Tag: filming locations

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Here Comes the Dog!

Today I dragged my parents and my boyfriend out to the HIlton Waikoloa Resort and Spa to do some more Dog, the Bounty Hunter stalking. Ever since we arrived in Hawaii, I have been itching to stalk the hotel where Dog and Beth got married on May 20, 2006. The wedding celebration aired on August 15, 2006, and of course my mom and I watched every second of it. While watching, I immediately recognized the location of Dog and Beth’s wedding as the Hilton Waikoloa Hotel, as it is a place I have visited numerous times during my childhood vacations in Hawaii.

Dog and Beth got married directly off the main lobby of the hotel. Just past the main lobby there is a huge staircase which leads down to an ocean-fed, four acre, man-made lagoon. It is that staircase that Beth used as the aisle which she walked down to meet her groom.

Dog arrived at the ceremony via a raft which was pulled towards the landing at the bottom of the staircase by two men in canoes. The entire wedding ceremony took place at that landing at the foot of the lobby staircase. All of that I knew from watching the wedding episode back in 2006.

What I wasn’t sure of, however, was the location of the couple’s wedding reception. While at the hotel today, I asked TWO different concierges for the location of “Dog and Beth’s wedding reception” and BOTH of them took out a hotel schedule and asked me if the reception was taking place today!! LOL I was like “No, no, I am talking about the Bounty Hunter’s wedding reception.” Neither one of the concierges had any idea where the wedding reception took place – I guess Hawaiians aren’t much into the whole stalking thing. LOL Anyway, one of the concierges called a manager who finally steered me toward the Water’s Edge Ballroom, where the reception took place.

Lucky for me, the Water’s Edge Ballroom happened to be unlocked and I was able to go inside to snap some pics. The inside of the Ballroom looks exactly as it did when Dog and Beth’s reception took place, minus the decorations, of course. My mom and I were totally floored to see the reception area in person and if you are a fan, I highly recommend doing some stalking at the Hilton Waikoloa Hotel.

The Hilton Waikoloa Resort, which was first opened in the late 80s as a Hyatt Hotel, cost more than $350 million to construct and stretches over 62 acres. The hotel is ginormous and absolutely unbelievable – you truly have to see it to believe it. There are over 1200 guest rooms, three pools, three hot tubs, 24 conference rooms, nine restaurants, a full size Disneyland-style monorail, winding canals with boat service for guests, a huge drawbridge over one of the pools, a waterslide, over $7 million dollars worth of art on display, a man-made lagoon with kayaks and pedal boats for rent, and a on-site dolphin pool. While definitely a cool place to visit, I wouldn’t recommend staying there. Most people come to Hawaii to relax and if that is your goal, the Hilton Waikoloa is not the place for you. It’s more Disneyland than Hawaii, but still a fun place to stalk nevertheless.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Hilton Waikoloa Village is located at 425 Waikoloa Beach Drive in the town of Kohala on the Big Island of Hawaii. Hilton rooms will run you between $199 and $589 per night. If you stalk the Hilton, be sure to hit up nearby Kings Shops for some GREAT shopping. The Honolua Wahine shop is one of my faves!

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The Great Quake of ’08!

Yesterday morning at around 11:42am a fairly large earthquake hit the LA area. I received a text message from a friend, who forgot that I am currently on vacation in Hawaii, asking if I felt the quake. My first thought was ” OMG! My Marilyn Merlot bottle!” LOL The bottle of Marilyn wine that my dad gave me a few weeks back is on display on the top shelf of the baker’s rack in my kitchen (not a smart place to put it being that I live in California!) and I was super worried that the bottle did not survive the big quake. 🙁 One of our good friends rushed right over to our place to check on Marilyn and I am happy to report that she remained intact during the earthquake!!! Our friend said she was literally teetering on the shelf in my kitchen and one more aftershock would have done her in, so thank goodness she was rescued in time. 🙂 That Marilyn – she takes a lickin’ and keeps on tickin’!

In other Marilyn news, while walking around Downtown Kona the other morning, we stumbled upon Hula Bean Coffee Shop. I was immediately drawn to the place – not only because I am addicted to coffee, but because the logo on the sign out front was somewhat familiar. At first I couldn’t place the image, but then I realized, the logo is almost exactly like one of the famous nude photographs of Marilyn that were taken by photographer Tom Kelley in 1949.

I, of course, had to go inside to sample some of the Hula Bean Coffee and to ask the owner about their logo. He said the logo was actually based on the pin-up girls from the World War II era. To me, though, it looks like an exact replication of Marilyn’s pose. There are many conflicting stories of how the Marilyn Monroe nude photographs came to be, but what I was able to discern from the various different accounts is that in 1949 Marilyn was down and out on her luck and her money. An already established model with the Blue Book Modeling Agency, Marilyn was scheduled to pose for some calendar photographs with photographer Tom Kelley. He offered her $50 to pose nude during the session, and the broke starlet, whose car had actually just been impounded, agreed. The pictures sat in a drawer for a few years until they were released in 1952, causing quite a scandal as by that time Marilyn was a bonafide moviestar. Marilyn, who always loved any sort of media attention, immediately fessed up to posing for the photographs and when a reporter asked if she had anything on during the shoot, she replied “The radio, of course.” 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂
Stalk It: Hula Bean Coffee is located at 75-5719 Alii Drive in Kona, Hawaii. I highly recommend stalking it as it serves up some great coffee. I am a Starbucks girl myself and can rarely find a coffee house that compares, but Hula Bean was really good!

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Lindsay, The Celebrity Hunter

Yesterday, our first full day in Kona, I did a little Dog, the Bounty Hunter stalking. My mom gets a bit obsessed with celebs, just like me – at least I know where I get it from 🙂 – and one of her biggest obsessions right now is Mr. Duane Chapman, aka Dog, the Bounty Hunter. She is so obsessed with that show, in fact, that she even convinced my boyfriend and I to dress up like Dog and Beth last Halloween. 🙂

Anyway, while Dog’s main Da Kine Bail Bonds office is located on the island of Oahu, his son Leiland, who also stars on the hit reality show, has an office on the Big Island of Hawaii and it is that office that I set out to stalk yesterday. I had attempted a bit of cyber-stalking before I left on my vacation but did not have much luck in locating Leiland’s office. The address is not listed anywhere online, not even on Da Kine’s official website. I tried calling Da Kine’s phone number to ask for the address, but it was just an answering machine and did not give a location. Thank goodness my mom has a few stalker tricks up her sleeve, because she was able to find the bail bonds office pretty much right after we arrived in Hawaii. 🙂

My mom had a pretty good hunch from watching the Dog episode when Dog and Beth got married, which was filmed entirely on the Big Island, that Leiland’s office was located in a town about 15 minutes north of Kona called Kealakekua (Yes, it’s the same Kealakekua from the song My Little Grass Shack in Kealakekua, Hawaii). My mom came to this conclusion because every time they showed Leiland’s office on that episode, the weather was overcast and rainy. The town of Kealakekua is always on the rainy side, so she was convinced Leiland’s office was located there. My mom may be a better stalker than I am, as I have yet to use weather as a stalking clue. 🙂

So sure enough, yesterday my parents and I headed out to Kealakekua and stopped in at our favorite restaurant there, the Aloha Cafe. We asked our waitress if she happened to know where Da Kine Bail Bonds was located and she told us it was only two blocks away from where we were sitting! So I immediately dragged my parents down the street to stalk it. Sadly, the office was closed and Leiland was not there. I had figured as much, though, as the show is being filmed in Colorado this season. It was still very cool to be there, though and my dad even managed to snap a good pic of his office through the front window. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: DaKine Bail Bonds’ Big Island office is located in the Kainaliu Center which can be found at 79-7430 Mamalahoa Highway #2C in Kealakekua, Hawaii. If you stalk Leiland’s office be sure to stop into the Aloha Cafe, at 79-7382 Mamalahoa Highway, for some GREAT food. Dog’s main office in Hawaii, where most of the filming of Dog, the Bounty Hunter takes place, can be found at 1381 Queen Emma Street in Honolulu, on the island of Oahu.

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Aloha Waterworld!

My family and I arrived in Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii yesterday afternoon for a little summer vacation. YAY! I keep pinching myself as I can’t even believe I am really here!!! Anyway, during the flight I made a list of a few places to stalk while in Hawaii. But today I thought I’d do a post on one of the most famous movies ever filmed on the Big Island – Waterworld. When I was a little girl my family spent every summer vacationing in Kona and I was actually here in the summer of 1994, the year Waterworld was filmed. I was quite the little stalker even back then and I dragged both of my parents down to Kawaihae Harbor during filming to see the Waterworld set in person. 🙂 The atoll set was extremely odd looking and I remember thinking “What the heck is this movie going to be about??” Weird as the set was, it was still very cool to see be there to see it in person. And since Hawaii is such a laid back place, even when a movie is being filmed, pretty much anyone could walk right up to the set and snap some pictures. The pic above is one my dad took that summer in 1994.

The town of Kona was pretty much all abuzz with excitement over the filming that summer. The producers of Waterworld even chose to use numerous locals both behind the scenes and in front of the camera during filming. One of our family friends, Harry, portrayed one of the “Smokers” in the movie, and, knowing what a little stalker I was, snapped some pics of himself on the set to give to me. 🙂 Harry also gave me one of the bullets from the inside of the bullet belt he wore around his neck during filming.

Because Waterworld was filmed over 14 years ago, the set is, of course, long gone. Rumor has it that part of the atoll was actually sunk during the filming of the movie, and that producers simply left it at the bottom of the ocean despite demands from the city to retrieve it. Perhaps I need to do some underwater stalking this summer and take a little scuba diving recognisance mission to see if the sunken set is still there. 🙂 While you can no longer see the set above sea level, you can still visit the harbor where the movie was filmed. It is not too far from downtown Kailua Kona.

Remnants of the filming can still be found around Kona, though, even 14 years later. There is a picture of Kevin Costner prominently displayed to this day on the wall at Drysdale’s Two Restaurant in Kona. Apparently several Drysdale waitresses were slightly obsessed with Mr. Costner and would go down to the Harbor to watch filming every day dressed in their Drysdale’s uniforms. One day they were lucky enough to get a picture with Kevin, which they later had him autograph, and then displayed on the wall. Drysdale’s restaurant used to be owned by baseball great Don Drysdale. Rumor has it his wife got the restaurant in their divorce settlement, though, and I believe she still owns it to this day. Drysdale’s is defintely a Kona staple and I highly recommend stalking it, even if you are not a Kevin Costner or a Don Drysdale fan.

Until next time, Aloha and Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: To reach Kawaihae Harbor from Kailua-Kona, take Highway 19 north until it turns into Highway 270, past Puukohola Heiau National Historic Site. The Harbor will be on the left hand side. Drysdale’s Two Restaurant is located at 78-6831 Alii Drive in Kailua Kona. Be sure to order their saimen and the Fowl Ball sandwich – two of my favorites!!! 🙂

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The World’s Largest Collection of MM Memorabilia and . . . A New Fiance?

Last week, while stalking in Hollywood, I dragged my mom to the Hollywood Museum, which is currently exhibiting one of the largest collections of Marilyn Monroe memorabilia in the entire world. The entire drive there I could barely sit still in my seat I was so absolutely floored to see the exhibit, and I must say that when I got there I was not disappointed in the slightest. I literally could have spent the whole day just at the Marilyn exhibit – there was so much to see and read. One display was a stalker’s dream come true as it listed the address of every single residence ever occupied by Miss Marilyn! This stalker definitely has her work cut out for her now! 🙂

The Marilyn exhibit contains countless one of a kind MM items, including her personal scripts from almost every single movie she ever starred in. As an actress it was fascinating to see the scripts with all of Marilyn’s lines circled and side notes written in her own hand. In one of the scripts she had marked all of her character’s lines with a red lip liner! So Marilyn – I love it!!!! 🙂 The costumes were amazing to see, as well – included were dresses from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Some Like It Hot, How to Marry a Millionaire and many, many more. The exhibit also featured numerous clothing items from Marilyn’s personal collection and even furniture from her last home. Also on display were personal letters, bank checks, and photographs of the starlet. All in all, I had a blast being there and I highly recommend stalking the museum, even if the Marilyn exhibit is the only one you visit.

That being said, there are countless other movie star exhibits to stalk at the museum. The Hollywood Museum used to be known as the Max Factor Museum and is actually housed in the former Max Factor Building, where Max Factor himself gave makeovers to the stars during the hey-dey of Old Hollywood. The building is four full floors and a whopping 38,000 square feet chock full of movie memorabilia! They literally have something for everyone, including Rocky’s boxing gloves, the shoes George Clooney, Matt Damon and Brad Pitt wore during their handprint ceremony at Grauman’s, costumes from the movie The Flinstones in Viva Rock Vegas, Hannibal Lector’s jail cell from Silence of the Lambs, Cary Grant’s Rolls Royce, Roddy McDowall’s actual bathroom, Pee Wee Herman’s bike, and Leo Dicaprio’s (sigh!) wedding suit and Claire Danes’ pajamas from Romeo & Juliet, just to name a few. In fact, the building itself has even been used as a filming location. The exterior of the museum was used in the filming of Beverly Hills Cop II as the jewelry store Adriano’s which ends up getting robbed by Brigitte Nielsen.

The only thing I did not like about the museum was that they did not allow photographs of any kind inside the building. In fact, I had to check my camera at the door. 🙁 I was so looking forward to taking pictures of all things Marilyn and was completely bummed when I found out I couldn’t. I did however get my mom to snap one cell phone pic of me standing in front of the “For Blondes Only” sign at the Max Factor exhibit. I am a total blonde, and so was Marilyn, so I just had to get a pic in front of that sign. 🙂 You should have seen my mom and I trying to get that picture on the down-low. LOL The pic didn’t come out very well, but at least I got it. As Marilyn herself said, “If I had observed all of the rules, I’d never have gotten anywhere.” 🙂

The museum staff is extremely friendly, especially Doug, the security guard who was dressed up in full Indiana Jones regalia. Not only did Doug fill me in on all sorts of movie star gossip, but by the end of the afternoon he had actually proposed to me! LOL I told him that if he let me take pics in front of some of the Marilyn Monroe items, he had himself a deal! Unfortunately he didn’t go for it. We instead settled for taking a picture outside of the museum together. 🙂 If you visit the museum, be sure to ask for Doug (or “Indy” as I like to call him) as he is super friendly and loves to trade Hollywood gossip.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Hollywood Museum is located at 1660 N. Highland Avenue, directly kitty-corner from the Hollywood & Highland Center, behind the Guinness Book of World Records Museum. Get there fast though, as the Marilyn exhibit leaves for Japan at the end of August. If you miss it this time around, the entire collection will be back in June of ’09. Tickets are $15 per adult, $12 for seniors and students, and $5 for children under 5. The museum is only open from Thursday to Sunday from 10am to 5pm. For more up-to-date information, you can visit the museum’s website here.

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That Thing You Stalk!

That Thing You Do has always been one of my very favorite movies. Liv Tyler could not have been more adorable in that movie! The scene where she is running down the street screaming with joy while listening to the Oneders song on the radio for the first time is one of my favorite scenes in all of moviedom! And I do love me some Tom Everett Scott, too. 🙂 So when I read on Pasadena’s Filming Website that a house on Prospect Boulevard in Pasadena was used in That Thing You Do, I, of course, ran right out to stalk it.

I must say that working backwards, or stalking backwards I should say, ie. trying to find the scene in a movie where a certain home or place was featured, proved to be almost as difficult as normal stalking. I had to fast-forward through That Thing You Do twice before I spotted the house in a scene. In actuality only the garage of the home was used, and it was only used briefly in the very beginning of the movie. The home was featured in the scene when Guy Patterson practices with the rest of the band for the first time. It is in this scene that Liv Tyler comes up with the name for the band – “The Oneders”.

I actually had to go back and stalk this house a second time, as the first time I stalked it I didn’t get a photo of the garage, which was the only part of the house used in the movie. The front of the home is never actually shown. The clapboard-style residence is super cute in person and was very reminiscent of the Father of the Bride house, but on a slightly smaller scale. I am actually very surprised the front of the house was not shown in the movie. You’d think that since they were already there filming in the garage, they would have taken some stock footage of the front of the house to use in the movie.

The Prospect Historic District of Pasadena, where the That Thing You Do home is located, is a beautiful neighborhood with absolutely gorgeous homes on tree covered streets. The neighborhood, which was started in the year 1906, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. One of the homes on Prospect, number 657, is known as the Bentz House and was built by the famous architects Greene & Greene, with whom Craftsman style architecture is most commonly associated. Greene & Greene built the Bentz House in 1906 and it still stands today. Jennifer Lopez’ dream house from the movie Enough can also be found in the Prospect Historic District. It is pictured to the left. According to Pasadena’s Filming Website the Enough house was also used in That Thing You Do, but I never saw it. Quite possibly only the interior of the house was used, and therefore I didn’t recognize it, or, also quite possible, the Pasadena website just got it wrong.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The That Thing You Do house is located at 490 Prospect Boulevard. The garage that was used in the movie is to the left rear of the house and is very visible from the street. JLo’s house from Enough is located right around the corner at 445 Prospect Square. The most famous Greene & Greene home, the Gamble House, is located just off of Prospect Square at 4 Westmoreland Place. The Gamble House was used as Doc Brown’s home in the movie Back to the Future, but I’ll save that one for a future post. 🙂

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Big Day in Hollywood!

Yesterday I dragged my poor mom out, yet again, to do some more Hollywood stalking! We ran out of time stalking last week, so yesterday it was Hollywood here we come! As we pulled up to Hollywood Boulevard, we were both extremely excited to see a huge red carpet being rolled out for The X Files: I Want To Believe movie premiere! I must say that I LOVE me some Fox Mulder!!!!! Anyway, the new X Files movie premiered last night at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre at around 6pm. While we didn’t stick around long enough to see the stars arrive, it was still pretty cool to watch the premiere being set-up. I have to say that, more often than not, when I have visited the Chinese Theatre there has either been a movie premiere or some sort of special event taking place. So if you are in the Hollywood area and want to see a red carpet up close and personal, I definitely recommend stalking Grauman’s!

After stalking the X-Files premiere, my mom and I headed over to Hollywood & Highland Shopping Center, where lo and behold, a camera crew was filming the TLC show Ten Years Younger . The crew happened to be looking for people to do on-camera interviews about the contestant post-makeover and of course, I said SIGN ME UP! 🙂 I was interviewed by the host of the show who asked me a couple of questions about how old I thought the contestant looked. SO EXCITING! 🙂 Hopefully you will be able to see me in the episode and I won’t end up on the cutting room floor! LOL

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: For the best chance of seeing a movie premiere in person, I recommend stalking Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on a weekday in the late afternoon. Grauman’s Theatre is located at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood. Ten Years Younger is holding all of its “Man on the Street” type interviews at Hollywood & Highland Shopping Center this season, so if you’re at the mall, chances are you could wind up on TV! The shopping center is located right on the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue in Hollywood. Ten Years Younger airs Fridays at 10/9 Central on TLC. I am on the 11th episode of the season, which should air in about 7 to 8 weeks.

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The Best Place to View the Hollywood Sign!

There is one site in Los Angeles that I absolutely never get tired of, no matter how many times I see it. Even though I can now officially call myself a native Angeleno, I am not ashamed to admit that I still get a little jolt of butterflies in my stomach every time I see the Hollywood Sign in person. All of my hopes and dreams are represented in those big white letters and the sign is probably my favorite landmark in all of LA. Every time I am on the freeway or in Hollywood and the sign comes into view, I am reminded of why I moved to Los Angeles.

A few years ago, in my fave Hollywood tour book, I found directions to a spot with a view of the sign like no other. High atop a hill in Burbank on Canyon Lake Drive, one can view the Hollywood Sign up close and personal. Driving up there, I am always amazed at the sheer size of the individual letters, which become absolutely ginormous the closer you get to them, in a way that almost feels eerie. From Canyon Lake Drive you can also see incredible views of Lake Hollywood and Downtown Los Angeles’ skyline. I highly recommend stalking the sign from Canyon Lake, even if you have lived in Los Angeles for years and have seen the Hollywood sign more times than you can count, as I can pretty safely guarantee that you’ve never seen it like this!

The Hollywood sign, which originally spelled out “Hollywoodland”, was erected in 1923 as a real estate advertisement for a housing development known as Hollywoodland. The sign was deeded to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce in 1945 and the “land” part was subsequently removed so that the sign would be a more accurate representation of the city it sat above. The original letters measured 50 feet in height and 30 feet in width. Over the years the sign became more and more dilapidated, with no one stepping in to repair it. At one point in time, half of the first “O” had fallen off along with the entire third “O” so that the sign read “HuLLYWO D”. In 1978, rock star Alice Cooper spearheaded a campaign to repair the sign, rallying huge donations from celebrities including Hugh Hefner, Gene Autry, and Les Kelly, creator of the Kelly Blue Book. The old sign was taken down and a new one was completed in November of 1978, with letters measuring 45 feet high and 31 to 39 feet wide, and a combined total weight of a whopping 480,000 pounds. The original sign sat in storage for over 20 years until 2005 when it was sold on EBay to an artist named Bill Mack, who is currently creating a piece of artwork out of the letters. You can read an article here about Bill’s artistic renovation of the sign, which includes painting old Hollywood legends onto each letter, including Rita Hayworth, James Dean, Greta Garbo, and my favorite, Marilyn Monroe. Something of a stalker himself, Bill also owns Marilyn Monroe’s bed and the original gate to her home. Sigh!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: For the best views of the Hollywood sign, take Lake Hollywood Road off of Barham Boulevard. Follow Lake Hollywood for quite a while until you come to Lake Tahoe Drive. Make a left there. Follow Lake Tahoe to Canyon Lake Drive and make a right. You will see the looming sign on your left hand side. If you follow Canyon Lake past the large park on the left, you will see a little dirt look-out area with amazing views of Downtown LA and Lake Hollywood.

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All Marilyn, All the Time!

I dragged my mom to Hollywood last Friday to do a little Marilyn stalking. She wasn’t too keen on the idea, but I was absolutely dying to do something I had yet to do in all the years I have lived in LA – I wanted to put my hands in Marilyn Monroe’s handprints outside of the famous Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. I can’t tell you the number of times I have been to Grauman’s Theatre, but never once had I put my hands in her handprints or even made it a point to go look at them. I was so excited to be there on Friday, that I actually walked right past Michael Caine’s freshly made handprints on prominent display in front of the theatre without so much as even taking a picture for the blog. LOL I am kicking myself now for not taking a picture as it was very cool to see how the handprints looked in an unfinished state. But what can I say, I was just too excited to see Marilyn. 🙂

Grauman’s Theatre has long been an iconic Hollywood symbol – almost a celebrity in and of itself. Grauman’s Chinese Theatre opened its doors on May 18, 1927. The Theatre was the brainchild of movie theatre owner Sid Grauman, who in 1922 built Grauman’s Egyptian Theatre, and his partners Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks. Grauman, who passed away in 1950, now has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (near 6379 Hollywood Boulevard), and he was also one of the original founding members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The Chinese theatre was purchased by the Mann’s Movie Theatre chain in 1973 and the name was changed to Mann’s Chinese Theatre. But in 2001 the original name was reinstated and the theatre is once again officially known as Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.

The handprint tradition began one day in 1927 while the Chinese Theatre was still being built. Sid accidentally stepped into some fresh cement in front of the theatre, leaving his footprints behind which sparked a magical idea. He says he immediately ran to get his two partners, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, who did the same with their feet. The rest as they say is history. There are currently over 200 stars’ handprints and footprints immortalized in cement at the entrance to Grauman’s, including Tom Cruise, Betty Grable, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Tom Hanks, Harrison Ford and even R2D2 and Donald Duck.

It is interesting to note that Marilyn’s handprints are absolutely black with dirt, one hundred times dirtier than any of the other handprints at the Theatre. (You can see the dirt in the picture to the left.) Seeing that, it becomes quite apparent just how many fans come on a daily basis to place their hands in Marilyn’s famous handprints. Marilyn’s handprint ceremony took place along with Jane Russell on June 26, 1953 during the promotion of their movie Gentleman Prefer Blondes. You can watch their handprint ceremony here. If you look closely at the dot in the “i” of Marilyn’s name, you can see that it looks a bit odd. Marilyn had wanted to put a real diamond in the cement to mark the dot of the “i” in her name in honor of the song “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” which she sings in the movie. The studio refused out of fear of it being stolen, but Marilyn was allowed to use a rhinestone instead. Apparently less than three days after the handprint ceremony that rhinestone was indeed stolen, so the theatre replaced it with a glass bead which has remained embedded in the cement ever since.

Several movies and TV shows have also been filmed outside the theatre, including Hollywood Homicide, I Love Lucy, The Beverly Hillbillies, Forest Gump, Blazing Saddles, Mighty Joe Young, Rush Hour, Borat, Goldmember, Earthquake, and A Star is Born. Although the theatre is a complete tourist trap and is always crowded with hordes of people, I highly recommend stalking it if you have not yet had the chance to do so. Grauman’s is a true Hollywood icon and a place everyone should see in person at least once in their lives. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Marilyn’s handprints can be found in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, which is located at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard, right in the heart of Hollywood. Her handprints are close to the doors of the Theatre, on the left hand side as you face the front of it. If you can’t find them, there are many theatre ushers standing around who can direct you to the right spot. You can still catch a movie at Grauman’s and I highly recommend doing so, as the theatre has recently been restored to its original grandeur and the interior is quite a sight to see.

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The Pasadena Playhouse

My boyfriend and I happened to walk past the Pasadena Playhouse this past weekend, and I just had to walk inside to stalk it. 🙂 The Pasadena Playhouse, although not a filming location, is one of the oldest and most distinguished community theatres in the US. The Playhouse has hosted hundreds of notable actors on its stages throughout the years and the talent of countless Hollywood stars of yesterday and today was cultivated at its distinguished theatre school.

The Playhouse was started in 1917 by an actor/director named Gilmore Brown in a burlesque house in Pasadena. In 1925 it moved to it’s current location, a Spanish adobe style building in what is now called the Playhouse District of Pasadena. A theatre school was also established on the property during the ’20s. It was at this point that the Playhouse became recognized in Hollywood as the go-to place to find talent. George Bernard Shaw even called the Playhouse “the Athens of the West”.

The Playhouse’s theatre school eventually became known in Hollywood as the “Star Factory” due to the many famous actors and actresses that studied there. Famous alumni include Gene Hackman, George Reeves (TV’s Superman), Eve Arden, Sally Struthers, Dustin Hoffman, Raymond Burr, Frances Farmer, Tyrone Power, Charles Bronson, William Holden, and Gloria Stuart, just to name a few. And writer Tennesse Williams premiered all of his plays at the Playhouse. Besides its famous students, countless big names have also performed on the Playhouse’s stage over the years, including William H. Macy, Scott Bakula, and Marilu Henner. Hopefully one day I, too, will be gracing the hallowed stages of this famed theatre.

The Playhouse is one of the best places in Los Angeles to see live theatre. Valerie Harper is currently starring in the world premiere of the play Looped, which was written by celebrated playwright Matthew Lombardo. Looped is based on the life of actress Tallulah Bankhead, who has been dubbed “Hollywood’s first bad girl”. Looped also stars former teenage heartthrob Chad Allen – remember him from My Two Dads???? – who looks completely different today!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Pasadena Playhouse is located at 39 S. El Molino Avenue in Pasadena, just off Colorado Boulevard. Looped, starring Valerie Harper and Chad Allen, is currently playing through the 3rd of August. After seeing a show, you can grab a bite to eat and a drink at Bazaar Restaurant, located on the Playhouse property.