Tag: Hollywood

Lila’s Apartment Building on Dexter

A few months ago, my fiancé and I started watching the Showtime television series Dexter and I have to say that it didn’t take very long for the two of us to become completely and totally obsessed with it. So, as I’m sure you can probably imagine, I’ve also become pretty obsessed lately with the Seeing Stars website page that catalogs the many filming locations featured on the show. In fact, I can’t even watch an episode of Dexter now without having my laptop next to me and open to the site! LOL Anyway, after my fiancé and I had finished watching the series’ second season, I was absolutely dying to stalk the apartment building belonging to Dexter’s psychopathic girlfriend Lila Tournay on the show. And, while I actually could NOT stand the character of Lila, I absolutely loved her loft-style apartment, which is one of the main reasons I wanted to stalk it. But that’s not actually the whole story. The biggest reason that I wanted to stalk it is that it was actually thanks to Lila’s building that fellow stalker Chas was able to locate the Girls Just Want to Have Fun apartment for me. Apparently, Gary from Seeing Stars was having a hard time tracking down Lila’s building, so he enlisted the help of master stalker Chas in his hunt. And while Lila’s building and the GJWTHF building don’t look all that much alike, they do both have central courtyards and are both made out of brick. So, during his search for Gary, Chas came across the GJWTHF apartment and took a close look at it. And, while he quickly realized that it wasn’t the Dexter building, he remembered it later when I mentioned my GJWTHF quest. And the rest, as they say, is history! If it hadn’t been for Dexter, it’s quite possible Chas never would have found the GJWTHF apartment, and because of that, Lila’s building will always hold a VERY special place in my heart. 🙂

The exterior of Lila’s apartment building was shown repeatedly throughout Dexter’s second season, beginning with the episode entitled “Dex, Lies, and Videotape”, and I am very happy to report that it looks exactly the same in person as it did on the show. Well, sort of!

As it turns out, the view of the building shown on Dexter is not actually the view of the building that is visible from the street. The view featured on the show is actually the building’s side entrance, which can only be reached via a gated parking lot located just East of the complex. You can compare the view shown on Dexter to the street view of the building in the screen capture and photograph pictured above. As you can see, they look nothing alike.

But if you go around to the East side of the building, you’ll see the entrance that was shown on Dexter, looking much the same as it did in the series. 🙂

Sadly, though, that entrance is located behind a locked gate and is not accessible to the public. But as it turns out, when Chas stalked the building back in February of this year, the stalking gods were smiling down on him because he was actually invited onto the property! 🙂 As fate would have it, when Chas first showed up to stalk Lila’s place, a gentleman happened to be outside painting the gate and when he noticed Chas snapping photographs, he, of course, asked why. When Chas explained that the building was featured on Dexter, a show which the painter had never heard of LOL, he opened the gate and allowed Chas to step inside to get some better photographs. YAY! You can see Chas’ pictures here.

And while the interior of Lila’s apartment was actually filmed on a soundstage at Sunset Gower Studios and not at this location, as you can see in the sign pictured above, the building is actually made up of loft-style apartments just like Lila’s. 🙂

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Big THANK YOU to Chas for finding this location! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Lila’s apartment building from the television series Dexter is located at 6201 Yucca Street in Hollywood.

September 30, 2009
Jaime Pressly’s I Love You, Man House

A few months back, I asked fellow stalker Owen for some help in tracking down all of the filming locations from fave movie I Love You, Man. The spot I was most interested in stalking was the charming little house belonging to Denise (aka Jaime Pressly) and her brutish husband Barry (aka Jon Favreau) in the flick. Ever since seeing the movie this past March, I have been absolutely obsessed with that house. It is just so darn cute! And I was one hundred percent convinced that it was located somewhere in the Pasadena area. For some reason, it just looked like a Pasadena-style home to me. In fact, I would have bet my bottom dollar on it! So, you can imagine my surprise when I got a text back from Owen saying that he had contacted an I Love You, Man crew member who told him that the house was actually located in . . . Hollywood! I absolutely could not believe it! Hollywood probably would have been just about the last place on earth I would have searched for that house. LOL It’s a good thing I had Owen on the case, as I’m fairly certain this is one location I never would have found without him. So, this past weekend, with the address in hand, I dragged my fiancé out to finally stalk the home.

Well, that’s not exactly the whole story. Truth be told, this is one location that I actually had to stalk twice! LOL A few weeks ago, my dad asked me if I would drive him to a doctor’s appointment which just happened to be right near the I Love You, Man house. I told him I’d be happy to, as long as we could do some stalking along the way. He, of course, said “no”, but, because I thought he was just joking around, I dragged him out to the house anyway. Well, as it turns out, he wasn’t joking around – AT ALL – and was not especially happy with me once I pulled up to the house. In fact, I believe his exact words were, “Where the hell are we and why are you stopping the car????” LOL LOL LOL Karma came back to bite me, though, because when I pulled my camera out of my purse to snap a few photographs of the house, I realized that it felt rather light and my mind immediately flashed back to the camera battery that I had plugged into the charger the night before and had forgotten to put back in the morning. UGH! So, this past weekend, I returned to the house yet again, this time with my fiancé – and camera battery – in tow. 🙂

I am very happy to report that Jaime Pressly’s I Love You, Man house is absolutely ADORABLE in person– even cuter than it appeared onscreen. I’d even say it was worth all the trouble I had to go to to get to it. LOL The house definitely has a fairy tale/storybook style feel to it and is a little bit reminiscent of Hilary Duff’s house from fave movie A Cinderella Story. So love it! Because it is so cute, I’m actually very surprised that it hasn’t been featured in even more productions.

The exterior of the house is actually only featured in two very brief scenes in the movie. It first shows up as the site of Jon Favreau’s infamous poker night party, where his “Boat Race” beer drinking game ends very badly.

The front porch of the house next shows up as the place where Rashida Jones and Paul Rudd make up after calling off their engagement towards the end of the flick. And from how it appears in that scene, I believe the real interior of the house was also used for some of the filming.

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I highly recommend stalking Jaime Pressly’s I Love You, Man house as it is just so darn cute in person. Just remember to bring your camera battery! 😉

Big THANK YOU to Owen for finding this location! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Jaime Pressly’s house from I Love You, Man is located at 532 North Las Palmas Avenue in Hollywood.

September 22, 2009
The Beethoven House

Got a challenge from Debbie a few weeks back to find the house used in the 1992 movie Beethoven and its many subsequent sequels. Debbie had just read my post on the Camden house from the television series 7th Heaven and was struck by how similar it looked to the home used in the Beethoven movies. Due to their similarities, she thought the two houses might be located in the same neighborhood and wanted me to find out. Well, while Debbie was certainly right that the Beethoven house does bear a striking resemblance to the 7th Heaven home, the two are actually located about 25 miles apart from each other. Mike, from MovieShotsLA, had actually shown me the Beethoven house a few months back during one of our many stalking trips. I had yet to blog about it, though, as I could not seem to find a copy of the movie anywhere and I needed one to make screen captures. For some reason, none of the Blockbuster stores in my area carry the title. Ugh! Then, last week, out of the blue, my fiancé caught an airing of Beethoven’s 2nd on TV, remembered that I had been looking for a copy of the movie, and TiVo’d it for me. Yay! I’m so glad I’m marrying this guy!!! 🙂

I am very happy to report that the Beethoven house looks EXACTLY the same today as it did back in 1992 when the movie was filmed – right down to the exterior paint color!!! So love it! In fact the ONLY difference I noticed between the onscreen house and the real life house were the trees in the front yard. Today those trees are considerably larger than they were at the time of filming, which isn’t at all surprising being that the movie was shot over 17 years ago.

Interestingly enough, fellow stalker Amanda told me that when she went on the Universal Studios Hollywood Tour a few years back, her guide pointed out a home on the Wisteria Lane set (which was then known as “Colonial Street”) and said that it was used in the Beethoven movies. And while it’s quite possible that a replica of the real life home was re-created on the Universal backlot and used for some filming, I believe that the majority of the exterior scenes were actually shot at the real life house in South Pasadena. According to this fabulous website, the Wisteria Lane set was in fact used in the first Beethoven movie, but not for any of the house scenes. Apparently, the backlot street was featured in the scene when the dogs escape out of the back of a van.

Surprisingly enough, I’ve never actually seen any of the Beethoven movies, so I am not sure how many of the installments were filmed at this house. I do know for sure that it was used in the first Beethoven movie and in Beethoven’s 2nd, but from what I’ve been able to discern online, the other four sequels (yes, the movie had a total of FIVE sequels!) were filmed elsewhere.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Beethoven House is located at 1405 Milan Avenue in South Pasadena. The home from the 1970’s television series Family is located just up the road from the Beethoven house at 1230 Milan Avenue.

September 17, 2009
Madame Tussauds Hollywood

This past weekend, while out stalking in Hollywood, my fiance and I walked right past the new Madame Tussauds wax museum and I just about had a total meltdown right there on the sidewalk of Hollywood Boulevard! The museum, which was supposed to open to the public on August 1st, was hosting a special preview event when we walked by and was absolutely booming with people!   I’d been awaiting the unveiling of the new Madame Tussauds location ever since hearing the news months ago that one was being built in Hollywood!!!   I had never been to a Madame Tussauds before, but had heard amazing things about the place and was absolutely DYING to visit one. So, I, of course, BEGGED my fiance to let me stalk it!

Well, as you can probably guess, the Grim Cheaper wasn’t too keen on shelling out the $20-a-piece special preview admission fee to gain entrance to the museum, but I took one look at the Marilyn Monroe figure they had posed outside – dressed in the EXACT same outfit she wore to her Hand and Footprint Ceremony back in 1953, no less – and that was it!! I was NOT taking no for an answer! We were GOING to Madame Tussauds!!!! 🙂

As Madame Tussauds themselves are quick to point out, the facility is not so much a museum per se, but, rather, an attraction. At a museum, visitors walk around simply looking at different items. Touching those items is usually a rather big no-no. At Madame Tussauds, however, not only are you encouraged to touch and feel the figurines, but the place is set up so that you can actually interact with them, as well!!!! In the American Idol room, not only can you sing a karaoke song and get judged by Simon Cowell himself, but you can actually sit in the judges booth . . . .

. . . or get interviewed post-song by none other than Ryan Seacrest. 🙂

You can also share a breakfast at Tiffany’s with Audrey Hepburn;

take a Psycho-style shower with Alfred Hitchcock directing,

seduce Dustin Hoffman;

have a red carpet interview with Joan Rivers;

re-enact a scene from The Godfather;

strike a pose with Marlene Dietrich,

and sit on Forrest Gump’s bench! Oh, and did I mention that Madame Tussauds also has a myriad of wigs, costumes, and props on hand to enhance your whole experience???

The vast majority of the figures on display in Madame Tussauds’ new 40,000 square foot, $55 million “attraction” are incredibly realistic looking! So realistic looking, in fact, that my fiance was even slightly creeped out by the whole thing!  Each figure takes about six months to contruct at a cost of approximately $300,000.   Madame Tussaud founded her unique wax sculpting technique over 200 years ago in London. She got her start by sculpting political figures of the day and taking them on the road as part of a traveling attraction.  Her first standing museum was established in 1835 at the Baker Street Bazaar, where curiosity seekers paid a sixpence to see figures such as Benjamin Franklin, Sir Walter Scott, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Today there are nine different Madame Tussauds (spelled without an apostrophe) locations stretching all across the globe, from places like Berlin and Shanghai to New York and Las Vegas.   The celebrities themselves pose for Madame Tussauds’ artisans, in a detailed photography and measurement sitting which can take anywhere from fifteen minutes to four hours. Most sittings are done at Merlin Studios in London, but due to the demanding schedules of some of the featured celebrities, artisans have had to take measurements and fittings as far East as Mumbai, India to the Ivy Restaurant in Hollywood. I’m not kidding! Madame Tussauds’ artists use hundreds of measurements and photographs and go to painstaking lengths to ensure that the height, proportion, look, feel, and spirit of each figure is exactly precise. Oftentimes the celebrity will donate their own clothing, jewelry, and even shoes for their counterpart to wear. For those few times when a celebrity does not donate their own outift, exacting replicas are made. So, pretty much every single aspect of every single wax figure displayed at Madame Tussauds is authentic! So cool! You can read more about Madame Tussauds incredible waxing technique here.

My personal favorite figurine of the entire attraction was, of course, my girl Jen, who sadly was one of the least realistic-looking. 🙁

By far, the most realistic looking figurine was that of Miss Britney Spears. Hers was truly unbelievable! I couldn’t take my eyes off of it!

And I was AMAZED at the height of both John Wayne and Clint Eastwood. To give you a frame of reference, I am 5’4″”, which makes these two absolutely GINORMOUS!

Other stars on hand at the attraction include Cameron Diaz,

Carrie Underwood,

Justin Timberlake,

Eddie Murphy,

Robert Redford and Paul Newman,

George Burns and Bob Hope,

Jim Carrey,

Sarah Michelle Geller,

Steven Spielberg – also one of the most realistic looking,

James Dean,

George Clooney,

Zac Efron,

and the subject of my girlhood crush, Leo DiCaprio – sigh!,

who was far too tall for me to kiss! LOL

Ostensibly missing from the attraction was a figurine of the King of Pop, which I found especially odd since I knew he had posed for one in the past as I saw a replica of it on display when I visited the Michael Jackson Exhibit by Julien’s Auctions this past April.   When I asked one of the workers about it, she said that because of his recent passing, Madame Tussands is currently in the process of sculpting a brand new tribute statue. 🙂 Thankfully, though, his hand cast – along with those of several other celebrities – was on hand for all of his fans to appreciate.

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Needless to say, I had an absolute BLAST at Madame Tussauds!! I loved every single minute of it! It was just SO MUCH FUN! I’m even pretty sure that my fiance, who could care less about anything having to do with Hollywood, had a good time. 🙂   I really can’t recommend stalking Madame Tussauds enough!!!!!   The attraction also features a sports section – which I, of course, zipped right through without a second glance LOL – for those who aren’t into the whole Hollywood thing.    🙂   Oh, and please accept my apologies for being in pretty much EVERY SINGLE picture featured on this post, but I just couldn’t help myself!!!!! I was like a kid in a candy store and just HAD to pose with ALL of the figures! 🙂

Oh, and there was also a certain celebrity couple on hand that I just had to give a piece of my mind to! 🙂   Felt SO good! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Madame Tussauds is located at 6933 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, right next door to Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.   Madame Tussauds is open daily from 10am to 8pm. During the summer months, they remain open until 10pm. Tickets are $25 per adult, $18 per student aged 13 to 18, $15 per child between the ages of 7 and 12, and children under the age of 7 are free. You can visit their website here.

July 30, 2009
The Blast from the Past House

UPDATE: Just a quick note to let all of you stalkers out there know that tonight at 11 p.m. PST I will be interviewed by radio host Peter Anthony Holder for his talk show Holder Tonight on Montreal’s number one English talk station, CJAD, and on their sister station CFRB, which is the number one talk station in Toronto! 🙂 Those of you who want to listen in to a live stream can do so at www.CJAD.com or www.CFRB.com. The live stream link for both stations is located on the upper left hand side of their homepage. Then tomorrow morning Kelly Green, from Tensessee’s The Farm 100.9, will be interviewing me at 7:20 a.m., but unfortunately it doesn’t look like that station has streaming audio. 🙁 http://www.thefarmradio.com/greenteam.htm Hopefully they will put the interview in the archive section of their website, though, and I’ll be able to post a link. Now on to the post! 🙂

A few weeks ago, I dragged Mike, from MovieShotsLA, out to a location I have been meaning to stalk for quite a while now – Alicia Silverstone’s cute little craftsman house from the 1999 movie Blast from the Past. I had actually been wanting to stalk the adorable house ever since I first saw the movie over ten years ago, but had no idea where it was located. So, when I found out that Mike knew the address and had actually stalked the home several times previously, I begged him to take me there. 🙂

I am very happy to report that the house looks exactly the same in person as it did onscreen in Blast from the Past – right down to the little red car parked out front! I’m not kidding – that red car really was parked out there while we were stalking the place!!!! LOL LOL LOL I was shocked to discover, though, that the Blast from the Past house was located in Los Angeles, because, thanks to its Craftsman style architecture, it actually looks more like a Pasadena area home. Even stranger still is the fact that in the beginning of the movie, when Brendan Fraser leaves his family’s bomb shelter, his mom tells him to seek out “a girl from Pasadena”, because she’s “always found girls from Pasadena to be a little bit nicer”. 🙂 So, basically, the Blast from the Past location scouts went, not to Pasadena, but to Los Angeles to find a Pasadena style home to stand in for a Pasadena girl’s residence. That’s Hollywood for you! 🙂

The house, most notably the front door and front porch area, show up numerous times throughout the movie.

And it is on the street in front of the home that Brendan Fraser runs away from the County Family Services people . . .

. . . and crashes his rented meat truck into the County Family Service woman’s car. LOL LOL LOL

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I was shocked to discover, while doing research for this post, that the same home was also used in the 1974 movie Chinatown as the house where the mysterious Katherine (Belinda Palmer) hides out. It is amazing to me how similar the home still looks thirty-five years later!! According to IMDB, the same house was also featured in the 2000 made-for-TV movie If These Walls Could Talk 2, but I haven’t been able to verify that. I can say for certain, though, that it was not the main house used in the movie.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Blast from the Past house is located at 1972 Canyon Drive, just off of Franklin Avenue, in Los Angeles.

July 8, 2009
The Nightmare on Elm Street Houses

While all of my friends and family are, for the most part, very supportive of my stalking endeavors, I still quite often get asked the question, “Do people really care about this stuff?” and “Can you explain your website to me, because I just don’t get it.” LOL One of the people who “just doesn’t get it” the most is my good friend, and fellow actor, Blaze. So, the other day, while the two of us were out and about in Hollywood, I decided to show him what my website is all about. 🙂 Blaze has long been a huge fan of the horror movie genre, and when I say a huge fan, I mean a HUGE fan. So, since we were in the area, I asked him if he wanted to see the two main houses from his very favorite horror movie, A Nightmare on Elm Street. Blaze was absolutely shocked – and appeared somewhat skeptical – that a) the Nightmare on Elm Street houses were located in the L.A. area, and that b) I actually knew where to find them.   Oh ye of little faith!

As I drove up to the home which stood in for Nancy’s in the movie – with a very smug smile on my face, I might add! – Blaze started SCREAMING his head off saying “OH MY GOD!   OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! IT’S THE NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET HOUSE!!” LOL He  hopped out of my car before I had even come to a complete stop and ran right up to the home’s front door to take a picture. He truly could not have been more excited!!! It’s stalking moments like this that I absolutely love – showing someone a location from a favorite movie and having it resonate with them just as much as it does with me. It’s the whole reason I started my blog.  🙂 And I’m pretty sure that Blaze now “gets it”.

I am very happy to report that Nancy (aka Heather Langenkamp’s) house looks pretty much exactly the same today as it did when A Nightmare on Elm Street was filmed there back in 1984. Blaze kept saying “Even the colors of the house are still the same!” 🙂 Nancy’s house also showed up in A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge, as the residence of Jesse Walsh.

Located directly across the street from Nancy’s house is the house that was used as Glen (aka Johnny Depp’s) in the movie. And I am happy to report that Glen’s house also looks pretty much EXACTLY the same as it did in A Nightmare on Elm Street. I find it amazing – and refreshing – that both Nightmare On Elm Street houses look the same today as they did in a movie which filmed over twenty-five years ago!

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On a sidenote, it turns out that A Nightmare on Elm Street was Johnny Depp’s very first acting role.   According to IMDB, Johnny was accompaning his good friend, actor Jackie Earle Haley, on an audition for the movie. While there, he was spotted by director Wes Craven, who took one look at him, liked what he saw, and asked him to audition for the part of Glen.  Johnny won the role and the rest, as they say, is cinematic history! 🙂 Check out Johnny’s crop top in the above pic. LOL LOL LOL

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Nancy’s house from A Nightmare on Elm Street is located at 1428 North Genesee Avenue in Hollywood. Glen’s house is located right across the street at 1419 North Genesee.

June 29, 2009
The “Joey” Apartment Building

For quite a while now I have been begging Mike, from MovieShotsLA, to locate the apartment building where Joey Tribbiani lived with his nephew, Michael, on the Friends spin-off Joey.   So, imagine my surprise when I came across the address randomly in The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book.   In the book, the address is listed as an almost after-thought, which is why it took me so long to notice it. LOL Apparently, most stalkers aren’t as interested in finding Joey filming locations as I am. 🙂 LOL Being that the show was canceled after only 14 episodes, I can’t say I’m all that surprised.   But, because Joey was always my favorite Friends character (besides Rachel, of course!), I absolutely loved that show!   “How you doin’?” 😉

On the show, Joey lived in a large apartment building named Monroe Manor, located directly beneath the Hollywood sign. Apparently, production designer John Schaffner chose the 50s style building because of its mid-century appeal. He said, “I didn’t want to do another Los Angeles show in a Spanish house or Craftsman cottage. I was more inspired by architects like Frank Lloyd Wright and Rudolph Schindler, who worked in natural materials that create a more casual feeling.” Monroe Manor definitely has a unique appearance to it and evokes a feeling of old time Hollywood.

The Monroe Manor complex was constructed in 1949 and is made up of ten terraced, duplex-type units built right into a Hollywood hillside. Each of the twenty apartments in the complex is entirely different in size and style. A side view of the building, which shows its tiered design, is pictured above. As you can see in the above photograph, the building is actually much larger than it’s front exterior would lead you to believe and much larger than it appeared onscreen in Joey.  I read online that Monroe Manor was supposedly modeled after my girl Marilyn Monroe, but – call me crazy – I just don’t see the resemblance. 😉 LOL I think it is safer to say that the building was most likely just named after her. 🙂

In an interesting side note, after Joey was cancelled in 2004, a paramedics company in Charlotte, North Carolina purchased the entire set from the show (pictured above) to be used for their training simulations! Apparently, simulations are acted out on the former Joey set and recorded for later review and evaluation.  How incredibly cool is that?? I so think I need to go work for that company!!!! North Carolina, here I come! 😉

In an even more interesting side note, when Matt LeBlanc first came to Hollywood, long before hitting it big with Friends, he actually lived at Monroe Manor!!!!! It was a complete coincidence years later when production designer John Schaffner chose the building to be used as the residence of struggling actor Joey Tribbiani. This was definitely a case of art imitating life! 🙂 Ironically, my good friend Maura has been asking me to find Matt LeBlanc’s house for some time now – so, Maura, this one’s for you. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Joey apartment building, aka Monroe Manor, is located at 2232 North Beachwood Canyon Drive in Hollywood. Joey lived in Apartment #7. In real life, Matt LeBlanc lived in #16.

June 17, 2009
Miceli’s Restaurant

After watching Kyra Sedgwick’s Star Ceremony last week, my friend Blaze and I headed over to Hollywood’s oldest pizzeria, better known as Miceli’s Restaurant, to grab a bite to eat.   Miceli’s – pronounced Micheli’s – opened its doors way back in 1949 and has the distinction of being known as Hollywood’s first pizza house. The restaurant was started by an Italian couple named Carmen and Sylvia Miceli, along with four of their siblings, who brought their family recipes all the way from Sicily to Los Angeles. The restaurant is still owned and operated by the Miceli family and apparently, most nights, Carmen, himself, is on hand to great his guests! Because of the restaurants’ storied Hollywood history, I just HAD to stalk the place. 🙂

And I wasn’t disappointed!! The second you walk through Miceli’s front doors you are immediately transported back in time! With its dimly lit interior, red leather booths, and black and white photographs of celebrities of yesteryear lining the entryway, the restaurant definitely gives off an Old Hollywood vibe. It is such a cool place!!!! My favorite part of Miceli’s had to be the intricately carved wood and red leather booths. I’ve never seen booths like that in my entire life!  Ironically, the booths originally belonged to the old Pig N’ Whistle restaurant, which I blogged about yesterday.   When the Pig N’ Whistle closed its doors in 1949, its gorgeous wooden booths were sold to Miceli’s, where they remain to this day.

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I was also pretty obsessed with the ceilings at Miceli’s. 🙂 I don’t know what it is with me and ceilings lately, but every time I walk into a historic building my eyes always go directly up to the roof. Nine times out of ten, the ceilings of old buildings are like works of art. And Miceli’s ceiling certainly did not disappoint. Intricate wrought iron chandeliers hang from gorgeous carved wooden beams throughout the restaurant. Unfortunately, because Miceli’s is so dimly lit, my photographs of the interior did not come out very well. 🙁

Not surprisingly, Miceli’s Restaurant has always been popular with celebrities. During Hollywood’s Golden Era, stars like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, my girl Marilyn Monroe, and Presidents Nixon and JFK all dined at Miceli’s.  In more recent years, Jim Carrey, Adam Sandler, The Beatles, and Julia Roberts have all been spotted at the eatery.

And, yes, Miceli’s is also a filming location! In 2007’s Knocked Up, Seth Rogan takes his baby momma, Katherine Heigl, to the historic restaurant on a date.

I HIGHLY recommend stalking Miceli’s!   The place is worth a trip just for the ambiance alone!   But besides the decor, the food at Miceli’s is also EXCELLENT and the portions are ginormous!   I just about died over the restaurant’s garlic toast!!   Sadly, though, since we ate at Miceli’s during lunchtime, we missed the “singing waiters” which the Italian restaurant is famous for. 🙁   Every night, the Miceli servers step up to the piano to serenade diners with authentic Italian arias, show tunes, and the standards. Sometimes patrons are even invited to get up and sing a note or two themselves. Since karaoke is one of my very favorite past times, I am definitely planning on dragging my fiance there for a nighttime visit! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Miceli’s Restaurant is located at 1646 North Las Palmas in Hollywood.

June 16, 2009
Kyra Sedgwick’s Walk Of Fame Star Ceremony

I found out a few weeks ago that Kyra Sedgwick would be receiving the 2,384th Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on the morning of Monday, June 8th. So, I immediately called up my good friend Blaze and asked him if he wanted to join me in watching the ceremony.   He, of course, said yes, so today the two of us made our way out to Hollywood to watch Kyra receive her star. And, even though I had already seen the entire Closer cast in person, I was still SUPER excited to attend this event because ever since Footloose came out, I have absolutely LOVED me some Kevin Bacon. 🙂

Kyra’s ceremony was scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m., and unlike Hugh Jackman’s Hand and Footprint Ceremony, this event actually started on time. 🙂 Amazingly enough, for some reason there weren’t that many people in attendance. I’d say about forty-five fans and another fifty reporters and photographers were there. Because there weren’t a lot of people in the audience, we were able to stand fairly close to the stage area, which I was thrilled about. Up until just around 11:25, that is, when security guards led all of the media people into the area directly in front of the fans, completely blocking everyone’s view. It was SUCH a bummer. To make matters worse, many of the press photographers pulled out stepladders to stand on and propped their cameras up on huge tripods! UGH.   So, even though I was standing right in the front row, I didn’t have the best view. 🙁 I have no idea why bleachers were not set up for the event, as this definitely would have rectified the situation. Note to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce – next time you have an event like this, invest in bleachers! LOL

Right at 11:30 a.m. on the nose, Kyra Sedgwick and husband Kevin Bacon arrived and the event got underway. Kyra looked absolutely adorable and I just about died over her salmon-colored dress. I have got to get me one of those!!!!   What I was most impressed with, though, were her arms!!!! I couldn’t take my eyes off of them the entire time! As you can see in the above photograph, they are absolutely rock-hard! Not bad for a 44-year-old mother of two!!! I am so jealous!  I mean, I’m 31 and have no children and my arms don’t look nearly as good as hers! LOL Anyway, Kyra was introduced by  Hollywood Chamber of Commerce President Leron Gubler, who gave us a brief background on Kyra and her career as an actress. One of the many tid-bits of information he told us was that, contrary to popular belief, Kyra was actually born in Manhattan, not the South, and yes, her Closer accent is a fake. 🙂

After Leron’s introduction, Lee Daniels, who produced the 2004 movie The Woodsman, which starred Kyra and her husband, got up to say a few words. And when I say “a few words”, I literally mean a few words. LOL I think the guy had maybe two sentences to say about Kyra. It was kind of disappointing. If you’re going to get up on a stage to honor someone during an awards ceremony, I’m of the opinion that you should spend a little bit of time writing your speech. Brief and to the point is nice, but so is saying something meaningful. LOL  All Lee basically said was that while working with Kyra on The Woodsman, she had taught him to “live in the moment”.   To quote Chelsea Lately, “What . . . a douchebag!!” LOL

Next up was Kyra’s Closer co-star, and my fave actor from the show, G.W. Bailey. G.W. gave a FABULOUS – and absolutely hilarious – speech about Kyra and their experiences starring together on The Closer. He started off his speech by listing the questions he most commonly gets asked about Kyra – such as is her accent real (no), is she really that tiny in person (yes!), is her hair real (yes), do she and Kevin Bacon really love each other that much (absolutely!), and what is she really like in person. In answer to that last question, G.W. had this to say, “Kyra is a mix of Mary Poppins and Cruella DeVil. If you come to the set on time and know your lines, she’s a spoonful of sugar. If you come to the set late and haven’t done your homework, she’ll skin you alive and make a jacket out of you. But then she’ll feel bad and end up giving the jacket to the homeless.” LOL I absolutely LOVED that quote, as one of my biggest pet peeves in acting class is lazy actors who don’t do their homework and don’t memorize their lines!!!! You go, Kyra! 🙂

G.W. called Kyra one of the most giving actresses he has ever worked with and said that the cast nicknamed her “Mama” early on because of the way she takes care of everyone. I was actually an extra on The Closer a few months back and was able to witness firsthand how Kyra takes care of her crew. At one point while I was there, Kyra held up filming for a few minutes in order to write out a grocery list of cold remedies and medications before sending someone out to pick them up for a make up artist who was feeling under the weather. She is definitely a “Mama”. 🙂 G.W.’s speech was so sweet that he ended up making Kyra cry. So cute!

Next up was Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti, who ironically enough is the son of The Closer’s consulting producer Gil Garcetti, who presented Kyra with a Hollywood Walk of Fame plaque.

Then Kyra came to the podium to make a speech. She announced at the very beginning that her speech would be brief due to the fact that her feet were already hurting from standing up for such a long time. 🙂 Kyra said that she wanted to be an actress since the age of 12, when she landed a role in a school production of Fiddler on the Roof. She said that acting in that production made her “soul dance” and she knew at that moment that she never wanted to do anything else.

But the best part of Kyra’s speech was when a Hollywood tour bus drove by!!!!   The tourists on board went absolutely crazy, so, Kyra stopped her speech and said hello to them using her Brenda Leigh Johnson accent!   LOL LOL LOL Only in L.A.! 🙂

Then, Kyra’s star was unveiled. But, unfortunately, thanks to the press standing in the way, fans see couldn’t see it at all. 🙁 Such a bummer!!! Kyra seemed absolutely thrilled to be receiving her star, though, and it made me tear up to think how special it must be to be honored as an actress in that way.   🙂

Kyra was also given a plaque with a replica of her star on it. Oh, how I want one of those!!!!!!! With my own name on it, of course!!!! 🙂

Then, the press asked if Kevin Bacon would come onstage and I just about died!! During most of the ceremony, Kevin had been standing in the audience laying low. I am pretty sure he didn’t want to steal any of his wife’s thunder during the event, so he just remained on the sidelines the entire time. I had been trying to snap a photograph of him throughout the ENTIRE ceremony, but for some reason could just not get a good shot. So, when he finally came onstage, I was FLOORED! KB is still a total cutie after all these years and I could not have been more excited to see him in person. 🙂

Also on hand to celebrate with Kyra were her Closer castmates Corey Reynolds, Robert Gossett,  Anthony John Denison, Michael Paul Chan, Raymond Cruz, Phillip P. Keene, and Jonathan Del Arco, along with series consulting producer Gil Garcetti.

Also in attendance was series creator James Duff.

After the ceremony was over, all of the stars – including Kyra and Kevin – came out into the audience to sign autographs and take photographs with the fans. And I could not have been more excited!!!!!!   So, of course, I just had to ask my two favorite actors from the show for a pic – G.W. Bailey,

and Anthony John Denison. Unfortunately, I was using my dad’s huge paparazzi style camera at the event, and Blaze couldn’t figure out how to zoom out to take the above photograph. LOL LOL LOL Can you say “extreme close-up”?? Oh well, at least I got a pic. 🙂

I so wanted to take a picture with KB, but, unfortunately, wasn’t standing near him when he came out into the audience. But I did manage to snap the above pic of him as he was walking to his car. Sigh!!!!

About an hour after the ceremony, I returned to see Kyra’s star unveiled, at last. 🙂

As you can see in the above photograph, because it’s brand new, Kyra’s star is much shinier than any of the others on Hollywood Boulevard.

Kyra’s star is right next to husband Kevin Bacon’s, which makes them the only married couple in history to have side by side stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 🙂

If you find yourself in the Hollywood area during a Walk of Fame Star Ceremony, I HIGHLY recommend attending one! I had an absolute blast seeing all of the stars, listening to the speeches, and being a part of a historic Hollywood event!   It was definitely a better experience for me than the Hand and Footprint Ceremony and I am so thankful that I got to be a part of it!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Kyra Sedgwick’s star is located in front of Cinespace Nightclub, which is located at 6356 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood.

June 9, 2009
Hugh Jackman’s Hand and Footprint Ceremony

Got a call from my good friend Blaze on Monday morning who told me that Hugh Jackman’s Hand and Footprint Ceremony was scheduled to be held the following day at Mann’s Chinese Theatre. So, of course, we made plans to attend. 🙂 I was incredibly excited to see a handprint ceremony in person, not so much because I am a huge fan of Hugh Jackman, but because the event is so historic. That being said, Hugh Jackman is an AMAZING talent and he completely rocked this year’s Oscars, so I was pretty excited about seeing him in person, too. But truth be told, I would have been excited to see just about anyone. 🙂

The Hand and Footprint Ceremonies, or Inductions into the Forecourt of the Stars as they are also called, take place fairly rarely.   Previous to yesterday’s ceremony, the last movie star to be immortalized in cement was Michael Caine on July 11, 2008. In 2007, there were three induction ceremonies, one for the cast of Ocean’s 13 (Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Matt Damon, and producer Jerry Weintraub), one for the stars of the Harry Potter movies (Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint), and one for superstar Will Smith. So, I really could not have been more floored to attend! Sadly, though, the event was incredibly disappointing! Even more so for me because I had been so excited about it. 🙁 As you can see in the above photograph, the ceremony was slated to begin at 10 a.m. But that’s not really what happened.

Blaze and I showed up to Mann’s Chinese Theatre at around 8:30 a.m. to stake out a place in line. By that time there were already about a hundred people lined up. Within an hour, about 500 more people arrived. Who knew Hugh was so huge!  Needless to say, the event was packed. Right around 9:30 a.m., we were led to a set of bleachers which had been set up in the middle of Hollywood Boulevard. Now, even though it was only 9:30 in the morning, the temperature had already reached 90 degrees! For those of you who don’t live in the area, L.A. has been experiencing a bit of a heat wave the past few days. And the bleachers were located in direct sunlight, so, let me tell you, it was HOT. I’m actually surprised that no one passed out, it was that hot. At around 10:15 when the ceremony had not yet begun, I was starting to feel a bit woozy. At 10:25 I was ready to pack up and call it a day.

At 10:32, when a group of men started hanging a sign at the foot of the stage, I was ready to scream! The ceremony was set to start at 10 and 32 minutes after the fact they are still hanging signs???? I took the above photos of some nimrod with a tape measure who was trying to center the sign correctly, just to make sure it was all really happening and I wasn’t suffering from some heat-induced hallucination. LOL I don’t have a lot of patience to begin with, so for me this was torture. And I LIVE for this sort of thing! So, I can only imagine how the people in attendance who weren’t quite so into the whole Hollywood thing were dealing. When I attended the Friday the 13th premiere back in February, everything went off without a hitch, so I was really surprised at how disorganized this event was.

Anyway, the event FINALLY got underway right at 11 a.m., exactly one hour past the scheduled start time. Just a few minutes before Hugh was introduced, six men walked out carrying the cement block Hugh would soon be standing in. I couldn’t believe it took six men to hold it!!!!

Then, Jay Leno, who was emceeing the event, came out and made a very brief speech introducing Hugh. Jay was much larger than I expected him to be and seemed to have on a ton of makeup. Jay said that Hugh is one of the nicest celebs he’s ever had on his show.  He said that you can tell a lot about a person from how they treat the people working behind the scenes in show business, and that Hugh is always extremely kind to everyone from the makeup crew to the production staff at The Tonight Show.

Then, finally, Hugh came out! HJ is very good-looking and VERY tall – 6’2″ according to IMDB – in person. He is in excellent shape, too. Hugh posed for some quick media photographs before heading over to the podium to make a speech.

In his speech, which was also very brief, Hugh said that about 12 years ago when he and his wife first moved to L.A., they visited Mann’s Chinese Theatre and he put his hands in Peter Sellers handprints, which I thought was really cute. Maybe someday I’ll be up at that very podium saying that I once put my hands in Marilyn Monroe’s handprints. 🙂

Hugh also thanked his wife and two children who were in attendance. Apparently, Hugh’s nine year old son told him he would only come to the ceremony if Daddy promised not to make a long, boring speech. LOL

Also in attendance at the ceremony was 20th Century Fox owner Rupert Murdoch and his wife, Wendi Deng.

Then came the moment we’d all been waiting for – the handprints! It was actually pretty bizarre to see the handprint process in person, as three men were actually surrounding Hugh the whole time, physcially guiding him through it. You can see in the above photographs how the two men on either side of him actually placed his hands in the cement for him and then held them down. What was also odd was that he had to leave his hands in the cement for a good minute before taking them out. I’m not sure if that was strictly so that the media in attendance had time to snap photographs or if it had something to do with the time it takes for cement to set.

It was very apparent how excited Hugh was to be recieving this honor. His grin was absolutely HUGE. So cute! 🙂

Then, HJ signed his name in the cement with a little wooden stick, which he ended up giving to someone in the crowd. 🙂

Then, this time with the help of four men, Hugh placed his feet in the cement.

As with his hands, Hugh also had to keep his feet in the cement for quite a long time – at least one full minute.

As he was wiping his feet off, one of the fans in the bleachers called out “Can I have your shoes?” LOL Hugh said no to that one, though. I’ve heard that Mann’s actually provides the shoes that celebrities wear during the footprint ceremony, but in this case it appeared that HJ wore his own shoes. They didn’t look new.

After his feet and hands had been immortalized in cement, Jay and Hugh returned to the podium and thanked everyone for coming. At that point Hugh turned to the bleachers and thanked all of his fans, whom he said he knew he wouldn’t be here without. And that was pretty much it. All in all the ceremony took about ten minutes. LOL

And literally the second it was over, Jay Leno was out of there!! He pretty much immediately dashed off stage and into a waiting car without signing any fan autographs. 🙁   I think that had a lot to do with the heat, though.   As you can see in the above photograph, Jay looks as if he’s about to wilt. Check out his hair! LOL

After the ceremony was over, Hugh announced he was going to sign autographs for the many fans in attendance. I was extermely impressed by this being that it was so darn hot outside.  Blaze and I didn’t stick around for an autograph, but instead walked to a nearby grocery store to buy some much needed bottled water. Twenty minutes later, as we made our way back to Mann’s, Hugh was STILL there signing autographs!! He seemed like a genuinely appreciative, kind, and humble guy.   And while it was extremely exciting for me to see a hand and footprint ceremony in person, I don’t know that I’d ever do it again.  🙁 Well, maybe if it was for my girl Jen. But even then I’d have to think long and hard about attending.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Mann’s Chinese Theatre is located at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood. You can visit their website here. Hugh Jackman’s handprints and footprints are currently on display in the center of the Chinese Theatre’s Forecourt to the Stars.

April 22, 2009