Tag: Hollywood

The Street Where “The Hills” Finale Was Filmed

One location that I have been on the lookout for for a couple of months now is the street where Kristin Cavallari said good-bye to on-again/off-again boyfriend Brody Jenner in the final scene of the series finale of fave show The Hills, which aired on July 13th of this year. For whatever reason, though, I was having a heck of a time pinpointing the exact spot where filming had taken place. Until this past Friday, that is. Thankfully, fellow stalker “Diggy” posted a comment on that day’s blog post in which I wrote about the home where Kristin had lived during the last season of the show. In the comment, Diggy stated that the final scene had been filmed on “Beachwood Drive, just north of Franklin”. Sadly though, even with that detailed information, I was unable to find the right spot! Enter master stalker Chas, from ItsFilmedThere, who texted me later that same night with an exact address – 2107 North Beachwood Drive. And sure enough, once I pulled up the location on Google Street View, I saw that he was right! Thank you, Chas! So, yesterday, after Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I finished our tour of Paramount Studios, we headed right on over to Beachwood Drive to do some Hills stalking.

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The Hills’ final scene centers around the premise that after suffering a broken heart thanks to Brody Jenner, series star and narrator Kristin Cavallari decides to leave Los Angeles to begin a new adventure in a foreign land because, as she says, “I feel if I’m really gonna move and do this, it needs to be a big change and I need to be completely uncomfortable and I need to be scared again and the only place I can really think about would be somewhere in Europe.” When Brody finds out she is leaving the country, he heads to her house to say good-bye and just happens to catch her right as she is walking out her door to drive to what is presumably the airport. In the scene, Brody pulls up and parks in front of the apartment building located at 2107 N. Beachwood Drive.

Kristin subsequently walks out of the house located across the street at 2117 Beachwood Terrace, which is not where the reality star was actually presumed to be living on the show. The house where Kristin lived during the series’ Sixth Season, which I blogged about last week, is located almost five miles away in West Hollywood. Thanks to the tall hedges which completely surround both properties, though, the two residences do bear a striking resemblance to each other.

Kristin then walks to her waiting limousine, which was parked in front of the home located at 2110 North Beachwood Drive.

After Kristin shares a tear-filled good-bye with Brody, her limousine proceeds to drive south on Beachwood, presumably heading to the airport.

The camera then closes in on a distraught-looking Brody for a few poignant moments before the background behind him begins to move and it is revealed that he is actually standing on the backlot of Paramount Studios in Hollywood and that Kristin’s limo had only been driven a few feet off screen. Brody then walks up to Kristin, hugs her, and says, “You outta here?” before the two nonchalantly walk off. I found the ending, which was a tongue-in-cheek reference to the fact that many viewers believe the show to be fake, ingenious. What better way to acknowledge that some of the show was in fact “produced” than to have its final moments be shot on a soundstage? Of the finale, Brody said, “I think the show has always battled with what’s real and what’s fake, and this ending was perfect because you still don’t know what was real, what was fake and it’s kind of like L.A. in a sense.” And while the ending leaves no doubt (in mind at least) that the show wasn’t entirely “real”, some fans still swear up and down that it was. But being that Kristin never in fact moved anywhere, least of all not to Europe, and that she later tweeted “I think I shld finally let everyone know I’m not going 2 Europe. It was 4 the show.”, I think we can all rest assured that the reality series was most definitely manipulated, if not out and out scripted. Which was the exact impression I got when I watched an episode of it being filmed back in August of 2008 – yes, it’s a “reality” show, but a heavily, heavily manipulated one.

Anyway, because Mike and I were at Paramount yesterday, I just had to stalk the exact spot where the finale was filmed – which was at the corner of Avenue A and 3rd Street, just southwest of Stage 23, in front of the studio’s former film vaults.

Big THANK YOU to Chas, from ItsFilmedThere, and fellow stalker “Diggy” for finding this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The final scene from The Hills was filmed in front of 2110 and 2172 North Beachwood Drive in Hollywood. In the scene, Brody parked in front of the apartment building located at 2107 North Beachwood Drive, Kristin walked out of the house located at 2117 Beachwood Terrace, and the two said good-bye to each other in front of the house located at 2110 North Beachwood Drive. The scene which took place on the Paramount lot was filmed on the corner of Avenue A and 3rd Street, just southwest of Stage 23.

September 29, 2010
Mike, from MovieShotsLA, Gets Up Close & Personal with the “Back to the Future” DeLorean

This past Friday afternoon, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, had a definite “Only in L.A.” moment when he looked out of his office window and noticed the Back to the Future DeLorean parked in the lot outside! After having a minor heart attack, he flew right out of his seat and immediately ran outside to snap some pictures of it. While doing so, he texted me saying, “Want to know what is outside of my office right now? And it’s the actual one!” Amazingly enough, as soon as I read Mike’s words, I knew that he was talking about Doc Brown’s time machine. I’m not exactly sure how I knew – and no, it’s not because I’m psychic. 😉 But when Mike wrote, “It’s the actual one!”, an image of the DeLorean popped into my head. I’m fairly certain it is because I honestly can think of no other movie prop that is more iconic. I mean, the DeLorean is pretty much the movie prop to end all movie props – in my eyes, at least. Short of the actual ship used in the filming of Titanic, I can’t think of a set piece that I’d more rather see. I was at Kinko’s making photocopies when I received Mike’s text and, let me tell you, I just about had a heart palpitation! I completely messed up my copies, ordered way too many of a page I didn’t even want, and ended up having to leave the store altogether as I was so totally flustered over the fact that Mike WAS UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL WITH THE BACK TO THE FUTURE DELOREAN!!!!!

What was the car doing there, you ask? Well, I had that very same question! As it turns out, Mike works in the same complex as a high-end movie memorabilia auctioneer, and, for whatever reason, the owner of the DeLorean had stopped by the company’s headquarters. I am not sure of the circumstances of his visit – if he is planning on selling the car or if he just came by for a friendly chat, but either way, not only was he there, but he apparently DROVE the DeLorean there! I had assumed that it had arrived on the premises via a flatbed truck, but no, the owner actually drove it!!!!! Can you imagine being on the freeway and having the DeLorean pull up next to you? I would surely crash! But I digress. Anyway, when Mike first went outside, no one was around, so he ended up just snapping a few photos of the outside of the car and one through the driver’s side window before returning to his desk. But being that it’s not everyday that one has the opportunity to SEE the actual inside of the actual DeLorean from Back to the Future, I told Mike that he better get his butt back down there and knock on the auction company’s door to ask if they’d let him take a peek at the interior. I, of course, anticipated the owner saying no, but even so, I didn’t think he should let the opportunity pass him by without at least asking.

And thank goodness he did, because not only did the super-nice owner open up the car for him, but he also let him GET INSIDE and take all of the photographs he wanted! So, yes, you are reading that right – Mike, from MovieShotsLA, actually got to SIT INSIDE the Back to the Future DeLorean!!!!!!! As you can imagine, I was absolutely DYING when Mike told me the news and I informed him that I was going to hop in my car and immediately drive over there. Unfortunately, though, the owner said that he and his DeLorean were just about to leave. 🙁

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Thankfully, though, Mike took plenty of pictures and I am very happy to report that, twenty-five years later, the DeLorean still looks EXACTLY the same as it did in Back to the Future! I was most excited to see the Flux Capacitor – which still had the red stickers from the movie which state, “Disconnect capacitor drive before opening” and “Shield eyes from light”. SO INCREDIBLY COOL!

And the date module still reads “October 26, 1985”. LOVE IT! LOVE IT! LOVE IT!

Mike also got some pictures of the back of the car, including ones of the plutonium chamber and the iconic “OUTATIME” license plate.

Best of all, though, was the pic that the owner took of Mike standing with the car, a la the way Doc Brown stood with it in Back to the Future. Oh, what I wouldn’t give to have a photo like that! Sigh! Mike wasn’t sure if I’d want to blog about his experience with the DeLorean or not, being that it’s not technically a filming location, but I was like, “ARE YOU KIDDING ME????? THIS IS A ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME! OF COURSE I WANT TO BLOG IT!” So, while it is not one of my typical posts, I still hope my fellow stalkers enjoyed the up-close-and-personal view of one of the most famous movie props of all time as much as I did!

A HUGE thank you to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for sharing his photos with me to publish in this post.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Unfortunately, you can’t. 🙁 We have to live vicariously through Mike on this one!

September 20, 2010
Carol Burnett’s Childhood Home

A few weeks ago, fellow stalker Lavonna gifted me with a copy of one of her all-time favorite books, Carol Burnett’s autobiography entitled One More Time: A Memoir. I finished reading the tome this past week and, let me tell you, I absolutely loved it! Even though I’ve never been a huge Carol Burnett fan – not that I had anything against the comedienne, I just didn’t really know all that much about her – I literally couldn’t put the book down. It’s a fascinating, and somewhat heartbreaking, story about growing up in Depression-era Hollywood with an alcoholic mother and an alcoholic father and a very loving, if at times off-beat, grandmother. One of the things I liked best about the book was the fact that in it Carol dolled out quite a few addresses, one of which being the Hollywood apartment building where the actress lived for over a decade during her formative years. Carol was actually born in Texas and spent the first few years of her life with her grandmother “Nanny” and her great-grandmother “Groggy” in a home located at 2803 West Commerce Street in San Antonio. Her parents, Louise “Lou” Burnett and Joseph “Jody” Burnett, had moved to Los Angeles in the early 1930s in order to make it in the movie industry, leaving their infant daughter behind in the Lone Star State. Lou and Jody ended up divorcing a few years later and didn’t send for Carol until she was seven, at which point she and her grandmother said goodbye to Texas and headed West where they moved into a one bedroom studio apartment in a building named the Hollywood Arms. So, of course, as soon as I finished the book, I had to run right out and stalk the place.

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Because Carol had been raised pretty much since infancy by her grandmother, she chose to stay with Nanny and not her mother upon moving into the Hollywood Arms. Nanny and Carol settled into Room 102, a studio apartment on the building’s first floor, just a few doors down from Lou. The tiny room, which Carol described as a “12 foot by 16 foot box”, was comprised of a kitchenette, a tiny bathroom, and one single Murphy bed, which is where Nanny slept. Carol bunked on a small couch in a corner of the room and used the shower rod in the bathroom as her closet. During her childhood years, she spent quite a bit of time on the building’s roof, staring up at the Hollywood sign and dreaming of one day becoming a famous actress. She would also often play “movie star” on the roof with her best friend and neighbor, Illomay Sills. Carol and Nanny remained residents of Room 102 for the next fourteen years, until 1954, when the wanna-be actress migrated to New York to pursue a career on Broadway. Nanny stayed behind at the Arms until Lou passed away in 1959, at which point Carol moved her to a bigger apartment a few blocks away on Cherokee Avenue.

With all of the changes in Hollywood in recent years, I wasn’t sure if Carol’s former apartment building would still be standing today. But, thankfully, it is! The 49-unit building, which was originally built in the 1920’s, was purchased by a real estate development company named StarPoint Properties in 2003 and underwent an extensive renovation and restoration process shortly thereafter. And, while the exterior supposedly looks much the same today as it did when Carol lived there back in the ‘40s, the building and surrounding area are much more upscale now than they were then. You can see some current interior photographs of the building here.

And, let me tell you, I just about died when I noticed that one of the hallway windows was open while I was stalking the building yesterday, allowing me a quick glimpse of the interior. I could only just barely see the entrance to Room 104, which I am assuming is located just two doors down from Carol and Nanny’s old studio, which, unfortunately, was not visible. Oh, how I would have loved to have seen the doorway to Room 102! And, believe me, I tried, but my neck just wouldn’t crane that far. 😉

In 1985, long after she had become a star and her beloved grandmother had passed away, Carol returned to the Hollywood Arms and Room 102 to revisit old memories. The new occupants graciously left the premises for an hour, so she could spend a bit of time in her childhood home. Of the experience she said, “You think when you’re gonna go back that it’s going to look different . . . maybe smaller, because you’re taller, I don’t know, but this is just the way I remembered it: the same walls, the same size, the same colors.” The above photograph was taken during her visit in 1985.

She also stipulated that day that “this’ll be the last time I’ll ever see it, I know that . . . ”, but, in fact, she was wrong. In 1998, Carol and her daughter, Carrie Hamilton, began a five year process of co-writing a play based on Carol’s childhood. They named the play “Hollywood Arms” in honor of Carol’s former home. In 2001, while in the midst of the writing process, Carol went back to the Arms building and was shocked to find the place undergoing StarPoints Properties massive renovation. When she discovered that Room 102 was vacant, she immediately rented it to use as her writing office. Prior to moving in, Carol and her daughter burned sage in every corner of the tiny studio in the hopes of removing the bad spirits and sad memories. “Hollywood Arms” went on to become a hit, but sadly Carrie passed away in January of 2002, a few months before the show opened on Broadway. You can read more about the play here.

Big THANK YOU to Lavonna for giving me One More Time: A Memoir, which led me to write this post. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Hollywood Arms, aka Carol Burnett’s childhood home, is located at 6434 Yucca Street in Hollywood. Carol and her beloved Nanny lived in Room 102.

April 30, 2010
The Magic Castle Hotel from “The Hills”

If I had a nickel for every time one of my fellow stalkers asked me for a reasonably-priced Hollywood area hotel recommendation . . . well, let’s just say that I’d have a lot more Louis Vuitton in my life than I do right now. 😉 And I never really had a solid answer to the query until I met fellow stalker Lavonna, who hails from Cincinnati, Ohio, this past November. Lavonna makes a stalking pilgrimage to the L.A. area at least once a year and, without fail, she always books a room at the very same place – the Magic Castle Hotel on Franklin Avenue right in the heart of Hollywood. Lavonna has been singing the Magic Castle’s praises so loudly ever since I’ve known her that I couldn’t help but sit up and take notice. So, when she came to town this past week, along with her daughter, Melissa, and her good friend, Debbie, and invited me to stop by her temporary digs, I jumped at the chance to see the place for myself. Especially after Lavonna told me that the hotel had appeared in a Season 3 episode of The Hills! A fabulous hotel that’s also a filming location? What more could a visiting stalker ask for? 😉 So, even though I’ve never stayed there myself, now that I’ve seen the place in person, I can honestly say that for reasonably-priced accommodations in Hollywood, look no further than the Magic Castle Hotel.

The 40-room Magic Castle Hotel is located right in the heart of Hollywood and within walking distance of all of the major Boulevard attractions. From the outside, the place almost looks like an old-school apartment complex, which I believe it actually was back in the early days of Hollywood. As I mentioned above, the boutique-style hotel, which was completely remodeled in 2004, is very reasonably priced (rates average $100 to $215 per night, depending on the time of year and size of the room), especially by Southern California standards, and the staff’s main focus is service, service, service. The Magic Castle website states, “A lot of hotels talk about their customer service. Here at the Magic Castle Hotel, we live it. We’re not about stuffy ambience and rigid policy – rather, we strive to offer the friendliest, most personalized and accommodating service to every one of our customers.” And I am very happy to report that they have succeeded in achieving that goal – with flying colors! In fact, I’ve never seen anything quite like the Magic Castle Hotel when it comes to their level of personalized customer service. First of all, their mini-bar, which includes over forty snack items – everything from Peanut M&M’s to microwave popcorn – is absolutely FREE. I’m not joking! I mean, have you ever even heard of such a thing? Oh, and if you want something that’s not listed on the menu, don’t worry, they’ll go out and get it for you! During Lavonna’s first stay at the Magic Castle Hotel, she called down to the front desk to inquire if they had Mountain Dew, her favorite soft-drink. They didn’t, but they actually went out later that day and purchased some for her! Then when she checked into the hotel during her next visit, not only had Mountain Dew been added to the mini-bar menu, but there was a twelve pack of it waiting for her in her room! How incredibly cool is that?

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Other freebies include wireless internet access, which is available in every room, daily continental breakfast, over one hundred DVD titles available from the front desk (each room comes equipped with a DVD player), and popsicles and “ice-cold towels infused with lavender and mint” which attendants serve every hour on the hour to those guests laying by the pool. But the Magic Castle’s special level of service goes far beyond freebies. When Lavonna and friends checked into their room this past week, there was a bottle of champagne and a huge bunch of balloons waiting for them in honor of Debbie’s 50th birthday, which they were in town to celebrate. There was also a handmade card with a picture of Ellen DeGeneres on the front (Lavonna is a huge Ellen fan) which read “Ellen and the Magic Castle Hotel welcome you back to Hollywood!” Then, when they returned to the hotel after dinner that evening, they were a dozen Sprinkles cupcakes awaiting them. A woman on the staff had remembered that Lavonna was a big fan of the cupcake chain and had driven out to Beverly Hills to pick some up for her earlier that morning. I’m really not kidding! I mean, have you ever heard of this kind of personalized service at a hotel? It’s beyond incredible! I had the pleasure of meeting the Magic Castle’s Chief Operating Officer, Darren Ross, while I was stalking the hotel and he honestly could NOT have been nicer. As a matter of fact, the entire staff was insanely nice. When we left to go out stalking for the day, the manager even went so far as to pack up a HUGE bag filled with snacks and drinks for us to take on the road. Amazing! Oh, and, during their stay, all hotel guests are also given access to the ultra-exclusive, members-only Magic Castle club and restaurant, a place that I have been DYING to get into ever since I moved to L.A.

I realize this post must sound like one big Magic Castle Hotel advertisement, but I was just so impressed with the place that I had to blog about it. And while the hotel is by no means fancy or luxurious – if you’re looking for those kinds of accommodations, I’d suggest the Roosevelt Hotel or the new W, but believe me, you’ll pay up the wazoo for each of them – it’s an extremely nice place, especially for the price and I’d stay there in a heartbeat!

And, as I mentioned above, the hotel is also a filming location! The Magic Castle appeared in the Season 3 episode of The Hills entitled “For Better or Worse”, in the scene in which Lauren Conrad and Whitney Port meet up with the band Red Jumpsuit Apparatus (that’s honestly their name!) to do a wardrobe fitting prior to a Teen Vogue photo shoot.

Quite a few areas of the hotel appeared in the episode, including the front parking lot;

the main entrance;

and Room 215, where the band was staying.

The interior of Room 215 was also shown in the episode, but unfortunately I didn’t get to stalk it while I was there. I so would have loved to have seen it, though!

Big THANK YOU to Lavonna for telling me about this location and for allowing me stalk her room. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Magic Castle Hotel is located at 7025 Franklin Avenue in Hollywood. You can visit their website here. The “For Better of Worse” episode of The Hills was filmed in Room 215.

April 21, 2010
The Michael Jackson Auditorium at Gardner Street Elementary School

A few weeks ago, fellow stalker and mega-MJ-aficionado David from Spain told me about a King of Pop location that I wasn’t previously aware of – the Michael Jackson Auditorium at Gardner Street Elementary School. So, of course, I just had to run right out and stalk it! MJ attended the Hollywood area school for a few brief months in late 1969/early 1970, after the 11-year old singer and his four brothers first moved to Southern California from their hometown of Gary, Indiana to begin their new lives as performers. At the time, the Jackson 5, who had recently been signed to the Motown record label, were on the cusp of superstardom. Young Michael attended sixth grade classes at Gardner Street Elementary School during the day – you can view his class picture here – while the group recorded songs for their new label at night. But, in January of 1970, after only a few short months at the school, the Jackson 5 skyrocketed to fame, their single “I Want You Back” hit number one, and Michael’s popularity made it so that he could no longer be a part of a normal school environment. He withdrew from Gardner Street and from that point forward was homeschooled by a private tutor named Rose Fine. But the story doesn’t end there.

In 1989, almost two full decades after he attended classes there, Gardner Street Elementary School decided to honor its most famous alumnae by renaming its assembly room the “Michael Jackson Auditorium”. On October 11th, to the delight of the student body, the King of Pop himself showed up for the dedication ceremony, where he was presented with a plaque by his sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Laura Gerson. The pop star made a brief speech thanking the students, the faculty, and the PTA, donated a large sum of money to the school, planted rose bushes on the campus, and even signed the wall of Room 8 – his former sixth grade classroom. In the years following the dedication, Michael also personally paid the salary of the school’s music teacher out of his own pocket, an act which I find absolutely amazing!

You can watch a video of the Michael Jackson Auditorium dedication ceremony by clicking above.

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But, once again, the story doesn’t end there. Sadly, in November of 2003, following the singer’s arrest on molestation charges in the Gavin Arvizo case, Gardner Street School covered over the Michael Jackson portion of the auditorium’s sign with paint and a plywood box. According to a November 25, 2003 Los Angeles Times article written by Erika Hayasaki, school district spokeswoman Stephanie Brady stated that administrators chose to cover the sign due to complaints from angry parents. She said the sign “may” be uncovered following the trial, if the singer was found innocent. But, even though, Michael Jackson was indeed acquitted of all charges on June 13, 2005, the sign remained covered, and still does to this day, seven years after the fact. And while in America one is supposed to remain innocent until proven guilty, that certainly wasn’t the case here. It’s pretty unbelievable to me that after BOTH his acquittal and subsequent death this past June, the plywood box has yet to come down. You can see what the Michael Jackson Auditorium looked like before its sign was covered up here.

All that currently remains alerting anyone to the auditorium’s former name is a small plaque which reads “Michael Jackson Auditorium, Dedicated October 11, 1989”. The plaque is barely visible, though, and we had to use my fiancé’s telephoto lens to snap a picture of it. After telling me about this location, fellow stalker David said “I must admit, I am dying to stalk this place . . . but, at the same time, I am also dying to to go there and throw a bunch of eggs at their doors.” And that pretty much sums up how I felt while I was there, too. English may be his second language, but David sure has a way with words! 🙂

Big THANK YOU to David for telling me about this location! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Michael Jackson Auditorium can be found at Gardner Street Elementary School which is located at 7450 Hawthorn Avenue in Hollywood. The Auditorium can best be viewed from the corner of Hawthorne Avenue and North Gardner Street. Please remember that this location is a school and that schools do NOT take kindly to trespassing. I must caution you that there are, by no stretch of the imagination, at least ten signs out front warning that all uninvited visitors who trespass will be arrested and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Schools don’t really mess around when it comes to trespassing, so please be aware that if you set foot on the Gardner Street Elementary School campus you are breaking the law and will be subject to arrest. To sign a petition to restore Michael Jackson’s name to the Gardner Street Elementary School auditorium, please click here and to learn more about the cause, click here.

April 19, 2010
Marilyn Monroe’s Childhood Orphanage

It’s shaping up to be Marilyn Monroe week here at iamnotastalker, because here I am yet again blogging about yet another location relating to the late actress. Thanks to the “Movie Star Homes and Notorious Crime Scenes” map that Mike, from MovieShotsLA, purchased for me while the two of us were out and about doing some Oscar Weekend stalking earlier this month, we were able to visit the famous Hollygrove Home for Children, the orphanage where a young girl named Norma Jeane Baker spent twenty-one formative months of her childhood. For some particularly odd reason I had always been under the incorrect assumption that Marilyn’s childhood orphanage was located in the Van Nuys area, so when I found it’s Hollywood address on my new star map, I was absolutely elated and begged Mike to drive right over there so that we could stalk the place. As fate would have it, Marilyn’s former orphanage is located a scant seven blocks away from Tom Kelley’s Photography Studio – the spot where she would later take her now infamous nude calendar photos in 1949 – which I blogged about on Friday.

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In December of 1934, Marilyn’s mother Gladys, who had long suffered from mental illness, had a complete emotional breakdown and was committed to an asylum. Her eight year old daughter, Norma Jeane Baker, was sent to live with Grace McKee, her mother’s best friend, whom Marilyn soon nicknamed “Aunt Grace”. Aunt Grace cared for the young girl for about a year until she lost her job with Columbia Pictures and could no longer afford to do so. On September 13, 1935, she was forced to bring Norma Jeane to the Los Angeles Orphans Home Society – Hollygrove’s original name – where she became the orphanage’s 3,463rd ward. Marilyn stayed at Hollygrove on and off for a period of almost two years, during which time she was also shuttled between no less than nine different foster homes. She left the orphanage for good on June 12, 1937, at which time she moved back in with Grace McKee where she remained for about a year before being shuttled off to yet another family member.   And while some Marilyn biographies stipulate that the star played up her sad upbringing as part of her Hollywood persona and did not really live in quite as many foster homes as she led people to believe, spending any part of one’s childhood in an orphanage constitues a “Hard Knock Life” in my eyes. It’s amazing to think of what she was able to do with her life after surviving such a tumultous beginning.

As legend has it, the window of Marilyn’s orphanage dormitory, which she shared with 26 other girls, looked out upon the former RKO Studio’s water tower and led to her dreams of someday becoming a world famous movie star. One of my all-time favorite quotes from the actress reads, “I used to think as I looked at the Hollywood night, ‘There must be thousands of girls sitting alone like me, dreaming of becoming a movie star. But I’m not going to worry about them. I’m dreaming the hardest.’” Love it!



The Los Angeles Orphans Home Society, which changed its name to the Hollygrove Home For Children in 1957, was originally founded in 1880 in Chinatown and was L.A.’s very first orphanage.   It moved to its current location in Hollywood a few years later where it served as a home for displaced children for over 125 years. In 2006, Hollygrove transitioned from a residential center for abandoned children to an “EMQ Families First Agency”, which, as far as I’ve been able to discern, is an outpatient treatment center for young child abuse victims. Sadly, as you can see in the above photographs, the property looks much different today than it did in the ‘30s when Marilyn lived there. You can read a more detailed history of the former orphanage here.

I am very happy to report that the old Hollygrove sign in still in place, though, which was incredibly exciting for me to see in person.

If you look closely in the above photographs, you will see that someone even went so far as to spell out “Norma Jeane” on the bottom part of the Hollygrove letters. So darn cool! 🙂 While we were stalking Marilyn’s former orphanage, Mike rang the front buzzer to see if we might be allowed inside. When I asked him what he was going to say to whomever picked up the phone, he joked, “I’m going to tell them that my name is Mike Monroe and that I’m interested in adopting a little blond girl.” LOL LOVE IT! I swear I was still cracking up over that statement hours later. Sadly, though, Hollygrove’s main office was already closed by the time we got there and no one answered our call, which is especially upsetting being that according to this L.A. Times article there is actually a “hallway museum” inside of the former orphanage which features photographs of a young Marilyn.   Oh, what I wouldn’t give to see those!

During Marilyn’s stay at Hollygrove, she attended Vine Street Elementary School, which is located just a few blocks away from the former orphanage, so, of course, Mike and I just had to stalk that location as well.   Because school was in session at the time, though, we didn’t get to take many photographs of the property while there. 🙁

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Hollygrove, Marilyn Monroe’s former orphanage, is located at 815 North El Centro Avenue in Hollywood. Vine Street Elementary School is located at 955 North Vine Street, also in Hollywood.

March 23, 2010
Tom Kelley’s Photography Studio – The Site of Marilyn Monroe’s Nude Pictorial

A few weeks ago, while out doing some Oscar stalking with Mike, from MovieShotsLA, the two of us visited a convenience store on Hollywood Boulevard which just so happened to be selling the latest edition of fave star map “Movie Star Homes and Notorious Crime Scenes”. So, I, of course, just had to buy myself a copy (actually, truth be told, Mike purchased it for me – Thank you, Mike!) and was absolutely floored to discover that one of the many new addresses included in the map was that of Tom Kelley’s former photography studio, the very place where a then-unknown wanna-be actress named Norma Jeane Baker posed for her now-infamous series of nude calendar photographs on May 27, 1949. Just twenty-two years old at the time, the blonde ingenue, who would just a short time later come to be known as one of the most famous movie stars in the entire world, posed sans clothing while laying on top of a drape made of red velvet. When later asked about what she was wearing during the controversial photo shoot, Marilyn said, “It’s not true that I had nothing on. I had the radio on.” Love it! Well, once I had the address of the studio, Mike and I headed right over there to stalk the place.   Yay!

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Tom Kelley’s former photography studio is currently inhabited by Pictures in a Row, a production company which touts the famous history of their office space right on their website – SO LOVE IT! The studio is unfortunately gated, but, as luck would have it – and I always seem to have the most AMAZING luck when I am out with Mike – one of the Pictures in a Row employees just happened to be standing outside of the gate when we pulled up. So we, of course, got to talking to him and I told him about my blog and my love of Miss Monroe and asked if I could snap a few photographs. Well, not only did he tell me to snap away, but he then asked – are you sitting down for this? – if I wanted to COME INSIDE THE STUDIO TO SEE WHERE THE FAMOUS PHOTOGRAPHS HAD BEEN TAKEN!   Well, let me tell you, I just about FAINTED right there on the spot! Did I want to come inside???? Did I want to come inside????? OF COURSE I DID! So, after regaining my composure, he led me past the front gates and INTO TOM KELLEY’S FORMER STUDIO. As you can probably imagine, I was just about DYING the entire time. The interior of the studio is pictured above and while the employee told me that the space has undergone quite a few changes in the sixty some-odd years since Marilyn was photographed there . . .

. . . the ceiling has been left largely untouched. So, what is pictured above is pretty much the exact view Marilyn had as she looked upwards while Tom Kelley photographed her from a ten foot ladder. So darn cool! I really can’t tell you how incredible it was to be able to actually set foot inside of such a historically significant building onto what I very much consider to be hallowed ground.

Because Marilyn’s calendar photographs became so incredibly famous, the legends surrounding them abound. There are even differing reports as to why the struggling starlet posed in the first place, but according to her official statement she was behind on a rent payment and simply needed the $50 paycheck. Apparently, after the two hour session ended, the photographs of Marilyn sat in one of Tom Kelley’s filing cabinets for over a year until Western Lithograph contacted him to see if he had any nudes he’d be willing to sell. Kelley ended up selling the company two of his Marilyn photographs for a mere $200 fee and it was those two prints, which were entitled “Golden Dreams” and “A New Wrinkle”, that wound up in the calendar. The calendars were then sold and hung up in men’s garages all over the U.S., but it wasn’t until March of 1952 that a newspaper journalist named Aline Mosby identified the now-wildly-famous Marilyn as the calendar’s model.   What followed was a virtual media firestorm, making Monroe more popular than she already was. But the story doesn’t end there. In 1953, a young entrepreneur named Hugh Hefner purchased one of Kelley’s prints and featured it as the centerfold in the very first issue of his new men’s magazine which he dubbed Playboy. That first issue sold a staggering 54,000 copies and turned the magazine and its creator into household names. The rest, as they say, is history. Marilyn was so significant in building Heff’s empire, in fact, that he wound up purchasing the crypt directly next to hers at Pierce Brothers Westwood Memorial Park Cemetery so that he could lay in eternal rest with the woman who launched his career. The area of the studio where Marilyn posed is denoted with the pink arrow in the above photograph.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Tom Kelley’s former photography studio, where Marilyn posed for her now infamous nude calendar pictures, is located at 736 Seward Street in Hollywood.

March 19, 2010
Stalking the WB – For the Third Time!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Unlike the facade pictured above which has no interior area.

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

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





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



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





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

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

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



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

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

the Bat-Pod motorcycle;

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



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

the “Shaguar” from Austin Powers in Goldmember;



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

the Nerd Herd car from Chuck;

the General Lee from The Dukes of Hazzard;

several vehicles from AI, including the Hovercopter;

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

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

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





And I just HAD to take pictures of absolutely EVERYTHING!

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

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

January 22, 2010
Clown Dog Restaurant from “Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead”

UPDATE – I just drove by this location last week and was shocked to discover that the entire thing had been completely torn down. The only part of it left standing is the All American Burger sign pictured below. 🙁 A Chipotle restaurant is currently being built in its place. So incredibly sad!  I will leave this post up, though, for those stalkers who are interested in seeing photographs of how it used to look.

A few weeks ago, I dragged my boyfriend out to Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood to stalk a restaurant named All American Burger – a location which has been on my list of places to stalk ever since fellow stalker Owen informed me that it stood in for the Clown Dog diner where Bryan (aka Josh Charles) worked in fave movie Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead. In a random twist of fate, Owen happened upon this information during his search for the main house used in Don’t Tell Mom back in September. While trying to track down that location, Owen came across an interview with actor Keith Coogan, who played Christina Applegate’s younger brother Kenny in the flick, who had this to say, “The film was shot entirely in Southern California. Mostly in the San Fernando Valley and Santa Clarita/Antelope Valley areas. The house is really close to Six Flags Magic Mountain. Some locations were in the heart of Hollywood, like the roof of the Holiday Inn, and the Clown Dog is actually an ‘All American Burger’ located on Sunset Blvd. Some scenes were shot in Santa Monica and Malibu, as well as some interiors which were filmed in Simi Valley/Sherman Oaks.”   (Unfortunately, for the life of me, I cannot find the source of that interview online, otherwise I would post a link to it here.) An actor who not only remembers where scenes from his movies were filmed, but actually references them in an interview??? SO LOVE IT!!!!! Thank you, Keith!!! So, once I heard where Clown Dog was located, I immediately added the address to my long “to stalk” list and finally made it out there to see the place in person just a few weeks back. YAY!

And, let me tell you, this was one stalk that was DEFINITELY worth the wait. As fate would have it, the owner of the restaurant, an INCREDIBLY nice man named Lang, was working behind the counter when we arrived. Of course, the first words out of my mouth were, “Was Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead filmed here?” Lang laughed and told me that yes, indeed, the movie had been filmed on the premises. I then asked him if everyone who came in inquired about the very same thing, to which he replied “You’re only the second person in the twenty-plus years I’ve worked here who has ever asked me that!” LOL It’s nice to know I’m unique!   Lang seemed truly amused at my excitement over stalking his restaurant and really could NOT have been nicer about it. Not only did he tell me that I was welcome to take all of the pictures of the place that I wanted . . .

. . . BUT HE ALSO LET ME DON ONE ONE OF THE ALL AMERICAN BURGER UNIFORMS AND STEP BEHIND THE COUNTER TO POSE FOR A PIC! LOVE IT! LOVE IT! LOVE IT!

I also so love it that the real All American Burger hat is almost exactly the same as the Clown Dog hat that Christina Applegate wore in the movie! 🙂

Because my fiancé and I were both starving at the time, we just had to grab a bite to eat during our stalk. And, let me tell you, we were not disappointed! While All American Burger is by no means fancy, their food is simply A-MA-ZING! The menu features your typical all-American fare, such as burgers, hot dogs, and French fries, all of which happen to be right up my alley. 🙂 My fiancé and I ended up splitting a cheeseburger and fries – both of which were excellent! And the Grim Cheaper was very excited about the fact that the entire meal cost us $4!   Even more exciting to him, though, had to be the restaurant’s working pinball machine, which he played quite a few games on. So cool! (Please pardon the above picture, I was in a goofy mood that day. 🙂 )

All American Burger pops up twice in Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead. It first shows up in the beginning of the movie, in the scene in which Sue Ellen (aka Swell), gets a job working behind the counter of the fast food restaurant.

Fed up with Mr. Egg, her perennially happy boss, Swell quits her new job after only one day of work, but not before making a romantic connection with fellow Clown Dog employee Bryan.

The restaurant next shows up towards the end of the movie, in the scene in which Swell, upset over her recent fight with Bryan, drives by Clown Dog and sadly watches him working through the window.

I am very happy to report that although over 18 years have passed since Don’t Tell Mom was filmed, All American Burger still looks very much the same in person as it did onscreen. Missing in real life, of course, is the circus themed decor that was used to dress the restaurant during the filming. Besides Don’t Tell Mom, All American Burger has also been featured in a recent episode of Southland and in an album cover for one of musician Howie Day’s CD’s. And because the restaurant is something of a Hollywood institution, celebs have been known to stop in there from time to time, including The O.C.’s Adam Brody, who is a regular. 🙂

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Big THANK YOU to Owen for finding this location! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: All American Burger, aka Clown Dog from Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead, was located at 7660 West Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood.

December 14, 2009
Heidi and Spencer’s New House

Ever since Season 5, Part II of The Hills premiered back in September, I have been getting email requests to locate the house Spencer and Heidi moved into in the debut episode which was entitled “It’s On Bitch”.   Thankfully, fellow stalker Virginie tracked down the duo’s new home pretty much immediately after the episode aired and posted a comment on my site which included the house’s address and a link to it’s former real estate website. YAY! Thank you, Virginie! Anyway, because I’ve been knee-deep in writing posts about New York filming locations for the past six weeks, I had yet to make it out to the Hollywood Hills to stalk Speidi’s new pad. But, for the sake of my friendship with Mike, from MovieShotsLA – who for weeks has been hounding me to return to my roots, so to speak, and do some L.A. area blogging – this weekend I decided to finally drag my boyfriend out to Spencer and Heidi’s new abode. Better late than never, right?

Sadly, though, Speidi’s new home is located at the top of a private road and I was not able to get a very good look at it. 🙁 Such a bummer, but I am guessing that its location on a private drive is exactly why they chose to live in the house – that way they can keep all of us stalkers at bay. 🙁   The photograph above shows the view of the road leading up to Heidi and Spencer’s house as viewed from Hollyridge Drive. The duo’s house is located at the very top of the road, alongside two other homes, and therefore cannot be seen at all from the main drag.

But, if you continue on about 100 yards past the private road, you can catch a slight glimpse of the back of the house and its deck area, which is better than nothing! 🙂

In the “It’s On Bitch” episode, Spencer rents the two bedroom, three bath, 1,270 square foot home pictured above behind his new wife Heidi’s back. And while I would die to live in this house, when Spencer first takes Heidi to tour it, she says it looks “cold and modern” and “like a porno pad”. LOL LOL LOL   Sorry, Heidi, but I am going to have to side with your hubby on this one. The house is A-MA-ZING!

I mean, the view of the Hollywood sign alone makes the place worth renting! LOVE IT!

And, unlike Whitney Port’s apartment on The City, a different location is not used for the exterior shots of Speidi’s house on The Hills. As you can see on the home’s real estate website, the same place is used for both the interior and the exterior shots shown on the series.

And even though something tells me that the dynamic duo no longer lives in the house – and quite possibly never did, but just used it for filming purposes – I was still pretty floored to spot their telescope, which can be seen in the background of various Hills episodes, through the abode’s back windows. SO LOVE IT! 🙂

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Big THANK YOU to Virginie for finding this location!! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Heidi and Spencer’s new house is located at 3132 Hollyridge Drive in the Hollywood Hills. Please be advised that while Hollyridge Drive is not a private street, the road leading up to their particular house is, so please do not trespass. For the best view of their home, take Hollyridge Drive a few hundred yards South past the private road.

November 24, 2009