Frankie Delgado – IAMNOTASTALKER

April 10, 2012April 9, 2012

Pinches Tacos from “The Hills”

As always seems to happen when Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I get together, while out doing some stalking in West Hollywood this past Thursday afternoon, the two of us stumbled upon a filming location without even meaning to do so. After stopping by the Sunset Strip’s new Pink Taco to grab some lunch and finding it inexplicably closed, we headed across the street to a different pink-hued Mexican eatery named Pinches Tacos. Upon ordering our food, we made our way to the restaurant’s patio area and, as I am apt to do when dining at a new place, I started doing some iPhone research to see if, on the off chance, Pinches had ever been used as a filming location. Well, let me tell you, I just about fell off my chair when I came across some behind-the-scenes footage of my girl Kristin Cavallari shooting an unspecified Season 5 episode of fave show The Hills in the very spot where I was then sitting! How I had missed that tidbit when the episode originally aired is beyond me, but needless to say I was absolutely floored over the information and promptly grabbed my camera and ran inside to snap some pics and speak with the manager.

The Sunset Strip Pinches Tacos was first founded in 2007 by brothers Miguel, Jorge and Javier Anaya – nephews of Jose Prado, the former longtime chef of The Ivy turned restaurateur who established The Original Cha Cha Cha in Silverlake, Cocina Primavera in Beverly Hills, Prado Restaurant in Larchmont Village, and Cha Cha Chicken in Santa Monica and Northridge. Everything that the fast-fix hot spot serves – from the salsa to the tortillas – is homemade daily using hundred-year-old secret family recipes from the Anaya brothers’ hometowns of Guadalajara and Jalisco. Thanks to its extremely reasonable prices, fresh fare, and late-night hours (Pinches is open until 3 a.m. each Thursday through Saturday), the eatery became insanely popular virtually overnight and three more outposts have since been launched. Besides West Hollywood, the chain currently boasts restaurants in Culver City and Santa Monica, all of which are family-owned and operated. And Alabama native Ty Taylor loved the place so much that he convinced the Anaya brothers to partner with him in founding an annex in Taylor’s hometown of Homewood. That restaurant opened in January of 2011 and is doing so well that the group is already looking to establish another outpost in Birmingham.

And for those wondering where the name “Pinches” came from, while a note on the eatery’s door states that the term is Spanish slang for “kitchen boy”, Google translate dug up a far more interesting (and far more NSFW) meaning, which you can take a look at here. All I can say is LOL.

While the interior of Pinches Tacos is quite adorable, the patio area, which overlooks the Sunset Strip, is where most people choose to eat, including Mike and me. I cannot tell you how cool it was to sit there, just feet from the bustling Strip, and watch all of the cars zipping by, not to mention the countless Hollywood tour buses – one of which you can see in the background of the above picture. Love it!

Because I am extremely picky about my meat, I opted to order Pinches vegetarian tacos and not only were they bursting with flavor – not something one expects from vegetables – and FABULOUS, but, at $2.95 a piece, were less expensive than a Starbucks latte! I am so going to have to bring the Grim Cheaper back there for lunch. Winking smile

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Oddly enough, the behind-the-scenes footage of The Hills that Mike and I watched while at Pinches did not look at all familiar to me, so when I got home I popped in my DVDs of the series and scanned through each and every Season 5 episode. As it turns out, the Mexican eatery appeared in the episode titled “It’s On Bitch” as the spot where Brody Jenner, Jayde Nicole, Stephanie Pratt, Lo Bosworth, Stacie the Bartender (I so love that she was never referred to by her full name), Justin “Bobby” Brescia, and my girl Kristin Cavallari celebrated Frankie Delgado’s birthday. “It’s On Bitch” was actually the very first episode of The Hills that KCav appeared in, so I am extremely embarrassed that I failed to recognize it. I must be losing my mojo or something! Winking smile Besides being a filming location, Pinches Tacos is also something of a celebrity hotspot. Just a few of the stars who have been spotted there include Kat Von D, Jesse James, Leonardo DiCaprio, Emma Roberts, Megan Fox, Brian Austin Green, Australian celebrity chef Curtis Stone, Gabriel Aubry, Balthazar Getty, Isabel Lucas, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, and Top Chef’s Padma Lakshmi.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Pinches Tacos, from the “It’s On Bitch” episode of The Hills, is located at 8200 West Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood. You can visit the restaurant chain’s official website here.

July 13, 2011July 12, 2011

Lucky Strike Lanes in Hollywood

Two weekends ago, while doing some stalking in the Hollywood area, I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to the Hollywood & Highland Shopping Center to grab a quick drink at Lucky Strike Lanes, an oft-used filming location and celebrity hot-spot. While I had first heard about the bowling alley/lounge when it originally opened eight years ago and knew of its appearance on numerous reality series, for whatever reason I did not have much interest in stalking the place. Then, a couple of months ago, fellow stalker Lavonna happened to tell me a little bit of trivia about the alley that had me absolutely chomping at the bit to go see it.

Lavonna informed me that when the iconic Hollywood Star Lanes, which first opened in 1960 and was where the majority of the movie The Big Lebowski was filmed, was torn down back in 2003 to make way for a new elementary school, the owners of the soon-to-be opened Lucky Strike decided to purchase all of the wood that comprised Hollywood Star’s Lane #7. They then proceeded to use that wood to construct the bar at their new establishment. How incredibly cool is that?

They also purchased the exterior neon signage from Hollywood Star Lanes to use as a wall hanging. Love, love, love it!

As you can see above, Lucky Strike Lanes is a VERY cool little spot. Unfortunately, I have to say that I was not all that crazy about the food. And sadly, the GC and I did not have time to do any bowling while we were there, but fellow stalker Lavonna has plans to hit the place up when she comes to visit L.A. in November, so you know what that means – I will definitely be doing a re-stalk!

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As I mentioned above, Lucky Strike Lanes in Hollywood is an oft-used filming location. In the Season 6 episode of The Hills titled “The Elephant in the Room”, Kristin Cavallari, Brodie Jenner, Frankie Delgado, Stacie Hall (aka Stacie the Bartender), and Audrina Patridge and her new boyfriend, singer Ryan Cabrera, spent the evening bowling and flirting at Lucky Strike.

Ryan Cabrera returned to the bowling alley to film the Season 1 episode of the ULTRA-stupid reality show Pretty Wild titled ”The Hearing”, in which he angers series star Tess Taylor by inviting a friend to accompany them on their date.

Vinnie Chase (aka Adrian Grenier), Eric Murphy (aka Kevin Connolly), Johnny ‘Drama’ Chase (aka Kevin Dillon), and Turtle (aka Jerry Ferrara) took their girlfriends, one of whom was Gossip Girl’s Leighton Meester, to Lucky Strike for an evening of bowling in the Season 1 episode of Entourage titled “Date Night”.

In the Season 11 episode of America’s Next Top Model titled “Fierce Eyes”, J Alexander hosted a runway challenge at Lucky Strike in which the models had to practice walking down the super-slippery bowling lanes while wearing high heels.

In the Season 1 episode of No Ordinary Family titled “No Ordinary Sidekick”, Jim Powell (aka Michael Chiklis), along with his family, Stephanie (aka Dexter’s Julie Benz), Daphne (aka Kay Panabaker), and J.J. (aka Jimmy Bennett), and their friends Katie Andrews (aka The O.C.’s Autumn Reeser) and George St. Cloud (aka Romany Malco), spend the evening using their super-powers to bowl at Lucky Strike.

And while I had originally believed that the Season 1 episode of fave show 90210 titled “Lucky Strike” was filmed at the Lucky Strike Lanes in Hollywood, as it turns out filming actually took place at the chain’s Torrance location, inside of the Del Amo Shopping Center.

And the Season 2 episode of Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County titled “Since You Been Gone” was filmed at the chain’s Block at Orange location.

As I mentioned above, Lucky Strike Lanes is also a veritable celebrity magnet. Just a few of the stars who have been spotted there include Drew Barrymore, Liv Tyler, John Mayer, Glee’s Cory Monteith, The Bachelorette’s Ali Fedotowsky and Roberto Martinez, Demi Moore, Bruce Willis, Rumor Willis, Geena Davis, Robin Williams, Paris Hilton, Nick Carter, Matthew Lillard, Fergie and Taboo from the Black Eyed Peas, Mandy Moore, Judy Greer, Vanessa Hudgens, Courteney Cox, Nicole Richie, Trevor Donovan, Jessica Simpson, and even my girl Jen Aniston. I once spotted David Arquette walking into the bowling alley for some sort of celebrity event back in December of 2008 and while I tried to take the above photograph of him, as you can see, it did not turn out very well due to the bright lights on the red carpet. You can definitely tell it is him, though.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Lavonna for telling me about this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Lucky Strike Lanes is located at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard, inside of the Hollywood & Highland Shopping Center, in Hollywood. You can visit the bowling alley’s official website here.

April 26, 2009April 30, 2009

Speidi’s Wedding

Well, it finally happened! Yesterday was the big day! The reality TV event of the season! What I’m sure was for some fans the wedding of the century! I, of course, am talking about the nuptials of Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag that took place yesterday at around 5 p.m. in Pasadena. And, I, of course, was on the scene to stalk the whole thing! 🙂 My boyfriend and I arrived at Westminster Presbyterian Church at around 12:30 yesterday afternoon. The original plan was to snap a few photos of the wedding set-up, leave, and then come back at around 4 p.m.to take some more pics. Well, what’s that quote about the best laid plans of mice and men? 🙂 I took one look at the absolute pandemonium that was already in place at 12:30 and that was it for me! I was not going anywhere! LOL So, yes, I stood out on the sidewalk in front of that church from 12:30 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. yesterday watching the incredible media shitstorm that Speidi had created. And, let me tell you, I loved EVERY SINGLE MINUTE OF IT! 🙂

I actually have to say that “shitstorm” doesn’t even begin to describe what was taking place yesterday! The wedding was originally scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. and three and a half hours prior to that there were already about forty photographers and paparazzi lining the street. The entire city block surrounding the church had virtually been shut down and there were at least 50 policemen and another 50 private security guards on duty. It was absolute insanity! Honestly, it was bigger than any film shoot I’ve ever witnessed. When we first arrived at the church, Heidi and Spencer were already inside getting ready and their Rolls Royce Phantom was parked right outside (pictured above).

From the outside, it looked as if a film shoot was taking place, complete with a ginormous lighting truck set up shining bright lights through the church windows. Being that the whole event was being taped for The Hills, I guess in a sense a film shoot was taking place. But standing outside watching everything, I almost forgot it was a real life wedding that I was there to see. 🙂

The security for the wedding was INTENSE! Every single guest had to show their drivers license upon entering the church, sign photo releases, and have their photographs taken. There were also metal detectors set up inside of the church, which I am pretty sure were there to ensure that no guests brought cameras inside.

Early in the afternoon, Heidi’s real father stepped outside the church in full cowboy regalia to make a phone call. LOL

Lauren and Audrina were some of the first guests to arrive. Lauren arrived at around 2 p.m. and Audrina at around 2:30. All of The Hills stars were shuttled in through a back entrance so we didn’t get to see any of them until after the ceremony was over. 🙁 The only Hills stars who did make an appearance prior to the wedding were Brody Jenner and his girlfriend Jayde Nicole, who were dropped off right in front of the church. Unfortunately neither of them waved or even looked up at the photographers or fans who were screaming their names. 🙁

And then things got really exciting!! All of a sudden I noticed all of the security guards and policemen looking up at the sky. It turns out that Spencer had hired a plane to write both “Spencer Loves Heidi” and “Heidi’s #1 Hit On iTunes” in the sky.

Next thing I know, out walks the man himself, Spencer Pratt, to see the skywriting for himself! 🙂 YAY! Spencer was actually shorter than I thought he would be, maybe about 5’7″, and better looking than he appears on TV. As soon as Spencer walked out, the crowd went absolutely NUTS. And he was extremely friendly, waving and smiling for the cameras. He actually seemed a lot different in person than the guy he portrays on TV. That ever-present chip that seems to reside on his shoulder whenever cameras are rolling didn’t appear to be there yesterday. He actually didn’t seem like a jerk at all. I can’t tell you how excited I was to see Spencer in person!!!! I even yelled out “Congratulations” and he said back “Thank you!” LOL

By the time Spencer had come outside, the skywriting had all but disappeared and one of the young girls standing across the street told him she had taken pictures of the writing. So, Spencer walked across the street to take a look at her photos and then posed for a picture with her and her friends, which I thought was so sweet. NO ONE else from The Hills did anything even remotely close to this yesterday, in fact most of them wouldn’t even wave to the fans, so that’s really when my opinion of Spencer started to change.

The next “celeb” to arrive was Perez Hilton, who pretty much looked like he just rolled right out of bed for the event. He was actually wearing khaki pants and a hoodie!! underneath a blazer. What a complete and total douchebag! I cannot even believe he got invited to the wedding! I so should have been invited instead! 🙂

Next up was Justin Bobby, who arrived solo. And Justin Bobby’s outfit pretty much made Perez Hilton look like a fashion model!!! Justin actually showed up in what can best be described as pirate pants! I’m not kidding! They were calf length and completely frayed at the bottom. Coupled with his black combat boots, the guy looked like he had come directly off the set of Pirates of the Caribbean. WHAT A MORON! I couldn’t zoom in close enough to get a good pic of his pants, but you can kind of see them in the above photo.

Next up was Heidi’s boss, Brent Bolthouse, who is literally about five feet tall, and Brody’s BFF Frankie Delgado.

And then, up walked “Stacey the Bartender”, and all of the fans in attendance pretty much gasped all at once. LOL After the drama she caused between Spencer and Heidi this season on The Hills we could not figure out WHY in the heck she would be invited! It is at this point that I should mention that most of the fans in attendance were 13 year old girls. Why is it always me and the 13 year old girls? LOL

Even though the ceremony was scheduled to begin at 4 p.m., it didn’t actually start until right around 5. You can see Heidi’s real dad entering the church in his cowboy style tuxedo right before the ceremony began. LOL

These two idiots didn’t show up to the church until about 5:15 (over an hour and fifteen minutes late!) and, because the ceremony had already started, weren’t allowed inside! LOL LOL LOL What a couple of douchebags! If you were lucky enough to have scored an invite to Spencer and Heidi’s wedding, wouldn’t you have MADE SURE you arrived there on time??

Speidi’s wedding ceremony only lasted about thirty minutes or so. During that time everyone pretty much just hung around, waiting with bated breath for the two to make their appearance. Earlier in the day I had made friends with an event photographer who was on hand to cover the Speidi wedding, so the two of us just chatted while the ceremony was taking place. She was incredibly nice and told me about all sorts of adventures she has had being a celeb photographer. Then next thing we knew, hordes of policemen started walking across the street, I guess as a means of crowd control. They told us to take all the photographs we wanted, but to please not run across the street when Spencer and Heidi exited the church. By this time there were so many people there it was almost unbelievable! There had to be over 100 paparazzi on the scene and easily over 300 fans. Paparazzi were literally climbing the roofs of nearby apartment buildings to get good shots. LOL

The first guest to leave the church after the ceremony was over was Lauren Conrad, aka LC. It seemed as if she left the place pretty much as soon as she could. It was a real bummer, too, as she kept her head down upon exiting the church and would not even wave or smile to the paparazzi or the fans that were there. I thought that was a pretty crappy thing to do, especially being that all of the fans on site were little kids. I can’t say I was surprised, though, as I didn’t get a very good impression of her when I watched The Hills being filmed back in August.

Right after Lauren left, all of the wedding guests filed out of the church and made their way to the front entrance for the bouquet toss;

including Heidi’s dad in his classy tux! LOL 🙂

While the normal guests filed out of the church’s side doors, all of The Hills stars came out of the front entrance, including Heidi’s mom Darlene (who is super tiny in person!) and her sister, and maid-of-honor, Holly;

Brody Jenner and girlfriend Jayde Nicole;

Frankie Delgado and Spencer’s grandma, aka “Nana”;

Audrina;

Spencer’s sister, and Heidi’s lone bridesmaid, Stephanie Pratt;

and my fave Kristin Cavallari, who looked AMAZING and who was also very friendly to the paparazzi and fans :). I can’t tell you how excited I will be if the rumors are true and Kristin really is joining The Hills once Lauren leaves. 🙂

At this point there were SO many people lined up outside the church that Brent Bolthouse actually started taking pictures of us all with his cell phone. LOL

And then came the moment we had been waiting all day for! Out walked the newlyweds – Mr. and Mrs. Spencer Pratt! Heidi looked absolutely beautiful. I loved her dress – it looked like frosting. 🙂

Then, of course, the couple kissed for us. 🙂

And, finally, Heidi tossed her bouquet, which was caught by Kristin Cavallari. Incidentally, all of the female stars of The Hills were strategically placed right in front of Heidi so that one of them would be sure to catch it. 🙂

Speidi then said hello to all of the fans in attendance and Heidi blew everyone a kiss.

Then, after saying goodbye to everyone,

the newlyweds made off in their Rolls Royce.

After Speidi left, Lo, Audrina, Kristin, and Stephanie hung around and chatted for a bit.

And, then, next thing we knew, there were Spencer and Heidi pulling up in their Rolls once again to say hi to all the fans, which I thought was SUPER sweet! A bunch of little girls ran up to take pics with the newlyweds, but unfortunately the paparazzi immediately swarmed the car, so no one could get photos of anything. I guess one of the little girls was getting pushed out of the way by the paps, and Spencer yelled out “Hey, come on you guys! She’s a little girl! Be careful!!!” See, what I mean, he’s a nice guy! 🙂 After that, Speidi took off once again and the guests and paparazzi pretty much dispersed.

Here’s a pic of Holly’s bridesmaid dress, which came from BCBG and was really, really pretty. 🙂

And there you have it – the whole event from start to finish from a stalker’s point of view. 🙂 I have to admit that, thanks to yesterdays festivities, my opinion of Spencer Pratt, and consequently his new wife Heidi, has completely changed. I love these two now. 🙂 Sure, people are going to say OF COURSE Spencer came outside and posed for the paps and the fans because he is a publicity hound. But that’s really not the impression I got. He seemed like a genuinely nice guy. I mean, he walked across the street and posed for photos with his fans when no one else from the show would. At one point fans were BEGGING Heidi’s sister, Holly, who is an absolute nobody, to come across the street to take pictures, but she refused. I have a soft spot in my heart for any celeb who is nice to their fans, especially their little girl admirers. Because once upon a time I was that little girl and I can’t even imagine how excited I would have been had I had the chance to meet my favorite star and he was nice to me! From what I observed yesterday, Spencer did not come off as the arrogant douchebag that he portrays himself to be on The Hills. I honestly think that in real life he is a nice guy, who realized very early on that the more outrageous he and Heidi acted, the more money they could cash in on. And now I think the two of them are laughing all the way to the bank. So, you know what, more power to ’em! 🙂 And I thank them sincerely for being so media friendly and announcing to the world exactly when and where their wedding would be taking place so that I could be a part of it, as it was an experience I will never forget! 🙂

Big THANK YOU to my boyfriend who acted as my paparazzi for the day and took all of the above photos! Yes, he actually stood out there with me for the entire six hours! My own father wouldn’t even do that for me, so I guess I really have to hold on to this one. 🙂

Side note – I will not be writing a new blog for Monday, since this one took me pretty much all day to write. 🙂 But I’ll be back on Tuesday with some more stalking!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Spencer and Heidi’s wedding church is Westminster Presbyterian Church located at 1757 North Lake Avenue in Pasadena.

August 15, 2008March 20, 2009

Watching The Hills Be Filmed!

Got one of the most exciting phone calls of my life on Tuesday! A good friend who has an in at the Project Beach House in Malibu called to invite me to a little shindig being held there yesterday, which would have been exciting news in and of itself. But what she said next almost gave me a heart attack – the event at the beach house was actually being held for a taping of The Hills!!!!! I swear I screamed so loud after hearing the news I am surprised my neighbors didn’t complain! LOL

So yesterday afternoon I headed out to Malibu to party at the Project Beach House. 🙂 In case you don’t read US Magazine, Beverly Hills PR firm Fingerprint Communications’ sponsored Project Beach House joined the ranks of other corporate sponsored celeb party houses in Malibu – ie. the Polaroid Beach House and the Silver Spoon Beach House. The Project Beach House is a $25 million six bedroom home, which was built by Frank Lloyd Wright, and sits on over four acres of land on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean and El Matador State Beach in Malibu. The mansion has huge sprawling lawns, a koi pond, tennis court, pool, and even a helicopter landing pad! Not to mention a great view of Brad and Angie’s Malibu home, which is located right next door, but I’ll save those pics for a future post. 🙂

When we arrived there were huge luxury double size chaise lounges set up (which might as well have been outdoor beds, they were so comfy), models walking around in bathing suits and really high heels, a ton of really cool freebies, a Garnier Fructis facial station, a poolside hair styling station, a DJ spinning records, waitresses walking around serving delicious fresh baked appetizers, and two full bars. Just being at the Project Beach House would have been exciting enough for this stalker – the whole time I was literally thinking “How in the heck am I here??” I mean, who am I to be hanging out at the PROJECT BEACH HOUSE??? 🙂 So cool!

At around 3:30PM, in walked Lauren and Whitney and I just about DIED! You can see them in the above pic – they are on the very left. Lauren was not as thin as I expected her to be, but she was just as cute in person as she seems on TV. I was kinda bummed out, though, as she did not seem very friendly at all. I hardly saw her smile at all during the filming. After they arrived, Whitney and Lauren kind of hung out off to the side of the house waiting for the camera crew to get set up. The Hills is taped with three cameras set up on tripods that are actually set pretty far back from where the action is taking place. I was really surprised at how far away the cameras actually were. I always pictured the cameramen to be using handheld cameras and to kind of be right in the girls’ faces, but they weren’t. Taping of the sound is done wirelessly with the cast wearing wireless mikes, so the sound guy also stands pretty far away from the girls.

I must say that the entire experience was absolutely BIZARRE. I can’t put my finger on what exactly made the taping so surreal, but it was definitely wierd. Prior to the taping, I had always believed that the show was not really a “reality” show. I was convinced it was scripted and heavy influenced by producers. However, that wasn’t actually the case. But while the show is real, it is more of an altered reality, which is, I think, what made the whole experience so strange.

To start off with, producers picked the exact spot where they wanted Lauren and the gang to sit well before Lauren actually arrived. The spot they chose was actually the chaise my friend and I had been sitting on all afternoon and they made us move shortly before Lauren and Whitney arrived. I guess we had chosen the best seats in the house. LOL

To further the altered reality, the premise of the episode is that Lauren and Whitney attend a fashion event for a clothing company called “Tt”. While there was sort of a fashion event/party going on at the beach house, the whole thing was pretty much just set up so that The Hills could be filmed. I seriously doubt there would have been any party going on had The Hills not wanted to film at the Beach House yesterday. One of the party guests actually asked a worker at the house if there was a fashion show scheduled since so many models were walking around. The worker replied “Well, it’s sort of a fake fashion show.” LOL Everyone at the “party” also had to sign releases to be on camera.

Once the camera crew got set up, they let Lauren and Whitney walk on screen. The girls walked to the pool area and went straight to the producer-chosen chaise lounge. And then they pretty much just sat there. And sat there. And sat there. The whole time my friend and I were wondering when they were going to start filming and then we realized that they HAD BEEN filming the whole time! I’ve been on a few movie sets and usually during filming there is some sort of action taking place, SOMETHING is happening, but not in this case. At some points Lauren and Whitney were just kind of looking around the party, not even talking to each other. So in that sense, the show is truly “reality” – Lauren and Whitney really were just sitting and hanging out at a party. I guess I shouldn’t really be surprised at their inaction, as not much else occurs on The Hills besides a lot of sitting around and talking. LOL After about 25 minutes or so, She-Pratt and her new boyfriend came out to the pool to hang out with LC and Whitney. Stephanie was surprisingly really pretty in person – she has amazing blue eyes!

The Hills crew was super laid back and I was floored when I found out that they were allowing pictures to be taken of the filming. At first I was totally trying to take pictures on the down low, as cameras are usually not allowed on most movie and TV sets. But once I realized that it was OK to take pictures, I moved in closer to get some better shots. 🙂 And when I did so, I noticed Audrina standing off to the side of the house. She had apparently been there the whole time, but had to wait for the producer’s go ahead before entering the filming area. SO STRANGE. The same thing occured with Frankie Delgado and his friends. I am not sure what the reasoning on that was. I am guessing that the producers were waiting for things to get boring with Lauren and Whitney before letting other characters enter the scene.

What I was very surprised about, though, was how hands off the producers were. I was convinced they would be yelling “Cut!” and having the stars constantly repeat dialog, but that was not the case. A producer only interfered with filming once, and it was to tell Whitney, who had been laying down on a chaise, to sit up as they couldn’t see her through the camera. The producers also pretty much left the party-goers alone. I thought for sure we would be cordoned off and not allowed to get near the stars or the filming area, but nothing like that occurred. People were walking freely all over the place – in front of the camera, around the stars, etc. That was another thing that made the situation really strange. At one point my friend’s husband was standing right next to LC while she waited in line at the bar – and yes, I swear, she actually waited in line!

I am convinced, though, that some of the partiers were actually paid extras. There were two people, especially, whom the producers kept talking to and moving around, and I know they had to be extras. At certain times, too, the producers would tell partygoers to move around in the background or to go sit on the chaises near Lauren, JUST LIKE on a movie set. I guess there wasn’t enough going on in the background to make the party look realistic enough. More of that altered reality. Producers also asked the Tt models (clad in teeny tiny bathing suits) to play a little “impromptu” soccer game behind LC and friends during filming -and they looked absolutely ridiculous doing so! And not at all realistic.

Another thing I found strange was that while I was absolutely FLOORED to be there and it was one of the most exciting days EVER – I was also completely bored during the filming. As I said before, the cast wasn’t very interesting to watch at all – they pretty much just sat there for about three hours not really doing a whole lot. Audrina and her friends jumped into the pool for a bit and sat around drinking in there, but that was the only real action that took place. LOL I read an article yesterday, though, that said it takes Hills editors FOUR TO SIX WEEKS to sift through enough of the footage of Lauren’s daily life to put together ONE episode. So they must not really be all that exciting. LOL

The whole party had kind of a weird vibe, too. It seemed more like a Hills viewing party than anything else as everyone was literally sitting around JUST watching Lauren and the gang film. It was very obvious that most party-goers were there for the sole purpose of seeing The Hills stars live and in person. Like I said, it was bizarre. I must say, though, that I had a BLAST at the party and just being there would have been excitement enough for me for one day – but seeing The Hills cast in person and watching them film was truly the icing on the cake. I can die a happy woman now! LOL

The Hills new season premieres this Monday night on MTV. I am not sure when the Project Beach House episode will air, but I am guessing in about 6-8 weeks. I CANNOT wait to see it! All in all, the entire cast was there during the shoot, minus Speidi (who I would have loved to have seen!), Lo, and Brody Jenner. Otherwise the rest of the group was present – LC, Stephanie Pratt and what seemed to be her new boyfriend, Audrina and a new guy she was cuddling up with, Audrina’s tattooed sister and her boyfriend, Whitney Port, and Frankie Delgado. And even though the whole thing was a bizarre experience to watch, I still absolutely love The Hills. In fact I think I like it even more now. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Project Beach House is located at 32340 Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. But sadly yesterday was the final day and the final party (until next summer, of course!) for the Project Beach House. I hear permanent residents are moving into the house next week.