Harrison Ford – IAMNOTASTALKER

September 5, 2018September 4, 2018

Jack Ryan’s House from “Clear and Present Danger”

The Grim Cheaper was anxiously awaiting last Friday’s premiere of the new Amazon series Jack Ryan. There was practically a countdown going on in our house. When we finally viewed the first episode, though, my only thought was ‘I want that hour and four minutes of my life back.’ Needless to say, we were not impressed. The show is a bit of a snoozefest. And being that it was lensed outside of L.A. (mainly in Canada and Morocco), I did not even have its locations to distract me. Watching the pilot did remind me of a related site that I stalked back in November 2012 – the Hancock Park pad used for interior shots of the residence belonging to Jack Ryan (Harrison Ford) and his family in the Tom Clancy franchise’s third installment, 1994’s Clear and Present Danger. I first learned about the home thanks to a Los Angeles Times article published in February 2012, shortly after the property was put up for sale for the first time in almost thirty years. Though I promptly added the address to my To-Stalk List and hit the place up later that same year, I somehow forgot to blog about it. With all the interest in the new series, I figured it was the perfect moment to amend that.

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In real life, the massive 3-story Southern Colonial-style home, which was built in 1925, boasts 7,480 square feet, 6 bedrooms, 6.5 baths, a master suite with a fireplace, his-and-her baths and his-and-her walk-in closets, a library/den, a gourmet kitchen, a wine cellar with space for 900 bottles, hardwood flooring and crown moldings throughout, a detached 1-bedroom guest apartment, a pool house with its own kitchen, a large veranda, a rose garden, a fountain, a pool, a spa, a tennis court, a 4-car garage, a motor court, and a 0.86-acre lot. Holy amenities, Batman!

Sadly, thanks to the fact that its entire perimeter is lined with large trees, virtually none of it is visible from the street.

It doesn’t help matters that the residence sits perpendicular to the road, as you can see in the Bing Maps aerial view below. It is a very unique orientation (I have never seen a house situated sideways like that before) which, unfortunately, blocks most of the place from sight.

The views below are the best that can be gleaned of the home’s spectacular Antebellum façade.

Per the Los Angeles Times, Harrison Ford took such a liking to the property during the ten days spent filming on the premises that he offered to buy it. The owners, who purchased the pad in 1983 for $800,000, were not interested in selling, though. Their minds didn’t change until January 2012, when they placed the home on the market for $5.295 million. The real estate agent used the residence’s cinematic clout as a selling point, which is how it wound up being featured in the Times. It sold that same July for $4.32 million. You can check out the MLS photos here.

The dwelling appears numerous times throughout Clear and Present Danger. The kitchen first pops up in a beginning scene in which Jack learns that Admiral Greer (James Earl Jones) is in the hospital. Though the MLS photo below was taken from a slightly different angle than the one from which the segment was shot, you can see that very little of the kitchen had been altered from its onscreen state at the time of the sale in 2012.

Even the home’s highly unique copper and stainless steel range hood appears to have remained untouched. You can just barely see it to the right of Jack’s head in the screen capture below.

The master bedroom is then featured in a later scene in which Jack watches President Bennett (Donald Moffat) being interviewed on TV while getting ready for work. The MLS image below is, again, taken from a different vantage point, but it is still apparent how little of the room has been changed since the shoot.

In the segment, you can even see one of the room’s walk-in closets through the door in the background.

Near the end of the movie, the living room makes an appearance in the scene in which Ryan learns of Admiral Greer’s death. That space, too, looks much the same as it did when Clear and Present Danger was shot in 1994.

The Los Angeles Times article also states, “In another scene, Ford is preparing to go to South America and was filmed packing the homeowners’ actual clothes. The suitcase ended up in a prop truck, and the owners later had to retrieve their belongings from the prop department.” I scanned through the flick twice, though, in preparation for this post and did not come across a scene like that anywhere. There is one segment in which Ford is shown carrying a suitcase down the residence’s sweeping staircase just prior to his trip to Bogota, but no packing scene. I guess that bit wound up on the cutting room floor.

Only the interior of the property appears in Clear and Present Danger. The exterior of the Ryan home is a different location entirely – one I have not been able to track down as of yet.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The house used for interior shots of Jack Ryan’s residence in Clear and Present Danger can be found at 615 South Rossmore Avenue in Hancock Park.

February 10, 2017February 9, 2017

The Administration Building, Treasure Island from “The Parent Trap”

The stalking itinerary for my October 2016 trip to Northern California was extremely Scream-centric. So much so that I did not really do any research on area locales from other productions. But life threw a pleasant surprise my way shortly after I arrived in the City by the Bay. Upon landing at SFO, my mom and I headed to Treasure Island to pick up my uncle who was spending the weekend with us. As we passed through the island’s main entrance, I happened to look to my right and noticed a striking curved structure that I immediately recognized as the exterior of The Stafford Hotel from the 1998 re-make of The Parent Trap. I had long known of the building’s use in the movie and even mentioned it in this 2012 post about The Ritz-Carlton, Marina del Rey (which also masked at The Stafford in the film), but had completely overlooked it while planning my NorCal getaway and didn’t really put two and two together until I actually drove right by the place. So I, of course, had to jump out and snap some pics.

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Prior to my October trip, I had never actually visited Treasure Island, despite growing up in San Francisco – and despite the fact that my parents held their wedding reception there! (Fun fact – their reception took place at Casa de la Vista, the same spot where Patty Hearst’s wedding reception was held a few years later.) The 403-acre man-made island was created by the US Army Corps of Engineers from 1937 to 1939 on what was then the Yerba Buena Shoals. Named after the popular Robert Lewis Stephenson book, the 1-mile by 2/3-mile land mass was constructed for the 1939 Golden Gate International Exhibition, a World’s Fair that celebrated the completion of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge. It was originally intended that when the event ended, Treasure Island would be utilized as an airport. In 1938, engineer William Peyton Day and architect George William Kelham were commissioned to construct an Administration Building for the Exhibition that would later serve as the airport’s main terminal.

Utilizing Art Deco and Streamline design elements, the duo created a dramatic 148,000-square-foot, U-shaped, Art Moderne-style structure out of reinforced concrete.

Researching the history of locations is easily my favorite part of writing my blog. Sometimes though, just reading words in a book or online makes a place’s past intangible and flat. Such was the case with the Golden Gate International Exhibition. I perused articles about the fair’s exhibits and artwork, but didn’t really grasp its grandeur. Then while talking to my grandma on the phone a couple of days ago, she happened to ask what I was working on for my next post. I told her that I was writing about Treasure Island and she exclaimed, “I was there on opening day!” Yes, on February 18th, 1939, my grandma attended the inaugural day of the Golden Gate International Exhibition with her parents and sister! The fair remained in operation through October 29th, 1939 and then reopened again from May 25th to September 29th the following year. Throughout that time, my grandma visited on several occasions, with her family and also on a school trip. It was amazing to hear her stories and first-hand accounts of an event and place that I had been researching all day. She really brought the exhibition to life for me. Listening to her tales, I could practically see her walking among the towering exhibits, sampling the food, and staring in wonder at the various exotic civilizations represented in the performances and shows. The fair truly was like Disneyland! My grandma was especially fascinated by Billy Rose’s Aquacade, in which synchronized swimmers, including a young and unknown Esther Williams and Tarzan star Johnny Weissmuller, performed dazzling in-water routines. You can check out some photographs that really show the magic of the Golden Gate International Exhibition here, here, here, here, and here (in the last one, you can even see the side of the Administration Building on the extreme left).

When the Golden Gate International Exhibition closed for good in 1940, the plans to make Treasure Island an airport were put on hold due to the onslaught of World War II and the site instead became a naval base. It continued to operate as such until being decommissioned in 1997. Though the city immediately set about redeveloping Treasure Island at that time, it was not until last year (yep, last year!) that construction on the massive project actually began. Though it may take an additional 15 years to complete, more than 8.000 homes, several hotels, parkland, 240,000 square feet of commercial and retail space, a large marina, and a ferry terminal are all set to be built on the island. The Administration Building will be left intact (thankfully it’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places) and will likely be turned into a museum.

The Administration Building, Treasure Island pops up as The Stafford Hotel in a few scenes in The Parent Trap. It is there that Hallie Parker and Annie James (both played spectacularly by Lindsay Lohan) scheme to rekindle the spark between their parents, Nick Parker (Dennis Quaid) and Elizabeth James (Natasha Richardson).

Only the exterior of the building was used in the shoot. Interior Stafford Hotel scenes were filmed at the Langham Huntington, Pasadena, while the pool segments were shot at The Ritz-Carlton, Marina del Rey.

The Administration Building, Treasure Island was also featured briefly in 1989’s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade as the Berlin airport where Indy (Harrison Ford) and his father, Professor Henry Jones (Sean Connery), caught an airship flight. As was the case with The Parent Trap, only the exterior of the property appeared in the film. Interior airport scenes were shot at Lawrence Hall in London.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Administration Building, Treasure Island, aka the exterior of The Stafford Hotel from The Parent Trap, is located at 1 Avenue of the Palms in San Francisco.

September 22, 2010October 16, 2011

First Christian Church of North Hollywood – Where Phyllis Got Married on “The Office”

Brace yourselves, my fellow stalkers, ‘cause today’s post is going to be a long one! A few months back, I dragged my then-fiancé and my parents out to re-stalk the First Christian Church of North Hollywood – a location which is most commonly known as “the 7th Heaven church”, thanks to its recurring role as the Camden Family’s local parish throughout the Aaron Spelling series’ ten-year run. Even though I never watched 7th Heaven, I stalked and blogged about the church way back in April of 2008 after receiving a challenge to find it from my Aunt Lea. So, when the very same location popped up on new favorite show The Office as the spot where Phyllis Lapin (aka Phyllis Smith) married Bob Vance (aka Robert R. Shafer) – of Vance Refrigeration – in the Season 3 episode titled “Phyllis’ Wedding”, I decided I just had to re-stalk it and do a more in-depth write-up of its extensive filming history.

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The First Christian Church of North Hollywood was originally built in 1949 on the corner of Moorpark Street and Colfax Avenue in what is, contrary to what the name might suggest, actually Studio City. Construction on the 19,000-square foot, Colonial-style structure took just under a year to complete and the first mass was said there on March 12, 1950. Today the church boasts one of the largest Protestant congregations in the entire San Fernando Valley. Location scouts have long been drawn to the property, which includes a main sanctuary, several offices, a kitchen, a garden, a nursery school, a social hall, and a courtyard, for decades due to its Anytown, U.S.A.-style facade. Countless upon countless productions have been filmed there over the years – far too many for me to properly catalog here, but I’ll do my best to try. I must give major props to whoever runs the First Christian Church of North Hollywood website, by the way, because it boasts a very well-organized Film Shoots” page that chronicles all of the filming that has ever taken place there. Love it!

The “Phyllis’ Wedding” episode of The Office was filmed almost in its entirety on location at First Christian Church of North Hollywood and both the interior and the exterior of the property were used extensively in the production. The areas which appeared in the episode include the front entrance;

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the entryway and front stairwell;

the main sanctuary;

the altar;

the social hall (which we unfortunately did not get to see);

the top of the exterior side stairwell, where Pam Beesly (aka Jenna Fischer) and Roy Anderson (aka David Denman) danced;

the north exterior side of the church, where Dwight Schrute (aka Rainn Wilson) danced with Angela Martin (aka Angela Kinsey);

and the side courtyard, where Michael Scott (aka Steve Carell) “found” Phyllis’ Uncle Al (aka George Ives).

And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention here that it is while in the First Christian Church of North Hollywood that Dwight utters fellow stalker Owen’s very favorite television line of all time. While filing into the church with the other wedding guests, Dwight turns to Jim Halpert (aka John Krasinski) and says, “Why are all these people here? There’s too many people on this earth. We need a new plague.” LOL LOL LOL Love it! So, of course I just had to stand in the exact spot where Dwight was standing during that scene and repeat his famous line.

As I mentioned above, the First Christian Church of North Hollywood is most well-known for its countless appearances on 7th Heaven where it popped up almost weekly during the series’ eleven season run.

It is also at First Christian Church that Indiana Jones (aka Harrison Ford) marries Marion Ravenwood (aka Karen Allen) while Mutt Williams (aka Shia LaBeouf) looks on at the end of 2008’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Shia LaBeouf returned to First Christian Church that very same year to film his character’s brother’s funeral scene for the movie Eagle Eye.

The church was also where Barbara Keeley (aka Calista Flockhart) married Val Goldman (aka Dan Futterman) at the end of the 1996 movie The Birdcage.

In What About Bob?, the church was where Bob Wiley (aka Bill Murray) tied the knot with Lily Marvin (aka Fran Brill).

The church was also the wedding location in the music video for Katy Perry’s hit song “Hot & Cold” –

– which you can watch by clicking above.

Most recently, the church appeared in the Season 6 opener of How I Met Your Mother, which was titled “Big Days” and which aired this past Monday evening.

The First Christian Church of North Hollywood was also used in the movies Death Becomes Her, Nothing to Lose, and The Suburbans, and in episodes of United States of Tara, Desperate Housewives, Parks and Recreation, Samantha Who?, Crossing Jordan, Swingtown, Hart to Hart, Ghost Whisperer, Gilmore Girls, and Melrose Place.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The First Christian Church of North Hollywood is located at 4390 Colfax Avenue in Studio City. You can visit the church’s official website here. The areas of the church used in the “Phyllis’ Wedding” episode of The Office are denoted above. Pam and Roy danced at the top of the church’s north-side stairwell, which is located on Moorpark Street and is marked with the blue arrow above. The windows where Dwight and Angela danced are located just below the stairwell and a few feet east, also on Moorpark Street. Michael’s courtyard is located on Colfax Avenue, in between the main church building and the nursery school, and is denoted with the pink arrow in the above aerial view. The social hall, where Bob and Phyllis held their wedding reception, is located on the second floor of the nursery school building.

April 1, 2009March 31, 2009

The Bradbury Building

While serving on jury duty a few years back, I had the opportunity to visit one of the most incredible buildings I’ve ever seen in my life. Since jurors are oftentimes given incredibly long lunches (sometimes lasting over two and a half hours!!), the jury orientation paperwork includes a list of some “Things To Do” in the area. On that list was the Bradbury Building, which is located just a few short blocks away from the L.A. courthouse. Thanks to its prominent appearance in the 1982 science fiction flick Blade Runner, the Bradbury is quite famous among film location buffs – it’s listed in pretty much every book ever written on the subject. But surprisingly, I had never visited the building myself. I am not into the science fiction genre and have never seen Blade Runner, so I wasn’t ever really interested in visiting the building in person. But since I was only a few blocks away during my three day stint as a juror, I figured I may as well take a gander.

And I am so thankful I did! While the building is fairly non-descript on the outside, its interior is nothing short of AMAZING. The Bradbury was built in 1893 by millionaire real estate developer Lewis Bradbury. Mr. Bradbury was in poor health at the time and wanted to create a building that would be a sort of monument to himself before he passed away. He first enlisted architect Sumner Hunt to design a suitable building, but when none of Sumner’s designs were exceptional enough, Bradbury looked to one of Sumner’s young assistants. That assistant, George Wyman, was only 32 years old at the time and possessed virtually no architectural or design experience to speak of. Perhaps realizing this, Wyman at first turned Bradbury down. Thankfully, his dead brother Mark stepped in, eventually changing his mind. Yes, you read that right. George and his wife “consulted” with Mark via a planchette board (aka a spirit board) upon which Mark wrote “Take Bradbury Building. It will make you famous.” And the rest is architectural history.

Wyman’s inspiration for the design of the legendary building actually came from a science fiction book written in 1887 named Looking Backward From 2000 to 1887. In the book, author Edward Bellamy wrote that the typical office building in the year 2000 was a “vast hall full of light, received not alone from the windows on all sides, but from the dome, the point of which was a hundred feet above . . . The walls were frescoed in mallow tints, to soften without absorbing the light which flooded the interior.” It’s amazing to me that a building built 116 years ago, inspired by a book written 122 years ago, remains awe-inspiring to this day.

And awe-inspiring it truly is! Pictures honestly don’t do the amazing architecture of this building justice. It has to be seen in person to be truly appreciated. The building’s central courtyard is covered by a five story high peaked glass roof, which “Arts and Architecture Magazine” called “a fairytale of mathematics”. The roof bathes the entire interior of the building in a soft natural light. Lewis spared absolutely no expense in the making of his monument – the Bradbury’s walls are made of a glazed brick, the floors are covered in Mexican tile, and the stairs are carved out of Belgium marble. But by far, the building’s most gorgeous element is the lavish wrought iron detailing that is located throughout.

The building’s two open cage elevators are also housed by beautiful wrought iron detailing. The Bradbury definitely turned out to be the extraordinary monument that Lewis Bradbury set out to build. Unfortunately, he passed away three months before seeing its completion. All in all the Bradbury cost $500,000 to construct.

The building’s unique architecture and abundance of natural light have long made it a favorite of location scouts. The Bradbury Building was featured most prominently in the 1982 movie Blade Runner, where it was used as the apartment building of J.F. Sebastian. In the movie, the real name of the building is used, but the exterior looks nothing like it does in real life (pictured above). It is quite ironic to me that the Bradbury was chosen to be used in Blade Runner, as producers made the interior, which is so famous for its light, look so incredibly dark.

The historic building was also featured in Chinatown, Good Neighbor Sam (as Jack Lemmon’s hotel), Double Indemnity, D.O.A., Mr. Wrong (as Dean Stockwell’s office), Pushing Daisies (as Ned and Chuck’s apartment building), Quantum Leap, Pay It Forward, Wolf (as Jack Nicholson’s office), Disclosure, Lethal Weapon 4 (as Joe Pesci’s dentist’s office – pictured above), Murder in the First (as Christian Slater’s law office), the television series Pasadena (as the Los Angeles Sun’s newspaper office), as well as countless others. The ground floor of the building is home to Ross Cutlery – the knife store where O.J. Simpson allegedly purchased a 12-inch stilleto knife three weeks before the murders of Ronald Goldman and Nicole Simpson.

The Bradbury is also used quite often for photography shoots. While out stalking in Downtown L.A. last weekend, I dragged my boyfriend and my parents to the building, where we stumbled upon the band Shattered Atom posing for photographs for their new album cover (pictured above).

A statue of Charlie Chaplin, on loan from the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, is currently on display just inside the Bradbury Building’s side entrance.

I HIGHLY recommend stalking the Bradbury Building. In fact, it should be a “must see” location for both natives and tourists of Los Angeles alike. It is a truly amazing, literally breathtaking structure, like nothing I have ever seen anywhere else in my life. Even if you are not a filming locations buff, I can pretty much guarantee you will be a fan of this building and its awe-inspiring architecture.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Bradbury Building is located at 304 South Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles. The building’s first floor and courtyard area are open to the public daily.