I had to go buy a bigger espresso machine because I couldn’t keep up with the coffee sales.” Of their newfound fame, Ashley says, “We are shocked. We cannot believe how many people come because of the show, still. They found us. We didn’t push it out there. We didn’t push it out there at all. We didn’t advertise it on our social media. We were just really low key about it, but people sought us out. We didn’t know it’d be such a big deal. It’s been a nice little gift. Things [like that] don’t happen often in life, and then when they announced the second season we thought, ‘Oh my gosh. It’s like the bonus round.’ Even though we’re not in it, people are still coming because they’re excited about the show.” Ah, the power of filming locations!

Big THANK YOU to my friend Nat for stalking this location for me!

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Blue Blues Café, from the first season of Big Little Lies, is not a real place, but a studio-built set based upon the Italian restaurant Paluca Trattoria located at 6D Old Fisherman’s Wharf in Monterey. You can visit the eatery’s official website here.

June 17, 2019July 16, 2019

Blissful Drip Café from “Big Little Lies”

Big Little Lies producers sure like their fake coffee shops! In the hit HBO series’ first season, Madeline Martha Mackenzie (Reese Witherspoon), Celeste Wright (Nicole Kidman) and Jane Chapman (Shailene Woodley) regularly hung out at Blue Blues, a supposed Old Fisherman’s Wharf restaurant that, as I mentioned here and here, was actually a studio-built set situated in front of a green screen. This season, the trio frequents Blissful Drip Café, another faux spot that was installed, not on a soundstage, but on location at Lovers Point Park in Pacific Grove. I learned about the prop coffee bar thanks to several articles written about its construction back in April 2018 (you can read one here and one here) and I, of course, made note of it. So when my friend Nat headed out to Monterey a couple of weekends ago and asked if I needed anything stalked, Lovers Point Park was the first thing I mentioned!

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Lovers Point Park and Beach is an area I am very familiar with. Growing up in nearby San Francisco, Monterey was a favorite vacation spot for my family. Countless hours were spent at the Pacific Grove retreat, namely at the snack bar overlooking the water where my dad and I would always order an extra helping of fries to feed the seagulls that would inevitably join us.

The bucolic 4.4-acre site, which regularly plays host to sunbathers, scuba divers, windsurfers, swimmers, bicyclists, runners, and fishermen, boasts a large beach surrounded by a rocky cove, a pier, a children’s swimming pool, a volleyball court, picnic areas, a restaurant, the aforementioned snack bar, and a large park situated on a grassy bluff fronting Monterey Bay.

It is the park area that serves as the home of Blissful Drip Café on Big Little Lies. In the Season 2 premiere titled “What Have They Done?”, Madeline and Celeste pop by the funky seaside coffee shop (which per Madeline “smells like weed”) after dropping their kids off for their first day of school.

While there, Madeline runs into Mary Louise Wright (Meryl Streep), who curtly informs her that she finds “little people to be untrustworthy.”

Celeste and Jane also meet up at Blissful Drip in “Tell-Tale Hearts.”

In “The End of the World,” Jane and Mary Louise have coffee and discuss Perry (Alexander Skarsgård) there, though not much of the place can be seen.

And in “She Knows,” Celeste and Mary Louise have a tense tête-à-tête at Blissful Drip.

Though the café is charming and boasts stellar views, I can’t help but miss Blue Blues while watching – not to mention Tom (Joseph Cross), the eatery’s cutie owner who struck up a romance with Jane toward the end of Season 1. Why Tom isn’t making an appearance this time around, I am unsure. (Yes, I do know that Cross landed a leading role in the upcoming Netflix series Medal of Honor, but Iain Armitage, who plays Jane’s son, Ziggy Chapman, somehow made S2 of Big Little Lies work despite being the star of Young Sheldon and I feel Joseph could have done the same.) I do have an answer for Blue Blues’ absence, though. Per a Monterey County Now article, current director Andrea Arnold, who was brought on to replace Jean-Marc Vallée, wanted to showcase more outdoor locations than were featured in Season 1. Blue Blues, therefore, was scrapped and replaced with Blissful Drip. The fake café stood at Lovers Point Park for a total of 12 days (including installation and dismantling) and cost the production $44,077.50 in park use fees. (You can check out a breakdown of those costs here and here.) According to Monterey County Now, Madeline and the gang will be hanging out at the coffee bar throughout Season 2. In fact, HBO donated the café set to Pacific Grove after filming wrapped with the understanding that the company would have access to it if the show gets picked up for a third season. What the city will end up doing with it, I don’t know, but how cool would it be if it became a real coffee shop?

In reality, the area where Blissful Drip was installed (denoted with a pink arrow below) is nothing but an empty (albeit very picturesque) patch of grass.

The exact spot where the café was built is denoted in the aerial view below, with the pentagon representing the eatery’s gazebo and the attached rectangle its trellised patio.

The very same area of Lovers Point Park was featured in Big Little Lies’ Season 1 finale titled “You Get What You Need,” in the scene in which Jane tells Celeste that it is her son, Max (Nicholas Crovetti), who has been bullying Amabella Klein (Ivy George).

The spot where Blissful Drip was constructed (denoted with a pink arrow below) was visible behind Celeste in the segment.

As I detailed in my comprehensive list of locales from the series’ first season, Lovers Point Park and Beach popped up in additional episodes of Big Little Lies, as well.

Ed Mackenzie (Adam Scott) and Nathan Carlson (James Tupper) almost go to blows on the northern edge of Lovers Point Park, just due north of where Blissful Drip was built, in “Serious Mothering.”

Jane and Ziggy hang out at Lovers Point Beach in “Push Comes to Shove” . . .

. . . and in the area just south of the beach in “Living the Dream.”

Big THANK YOU to my friend Nat for stalking this location for me!

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Lovers Point Park, where the Blissful Drip Café set was built for the second season of Big Little Lies, is located at 631 Ocean View Boulevard in Pacific Grove.

May 17, 2019May 16, 2019

Fog City Diner from “So I Married an Axe Murderer”

I abhor change, as longtime readers of this site well know. So I was devastated to learn that Fog City Diner, the landmark eatery in my hometown of San Francisco, had undergone a major revamp and reopened as the simpler, sleeker and far more modern “Fog City.” The shiny chrome train-like structure situated on Battery Street at The Embarcadero had been a staple of the city’s skyline for decades and a harkening back to my childhood every time I passed by. I was informed of the unseemly renovation while visiting my friend Nat, who lives in the area, in February 2015. Despite my sadness over the matter, since the restaurant’s former iteration made an appearance in the the 1993 comedy So I Married an Axe Murderer, we decided to head over there for some brunch/stalking my last day in town.

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Fog City Diner was originally established in June 1985 by restaurateurs Bill Higgins, Bill Upson and Cindy Pawlcyn, of Napa’s Mustards Grill fame. Designed by Pat Kuleto, the unique space bore the look and feel of a streamlined 1930s diner, but a very high class one, with the reimagined comfort food offerings to match. Just steps from the waterfront, the site where the eye-catching eatery was erected was originally home to a train engine repair facility. It became a coffee shop named Harbor Cafeteria, which catered to soldiers and sailors, in 1958. After going through several different restaurant incarnations, including Mildred Pierce and Battery Point, in the years that followed, it was eventually transformed into the gleaming chrome fixture that instantly became a San Francisco icon. You can check out some images of what it looked like here and here.

Sadly, in 2013 Higgins and Upson (Pawlcyn had long since dropped out) decided to give the restaurant a complete overhaul. It shuttered in March of that year and then re-opened six months later as Fog City. During the renovation, the historic and well-loved site was taken down to its studs and then rebuilt by architect Michael Guthrie. The new design, which sort of retains its diner shape, boasts a large central bar, seating for 160 patrons, an exhibition kitchen with a wood-fired oven and seven-foot grill, and views of the San Francisco Bay. Though pretty, all of the elements that made the place so unique have disappeared. Gone are the dark leather train-car-like booths, checkered tilework, handsome wood detailing, and fabulous chrome siding.

The revamped site looks like a normal, everyday restaurant, both inside and out.

When I visited Fog City for the first time as a kid, I remember being absolutely mesmerized. I truly felt as if I had entered an antique train car and was dining atop the rails. It was a magical experience – one that did not wane, even as I continued to frequent the eatery as a teen and adult. Sadly, the redesign just does not compare to the Fog City of old. You can check out what the interior formerly looked like here and here.

Thankfully, I can at least report that the food is still as good as ever.

In So I Married an Axe Murderer, Charlie Mackenzie (Mike Myers) takes Harriet Michaels (Nancy Travis) on a rather awkward double date with his friends Tony Giardino (Anthony LaPaglia) and Susan (Debi Mazar) at Fog City Diner.

The film gives audiences a fabulous glimpse of what the exterior . . .

. . . and interior of the restaurant looked like pre-remodel.

As you can see in the screen capture as compared to the photograph below, though the footprint of the structure remains the same, its aesthetic is a far cry from what it used to be.

Fog City Diner was the also site of a famous Visa commercial from 1990 (well, it was at least famous to us San Franciscans), which you can watch here.

And it was satirized as the Fog City Dumpster, a restaurant run by a group of bears, in Farley, the popular San Francisco Chronicle comic strip that ran from 1975 to 2007.

Fog City Diner was supposedly featured in an episode of Nash Bridges, as well, but I am unsure of which episode. If anyone happens to know, please fill me in!

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Fog City, aka the former Fog City Diner from So I Married an Axe Murderer, is located at 1300 Battery Street in San Francisco. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.

April 26, 2019April 25, 2019

Third Edition from “St. Elmo’s Fire”

A couple of weeks ago, Rob Lowe posted an Instagram selfie taken in Georgetown with the caption “Return to the scene of the crime. #StElmosFire,” and I was instantly reminded that I had stalked some locations from the seminal 1985 drama while back east in April 2016. I learned about the locales thanks to my buddy Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, who emailed me a virtual catalog of D.C.-area filming sites prior to my trip. One of the spots listed was Georgetown’s former Third Edition restaurant (now El Centro D.F.) at 1218 Wisconsin Avenue Northwest, the exterior of which he noted had appeared in the flick. I had yet to see St. Elmo’s Fire at the time, but was familiar enough with it to know that much of the action takes place at a bar. I assumed that bar was Third Edition – and many online sources backed up that notion. When I finally sat down to view the film last week, though, I was shocked to see that Third Edition was only briefly featured and that St. Elmo’s Bar, where Billy Hicks (Lowe) and his fellow Brat Packers regularly hung out, was nothing more than a backlot façade. Reports of which backlot in particular varied and I figured, since there was so much confusion surrounding the subject, it was high time to step in and settle the matter of the St. Elmo’s Fire bar once and for all.

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Just to be clear – Owen never stated that Third Edition was the main bar from the movie – that assumption fell on me and was then verified – incorrectly – by a few sources online. The list Owen sent me prior to my trip contained numerous addresses of sites and corresponding descriptions of their onscreen roles, and his notation about Third Edition was entirely correct – while not the gang’s main hangout, its exterior did appear in St. Elmo’s Fire. Twice, in fact. The restaurant first pops up in the film’s opening montage in which shots of Georgetown are splashed across the screen. That’s it on the very left of the still below. (My corresponding photo is a bit off from the angle shown in the movie.)

Third Edition is then featured again in a later segment in which Jules (Demi Moore) picks up Billy and Alec Newbary (Judd Nelson) to go for a ride in her Jeep with the rest of the gang.

I find it amazing that despite the fact that the brick is now painted over and there has been a change of occupant, the place is still recognizable from its cameo 35 years ago! Even the menu display case, albeit a different one, is still affixed to the exterior of the restaurant in the exact same spot!

Third Edition was a Georgetown staple for more than four decades, running from 1969 through 2013. You can see what it looked like when it was still in operation here.

The three-story casual eatery/bar served comfort food and libations and was popular among locals and tourists alike. Much like St. Elmo’s Bar in the movie, it was also a haven for college students and featured multiple drink stations, a dance floor, DJs spinning music nightly, and an outdoor tiki lounge. As one Yelper reported, “It reminded me of a college fraternity party with random girls dancing on top of a platform and guys trying to dance with them,” which might as well be a description of Billy and Jules’ regular hangout.

When Third Edition moved out in January 2013, Mexican restaurant El Centro D.F. (the D.F. stands for “Distrito Federal,” meaning “federal district”) moved in. It remains in operation today.

St. Elmo’s Bar, on the other hand, was entirely movie magic. Both the interior and exterior were nothing more than studio-built sets – the former constructed inside of a soundstage at (I believe) Warner Bros. Studio, which was then The Burbank Studios, in Burbank . . .

. . . and the latter, as I came to discover, on the backlot of Universal Studios Hollywood.

An entire half-block section of Universal’s New York Street area, in fact, was made over to resemble Georgetown for the shoot and, when production wrapped, was left intact for future filmings, becoming known as “Georgetown Avenue.”

The St. Elmo’s Bar façade, as well as the rest of the block, popped up several times throughout the movie . . .

. . . and was also featured on the poster.

Image result for st. elmo's fire poster

Sadly, Georgetown Avenue was severely damaged in the fire that ravaged Universal’s backlot in November 1990. Though it was subsequently restored, it was again destroyed in the studio’s 2008 blaze and was not rebuilt. You can check out a map of where it used to be situated, in the upper left portion of New York Street, here. Because it no longer exists, and hasn’t existed in its St. Elmo’s Fire-state since the 1990 fire, figuring out if filming took place there, as several online sources claimed, proved difficult. Thanks to The Studio Tour website and its catalog of historic photos of the lot, though, as well as a 1989 episode of Quantum Leap that filmed near Georgetown Avenue, I was able to do so by pinpointing a few identifiers. As you can see in the still from the movie below, St. Elmo’s Bar sat on a small street that dead-ended at the façade of a large brick townhome. I found that same very façade pictured in this 1984 aerial of New York Street featured on The Studio Tour! Visible in the mid/lower left section of the aerial, the structure boasts three stories, a porticoed front door, and sculpted lips in between levels – all of which match what appeared in St. Elmo’s Fire. The window layout is also identical.

Next to the façade in the 1984 aerial is a stretch of brownstones. Such was the case with the movie façade, as well. You can see those brownstones and a portion of the brick townhome (it’s on the extreme left) in this 1984 photograph, also featured on The Studio Tour.

I was thrilled to discover that the brick townhouse is also partially visible in the Season 1 episode of Quantum Leap titled “Double Identity,” which was filmed at Universal in 1989.

Though shown from the opposite angle and dressed quite differently, the corner store situated across from the brownstones in St. Elmo’s Fire can be seen in Quantum Leap, as well.

When Georgetown Avenue was rebuilt after the 1990 fire, it looked significantly different, as you can see in this image which matches the angle of the screen capture below. Though the townhouse façade was re-created as well as the brownstones next to it, numerous changes were made.

Here’s another shot showing the rebuilt Georgetown Avenue along with a corresponding screen capture below. Why the street was not once again re-created after the 2008 fire, I am unsure, but I am guessing it is because not many productions are set in Georgetown. The studio likely figured it could get a lot more mileage out of a New York scape and, as such, did away with the D.C. set.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, for telling me about this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: El Centro D.F., aka Third Edition from St. Elmo’s Fire, is located at 1218 Wisconsin Avenue Northwest in Georgetown. St. Elmo’s Bar from the movie was a façade that once stood on Georgetown Avenue in the New York Street portion of the Universal Studios Hollywood backlot at 100 Universal City Plaza in Universal City. Unfortunately, that area of the lot was damaged in both the 1990 and 2008 fires and no longer stands.

April 3, 2019April 2, 2019

The Derby from “Book Club”

They say that laughter is the best medicine. For me, it’s laughter coupled with stalking. While recovering from a minor surgery last October, I hunkered down in bed for a couple of days watching movies. The flick that brought the most healing was easily Book Club thanks to both its humor and the fact that it was lensed in Los Angeles. As such, I paused the 2018 romcom countless times throughout my viewing in order to research its locations, much to the Grim Cheaper’s chagrin. A few I was thrilled to recognize from the outset, including Hummingbird Nest Ranch, which I blogged about in March, and The Derby, one of Arcadia’s most historic and popular restaurants where Sharon Meyers (Candice Bergen) goes on a blind date with a man she meets though a dating app in the film. Though I dedicated a post to the eatery back in 2013, I figured it was worthy of a re-do.

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The Derby was originally opened as Proctor’s Tavern, a small steakhouse established by Arcadia Rotary Club charter member Hudson M. Proctor on Foothill Boulevard near Santa Anita Park in 1922.

It was moved to its current home, a sprawling brick building at 233 East Huntington Drive, in October 1931.

The restaurant did not become The Derby until December 1938 when it was purchased by Bill Peterson and his business partner, famed jockey George “The Iceman” Woolf, who rode such stallions as Seabiscuit and Azucar to victory.

Woolf filled the intimate, dimly-lit interior with memorabilia and bric-a-brac from his illustrious racing career, most of which is still on display today.

The Derby was hit by tragedy on January 4th, 1946 when George was killed during a race at the tender age of 35, shocking the equestrian community, the city of Arcadia, and the restaurant’s longtime patrons. Though his widow, Genevieve, continued to run the place for several years, she wound up selling it to Dominic and Lorene Sturniolo in 1951.

The Sturniolo family enjoyed a 50+-year tenure at The Derby until they, too, sold to the restaurant’s current owners, Dustin Nicolarsen and Michael Thomas, in 2007.

Today, the place is still going strong, almost one hundred years after its inception! In fact, it is one of my and the GC’s favorite Pasadena-area spots. Though it is on the pricey side, its happy hour can’t be beat!

In Book Club, The Derby is where Sharon meets up with her Bumble date, “bald tax attorney” George (Richard Dreyfuss).

In the scene, the two sit in the restaurant’s main dining room, which in the Proctor’s Tavern days was known as the “Spanish Room.”

After their date, Sharon and George head outside to The Derby’s parking lot where things get a bit – ahem – amorous.

The Derby was also the site of Derek’s (Adam Scott) birthday party in the 2008 comedy Step Brothers.

Though Seabiscuit did not do any filming on the premises, costume designer Judianna Makovsky spent time at the restaurant researching Woolf’s former racing uniforms. As she told the Los Angeles Times in a 2003 article, the experience was “completely invaluable.” Dominic and Lorene Sturniolo’s son, Charles, who was running the eatery at the time “even let us come over and dig through boxes and scrapbooks. In racing museums, they save the shirts and hats but not what’s underneath. Nobody had the britches or shoes. People just didn’t save it. We were thrilled to find The Derby. It brought to mind that George Woolf was a real man, not just a character in a story.”

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Derby, from Book Club, is located at 233 East Huntington Drive in Arcadia. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.

March 29, 2019March 27, 2019

Imperial Western Beer Company from “Blast from the Past”

I absolutely hate losing things – it is one of my biggest pet peeves, especially when the items can’t be replaced. Such was the case with a group of photos I took of Union Station’s former Fred Harvey Restaurant back in June 2009. Upon learning about the site and its appearance as the dance club in fave movie Blast from the Past, I toured it as a possible wedding venue and it promptly became one of my top contenders. Closed since 1967, the historic and strikingly unique venue is a virtual time capsule of 1930’s glamour. Though the Grim Cheaper and I ultimately got married elsewhere, Fred Harvey Restaurant left a mark on my heart and I vowed to do a post on it. Somehow, I forgot and it was not until discovering that the space had been renovated and finally reopened (after 51 years!) as the Imperial Western Beer Company last October that I was reminded. When I sat down to pen my post, though, I could not find my photos anywhere. I still can’t. Though I am deeply saddened not to have those images, the misplacement gave me a great excuse to get back out there to see the restaurant in its revamped state.

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Part of the Fred Harvey Company chain of hotels and eateries, the downtown L.A. Fred Harvey Restaurant, which I’ve also seen referred to as the “Fred Harvey Room” and “Harvey House,” initially opened along with Union Station in 1939.

The popular conglomerate, established in 1876, catered to commuters and travelers by offering quick, tasty meals in upscale locations dotted near train stations all over the U.S. The company was also noted for only employing women who became known as “Harvey Girls.” Per a 2009 Los Angeles Times article (which unfortunately is not online), founder Fred Harvey hired the fairer sex because they were less inclined “to get likkered up and go on tears.”

Union Station’s Fred Harvey outpost was designed by architect Mary Colter in the Art Deco and Spanish Colonial Revival styles.

With a colorful tiled entrance,

a large central lunch counter,

rounded leather booths,

a three-story vaulted ceiling,

a grand staircase . . .

. . . leading up to a mezzanine,

and dazzling patterned flooring,

the space really was a sight to behold – and still is.

Fred Harvey proved so popular that in 1941 the need to expand arose and a bar area was added in what was formerly an adjacent breezeway.

Colter was pegged to design the 2,300-square-foot addition and did so to spectacular fashion in the Streamline Moderne style.

During its glory years, the restaurant served more than 800 meals an hour and more than 100,000 hungry patrons each day, per L.A. Weekly.

As train travel waned following World War II, Fred Harvey patronage died off and the place was eventually shuttered in 1967. It would stay that way for the next five decades, opening only for special events and filming.

Though recent years saw a definite want for a new eatery to open in the space, bringing the site up to code proved cost prohibitive. So it remained vacant. You can see what it looked like during that time here.

Finally, in 2014, restauranteur Cedd Moses of 213 Hospitality (the company also owns frequent film stars Casey’s Irish Pub, and Cole’s French Dip) stepped in with a grand vision to restore the place to its original glory and re-open it as a brewery/gastropub. And thus, Imperial Western Beer Company – named in honor of the Imperial, a Southern Pacific liner that initially ran between Los Angeles and Yuma in the 1930s – was born.

The restoration process took four years to complete and, though the menu was modernized and the property brought up to code, aside from turning the lunch counter into a bar, the furnishings and décor were left pretty much intact.

The 1941 bar addition also got a revamp . . .

. . . and is now known as “The Streamliner.”

Of the finished product, Moses told L.A. Weekly, “To me it’s a love letter to our city. We felt responsible to bring this back in a great way and hopefully do the space justice. My only regret is that my father wasn’t here to see it.” Sadly, Cedd’s dad, artist Ed Moses, who hung out at Fred Harvey Restaurant back in the day and even once dated a Harvey Girl, passed away shortly before the eatery opened.

Considering the property’s immaculately preserved state and years of vacancy, it is no surprise that it wound up in scads of productions.

In the 1999 romcom Blast from the Past, Fred Harvey Restaurant portrayed Club 40’s, where Adam (Brendan Fraser) dazzled Eve (Alicia Silverstone) with his swing-dancing prowess.

The exterior, which was heavily dressed with window coverings, neon lights, palm trees and awnings, made a brief appearance in the scene.

The Streamliner popped up briefly, as well.

In 1998, The Brian Setzer Orchestra fittingly shot their video for the swing classic “Jump, Jive an’ Wail” at Fred Harvey Restaurant. You can watch it here.

Fiona Apple’s 2000 “Paper Bag” video, which was directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, made spectacular use of the space . . .

. . . and gives us a great glimpse of what the lunch counter looked like prior to being transformed into a bar.

In the 2003 comedy Anger Management, Fred Harvey Restaurant portrays Mort’s, said to be on 86th Street in New York, where Dave Buznik (Adam Sandler) stages a fake date to make his ex-girlfriend jealous. The exterior of the eatery . . .

. . . as well as the interior . . .

. . . and The Streamliner all make appearances.

In the 2005 thriller The Island, the site masks as the Yucca Amtrak station where Tom Lincoln (Ewan McGregor) and Sarah Jordan (Scarlett Johansson) attempt to catch a train to L.A. . . .

. . . before James McCord (Steve Buscemi) is shot off the mezzanine . . .

. . . and into the bar below.

Fred Harvey Restaurant plays La Noche Cubana nightclub, where Abby (Katherine Heigl) and Mike Chadway (Gerard Butler) grab drinks and dance towards the end of the 2009 romcom The Ugly Truth (another one of my favorites).

And in the 2011 drama Atlas Shrugged: Part I, Paul Larkin (Patrick Fischler), Orren Boyle (Jon Polito), Wesley Mouch (Michael Lerner), and James Taggart (Matthew Marsden) discuss taking down Hank Rearden (Grant Bowler) while at Fred Harvey Restaurant.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Imperial Western Beer Company, from Blast from the Past, is located on the southern side of Union Station at 800 North Alameda Street in downtown Los Angeles. You can visit the gastropub’s official website here. The restaurant is open weekdays starting at 4 p.m. and weekends beginning at 12 p.m.

March 15, 2019March 14, 2019

Olympic Coffee Shop from “Sharp Objects”

I’m not sure what it is about old school diners, but I sure have an affinity for them. My inclination maybe stems from memories of childhood road trips or weekend mornings spent at greasy spoons with my parents during my early years or my nostalgic nature in general. Whatever the cause, if I see a retro café onscreen, chances are I’m going to want to locate it. Such was the case with Gritty’s Coffee Shop, the supposed Wind Gap, Missouri eatery Detective Richard Willis (Chris Messina) frequented in Sharp Objects, the 2018 HBO miniseries based on the Gillian Flynn novel of the same name. Thankfully, the restaurant was a snap to find.

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While set in the Show-Me State, as I mentioned in this post Sharp Objects was largely filmed in Southern California. A Google search for “Gritty’s Coffee Shop” and “Los Angeles” led nowhere, though. Thankfully, I happened to spot an address number of “12912” posted outside of the restaurant while watching the sixth episode, titled “Cherry,” which made my search much more fruitful. As soon as I inputted “Coffee Shop,” “Los Angeles,” and “12912,” a slew of entries for an eatery named Olympic Coffee Shop located at 12912 San Fernando Road in Sylmar was kicked back.

One look at images of the place online told me it was the right spot and I promptly added it to my To-Stalk List.

Then, when I saw the eatery pop up in an episode of Bosch (Season 2’s “Gone”), which the Grim Cheaper and I were binging at the time, that very same week, I knew I had to get out there stat!

Olympic Coffee Shop was originally established way back in 1951 as James’ Drive-In.

It subsequently became Jim Bill’s Restaurant in 1957, then Demetri’s Coffee Shop in 1971, and finally Olympic Coffee Shop in 1984.

Other than its past names, I could not find much information about the place’s history online, which is surprising considering its longevity.

Unfortunately, the GC and I were short on time when we showed up to stalk Olympic Coffee Shop, so we could not dine on the premises. As fate would have it, though, the super-friendly owner happened to see us taking photos outside and welcomed us in for a quick chat and to snap all the pictures I wanted.

He also filled us in on the site’s extensive film resume.

According to him, the place is used in productions almost weekly, which, due to its perfectly preserved 1950s aesthetic, is not at all surprising.

What is surprising is that I had never heard of the place until Sharp Objects!

Olympic Coffee Shop appeared in three episodes of the miniseries. Along with the aforementioned “Cherry,” it also popped up in the episodes “Fix” and “Falling.”

The restaurant’s film history dates back much, much farther, though.

In 1978, it masked as Sybil’s in the comedy Every Which Way But Loose, but both the exterior . . .

. . . and interior looked quite a bit different at the time.

Lincoln Hawk (Sylvester Stallone) challenged his son, Michael Cutler (David Mendenhall), to arm wrestle some local thugs at the restaurant, when it was still operating as Demetri’s, in 1987’s Over the Top.

In the 2000 film Memento, Teddy (Joe Pantoliano) and Leonard (Guy Pearce) discuss the faultiness of memories at Olympic Coffee Shop.

Luke Campbell (Dan Byrd) and Sylar (Zachary Quinto) narrowly escape from government agents at the eatery in the Season 3 episode of Heroes titled “Building 26,” which aired in 2009.

Train’s Patrick Monahan falls in love with a waitress named Kate (played by Anna Camp) at Olympic Coffee Shop in the group’s 2010 “Marry Me” music video, which you can watch here.

That same year, the restaurant was the site of a massive shootout in the Season 2 episode of NCIS: Los Angeles titled “Bounty.”

Donna (Catherine Keener) and Patrick (James Le Gros) run into Kathleen (Mikey Madison) at Olympic Coffee Shop at the end of the 2018 drama Nostalgia.

That same year, Johnny ‘Coco’ Cruz (Richard Cabral) has a rather terse reunion with his mom and sister at the café in the Season 1 episode of Mayans M.C. titled “Murciélago/Zotz.”

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Olympic Coffee Shop, from Sharp Objects, is located at 12192 San Fernando Road in Sylmar. The café is open daily from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.

March 1, 2019September 17, 2019

Tacos Jalisco from “A Star Is Born”

Stumbling upon filmings used to be a regular occurrence when I lived in L.A. Sadly, that is not the case in Palm Springs. So I was thrilled – and shocked – to happen upon A Star Is Born being shot at desert eatery Tacos Jalisco while on a Windmill Tour with the Grim Cheaper and our friends Nat and Tony back in April 2017. Though I had no intention of ever seeing the flick due to its sad storyline, I made a mental note to do a proper stalk of the restaurant once it came out. After a few failed attempts in which I showed up only to find the place closed, I was finally able to do so this past week.

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Sitting adjacent to Jalisco Tires auto repair shop, Tacos Jalisco is located quite a ways off the beaten path on a sleepy road in North Palm Springs.

If not for the Windmill Tour, I never would have known the place existed.

And that is a shame because it serves up uh-ma-zing food. The GC and I, of course, partook while there and he quickly proclaimed the tacos some of the best he’s ever had.

The small, casual eatery consists of two rooms – a main dining area and a bar.

Surprisingly, I could not find much information about the place’s history online aside from the fact that it formerly housed a market.

In A Star Is Born (which is out on DVD now!), Tacos Jalisco masks as the roadside eatery where Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper) and Ally (Lady Gaga) stop to grab a bite to eat upon arriving in Jackson’s hometown of Arizona.

While there, Ally jots down lyrics for a song she is writing titled “Look What I’ve Found” and Jack discusses the fact that he doesn’t return home very often.

The restaurant’s interior was changed a bit for the shoot, with the booths that usually sit along the side wall moved to the middle of the dining area.

Otherwise, the place looks much as it did onscreen.

The exterior of Tacos Jalisco also appears in A Star Is Born – and is the site of a rather large gaffe. Notice below that as Ally walks up to Jack outside of the restaurant, she does not have a jacket on . . .

. . . but seconds later, as she embraces him, she magically does!

It was that portion of the scene that we saw being shot during our Windmill Tour. I was even able to snap a few pics of the production as we drove by. (I believe that is Bradley Cooper standing in the forefront of the top image below as the outfit seems to match what he was wearing onscreen – but don’t quote me on that as it could just as easily be his stand-in.)

Interestingly, prop gas pumps were brought in for the shoot to make Tacos Jalisco and the adjoining Jalisco Tires appear to be a service station. Because I had never seen the locale prior to the filming, I assumed the tanks were real and was shocked when I showed up to stalk the place and discovered there were no pumps to be found anywhere on the premises!

The scene that follows that of the roadside diner, in which Jack discovers that his childhood ranch has been sold and turned into a wind farm, was shot just around the corner on Dillon Road, about half a mile west of where it intersects with North Indian Canyon Drive. (I did not realize that when I stalked the restaurant and, as such, failed to take any photographs, so the Street View image below will have to do for now.)

In the interest of being thorough, I’ve denoted exactly where Ally and Jack were standing in the segment in the aerial view below. Ally’s position, in the bare patch of dirt, is marked with a pink “X,” while Jack’s, which is slightly west in the nearby foliage, is denoted with a blue “X.”

While stalking Tacos Jalisco, I happened to chat with its super-nice owner who informed me that the restaurant also appeared in the 2005 thriller Constantine as the spot where Manuel (Jesse Ramirez) stole a car in what was supposed to be the Mexican desert.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Tacos Jalisco, from A Star Is Born, is located at 17725 North Indian Canyon Drive in North Palm Springs. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here. Jack’s childhood-ranch-turned-windmill-farm from the movie can be found just around the corner on Dillon Road, about half a mile west of where it intersects with North Indian Canyon Drive.

February 22, 2019February 21, 2019

Pappy & Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace from “Ingrid Goes West”

Ingrid Goes West is perhaps the most topically poignant movie I’ve ever seen! Centering around Ingrid Thorburn (Aubrey Plaza), a fragile young woman who picks up and moves from Pennsylvania to L.A. in the hopes of ingratiating herself into the life of influencer Taylor Sloane (Elizabeth Olsen), the 2017 black comedy highlights the pitfalls of social media and the dangers of buying into the illusory nature of Instagram. I first learned about the film (which is available to rent or purchase on Amazon and free for subscribers on Hulu) thanks to our friends Kim and Katie who visited us in Palm Springs last May. (That’s me and Katie pictured above.) On their flight to the desert, they watched Ingrid Goes West and were shocked when just a few days later, the Grim Cheaper and I brought them to Pappy & Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace, one of our favorite local spots, to grab a bite to eat. As it turns out, the Joshua Tree watering hole made a prominent appearance in the flick. Upon learning the news, the saloon went right onto my To-Blog List. But when I finally sat down to write about it this week, I could not find any of the photos I had taken on my many visits. So Kim and Katie were kind enough to loan me theirs for this post.

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The GC and I first discovered Pioneertown shortly after moving to Palm Springs in early 2013. Consisting of a small array of ramshackle wooden structures dotted along a patch of dusty road, the unique desert enclave was the brainchild of a team of Hollywood heavyweights including Bud Abbott, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, and Dale Evans who came up with the innovative idea to build a “living, breathing movie set” in a semi-desolate area easily accessible from L.A. In 1946, the group purchased 32,000 acres of land a few miles northwest of downtown Yucca Valley and, thus, Pioneertown was born.

The buildings erected included a jail, stables, a bank, a grocer, a restaurant, a barn, an ice cream parlor, a bowling alley, a shooting gallery, and a saloon known as the “Cantina.” It was that spot that would later become Pappy & Harriet’s. But more on that in a bit.

Each of the structures was not only practical, meaning both the interior and exterior could be utilized for filming, but functional as well. The bowling alley façade actually housed a working bowling alley, the ice cream parlor contained an operational ice cream parlor, and actors filming on the premises could hang out in the spaces between takes.

There was even a motel on the premises where cast and crew could stay during a shoot.

As Atlas Obscura explains the extraordinary site, “Its remote location made it more efficient to build era-appropriate lodgings for the talent right there on set, creating a tiny but functional town that served as both a shooting location and an unincorporated community village.”

Pioneertown took off and countless productions like The Cisco Kid, The Range Rider, The Gene Autry Show, Annie Oakley, and Judge Roy Bean made use of the locale throughout its first two decades. When Westerns fell out of favor with audiences in the late ‘60s, though, filmings on the premises began to dry up until eventually the place sat vacant and forgotten.

Then in 1972, a woman named Francis Aleba came along, purchased the Cantina space and transformed it into a burrito/biker bar. The rousing joint, which you can see images of here and here, was popular with desert denizens and people passing through from the get-go. When Francis wanted to retire ten years later, her daughter, Harriet, took over the place and with husband, Claude “Pappy” Allen, re-opened it as Pappy & Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace, a restaurant/bar/live music venue.

Countless bands showed up to play and Pappy and Harriet, musicians themselves, even graced the stage most nights.

After Pappy passed away in 1994, Harriet sold the bar to a friend, who wound up selling it herself a few years later. The menu changed, as did the décor and the clientele, and the musical acts eventually dried up. When Robyn Celia and Linda Kranz, longtime fans of the eatery who lived in New York, learned the place was for sale yet again in 2003, they decided the only thing to do was relocate to the high desert, snatch it up, and restore it back to its honky-tonk heyday. The watering hole quickly took off once more.

Former patrons returned in droves and new people discovered the place.

Today, Pappy & Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace is as popular as ever, thanks to its fabulous fare, unique décor, and excellent musical lineup. Just a few of the acts who have graced the venue’s stage include Rufus Wainwright, Robert Plant, the Artic Monkeys, Sean Lennon, Lorde, Kesha, Cracker, and, most famously, Paul McCartney who played an impromptu gig there in October 2016 while in the area for Desert Trip.

Pappy & Harriet’s has even attracted its fair share of celeb fans, like Helen Mirren, Emma Stone, Anne Hathaway, Brody Jenner, and Eric Szmanda, who have all been spotted dining on the premises.

Thanks to is whimsical aesthetic, it is no surprise that the place has showed up onscreen. (Though Pioneertown is, obviously, a Hollywood stalwart, as well, I thought it best to focus solely on Pappy & Harriet’s many cameos for this post. I promise to do a write-up on Pioneertown itself soon.)

In Ingrid Goes West, Taylor takes Ingrid to Pappy & Harriet’s for a wild night out while in Joshua Tree (ahem, #JTree) for a brief visit. As the incredibly vapid Taylor describes the place twice in film (first to Ingrid and later to a fellow influencer), “Pappy’s is the best. I mean, like, the crowd, it is a bit sketch, but they always have great live music and the best desert vibes.”

In a later scene, Taylor publishes a fake Instagram post alluding to being at the restaurant and Ingrid shows up in an attempt to talk to her and patch things up.

Pappy & Harriet’s is also where Ted Smith (Clive Turner) gets a job upon arriving in Pioneertown in 1995’s massively panned direct-to-video horror flick The Howling: New Moon Rising.

The eatery portrays a café known as “Last Chance” in the 1999 movie of the same name.

Anthony Bourdain and his friend Josh Homme pop by Pappy & Harriet’s, which he describes as being “out in the a**-end of nowhere,” in the Season 7 episode of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations titled “U.S. Desert,” which aired in 2011.

Pappy & Harriet’s was also supposedly featured in Jeopardy, but I scanned through the 1953 thriller and didn’t see it anywhere. Being that the locale has likely been altered significantly since that time, though, it is possible I just didn’t recognize it.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Big THANK YOU to my friends Kim and Katie for providing all of the photos that appear in this post.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Pappy & Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace, from Ingrid Goes West, is located at 53688 Pioneertown Road in Pioneertown. You can visit the watering hole’s official website here.

January 23, 2019January 23, 2019

The Firehouse Restaurant from “Speed”

Pop quiz, hotshot! You’re hanging around Venice Beach, in dire need of a latte, and you happen to pass by The Firehouse Restaurant from the 1994 action hit Speed. What do you do? What do you do? Why, you head in for some stalking and a cup of joe, of course! I’m really reaching into my reserves with this particular post because I actually visited the landmark café waaaay back in September 2009 (I wasn’t even married yet!) and then somehow promptly forgot about it until doing some research on the Venice area last week. It was such an ancient stalk, in fact, that I had to practically do an archeological dig through the Grim Cheaper’s computer to find the photos I took there. Talk about delving into the archives!

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As the name suggests, the Firehouse is situated inside of an actual former fire station located on the corner of Main Street and Rose Avenue, just a few short blocks from the beach. Known as the Ocean Park Firehouse, it served as the home of Engine Co. #62 from the time it was built in either 1902, 1904, 1907 or 1909, depending on which report you happen to be reading, until it was decommissioned in the ‘50s. You can see what it looked like when it was still in operation here and here.

The building housed several different entities in the years that followed including an antique store, an art studio and a lingerie shop. Finally, in 1986, it was taken over by Leiko Hamada and transformed into The Firehouse Restaurant. With its hearty breakfasts, the site initially catered to the body builders who worked out in the sand at nearby Muscle Beach, but soon became popular with locals and tourists alike. It remains a neighborhood favorite today, more than thirty years after opening.

The Firehouse pops up briefly at the beginning of Speed as the spot where Jack Traven (Keanu Reeves) picks up a morning coffee moments before being unexpectedly looped into a deadly game with Howard Payne (Dennis Hopper).

Though some changes have been made to the interior in the 25 years since filming took place, the restaurant is largely recognizable from its cameo. (Love, love, love the ladder hanging from the ceiling above the counter.) And yes, I realize that my photos are almost ten years old, but per images featured on Yelp, not much has been altered since my visit.

It is directly kitty-corner from The Firehouse, in front of LADOT Parking Lot 740, that the bus explodes in the scene.

And it is directly across from the explosion site that Jack receives the ominous call from Howard alerting him that there is a second bomb on a different city bus.

The payphones featured in the scene were not real, but set pieces placed pretty much exactly where the bus stop is situated today.

Fellow stalker/Emergency! expert Richard Yokley (you may remember him from this post and this post) informed me that Wick Lobo (cutie Christian Kane) and his team also popped by The Firehouse in the Season 1 episode of Rescue 77 titled “Remember Me: Part 1,” which aired in 1999.

The GC and I didn’t eat at The Firehouse that day in 2009 – I made like Keanu Reeves and just grabbed a coffee – so I can’t really attest to the quality of the food, but the place is adorable and I highly recommend stopping by for a visit.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Firehouse Restaurant, from Speed, is located at 213 Rose Avenue in Venice. You can visit the eatery’s official website here. In the movie, the bus explodes kitty-corner from The Firehouse, on Main Street just south of Rose Avenue in front of LADOT Parking Lot 740. The payphones were set up directly across the street from the parking lot on the opposite side of Main in the area where the bus stop now stands.