Hollywood Hills – IAMNOTASTALKER

June 8, 2020June 7, 2020

Alicia Kent’s House from “Bosch”

I’m just gonna say it – Bosch is straight-up real estate porn! There isn’t one residence that has been featured on the long-running Amazon police procedural that I wouldn’t want to live in! The striking cantilevered cliffside abode belonging to Harry (Titus Welliver), Chief Irving’s (Lance Reddick) charming Spanish dwelling, and, in the latest season, the sleek mid-century modern home of (spoiler!) victim-turned-suspect Alicia Kent (Lynn Collins). They are all perfection! One look at the latter’s massive wooden double front doors, tiered front steps, and cement siding, and I was smitten! So I set out to find it.

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A “2647” address number was visible on the curb in front of the house in the Season 6 premiere, titled “The Overlook.”

And thanks to a view of the backyard shown in episode 4, “Part of the Deal,” I knew the pad was situated in the Hollywood Hills just below the Hollywood Sign. So I started searching 2600 blocks in that area and quickly came across Alicia’s home at 2641 Lake Hollywood Drive. As it turns out, the last digit of the address was changed from a “1 “to a “7” for the Bosch shoot. Nice try, producers, but you have to wake up pretty early in the morning to fool me!

In real life, the striking property boasts 5 bedrooms, 4 baths, 2,997 square feet of living space, an entrance atrium, floor-to-ceiling glass sliders, a media room, a fireplace, a maid’s room with a bath, a 0.43-acre lot, a large pool, a spa, and sweeping views of the Lake Hollywood Reservoir, Palos Verdes and downtown L.A. You can check out some MLS photos of the interior from when it last sold in 2010 here.

Per building permits, both the interior and exterior of the 1965 pad were extensively remodeled in 2012.

The property’s original façade is pictured in the top Google Street View image below.

Though dated, the place was pretty spectacular even then!

But today it is downright stunning!

Harry initially visits the house in “The Overlook” while performing an emergency welfare check on Alicia, the wife of a medical physicist whose murdered body has just been discovered.

The pad goes on to appear in several additional episodes of Season 6.

Bosch captured the home and all of its mid-century glory beautifully.

The place’s actual interior is also utilized on the show. As you can see in the images below as compared to the 2010 MLS photos, the inside looks quite a bit different today than it did when the property last sold.

The incredible backyard is featured on Bosch, as well, and is, in my opinion, the showpiece of the entire house.

On a stalking side-note – My friend Shaun recently started a filming locations/pop culture landmarks/historical sites blog named All About Los Angeles. I’ve long been a fan of his Instagram account and his photogenic way of showcasing the city’s many highlights. Thanks to his unique interests, he has even managed to introduce me to countless new-to-me spots, which is saying a lot considering I’ve been at this crazy hobby a long time. You can check out his new site here!

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: Alicia Kent’s house from Bosch is located at 2641 Lake Hollywood Drive in the Hollywood Hills.

November 14, 2018November 13, 2018

Krotona Apartments

I have always maintained that I am an equal opportunity stalker. It is not just filming locations that enthrall me, but pop culture landmarks, historical sites, and architectural curiosities. In fact, the curiouser the better. So when I came across a grouping of grandiose Moorish-style structures dotted throughout a small section of the Hollywood Hills while searching for the Swingers party house, my interest was immediately piqued. I headed over to Google and soon discovered that the properties were initially constructed as part of the Krotona Colony, a compound built in the early 1900s by the Theosophical Society religious sect. At the center of the sprawling onetime commune is the former Krotona Inn, a massive complex that originally served as the group’s national headquarters, but today is a bohemian apartment complex. It should come as no surprise that to the top of my To-Stalk List the site, now known as Krotona Apartments, went.

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The rambling Krotona Colony was the brainchild of Theosophical Society follower Albert Powell Warrington who desired to build a U.S. headquarters for the India-based group. He won approval for the project from the organization’s then leader, Annie Besant, and in 1912 purchased ten acres of land in the Hollywood Hills. Of the bucolic locale, he told Besant, “The trolley comes within one long block of our site . . . one can be in the business center of the city in 30 minutes. On the other hand, twenty minutes walk up the canyon will put one entirely outside all building improvements, and tucked in between charmingly wild canyons, one is as if in the wildest and most far-off mountain retreat. I have never known such an extraordinary combination of favorable conditions . . . We can make the spot a veritable Garden of Eden.” He derived the name of his oasis from Crotone, the Italian city where mathematician Pythagoras lived and studied.

Several Victorian-style buildings were already standing on the land at the time that Warrington purchased it and the Theosophical Society members set up shop in them before eventually adding more structures, all with Moorish influences.

The “heart of the commune,” as described by Curbed Los Angeles, was the Krotona Inn, an idyllic stucco complex designed by the Mead and Requa architecture firm in 1912 that boasted a central courtyard with a lotus pond, meandering pathways, a communal dining room, a kitchen, a cafeteria that served solely vegetarian dishes (natch), offices, lecture spaces, dormitories, a rooftop terrace, patios, and a large domed meditation venue known as the Esoteric Room. Two years after the property’s completion, architects Arthur and Alfred Heineman were commissioned to build a 350-seat auditorium directly next door that became known as the Grand Temple of the Rosy Cross. You can see what the two structures looked like in their early days here.

Many of the Theosophical Society’s wealthier members erected private Moorish-themed residences for themselves on the streets surrounding the Colony, ultimately creating a fantastical conglomerate of mystical architecture. The vast majority of the properties, amazingly, still stand.

Despite Krotona Colony’s idealized nature, the Theosophical Society did not remain there for long. In 1924, the group left Los Angeles behind and migrated to Ojai. Following their departure, the Krotona Inn was sold to actor/writer Rupert Julian and his wife, Elsie, who made it their primary residence. You can see some photographs from their time on the premises here. When Rupert passed away in 1943, Elsie moved to a smaller house nearby, at which point her former estate was converted to apartments.

Today, the complex, which was purchased by real estate investor Mayer Moizel in the 1990s, boasts 17 units, a pool, a large parking lot, several courtyards, and an on-site laundry facility. The former Esoteric Room meditation space now serves as a one-room studio apartment, which you can see photos of here.

While we were stalking Krotona Apartments, the friend of a resident happened to stroll outside to smoke a cigarette, struck up a conversation with us, and ultimately invited us into the courtyard for a closer look!

The property could not be more picturesque, with canopied trees, colorful plants, flowering blooms, and sparkling fountains dotting every square inch.

Not surprisingly, celebrities have long been attracted to the place. Per a 2011 Los Angeles Times article, both Jimi Hendrix Experience bassist Noel Redding and Evil Dead II screenwriter Scott Spiegel lived there at different points in time. Quentin Tarantino has even called the place home, crashing on Spiegel’s couch for nine months before selling his first script.

That first script just happened to be for True Romance, which, according to the same Los Angeles Times article, did some filming at Krotona. Supposedly, one of the building’s second-floor units portrayed Dick Ritchie (Michael Rapaport) and Floyd’s (Brad Pitt) apartment in the 1993 drama. Because only a small portion of the space can be seen in the flick and there is a lack of interior photos of the complex available online, I cannot say with any certainty whether or not that information is correct, though.

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: Krotona Apartments, aka the former Krotona Inn, is located at 2130 Vista Del Mar Avenue in the Hollywood Hills. The party house from Swingers can be found right around the corner at 6161 Temple Hill Drive.

October 17, 2018October 16, 2019

Ray Raymond and Dorothy MacKaye’s Former House

I have been told that I am ridiculously easy to buy presents for. Anything pink or sparkly, dainty and gold, or having to do with Los Angeles automatically fits the bill. Some gifts are so perfectly suited to me when it comes to the latter category, in fact, that I have received them on multiple occasions. Case in point – The Mammoth Book of Hollywood Scandals, a 514-page tome dedicated to Tinseltown’s most famous crimes, which my mom originally bought me for Christmas in 2013. When the Grim Cheaper came across the publication a few years later while perusing the stacks at our local Barnes & Noble, he snatched it right up and gave it to me the following Christmas, not realizing that my mom had already done so. Both copies remain on my bookshelf today, heavily highlighted, dog-eared and annotated. Chapter 5, titled “The ‘Almost Perfect’ Murder,” about the 1927 killing of Ray Raymond at the hands of his wife’s lover, especially piqued my interest. Prior to reading it, I had never heard of the actor or his homicide, but I devoured the story in minutes, promptly added the address of his former home to my To-Stalk List, and finally made it out there last month while prepping for my Haunted Hollywood posts.

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Ray Raymond was born in San Francisco in 1887. Described as a “song and dance man,” he found success on the vaudeville circuit early in life. While acting in a play in New York in 1921, Ray’s eye was caught by his much younger leading lady, Dorothy ‘Dot’ MacKaye (also sometimes written as “Mackaye”), and, despite a 12-year age gap – he was 34, she was 22 – and the fact that he was already married, he quickly took up with her, ditching his wife in the process. Ray and Dot reportedly wedded that August (though it has been claimed the two never actually tied the knot) and a baby girl the couple named Valerie was born the following year. In 1926, the family of three moved to Los Angeles, eventually settling into a small bungalow located at 2261 Cheremoya Avenue in the Hollywood Hills.

Their 3-bedroom, 2-bath, 1,622-square-foot home, which was originally built in 1922, still stands today boasting a 0.16-acre lot and a detached 2-car garage, which is just visible in the images below.

The quaint dwelling, largely hidden from the road, was not the site of many happy times for Ray and Dot. Not only did Ray reportedly have a major drinking problem, but he spent most of his time touring the country playing vaudeville shows. And Dot . . . well, Dot was in love with someone else.

During Raymond’s time away, MacKaye rekindled her longtime friendship with so-called “tough guy” actor Paul Kelly, whom she had met as a teenager while acting in a play in New York. Born in 1899, Kelly was a true child star having appeared in more than 55 movies before he even turned 18. The red-haired looker moved to Los Angeles around the same time as Dot and Ray and settled into an apartment conveniently located right around the corner from their home at 2420 North Gower Street. It was not long before the two were engaged in a torrid affair, of which neither took great pains to hide. As Dot’s maid later testified, when Raymond was touring, the young mom often did not come home at night, instead choosing to stay over at Paul’s. Newspapers of the day also reported that the couple regularly asked Kelly’s “Japanese houseboy” Jungle to serve them meals and gin fizzes, their apparent drink of choice, in bed.

Ray returned from touring in mid-April 1927 distraught over the affair. He confronted Dot about it and she did little to deny things. Ray also mentioned his wife’s indiscretion to friends, which apparently set Paul over the edge. On the evening of April 16th, under the pretense of going out to buy Easter eggs (I’m not making that up), Dot headed to Paul’s place where the two got drunk on gin fizzes (natch). She told her lover that Ray had been spilling the tea to his buddies and Paul, inexplicably enraged, called Ray to confront him. Raymond suggested that Kelly come to the Cheremoya house to talk in person and, at around 7:30 p.m., Paul headed over. Upon arriving, Ray demanded to know where Dot was. An argument ensued and things rather quickly turned physical, but the 5’7”, 135-pound Raymond was no match for the 6’, 180-pound Kelly, who was 12 years his junior. Paul pummeled Ray, punching him six times in the head and the actor collapsed to the floor. Ray’s housekeeper and daughter witnessed the entire altercation.

Though Ray appeared to be OK in the hours following the fight, he fell into a coma the next day. Dot, hoping to avoid publicity and questioning from authorities, called in a favor from a doctor who was a personal friend and her husband was quietly transported to Queen of Angels Hospital (now Dream Center) at 2301 Bellevue Avenue in Echo Park. The damage had been done, though. Raymond passed away at 5:20 a.m. on April 19th. After being slipped $500, Dot’s doctor friend signed off on the death certificate, claiming “natural causes.” Someone at the hospital smelled a rat, though, and notified the newspapers that an actor who was badly beaten had died. Police were contacted and an autopsy was ordered. Ray, it was found, had actually died from brain hemorrhaging caused by the beating. Paul and Dot were arrested.

Their trials were reportedly the most attended in California history up until that time. Kelly wound up being convicted of manslaughter and was sentenced to one to ten years at San Quentin. He served two and was released on August 2nd, 1929. Dot was convicted of compounding a felony and was sentenced to one to three years, also at San Quentin. She was released after ten months. The two, of course, found their way back to each other and were married in February 1931. Hollywood inexplicably embraced the duo despite the murder. As Paul Drexler stated in a 2018 San Francisco Examiner article about the case, “Killing someone is not generally considered a good career move. It is frowned on in the bible and there is no mention of this technique in any of the books of Dale Carnegie, Stephen Covey, or Tony Robbins. For Paul Kelly, however, this act secured a long and successful acting career.” Kelly indeed made a huge comeback, starring in hundreds of films post-release. He even won a Tony award in 1948! Dot also walked away from the affair fairly unscathed, penning a play based upon her experience behind bars titled Women in Prison, which was later made into the 1933 movie Ladies They Talk About starring Barbara Stanwyck. The couple’s wedded bliss did end up to be rather short-lived, though. On the evening of January 2nd, 1940, Dot was involved in a car accident and, in an eerie echo of Ray’s death, while she appeared fine in the hours following, she passed away from internal injuries three days later. Kelly, who later remarried, died of a heart attack at the age of 57 in 1956. That karma never forgets! Ray and Dorothy’s marital home is the only element of the whole sordid tale that seems to have fared well in the end. Per Zillow, the tiny bungalow is currently worth a whopping $1.58 million!

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: Ray Raymond and Dorothy MacKaye’s former home is located at 2261 Cheremoya Avenue in the Hollywood Hills.

October 8, 2018October 16, 2019

Neve Campbell’s Former Haunted House

I love a good haunted house, especially at this time of year. One owned by a celebrity is even better. One owned by the star of my favorite horror film of all time? Well, I can’t think of anything more thrilling – or more perfectly suited to my annual October postings. So when I came across a mention of a ghost-inhabited pad formerly belonging to the Scream Queen herself, Miss Neve Campbell, in the book Hollywood Death and Scandal Sites (written by my buddy E.J. Fleming, from the Movieland Directory website), I just about came unglued and promptly added the place to my To-Stalk List. Identifying the residence in person wound up taking quite a bit of legwork once I finally got out there, though, thanks to a mysterious and misleading address placard. But more on that in a bit.

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Per Berg Properties, Neve purchased the 3-bedroom, 4-bath, 2,347-square-foot home at 8875 Wonderland Avenue in 1996 for $745,000. Upon moving into the dwelling with then husband Jeff Colt that summer, shortly after wrapping production on the first Scream installment, Campbell, a classically-trained ballerina, installed a dance studio on the premises. Other amenities included a pool, a spa, a 0.17-acre lot, and plenty of privacy thanks to a large amount of foliage surrounding the perimeter. Of the purchase, the excited actress told Detour magazine, “I just moved into my first house with Jeff Colt and we’re very, very excited. It’s in the Hollywood Hills . . . all of a sudden I’m obsessed about houses and furniture. I walk around the Party of Five set thinking, ‘That’s a nice table.’”

Things weren’t all sunshine and roses, though. As author Elina Furman explains in her 2000 book Neve Campbell: An Unauthorized Biography, the star awakened one night “after sensing what she believed to be the presence of a young woman’s ghost. Concluding that her new house was haunted, Neve dubbed her resident specter Madame X. The story got even more interesting when she discovered that a twenty-two-year-old maid had been brutally murdered in the house in 1991. The domestic was working for a mystery writer when a delivery man entered the home and committed the crime. Years later, the furnace in Campbell’s house would turn off and on by itself and the lights would dim of their own accord. Unwilling to be frightened out of her new home, Neve made friends with the spirit, much as her character in The Canterville Ghost had befriended Simon de Canterville. She now considers the specter one of the family. ‘She’s cool. I’m cool. We don’t bug each other, so it’s all right,’ she confirmed to Detour in March 1998.”

The actress also talked about the haunting during her 2011 press tour for Scream 4 (though she mentions living in the home with friends and not her ex-husband). As she told Daily Mail, “I know that ghosts exist because I’ve seen one. A few years ago I moved into a haunted house in Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles, with some friends. It turned out that it was inhabited by the ghost of a woman who had been murdered there in 1991. Doors would repeatedly slam, windows would open and ashtrays would fly off dressers. Then there were times when the ghost would actually walk into the room. After a while it felt normal. I’d pass her in the hallway and casually wish her good morning.”

Though I have no doubt as to Neve’s claims about the residence being haunted, I do question if a murder actually happened on the premises. I cannot find a reference to such a killing anywhere – though searching for a homicide that occurred on Wonderland Avenue, or in the Laurel Canyon area in general, is admittedly difficult considering that almost every result kicked back has to do with the infamous Wonderland murders, which took place just down the street in 1981. My hunch, though, is that the story is pure conjecture, a tale told to Campbell by a mischievous neighbor or perhaps a real estate agent with a penchant for the macabre.

Though I can’t say for certain whether or not a murder occurred there, one definite odd element concerning the property is its address placard, which reads “8909.” When I first showed up to the corner of Wonderland Avenue and Holly Place, where Neve’s former pad was supposed to be located per both Google and my GPS, I was thoroughly confused to see the 8909 number. Figuring both map programs were off by a few hundred feet or so, I proceeded to walk up and down the block looking for 8875 Wonderland. I came up empty. I was further surprised upon returning to 8909 to discover that its address did not coincide numerically with its neighbors. I surmised that the number had to have been changed at some point, snapped some photos of the place, and headed home to investigate the matter further.

Searching Google and newspapers.com for “8909 Wonderland Avenue” and “8909 Holly Place” yielded pretty much nada. So I headed over to the City of Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety website to look through old records. An inquiry into that database for “8909 Holly” also yielded nothing. But “8875 Wonderland” kicked back a treasure trove of info, all of which assured me that the house I took photos of was not only Neve’s former residence, but that it bears the address 8875. As you can see in the permit below, filed in 1990, 8875 is noted as being on the corner of Holly and Wonderland, right where my GPS said it would be.

Another permit I dug up from that same year featured a diagram of 8875 that perfectly matches the layout and placement visible in aerial views of the structure with the 8909 placard.

And a parcel map available on the Los Angeles County Office of the Assessor website also shows 8875 Wonderland in the exact spot where the 8909 placard is currently hung. Why a different address number is displayed at the property is a complete mystery, but what I do know is that Neve Campbell’s former haunted house is most definitely located on the northeast corner of Holly Place and Wonderland Avenue.

The actress sold the pad in February 2000 for $850,000 and it has not changed hands since. I guess the current owner doesn’t mind having a phantom roommate, either.

Big THANK YOU to E.J., of the Movieland Directory website, for finding this location!

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: Neve Campbell’s former haunted house is located at 8875 Wonderland Avenue in Hollywood Hills West.

September 26, 2018December 6, 2018

Counterpoint Records and Books from “A Lot Like Love”

I obviously need to start paying closer attention to things because for years I was under the impression that all of the locations from fave movie A Lot Like Love had been tracked down. But while scanning through the 2005 romcom to make screen captures for my recent post on the home where Oliver’s (Ashton Kutcher) parents lived in the flick, I just about fell out of my chair when I realized that one spot remained unearthed – the record/book store where Emily Friehl (Amanda Peet) met – or I guess I should say “re-met” – her future fiancé, Ben Miller (Jeremy Sisto). Being that unknown locales plague me like no other and that there’s pretty much nothing I love more than a good book shop, I immediately set about IDing the place. As fate would have it, the hunt turned out to be one of the easiest of my entire stalking career.

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In A Lot Like Love, Emily reconnects with Ben, after initially meeting him at a mutual friend’s wedding, at a spacious record/book store where the two banter over the last copy of an import CD they both want. Feeling lucky, I headed to Google, inputted “large record bookstore Los Angeles” and the very first result kicked back was for Counterpoint Records and Books at 5911 Franklin Avenue in the Hollywood Hills. One look at images of the place told me it was the right spot. If only all of my searches were so simple! So to the top of my To-Stalk List the site went and I headed right on over there a few weeks later.

Counterpoint Records and Books was originally established by John Polifronio and his then girlfriend/now wife Susan way back in 1979 as a classical music boutique that operated out of the back of The Book Treasury, formerly located at 6707 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood.

Because of the Boulevard’s rather sketchy nature at the time, the couple decided to relocate the following year and sublet a 600-square-foot portion of a frame store in the more shopper-friendly Franklin Village.

Popular from the get-go, it was not long before John and Susan needed to expand, first taking over the entire frame shop and then spreading over into the storefront next door.

The couple also soon decided to branch out. Longtime collectors of rare and used books, John and Susan eventually found their home overflowing with volumes and elected to incorporate the excess tomes into their inventory.

In 1997, the duo purchased the building that houses Counterpoint, which Susan said in a 2012 interview was the saving grace in the store’s longevity.

The shop, which teems with colorful leaflets, thick novels, stacks of vinyl, copies of used VHS and cassette tapes, and racks upon racks of CDs, remains extremely popular today with locals and visitors alike.

Even actor Ron Livingston is a fan and included Counterpoint in his itinerary for a My Favorite Weekend column for the Los Angeles Times in 2006.

It is not hard to see why the store became such a neighborhood staple. Counterpoint Records and Books is warm, friendly and inviting. The employees that I spoke with not only invited me to take as many photos of the place as I wanted, but spent quite a bit of time chatting with me about the various filmings that have taken place on the premises over the years. Though, shockingly, not a one of them knew about A Lot Like Love!

In the movie, Emily and Ben reconnect while perusing the long CD rack in the middle of the store. Though that area of the shop is largely unchanged from the time that filming took place, the sections around it have been moved. During the shoot, the Religion, Philosophy and Occult sections were situated behind the CDs, but today those shelves house Fiction, as you can see below.

Philosophy and Religion can now be found on the opposite side of the room.

I was thrilled to see that, despite the move, the signage still looks exactly as it did onscreen.

There seems to be a bit of confusion concerning some of Counterpoint’s other cinematic appearances floating around online, so I’ll do my best to clear up the misinformation here.

The shop did pop up at the beginning of Prince’s 2004 “Musicology” music video, which you can watch here.

While many websites state that Counterpoint made an appearance in the 2010 movie Beginners, it was only featured in the trailer (which is where the still below comes from), not the actual film. It seems that the scene shot on the premises wound up on the cutting room floor. To confuse matters further, a different L.A. book boutique – the now defunct Cosmopolitan Book Shop at 7017 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood – does cameo a few times. It is there, not at Counterpoint, that Oliver (Ewan McGregor) and Anna (Melanie Laurent) peruse The Joy of Sex.

Counterpoint Records and Books pops up in Olly Murs’ 2012 “Troublemaker” music video, which you can check out here. (I would be remiss if I did not mention that Olly is such a cutie! I had never heard of him until writing this post and was pleasantly surprised to find while watching his video that he reminds me quite a bit of Michael Bublé in looks and mannerisms.)

Though Curbed Los Angeles reports that Joan Crawford’s (Jessica Lange) book signing in the Season 1 episode of Feud: Bette and Joan titled “You Mean All This Time We Could Have Been Friends?” was shot at Counterpoint, that information is incorrect. Perplexingly, the website even goes so far as to say “According to [production designer Judy] Becker, the production team built a book-signing station for the scene, which Counterpoint opted to keep after filming concluded.” But, as you can see below, the two-story venue that appeared in the episode looks nothing like Counterpoint. Filming actually took place at the Philosophical Research Library at the University of Philosophical Research located at 3910 Los Feliz Boulevard in Los Feliz. You can check out some photos of the space here and here.

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: Counterpoint Records and Books, from A Lot Like Love, is located at 5911 Franklin Avenue in the Hollywood Hills. You can visit the store’s official website here.

October 20, 2017October 20, 2017

High Tower from “Dead Again”

I did not see Dead Again when it was first released in 1991 (at 14, I was too young for such an intense thriller), but I vividly remember my parents coming home from the theatre raving about how great it was and how much I would have loved a particularly disturbing scene involving cigarettes. It was not until years later, after I met the Grim Cheaper, that I finally sat down for a viewing. The flick was worth the wait. Dead Again is honestly one of the most well-crafted crime dramas I have ever watched. And my parents were right – that cigarette scene is horrifyingly fabulous. The film also boasts one of the spookiest locations ever featured in a movie – High Tower, the striking Italianate campanile (a word I just learned today!) housing the elevator leading to Amanda Sharp’s (Emma Thompson) hillside home. I first stalked the site shortly after seeing Dead Again and have been back many times since. In fact, I used to take an acting class just down the road from it and would drive by on a weekly basis. Each time I would marvel at how lucky I was to be living in such a magical city, where passing by historic and iconic locales is natural happenstance. It randomly struck me recently that I had never blogged about High Tower, despite it being the perfect Haunted Hollywood spot. So I am amending that situation today.

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Though there are a few differing reports floating around online, according to the Los Angeles Historic Resources Survey, High Tower was originally constructed in 1923.

At the time, the hillside it flanks looked quite a bit different, as you can see in photos of the structure from its early days here and here.

The elevator was originally installed to service the dotting of homes on the tiny street of Alta Loma Terrace, situated just northeast of the tower.

In 1935, over a decade after High Tower’s inception, architect Carl Kay began construction on a series of four Streamline Moderne duplexes cantilevered directly behind the campanile on Broadview Terrace.

The complex, which Kay modeled after Positano, Italy and dubbed “High Tower Court,” was not completed until 1956.

Today, the elevator solely services the four High Tower Court properties.

The garages for the complex are situated at the bottom of the hill, a good five stories below the homes, and, amazingly, none of the residences have direct street access (moving must seriously be a b*tch!), making the conveyance an absolute necessity.

Without it, residents would have to resort to climbing a haphazard tangle of staircases comprised of more than 200 steps in order to access their units.

Each High Tower Court unit pays $51 per month for use of the elevator, which, while costly, is well worth it in my book. (However, there is something to be said for the fact that anyone who decided to save money and forgo the perk would easily have the best legs in town!) Sadly though, the structure is off-limits to the rest of us. Without one of the coveted keys doled out to homeowners, the gated tower can’t be accessed.

While researching for this post, I was floored to learn via a 1993 Los Angeles Times article that, while the elevator is private, High Tower Court is publicly accessible – as long as you’re willing to hoof it those 200 steps.

I wish I had known that fact before my most recent stalk of the place. I so would have ventured up the hill! Can you even imagine the views? For those interested in journeying to the top, Secret Stairs-LA put together a fabulous itinerary of a 2.6-mile trek that will lead you there.

High Tower Court has attracted quite a few notable residents over the years, including illusionist David Copperfield, author Michael Connelly (several of his books are even set at High Tower), musician Michael Feinstein, and actress Adriana Caselotti (aka the voice of Snow White in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs).

Though some reports state that Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love also lived at High Tower in the early ‘90s (during the time that In Utero was written and Frances Bean was born), that information is incorrect. The couple actually resided just behind the complex at 6881 Alta Loma Terrace.

High Tower appears a couple of times in Dead Again. In the movie, Amanda, an amnesiac, resides in the large white home situated directly east of the elevator.

As ‘Piccolo’ Pete Dugan (Wayne Knight) tells her after finally discovering her true identity, “You live at 1454 Hightower in the old Carl Kay house. You know, the one with the elevator?” In reality, the address of the pad used in the flick is 2182 Broadview Terrace.

According to William A. Gordon in The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book, “The location was deliberately chosen (and even included in the original script), because the producers wanted to show that Emma Thompson was literally cut off from outside help.”

The inside of Amanda’s apartment appears to have been a set as it does match the actual interior of 2182 Broadview, which you can take a look at here. (While you’re at it, you can also check out the interiors of the other three High Tower Court duplexes – 2181 Broadview, 2185 Broadview, and 2189 Broadview.)

In real life, Amanda’s residence, which was built in 1936, boasts 2 bedrooms, 4 baths, 2,067 square feet, and a 0.10-acre lot.

Dead Again is hardly the only production to feature High Tower.

In the Season 2 episode of Naked City titled “New York to L.A.,” which aired in 1961, Franklin Maquon (Frank Sutton) confronts and kills Caldwell Wyatt (Martin Balsam) just outside of the elevator.

Like Emma Thompson, Philip Marlowe (Elliott Gould) calls 2182 Broadview home in the 1973 noir The Long Goodbye.

Unlike Dead Again, though, it really does look as if the actual interior of the property was utilized in the shoot.

The kitchen seen in the movie, where Marlowe’s poor tabby refuses his attempts at feeding him some non-Courry-Brand cat food, is pretty much a direct match to the kitchen pictured in 2182’s MLS photos.

High Tower was also featured in a video adaptation of the first chapter of Michael Connelly’s 2006 book Echo Park.

And the site portrayed the apartment of murder victim Sandy Boudreau (Alexa Davalos), said to be at 121 Bendix Avenue, in the pilot episode of Raines, which aired in 2007.

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: High Tower, from Dead Again, is located at 2178 High Tower Drive in the Hollywood Hills. Amanda’s house from the movie can be found just up the hill at 2182 Broadview Terrace. Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love’s former residence is located just around the corner at 6881 Alta Loma Terrace.

January 27, 2017January 25, 2017

The “Swingers” Party House

2016 was a great year for me as far as finding locations goes. So many of my most-wanted unknown locales were identified. Rod Tidwell’s home from Jerry Maguire, the Say Anything . . . amphitheatre, the Life Goes On house, the “Las Vegas” casino from the Season 4 episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 titled “And Did It . . . My Way” – I could go on and on. Another spot that I tracked down in 2016, but haven’t gotten around to blogging about until now is from Swingers. Though the vast majority of the 1996 comedy’s locations are well-known and have long been documented online, late last year I went on a trek to find some of the missing ones, namely the Spanish-style house where Mike (Jon Favreau), Trent (Vince Vaughn), and the gang attended a party. And I am happy to report that I was successful!

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I literally had nothing to go on with this locale outside of the fact that, per Favreau’s DVD commentary, it was located in the Hollywood Hills. In the scene leading up to the party, Mike and his four friends are shown driving (all separately!) on a curving L.A. road. I figured that the segment was likely shot in the same vicinity as the house where the party scene was lensed. Thankfully, while watching the Swingers Blu-ray, I was able to make out an address number of 7902 on the curb of a home that the boys pass. (Unfortunately, my computer does not have the capacity to play Blu-rays, so all of my screen captures were taken from a regular DVD, which is why the 7902 number is not clear in the image below.)

I started searching the Hollywood Hills for houses with a 7902 address number and fairly quickly discerned that the boys drove by the residence at 7902 Fareholm Drive on their way to the party. I was floored to make the discovery and immediately began scouring the area for the property where the soiree was held – unsuccessfully. Though there are several rambling Spanish-style homes located on Fareholm, none of them matched the pad from Swingers. So back to the drawing board I went.

Since the movie’s 20th anniversary was fast approaching, interviews with the cast and crew were popping up all over the internet. I decided to pour through every one I could find with the hope that some information about the party house would be revealed. I got lucky when I came across this fabulous article on the Grantland website titled “So Money: An Oral History of Swingers.” (If you’re a fan of the film, I highly recommend a read.) Not only did the article mention the party scene, but it detailed the exact street it was shot on! Thank you, Grantland! According to those interviewed, the production team could not afford to rent a home to shoot the soiree sequence, nor could they afford to hire the large amount of extras that would be required. So line producer Nicole LaLoggia and director Doug Liman asked some friends who lived in “this very cool old house” located “up in the Hollywood Hills on Temple Hill Drive” if they would throw a get-together and let them film it. Those words were music to my ears! I immediately started using Google Street View to search Temple Hill Drive for the residence used. It took me longer to find the place than expected due to the fact that it is situated on a corner and only a side view of it was shown in Swingers.

Very little of the dwelling’s exterior actually appeared in the movie, but, thankfully, enough detailing was visible for me to be able to identify it.

I was most excited to see the staircase that Trent and the guys headed up upon arriving at the party.

A better view of those stairs is pictured below.

Though the outside was only featured briefly in Swingers, the interior of the residence got quite a bit of screen time. It is while inside the home that Trent gets – and then immediately tears up – the digits of a “business class” girl who touts herself as having a Tina Yothers vibe.

In real life, the 1926 pad boasts 4 bedrooms, 4 baths, 3,872 square feet, and a 0.22-acre plot of land. As I mentioned above, the residence is situated on a corner. Pictured below is the side of it that fronts Temple Hill Drive.

The property is absolutely massive, much more so than it appears to be from the street. You can check out an aerial view of how it’s laid out below. (The castle-looking estate located next door is known as Moorcrest. Charlie Chaplin and Mary Astor have both called it home at different points in time and it currently belongs to actor Andy Samberg. A post on that locale will be coming soon.)

The Swingers party pad has quite the Hollywood pedigree. As actor/writer Mike White, who was present during the filming of the party scene, explains in the Grantland article, “The house was one of the centers of partying back then. There were four guys that lived there. Two of them have gone on to be successful producers — Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen. Their production company is called Temple Hill [Entertainment], in reference to the house. They produced all the Twilight movies, actually.” Godfrey and Bowen also gave us The Fault in Our Stars, Revenge and Rosewood! Not a bad resume. I cannot express how cool I find it that the duo chose to name their production company in honor of their former digs.

In his DVD commentary, Favreau described the property as such, “This is one of those big, great 1920s Hollywood Hills houses that sort of has fallen into disrepair, but people, like, all get together and become roommates and live in these huge mansions.” The residence remains in a state of disrepair today, sadly. Though I do kind of love the fact that, 20 years later, it still looks like a dwelling that a bunch of showbiz hopefuls got together to rent.

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 Swingers party house is located at 6161 Temple Hill Drive in the Hollywood Hills. It is the eastern side of the residence, which can be found on Vasanta Way, that appeared in the movie.

November 2, 2015February 17, 2017

The Golden Spoon Cafe from “The Brady Bunch”

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My best friend, Robin, is currently in town with his girlfriend for a week visiting from Switzerland, so I will not be blogging about this year’s Halloween activities until next Tuesday. I will also be taking most of this week off, though I will, as always, have an article on Los Angeles magazine on Thursday. Today, we have a very special guest post written by my friend, fellow stalker Michael, who lives in Minnesota. Michael and I first connected a couple of years ago when he wrote to ask for help researching a location. Michael and I started corresponding regularly and he has helped me track down several locales, namely Haskell’s Ice Cream Hut from The Brady Bunch and the Griffith Park spots featured in both the opening credits of Full House and the Girls Just Want to Have Fun dance montage. (He also recently helped me find another GJWTHF location, but that’s a different story for a different post.) Through our correspondence, I came to admire Michael’s tenacity in getting things right when it comes to filming locations. He is as tenacious and fastidious as I am about reporting the truth and his researching skills are like nothing I have ever seen. So when he informed me of his quest to right an incorrect locale from The Brady Bunch that had been reported on a few websites, I told him I would be happy to help in any way I could. Turns out he didn’t need much assistance from me. Michael was able to figure things out on his own and the story behind his quest is pretty incredible. I am so glad he was willing to share it here. So Michael, take it away!

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When I was in elementary school, I would watch reruns of The Brady Bunch every day when I got home, and thanks to its healthy dose of establishing shots, it’s one of the first shows that got me curious about filming locations. Consequently, I’ve always gotten a certain nostalgic satisfaction tracking down and seeing locations that I’ve been familiar with since I was little. For those—unlike me—who escaped childhood without the compete works of Sherwood Schwartz engrained in their brains, in the fourth season episode of The Brady Bunch, titled “Goodbye, Alice, Hello,” Alice quits when the Brady Kids start giving her the cold shoulder after they believe she tattled on them to Mike and Carol about a series of wholesome misdeeds. Alice’s friend Kay replaces her, and as the Brady Kids learn the error of their ways, Kay fills the kids in on where Alice now works: The Golden Spoon, at 4th and Oak.

While the interior was created on a soundstage at Paramount, the exterior is shown in a quick establishing shot. Other than looking like the type of location I’d like to visit—the quintessential roadside diner—the location has always piqued my interest since, unlike most establishing shots, extra effort was taken in the script to give it both a name and location.

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Over the years, a number of websites have posted a selection of specious locations for The Golden Spoon, but until recently, all were all easy to rule out. That changed when Chas from It’s Filmed There posted a new Golden Spoon address: 3200 Cahuenga Blvd W, surmising it to be the former home of the Freeway Cafe. He suspected the defunct restaurant, listed at 3222 Cahuenga Blvd W in a Brady-era city directory, had changed its address to 3200 at some point. I thought that the building at that site looked properly aged, but the architecture didn’t seem to match up, nor did the power lines, lampposts, or background terrain.

However, there were a number of things that looked promising; the concrete fencing from the Hollywood Freeway was identical to that seen behind the Golden Spoon, cars zooming through the Cahuenga Pass on the freeway would help explain the traffic reflected in the canopy ceiling in the establishing shot, and the 3222 address would jibe if the last digit were removed, for whatever reason, before filming.

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Pulling up historic aerial photos, I could see that there was once a structure to the northwest (left) of the 3200 building. [Editor’s note – the structure is denoted in pink and placed on a present-day map below.] And although the aerial photo was blurry, the layout seemed to match that of The Golden Spoon: a square building with a gable roof, a small addition extending left, and a larger addition extending right. Furthermore, in the historic aerial, the 3200 building seemed to match the present-day aerial, meaning it probably hadn’t been renovated much in the last 40 years, and its address most likely hadn’t changed. It was then that I started working under the hypothesis that it was indeed the Freeway Cafe that was shown on The Brady Bunch, but that the Freeway Cafe was not located at the present-day 3200 Cahuenga—it was next door, in what is now a parking lot. But, without stronger proof, I didn’t feel comfortable declaring this the definitive location.

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This summer, while vacationing in Los Angeles at the Millennium Biltmore, I thought I’d walk over to Figueroa Plaza to visit the Los Angeles Building Records Department and see if I could find something that would confirm my suspicions. After a brisk walk on a particularly sunshiny day—as the Brady Kids would sing—I arrived at the records office, took a number, and filled out an information request form. Once my number was called, a very helpful clerk pulled the records for the location. While she read through the various permits for that address, I heard her mumble the word “canopy.” Jumping on that, I asked to see a copy of that file. Lucky for me, it was a 1962 Freeway Cafe permit for the addition of an aluminum canopy and screened patio. Better yet, it included a drawn diagram that matched The Golden Spoon perfectly, right down to the cinderblock fence in front of the right patio and notch taken out of the left patio.

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All that was left was to confirm the location of the Freeway Cafe. Unfortunately, that confirmation also proved that the building has since been razed. In September of 1989, Mobil, the owner of the cafe property and gas station next door (to the left), obtained three demolition permits for the gas station, its canopy, and the cafe. Mobil then built a new gas station and canopy, but the restaurant wasn’t rebuilt. There’s not a lot of space on that plot of land, and I can see why the the gas station may have wanted to sacrifice a small aging restaurant for some overflow and driveway space for those waiting for a turn at the pumps. Looking at the demolition map, it seems the original restaurant and left screened patio added a few feet in the rear since the 1962 canopy permit.

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After doing a quick digital mashup of the 1989 demolition map, and a contemporary permit map of that plot of land, I was able to accurately determine where exactly the Freeway Cafe once stood—very close to where I’d suspected when I’d compared the vintage aerial photo with the present day map a few months prior.

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New map in hand, I took the Metro Red Line to its penultimate stop: Universal City. From there, I walked under the freeway and down Cahuenga Blvd to the Mobil parking lot.

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Although the cafe is no longer there, it was easy to line things up thanks to the concrete covering the tanks being a different color than the rest of the dark asphalt lot. According to the overlaid maps, the left-most edge of the cafe would have nearly abutted the separation between the light and dark pavement.

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Plus, the terrain across the freeway, lamppost location (that would have been behind the right canopy), power wires, and stylized concrete freeway fence are are still recognizable from The Brady Bunch.

Try as we might, Lindsay and I have found that online references to the Freeway Cafe are rare. According to city records, the original 18×20 building housed a shoe repair shop in the 1940s, and in 1958 was converted into a restaurant. The 1963-5 Los Angeles city directories list the name of the cafe as Bib N Cuff, but by 1966, a new name—Freeway Cafe—is listed. A 1973 edition of The Van Nuys News reports the Freeway Cafe as being owned by Herbert and Louise David of Canoga Park, and a 1976 edition names Jamal Ghassem of Inglewood as the proprietor. Lastly, in a 1988 edition of Orange Coast Magazine, written just a year before the cafe was demolished, they note that although it’s “an old wooden stand overlooking the Hollywood Freeway…don’t let the exterior fool you. This is not a pit stop, but a palace for the connoisseur of ground beef.”

More recently, this selection of the Hollywood Freeway has been in the news, as Universal Studios expansion plans may result in the removal of the southbound Barham Blvd exit, which now routes traffic next to the Mobil station.

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Many thanks to Chas at It’s Filmed There for posting about the Freeway Cafe and getting me quite a bit closer to 4th and Oak. And of course, a HUGE thank you to Lindsay for all her help researching this location and for the opportunity to write about it here. [Editor’s note – a HUGE thank you to you, Michael, for sharing the story behind the hunt with us AND for correcting all the erroneous Golden Spoon information.]

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Mobil Gas Station parking lot, aka the former Freeway Cafe, aka The Golden Spoon from The Brady Bunch, was located at 3222 Cahuenga Boulevard West in Los Angeles.

October 27, 2014September 29, 2017

Pete Duel’s Former House

Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it. That adage rings true for today’s story, about actor Pete Duel who shot and killed himself at his Hollywood Hills home in the early morning hours of New Year’s Eve 1971. I had Duel’s address written down in the Haunted Hollywood portion of my To-Stalk list, though I cannot for the life of me recall how or where I obtained it. I am unsure if a fellow stalker gave me the information or if I came across it in a book. I really need to start keeping notes on my sources. Regardless of how the address came my way, I was thankful for it and stalked the residence a couple of weeks ago while in L.A.

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Pete Duel was born Peter Ellstrom Deuel in Rochester, New York. He started acting as a child and, in 1959, moved to Manhattan to try his hand at stage productions. Deuel landed a role in a touring production of Take Her, She’s Mine in 1962, which brought him to Hollywood. Once there, he decided to stay. Peter gave himself five years to “make it” in the biz and make it he did. He quickly landed guest roles on several television shows which eventually led to him being cast as John Cooper on the series Gidget. When that show was cancelled after one season, he won a starring role in Love on a Rooftop. That series did not fare well, either, and was also cancelled after its inaugural season. It was at that time that Peter Deuel shorted his name to “Pete Duel.” He moved on to films shortly thereafter and was successful. Then, in 1970, he was cast in a leading role in the western-themed television series Alias Smith and Jones. It was a quick hit. The long hours proved hard on Pete, though, and he fell into a depression. He also developed an alcohol habit. Despite finally achieving the fame he had sought for years, he was not happy. A do-gooder by nature, Pete felt that he should be bettering the world and that his acting in Alias Smith and Jones was too trivial to accomplish that. The man who seemingly had it all wanted more.

In the summer of 1971, Pete and his girlfriend, Diane Rey, moved into a brown-shingled two-bedroom residence in the Hollywood Hills. At the time, the home was a small bungalow set back from the road. It has since been remodeled and a large front portion, which sits perpendicular to the original structure, was added. You can see what the property looked like when Pete lived on the premises here.

The large addition is pictured below. Today, the pad features four bedrooms, four bathrooms and 2,401 square feet of space. I believe that the property may currently be a multi-family home.

December 30th, 1971 began like any other day for Pete. He worked on his series and then, when shooting wrapped, was dropped off at home. Diane and Pete settled in for the evening to watch the latest episode of Alias Smith and Jones. Pete apparently was not pleased with it, which was not unusual. Diane went to bed shortly after, while Duel stayed up to watch a Lakers game. At around 1:30 in the morning, he walked into the master bedroom and grabbed his .38 revolver. A few minutes later, Diane heard a gun shot and ran into the living room where she found the actor lying nude underneath the Christmas tree. At the tender age of 31, Pete Duel was dead by his own hand – though whether it was an accident or on purpose the coroner couldn’t say. Duel’s blood alcohol level at the time of the shooting was 0.31, so it might very well have been accidental. The fact that shortly before his death he had scheduled his answering service to give him a wakeup call for 6:30 the following morning also lends credence to that scenario. There is a third possibility, as well, though, which many online truth-seekers believe – that Diane actually murdered Pete and altered the scene to make it look like he had killed himself. While Rey was questioned by the police, Pete’s death was officially ruled a suicide.

It took less than 12 hours for producers to recast Duel’s role on Alias Smith and Jones with actor Roger Davis. Audiences never warmed to him, though, and the series, which had been so popular prior to Pete’s death, was cancelled the following year. It is said that money does not bring happiness. Apparently, neither does fame.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Pete Duel’s former house is located at 2552 Glen Green Street in the Hollywood Hills.

November 22, 2011November 21, 2011

The Skyline Residence – Jacob’s House from “Crazy, Stupid, Love.”

Back in August, I received an email from a fellow stalker named Brandon who wanted to let me know that he had tracked down the ultra-modern abode where Jacob Palmer (aka Ryan Gosling) lived in Crazy, Stupid, Love. At the time I had yet to see the movie, but added the address to my To-Stalk list anyway and am so glad that I did because, as I have mentioned more than a few times before in recent posts, I have since become just a wee bit obsessed with the flick . . . and its cutie leading man. So I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out to the Hollywood Hills to stalk the place this past Saturday afternoon.

Due to a slight snafu with my GPS, though, I was unable to get to the actual house and could only snap a few pictures of it from afar. While I always research locations to make sure that they are accessible to the public before leaving to stalk them and while Jacob’s house was visible on Google Street View, for some reason, my navigational system just could not seem to get me there.

It was not until I returned home that evening that I was able to figure out why. As you can see in the above aerial view, Skyline Drive, where Jacob’s house is located, dead-ends at a certain point and then picks up again a short distance later. My GPS, thinking Skyline Drive was a through-street, directed me to the wrong end of it, where the abode was nowhere to be found.

So the next morning, paper map in hand, I dragged the GC back on out to the Hollywood Hills to re-stalk the property. As you can see above, it was POURING rain at the time, which I was none too happy about. You see, there is nothing in this world that this stalker hates more than rain, except for maybe Kyle Richards. Winking smile But once I remembered that it was also raining in the scene in Crazy, Stupid, Love. that took place at Jacob’s house, me being there during a downpour seemed quite apropos. The GC could not stop laughing at me posing for the above picture, though, as he said that I looked as if I was dressed for “the tundra”. Hmph! I happen to like my rain coat, thankyouverymuch!

In real life, Jacob’s house is known as the Skyline Residence and it was built in 2007 by Hagy Belzberg, of Belzberg Architects, to be used as his private residence. According to this fabulous Architectural Record blog post, several previous owners had tried to build a home on the narrow plot of land on which the Skyline Residence now stands, but had not had any luck in securing permits. Belzberg said, “I decided that instead of trying to fight the topography I would work with it and create a very narrow building that sits lightly on the land with minimal to no grading.” The architect’s design called for a 20- by 120-foot structure made out of concrete, glass, marble, and wood.

As you can see above, the finished product is nothing short of magnificent! As Pinky Lovejoy, from the Thinking Pink blog, would say, it is “amazeballs”! Love it, love it, love it! The property is pretty much my dream abode.

From the view pictured above, which I got off of the home’s former real estate website, the dwelling is extremely reminiscent of the Stahl House, or Case Study House #22, which I blogged about way back in March of 2009. The Skyline Residence, which according to fave website CurbedLA was sold to new owners for a cool $5.995 million on December 21, 2009, boasts 4 bedrooms, 5 baths, a 1-bedroom, 1-bath detached guest house, a 65-foot long infinity pool, a spa, floor-to-ceiling glass windows, a large, open kitchen and dining area, outdoor terraces, sweeping views, and a whopping 5,200 square feet of living space!

My favorite aspect of the house, though, has to be the outdoor movie deck, which sits atop the garage and in which films are projected onto a wall of the detached guest house. How amazing is that???? A girl I was friends with in high school had an actual full-sized movie theatre located inside of her home and at the time I thought it was just about the coolest thing ever, but I can honestly say that this pretty much blows that right out of the water! I mean have you ever seen anything more incredible??? You can check out some more fabulous interior and exterior photographs of the Skyline Residence on The Contemporist website here.

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Jacob’s house only shows up briefly in Crazy, Stupid, Love. in one of the best scenes of the movie in which Jacob brings Hannah (aka Emma Stone) home and tries to seduce her by showing her his “big move”. Of the property, the Crazy, Stupid, Love. production notes state, “Jacob’s home also reflected his current lifestyle. To serve as his stunning, if stark, bachelor pad, the filmmakers chose the renowned Skyline Residence designed by internationally recognized architect Hagy Belzberg. Located off the Sunset Strip in the Hollywood Hills, the glass-enclosed, ultra-modern home is considered a prime example of world-class contemporary architecture. As no one was residing in the home at the time, it was easy for [production designer William] Arnold and his team to make the few necessary adjustments. ‘We just removed what we didn’t need, and put in a few of our own signature furnishings, leaving it somewhat austere,’ he says. ‘Jacob’s house is a comment on the character’s own emptiness, really. He rattles around in there; it’s very impersonal, yet very tasteful.’”

The main area of the property used in the film was the living room and it appears as if the home’s hanging Fireorb fireplace was removed for the shoot, which was a good call as I personally think the space looks much better without it.

The kitchen area also made a very brief appearance during the montage scene towards the end of the movie.

A photograph of that kitchen is pictured above.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Brandon for finding this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Skyline Residence, aka Jacob’s house from Crazy, Stupid, Love., is located at 8520 Skyline Drive in the Hollywood Hills. A great view of the property can be seen from Crest View Drive, just south of where it meets Skyline Drive. As I mentioned previously, Skyline Drive dead-ends at a certain point and then picks up again a short distance later. Because of that, my GPS took me to the wrong location when I inputted the address “8520 Skyline Drive”. If you have the same problem, I would suggest inputting the intersection of Skyline Drive and Greenvalley Road into your navigational system and then following Skyline Drive west until it dead-ends. Jacob’s residence is the last house on the east side of the street.