Shooters Bar & Grill from “Melrose Place”

P1040233

One location that had been on my “To Stalk” list pretty much ever since I first moved to Southern California over twelve years ago was Fellini’s “Old Country” Italian restaurant – the Hollywood-area eatery that stood in for Shooters Bar & Grill on the 1992 Beverly Hills, 90210-spinoff Melrose Place.  And while I was never a huge fan of the series (I think I was a bit too young for it as most of the storylines went right over my head), I did watch the entire first season and the pool hall/bar where the characters regularly hung out was a place that I had always wanted to see in person.  For whatever reason, though, I had just never made it out there.  So, while Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I were out doing some stalking in the Hollywood area two weeks ago, I suggested that we stop by.  Sadly, this was a bit of a disappointing stalk for both of us, though, as the site has changed drastically since filming took place and is virtually unrecognizable from its weekly onscreen appearances as Shooters on Melrose Place.

P1040228 P1040229

P1040226 P1040225

Unfortunately, I could not find much information online about the history of Fellini’s, which is surprising being that the establishment seemed to be something of a Hollywood landmark and was around for almost two full decades.  According to this December 1987 Los Angeles Times article, Fellini’s, which was named in honor of the legendary Italian film director Federico Fellini, was founded in 1976 by a man named Gary Michael Gilson.  The portion of the building that stood in for Shooters was not actually a part of the original restaurant, but was added in 1982 when Gilson decided to expand into a vacant former antique shop located next door.  During its heyday, such stars as Bonnie Raitt and Dennis Quaid were said to not only have hung out there, but were even known to jump up on the eatery’s tiny stage and sing a few tunes from time to time.  Fellini’s ended up shutting its doors sometime in the late ‘80s, at which point it was transformed into a short-lived nightclub named Trinity that closed after less than a year.  The establishment was then purchased by new owners and was reopened once again as Fellini’s, but not until 1993, so it seems that at the time Melrose Place was first filmed, the site was vacant.  I am not sure when Fellini’s officially closed for the second time, but in mid-2010 the place housed a furniture store, as you can see in these photographs on the Daveland blog here.  The storefront, which has since been painted a drab blue-grey color, currently houses MUSE Atelier hair salon.

[ad]

ScreenShot4462 ScreenShot4468

ScreenShot4453 ScreenShot4469

The exterior of Fellini’s showed up weekly on Melrose Place throughout the series’ seven-season run.  You can check out some pictures of what Fellini’s used to look like when it was still in business here and a close-up of its doors here.  As you can see in the photographs, not much was changed for the filming of Melrose Place.  Sadly, that is not the case today.  Gone are the familiar black awning, peach-colored paint, and arched double windows.  Today, the storefront is a bleak reminder of its former self.  As Mike said to me while we there, “This place looks like a morgue!”  LOL  Why the new owners would take a formerly very cute façade – not to mention a historic filming location – and turn it into something dismal is beyond me.

Shooters - Melrose Place - windows Shooters - Melrose Place - windows - 2

While we were there, Mike did notice that some markings from the former arched double windows were still visible on the exterior of the building.  I SO love when there is some remnant, no matter how small, still in existence on filming locations that have been drastically altered.  So incredibly cool!

ScreenShot4444 ScreenShot4445

ScreenShot4465 ScreenShot4466

While scanning through episodes of Melrose Place to make screen captures for today’s post, I noticed that something was not quite right about the close-up shots of Shooters’ front doors, and I came to the conclusion that a set of the entrance area had been created for all of the close-up filming.

Shooters - pop out wall ScreenShot4468

As you can see in the above screen captures, the wall just to the left of the Shooters’ awning is popped out in the close-up view, but not in the faraway shot.

Shooters windows Melrose Place Shooters - Melrose Place - windows 3

And in the close-up shot, the window to the left of the awning has no ornamentation surrounding it, but in the faraway shot it does.

P1040231

Being that, in real life, the façade of the building is flat and does have ornamentation surrounding its side window, the only explanation is that a replica of the entrance was created on a soundstage at Santa Clarita Studios in Valencia where the series was lensed for all of the close-up shots.  (You can see a pretty cool picture of the original Melrose Place apartment set on the Santa Clarita Studios website here.)

ScreenShot4449 ScreenShot4464

ScreenShot4463 ScreenShot4467

The interior of Shooters was also just a set and, from what I read online, it did not at all resemble the dark wood-paneled, Old World-style of the real life Fellini’s.  Oh, what I wouldn’t give to have been able to have seen that place in person!

ScreenShot4460 ScreenShot4461

ScreenShot4458 ScreenShot4459

And while Fellini’s was used almost entirely for establishing shots on Melrose Place, some actual filming did take place there.  In the pilot episode of the series, Jake Hanson (Grant Show) takes Kelly Taylor (Jennie Garth) on a date at Shooters and the two are shown pulling up to the front of the restaurant on Jake’s motorcycle.

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for taking me to this location.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: The former Fellini’s restaurant (now MUSE Atelier salon), aka Shooters Bar & Grill from the original Melrose Place, is located at 6808/6810 Melrose Avenue, just west of North Highland Avenue, in Hollywood.

The Alleyway and The Blue Banana Club from “Pretty Woman”

P1030200

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago in my post about the Pretty Woman party house, fellow stalker Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I have recently been on the hunt for a few of the flick’s more elusive locations – the two most important of which being the alleyway where the body of “Skinny Marie” was found and, across the street from it, The Blue Banana Club where Vivian Ward (Julia Roberts) and Kit De Luca (Laura San Giacomo) hung out in the film.  And, amazingly enough, Mike was able to track down both locales in a relatively short period of time – as were fellow stalkers E.J., from The Movieland Directory website, and Scott Michaels, from the Findadeath website, whom I also enlisted in the hunt.  So, while out doing some stalking in the Hollywood area three weekends ago, I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on over to stalk both spots.

[ad]

ScreenShot3633 ScreenShot3628

ScreenShot3629 ScreenShot3630

ScreenShot3634 ScreenShot3631

In one of Pretty Woman’s opening scenes, Vivian is shown walking through an alleyway where the dead body of a fellow prostitute named Skinny Marie has just been pulled out of a garbage dumpster.

Pretty Woman - Alleyway 1 Pretty Woman - Alleyway 2

While watching the scene, Mike happened to recognize the unique roofline of the historic Miceli’s Restaurant in the background behind a very young Hank Azaria, who played the role of a nameless homicide detective who laments about tourists taking photographs of Skinny Marie’s body in the flick.  From there, Mike simply used Google Street View to look for an alley in the area half a block west and on the opposite side of the street from Miceli’s.  And voila, it was not long before he found the right spot!  Yay!

P1030210 P1030211

P1030202 P1030199

As it turns out, though, the Pretty Woman alleyway is not actually an alleyway at all, as we had originally thought, but the main lobby of The Outpost Building – a Spanish-Colonial-style structure that was commissioned by a Mr. and Mrs. B.C. Donnelly and designed by architect B.B. Horner in 1927.  The historic property, which was fashioned after stores in Madrid, Spain, was originally comprised of apartment units that became home to countless aspiring starlets during the Hollywood heyday, but today is made up solely of offices and retail space.

P1030197 P1030198

Sadly, the building was closed when we showed up to stalk it, but I did manage to snap the above photographs through the glass front doors.  As you can see, the “alley” still looks exactly the same today as it did in Pretty Woman, despite the fact that over twenty-two years have since passed!  Even the shoe shine stand that Vivian walked by is still there!  LOVE IT!

ScreenShot3645 ScreenShot3646

ScreenShot3654 ScreenShot3648

Amazingly enough, when I showed Mike the photographs I had taken of the lobby of The Outpost Building, he immediately recognized the place as the “Celebrity Apartments” where Tom Turner (Greg Kinnear) lived in the 1996 comedy Dear God. Both the exterior of the property . . .

ScreenShot3649 ScreenShot3650

ScreenShot3651 ScreenShot3652

. . . and the lobby area were used in the flick.  In an interesting twist, Dear God was directed by none other than Garry Marshall, the very same man who also directed Pretty Woman.  I guess the guy just has a thing for The Outpost Building!

ScreenShot3656 ScreenShot3657

ScreenShot3658 ScreenShot3660

Thanks to the Lenrek website, I also discovered that in the 1984 cult classic Angel, high school student/prostitute Molly “Angel” Stewart (Donna Wilkes) walked from the rear entrance of The Outpost Building, through the lobby and out the front door while on the search for a serial killer.

P1030201 P1030205

Interestingly enough, according to the GPSMyCity website, The Outpost Building also has a connection to novelist Raymond Chandler.  In his 1939 mystery The Big Sleep, Chandler describes Geiger’s Rare Books and Deluxe Editions as follows: “A. G. Geiger’s place was a store frontage on the north side of the boulevard near Las Palmas.  The entrance door was set far back in the middle and there was a copper trim on the windows, which were backed with Chinese screens, so I couldn’t see into the store.  There was a lot of oriental junk in the windows.  I don’t know whether it was any good, not being a collector of antiques, except unpaid bills.  The entrance door was plate glass, but I couldn’t see much through that either, because the store was very dim.  A building entrance adjoined it on one side and on the other was a glittering credit jewelry establishment.”  Apparently, numerous Chandler aficionados believe that that description was inspired by none other than The Outpost Building.  So incredibly cool!

ScreenShot3635 ScreenShot3636

ScreenShot3643 ScreenShot3644

Once Mike had located The Outpost Building, tracking down The Blue Banana Club was a snap, since in the movie it was shown to be situated directly across the street from the alleyway where Skinny Marie’s body was found.

ScreenShot3661 ScreenShot3662

Shockingly enough, The Blue Banana Club was actually a part of the historic Egyptian Theatre!  At the time that the movie was filmed, the property belonged to the United Artists Corporation and it looked considerably different than it does today, but you can see pictures of the place in its Pretty Woman state on The Bruce Torrence Hollywood Photograph Collection website here and here, and on the Gorillas Don’t Blog website here.  Ironically enough, a few minutes after Mike had texted me to let me know that The Blue Banana was actually the Egyptian Theatre, I received an email from both E.J. and Scott telling me the exact same thing.  Great minds . . .

P1030194 P1030195

P1030196 P1030213

Today, the storefront that stood in for The Blue Banana houses the newly-opened Maui and Sons Bar & Grill.  I am, unfortunately, unsure of what was in that location at the time of the filming, but back in the 1930s through the 1950s it housed the Larry Dine men’s clothing store and, in more recent years, it was the site of a Lickity Split ice cream shop.

ScreenShot3637 ScreenShot3638

ScreenShot3641 ScreenShot3642

In his commentary on the Pretty Woman 15th Anniversary Special Edition DVD, Garry Marshall states that, while set dressers had created a fake exterior for the outside of The Blue Banana Club, the interior scenes were filmed at an actual club located somewhere in Hollywood.  Sadly though, as of yet, we have been unable to track down that location.

Pretty Woman - The Blue Banana

The interior looks like it might have been some sort of historic building, though, as it features some fairly ornate detailing, as you can see in the above screen capture.

ScreenShot3664

On a side-note – My good friend Katie, from the Matthew Lillard Online website, is hosting a contest today to win two tickets to the Hollywood Rush show, in which the cutie actor will be directing a ten-minute play, taking place this Sunday night at 7 p.m. at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in L.A.  You can enter the contest on Matthew Lillard Online or on twitter at @mattlillardfans.

P1030204 P1030212

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalkers Mike, from MovieShotsLA, E.J., from The Movieland Directory, and Scott, from Findadeath, for finding these locations!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: The Pretty Woman alleyway is actually the lobby of The Outpost Building, which is located at 6715 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood.  You can visit the property’s official website here.  Maui and Sons Bar & Grill, aka the exterior of The Blue Banana Club from Pretty Woman, is located across the street at 6708 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood.  You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.

The Redbury Hotel from “Entourage”

P1030247

Last July, while doing some cyber-stalking, I came across an article on the USA TODAY Travel website about the numerous Southern California hotels and restaurants featured in the eighth and final season of the hit television series Entourage.  One of the spots mentioned in the blurb was Tinseltown’s newly-opened The Redbury Hotel, which appeared in the episode titled “The Big Bang”, and, thanks to its dark crimson walls, unique architecture and old Hollywood vibe, I immediately became enamored of the place.  I, of course, added the locale to my “To-Stalk” list right then and there, but, for whatever reason, did not make it out there to actually do so until three weekends ago.

P1030249

And I am very happy to report that the place did not disappoint!  To say that I am in love with The Redbury would be a gross understatement.  The 57-room boutique hotel, which first opened in November of 2010, was the brainchild of sbe Entertainment Group founder/CEO Sam Nazarian and photographer/music video director Matthew Rolston.  The 5-story structure was originally conceived as a high-end, $50 million condominium project by the Palisades Development company, but that venture was forced to be scrapped during the real estate downturn.  In February of 2010, at which time the building was about 80-percent complete, it was purchased by the CIM Group, who re-envisioned the locale as an upscale hotel and hired Nazarian and Rolston to manage and design it, respectively.

P1030246 P1030237

P1030236 P1030229

The name Redbury comes from a combination of “red”, the hue that Palisades Development had already painted the building, and “bury”, in honor of San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district.  According to an August 2010 Los Angeles Times article, the hotel’s eclectic style is a mix of “bohemian, 1960s flower power and old Hollywood”.  Apparently, Rolston wanted the locale to feel “’theatrical’, a little bit like actually being in one of my photographs or music videos”.  And, as you can see above, he succeeded with that vision – in spades!  The Redbury is honestly like nothing I have ever seen before and absolutely does feel like a movie set come to life.  I so loved it that I was even tempted to book a room while we were there for a spontaneous little stay-cation, but the Grim Cheaper was, of course, having none of that.

P1030235 P1030232

P1030233 P1030234

The Redbury staff was BEYOND friendly and, even though none of the hotel’s restaurants were open while we were stalking the place, I was allowed to go inside to take a peek at each of them and told that I could snap “all of the photographs you want” – six little words that I absolutely LOVE to hear.  The areas of the hotel that we visited included the Library Bar – which honestly feels more like the ultra-cozy living room of a very stylish friend’s house than a public bar;

P1030230 P1030231

The Glade courtyard lounge – a huge terrace garden complete with teak decking, Moorish-style lanterns and outdoor couches and daybeds;

P1030245P1030243

P1030239 P1030238

P1030240 P1030241

and Cleo – an ultra-hip Middle-Eastern-style restaurant that is dominated by a large 1917 movie poster of actress Theda Bara dressed as Cleopatra.  The Library Bar, Glade and Cleo are all major celebrity hotspots.  Just a few of the stars who have been spotted at the one of the three watering holes include my girl Kristin Cavallari, my man Matt Lanter (sigh!), Drew Barrymore, Matthew Lillard, Jamie Foxx, Hilary Duff, Joe Jonas, Ashley Greene, Audrina Patridge, Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere, Sam Trammell, the entire Kardashian/Jenner family, Courteney Cox, Josh Hopkins, Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, Adam Brody, Neve Campbell, Carla Gugino, Nia Vardalos, Jesse Williams, Lauren Conrad, Lo Bosworth, Whitney Port, Busy Phillips, Stacey Keibler, David Beckham, Kirstie Alley, Cheryl Burke, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Jessica Lowndes, Gillian Zinser, Sarah Hyland, Salma Hayek, Mila Kunis, and Ali Fedotowsky.

[ad]

ScreenShot3609 ScreenShot3610

ScreenShot3611 ScreenShot3612

In “The Big Bang” episode of Entourage, Cleo restaurant was where Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) ambushed Vanity Fair reporter Sophia Lear (Alice Eve) and tried to convince her that he was not a womanizer.  And while the USA TODAY Travel article stated that the series had filmed scenes “throughout the hotel, including its Library lounge”, I did not spot any other areas of the property in “The Big Bang” or in other episodes from Season 8, so I believe that information is incorrect.

P1030248

The yet-to-be released movie Between Us, which stars Julia Stiles, Melissa George and Taye Diggs, also did some filming at The Redbury.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: The Redbury Hotel, from “The Big Bang” episode of Entourage, is located at 1717 Vine Street in Hollywood.  You can visit the hotel’s official website here.

Lucky Strike Lanes in Hollywood

P1070162

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

P1070163 P1070161

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

ScreenShot456 P1070160

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

P1070158 P1070159

P1070165 P1070166

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

[ad]

ScreenShot449 ScreenShot454

ScreenShot453 ScreenShot452

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

ScreenShot480 ScreenShot482

ScreenShot484 ScreenShot481

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

ScreenShot457 ScreenShot458

ScreenShot459 ScreenShot460

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

ScreenShot462 ScreenShot467

ScreenShot464 ScreenShot466

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

ScreenShot485 ScreenShot487

ScreenShot488 ScreenShot486

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

ScreenShot473 ScreenShot474

ScreenShot478 ScreenShot479

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

ScreenShot468 ScreenShot470

ScreenShot471 ScreenShot472

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

IMG_1402

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

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

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

Boardner’s of Hollywood from “Beverly Hills, 90210”

 IMG_3931

Another destination included on the Grim Cheaper’s Valentine’s Day scavenger hunt was Boardner’s of Hollywood, a historic bar which was recommended to me by fellow stalker John who lives in the Bay Area.  John had emailed me quite a few months back to let me know that the legendary watering hole had been featured in countless productions over the years, including my fave show Beverly Hills, 90210, and that it was a very cool place to hang out.  So, because the GC loves anyplace with a history, I decided to add the bar to his hunt and we headed out there to grab a cocktail this past Saturday evening.

[ad]

IMG_3942

The space which now houses Boardner’s was first opened in the 1930’s by legendary singer Gene Austin in a Moorish-style, L-shaped building designed by architect Norman Alpaugh and was known at the time as the “My Blue Heaven” night club.  After Austin sold the watering hole, it went through several different incarnations, including a restaurant named Padres and a gay bar named Cherokee House, until January of 1944 when a young man named Steve Boardner purchased the place and renamed it Boardner’s.  Boardner’s became an immediate success with the Hollywood crowd and such luminaries as Errol Flynn, W.C. Fields, Walter E. Scott (aka “Death Valley Scotty”), Elizabeth Short (aka “The Black Dahlia”), Robert Mitchum, Mickey Cohen, Jack Dragna, Andy Griffith, Donald Sutherland, Ed Wood, Jimmy Stewart, George Burns, Mickey Mantle, and Joe DiMaggio all hung out there.  Steve remained the proprietor of Boardner’s for just over three decades, until 1980, when he retired to Palm Springs and sold his beloved bar to a man named Dave Hadley. Sadly, the place was completely remodeled with an Art Deco-theme in March of 2006 and, despite being known as “one of the oldest bars in Hollywood”, does not look anything like it did back in the heyday of Tinseltown.

IMG_3941 IMG_3933

IMG_3934 IMG_3944

  Don’t get me wrong – Boardner’s is still a VERY cool place to hang out and the food is absolutely FABULOUS (especially the crab cakes!), but it would be an even cooler place to hang out if it had retained its historic interior.  As I have mentioned a few times before on this blog, I am not big on change, especially when said change involves altering a filming location in some way!  Sigh!  Boardner’s has remained popular with the Hollywood set despite the remodel, though, and just a few of the celebs who have been spotted there in more recent years include Drew Barrymore, Holly Madison, Hugh Hefner, Bridget Marquardt, Kendra Wilkinson, Nicole Kidman, Slash, Axl Rose, Courtney Love, Scott Wolfe, Piper Perabo, Rose McGowan, Fran Dresher, Jason Patric, Tommy Lee, John Lennon, Ben Affleck, Paul Bettany, Jake Gyllenhaal, Vince Vaughn, Keifer Sutherland, Heath Ledger, Bela Lugosi Jr., Jared Leto, Tim McGraw, Lee Majors, Miley Cyrus, and Pete Wentz.

IMG_3936

The back of the bar boasts a super-cute little hearth area, complete with a plush couch, a coffee table, and board games.  So adorable!

IMG_3937 IMG_3938

And, each Saturday night, Boardner’s Moroccan-tiled back patio area . . .

IMG_3939 IMG_3940

. . . and its private events space, which is named the Casablanca Room, are transformed into an extremely popular gothic-themed nightclub known as Bar Sinister.  The Casablanca Room has also become a popular wrap party venue over the years.

ScreenCap468 ScreenCap469

ScreenCap471 ScreenCap473

While stalking Boardner’s, I asked the bartender if she happened to know which episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 had been filmed on the premises, but, unfortunately, because she did not work there at the time, she was not sure.  And because I only watched the first four seasons of the series, before the characters were of drinking age, I was absolutely stumped on this one.  So, I called on Geoff, from the 90210locations website, who pretty much immediately figured out that Boardner’s had been used in the Season 9 episode of the series titled “That’s the Guy”, as the spot where Dylan McKay (aka Luke Perry) sought out information about the man who raped Kelly Taylor (aka Jennie Garth).

ScreenCap466

The establishing shot of the bar which appeared in that episode was filmed at another location altogether, though, and looks nothing like the actual exterior of Boardner’s.

ScreenCap484 ScreenCap485

ScreenCap486 ScreenCap488

Boardner’s also popped up in 1994’s Ed Wood, as the spot where fledgling film director Ed Wood (aka Johnny Depp) grabbed a drink just before meeting Bela Lugosi (aka Martin Landau) for the first time.  Interestingly enough, the real Ed Wood had been a regular at Boardner’s throughout most of his lifetime, which is most likely how the bar ended up being chosen as a filming location for the flick.

ScreenCap455 ScreenCap459

ScreenCap460 ScreenCap458

Boardner’s was also the spot where Dudley Smith (aka James Cromwell) met up with Bud White (aka Russell Crowe) in order to return his badge and his gun towards the beginning of 1997’s L.A. Confidential.

ScreenCap491 ScreenCap494

ScreenCap492 ScreenCap493

The exterior of Boardner’s was also used very briefly as the exterior of a cowboy-themed gay bar that Mick Dundee (aka Paul Hogan) and Jacko (aka Alec Wilson) attempt to visit in 2001’s Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles.

 ScreenCap478 ScreenCap477

ScreenCap481 ScreenCap483

In the 2003 movie Hollywood Homicide, Boardner’s was the regular hangout of Sergeant Joe Gavilan (aka Harrison Ford) and Detective K.C. Calden (aka Josh Harnett).  Boardner’s has also appeared in the movie Up Close & Personal and in episodes of the television series Alias, Numb3rs, and Cold Case.  Supposedly, Boardner’s was also featured in 1995’s Leaving Las Vegas and in 1997’s Wag the Dog, but I scanned through both of those movies earlier today while writing this post and did not spot the bar in either one.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker John for recommending this location to me and to Geoff, from the 90210locations website, for figuring out which episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 it appeared in!  Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: Boardner’s of Hollywood, from Beverly Hills, 90210, is located at 1652 North Cherokee Avenue in Hollywood.  You can visit the bar’s official website here.