Friends Filming Locations – IAMNOTASTALKER

January 22, 2010January 22, 2010

Stalking the WB – For the Third Time!

As I’ve mentioned a few times before, this past October, my good friends from Switzerland came to visit my family for a few weeks. While they were here, I decided to take them on a Hollywood studio tour. The only problem was I couldn’t decide exactly which Hollywood studio tour to take them on. So, I got Mike, from MovieShotsLA, on the phone and the two of us had a very in-depth discussion about it, carefully weighing all of our options. Not kidding – you should have heard the two of us. 🙂 Anyway, we quickly narrowed down our choices to either the Paramount Studio Tour or the Warner Brothers VIP Studio Tour. And even though I was leaning towards Paramount, Mike convinced me that because the WB Tour covers the overall studio experience, it would be the best choice for those stalkers who had yet to visit a movie studio. Paramount is geared more towards us die-hard stalkers, in my opinion, which is probably why I like it the best. 🙂 So, with our tour location finally decided upon, the four of us headed out bright and early the following morning to stalk the WB. This was actually my third time stalking the lot and it really is true what they say – no two tours are alike. I already want to go back for a fourth time. 🙂 Sadly, though, our tour guide left quite a bit to be desired on this particular venture. We still had a blast while there, don’t get me wrong – it’s pretty hard not to have fun on the WB lot – but, for whatever reason, our guide was a grump pretty much the whole way through. She also seemed to have a pretty high opinion of herself, which didn’t help my opinion of her. 😉

She even got a bit testy with me at one point, after bringing us to the Central Park portion of the lot and asking if anyone knew what television show it had been featured in. I, of course, raised my hand and said “It’s where Phoebe runs weird on Friends!” to which she snapped, “Well, you must have been on the tour before, which is the only reason you’d know that!” I wanted to explain that I had actually known the answer to that question while on my first WB tour, but I was afraid she’d pretty much bite my head off if I did! So, since it was obvious she didn’t appreciate stalkers, I kept my mouth shut for the remainder of the tour. The other disappointing aspect of the day was that Hennesy Street, which is one of the WB’s New York areas, Midwest Street, aka Anytown USA, and the Jungle area were all closed off to tour groups due to filming. 🙁 The Witches of Eastwick was actually the production being filmed on Midwest Street and we were very briefly allowed to venture over to the outskirts of that area to take a peek at what was going on, but unfortunately no photographs were allowed. Anyway, aside from Debbie Downer and the fact that numerous areas of lot were closed off, we had a great time on the tour. 🙂

The tour began the way it always does, with our guide driving us via golf cart through the very same studio gate that Carrie Bradshaw drove through in the Season Three episode of Sex and the City entitled “Escape from New York”. LOVE IT! 🙂

Our first stop was the old ER hospital set which has all but been dismantled. 🙁 So sad! While the hospital entrance and L Train track will be left up to be used by future productions . . .

. . . the area behind the large brown double doors which used to contain the ambulance bay and waiting room set, is now just empty space, as you can sort of see in the above photograph.

The way it used to look is pictured above. You can see more photographs of the old ER set on my two previous WB Tour posts which can be viewed here and here. According to our tour guide, ER’s Jumbo Mart Diner set is going to be left intact to serve as the studio’s tribute to the longest running medical drama ever to air on television.

Our next stop was the Nate’s Bar & Grill set from ER, which is also being left intact to be used by future productions. Nate’s Bar & Grill is what’s called a “practical set” in studio terminology because both its interior and its exterior can be used for filming.

Unlike the facade pictured above which has no interior area.

As you can see in the above photograph, Nate’s Bar & Grill lacks a ceiling, which is actually typical of movie sets. The ceilings of sets are always left open so that lights and other production equipment can be hung above the area being filmed. That’s often how I can tell if something was filmed in a studio or on location somewhere – if a ceiling is shown onscreen, that’s pretty much a dead giveaway that the production was filmed at a real life location. 😉

Located just outside of Nate’s is a very realistic looking subway set, which was extremely cool to see being that we had just returned from our New York trip a few days beforehand. 🙂

Our next stop was the the Embassy Courtyard, an area which was used in the 1999 made-for-TV movie Annie, in the television series Without a Trace, Hotel, and, as you can see in the above screen captures, Chuck .

We also visited New York Street, which is not to be confused with Hennesy Street, the lot’s other Manhattan-like area. New York Street has been used in the movies The Big Sleep, Blade Runner, Yankee Doodle Dandy, and The Last Samurai, for which the entire area was dressed to look like 1870s Japan.

Located on New York Street is the movie theatre facade pictured above, which was featured in the “New York and Queens” episode of The Drew Carey Show in which Drew and the gang challenge Mimi and her friends to a Rocky Horror Picture Show/Priscilla Queen of the Desert dance-off.

That very same area was also featured in the Season One episode of The Mentalist entitled “A Dozen Red Roses”.

We also briefly visited the Warner Village area of the lot, where we saw “New Christine’s” apartment building from the series The New Adventures of Old Christine.

Our next stop was the soundstage used in the filming of the television show Chuck, a series which I have never before seen. But I was extremely excited to see the set nonetheless because it was modeled after the very same apartment building featured in the movie ‘Til There Was You – an apartment building which I have not only stalked, but also blogged about. 🙂 I cannot tell you how cool it was to be seeing that set in person, as it looks very much the same as its real life counterpart. Love it! And while our tour guide did let us know that the Chuck set was based on a real life apartment building, she mistakenly told our group that said building was located in Los Feliz, which is actually incorrect. The building, which is named El Cabrillo, is actually located in Hollywood. I didn’t dare correct her, though, since she had already made it pretty clear that she didn’t care to hear any information I had to share. 😉 We also got to venture inside the characters’ individual apartments, which really are located directly off the building’s courtyard area. Unfortunately no photographs were allowed inside of the Chuck soundstages, but you can see what the set looks like in the above screen captures. When I asked our tour guide why the area was off-limits to cameras she said it was to prevent spoilers, i.e. if a crewmember accidentally left something on set that gave away a future plot point and then a tour group came in and took pictures of the set and then those pictures somehow wound up on the internet ;), fans might figure out the future plot development and stop watching the show. Which I think is pretty silly reasoning, but c’est la vie.

No WB VIP Tour would be complete without a visit to the car museum, where we got to see several vehicles from The Dark Knight, including the Batmobile;

the Bat-Pod motorcycle;

and the Stealth Launch Batmobile; all of which my best friend, Robin, the only guy in the group, loved seeing. 🙂

Also on display was the Ducati 996 motorcycle from The Matrix Reloaded;

the “Shaguar” from Austin Powers in Goldmember;

Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino from the movie of the same name;

the Nerd Herd car from Chuck;

the General Lee from The Dukes of Hazzard;

several vehicles from AI, including the Hovercopter;

the Ford Angila from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets;

and a 1969 Lincoln Continental from The Matrix, along with a wax figure of “Agent Smith”.

The best part of the tour for me, though, had to be when we got to see the Central Perk set from Friends. Granted, I’ve seen the set twice before on the two other WB Tours I’ve attended, but this time we were actually allowed to venture ONTO the set, walk around, touch things, and even sit on the furniture! YAY! Let me tell you, I just about DIED I was so excited! (Those are my friends Doina and Stephanie sitting on the Friends couch with me in the above photograph.)

And I just HAD to take pictures of absolutely EVERYTHING!

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Well, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I HIGHLY recommend taking the WB VIP Studio Tour! Even with a craptastic tour guide, it’s still a fabulous adventure to have in L.A.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Warner Brothers Studios is located at 3400 Riverside Drive in Burbank. Tours run every 30 minutes Monday through Friday from 8:20 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Advance reservations are recommended. Tickets cost $45 per person. You can learn more about the tour here .

January 21, 2010April 2, 2010

Vasquez Rocks County Park

One location that I have been dying to stalk for what seems like ages now is Vasquez Rocks County Park in Agua Dulce, California. I first read about the park in fave stalking book Hollywood Escapes: The Moviegoer’s Guide to Exploring Southern California’s Great Outdoors about 7 months ago and absolutely begged my fiancé to take me there. He politely declined and I’ve pretty much been stewing about the whole thing ever since. It’s funny how things work out, though, because while Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I were driving in the Valley on our way to do some stalking a few months back, we got into an in-depth filming locations conversation, as we are often apt to do, and somehow missed the freeway exit we meant to take. When we realized our mistake about 15 miles later – I told you it was an in-depth conversation 🙂 – and turned off the freeway, we found ourselves at the entrance to Vasquez Rocks County Park and I just about died from excitement. So, we decided to take a little stalking detour and headed right into the park.

The large sandstone boulders which make up Vasquez Rocks County Park have been around since prehistoric times and were brought into their unique upturned positions thanks to numerous earthquakes and years of erosion. The 932-acre park is named after Tiburcio Vasquez, the infamous outlaw who wreaked havoc in the Los Angeles area from 1856 until 1875, the year he was executed. In 1874, just before being captured by authorities, Tiburcio spent quite a bit of time hiding out in the park that now bears his name. Even though the man murdered and pillaged all across L.A. for close to 20 years, because he claimed that all of his crimes were committed in the name of justice for Mexican-Americans, he is viewed by many as a hero.

According to The Los Angeles Times, the 150-foot high rocks which populate the park are “the most commercially photographed boulders on the planet”. And, even though the area looks like it could be found in a faraway land or on a distant planet, it actually lies within Hollywood’s “Thirty Mile Zone” (aka TMZ – and yes, that term is why the famous website is so named), which makes it extremely popular with location managers. For those not familiar with the term, the Thirty-Mile Zone encompasses the area within a thirty mile radius of the intersection of West Beverly and La Cienega Boulevards in Los Angeles. If a production is filmed outside of the Zone, SAG rules stipulate that travel time, mileage, and a special “distant location rate” must be paid to union members of the cast and crew. So, thanks to its money-saving location and amazing, unique beauty, Vasquez Park has appeared in COUNTLESS, and I do mean COUNTLESS, productions over the years.

There is even a little kiosk on the property that documents some of the filming that has taken place there in the past. Love it!

The main reason I wanted to stalk the park was because it was one of the main locations featured in one of my all time favorite music videos – the 1991 video for Michael Jackson’s hit song “Black or White”. In an ironic twist of fate, I just happened to be wearing my “I Heart MJ” shirt that day. 🙂 Love it! Vasquez Rocks were featured in the scene in the video in which George Wendt lands in a remote field after being blasted out of his house thanks to his son, Macaulay Culkin’s, loud music. The rocks also show up in a subsequent scene in which MJ dances on a stage with a group of Native Americans.

The rocks were not used, however, for the scene in the very beginning of the video in which Michael is shown dancing with a group of Aborigines. That portion of the video appears to have been shot in front of a green screen inside of a Hollywood studio.

The rocks also appeared in one of my favorite episodes of Las Vegas, which was entitled “Good Run of Bad Luck”, in the scene in which Delinda (aka Molly Sims), Nessa (aka Marsha Thomason), and Mary (aka Nikki Cox) go on a search for buried treasure and wind up getting stranded in the Nevada desert until eventually being rescued by country crooner Clint Black.

I absolutely LOVE the scene in which Delinda, lamenting over her belief that her father always wanted a son, says “We don’t have that click. You see him with Danny . . . click, click, click, click, click! I want Daddy and me to be close, you know, like George Jetson and Daughter Judy or Cliff Huxtable and what’s-her-name? You know, the one who married Lennie Kravitz.” LOL

The rocks also stood in for the Las Vegas set of the defunct sci-fi movie Shutter Speed in which Joey Tribbiani (aka Matt LeBlanc) was supposed to star in the Season 5 episode of Friends entitled “The One With Joey’s Big Break”.

The rocks show up very briefly in the 2004 movie First Daughter, in a beginning scene in which Samantha Mackenzie (aka Katie Holmes) is shown on a peace-keeping mission in an unnamed foreign land.

They were also the location of the Arena Diner in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.

And the location of Dr. Evil’s underground lair in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.

Bruce Campbell rides his horse through Vasquez Rocks in the 1992 flick Army of Darkness.

The large open dirt area was the parking lot where Joe Dirt realized his parents had abandoned him in the movie of the same name.

The entire town of Bedrock was built – out of styrofoam, no less – on the Vasquez Rocks property for the filming of both The Flintstones and The Flintstones: Viva Rock Vegas.

Rihanna and Justin Timberlake recently filmed their “Rehab” video at the Rocks.

And the park also flies by very quickly in fave movie Little Miss Sunshine, in the scene in which Olive and her family begin their journey from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Redondo Beach, California. The freeway they are driving on in the above screen captures is the 14.

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The rocks have also been featured in episodes of Monk, CSI:Crime Scene Investigation, Numb3rs, NCIS, Star Trek, Mission: Impossible, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, MacGyver, Charmed, The Lone Ranger, The X-Files, 24, Bonanza, Fear Factor, Roswell, Sliders, and in the movies Blazing Saddles, Holes, Alpha Dog, Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey, Starship Troopers, Wild Wild West, Short Circuit, Star Trek (2009), and Planet of the Apes (2001), among countless others. You can see an extensive breakdown of the many productions filmed at the park here.

Although the park measures well over 900 acres, the areas most commonly used for filming are those located within walking distance of the two large open dirt fields denoted in the screen captures above. The dirt fields are located very close to the main road and are easily accessible to stalkers. 🙂 While Mike and I were stalking the park, a student film was being shot on the premises and because one of the crew members thought we were part of the production – and we said nothing to dissuade him of that idea 🙂 – we were allowed to drive right up to the dirt lot. I am not sure that cars are admissible in that area on a normal basis, though.

Vasquez Rocks is an absolutely BEAUTIFUL place – one of the most unique and picturesque spots I’ve ever had the privilege of seeing with my own two eyes – and I HIGHLY recommend stalking it!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Vasquez Rocks County Park is located at 10700 Escondido Canyon Road in Agua Dulce. The park is open daily from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

June 17, 2009August 17, 2009

The “Joey” Apartment Building

For quite a while now I have been begging Mike, from MovieShotsLA, to locate the apartment building where Joey Tribbiani lived with his nephew, Michael, on the Friends spin-off Joey. So, imagine my surprise when I came across the address randomly in The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book. In the book, the address is listed as an almost after-thought, which is why it took me so long to notice it. LOL Apparently, most stalkers aren’t as interested in finding Joey filming locations as I am. 🙂 LOL Being that the show was canceled after only 14 episodes, I can’t say I’m all that surprised. But, because Joey was always my favorite Friends character (besides Rachel, of course!), I absolutely loved that show! “How you doin’?” 😉

On the show, Joey lived in a large apartment building named Monroe Manor, located directly beneath the Hollywood sign. Apparently, production designer John Schaffner chose the 50s style building because of its mid-century appeal. He said, “I didn’t want to do another Los Angeles show in a Spanish house or Craftsman cottage. I was more inspired by architects like Frank Lloyd Wright and Rudolph Schindler, who worked in natural materials that create a more casual feeling.” Monroe Manor definitely has a unique appearance to it and evokes a feeling of old time Hollywood.

The Monroe Manor complex was constructed in 1949 and is made up of ten terraced, duplex-type units built right into a Hollywood hillside. Each of the twenty apartments in the complex is entirely different in size and style. A side view of the building, which shows its tiered design, is pictured above. As you can see in the above photograph, the building is actually much larger than it’s front exterior would lead you to believe and much larger than it appeared onscreen in Joey. I read online that Monroe Manor was supposedly modeled after my girl Marilyn Monroe, but – call me crazy – I just don’t see the resemblance. 😉 LOL I think it is safer to say that the building was most likely just named after her. 🙂

In an interesting side note, after Joey was cancelled in 2004, a paramedics company in Charlotte, North Carolina purchased the entire set from the show (pictured above) to be used for their training simulations! Apparently, simulations are acted out on the former Joey set and recorded for later review and evaluation. How incredibly cool is that?? I so think I need to go work for that company!!!! North Carolina, here I come! 😉

In an even more interesting side note, when Matt LeBlanc first came to Hollywood, long before hitting it big with Friends, he actually lived at Monroe Manor!!!!! It was a complete coincidence years later when production designer John Schaffner chose the building to be used as the residence of struggling actor Joey Tribbiani. This was definitely a case of art imitating life! 🙂 Ironically, my good friend Maura has been asking me to find Matt LeBlanc’s house for some time now – so, Maura, this one’s for you. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Joey apartment building, aka Monroe Manor, is located at 2232 North Beachwood Canyon Drive in Hollywood. Joey lived in Apartment #7. In real life, Matt LeBlanc lived in #16.

May 15, 2009May 14, 2009

Moondance Diner

This morning my mom sent me a link to an awesome new locations website called “Where It’s At – Pop Culture Is All Around You”. And I, of course, became TOTALLY and COMPLETELY engrossed in it for a good hour and a half. I was so engrossed in it, in fact, that I was late in meeting my dad for our usual morning Starbucks run! Anyway, while perusing the site I happened upon this link about an oft used New York filming location named Moondance Diner. And I almost fell out of my chair when I read that the historic restaurant had been moved clear across the country in late 2008! Apparently, the diner was driven over 2,300 miles -on a flatbed truck, no less – all the way from the island of Manhattan to a tiny town in Wyoming named La Barge (population 493!). At first, I thought the website was mistaken, as I had visited Moondance Diner on my 2007 trip to the Big Apple. How in the heck could an entire restaurant be moved halfway across the country in as little as a year and a half????

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Apparently, the historic diner closed its Manhattan doors in July of 2007 after a real estate development company purchased the land beneath it. The company planned to demolish the historic restaurant to make room for a high rise condominium complex, but thankfully preservationists stepped in to stop the demolition. Moondance ended up being donated to the American Diner Museum and was subsequently purchased by Vince and Cheryl Pierce for the bargain price of only $7,500! The Pierce’s made the incredible decision to relocate the famed diner to their hometown of La Barge, Wyoming. And I have to say ‘Way to go, Vince and Cheryl!!!’ I am so thankful that the diner, which opened in 1929 and was originally named the Holland Tunnel Diner, is still alive and well for all of us stalkers to visit!

The diner has been featured in numerous productions over the years, most notably as the restaurant where Mary Jane worked in the first Spiderman movie.

On Friends, Monica also worked at Moondance after being fired from her chef job during Season 3. No Friends filming actually took place at the diner, though. While the restaurant’s exterior was used for some set-up shots, the interior was a set that was built on a Warner Brothers soundstage in Burbank. The interior of Monica’s diner looks nothing like Moondance’s real life interior, though. Nor did the real life waitresses have to wear silly outfits like Monica’s. LOL

Moondance was also featured in the music video for the a-ha song “You Are The One” and in the 1985 movie After Hours. According to the Where It’s At website, the diner was also used in an episode of my fave Sex and the City, but I am not sure which one. So, I am putting it out there to you, dear readers – does anyone remember which episode of SATC was filmed at Moondance Diner?

Moondance has also had its brush with celebrity. Frank Sinatra used to be a frequent patron, as were many of the New York Yankees. And “Rent” playwright Jonathan Larson even worked at Moondance for a time. I can’t tell you how happy I am that this historic diner was saved from the wrecking ball!! If I ever find myself in La Barge, Wyoming, I fully plan on stalking it! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Moondance Diner was originally located at 80 6th Avenue in New York. It’s current location is at the corner of Main Street and 6th Avenue in La Barge, Wyoming. You can visit Moondance’s website here.

January 9, 2008February 18, 2009

The Friends Apartment

Another one of my must-see New York filming locations from my first trip to the Big Apple was the Friends Apartment. The apartment is actually located right in the same neighborhood as Carrie’s brownstone and SJP’s house. I could hardly contain myself as we walked up to the building – I felt like I had waited years to see it in person and here I was!

The building is actually pretty unremarkable in person and chances are if it wasn’t featured on TV for ten seasons, you’d probably walk right by it without even giving it a second glance. But thanks to TV magic, it will be forever stalked and remembered. Be on the lookout for the countless tour-groups walking by the building – we saw three stop by in the ten minutes we were there! My boyfriend was thankful he was dating a stalker and didn’t have to shell out $65 for a look at the Friends Apartment. 🙂

New York’s narrowest house (only 9 1/2 feet wide!) is located just a block away at 75 1/2 Bedford Street. John Barrymore and poet Edna St. Vincent Millay have both called it home.

I found both locations in one of my favorite tour books – “New York: The Movie Lover’s Guide” by Richard Alleman. You can pick it up on Amazon.

I highly recommend purchasing it before any visit to NY. 🙂

Stalk It: The Friends Apartment is located at 90 Bedford Street, at the corner of Bedford and Grove, in Greenwich Village. You’ll recognize it immediately when you walk up to it. The many tour-groups stopped in front might give it away, too! A quick tip for posing for photos at the apartment – be sure to stand in the middle of the street and not directly in front of the building – otherwise you’ll come out too small in the pic. After your Friends stalking adventure, stop in to Chumley’s at 86 Bedford Street for a drink and a bite to eat. Chumley’s is a former speakeasy and still resides in an unmarked building. You can even enter through the secret entryway leftover from the prohibition days!