famous restaurants – Page 6

August 14, 2017July 16, 2019

Happy Trails Catering from “Big Little Lies”

UPDATE – Sadly, Happy Trails Catering is no longer open. The restaurant closed in 2018 and its beautiful garden currently sits vacant.

As you probably noticed, I was unexpectedly MIA for most of last week. My dad had an experimental five-day procedure done at a hospital in Orange County, so my family and I spent the week by his side. I fully intended to write new content while there, but the hospital Wi-Fi wasn’t really amenable to that. (What is it with hospital Wi-Fi, by the way? I’ve literally never encountered one even halfway decent!) But I am finally home and ready to get back to my regularly scheduled programming. So, on with the post! As someone who routinely plays tourist in my own town (wherever that happens to be), I counted myself an expert on Pasadena, the Southern California city I called home for more than 15 years. One spot that remained a secret to me for almost a decade, though, was Happy Trails Catering, a bucolic special events site/café/garden located in Old Town. My mom learned about the place while looking for L.A.-area wedding venues shortly after I got engaged in 2008 and, upon seeing photos of it online, told me we had to head out there pronto for a tour. I was dazzled at what awaited us! Situated just steps from the bustling sidewalk lining Fair Oaks Avenue, virtually hidden behind wooden entrance gates, is an absolutely charming garden positioned around a massive camphor tree. While I did not wind up choosing to tie the knot on the premises (the Grim Cheaper and I instead got married at our good friends’ house), Happy Trails made a definite impression. So it is quite surprising that I did not recognize the place upon sight when it popped up on Big Little Lies earlier this year. It wasn’t until the property’s third appearance on the HBO mini-series that I was actually able to identify it!

[ad]

Happy Trails Catering was originally founded in 1986.

As its name suggests, the company mainly operates as a catering business, run out of a small brick storefront.

Situated next to that storefront is the entrance to the property’s spectacular garden.

The pristine landscaped grounds serve as the company’s onsite special events venue.

Thankfully, you don’t have to be invited to a soiree on the premises to catch a glimpse of the peaceful idyll, though. Each weekday from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., the Happy Trails kitchen is transformed into a walk-up café open to the public.

Patrons can grab one of the eatery’s homemade soups, sandwiches, salads, or quiches . . .

. . . and head outside to enjoy it in the garden under the canopy of the camphor tree.

While Happy Trails is no-doubt one of the prettiest venues Pasadena has to offer . . .

. . . the site is just as well-known for its fare.

Though my mom and I didn’t sample any of Happy Trails’ offerings the day we toured the place, the GC and I stopped by the café recently for lunch and were thoroughly impressed. The Sage Roasted Turkey Breast Sandwich is honestly one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had.

Happy Trails Catering, masking as the supposed Monterey-area Side Door Café, was featured three times during the first season of Big Little Lies. It first showed up in the episode titled “Serious Mothering” in the scene in which Celeste Wright (Nicole Kidman) and Madeline Martha Mackenzie (Reese Witherspoon) discuss their sex lives over cocktails, before being interrupted by their frenemy Renata Klein (Laura Dern).

The site was significantly dressed for the scene, with lounge areas, fire pits and outdoor heaters spaced throughout the garden, which is why I did not recognize it.

Happy Trails then popped up twice in the episode titled “Push Comes to Shove” – first as the restaurant where Madeline and her ex-husband, Nathan Carlson (James Tupper), meet to talk about co-parenting their teenage daughter, Abigail (Kathryn Newton). Though the property’s camphor tree was visible in the scene, I am ashamed to say that I still did not recognize the place!

Later in the episode, Jane Chapman (Shailene Woodley) meets up with Ms. Barnes (Virginia Kull) at the eatery to discuss whether or not her son, Ziggy (Iain Armitage), is bullying a fellow student. While watching the scene, I spotted Happy Trails’ rear barn doors behind the two women and placed them immediately. It was definitely a facepalm moment. I cannot believe it took three scenes for me to identify the locale!

The restaurant also makes an appearance in Big Little Lies Season 2 premiere titled “What Have They Done?” as the spot where Celeste and Jane talk about their complicated relationship.

It is not hard to see why Happy Trails was chosen to appear on Big Little Lies. The site has a very Carmel-ish feel to it. Per a Monterey County Weekly article, while filming Season 1 on the Central Coast, the BLL crew frequented Restaurant 1833 (which is now closed) and hoped to locate a similar spot in L.A. to stand in for it on the show. They found exactly what they were looking for in Happy Trails. As you can see in these images of the now defunct 1833, the two spaces bear a striking resemblance to each other. To me, though, Happy Trails is even more reminiscent of Hog’s Breath Inn, the iconic Carmel restaurant that was originally founded in 1972 by none other than Clint Eastwood. Fun fact – when the actor wanted to expand the eatery in 1986, he encountered quite a bit of bureaucratic red tape. He was so frustrated by the situation that he wound up running for mayor so that he could make some policy changes. His run was successful and Eastwood served as Carmel’s mayor for the next two years. Though he sold his interest in the Hog’s Breath Inn in 1999, the restaurant is still in operation today and looks much the same as it did during Clint’s tenure.

Sadly, the other main restaurant featured on Big Little Lies is not accessible to the public. Blue Blues, the supposed Fisherman’s Wharf café where Madeline, Jane and Celeste regularly hung out, was nothing more than a studio-built set located inside of a soundstage. Quite a bit of misinformation about the location seems to floating around online, though. Several sources state that Paluca Trattoria, located at 6 Old Fisherman’s Wharf, masked as Blue Blues on the series. Heck, even Paluca Trattoria’s official website makes that claim. While the restaurant is situated in the same area of the wharf that Blue Blue’s was purported to be, no actual filming took place there. Not only is it obvious when looking at images of Paluca Trattoria in comparison to screen captures of Blue Blues that the two places are not one and the same, but production designer John Paino confirmed the matter in a February 2017 New York Post article, stating “We made the whole thing on a stage, and the background is digitally dropped in.” It is not hard to see why audiences were fooled, though. The café does look incredibly realistic, as you can see below. You can read an in-depth post I wrote about Blue Blues here.

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: Happy Trails Catering, aka Side Door Café from Big Little Lies, is located at 207 South Fair Oaks Avenue in Pasadena. You can visit the eatery’s official website here. The café and garden are only open Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., so plan accordingly.

July 28, 2017July 27, 2017

Chasen’s Restaurant from “Enemy of the State”

I grew up about as far removed from Hollywood and the world of show business as you can get. But somehow I was familiar with Chasen’s, the West Hollywood restaurant that played stomping ground to the Tinseltown elite for close to six decades. I’m not sure where my knowledge of the famed eatery came from, but it is likely due to the countless celebrity biographies and magazines I read as a child and/or the fact that my mom has long been something of a chili connoisseur. For those not in the know, Chasen’s was noted as much for its legendary chili as it was for its acclaimed clientele. Sadly, neither my mom nor I ever got to dine at the restaurant. It was shuttered in 1995, long before we moved to Los Angeles. A portion of its Neo-colonial façade still stands, though (it’s now part of a Bristol Farms market), and I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to stalk it way back in May 2013. Then I promptly forgot about it. Flash forward to last week. While researching Baltimore’s Hollywood Diner, I came across a mention that Enemy of the State had done some filming at the Charm City site. As it turns out, that information was incorrect, but I was thrilled to learn while looking into the matter that the 1998 thriller had actually shot a few scenes at Chasen’s. So I figured it was high time I blog about the place.

[ad]

Chasen’s was originally established in 1936 by New York-based Vaudeville performer Dave Chasen. Even the restaurant’s inception is steeped in Hollywood lore. As the story goes, Chasen came out to L.A. to act in a movie and began supplying his actor friends with his special homemade chili, just as he had done with his Vaudeville buddies back home. Depending on which version of the tale you believe, either director Frank Capra or New Yorker magazine editor Harold Ross suggested Chasen get out of show business and start a restaurant. He heeded the advice and on December 13th, 1936 opened the doors of Chasen’s Southern Pit. (Supposedly, Capra had to loan Dave his silverware from home for the opening.) The tiny BBQ joint, which consisted of a scant 6 tables and an 8-seat bar, was an instant hit with the show biz set, despite only serving spare ribs and Dave’s famous chili.

In 1942, Dave married a Sax Fifth Avenue beauty salon head named Maude Martin, whom pal Dom Amici had brought in to Chasen’s for dinner while she was in town on business. Dave was immediately smitten. Following the nuptials, Maude set about expanding both the restaurant’s menu and its square footage, employing renowned architect Paul Revere Williams to spruce up the interior with red leather booths and wood paneling. Williams was hired for a few additional expansions over the years as the restaurant’s popularity continued to grow.

For decades, Chasen’s was the place to see and be seen in Hollywood. Just a few of the legends who regularly dined on the premises include Alfred Hitchcock, Jimmy Stewart, Bob Hope, Kirk Douglas, Cary Grant, Walt Disney, Marilyn Monroe, Carol Burnett, Frank Sinatra, Clark Gable, and Jack Lemmon. Ronald and Nancy Reagan even got engaged there (the booth where Ronnie proposed is now on display at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library). And Elizabeth Taylor was so taken with Chasen’s chili that she reportedly had it flown to her regularly while she was on location in Rome filming Cleopatra. You can check out some photos of Chasen’s from its heyday here.

After Dave passed away in 1973, Maude ran the restaurant herself, greeting customers at the front door nightly. Chasen’s remained popular under Maude’s tutelage and attracted new celebrity clientele such as John Travolta, Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Elton John, Sharon Stone, Madonna, and Jack Nicholson. Aaron Spelling even hosted annual Christmas parties for the cast and crew of Beverly Hills, 90210 on the premises. Jason Priestley dedicated a chapter of his book, Jason Priestley: A Memoir, to one of the parties and you can see a photo of the December 18th, 1991 soiree here and the 1993 shindig here.

Sadly, Chasen’s started to see a decline in patronage during the ‘90s. Maude eventually sold the restaurant to a developer and its doors were officially closed on April 1st, 1995. Though there were plans to build a massive 2-story, 89,000-square-foot shopping center on the site, they never came to fruition largely due to neighborhood opposition. While development sat in limbo for the next few years, Chasen’s remained intact and was rented out for filming and private events. The project finally got underway in 1999 and the eatery’s interior décor, furnishings and restaurant equipment were auctioned off to the public in October of that year. The structure was razed shortly thereafter and a 29,000-square-foot Bristol Farms grocery store, which opened in 2000, was built in its place. Thankfully, the market’s owners decided to preserve a piece of the historic eatery. As I mentioned above, a portion of Chasen’s Beverly Boulevard façade was left intact during the demolition, was incorporated into the Bristol Farms exterior, and still stands today. That façade, with the restaurant’s former main entrance denoted with a pink arrow, is pictured below.

Most amazing of all, the Bristol Farms owners also re-created a section of Chasen’s interior inside the store. It serves as the market’s onsite restaurant.

Called Bristol Café, the space serves soups, salads, sandwiches, and other staples.

Oh, and Dave’s famous chili! For those who don’t live in the area, but want to know what all the fuss is about, you can make Chasen’s iconic chili at home – recipe here.

Though I never got to experience Chasen’s first-hand, Bristol Café was not a bad consolation prize thanks to the fact that the space boasts several of the original restaurant’s booths;

its knotty pine paneling and light sconces;

and doors. For anyone who hasn’t been, I highly recommend a visit.

In Enemy of the State, Chasen’s portrayed Pintero Social Club, the supposed Washington, D.C.-area Italian restaurant owned by mobster Paulie Pintero (Tom Sizemore). The eatery’s dining area was only shown briefly in the flick, though.

Most of the filming took place in Chasen’s kitchen, including the massive shoot-out at the end of the flick.

Only the interior of Chasen’s was utilized in the movie. Exterior scenes involving Pintero Social Club were filmed at a different location.

Enemy of the State is hardly the first production to feature Chasen’s. Columbo (Peter Falk) dines there – and, in a tongue-in-cheek moment, gets scoffed at by a waiter for ordering chili – in the Season 3 episode of Columbo titled “Publish or Perish,” which aired in 1974.

Simon Davenport (Henry Fonda) receives a telephone call from Harry Calder (George Segal) while he is at Chasen’s celebrating his wedding anniversary in the 1977 thriller Rollercoaster.

Bugsy Siegel (Warren Beatty) tells his wife he wants a divorce over diner at Chasen’s in the 1991 film Bugsy.

In the Season 3 episode of Melrose Place titled “Love Reeks,” which aired in 1994, Susan Madsen (Cheryl Pollak) has a job interview at Chasen’s.

Dede Truitt (Christina Ricci) and Matt Mateo (Ivan Sergei) meet up with Bill Truitt (Martin Donovan) and Lucia DeLury (Lisa Kudrow) for a highly awkward dinner at Chasen’s in the 1998 comedy The Opposite of Sex.

Even Bristol Farms is popular with location scouts. In the Season 2 episode of Six Feet Under titled “Back to the Garden,” which aired in 2002, David Fisher (Michael C. Hall) waits for Keith Charles (Mathew St. Patrick) at Bristol Café in a very brief scene.

And in the Season 3 episode of The Osbournes titled “Pain in the Neck,” which aired in 2004, Ozzy Osbourne shops at Bristol Farms with his assistant.

Chasen’s also appeared in the second episode of the 1989 television series Nightingales, but, unfortunately, I could not find a copy of the episode with which to make screen captures for this post.

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: Chasen’s restaurant, aka Pintero Social Club from Enemy of the State, was formerly located at 9039 Beverly Boulevard in West Hollywood. The site is now home to a Bristol Farms grocery store.

July 24, 2017July 29, 2017

Hollywood Diner from “Sleepless in Seattle”

Another day, another diner from a Meg Ryan movie! Unlike the Port Café, the Wilmington, California eatery that portrayed East Coast establishments in both When Harry Met Sally . . . and A Few Good Men, today’s locale can actually be found close to the Atlantic – though its name would have you believe otherwise. I’m talking about the Hollywood Diner in downtown Baltimore, which played the Capital Diner in the 1993 romcom Sleepless in Seattle. To discuss the restaurant’s history, though, we have to go back to the filming of a much earlier movie, 1982’s Diner.

[ad]

When writer/director Barry Levinson started pre-production on his semi-autobiographical coming-of-age drama Diner, set in 1959 Baltimore, he sought out to find a coffee shop similar to the one he hung out in during his youth for the shoot. His former stomping ground, the Hilltop Diner, which largely inspired his story, had been turned into a liquor store years prior, so filming there was not a possibility. After failed negotiations with the owners of the Double T Diner in Catonsville, Maryland, Levinson wound up coming across a vacant plot of land in Charm City’s Canton neighborhood that overlooked the famed Domino Sugars sign and thought it would make the perfect setting for his movie. All he needed was a diner. So he headed to a diner graveyard in New Jersey and quickly set his sights on a streamlined silver structure that formerly served as Long Island’s Westbury Grill. He leased the 1954 café from the graveyard, transported it to the plot of land in Canton, and proceeded to shoot Diner there, dubbing the fictional eatery “Fells Point Diner.”

Both the interior and exterior of the diner were used extensively in the shoot. (And yes, that’s a very young Kevin Bacon in the second screen capture below. <3)

Though some sources claim that Bendix Diner in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey was used for the filming of Diner’s interior scenes, that information is incorrect. The establishment does bear a considerable resemblance to the café where Eddie Simmons (Steve Guttenberg), Shrevie Schreiber (Daniel Stern), Boogie Sheftell (Mickey Rourke), Timothy Fenwick Jr. (Bacon), and Modell (Paul Reiser) hung out in the flick, but upon close inspection, it is obvious that the two are not one and the same.

When filming on Diner wrapped, the 48-foot by 17-foot restaurant was shipped back to the diner graveyard in New Jersey, which would have been the end of the story had then Baltimore mayor William Donald Schaefer not stepped in. Shortly after the movie premiered in early 1982, Schaefer implored local citizens to help return the structure to Charm City, putting purchase and transport of the eatery on his civil “wish list.” WBAL Radio heeded his cry, bought the restaurant from the graveyard and gifted it to Baltimore. It was transferred to its new home at 400 East Saratoga Street in the heart of downtown in January 1984. At the time, the diner lacked a bathroom and a kitchen, but locals donated time and money to spruce up the structure and transform it back into a functional restaurant. It opened later that year as The Kids’ Diner. Run by city schools and the mayor’s office, the site served as both an eatery and a vocational training center for area students.

Plagued by financial woes from the start, the restaurant was taken over by the Chesapeake Foundation for Human Development in 1991 and renamed “Hollywood Diner.”

The foundation couldn’t quell the café’s money problems, though, and, after undergoing a series of different management organizations and restaurant iterations, the site finally shuttered in 2012. Though there were plans to turn the property into a food truck park, using the interior of the diner for seating, it does not appear that the project ever took of.

Despite the longtime closure, the diner still stands intact today, thankfully.

I was floored when I walked up to the structure and saw that the interior was visible through the front windows!

At the beginning of Sleepless in Seattle, Annie Reed (Meg Ryan) stops for tea at the diner while on a Christmas Eve road trip to her fiancé’s parents’ house.

It is amazing to me how little the restaurant has changed since filming took place over 24 years ago.

Hollywood Diner has appeared in several productions over the years. In fact, Barry Levinson has quite a soft spot for the place, having utilized it in two of his other movies. In 1987’s Tin Men, the restaurant serves as Ernest Tilley’s (Danny DeVito) regular breakfast joint.

And Van Kurtzman (Adrien Brody) also hangs out there in Levinson’s 1999 drama Liberty Heights.

The director even named the eatery “Fells Point Diner” in the movie, as a nod to his 1982 film.

Though some websites state that the diner also appears in the 1990 Levinson-directed drama Avalon, in the scene in which Michael Kaye (Elijah Wood) watches as a restaurant is dropped into place on a vacant lot, that information is incorrect. As you can see below, the eatery in Avalon looks nothing like the Hollywood Diner (not only do the windows not match, but neither does the general shape of the structure). Not to mention that by the time Avalon was shot, The Kids’ Diner had already been installed at its downtown location and in full operation for over six years.

In the Season 2 episode of The Wire titled “Duck and Cover,” which aired in 2003, a drunken Detective James “Jimmy” McNulty (Dominic West) heads to the Hollywood Diner for coffee and winds up going home with his waitress.

Hollywood Diner provided the setting for the 2017 short film The Dark of Night, directed by Robin Wright.

The restaurant also reportedly appeared in an episode of Homicide: Life on the Street, though I am unsure of which episode.

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: Hollywood Diner, aka Capital Diner from Sleepless in Seattle, is located at 400 East Saratoga Street in Baltimore. The restaurant is currently closed.

July 12, 2017July 10, 2017

The Old Place from “Scorpion”

There are some spots in L.A. that I miss more than others. The Old Place pretty much tops that list. I first stalked the rustic eatery, tucked away on a forested road in the picturesque mountain town of Cornell, in 2011 and was immediately smitten. Because the restaurant is only open Thursday through Sunday and because I don’t get out to the Cornell area very often since moving to Palm Springs, I haven’t been able to frequent it as much as I’d like. So I was thrilled when it popped up in a recent episode of my latest TV obsession, Scorpion. Though I blogged about the Old Place after my initial visit six years ago, come to find out, I missed a lot of the restaurant’s onscreen appearances in the post. As such, I figured it was definitely time for a redeux. So here goes.

[ad]

The history of the Old Place was covered pretty extensively in my 2011 write-up, but I thought I’d include a brief recap here, too. The eatery was originally founded by Tom Runyon (Los Angeles’ Runyon Canyon is named after his family) and his wife, Barbara, in a former general store/post office that dates back to either 1884 or 1914, depending on which publication you happen to be reading.

The couple purchased the site, which at the time was abandoned, in 1969 and spent the next year transforming it into a rugged restaurant.

Tom did most of the work himself, salvaging unique items to use as décor. Booth backs were created out of doors from a San Francisco hotel, columns flanking the end of each booth came from the Old Santa Barbara Mission, and the bench that runs the length of the 30-foot antique bar was fashioned out of a wooden diving board. The result of his efforts is a majestic, intimate, and one-of-a-kind spot.

The minuscule restaurant consists of five booths, three tables and a scant forty seats – and for many years had only two employees, Tom and Barbara. Tom served as the chef, cooking up the only two items on the menu, steak and clams, while Barbara manned the bar and worked as the waitress. Despite the tiny confines and limited menu offerings, the Old Place thrived – and became a celebrity hotspot, serving up the likes of Ali MacGraw, Steve McQueen, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Sean Penn, Jack Lemmon, Dolly Parton, Emilio Estevez, and Ronald and Nancy Reagan. Elvis Presley even stopped by in February 1966 while in town filming Spinout. (You can see some photos of him out in front of the eatery here.) In recent years, Britney Spears has been known to pop in.

When Tom passed away in 2009, Tom and Barbara’s son, Morgan, took over the restaurant, along with Tim Skogstrom, who runs the Cornell Winery & Tasting Room next door. The duo expanded the menu and wine list and added a credit card machine, but left the rest of Tom’s creation virtually untouched. One step over the Old Place’s threshold and guests are immediately transported back in time.

The site’s low-slung ceiling, wood-paneled walls, dimly-lit sconces, and friendly servers all add to the warm, intimate atmosphere. It is hands-down one of my favorite spots in all of Los Angeles – as evidenced by its prominent placement on both My Must-Stalk List and My Guide to L.A. – Restaurants. I honestly cannot say enough good things about the restaurant.

Thanks to the eatery’s uniquely rural charm, location managers have flocked to it over the years.

Which should come as no surprise – the Old Place looks like it jumped straight out of a Western movie set.

Back in 1964, when the site still housed a general store/post office, Dr. Richard Kimble (David Janssen) stopped there to pick up his boss’ mail in the Season 2 episode of The Fugitive titled “Tug of War.”

Two years later, the property popped up once again on The Fugitive, this time as a sheriff’s station in Season 3’s “Stroke of Genius.”

In 1972, the Old Place was used as the exterior of Elmo’s restaurant in the Season 5 episode of The Mod Squad titled “The Thundermakers.” (Interiors were filmed elsewhere.)

Sy Rogers (Gary Sandy) worked at the Old Place in the Season 5 episode of Barnaby Jones titled “Renegade’s Child,” which aired in 1976.

In the 1977 action film Telefon, the Old Place masqueraded as The Dougout, the Halderville, Texas bar where Barbara (Lee Remick) and Major Grigori Borzov (Charles Bronson) fought spies.

Only the exterior of the site was utilized in the flick. Interior scenes were shot on a set constructed at MGM. Though the set very closely resembled the interior of the Old Place, it was built much larger than the actual restaurant.

In 1987, the Old Place portrayed Last Stop Sandwich, the roadside stop where Det. Sgt. Rick Hunter (Fred Dryer) spotted Nicki Rains (Lydia Cornell) grabbing a drink in the Season 3 episode of Hunter titled “Straight to the Heart.”

The exterior of the Old Place also popped up briefly as a Native American artifacts store in Hunter’s Season 5 episode titled “Return of the White Cloud,” which aired in 1989. (Interiors were filmed elsewhere.)

In 1990, the restaurant masked as the Bookhouse, aka the meeting place of Twin Peaks’ secret society, in the Season 1 episode of Twin Peaks titled “Episode 3” or “Rest in Pain.”

The Old Place is where Vann (Owen Wilson) met Casper (Sheryl Crowe) at the beginning of the 1999 thriller The Minus Man.

In the Season 7 episode of The X-Files titled “En Ami,” which aired in 2000, the Old Place played Cory’s Café, where Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) and CGB Spender (William B. Davis) stopped for gas while in Goochland, Virginia.

Earlier this year, the Old Place masqueraded as Montana’s Jefferson Grill in the Season 13 episode of Grey’s Anatomy titled “Who Is He (And What Is He to You)?”

And, as I mentioned in my intro, the Old Place also recently popped up on Scorpion. In the Season 3 episode titled “Faux Money Maux Problems,” the restaurant portrayed the Simi Valley Saloon, where Walter O’Brien (Elyes Gabel), Sylvester Dodd (Ari Stidham) and Cabe Gallo (Robert Patrick) sought refuge after escaping their Norteguayan kidnappers.

Both the interior and exterior of the property were featured in the episode.

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 Old Place, from the “Faux Money Maux Problems” episode of Scorpion, is located at 29983 Mulholland Highway in Cornell (or Agoura Hills). The restaurant is only open Thursday through Sunday, so plan accordingly. You can visit The Old Place’s official website here.

June 7, 2017June 19, 2017

Old Tony’s on the Pier from "The O.C."

The Baader-Meinhof phenomenon has been in full effect lately when it comes to Old Tony’s on the Pier, a Redondo Beach restaurant I stalked way back in January 2012 with my good friend Mike (he provided many of the images in this post), but have yet to blog about. First, Alison Martino, founder of the fabulous Vintage Los Angeles Facebook page, posted some photos of the nautical-themed eatery on her Instagram in May. Then last week, a link to an L.A. magazine article titled “100 Places Where You Can Experience Retro Los Angeles,” which featured a blurb on Tony’s, landed in my inbox. So I figured the universe was trying to tell me it was high time I dedicate a post to the place.

[ad]

Old Tony’s on the Pier was originally founded in 1952 by a commercial fisherman/World War II veteran named Anthony Trutanich, who figured that running a restaurant had to be easier than angling for ocean life. Initially known simply as “Tony’s,” the eatery was established inside of a small shack-like space overlooking the Pacific on the Redondo Beach Pier. Though the restaurant business proved just as demanding as commercial fishing, Tony’s quickly became a success.

Even celebrities were clamoring to get a table.

Just a few of the luminaries who have dined on the premises include Ronald Reagan, Michael Rapaport, Bob Hope, Ann-Margret, Florence Henderson, Phyllis Diller, Frank Sinatra, Danny DeVito, Johnny Carson, Barbara Streisand, Dean Martin, Candice Bergen, Telly Savalas, and Jay Leno. Tony’s entrance is wallpapered with autographed headshots of the restaurant’s many famous fans.

Tony’s proved so popular that Trutanich expanded it twice. In 1961, he added a large patio to the site and then in 1963, he installed an octagonal-shaped second story that he designed himself. The crow’s-nest-like space houses a circular bar known as “op o’ Tony’s.”

In 1969, Trutanich opened a sister restaurant just across from his inaugural eatery and dubbed it “Tony’s Fish Market.” It was at that time that the original site was renamed “Old Tony’s” or “Tony’s on the Pier.”

Though a fire destroyed much of the Redondo Beach Pier in 1988, Old Tony’s remained intact. Trutanich became the driving force behind the structure’s rebuild, earning the nickname “Godfather of the Pier.” Sadly, Tony passed away in 2007 at the age of 84. His two sons, Tony Jr. and Michael, subsequently took over running the restaurants. While they closed Tony’s Fish Market in 2008, Old Tony’s remains intact and is still going strong today, 65 years after its inception.

Very little of Old Tony’s kitschy décor has been changed since it opened (though some renovations are planned for the near future, unfortunately), which is perhaps why it has proved popular with both patrons and location scouts.

In the Season 3 episode of The O.C. titled “The Pot Stirrer,” Julie Cooper (Melinda Clarke) and Dr. Neil Roberts (Michael Nouri) met for a very brief lunch date at the eatery. Both the exterior . . .

. . . and the interior of the place were featured in the episode.

According to the super nice servers we spoke with while stalking the place (that’s them below!), Old Tony’s has also appeared in the television shows House M.D. and Riptide, though I am unsure of which episodes specifically.

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: Old Tony’s on the Pier, from “The Pot Stirrer” episode of The O.C., is located at 210 Fisherman’s Wharf in Redondo Beach. You can visit the eatery’s official website here.

May 10, 2017May 9, 2017

Soup Burg from “Sex and the City”

I am the first to admit that I get fixated on the most random things. A few years back, I became obsessed with identifying the diner featured at the very end of the Season 1 episode of Sex and the City titled “Models and Mortals.” Though the eatery only appeared briefly, I was consumed with tracking it down. What can I say? I love a good diner. It took some legwork to find the place, but find it, I did. Sadly, by that time, Soup Burg, at 922 Madison Avenue on New York’s Upper East Side, had long since closed its doors. So while I never got the chance to eat there, I still ran right out to stalk its former location during my trip to the Big Apple last April.

[ad]

In “Models and Mortals,” Mr. Big (Chris Noth) and Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) run into each other at a fashion show after-party and strike up a conversation, during which he asks her where she writes her “cute” weekly newspaper column. She responds, “Well, about half the time, I’m at my apartment and the other half I’m over at this coffee shop on 73rd and Madison.” Flash forward to the episode’s final scene. Big surprises Carrie by randomly showing up at said coffee shop, where they discuss men who date models. During their brief conversation (he’s late for a meeting, you see), he informs her, “First of all, well, there are so many goddamn gorgeous women out there in this city. But the thing is this – after a while, you just want to be with the one that makes you laugh.” For those not well-versed in all things Sex and the City, Big is speaking about Carrie. The two get together just a few episodes later.

While scrutinizing “Models and Mortals” for clues as to the coffee shop’s whereabouts, I noticed that a sign reading “Soup Burg” was very briefly visible behind Mr. Big when he first sat down . . .

. . . as well as on the door when he left the restaurant.

So I headed to Google and quickly came across a Yelp page for a defunct eatery by that name which stated its former address as 1095 Lexington Avenue on New York’s Upper East Side. Eureka, right? Wrong. It was not long before I figured out that while Soup Burg was a longtime UES staple dating back to the ‘40s, during its heyday the restaurant actually boasted three outposts, none of which was still in operation. The Lex Ave location did not open until 2004 and the third iteration at 1026 1st Avenue was also established around that same time. Since “Models and Mortals” was lensed in 1998, I knew the episode could not have been shot at either of those two spots. Filming had to have occurred at the original Soup Burg. So back to the drawing board I went. Another Google search led me to this 2014 The New York Times article which noted that the restaurant’s inaugural site was on the corner of East 73rd Street and Madison Avenue – exactly where Carrie had said it was in the episode! D’oh! The article also mentioned that the space was now home to a cashmere shop. From there it was easy to pinpoint the eatery’s exact former address of 922 Madison.

Soup Burg was originally established at the Madison Avenue site way back in 1948. I am unaware of who initially founded it, but in 1964, the café was purchased by Greek native Peter Gouvakis, who had worked on the premises since 1958. Soup Burg thrived under Gouvakis’ tutelage, becoming a veritable New York institution.

During the 1970s, Peter’s son Jimmy started working at Soup Burg, eventually taking it over, along with his brother, John, and their brother-in-law, Timmy Vlachos. The trio further grew the business and perfected the recipes. Soup Burg became known citywide for its burgers, which Time Out NY rated as the third best burgers in all of Manhattan in 2004. Though the two sister cafes were opened, the Madison Avenue location remained the best-loved. Of the site, New York magazine had this to say, “There are a few places on the East Side with this name, each as small as your first – or current – apartment, each looking like it was built in two days, each routinely buffed to a high Formica shine, and each with a menu big enough to daunt the banquet kitchen at the Marriott Marquis. Ignore all of them but the one at this address.”

In July 2006, Jimmy was informed that the rent on the Madison Avenue site was increasing from $21,000 a month to $65,000. Sadly, Gouvakis could not afford the increase and the restaurant (which, by that time, had been operating in the same space for 58 years!) shuttered later that month. By November, the upscale Manrico Cashmere boutique had moved in. You can see what the Madison Avenue Soup Burg looked like while it was still in operation here, here, here, and here. And you can read two great articles on its closing on the Doktor Weingolb blog here and here.

By that time, the 1st Avenue location had also closed its doors. And though the Lexington Avenue outpost remained open and extremely popular with New Yorkers as one of the only spots in the neighborhood to get a decent, affordable meal, it, too, faced a rent hike in 2014 and shuttered in June of that year. The increase was a pretty dumb move on the landlord’s part if you ask me, being that, per Google Street View, the space is currently vacant and does not look to have ever been occupied since Soup Burg moved out.

Many mourned the loss of the last operating Soup Burg. The New York Times journalist Anne Barnard had this to say about the closure, “The Soup Burg is – was – the archetype of what in today’s homogenized, all-American city is usually called a diner. Premillennial, pre-Starbucks New Yorkers would call it a coffee shop. Not the kind where you get a latte, though that item was grudgingly added to the menu. The kind where you get a burger bigger than its bun, or home fries with sweet peppers and onions, or a chicken orzo soup with saltines. Where you can sit down and eat for $10, with a bottomless, not distractingly good $1.50 coffee, and where they know your face, your order and sometimes even your name.”

I’m really sad I never got the chance to dine at any of the Soup Burg restaurants, but at least the original is forever immortalized onscreen thanks to Sex and the City.

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: Soup Burg, from the “Models and Mortals” episode of Sex and the City, was formerly located at 922 Madison Avenue on New York’s Upper East Side. The space currently houses Manrico Cashmere. Via Quadronno, one of my very favorite Big Apple eateries, is located right around the corner at 25 East 73rd Street. It also appeared in “Models and Mortals.” You can read my post on the restaurant here.

April 19, 2017April 14, 2017

Woody’s Boathouse Restaurant from “Vanderpump Rules”

I had high hopes for a lot of rest, relaxation, and reading during my recent trip to Lake Arrowhead. I wound up doing little else besides shopping and some Vanderpump Rules stalking, though, which, hey, I’m not gonna complain about! One site I did not pinpoint the exact location of prior to actually setting foot in the lakeside city was the eatery where the Sur gang grabbed lunch in the Season 2 episode titled “Only the Lonely.” I recognized from my prior visits to the area that filming of the scene had occurred somewhere in Lake Arrowhead Village, so, armed with screen captures, the Grim Cheaper and I ventured around the sprawling shopping center until we found the right spot. As we soon learned, VR was lensed on the small back patio of Woody’s Boathouse Restaurant, a spot we had actually dined at during one of our previous trips! I failed to recognize the place, though, because that particular visit took place during the winter (there was even snow on the ground!), so we dined indoors and did not even realize that the eatery had a back patio.

[ad]

In “Only the Lonely,” Stassi Schroeder, Jax Taylor, et al. travelled to Lake Arrowhead to attend Tom Sandoval’s band’s show. Their first night in town, during which the gang grabbed drinks at Papagayos Mexican Restaurant & Cantina (I blogged about that site here), was a bit rocky, with Tom and then girlfriend Kristen Doute arguing – initially over whether or not Tom regularly wore his steampunk glasses and then later over the fact that Kristen wouldn’t let Tom kiss her goodnight. (It came as such a shock when their relationship ended a few episodes later! Winking smile ) The following day, Tom, Kristen and the rest of the (very hung-over) group discussed the fight and its fallout over lunch – and more drinks (because, duh!) – at Woody’s.

During the debriefing, Tom, of course, cried – or, as he described it, “shed some man tears” – and all was forgiven. For the time being, at least. (And yes, I realize what an idiot I must be coming off as for being a fan of this show! Trust me, though, it’s highly addicting.)

In person, the Woody’s Boathouse patio looks much the same as it did onscreen.

Though the patio was accessible, sadly, dining there was not possible during our visit due to the cold weather.

We did get to enjoy some of its incredible views for a moment, though.

Woody’s Boathouse Restaurant is situated directly overlooking Lake Arrowhead, so the entire eatery boasts some pretty stellar vistas.

I mean, come on!

After finishing their lunch/drinks on Vanderpump Rules, Jax and Stassi took a walk together on the dock in front of Woody’s and discussed the fact that, despite being broken up for over a year, Jax had just tattooed Stassi’s name onto his arm. (Again, the fact that I admit to religiously watching this show can’t be making me look too good right now.)

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: Woody’s Boathouse Restaurant, from the “Only the Lonely” episode of Vanderpump Rules, is located in the Lake Arrowhead Village shopping center at 28200 CA-189 in Lake Arrowhead. You can visit the eatery’s official website here. Papagayos Mexican Restaurant & Cantina, which was also featured in the episode, is located in Building P-100 of the same center. You can visit that eatery’s official website here.

April 10, 2017April 20, 2017

Papagayos Mexican Restaurant & Cantina from "Vanderpump Rules"

It has been hot in Palm Springs lately. Granted, it is always hot here, but the past few months have been unseasonably sweltering. Two weeks ago, my parents, the Grim Cheaper and I decided to chill out a bit by heading to Lake Arrowhead for a short getaway. Just prior to our trip, the GC and I started watching Vanderpump Rules over again from the beginning and, as fate would have it, one of the reality series’ Season 2 episodes was shot in the mountain town, which is located about 80 miles east of Los Angeles. So I, of course, had to get in some VP stalking while I was there.

[ad]

In Season 2’s “Only the Lonely,” Stassi Schroeder, Jax Taylor, and the rest of the Sur gang journeyed to Lake Arrowhead for the weekend to catch Tom Sandoval’s band’s show. Several area sites appeared in the episode and I stalked pretty much all of them, excluding the beach where Jax showed Stassi his new tattoo, which I maddeningly did not manage to track down until after I had already returned home.

One of the most prominent locales featured was the Lake Arrowhead Village eatery Papagayos Mexican Restaurant & Cantina, where the group headed for drinks shortly after arriving in town. So the GC and I, of course, had to do the same!

During their visit, Stassi and co. hung out mainly in the restaurant’s bar area.

Drama, of course, ensued while there, as it always does with the Sur gang. During this particular venture, Sandoval and then girlfriend Kristen Doute got into a heated dustup over whether or not Tom wore his pair of steampunk glasses regularly. I’m not joking – that is actually what their fight was about. Ah, the important things in life. The girls wound up splitting off from the guys during the argument and both genders gave Sandoval and Kristen the same advice – break up, and fast!

Our lunch at Papagayos was much less eventful. (The GC does not own a pair of steampunk glasses, so what was there to fight about, really?)

Like the Vanderpump gang, we ate in the bar area and I can honestly say that the eatery served up one of the best Mexican meals I’ve ever had.

It’s no wonder the place was absolutely jam-packed, even though it was 3 p.m. on a Saturday.

If you’re in the area, I cannot recommend Papagayos more.

The building housing the eatery has quite an interesting history. Lake Arrowhead Village was the brainchild of the Arrowhead Lake Company, an L.A.-based development group that purchased a 4,800-acre plot in the San Bernardino Mountains in 1920 with the intention of turning it into a resort town. Roadwork, 3 hotels, a 9-hole golf course, and a quaint Norman-style shopping center named Lake Arrowhead Village were soon completed at the sprawling site. The center consisted of boutiques, an outdoor movie theatre, restaurants, a beach, and a 12-sided dance pavilion that was designed by McNeal Swasey. The lakeside town quickly became a getaway for Hollywood’s elite, attracting such stars as Marilyn Monroe, Bette Davis, Jules Stein, Cary Grant, Charlie Chaplin, Doris Day, Liberace, Frankie Avalon, and Rock Hudson.

By the late ‘70s, the Village had fallen into a state of decline. When new developers purchased it in 1978, they decided it would be more cost-effective to demolish the center and build a new one in its place, rather than do repairs. So in 1979, Lake Arrowhead Village was burned to the ground as part of a “burn to learn” exercise conducted by the Lake Arrowhead Fire Protection District and a few other city agencies. Only a couple of the site’s original buildings were kept out of the blaze, including the post office, the bank, a real estate office, and the circular dance pavilion. The later was restored and revitalized and today houses Papagayos, as well as a few other shops. You can see a photograph of the exterior of the pavilion in its original state here and here, and an image of the interior here.

According to More Magnificent Mountain Movies, the pavilion was featured prominently in A Swingin’ Summer. I scanned through the 1965 film, though, and the venue said to be the dance pavilion in it is the single-story outdoor bandstand pictured below, which I believe may have been a set created for the shoot. It looks nothing like the Village’s actual dance pavilion, which, from what I saw, never made an appearance in the movie.

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: Papagayos Mexican Restaurant & Cantina, from the “Only the Lonely” episode of Vanderpump Rules, is located at 28200 Highway 189, Building P-100, in Lake Arrowhead. You can visit the eatery’s official website here.

April 3, 2017April 3, 2017

Madeline Garden Bistro & Venue from “Mad Men”

I have had many different stalking notebooks over the years. My latest is a gorgeous white Moleskin that I picked up during my Switzerland vacation back in June 2013. One locale that has been listed in it since I started using it almost four years ago (it’s one of the very first entries), but had never been checked off until recently is Madeline Garden Bistro & Venue, which was featured in a Season 4 episode of Mad Men. I had seen photos of the darling Pasadena restaurant/tea room on several websites, walked by it dozens of times over the years, and knew of its onscreen appearance thanks to my buddy E.J.’s The Movieland Directory website. Due to the place’s formerly spotty hours, though, I had never been able to stalk it. The opportunity finally arose two weeks ago when the Grim Cheaper and I found ourselves wandering Green Street just as Madeline was opening, so we headed on in.

[ad]

While the exterior of Madeline Garden Bistro is incredibly idyllic . . .

– I mean, even the signage looks like something from a movie set –

. . . what awaited us as we stepped through the front doors was nothing short of breathtaking.

Madeline Garden Bistro is easily one of the prettiest places I have ever laid eyes on . . .

. . . which I guess should come as no surprise being that it is located inside of the Cheesewright Studios Building, or the Cheesewright Building, one of Pasadena’s most historic and prominent sites.

Per The Architecture of Entertainment by Robert Winter, the French Quarter-style property was designed in 1927 by Louis du Puget Millar as a studio/office/workshop for renown interior decorator Edgar J. Cheesewright.

At the time of its inception, the 2-story, 42-room, 35,000-square-foot complex boasted 3 street-level boutiques, 8 sales rooms, several workshops and offices, a reception hall with a curved staircase, an entrance courtyard with a fountain, a rear garden, leaded glass windows, wrought iron balconies, and a 2-story atrium . You can see photos of the building during its early days here and here.

Cheesewright’s business suffered financially during the Great Depression and he eventually sold the property. During World War II, the complex was acquired by the U.S. Naval Research Bureau and was utilized to conduct secret military testing. A basement lab was constructed for Albert Einstein during that time, complete with a tunnel that linked it to the California Institute of Technology located about a half a mile away, so that the scientist could venture there and back unseen. In 1983, the Navy relinquished the building and it was transformed into retail/office space once again. Today, the second floor houses apartments known as the Pasadena Green Plaza Apartments. Miraculously, despite its different incarnations over the years, much of the site’s original detailing and beauty has been retained.

I was able to chronicle the history of the ground level space that now houses Madeline Garden Bistro back to 2001, at which time it was opened as an upscale eatery named Restaurant Halie.

Halie was shuttered in 2006 and shortly thereafter Madeleine’s Restaurant & Wine Bistro moved in.

Though I lived in Pasadena at the time and heard great things about the place (especially its décor), on every single occasion that the GC and I attempted to eat there or grab a cocktail, we would invariably walk up only to find it closed.

I guess other people had a hard time getting in, as well, because Madeleine’s Restaurant & Wine Bistro closed in 2010. The space remained vacant for a few years before re-opening as the similarly named Madeline Garden Bistro & Venue in 2013.

Though closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, the eatery has a much better operating schedule than its predecessor.

Madeline Garden Bistro has been called “a maze of a restaurant” by several websites and that is the perfect description of the place.

The massive site is comprised of a seemingly endless array of rooms, hallways and tucked-away spaces, each one more beautiful than the next.

The bistro features a lovely main dining room replete with jewel tones;

a towering fireplace;

poufy couches;

arched windows and crystal chandeliers. (And yes, I’m fully aware that I got a little picture happy while stalking Madeline!)

The back bar is just as gorgeous.

Decorated in deep greens and dark purples . . .

. . . the space has the feel of a Parisian watering hole of yesteryear.

There’s a gorgeous brick and flagstone courtyard . . .

. . . perfect for whiling away a sunny afternoon.

Just off the courtyard is the High Tea Room, a grand space marked by French doors, teal walls and an elaborate fireplace.

It was in the High Tea Room that Mad Men was filmed.

In the Season 4 episode titled “Public Relations,” which aired in 2010, Don Draper (Jon Hamm) took an opera supernumerary named Bethany Van Nuys (Anna Camp) on a first date there.

Though the site was operating as Madeleine’s Restaurant & Wine Bistro at the time of the filming, as you can see that room still looks very much the same today.

The Cheesewright Studios Buildings was also featured in a 2015 “The Season of Audi Sales Event” commercial, which you can watch here.

On a side-note – my Google Photo app “stylized” one of the pictures I took of Madeline Garden Bistro and I absolutely love how it turned out. I’m honestly thinking of framing it and had to include it here.

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: Madeline Garden Bistro & Venue, from the “Public Relations” episode of Mad Men, is located at 1030 East Green Street in Pasadena. The eatery is only open Wednesday through Sunday, so plan accordingly. You can visit the tea room’s official website here.

March 10, 2017March 8, 2017

Màs Malo from “Scandal”

Los Angeles is often ridiculed for having no history – or no appreciation of its history. Demolition of the Ambassador Hotel aside, I don’t find that to be true. There is history – well-preserved history – around pretty much ever corner. You just have to know where to look. Case in point – Màs Malo, a downtown L.A. Cal-Mex eatery that is situated inside of a gorgeous former 1920s jewelry emporium. The site first hit my radar while I was researching DTLA watering holes for my Double Shot: Two Downtown Bar Crawls article for the June 2016 issue of Los Angeles magazine. As I mentioned in the piece, Màs Malo’s second-floor lounge was featured in a Season 5 episode of Parks and Recreation. I became completely enamored of the gorgeous space after perusing photos of it online and added it to my To-Stalk List, but somehow never made it out there. Then when I spotted the restaurant pop up on a recent episode of Scandal, I decided I had to head over there stat and finally did, Grim Cheaper in tow, two weeks ago.

[ad]

The 1922 building that Màs Malo calls home was initially constructed as the headquarters and flagship store of Brock & Company Jewelers, one of the city’s most prominent jewelry shops at the time. Originally founded in the 1880s by George A. Brock, Brock & Co. was often referred to as the “Tiffany of the West.”

The Spanish Colonial Revival-style property, which boasts Churrigueresque elements, was designed by William James Dodd and William Richards of the Dodd & Richards architecture firm.

The structure’s highly ornate exterior was assembled out of terra cotta.

Though the building’s façade is undeniably beautiful and definitely picture-worthy, it is the interior that had me so intrigued.

The ground floor of the property, which served as the watch and jewelry showroom during Brock & Co.’s tenure, boasts a stunningly intricate and sweeping vaulted ceiling.

The ornamental carvings are nothing short of breathtaking. In fact, pictures don’t do them justice – they are even more spectacular in person.

Brock & Co. was eventually taken over by George’s son, George C. Brock, who had no children. With no one to leave the company to upon retiring in 1964, he sold it to real estate developer Ben Weingart, who continued to operate the site as a jewelry store for a few years before eventually shuttering it. In 1975, the grand space was leased to the Clinton family, owners of the popular Clifton’s Cafeteria chain.

The Clintons modified the former jewelry store in order to transform it into another Clifton’s outpost, this one named Clifton’s Silver Spoon Cafeteria, which operated from 1975 to 1997. Thankfully, the modifications were minor and the building’s baroque ceiling was left intact, as were the handmade Mahogany display cases that lined the interior. You can see some images of the building during the Clifton Silver Spoon days here, here, and here.

After Clifton’s was shuttered, the Brock & Co. building, which is a Los Angeles Cultural-Historic Monument, remained vacant for close to a decade. In 2007, 213 Nightlife Group founder Cedd Moses set his sights on the property’s second floor, which the jewelry company had utilized as a silver, china and crystal department. He revamped the space into Seven Grand, a dimly-lit, wood-paneled whiskey bar festooned with mounted buck heads. Moses even made use of Brock & Co.’s original display cases to store the watering hole’s extensive liquor collection. Seven Grand became an immediate hit and though the bar is also a popular filming location (it has popped up on The Office, Lie to Me, Body of Proof, and Modern Family, just to name a few), I have yet to stalk it. But don’t worry, it’s on my list.

In 2010, Brock & Co.’s lower level was leased by Mitchell Frank and Jeff Ellermeyer. Along with interior designer Tracy Beckmann and restoration expert Amy Higgins, the two renovated and reimagined the former jewelry showroom, transforming it into Màs Malo, a sister restaurant to their Silver Lake eatery, Malo. The site opened to the public in January 2011. You can check out some fabulous photographs of Amy’s restoration work on the ceiling here.

Màs Malo is hands down one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever visited. Even if the food was bad, I’d recommend the place for the ambiance alone. Thankfully, that’s not the case, though.

As the GC and I came to find out, the fare at Màs Malo is out of this world! I opted for the Ground Beef & Pickle Tacos, which were recommended by the bartender. Pickles on a taco? I was skeptical, too. The entrée was actually created by chef Robert Luna’s mother. As he explained to The Huffington Post, “I was twelve years old and my mom was prepping for hamburgers when she realized she had no bread. She took a tortilla and turned it into a hard taco with the beef and the pickles. Since then I haven’t wanted hamburgers any other way.” Countless Angelinos agree. The dish quickly became a signature item. While the pickles add a unique and altogether pleasant touch, for me, the taco’s real pièce de résistance is the tortilla shell, which is the perfect blend of crispy and chewy.

Considering its gorgeous aesthetic, it is no surprise that the Brock & Co. space has been featured in several productions.

In the Season 6 episode of Scandal titled “Hardball,” Màs Malo masked as the supposed Washington, D.C. bar where Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) took FBI Director Angela Webster (Saycon Sengbloh) for drinks to distract her so that Huck (Guillermo Diaz) could search her car. The scene was shot in the restaurant’s mezzanine area.

Shortly after Clifton’s Silver Spoon Cafeteria closed, the then vacant space appeared in the 1999 film Fight Club as the spot where The Narrator (Edward Norton) ate for free while warning Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter) that she needed to leave the city. As you can see, the site looked quite a bit different at the time due to a huge wooden partition that was set up around the ground floor.

In the Season 5 episode of Parks and Recreation titled “Animal Control,” which aired in 2013, Màs Malo’s mezzanine masked as the Pawnee Smokehouse, where Ben Wyatt (Adam Scott) gave a Sweetums charity pitch to perfume mogul Dennis Feinstein (Jason Mantzoukas).

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: Màs Malo, from the “Hardball” episode of Scandal, is located at 515 West 7th Street in downtown Los Angeles. You can visit the eatery’s official website here.