Haunted Hollywood – Page 10

October 29, 2012September 29, 2017

Sidney’s House from “Scream 3”

One location that I was absolutely desperate to find in time for this year’s Haunted Hollywood posts was the isolated house where Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) lived in Scream 3. I knew from the flick’s Wikipedia page that the residence was located somewhere in the Topanga area, but other than that, I had very little to go on. Then, last week, on a whim, I decided to peruse through Malibu Locations, my favorite filming location database, to see if the property was featured on it and, as luck would have it, it was! From there I enlisted the help of Mike, from MovieShotsLA, who is much better at tracking down locales than I am, and, thanks to some good, old-fashioned elbow grease, he was able to find the abode in just a few short hours! Yay! So I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out to stalk the place just a few days later.

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Sadly though, when we arrived, we discovered that Sidney’s house is located on a private road and, aside from a few signs warning that trespassers will be prosecuted and a set of five mailboxes (apparently not even mail carriers are allowed on that street!), is not at all visible to the public. I was so hoping to at least be able to see and pose in front of the large wooden gate that was shown in the movie, but, alas, that was not to be. Boo! So even though this stalk was a bit of a let-down, because the location is one that many people seem to be looking for, I figured it was definitely still worthy of a blog post.

According to the Reel Scout website, in real life, Sidney’s abode, which sits on three parcels of land and boasts three separate dwellings, is known as Windwalk Ranch and it consists of forty private acres, a water tank, a corral, a barn, and a ranch house (which I believe is the building that appeared in Scream 3). And I just about fell over when I discovered, thanks to the Berg Properties website, that the residence has belonged to none other than actor Rick Schroder – my girl Pinky Lovejoy’s first Hollywood crush – since 2005.

Because Windwalk Ranch contains so many different structures on such a vast piece of land, I was unable to discern from aerial views exactly which dwelling was used in Scream 3. I am fairly certain, though, that it is the barely-visible building denoted with an orange arrow below, although the roof line appears to be a bit different than the roof line that is shown in the Malibu Locations images.

Sidney’s house shows up quite a few times in Scream 3, most prominently towards the beginning of the flick. And while I was not able to take a photograph of the residence for comparison purposes, you can check one out here. As you can see, the structure still looks pretty much exactly the same in real life as it did onscreen over a decade ago.

The jury is still out on whether the actual interior of the property was used in the filming, though. While some of the interior of the real life house matches up to what appeared onscreen, some definitely does not. Areas of the house that do match up include the barn-like interior doors (which you can see real life pictures of here and here;

the positioning of the kitchen window (which you can see a real life photograph of here);

the positioning, shape and size of the living room window (which you can see a real life photograph of here);

and the brick wall behind the fireplace (which, as you can see in this picture, is painted white in real life).

The areas that do not match up include the hallway behind the kitchen. As you can see in the screen captures below and this real life photograph of the house, Sidney’s house had a stairway and small window behind the kitchen, while the actual house features a glass-paneled door.

Sidney’s front door is in a different place, as well, as you can see in this real life photograph of the house as compared to the screen capture below. In the movie, the front door is flush with the wall that runs perpendicular to the kitchen, but in real life the front door is situated on the wall that faces the kitchen.

What really does not make sense, though, is that in the scene in which Dewey Riley (David Arquette) proposed to Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox), the exterior of the front door is shown and it also does not match up to the positioning of the home’s real life front door, which you can see photographs of here and here. Color me so confused! Either a set very closely resembling the actual home was used for all interior (and, quite possibly, front porch) filming or the residence has been quite drastically remodeled since Scream 3 was filmed in 1999. I would lean toward the set option, except for the fact that only a few scenes took place inside of Sidney’s home and I cannot imagine producers building a set for so few scenes. Not to mention that the real life interior of both Runyon Ranch (which I blogged about here) and the Canfield-Moreno Estate (which I blogged about here) were used in the flick. So I really am torn. What are your thoughts, my fellow stalkers?

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Sidney’s house from Scream 3 is located at 21914 Goldstone Road in Topanga. The residence is located on a private street and is not at all visible or accessible to the public.

October 23, 2012September 29, 2017

The Correct “A Nightmare on Elm Street” Bridge

While stalking the Venice Canals (the history of which you can read about on yesterday’s post about Lana Clarkson’s former home) with Mike, from MovieShotsLA, last July, he mentioned that there was some misinformation floating around online about the Venice Canal bridge that appeared in the 1984 horror flick A Nightmare on Elm Street. Mike explained that every filming location website and book seemed to have a differing opinion as to which of the area’s nine bridges were used in the production and that he had long wanted to clear up the confusion once and for all. And that right there is why I love Mike – the guy is meticulous in his reporting. It seriously irks me when people post erroneous location information online or in books. I am of the opinion that if you are going to take the time to write a blog or publish a book, you should also take the time to make sure the information you are putting forth is valid. So Mike and I decided right then and there to finally set the record straight about the locale, even though I had never actually seen A Nightmare on Elm Street.

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In A Nightmare on Elm Street, Glen Lantz (Johnny Depp) and Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp) discuss the “Balinese way of dreaming” while standing on a white-trellised bridge overlooking the Venice Canals. Thankfully, Mike was fairly certain that he knew which bridge had been featured in the movie prior to the start of our hunt. So, iPad in hand, we headed right on over to it.

We quickly scanned through A Nightmare on Elm Street (thank you iTunes!) to the bridge scene and tried to compare the homes visible in the background to the homes near the bridge where Mike thought filming had taken place. Sure enough, he almost immediately spotted a unique house with a corner balcony and rounded windows that matched up perfectly to what had appeared onscreen. Eureka!

While the trees surrounding the house (which is pictured below from the opposite direction that it was pictured in the movie) have grown considerably over the past 28 years (how in the heck has Johnny Depp not aged in all that time, by the way?!?!), it still looks pretty much exactly the same today as it did back in 1984 when A Nightmare on Elm Street was filmed, as you can see below. Unfortunately, there was too much foliage covering the side of the house that appeared in Nightmare, so I was not able to take a photograph of it from the same direction.

But you can see in the aerial view pictured below that the house’s two arched windows and corner balcony match up perfectly to what appeared onscreen.

On an Elm Street side note – A fascinating article about Heather Langenkamp, the actress who portrayed “Nancy Thompson” in three of the horror series’ installments, was published in the July 29, 2011 issue of Entertainment Weekly magazine. You can check it out here.

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for finding the CORRECT A Nightmare on Elm Street bridge! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The correct A Nightmare on Elm Street bridge connects Linnie Avenue to Court C, crossing over the Eastern Canal, at the Venice Canals in Venice. It is denoted with an orange arrow in the above aerial view. The camera was facing southeast, toward Washington Boulevard, in the movie.

October 22, 2012September 29, 2017

Lana Clarkson’s Former House

Way back in July, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I took a little stalking trip to the Venice Beach/Marina del Rey area. Now I should explain here that stalking with Mike is an experience in and of itself. The guy has lived in Los Angeles his entire life and has absorbed so much location information during that time that he is literally like a walking-talking map of filming locations and movie stars’ homes. So when we ventured out to the Venice Canals – one of the most beautiful spots in L.A. – and he started rattling off information about almost every single dwelling that we passed, I had to get out my iPhone and start taking notes, lest I forget it all. The residence that I was most excited to learn about, as I thought it would fit in perfectly with my Haunted Hollywood postings, was the tiny cottage where actress Lana Clarkson lived at the time of her death.

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As I mentioned in my post about the Venice Beach Cotel, where SanDeE* (my girl Sarah Jessica Parker) lived in L.A. Story, the seaside city was founded by a real estate developer and wealthy tobacco heir named Abbot Kinney who was looking to create “The Venice of America” on the shores of sunny Southern California. In the early 1900s, Kinney purchased some coastal acreage just south of Santa Monica and proceeded to built his dreamland. In the process, he drained sixteen miles of area marshes and turned them into a series of saltwater canals, made complete with idyllic bridges and singing gondoliers. Sadly, while beautiful, the canals were built far too shallow, resulting in poor water circulation. In the late 1920s, they were declared a public health hazard and the vast majority of them filled in and turned into streets. Today, only six small waterways, totaling two miles, and four original bridges remain. As you can see below, what was saved is now an absolutely magical little enclave and one of the most picturesque spots in L.A. I actually hate the Venice area – it is extremely seedy and far over-crowded – but I love, love, love the canals.

Tucked away, so much so that one could visit Venice without ever realizing they were there, the canals are situated between South Venice Boulevard, Eastern Court, 28th Avenue, and Strongs Drive.

Lana Clarkson’s former home is located at the southern end of the canals. The tiny 1-bedroom, 1-bath waterfront cottage, which was originally built in 1905, boasts a scant 454 square feet of living space and sits on a small 0.09-acre plot of land. The six-foot tall actress, who was best known for the 1985 film Barbarian Queen, had rented the residence, at $1,200 per month, since at least 2001. According to a September 2007 Vanity Fair article written by Dominick Dunne, Lana fixed up the bungalow on her own dime and her bedroom, which was painted red with black doors, was decorated with photographs of her idol, Marilyn Monroe. Apparently, at the time the article was written there were plans to tear the abode down, but I am very happy to report that, as of a few months ago, the place was still standing. You can check out a picture of what the house looked like back when Lana lived there, or shortly thereafter, on the Find a Death website here.

The pictures below show the view from Lana’s former back porch.

Lana Clarkson was famously shot to death at record producer Phil Spector’s Alhambra mansion (which I blogged about here) during the early morning hours of February 3rd, 2003. While Spector claimed that the 40-year-old actress had committed suicide, a jury disagreed and he was convicted of her murder on April 13th, 2009 and sentenced to 19-years-to-life in prison. You can read a full account of the events of February 3rd, 2003 on the Find a Death website here. I actually saw Phil in person back in September 2007 during his first trial (I was serving as a juror in a nearby courtroom) and I honestly don’t know what was scarier – his spaced out eyes or his spaced out hair!

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Lana Clarkson’s former home is located at 3005 Grand Canal in Venice.

October 19, 2012September 29, 2017

The House Where Nick Adams Died

As I have mentioned a few times over the past couple of months, fellow stalker E.J., from The Movieland Directory website, recently published an e-book about Old Hollywood titled Unscripted: Hollywood Back-Stories, Volume 1 (which you can purchase on Nook here and on Kindle here). The book, which I devoured in less than a day, features countless historical locations, one of which – the Beverly Hills house where Rebel-Without-a-Cause actor Nick Adams was found dead in 1968 under “mysterious and still-unexplained” circumstances – I thought would be perfect for my Haunted Hollywood postings. So I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on over there just a few days later.

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While I have never actually seen Rebel Without a Cause (I know, I know – and I call myself a stalker!), Unscripted features an entire chapter dedicated to the flick and the premature death of four of its young stars. [James Dean passed away in a car crash on September 30th, 1955 at the age of 24. Sal Mineo was stabbed to death in 1976 at age 37 in what appeared to be a robbery gone wrong. Natalie Wood famously drowned off the island of Catalina at the age of 41 in 1981. (You can read my blog posts on the hotel where she stayed the night before her death here and the restaurant where she ate one of her last meals here.) And Nick Adams was found dead of an apparent drug overdose on February 7th, 1968. He was 36.] When I read the sentence, “In a bizarre coincidence, each would die tragically, at a rate of one per decade, before and after the film’s October 27, 1955 release”, I was immediately intrigued and decided that I just had to stalk Adams’ then home.

At the time of his death, Adams, who was going through a divorce, had just returned from Rome after his latest movie, Murder in the Third Dimension, had been scrapped shortly before production was set to begin. Upon arriving in Los Angeles, Nick rented a two-story, three-bedroom, two-bath, 1,810-square-foot Cape Cod-style residence in the Trousdale Estates area of Beverly Hills. As the story goes, he was supposed to have dinner with his divorce lawyer, former L.A.P.D. officer Ervin “Tip” Roeder, on the night of February 7th, 1968. When Nick failed to show up at the restaurant, Roeder headed over to the 1957-era house to check on him. And while Roeder did not notice anything amiss, when no one answered his many knocks at the door, he headed to the back of the property, forced open a window and ventured upstairs, where he found Nick, fully clothed, sitting on the floor next to his bed, his eyes staring blankly ahead. The actor was dead at 36. You can see a photograph of Adams being removed from his home on the Find a Death website here.

The coroner, Dr. Thomas Noguchi, who also performed the autopsies of Marilyn Monroe, Robert F. Kennedy, Sharon Tate, and (coincidentally) Natalie Wood, found a lethal combination of paraldehyde (an anticonvulsant) and Promazine (an antipsychotic) in Adams’ system, which he believed would have killed the actor instantly. His death was ruled an accidental suicide, even though, according to several sources, including John Austin’s 1970 book Hollywood’s Unsolved Mysteries and Ken Schessler’s 1997 book This is Hollywood, no pill bottles or syringes were found in the home. Of the death, Schessler says, “To this day, police are still puzzled as to how the drugs had entered his system, as no means of ingestation were ever found near his body.” It appears that someone’s wires got crossed somewhere along the way, though, because according to the February 8th, 1968 edition of the Los Angeles Times, “a number of stoppered bottles containing prescription drugs were in a medicine cabinet.” Either way, the truth of Adams’ death seems to have been buried along with the young actor and the circumstances surrounding it the fodder of stalkers like me ever since.

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

Big THANK YOU to E.J., from The Movieland Directory website, for informing me of this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The house where Nick Adams died is located at 2126 El Roble Lane in Beverly Hills.

October 18, 2012September 29, 2017

Runyon Ranch from “Scream 3”

Another Scream 3 filming location that I had long wanted to stalk was Runyon Ranch – the large hilltop home where actress Jennifer Jolie (Parker Posey) lived in the 2000 thriller. I first found out about the locale from fave stalking book Hollywood Escapes: The Moviegoer’s Guide to Exploring Southern California’s Great Outdoors, but I was not sure how much, if any, of the residence was visible from the street. So, while I added the address to my To-Stalk list, I never ventured out there. Then, a couple of weeks back, I was reminded of Runyon Ranch while stalking the Canfield-Moreno Estate (which also appeared in Scream 3 and which I blogged about yesterday), and decided that, being that it was almost Halloween, it was about time I stalked the place. So I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on over there.

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As we discovered when we arrived (and contrary to what my GPS was reporting), Runyon Ranch is actually located on a private road inside of Runyon Canyon Park (which I blogged about here) and it cannot be reached by car. Despite this, though, the house is still, thankfully, completely accessible to the public. To catch a glimpse of it, you will have to throw on some tennies and take a brief hike up Runyon Canyon Road. The abode is located about 800 feet east of the gate pictured below. (I was a bit unprepared for a hike, as you can see above, hence the flip-flops.)

I just about had a heart attack as we neared the front of Runyon Ranch as it still looks EXACTLY the same today as it did when Scream 3 was filmed over twelve years ago! LOVE IT!

Runyon Ranch, which was originally built in 1951, boasts 2 bedrooms, 3 baths, 3,493 square feet of living space, and a 0.66-acre plot of hilltop land.

The residence also features a large horse corral (as you can see below, several adorable animals – including a horse and a goat – were wandering the grounds while we were there) . . .

. . . and some pretty stellar views!

I was floored to discover that a fabulous glimpse of the ranch is visible if you venture up the trail that runs just west of it.

As you can see below, the place is pretty darn ginormous – and so incredibly recognizable from Scream 3!

Runyon Ranch was featured several times in Scream 3, most notably in the scene in which several Stab 3 actors gather together to discuss the recent killings of their fellow cast members.

Pretty much every section of the property was used in the filming, including the interior (which you can see pictures of here) . . .

. . . and the backyard and pool area (which you can also see pictures of here).

Dwight ‘Dewey’ Riley (David Arquette) lived in the ranch’s real life converted Silverstream trailer (which I somehow did not take any photographs of) in the flick, which angered his ex-girlfriend, Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox), to no end.

The trailer’s actual interior was also used in the filming. You can check out some photos of it here.

Runyon Ranch was actually blown up in Scream 3 and for that scene an incredibly realistic miniature of the residence was built. You can see a photograph of that miniature on the official Runyon Ranch website here.

Scream 3 was hardly the first production to make use of Runyon Ranch. In the 1986 movie Ruthless People, Dewey’s Silverstream was used as the trailer where Earl Mott (Bill Pullman) lived, although it was moved to the Mountain View Mobile Inn trailer park, located at 1930 Stewart Street in Santa Monica, for the shoot.

As you can see below, virtually none of the trailer’s interior was changed between the filming of Ruthless People and Scream 3. Love it!

In the Season 7 episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 titled “Mate for Life”, which aired in 1996, David Silver (Brian Austin Green) moved in with his friend Mark Reese (Dalton James), who lived at Runyon Ranch.

During the season, the ranch’s backyard and pool area were used several times.

I am fairly certain that the interior that was shown was just a set, though, and not the actual house.

In the 1996 drama It’s My Party, Runyon Ranch was where Nick Stark (Eric Roberts) and Brandon Theis (Gregory Harrison) lived.

The real life interior of the house was used throughout the flick.

As was the backyard area.

In the 1999 flick Crazy in Alabama, Lucille Vinson (Melanie Griffith) and Harry Hall (Robert Wagner) attended a Hollywood party at Runyon Ranch.

The interior of the residence, dressed to appear like a 1960’s abode, was also used in the filming.

As was the backyard and pool.

Runyon Ranch was also featured in the closing scene of the 2003 comedy Hollywood Homicide, in which Sgt. Joe Gavilan (Harrison Ford) and Det. K.C. Calden (John Hartnett) investigate a murder scene consisting of “a body and a half with some pieces missing”.

According to the official Runyon Ranch website, the property was also used in the 2001 movie Circuit, but, unfortunately, I could not find a copy of the flick anywhere with which to make screen captures for this post.

Several photoshoots have been held on the premises, as well, including a Tobey Maguire shoot for the July 25th, 2003 issue of Entertainment Weekly, a Jim Carrey shoot for the November 2000 issue of Details Magazine, an Oliver Martinez shoot for the May 2002 issue of Interview Magazine, and a James Houston shoot with actor Stephen Dorff.

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Runyon Ranch from Scream 3 is located at 3050 Runyon Canyon Road, inside of Runyon Canyon Park, in the Hollywood Hills. To access the property, you will have to park your car outside of Runyon Canyon Park and then walk about 800 feet east on Runyon Canyon Road. You can visit the official Runyon Ranch website here.

October 17, 2012September 29, 2017

The Canfield-Moreno Estate from “Scream 3”

One location that I have wanted to stalk for what seems like ages now is the Canfield-Moreno Estate – an absolutely humongous Italianate-style villa that was featured extensively in the 2000 thriller Scream 3. I first found out about the locale thanks to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, who had stalked it a few years back and, as fate would have it, had been invited onto the property and INSIDE OF THE MANSION by a caretaker to snap some pictures. For whatever reason, though, I had just never made it out there. Then, a few weeks ago, Mike reminded me of the site and suggested that I blog about it during my Haunted Hollywood month. Because it is not at all visible from the street, he also kindly agreed to provide the photographs for the post. “All you need is a pic of yourself in front of the gate,” he said, “and I’ll take care of the rest!” So I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out there just a few days later.

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A production of some sort was actually being filmed when the GC and I showed up to stalk the estate and the main gates were standing wide open. Unfortunately though, as you can see below, even with the gates open, not much was visible. So I honestly cannot thank Mike enough! Without his pictures, this would have made for a very boring blog post. (I ended up having to pose for a photograph in front of the mansion’s back gate as too many cars were driving in and out of the front one, making it impossible for me to stand by it.)

The 22,000-square-foot Canfield-Moreno Estate, which is also known as The Paramour Mansion and The Crestmont, was originally constructed in 1923. It was designed in the Mediterranean Revival-style by Robert D. Farquhar, the same architect who also designed the California Club in downtown Los Angeles, Beverly Hills High School in Beverly Hills, and the William Andrews Clark Jr. Mausoleum at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. The 22-room villa was commissioned by silent film star Antonio Moreno and his wife, oil heiress Daisy Canfield Danziger, after whom the residence is now known.

During the time that Antonio and Daisy lived there, the mansion was the site of regular Sunday night soirees with many of Hollywood’s elite in attendance.

When the couple decided to separate in 1928, they deeded the estate to the Chloe P. Canfield Memorial Home, a finishing school for girls that was founded according to Daisy’s father’s will. Sadly, a few years later, on February 23rd, 1933, Daisy lost control of her car while on Mulholland Drive and plunged off a 300-foot cliff. She died instantly. Since that time, it has been rumored that her ghost haunts the mansion.

In the 1950s, the Chloe P. Canfield Memorial Home Foundation was dissolved and the estate sold to Franciscan nuns, who turned the site into a boarding house for troubled girls. After the residence was damaged during the Whittier Narrows earthquake in 1987, the nuns vacated the property and put it up for sale. Sadly, the once-grand mansion was left to deteriorate over the decade that followed.

The Canfield-Moreno estate was finally purchased in 1998 by a developer named Dana Hollister for $2.25 million. Hollister, who has an affinity for historic sites, set about restoring the mansion to its original grandeur. She also added a recording studio to the premises and countless musicians have since recorded there, including Gwen Stefani, Papa Roach, Fiona Apple, and Sarah McLachlan. And while Hollister’s original intention was to turn the four-and-a-half-acre site into a luxury hotel, opposition from neighbors halted that plan and it is currently being used as her primary residence.

The ginormous Canfield-Moreno estate is comprised of a 15,388-square foot, U-shaped main house, which boasts 8 bedrooms and 8 baths, as well as several detached cottages and stables that dot the sprawling hilltop land.

As you can see in the aerial views pictured below, the estate is absolutely gargantuan and more of a compound than a residence.

And, as you can also see below, the place also exhibits some pretty amazing views.

The estate’s interior boasts a Moroccan flair and, though remodeled recently, looks like it came straight out of Old Hollywood.

Thanks to the unique look and gargantuan size of the estate, which is a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument, it has appeared in more than a few productions over the years.

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In Scream 3, the Canfield-Moreno Estate stood in for the home of Stab 3 producer John Milton (Lance Henriksen). Both the exterior . . .

. . . and the interior appeared in the flick.

In 1998’s Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, the estate stood in for Hillcrest Academy High School, where Keri Tate (Jamie Lee Curtis) worked. Both the interior . . .

. . . and the exterior were used in the filming. The estate’s pool was covered over for the shoot, as you can see below.

A different location – one that I have yet to find – was used for Hillcrest Academy High School’s front gate.

Also in 1998, the interior of the estate appeared in the music video for the R.E.M. song “At My Most Beautiful”.

You can watch that video by clicking below.

R.E.M.’s “At My Most Beautiful” Video–Filmed at the Canfield-Moreno Estate

In the Season 2 episode of Alias titled “Truth Takes Time”, which aired in 2003, the Canfield-Moreno Estate stood in for the Tuscan villa where Arvin Sloane (Ron Rifkin) hid out with his wife, Emily Sloane (Amy Irving).

The interior of the property was also used in the episode.

Oddly enough, though, at one point during “Truth Takes Time”, the exterior of a different home was shown as an establishing shot of Arvin’s villa.

In the season 3 episode of Monk titled “Mr. Monk and the Panic Room”, which aired in 2004, the Canfield-Moreno estate was the mansion where record producer Ian Blackburn (Stewart Finlay-McLennan) lived and was murdered – presumably by his pet chimpanzee.

The interior of the house also appeared in the episode.

The estate also appeared in Britney Spears’ 2004 “My Prerogative” music video, in which she crashed her Porsche into the residence’s pool.

You can watch that video by clicking below.

Britney Spears “My Prerogative” Music Video–Filmed at the Canfield-Moreno Estate

In 2009, the mansion appeared in the Season 4 episode of Brothers & Sisters titled “From France with Love” as a prospective wedding venue for Rebecca Harper (Emily VanCamp) and Justin Walker (Dave Annable). While Rebecca is scouting the location with her mom, Holly Harper (Patricia Wettig), and Justin’s mom, Nora Walker (Sally Field), she realizes that a pornographic film is being shot on the premises and therefore decides to go with another venue. LOL

The villa was also used in the music video for Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds’ 2011 song “If I Had a Gun”.

You can watch that video by clicking below.

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds’ “If I Had a Gun” Video–Shot at the Canfield-Moreno Estate

According to Wikipedia, the estate was also used in Rock Star: INXS, Rock Star: Supernova, Scream Queens, From G’s to Gents, Rock of Love: Charm School, Charm School with Ricki Lake, Mad Mad House, and MTV’s The X Effect, but I was, unfortunately, not able to find copies of any of the productions with which to verify that information.

On a side-note – The photograph of the Canfield-Moreno Estate that is pictured below, which Mike took, was actually chosen to be featured in the 2012 issue of Locations Magazine!! How incredibly cool is that?

The magazine . . .

. . . and printed photograph are pictured below. Um, LOVE IT!

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for telling me about this location and for allowing me to post his FABULOUS pictures of it here. Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Canfield -Moreno Estate from Scream 3 is located at 1923 Micheltorena Street in Silver Lake.

October 16, 2012September 29, 2017

The Meiks’s House from “Frailty”

One of my absolute, hands-down, favorite movies of all time is the 2001 thriller Frailty, which just so happens to be actor Bill Paxton’s directorial debut. And I am apparently in good company with that opinion – according to the Contact Music website, James Cameron, Sam Raimi and Stephen King are also huge fans of the flick, calling it “electrifying”, “the most frightening horror picture I’ve seen since The Shining”, and “edge-of-the-seat entertainment”, respectively. If you have not yet seen Frailty, I cannot more highly recommend doing so! In fact, stop what you are doing right now and go rent it! Do not pass Go, do not collect $200 – just head straight to your nearest video store and get your hands on a copy of the DVD! Anyway, when fellow stalker Chas, from the It’sFilmedThere website, tracked down the supposed Thurman, Texas-area house where the Meiks family – Dad (Bill Paxton), Young Fenton (Matt O’Leary – the phenomenal actor who also played Marcus in Matthew Lillard’s directorial debut, Fat Kid Rules the World) and Young Adam (the equally phenomenal Jeremy Sumpter) – lived in the movie’s flashback scenes, I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out to Sun Valley to stalk the place. Because I thought the location would fit in perfectly with my Haunted Hollywood postings, though, I had to wait a good four months to blog about it. So here goes!

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In real life, the Frailty bungalow, which was originally built in 1924, shares its 0.98-acre plot of land with another, larger abode. And while Zillow states that the dwelling boasts 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, and 1,825 square feet of living space, I believe that to be the combined measurements of both houses on the property.

While we were stalking the Frailty house, the owner happened to come outside and she honestly could NOT have been nicer! When I explained that Frailty was one of my favorite movies, she invited us ONTO THE PROPERTY to take a closer look and to check out the backyard area, which was used extensively in the flick. (Yes, I was pinching myself!) She also spent a good thirty minutes chatting with us about the residence and the filming. LOVE IT! The Frailty house actually has quite an interesting history – it was originally constructed in Watts and then moved to Sun Valley at some point thereafter. The abode is also rumored to be haunted, which is one of the reasons Bill Paxton chose to use it in the flick.

The residence is actually located on the grounds of the Rockin’ Horse Academy and I cannot tell you how much fun I had playing with the horses while we were there. So cute!

The Meiks home is one of the main locations used in Frailty and it shows up repeatedly throughout the flick. In the movie, adult Fenton (Matthew McConaughey) says, “We live right behind the Thurman Public Rose Garden [which was actually the Huntington Library rose garden, which I blogged about here], in the house where they used to keep the gardener back in the ‘50s. Dad had gotten a good deal on it back when he and mom got married.” Thankfully, the residence’s exterior looks almost exactly the same in person as it did onscreen, as you can see below.

The backyard area still looks much the same today as it did during the filming, as well.

Amazingly enough, the owner told us that the “cellar” that was used as a kill room in the movie was NOT a set. The Frailty production crew actually dug a huge hole in the home’s backyard, constructed a basement in the space, and filming took place inside of it. So incredibly cool!

After filming wrapped, the crew deconstructed the basement and tried to fill in the hole, but could not find the same type of dirt that covered the rest of the backyard. Because a different type of dirt eventually had to be used, you can still kind of see where the cellar was situated during the filming. Love it, love it, LOVE IT!

Because the real life interior of the home did not look dated enough to stand in for a 1970’s-era house, a set was constructed for the interior scenes. According to the movie’s production notes, of the set design, Bill Paxton said, “I wanted a stark, clean look, like an Edward Hopper painting.” Of the Hitchcockian-style flick, which took 37 days to shoot, he also said, “My vision of this story has always been the idea that it is a very edgy script that pushes a lot of buttons, especially because children are involved. But I thought that’s exactly the reason to give it a real, old Hollywood approach, where all of the darkness is implied instead of being explicit. We hear a chop or a scream, but we never see a drop of blood.” And that, in essence, is the movie’s magic. Without showing an ounce of gore, Frailty manages to grab you right from the very beginning and it does not let go until the credits roll. Did I mention how much I love this movie? Winking smile

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

Big THANK YOU to Chas, from the It’sFilmedThere website, for finding this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Meiks’ house from Frailty is located at 10641 Tuxford Street in Sun Valley.

October 15, 2012September 29, 2017

Los Angeles Pet Memorial Park

One location that I have wanted to stalk ever since first moving to Southern California in 2000 was the Los Angeles Pet Memorial Park in Calabasas. For whatever reason, though, in over twelve years time, I had never made it out there. Then, this past September, while gathering addresses for my annual Haunted Hollywood stalkings, I was reminded of the locale, immediately added it to my To-Stalk list and dragged the Grim Cheaper right on over there just a few days later.

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What I was not expecting was how humongous and absolutely beautiful the place is!

The location, which was first called the Los Angeles Pet Cemetery, was founded by a veterinarian to the stars named Dr. Eugene C. Jones. The land was originally owned by Gilbert H. Beesemyer, the one-time general manager of L.A.’s Guaranty Building and Loan Association, from which he fleeced $8 million in 1929. Shortly before he was caught and hauled off to prison to serve a 40-year term, Beesemyer began selling off his property in ten-acre plots. One of those plots was purchased by Dr. Jones, who wanted to build a pet cemetery on the site to help his clients deal with their grief over the loss of their beloved pets.

Los Angeles Pet Cemetery was officially opened on September 4th, 1928. That same year, Dr. Jones also opened a pet funeral parlor and viewing room on Highland Avenue in Hollywood. Jones’ mother and brother were in charge of driving the pets – in an actual hearse – from the parlor to the cemetery for the elaborate funerals that took place there. The funeral parlor was later moved onsite in 1969.

Dr. Jones constructed the cemetery’s brick mausoleum, which contains a crematory and a columbarium, in 1929.

The mausoleum underwent a $175,000-renovation in 2003, during which 450 new niches;

and the “Waiting Garden” area were added.

I absolutely loved walked through the mausoleum and reading the sweet inscriptions for pets who had passed away as long ago as 1940.

I also absolutely fell in love with the adorable stained glass designs in the mausoleum windows.

The image of the two cats with the intertwined tails broke my heart.

In 1973, after he retired, Jones donated the cemetery to the Los Angeles Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Ten years later, in a maddening move that I still do not completely understand, the SPCA decided to sell the land to a developer who had plans to raze the cemetery. Thankfully, a group of concerned pet owners gathered together to form S.O.P.H.I.E. (Save Our Pets’ History in Eternity). S.O.P.H.I.E. managed to raise $100,000 to purchase the park and then lobbied for – and passed! – a state law which prevents pet cemeteries from ever being developed or destroyed. Today, Los Angeles Pet Memorial Park serves as the final resting place for over 42,000 beloved animals of all varieties, including lizards, chimpanzees, horse, ferrets, goats, pigs, and one lion.

Los Angeles Pet Memorial Park has become the final resting place for quite a few celebrity pets, including those of Rudolph Valentino, Gloria Swanson, Aaron Spelling, Bob Barker, Humphrey Bogart, Charlie Chaplin, Steven Spielberg, Bob Newhart, Adam Sandler, Diana Ross, William Shatner, Lauren Bacall, Mary Pickford, Harry James, Eva Gabor, Mae West, and Lionel Barrymore.

Some of the animals buried there are even celebrities themselves. Los Angeles Pet Memorial Park is the final resting place of both Hopalong Cassidy’s horse, Topper,and Tonto’s horse from the Lone Ranger, Scout. Unfortunately, because the cemetery is so humongous we were unable to locate either gravesite.

In a December 2009 Los Angeles Times article, Stephanie LaFarge, senior director of counseling services for Urbana, Illinois’ ASPCA Animal Health Services, is quoted as saying, “Pet cemeteries tend to be utterly beautiful, joyful places. I don’t know what it is – the markings on the gravestones or the pictures of something.” And she is absolutely right! While the GC and I did find ourselves tearing up at some of the heartfelt messages written on headstones (like the one below), we also felt an immense sense of joy and love walking through the park.

It was absolutely heartwarming to see the countless flowers decorating the various gravesites and to know that these precious animals are still loved and visited all these years later. I honestly cannot recommend stalking the place enough.

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Los Angeles Pet Memorial Park is located at 5068 Old Scandia Lane in Calabasas. The cemetery is open Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays and holidays from 8 a.m. to dusk. The office is open Monday through Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. You can visit the official Los Angeles Pet Memorial Park website here.

October 12, 2012September 29, 2017

The Home Where Marvin Gaye Was Killed

Way back in January, while on a stalking adventure with Mike, from MovieShotsLA, he took me by the West Adams-area home where, on April 1st, 1984, singer Marvin Gaye Jr. was shot and killed by his father, Marvin Gay Sr. (and no, gay is not a typo – Marvin Jr. added an e to his surname early on in his career). Mike thought the location would fit in perfectly with my annual Haunted Hollywood theme and, while I adamantly agreed, that unfortunately meant that I had to wait over ten months to blog about the place. So without further ado, here goes . . . finally!

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Marvin Gaye Jr.’s former home, which was originally built in 1905, was designed by Sumner Hunt, who also designed the Thomas W. Phillips residence, aka The People Under the Stairs house, that I blogged about yesterday. Marvin Jr., who had found massive success thanks to such hits as “Let’s Get It On”, “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”, “What’s Going On”, and “Sexual Healing”, purchased the large Tudor-style dwelling in 1975 for $30,500, but, due to issues with drugs and a dire financial situation, wound up having to quit-claim the property to his parents just a year and a half later.

As the story goes, in late 1983, Marvin Jr. moved back into the home following the end of his U.S. tour. The singer was not in good shape. At the time, he was suffering from extreme depression, cocaine addiction, suicidal tendencies, and severe paranoia. Convinced that someone was trying to kill him, he had even taken to wearing a bulletproof vest when not onstage. And, according to this article, at one press conference he announced that he had been poisoned by an unknown individual and then later saved by an antidote potion that had been created by comedian Dick Gregory. Um, OK.

At about 11 a.m. on April 1st, 1984, Marvin Jr. got into an argument with his father, who was a Pentecostal minister and with whom he had always had a stormy relationship, in an upstairs bedroom of the house. The argument quickly escalated and got physical, resulting in Marvin Sr. grabbing a .38-caliber pistol and shooting his son twice in the chest.

In a very odd move, Marvin Sr. then walked downstairs, opened the front door, tossed the gun onto the lawn, sat on the porch, and waited for the police to arrive. There is a conflicting report making the rounds online that Marvin Sr.’s wife, Alberta Gay, was the one who actually threw the gun onto the lawn from an upstairs window. I am unsure which version of the story is true, but, either way, when the police did arrive, Marvin Sr. was waiting for them on the porch. He was arrested and later charged with murder. Marvin Jr. was taken to California Hospital Medical Center (located at 1401 South Grand Avenue), where he was pronounced dead at 1:01 p.m. – one day before his 45th birthday.

Due to the fact that he had suffered massive bruising from the altercation with his son, Marvin Sr. was allowed to plead no-contest to voluntary manslaughter and received only five years probation for the crime. Alberta moved out of the house during the trial and subsequently sued her husband for divorce. She passed away in 1987. That same year, Marvin Jr.’s sisters deeded the property to the Marvin P. Gaye Jr. Memorial Foundation, which wound up selling it to new owners in 1988. And while Wikipedia states that Marvin Sr. lived at the West Adams residence for a time briefly following his trial, I am not sure if that information is correct.

Marvin Gaye’s former home boasts 5 bedrooms, 2 baths, 5,352 square feet, and a 0.48-acre plot of land. The front door happened to be open while we were stalking the place, so we got a tiny peek at the interior.

The property also boasts a huge detached two-car garage with an upstairs guest house that Marvin Jr.’s brother Frankie and his wife, Irene, lived in at the time of the killing.

Fellow stalker Scott Michaels, from the FindADeath website, did a fabulous write-up on Marvin’s killing and also posted a photograph of the home taken shortly afterwards in which you can see that it still looks EXACTLY the same today as it did in 1984. Aside from a change in the trim’s paint color and a different style of fence, the residence is pretty much identical to its 1984 self. Absolutely amazing! You can check out another 1984 photograph of the house here. And while a January 1998 Los Angeles Magazine article stated that devoted fans still showed up to the residence annually on Marvin Jr.’s birthday to hold candlelight vigils for the fallen singer, I am unsure if those vigils still take place to this day.

You can check out a video that Scott Michaels took inside of the home by clicking below.

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for telling me about this location. Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The home where Marvin Gaye was killed is located at 2101 South Gramercy Place in the West Adams District of Los Angeles.

October 11, 2012September 29, 2017

The Thomas W. Phillips Residence from “The People Under the Stairs”

In his comment on my Milbank Mansion post, fellow stalker David, from The Location Scout blog, also informed me that directly across the street from the Beckett house (which I blogged about yesterday) was another famous movie location – the Thomas W. Phillips residence, which was featured extensively in The People Under the Stairs. And even though I had never seen the 1991 horror flick, since we were right there and since I was gearing up for my annual Haunted Hollywood postings, I figured I might as well stalk the place. And I am so glad that I did, because its façade is seriously sinister. The residence looks like a real life haunted house and it is not hard to see why Wes Craven chose to feature it in The People Under the Stairs.

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The Thomas W. Phillips residence was constructed in 1905 by the architecture team of Sumner B. Hunt & Abraham Wesley Eager. Hunt was also responsible for designing The Ebell of Los Angeles (an oft-filmed at locale that I have yet to blog about) and the Southwest Museum of the American Indian in Mt. Washington. Thomas W. Phillips, who had commissioned the construction of the three-story Craftsman-style abode, was one of the original founding residents of L.A. You can check out a photograph of the dwelling from its early days here. As you can see, not much has changed in the 107 years since it was built. Love it!

In real life, the massive abode, which was deemed a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1991, boasts 8 bedrooms, 4 baths, a whopping 7,707 square feet of living space, and a 0.40-acre plot of land. Besides being a filming location, according to a February 1999 Los Angeles Times article, the residence also belonged to actress Butterfly McQueen (aka Scarlett O’Hara’s maid in Gone with the Wind) at one point in time.

The Thomas W. Phillips residence was used quite extensively in The People Under the Stairs as the home where Man (Everett McGill), Woman (Wendy Robie) and Alice (A.J. Langer) – and, of course, the people under the stairs – lived.

In the movie, the residence was said to be the Robeson Funeral Home, which was established in 1896.

All of the interior house scenes were filmed on a studio lot, though, and not inside of the actual Thomas W. Phillips residence, which you can see some photographs of here. And yes, the dwelling does have a very large – and very spooky – basement in real life, much like its onscreen counterpart.

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Thanks to The Official Halloween Message Board, I learned that the kitchen of the Thomas W. Phillips residence stood in for the Myers’ kitchen in Rob Zombie’s 2007 Halloween re-boot. Unfortunately, I could not find any great photographs of the real life kitchen online, but you can sort of see it here and here.

The Thomas W. Phillips residence also appeared in the background of both the Season 2 episode of Lie to Me titled “Darkness and Light” . . .

. . . and the Season 3 episode of Brothers and Sisters titled “Going Once . . . Going Twice.”

The abode also popped up in 1989’s The Immortalizer and 2000’s The Convent. And while I could not find copies of either of those movies with which to make screen captures for this post, you can see some on The Location Scout blog here. And while IMDB states that the house was also used in the 1998 video Witchcraft, I could not find a copy of the production with which to verify that information.

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my latest post, about one of the best salads I’ve ever had in my life, on my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

Big THANK YOU to David, from The Location Scout blog, for telling me about this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Thomas W. Phillips residence, aka The People Under the Stairs house, is located at 2215 South Harvard Boulevard in the West Adams District of Los Angeles.