Tag: filming

The Little Door Restaurant from “Monster-in-Law”

One restaurant that I have long wanted to stalk, but could just never seem to find was the adorable little outdoor courtyard spot where Kevin Fields (aka Michael Vartan), his mother, Viola Fields (aka Jane Fonda), and his new fiancé, Charlie Cantilini (aka Jennifer Lopez), lunched towards the end of the 2005 romantic comedy Monster-in-Law. Then, as fate would have it, back in September while trying to track down the French restaurant where Brenda Walsh (aka my girl Shannen Doherty) and Donna Martin (aka Tori Spelling) accidentally ate veal brains during Season 2 of fave show Beverly Hills, 90210, I came across the website for The Little Door on West 3rd in Los Angeles and immediately recognized it as the restaurant from Monster-in-Law. I added the spot to my “To-Stalk” list and the Grim Cheaper and I finally headed out there this past Saturday night to grab some cocktails. And I have to say the place was AMAZING!

The Little Door, which was opened in 1996 by French-born brothers Frederic and Nicolas Meschin, is easily one of the most adorable restaurants I have ever had the pleasure of dining at. The property, which is actually a converted former schoolhouse, is made up of four different dining areas: the Blue Room, the Winter Garden, the Patio, and the Piano Room. The most popular area, and the area where Monster-in-Law was filmed, is the Patio, a romantic garden setting complete with trees, trickling fountains, twinkle lights, and a retractable glass roof that is opened during the summer months.   (The room is also very dimly-lit, which is why the above photographs came out so poorly.) The Little Door has been named “Most Romantic Restaurant of L.A.” and it is not very hard to see why. It is easily one of the romantic places I have ever visited. The staff was also incredibly NICE and lacked any sort of that fancy-L.A.-restaurant-type snootiness. In fact, the bartender and I talked non-stop about celebrities while we were there, which was refreshing as many servers in L.A. try to act like they are above the whole Hollywood thing, when in reality over 90% of them are actors. And while the eatery is on the pricier side, the food is absolutely FABULOUS and I honestly cannot recommend stalking the place enough!

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In Monster-in-Law, Charlie, Viola,and Kevin meet up for lunch in the Patio area of The Little Door whereupon Charlie finally turns the tables on her soon-to-be horrendous mother-in-law Viola and announces “It’s my game now!”

The Little Door was also featured in the Season 2 episode of Entourage titled “The Abyss”, in the scene in which Eric Murphy (aka Kevin Connolly) and Sloane McQuewick (aka Emmanuelle Chriqui) discuss the fact that Vinnie Chase (aka Adrian Grenier) no longer wants to be in the movie Aquaman.

Besides being a filming location, the restaurant is also a big-time celebrity hotspot. Just a few of the stars who have dined there recently include Russell Brand, Katy Perry, Jim Carrey, Britney Spears, Gary Oldman, Scott Weiland, Mark McGrath, Cameron Diaz, Justin Timberlake, Scarlett Johansson, Ryan Reynolds, Eva Longoria, Tony Parker, Jay-Z, Jessica Alba, Christina Aguilera, Posh Spice, David Beckham, Lisa Marie Presley, Pink, Tara Reid, Salma Hayek, Nigel Lythgoe, and Paris Hilton. The list literally goes on and on! In fact, the GC and I spotted Dennis Haysbert, who played President David Palmer on the hit television series 24, having a quiet dinner while we were there. So incredibly cool!



While we were dining, our bartender informed us that an episode of Entourage had also been filmed next door at the Little Door’s sister restaurant, Little Next Door. So, after we finished eating, we ran right over to stalk the place. Little Next Door, which is a full-service restaurant as well as a bakery and a café, is an absolutely adorable little spot and is already on my list of places that I need to re-stalk in the very near future.

Little Next Door popped up in the Season 4 episode of Entourage titled “No Cannes Do” in the scene in which Eric and Vinnie have a production meeting with independent film director Billy Walsh (aka Rhys Coiro) and actress Anna Faris, who played herself on the series.

Little Next Door is also a celebrity hotspot and such stars as Rachel Bilson, Lo Bosworth, Tyra Banks, Jessica Biel, Audrina Patridge, Michelle Trachtenberg, Ali Larter, and Isabel Lucas have all been spotted there.

On a side note – Ever since seeing Blair Waldorf (aka Leighton Meester) gorging herself on macarons in the Season 4 episode of Gossip Girl titled “Juliet Doesn’t Live Here Anymore”, I have been dying to find a bakery that sells the tiny French cookies so that I could sample some for myself.

So, when I saw a myriad of them on display in the bakery case at Little Next Door, I just had to purchase a boxful. And, let me tell you, they were simply AMAZING! Like the best cookies I have ever had in my entire life! Macarons, which consist of flavored ganache sandwiched between two almond meringue cookies and are not to be confused with the similarly-named macaroons that are made out of coconut, are light, airy, flavorful and literally melt in your mouth! It is no wonder that Blair Waldorf is obsessed with them! Because I am diabetic, I only sampled a bite of both the chocolate and Dulce de Leche-flavored macarons, but the Grim Cheaper tried a few of the other flavors and absolutely LOVED them all! The cookies aren’t sold in many places in L.A. that I have found, but let me tell you, if you can get your hands on some, you simply must try them!!!!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Little Door restaurant, from Monster-in-Law and “The Abyss” episode of Entourage, is located at 8164 West 3rd Street in Los Angeles. Contrary to what was shown on Entourage and in Monster-in-Law, the eatery does not serve lunch, but is only open for dinner beginning at 6 p.m. nightly.   You can visit the restaurant’s official website here. Little Next Door, from the “No Cannes Do” episode of Entourage, is located at 8142 West 3rd Street and is open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday through Sunday.

February 11, 2011
Kung Pao China Bistro from “The Office”

Last Thursday night’s episode of The Office which was titled “The Search” was hands-down one of my all-time favorite episodes of the series ever! I absolutely LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it! So, when fellow stalker Owen sent me an email the following day which listed all of the locations featured in it, I just about died of excitement! As it turns out, Owen loved the episode just about as much as I did and spent a few hours tracking down each and every locale where filming had taken place. The one I was most excited about stalking was Mr. Choo’s Chinese Food restaurant, which in reality is Kung Pao China Bistro located in Studio City. So I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on over there after stalking the nearby Aroma Coffee & Tea Company which I blogged about yesterday. Well, amazingly enough, when we pulled up to the restaurant, the GC informed me that he had not only eaten there before, but that he had eaten there regularly while living in the Sherman Oaks area a little over a decade ago! As it turns out, Kung Pao China Bistro was one of his mom’s very favorite Los Angeles restaurants and every time she came to visit she would insist on dining there. Well, believe you me, as soon as I heard that I gave him quite a lashing being that he had watched “The Search” episode of The Office with me! How he did not recognize a place that he used to visit regularly is absolutely beyond me! I mean, have I not taught him anything???

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In “The Search”, Michael Scott (aka Steve Carell) and Jim Halpert (aka John Krasinski) goes on a sales call in Scranton, Pennsylvania. While stopping at a local gas station (which in reality is the Civic Center Gas Station and Mini Mart located at 6171 Van Nuys Boulevard in Van Nuys), so that Michael can use the restroom, Jim gets an emergency phone call and winds up leaving Michael stranded, without a wallet or a cell phone. Instead of panicking, Michael decides to take the opportunity to go on a “walkabout” and one of his stops is Mr. Choo’s Chinese Food where he eats a large meal even though he has no money to pay for it. Well, Mr. Choo is none too happy with Michael’s “dine and dash” plan and decides to punish him in the best way he knows how.

In the meantime, Erin Hannon (aka Ellie Kemper), Holly Flax (aka Amy Ryan), and Dwight Schrute (aka Rainn Wilson) go on a “manhunt/rescue mission” to track Michael down and bring him safely back to the Dunder Mifflin office.

They end up wandering into Mr. Choo’s, only to they discover that Michael has been placed on the restaurant’s “Thief Wall”.

And in a genius bit of writing, after Dwight, Erin, and Holly leave Mr. Choo’s, the camera closes in on a photograph of fellow Dunder Mifflin-ite Creed Bratton (aka Creed Bratton) on the “Thief Wall”, a moment which had me literally LOL-ing.

The owners of Kung Pao China Bistro literally could NOT have been nicer and allowed me to take all the photographs of the place that I wanted, even though I was not actually dining there. They also answered all of my silly little questions about the filming and told me that everyone involved was extremely nice.

The owner also let me know that the reason her property was ultimately chosen for the episode was because of the large parking lot situated directly adjacent to the restaurant. The location manager was apparently very excited that there was a parking area where all of the production trucks could be held that was in such close proximity to where filming would be taking place.

I could not remember exactly where the “Thief Wall” was located in the episode (which is why I really need to start carrying screen captures with me when I go on these stalking ventures!), so I unfortunately did not get a good photograph of the right spot. It is just to the right of the restaurant’s front door, though.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Owen for finding this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Kung Pao China Bistro, aka Mr. Choo’s Chinese Food restaurant from the “The Search” episode of The Office, is located at 11838 Ventura Boulevard in Studio City. The Civic Center Gas Station and Mini Mart which was also featured in the episode is located at 6171 Van Nuys Boulevard in Van Nuys

February 10, 2011
Aroma Coffee & Tea Company in Studio City

As I mentioned in Monday’s post, despite my drama-filled day on Friday, this past weekend actually turned out to be pretty darn nice. It all started with a Saturday morning stalking trip out to Studio City’s Aroma Coffee & Tea Company, which I had read about the previous week while doing some online research on the similarly-named Aroma Bakery & Café on Sunset Boulevard. As it turns out, Aroma Coffee & Tea Company is a big-time celebrity hotspot and since I love all things having to do with coffee and celebrities, I was absolutely DYING to stalk the place! So, bright and early Saturday morning I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out there. And let me tell you, I pretty much fell in love with the place immediately upon walking through its front doors. The full-service café is actually a former residence which owner Mark Gunsky transformed into a restaurant just about fifteen years ago. And I have to say that the result of his work is quite possibly the most charming little café I have ever visited.

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The quaint little Aroma Coffee & Tea Company is tucked away on Studio City’s bustling Tujunga Avenue and one could easily walk right by it without even realizing it was there.

But that has apparently not been a problem because, as you can see in the above photographs, the place was absolutely JAM-PACKED when we showed up to stalk it. We could hardly get in the door! It is not very hard to see why the shop has become so popular over the years, though.

There literally wasn’t one thing about the café that I didn’t absolutely LOVE – from the adorable little French bistro tables situated on the front sidewalk;

to the charming living room area complete with working fireplace and built-in bookshelves;

to the front porch;

to the quaint backyard;

to Portrait of a Bookstore, the teeny tiny little bookstore/gift shop tucked into the back of the Aroma space, which Yelp recently named “pound for pound, the coolest bookstore in L.A., if not the entire world”. Every aspect of Aroma Coffee & Tea Company was warm and welcoming and I absolutely cannot wait to go back there for a re-stalk! Oh and the coffee was FABULOUS, too! It was just as good as Starbucks and while some people might consider that a jab, in my eyes there is no higher compliment when it comes to coffee!

Just a few of the stars who have been spotted at Aroma Coffee & Tea Company in recent months include Ashley Tisdale, Vanessa Hudgens, Rachel Bilson, Zac Efron, AnnaLynne McCord, Ashley Greene, Kellan Lutz, Vanessa Minnillo, Heather Morris (aka Glee’s Brittany Pierce), and William Shatner. In fact, the place is such a celebrity hotspot that back in November of 2007 TMZ conducted a video feed of the premises which it streamed live on its site! LOL

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Aroma Coffee & Tea Company is located at 4360 Tujunga Avenue in Studio City. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.

February 9, 2011
The “A Lot Like Love” Apartment Building

A couple of weeks ago, fellow stalker Geoff, from the 90210locations website, tweeted me to let me know that he had just tracked down the apartment building where Oliver Martin (aka Ashton Kutcher) lived in fave movie A Lot Like Love. As I have mentioned quite a few times before on this blog, A Lot Like Love is one of my all-time favorite romantic comedies and I have stalked pretty much every location featured in it – every location, that is, except for Oliver’s apartment building. So I was BEYOND excited to receive Geoff’s tweet and while out and about doing some stalking in the Hollywood area this past weekend, I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out to stalk the place.

The building, which is called the Glen Oaks in real life, was actually featured only once in A Lot Like Love in the scene in which Oliver and Emily (aka Amanda Peet) return home after a New Year’s Eve party. It is when they walk into Oliver’s empty apartment that Emily discovers that he is moving to San Francisco the very next morning, just when, as she says, “I’m starting to like you”. The following morning, Emily awakens to discover that Oliver is already gone, but that he has left behind his beloved camera, which prompts her to begin a career in photography.

And it is obvious from the way the movie was shot that the real life interior of the apartment was also used in the filming.

I am very happy to report that the Glen Oaks building still looks much the same today as it did when A Lot Like Love was filmed back in 2005. The exterior paint color has since been changed, but the property is still very recognizable from the movie

The building also boasts an AMAZING view of the Hollywood sign.

In A Lot Like Love, Oliver lived in the building’s southwestern-most corner, bottom floor unit which is pictured above.

Big THANK YOU to Geoff, from the 90210locations website, for finding this location!

Stalk It: Oliver’s apartment building from A Lot Like Love is located at 2649 North Beachwood Drive, at the corner of North Beachwood Drive and Glen Oak Street, in Hollywood. Oliver lived in the building’s southwestern-most unit on the bottom floor, which is denoted with the pink arrow in the above aerial view.

February 8, 2011
The “Mask” House

While I realize that I still have quite a few posts to publish from my recent stalking trip to the Palmdale/Lancaster area (including the Four Aces and Club Ed movie sets), as well as a few filming-related posts to write from my nuptials last August (most notably the venue), I decided to dedicate today’s blog to my good friend and fellow stalker Kerry who has been experiencing a very emotionally-trying couple of weeks as of late. So, Kerry, this one’s for you! I hope it brings a smile to your face! Back in September, after finding out out that my parents had recently moved to Monrovia, Kerry asked me to track down the house where Roy L. ‘Rocky’ Dennis (aka Eric Stoltz) and Florence ‘Rusty’ Dennis (aka Cher) lived in the 1985 Peter Bogdanovich-directed movie Mask. She had heard that the residence was located somewhere in the Monrovia area and figured I would most likely be able to track it down. Because I had never actually seen the flick, though, I enlisted the help of Mike, from MovieShotsLA, who is pretty much a virtual encyclopedia of 80’s movies filming location knowledge thanks to the fact that he grew up in the area. And this case was no different – Mike knew the address of the Mask house right off the top of his head! Thank you, Mike! So, yesterday morning, after meeting my dad for coffee, I headed on over to the property to snap a few pics.

The house, which is located on a sleepy Monrovia corner just a few blocks east of Old Town, is actually featured quite a bit throughout the movie.

And, amazingly enough, it still looks VERY much the same today as it did back in 1985 when Mask was filmed.

Even the wall unit air conditioner and mailbox which appeared in the movie are still there in real life, over two and a half decades later! SO INCREDIBLY COOL!

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I am fairly certain from the way that the movie was shot that the home’s real life interior was also used in the flick.

On a Mask side note – Wow, Cher was absolutely beautiful back in the day! I had NO idea! That skin and those cheekbones are to die for!

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for finding this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Mask house is located at 138 Grand Avenue, at the corner of Grand Avenue and Pearl Street, in Monrovia.

February 4, 2011
Drago Ristorante from “Entourage”

Last Monday afternoon, I found myself having to kill a few hours of time while my car was being repaired at a mechanic’s shop on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, so I headed across the street to grab a latte and some lunch at a restaurant named Aroma Bakery & Café. I had never before dined at Aroma, but thought the name sounded vaguely familiar and had a brief recollection that it had once been featured on the hit HBO television series Entourage. Well, my memory is obviously not quite as good as I thought because as it turns out the restaurant was never actually featured on the show (it was Urth Café that I had been thinking of), but my mis-memory ended up to be very fortuitous. While I was researching Aroma Bakery on my Blackberry, I came across a thread on the Chowhound website detailing numerous area restaurants which had been featured on Entourage and I almost fell off of my chair when I saw that one of the eateries mentioned was Drago Ristorante in Santa Monica, a place that I have actually dined at numerous times before, but had never realized was a filming location! Then I almost fell off my chair once again when I received a call from the Grim Cheaper a few days later, informing me that his boss had just invited us to dinner at Drago Ristorante that Friday night!!! Talk about synchronicity! So, a few days later the GC and I headed out to the West Side for some dinner and some Entourage stalking. Yay!

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Drago Ristorante was originally opened in 1991 by native Sicilian chef Celestino Drago, who had previously founded Celestino restaurant in Beverly Hills. Drago became a virtual overnight success and now, almost two decades later, it is a veritable Santa Monica institution. Celestino has also become something of a celebrity chef along the way and has since opened up several other eateries including Dolce Forno bakery in Culver City, Entoneca Drago and Il Pastaio, both in Beverly Hills, Drago Centro in Downtown Los Angeles, and Celestino in Pasadena. And I have to say that Drago is EXCELLENT! I opted for the Petto Di Pollo, Funghi Trifolati entrée which featured king trumpet mushrooms that were quite possibly the largest mushrooms I have ever seen in my entire life! They were A-MA-ZING and I would have honestly been happy eating a handful of them by themselves, but I , of course, also chose to gouge myself on the chicken which was doused in a light truffle sauce. And, oh my lord, was it good! I should forewarn my fellow stalkers that the restaurant is on the pricey side, so if you are looking for a reasonable night out, Drago would not be a good choice. If you don’t mind dropping a couple pennies, though, it is ENTIRELY worth the expense.

In the “Oh, Mandy” episode of Entourage, Vince Chase (aka Adrian Grenier) meets up with Mandy Moore, who played herself on the series, at Drago Ristorante in order to talk about the upcoming movie Aquaman, in which they are both set to star. While the two are dining, Eric Murphy (aka Kevin Connolly), Johnny ‘Drama’ Chase (aka Kevin Dillon), and Turtle (aka Jerry Ferrara) wait for Vince in their car out in front of the restaurant. Drago Ristorante also appeared in an early season episode of fave reality show The Bachelor, although I am not sure of exactly which episode or which season. The place is also something of a celebrity hot spot. The GC’s boss saw Ed ‘Neill, Anne Bancroft, Mel Brooks, and Garry Marshall there all on one night a few years back!

On an Entourage side note – Thanks again to the Chowhound website, I recently discovered that HBO has a locations tab on the Entourage section of its website which lists the main locales featured in each and every episode of the show. HOW INCREDIBLY COOL IS THAT??? Why do ALL shows not do this???? Love it! Love it! Love it!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Drago Ristorante, from the “Oh, Mandy” episode of Entourage, is located at 2628 Wilshire Boulevard in Santa Monica.

February 3, 2011
Susina Bakery & Cafe from “90210”

One location that I have been on the lookout for for almost two years now is the café where Adrianna Tate-Duncan (aka Jessica Lowndes) ran into former boyfriend Navid Shirazi (aka Michael Steger) in the Season 1 Valentine’s Day-themed episode of 90210 titled “Of Heartbreaks and Hotels”. What can I say? Because I am such a coffee fiend, I am an absolute sucker for any sort of filming location that involves a café of some sort. For whatever reason, though, I just could not seem to find the place and, after a few months of looking, promptly forgot about it. Then, two weeks ago, the Grim Cheaper and I were out doing some stalking in the Beverly Hills area when we decided to grab a quick bite to eat. In a fortuitous turn of events, I consulted my Blackberry to find restaurants near to where we were stalking and happened upon the website for Susina Bakery & Café. Thanks to its distinct yellow-colored walls and cherry wood décor, I recognized the place immediately as Navid and Adrianna’s coffee shop. And while we did not end up eating there that day, I quickly added the restaurant to my ever-growing To-Stalk list and finally dragged the GC out there this past Saturday afternoon for a late lunch. Yay!

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Susina Bakery & Cafe, which originally opened in late 2002 under the name Sugar Plum Bakery, resembles an old-fashioned European patisserie and was designed by Bill Brzeski, the award-winning production designer responsible for the look of such films as Matilda, As Good As It Gets, The Hangover, Catwoman, and Stuart Little 1 and 2. The shop was founded by Jenna Turner, a chef who grew up in the business thanks to her mom who owned and operated SugarPlum Bakery in Deal, New Jersey.   After receiving a Masters in Business and training under such legendary chefs as Wolfgang Puck and Fred Eric, Jenna teamed up with pastry chef Anna Delorefice to open a bakery of her very own. The place was a virtual overnight success, with such stars as Halle Berry, Audrina Patridge, and Oliver Martinez all stopping by for a bite to eat. In 2004, the duo changed the name of their restaurant to Susina, which means “plum” in Italian, so as not to be confused with the commercial bakery Sugar Plum, Inc. in Virginia Beach.

And while the cakes and sweets at Susina are rumored to be out of this world, because I am diabetic, I regretfully was not able to sample any. But I did absolutely fall in love with the “Kiss Me”/”Hug Me” cookies pictured above. Aren’t they adorable?!?! And I can honestly say that Susina’s cobb salad was hands down one of the best I have ever eaten in my entire life!   I honestly don’t know what was in that thing, but it was unlike any other salad I have ever before experienced! I literally ate every last bite – there was not one scrap of lettuce or morsel of blue cheese left in that bowl! It was simply A-MA-ZING! The GC also loved his homemade turkey and white cheddar cheese panini. Susina is also absolutely ADORABLE and it is not very hard to see how it ended up being featured as a location on 90210.

In the “Of Heartbreaks and Hotels” episode of 90210, recently-broken-up former flames Navid and Adrianna accidentally run into each other at Susina Bakery & Cafe on Valentine’s Day and awkwardness, of course, ensues. It was quite lucky that we happened to stalk the bakery when we did as it was all dressed up for Valentine’s Day, much the same as it was when it appeared on 90210.

The “Of Heartbreaks and Hotels” episode of 90210 will always hold a very special place in my heart as it marks the first time that fave actor Matt Lanter appeared as bad boy Liam Court on the show. But I digress.



Oddly enough, Susina Bakery & Café VERY closely resembles a different coffee shop (pictured above) where Adrianna and Navid, who have once again broken up, accidentally run into each other in the Season 2 episode of 90210 titled “Another Another Chance”. And unfortunately, as was the case with Susina, I am having quite a bit of trouble tracking this one down. Ideas anyone? It seems to be some sort of a florist/cafe and if I had to guess I’d say it was located somewhere in the San Pedro/South Bay area.

I honestly cannot recommend stalking Susina Bakery & Cafe enough! The food and ambiance are both FABULOUS and the prices are very reasonable, which pleased the GC to no end. I have a feeling the restaurant is going to become one of my regular haunts in the very near future.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Susina Bakery & Café, from the “Of Heartbreaks and Hotels” episode of 90210, is located at 7122 Beverly Boulevard, just off of North La Brea Avenue, in Los Angeles. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.

February 1, 2011
Pamela’s House from “Teen Wolf”

A little over two weeks ago, fellow stalker Owen went on a mission to try to track down all of the locations used in the 1985 comedy Teen Wolf, which starred his favorite actor Michael J. Fox. And the locale that he was most interested in finding was the house belonging to Pamela Wells (aka Lorie Griffin), Scott Howard’s (aka MJF’s) love interest in the flick. Because Scott’s house in the movie was located in South Pasadena – ironically enough, it was the very same residence where the teenaged Lorraine Baines (aka Lea Thompson) lived in the Back to the Future movies – Owen had a feeling that Pamela’s house was most likely also located somewhere in that same vicinity. So, without so much as even an address number or a street name to guide him, but armed with a pretty great hunch, he started using Google Street View to search through the properties situated near the Howard residence and happened upon Pamela’s house rather quickly. Amazingly enough, it is located right around the corner and just a scant .2 miles away from the Howard home! Yay! So, this past Friday afternoon, I set out to stalk the place, even though it has been YEARS since I have watched Teen Wolf!

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Pamela’s house only actually shows up once in Teen Wolf, in the scene in which Scott walks Pamela home after a date at the local bowling alley – a locale which I blogged about back in June of 2009. It is while walking her home that Pamela breaks Scott’s heart by telling him that she will not go to the school dance with him because she already has a boyfriend.

Amazingly enough, Pamela’s house looks VERY much the same today as it did when the filming of Teen Wolf took place back in 1985. Aside from a change in paint color and the removal of the front window shutters, the residence is virtually indistinguishable from its onscreen counterpart, which I find so incredibly cool. Although I do have to admit that I much prefer the way the house looked in 1985 than to how it appears now.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Owen for finding this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Pamela’s house from Teen Wolf is located at 1980 Oak Street in South Pasadena. Scott Howard’s house from Teen Wolf, which was also Lorraine Baines’ house in Back to the Future, is located just around the corner at 1727 Bushnell Avenue in South Pasadena.

January 31, 2011
The “Crossroads” Gas Station

One location that I was absolutely dying to stalk while visiting Palmdale last week was the supposed Texas-area gas station where Lucy Wagner (aka Miss Britney Spears) stole the keys to Ben’s (aka Anson Mount’s) Buick Skylark convertible in the 2002 movie Crossroads. I had known from watching the flick’s DVD commentary with director Tamra Davis and writer Shonda Rhimes that the gas station scene was filmed somewhere in the Palmdale/Lancaster area, but unfortunately its exact location was not specified. So, the night before my dad and I were set to head out that way, I got to work looking at aerial views of what I thought was every single gas station located within the Palmdale/Lancaster city limits. Unfortunately though, I came up completely empty-handed. So, imagine my surprise the following morning when I spotted what I was fairly certain was the Crossroads station while driving to the famed Four Aces movie set. I just about had a heart attack, slammed on my brakes, did a U-turn in the middle of the street, and headed right on back to the station to get a closer look.

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And, as it turns out, my instincts were right! The Super Store 6, as it is called in real life, was in fact the gas station from Crossroads! So, I immediately headed right on inside to speak with the owner who truly could NOT have been nicer. She told me that Britney had been very friendly and down-to-earth during the filming and that it had been a fairly low-key shoot. The owner also informed me that her station had appeared in both ZZ Top’s “Gimme All Your Lovin’” music video and the final scene from the original Terminator movie. Unfortunately though, the gas station has been completely remodeled since that time and looks quite a bit different today than it did in the early 1980’s when those productions were filmed.

Thankfully though, Crossroads was filmed after the remodel took place, so it still looks very much the same in person as it did onscreen. In what turned out to be one of my very favorite scenes from the movie, Lucy, Ben, and their friends Mimi (aka Taryn Manning) and Kit (aka Zoe Saldana), stop by the station to fill up their car with gas while making their way from Louisiana to California. After grabbing a snack in the station’s mini-mart, Lucy, Mimi, and Kit discover that Ben has fallen asleep in the backseat of his car and, even though they have been warned that they are not allowed to touch the car under any circumstances, they decide to steal his keys and drive to their next destination themselves.

Mimi nominates Lucy to steal the car keys from Ben’s pocket because, as she says, “Well, Kit and I voted and you lost!” (LOVE IT!) So, Lucy snatches the keys and the girls drive off into the sunset.

But not before snapping the above photograph of themselves which I think is just about the cutest thing ever. I love, love, love that famous cross-eyed, tongue-out Britney face . . .

. . . which she later duplicated in her Super Bowl commercial for Pepsi Cola, but I digress.

In Crossroads, Ben’s Buick is parked at the station’s southeastern-most pump, in the spot where I am standing in the above photograph. Because there was a large truck parked right near the pump, though, my dad had to take the picture from the opposite direction from which the camera was facing in the movie.

In the very final scene of The Terminator, Sarah Connor (aka Linda Hamilton) stops by the Super Store 6 to fill her tank with gas and winds up having her photograph taken by a young boy. I am fairly certain that the station was never actually colored pink and green in real life, but that producers had it painted solely for the filming of the movie and then painted it back to its original color when the production was wrapped. Because the gas station is supposed to be located somewhere in the Mexican desert in the flick, producers also added quite a bit of set dressing, including Spanish signs, piñatas, and souvenirs, making the place look quite a bit different than it actually appeared at the time.



ZZ Top’s “Gimme All Your Lovin’” music video takes place almost in its entirety at the Crossroads/Terminator gas station.



In the video, the woman in red parks her car in the exact same spot that Sarah Connor parked her Jeep in The Terminator, but the camera is facing in the opposite direction in the video than it was in the movie so the view is a bit different.

But, as you can see in the above screen captures, the square-shaped bars that cover the mini-mart’s windows . . .

. . . and the roofline and roof shape from the “Gimme All Your Lovin’” video exactly match that which appeared in The Terminator.

“Gimme All Your Lovin’” Music Video at Palmdale Gas Station

You can watch the “Gimme All Your Lovin’” music video by clicking above.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Super Store 6, aka the gas station from Crossroads, the final scene in the first Terminator movie, and ZZ Top’s “Gimme All Your Lovin’” music video, is located at 37202 90th Street East, at the corner of 90th Street East and Avenue S, in Palmdale. Some maps also list the gas station as being located in the town of Littlerock. In Crossroads, Ben’s car was parked at the pump located in the northeast corner of the station, in the area denoted with a pink “X” in the above aerial view. At the end of The Terminator, Sarah Connor was parked in front of the station’s western-most pump, in the area denoted with a blue “X” in the above aerial view. ZZ Top’s “Gimme All Your Lovin’” music video was filmed in the exact same spot that was used in The Terminator.

January 28, 2011
The “Kill Bill” Church

One location that my dad and I visited while stalking in the Lancaster and Palmdale areas last week was the Sanctuary Adventist Church which was used prominently in the 2003 and 2004 Quentin Tarantino movies Kill Bill: Volume 1 and Kill Bill: Volume 2. And although I have never actually seen either of the Kill Bill flicks, I was dying to stalk the church because, thanks to fave book Hollywood Escapes: The Moviegoer’s Guide to Exploring Southern California’s Great Outdoors, I found out that it also had a very small, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo in the 2002 Britney Spears movie Crossroads, in which I was an extra. I should mention here that if you are planning to spend a day stalking in Palmdale – and I do HIGHLY recommend doing so – I suggest you print out maps of each and every location that you are wanting to visit before heading out the door. I failed to do so and had planned on using my navigation system to lead me to each locale, but, let me tell you, that did NOT pan out very well. At most points during our journey, my navigator had no idea where on earth we were – more than once it told me I was driving on a road that didn’t exist! LOL – and a few times it even took us on routes through dirt roads that wound up at dead ends. And while Palmdale and Lancaster are not exactly desolate – there’s even a Starbucks there! – most of the filming locations in that area are pretty far removed from civilization. I suggest that you not make a stalking journey out there alone and that you arrive with a full tank of gas and a car that is in good working order.

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The Sanctuary Adventist Church, which up until recently was known as the Calvary Baptist Church, is an actual working religious facility that, sadly, does not appear to currently be in the best of shape. The tiny Spanish-style chapel definitely has a Southwestern feel to it and it is not very hard to see why Quentin Tarantino chose to use it as the site of the wedding day massacre in his two-part action flick. Especially with that lone Joshua tree that stands in front of it and gives the church a very picturesque, very cinematic feel.

As you can see in the above photograph, the church is also located on a very desolate and very remote stretch of desert road, which gives it a very non-L.A., non-California feel. In fact it is hard to believe that the place is located just a scant sixty miles away from the hustle and bustle that is Los Angeles.

In Crossroads, the church stood in for the supposed Arizona-area Native American souvenir stand that Lucy (aka Britney Spears), Kit (aka Zoe Saldana), Mimi (aka Taryn Manning), and Ben (aka Anson Mount) stop at during their journey from Louisiana to California. It is while at the stand that Lucy asks her friends for advice on whether she should show up at her estranged mother’s house unannounced or call her beforehand.

Ironically enough, even though the church is supposed to be a roadside souvenir stand in the movie, for whatever reason producers decided to leave the Calvary Baptist Church sign up during the filming.

In Kill Bill: Volume 1 and 2, the Sanctuary Adventist Church stood in for the supposed El Paso, Texas-area Two Pines Wedding Chapel where the Deadly Viper Assassination Team (aka Vivica A. Fox, Lucy Liu, Daryl Hannah, Michael Madsen, and David Carradine) attempt to kill “the Bride” (aka Uma Thurman).

I am fairly certain that the real life interior of the church, which you can see a photograph of here, was also used in the production of both films.

The church has also been featured in numerous other productions, as well. In fact, the intersection of 198th Street East and East Avenue G, where the church is located, is quite a famous little stretch of land. In the 1981 movie True Confessions, the Sanctuary Adventist Church is where Detective Tom Spellacy (aka Robert Duvall) visits his brother Father Des Spellacy (aka Robert DeNiro).

The 1999 Jean-Claude Van Damme action flick Dessert Heat (which, for some reason, is also named Inferno), was filmed almost in its entirety in both the former High Vista Diner and the sundries store located directly across the street from the Sanctuary Adventist Church. The church is visible in the background throughout the vast majority of the movie.

Jubal Early (aka Pat Morita) is also shown ringing the church bell at one point in the movie, although that bell is no longer there in real life.

In Desert Heat, the High Vista Diner is where both Rhonda Reynolds (aka Gabrielle Fitzpatrick) and Dottie Matthews (aka Jaime Pressly) worked. In real life, the place was not a real working restaurant, but, much like Four Aces and Club Ed, was solely built for use as a filming location. Sadly though, the structure was torn down back in early 2008 and is now nothing more than a dirt lot. You can see a photograph of what it used to look like here and here.

Right next to the former High Vista Diner location is another vacant building which stood in for the Elis Emporium Sundries and Surplus store in Desert Heat. And while that structure is still currently standing, I am not sure for how long that will be the case.

As you can in the above photographs, the building does not look to be in the best of shape, although it is apparently still available for filming.

The Elis Emporium structure was also visible in the background of the opening scene of True Confessions and I do believe that it was a real working grocery store at one point in time.

The little motel that Henry Howard (aka Robert Symonds) and his wife (aka Priscilla Pointer) owned in Desert Heat used to be located directly behind the Elis Emporium building, but it has also since been torn down.

In Nurse Betty, the High Vista Café stood in for the supposed Williams, Arizona-area Canyon Ranch Bar where Betty (aka Renee Zellweger), and later Wesley (aka Chris Rock) and Charlie (aka Morgan Freeman), stop while making their way towards California.

I am fairly certain that the interior of the Canyon Ranch Bar was filmed elsewhere though, as it looks nothing like the interior of the diner from Desert Heat and also appears to be quite a bit larger than the former High Vista Diner building. My guess is that the interior Canyon Ranch Bar scenes were filmed on a soundstage somewhere in Hollywood.

The Kill Bill church is also just barely visible in the background of Nurse Betty in the scene in which Charlie and Wesley arrive at the Canyon Ranch Bar.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Sanctuary Adventist Church, aka the Kill Bill church, is located at the intersection of 198th Street East and East Avenue G in Lancaster. The High Vista Diner was formerly located directly across the street from the church at the southeast corner of 198th Street East and East Avenue G. The Elis Emporium Sundries and Surplus Store from Desert Heat is located at the southwest corner of 198th Street East and East Avenue G.

January 27, 2011