Hollywood – Page 9 – IAMNOTASTALKER

April 20, 2009April 20, 2009

The Closer Duplex

As I have mentioned before, I am a huge fan of TNT’s crime series The Closer. As is my whole family, actually. So, a few weeks ago when my mom challenged me to locate Brenda and Fritz’s duplex apartment building from the series, I accepted the challenge! 🙂 And it didn’t take me long to find it at all.

Actually, I can’t really take credit for this one. I happened to show my boyfriend a screen capture I had made of Brenda’s building to see if he might have an idea of where it was located, and, sure enough, he did! He told me that there is a certain area of Hollywood that is chock full of duplexes just like Brenda’s and that I should start my search there. And that’s exactly what I did. That area is South of Beverly Boulevard, in between La Brea and Fairfax. And sure enough, that’s exactly where I found the building! It was actually on the second street I searched. 🙂

Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson and her fiance Fritz Howard move into this duplex on the Season 4 series opener, entitled “Controlled Burn”. Brenda spends most of the episode, which guest-starred Life On Mars cutie Jason Mara, fretting about what to do with her cat, Kitty, as her new landlord has a strict “no pets” policy. “Controlled Burn” actually featured some on location filming at the duplex, when Brenda brings home a reporter who is writing a story about the squad (pictured above). The duplex is shown throughout the rest of Season 4 in establishing shots of Brenda and Fritz’s home.

The Closer duplex looks EXACTLY the same in person as it does on TV, right down to the wind chimes hanging from the second story balcony and the decorative plaque located above the carport. Oddly enough, though, producers changed the address number of the duplex during filming. As you can see in the above screen capture, the address number on The Closer is 130/132. The real address, though, is 126/128. Which makes absolutely no sense to me! If you’re going to change the house number for whatever reason – most likely to ward off stalkers like myself 🙂 – shouldn’t you change it more significantly than that? LOL Because, to tell you the truth, when searching for the duplex, I was only looking at buildings with 130/132 address numbers, but quickly noticed The Closer duplex located right next door to a building that was numbered 130. LOL 🙂

The other inconsistency I noticed about the duplex is that in The Closer there is only one exterior door. You can see in the above screen capture that to enter her apartment, Brenda has to go through the main front door, which then leads into an anteroom.

But in real life, the duplex actually has a second front door located just to the right of the main entrance. Since Brenda’s unit is the one with the large plate glass window on the bottom floor, she should actually enter her home through that second exterior door, which is never shown on TV. Ah, the magic of Hollywood! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Closer duplex is located at 126/128 North Detroit Street in Hollywood.

April 10, 2009April 9, 2009

My Day on the Set of Weeds!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I absolutely LOVE living in L.A. You just never know what surprises lay around each corner here! Yesterday, as I drove up to the Hollywood & Highland Center to meet my good friend Blaze for some coffee, I noticed quite a few of those yellow filming signs that I love so much. Come to find out, the Showtime series Weeds was filming on location at the outdoor mall. I can’t say that I am a huge fan of the show, but my boyfriend absolutely loves it, so I have seen quite a few episodes. Needless to say, even though I don’t really watch the show, I was floored to be there. I’m pretty sure I could stumble upon an episode of Sesame Street being filmed, though, and still be pretty darn excited. 🙂 LOL

I pretty much couldn’t have picked a better time to arrive at H&H, since the filming of a large dance sequence was just about to begin right as I was walking up to the complex. The dance number was being filmed in the mall’s central courtyard area and there were cameras set up all over the top level of the complex. There was even a camera crew filming from the top of a ladder (pictured above).

The area where the scene was being filmed was not closed off to the public – much the same as when I watched the filming of The Mentalist a few weeks back – and normal people were walking in and out of the scene not realizing what was going on. In this case, though, I think that was exactly the producers’ intention. I believe they wanted to capture the real life reactions of tourists watching the dance sequence take place. The Weeds crew was extremely friendly and let people take all the photographs they wanted, so I was in heaven. 🙂

Being that I am a sucker for any sort of musical, I really couldn’t have picked a better film shoot to stumble upon. I can’t tell you how much fun the dance sequence was to watch! 🙂 The scene being filmed actually seemed to be an imitation of the awesome T-Mobile “Life’s For Sharing” commercial that was filmed at the Liverpool Street Train Station in London. Not only was the set-up of the Weeds scene pretty much identical to the T-Mobile ad, but the extras were all pretending to be taking photographs of the dancers with their cell phones, just like in the commercial. Basically the scene consisted of Mary-Louise Parker sitting in Hollywood & Highland’s central courtyard drinking a fruit smoothie, when all of a sudden loud music starts pouring out of the loudspeakers and one by one a large crowd breaks out into a spontaneous dance routine. It was really very cool to see in person! I so wanted to get out there and dance myself! LOL Amazingly enough, according to one of the extras I talked to, the dancers had only learned the dance a few hours earlier.

The only series regular acting in the scene was Mary-Louise Parker. I was hoping to see her cutie son on the show, actor Hunter Parish, but sadly he was not there. Ironically, before Mary-Louise came onto the set, her stand-in walked out and I started immediately snapping photos as I thought it was MLP! LOL She looks JUST like her! It was uncanny! You can see her stand-in wearing the purple shirt in the above photograph.

The above are photographs of the real MLP during the filming of the scene. 🙂 Mary-Louise is very pretty in person and a lot taller than I expected, but extremely thin. Disgustingly thin, really. Her arm looked like a bone with skin covering it. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen arms that skinny in my entire life.

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During the filming breaks, Mary-Louise actually had a “personal umbrella holder” who followed her around with an umbrella to shield her from the sun (pictured above). For those of you who don’t read US Magazine regularly, some celebrities actually employ what is known as a “personal umbrella holder” – or a P.U.H. – who basically holds an umbrella over their heads for them when it rains. I’m not kidding! I guess celebs are just far too important to be holding their own umbrellas. LOL I mean, how lazy can someone actually be??? I honestly don’t think I could ever in good conscience allow another person to hold an umbrella for me, no matter how big of a star I was. I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but something about that just doesn’t seem right. LOL

P.U.H. aside, I had an absolute blast being on the Weeds set today and cannot wait to watch the episode on TV!!! It should air on Showtime in about two months.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Weeds was filmed in the Hollywood & Highland Center’s central courtyard, which is located at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood. Some filming also took place at Dlush Deluxe Beverage Joint in the Hollywood & Highland Center.

March 30, 2009April 6, 2009

Cafe-Club Fais Do-Do

Back before she was going shoeless in public restrooms and flashing her privates to anyone with a camera, I was majorly obsessed with pop princess Britney Spears. The hair, the cute little outfits, her music – I absolutely loved everything about the girl! I attended her 2001 Live From Las Vegas concert event, I learned the steps to “Oops! . . . I Did It Again“ and performed a mini-Britney concert with some of my sixth grade students back when I was a substitute teacher, and I dressed up like her every chance I got. The above photo is from a Christmas costume party back in 2000 when I dressed up like Britney and made my good friend Ty dress up like Justin Timberlake. He’s such a big guy, though, that everyone thought he was supposed to be Britney Spears security. LOL

So, in Spring of 2001, when a co-worker of mine told me that her good friend was responsible for casting the extras in all of Britney’s music videos, I almost died on the spot! I begged her to pass my phone number on to her friend in the hopes that maybe someday she’d hire me as an extra and I’d get to see my idol in person. Well, not three days later I got a call from the friend asking if I wanted to do background work in the Britney Spears MOVIE that was currently filming. I’ll never forget standing there screaming “Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god!” into the phone, and the friend saying – a bit nervously – “OK, you can’t do that once you get to the set!” LOL So, bright and early the next morning I set out for a three day shoot on the set of the Britney Spears movie. And I really could not have been more excited!

Britney’s movie was originally entitled What Are Friends For and the scene being filmed was the karaoke contest scene where BritBrit and her friends sang Joan Jett’s famous “I Love Rock N’ Roll” in the fictional Club Bayou, which was supposedly located in New Orleans. In reality, though, the club where Britney performed is named Cafe-Club Fais Do-Do and is located just off the 10 Freeway in Los Angeles. Even though quite a bit of Crossroads was actually filmed in Louisiana, the karaoke scene was filmed in L.A. Go figure. You can see the exterior of the fictional Club Bayou which is shown in the movie and the exterior of the real club where filming took place above.

The filming of the karaoke scene took three long days to complete, but, of course, I was loving every minute of it! I think it is pretty much safe to say, though, that no other extra was quite as excited to be there as I was. 🙂 During the three day shoot I made friends with a few of the background actors and they all teased me incessantly over my love for BritBrit. LOL Needless to say they weren’t big fans of hers. 🙂 (Pictured above are my group of extra friends hanging out on the set – I’m the one in the middle. This was long before I cut my hair and dyed it blond, so I look a bit different today.) If I remember correctly, there were about 75-100 extras hired for the karaoke scene and right before filming began one of the assistant directors gave us each an exact place to stand during the scene and told us what we were to be doing. As I was getting my instructions, a very thin blond woman came up to me and introduced herself. She told me that she LOVED my outfit and that she wanted me to be sitting front and center during Britney’s performance. She led me over to the bar area, just a few feet away from where Britney would be performing, and sat me next to an actor wearing a blue shirt. Well, it turns out that the thin blond woman was Crossroads director Tamra Davis and the actor she sat me next to was Britney’s love interest in the film, Anson Mount!!!!

Needless to say I was THRILLED!!! Not only was I sitting thisclose to Britney while she was performing onstage, but I was also right next to the movie’s lead actor! Ironically, the outfit that director Tamra Davis so loved wasn’t what I had originally intended to wear that morning. (A little known fact – 95% of the time movie and TV extras wear their own clothes during filming.) All Crossroads extras were told to wear New Orlean’s style club attire to the shoot. And on the morning of my first day on the set I had put on something entirely different. But my mom stopped me as I had one foot out the door and said “You don’t look very New Orleansy. Why don’t you wear that cute halter top you got in Hawaii with your blue capris.” Well, of course, I argued with her as I thought the shirt and pants she was talking about didn’t really match, but in the end she won out. And, as luck would have it, had I not worn that outfit I never would have gotten noticed by Tamra Davis. The moral of the story? Ladies – always listen to your mother! 🙂 As a result of my mother’s foresite, not only did I have a front row seat for Britney, but I also got considerable screen-time in the movie. 🙂 (That’s me next to Anson Mount in the above screen capture.)

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When I first saw Crossroads I just about died as you can see me quite a bit in the karaoke scene. Being that I was such a HUGE fan of Britney, it was pretty darn cool that I shared my big screen debut with her. 🙂

And let me tell you, filming that scene was quite an experience. For pretty much three days straight I sat around watching Britney perform “I Love Rock N’ Roll” on a stage that was about two feet away from me! I was literally pinching myself the whole time thinking “I’m getting paid for this????” You have to remember that this was at the height of Britney’s career – she still had that cutesy, good girl image, “Oops! . . . I Did It Again” was multi-platinum, and she and Justin Timberlake were madly in love. I mean, do you know how many 13 year old girls would have died to have been in my shoes! I was 24 at the time, but that’s besides the point. LOL 🙂 The highlight of the filming for me was when Britney Spears, Pop Princess!!!! actually started a conversation with me! I am amazed I was even able to get any words out to talk to her. LOL During one of the many breaks from filming, BritBrit walked right up to me with a big smile on her face and asked me what I was doing with my drink. I had actually been sticking my finger in the drink I was holding playing with the fake ice in my glass. In movies and television, whenever anyone is drinking, the ice in their glass isn’t real – fake ice made out of a gelatin formula is used. Real ice has a tendency to clink against glasses, thereby making noise and disrupting filming. So clear jello-like cubes are used instead – and, boy, are they fun to play with! When I told Britney this, she started laughing hysterically and said “Oh mah gawd, you’re so funny!” Apparently, she thought this was the funniest thing she had heard in a long time. LOL It really wasn’t all that funny, but I was on cloud nine, nonetheless. Britney Spears thought I was funny!!!! 🙂 BritBrit was very nice, fairly quiet, and extremely down to earth. It almost seemed as if she had no idea how truly famous she really was. She also spoke with a very heavy Southern accent, which I wasn’t expecting. And I have to say that while she seemed very sweet and SUPER cute in person, it was quite obvious that she’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer. 🙂

For me, being an extra in Crossroads was an AMAZING experience. It was truly everything I hoped it would be. I’m am so lucky it was my first movie experience, as it was such a good one. And while the actual movie didn’t turn out that great, I will always look back on my time working on it with fondness.

You can watch the entire “I Love Rock N’ Roll” scene here.

I can’t really recommend stopping by Cafe-Club Fais Do-Do for a drink as the only time I ever visited it was while we were filming. Since I’m not really a clubbin’ kind of girl, I’ve never been back to check it out. But if you’re into that kind of thing, it seems like a pretty cool place to grab a drink. The Fais Do-Do (which means “Nighty-Night” in French) building was originally constructed in 1930 and at the time housed the First Citizens Savings Bank and Trust. The club, which definitely has a New Orlean’s vibe to it, has remained a popular nighttime hotspot since its opening in 1990.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Cafe-Club Fais Do-Do is located at 5257 W. Adams Boulevard in Los Angeles. You can visit their website here.

March 26, 2009March 26, 2009

George Clooney’s Former Digs

This past weekend, thanks to my new favorite book Movie Star Homes: The Famous to the Forgotten, I was able to stalk George Clooney’s former Studio City house. Now, to be completely honest, I am not a big fan of George Clooney. I’ll admit that he’s OK-looking, but for some reason he just doesn’t do it for me. No, this stalker’s heart will forever and always belong to Josh Duhamel. 🙂 But, being that pretty much every woman on earth is absolutely gaga for GC, I know that I am in the vast minority on this one. So ,when I saw the address of his former home listed in the Movie Star Homes book, I just had to stalk it. For my readers, of course. 🙂

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George Clooney’s former home is a really pretty 5 bedroom, 4 bathroom Mediteranean mini-manse, located on a windy street in the hills of Studio City. He lived in this 3,282 square foot home during the years 1990 to 1997, smack dab in the middle of his ER fame. Which is surprising being that the home isn’t that private – you can actually see quite a bit of it from the street. George shared the house with former wife Talia Balsam during their brief four year marriage, from December of 1989 to September of 1993. After his separation, George invited good friend, actor Matt Adler, to move in with him for a brief period of time. But the list of celebrity inhabitants doesn’t end there! From 2000 to 2004, Jamie Pressly of My Name is Earl fame owned George’s former digs. She then sold the house to Malcom in the Middle star Justin Berfield, who lived there for two years before selling it to a non-celeb.

I highly recommend stalking George’s former pad, as it is one of the few movie star homes that isn’t completely hidden behind a large gate. 🙂 I couldn’t snap many good pics of it, though, as George’s former street is quite narrow and my camera couldn’t zoom back far enough to get the whole house in the shot. 🙁 I so need to spring for a fisheye lens! But the good news is you can cyber-stalk his former home here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: George Clooney’s former house is located at 11655 Laurelcrest Drive in Studio City.

March 19, 2009March 18, 2009

Helen Twelvetrees’ House

A couple of weeks ago I picked up a book that is quickly shaping up to be my new stalking tome. It’s called Movie Star Homes: The Famous to the Forgotten and it features photographs and addresses of over 350 celebrity homes, most of them from the Golden Age of Hollywood. I have never really been much into the celebs of yesteryear (except for my girl Marilyn), but once I picked up this book I really couldn’t put it down. It wasn’t long before I had about thirty pages dog-eared and was dragging my boyfriend out the door with a whole new set of locations to stalk.

The first location on my list? The former home of a 30’s movie star whom you’ve probably never heard of, but whom I’ve always had a special place in my heart for – Helen Twelvetrees. I’ve never actually seen any of Helen’s movies, nor do I even really know what she looks like. But back when I was about 18, I came home from college one day and announced to my family that I was switching my major from pre-law to theatre because I wanted to become an actress. It was at that moment that my grandfather started calling me Helen Twelvetrees. My grandpa was always making up silly little nicknames for various family members, so I didn’t really think anything of it. For years this went on, with my grandpa saying “Well, if it isn’t Helen Twelvetrees!” every time I walked into a room and me thinking it was a name he had made up for me. It wasn’t until after my grandfather passed away in 2005 that I came across a listing for Helen on IMDB and realized that she had in fact been a real person – not to mention a big time movie star back in the ’30s.

So, when I saw the address of a home Helen lived in during the ’30s in my new stalking book, I just about fell out of my chair. And, of course, I immediately dragged my boyfriend right out to stalk it. So, Grandpa, this ones for you! 🙂 Helen’s former home is a very cute little Mediterranean style dwelling located on a one way street in the Whitley Heights section of Los Angeles. And, as it turns out, the house is currently for sale! While the real estate listing makes no mention of its famous former resident, it does indicate that the 3,000 square foot home, which was built in 1923, has parquet floors, crown moldings, and a hot tub. The asking price is a cool $1,150,000.

My favorite feature of the house, though, is the view of the Hollywood sign from the front yard. Love it! 🙂 You can see interior photos of Helen’s former home on its real estate listing here.

According to my buddy EJ over at The Movieland Directory, Rose McGowen and Rachel Bilson both owned a home located just a few doors down from Helen’s. The house pictured above was first owned by Miss McGowan who sold it to Rachel in November of 2004. Rachel then sold the house just a little over a year later in December of ’05. And it was sold yet again this past January for $1,075,000. I also read on this website that Busy Phillips owned the very same house at one point in time, but I haven’t been able to confirm that. Seems like it’s a pretty lucky house, though, being that several successful actresses have lived in it. I need to get me one of those! 🙂 You can see interior photos of the home here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Helen Twelvetrees’ former home is located just off the 101 Freeway at 6851 Iris Circle in Hollywood. Rachel Bilson and Rose McGowan’s former house is just down the road at 6867 Iris Circle.

February 24, 2009July 25, 2019

Get Out Of Line!

Those of you who read my blog regularly know that there’s only one thing I like better than stalking and that’s Starbucks. 🙂 Or any kind of coffee, really. So when Mike, from MovieShotsLA, called me up last Sunday morning and asked if I wanted to stalk a coffee shop with him, I believe my exact words were “How fast can you be here?” On a side-note, my grandma just started reading my blog and the other day she called me up and asked “So, who’s this Mike guy????” She was convinced my boyfriend must be upset about all the time Mike and I spend together stalking. And I really had to laugh at that one because I’m pretty sure my boyfriend wakes up every morning thanking his lucky stars that Mike and I found each other. You see, if Mike is out stalking with me, that means my boyfriend isn’t. And I’d say he’s pretty happy about that. No, I’d have to say that not only does my boyfriend not mind Mike and I spending so much time together, but I’m pretty sure that at this point Mike is probably in the running to be my boyfriend’s best man in our wedding.

Anyway, the coffee shop that Mike wanted to stalk is named Bean Town Coffee Bar and it was featured several times in the 2005 Will Ferrell movie Kicking and Screaming. I just rented the movie last week and I have to say that I was very pleasantly surprised watching it as it’s absolutely hilarious!! And my favorite scene in the whole movie is the one that takes place at Bean Town. In the scene, Will Ferrell has just become addicted to coffee and shows up at his favorite coffee shop for his morning fix. But on this particular day the rather long line is moving far too slowly and Will has a total coffee meltdown. I have to say that I almost died laughing watching that scene because, let me tell you, I’ve been there! There are some mornings at Starbucks where I just want to tear my hair out because the line is taking so long! My boyfriend bought me a taser (it’s pink!) a couple of months ago because he was worried about me walking to my car late at night after my acting classes and he’s always joking that one day he’s going to get a call from the police saying that I was arrested for tasing someone who was taking too long in the Starbucks line. While watching Will Ferrell’s meltdown scene, I was reminded of comedian John Pinette’s “Get Out Of Line” routine. It has to be my favorite comedy routine of all time!

In real life Bean Town is a super cute little coffee house, with exposed brick walls, comfy chairs, board games, outdoor tables, and live music on weekends. The staff is super friendly and boy is the coffee strong, but in a good way. 🙂 And no, the line didn’t move too slowly while we were there. Besides yummy coffee, Bean Town also serves up a wide array of homemade goodies, including cinnamon rolls, croissants, sandwiches, soups, and cookies. And even though I am a Starbucks girl at heart, I will for sure be returning! As the authors of the book Hometown Pasadena said “We’d live in Sierra Madre just for Bean Town – it’s the perfect coffee house.”

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Bean Town Coffee Bar is located at 45 North Baldwin Avenue in Sierra Madre. You can visit their website here.

February 23, 2009February 23, 2009

Oscar Weekend 2009!

Oh, how I love the smell of Awards Season in the morning! And let me tell you – this was the Academy Awards Weekend to end all Academy Awards Weekends for me! I had the absolute time of my life!!!!!!!!!!! It was so incredible that I am still pinching myself today. Bright and early Saturday morning I dragged my boyfriend out to Hollywood and Highland Mall to stalk Oscar’s red carpet and we didn’t make it home until after 3am the following morning. AND I still cannot believe this but we saw 128 stars! YES you read that right – ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-EIGHT MOVIE STARS! There were so many stars out and about that at times I didn’t know which way to look. My boyfriend said he thought my head was about to explode. LOL I almost feel like I should just throw in my stalking towel now as it just doesn’t get any better than this weekend – but don’t worry, I won’t! 🙂

Our first stop on Saturday morning was the Kodak Theatre where we got to check out the most famous carpet in the world. Although I have done this for three years in a row now, I don’t think I will ever get tired of it! For someone who grew up so far away from the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, to get to be that close to the Academy Awards red carpet is a dream come true. It’s almost surreal. And I LOVE every minute of it! I can’t wait for the day when I am walking down that red carpet for real. 🙂 A few of the pics I took at the Kodak:

Although the Oscar set-up was beautiful, as always, for some reason this year they had the red carpet area blocked off and fans could not walk across it. 🙁 Such a bummer! If you’ll notice in the above pics the carpet is completely tarped in plastic during the set-up, so that the hundreds of crew members traipsing across it don’t ruin it.

I was stoked to see a little champage stand set up alongside the red carpet, since champagne is my favorite drink – and it was my girl Marilyn Monroe’s, too. 🙂 How cool to be able to grab a glass of champagne, while making your way down the red carpet! LOVE IT! 🙂

Mr. Oscar looking pretty drab outside the Kodak – notice the blemishes on his arms. LOL

What they don’t show you on TV! LOL The ugly road closures and chain link fences at the start of the red carpet.

The massive press bridge built over Hollywood Boulevard

What the red carpet looks like from Hollywood Boulevard.

After stalking the red carpet, I dragged my boyfried out to do some stalking of the blue carpet at the Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica – and, yes, the carpet there really is blue! Much more relaxed than the Oscars, the Spirit Awards are held each year under a plastic tent that is set up in a public parking lot next to the beach in Santa Monica. We showed up just as the awards were ending this year and got to see a whole slew of celebs walking the short half-block from the show to the after-party. And, let me tell you, it was absolute pandemonium! There were about a million paparazzi and fans alike swarming the stars as they made their way to the Shutters Hotel where the afterparty was being held. You can see in the above pics the massive amount of paps that were on the scene. It was insane!!! While there we saw . . .

Rosie Perez

Mad Men star John Hamm and his girlfriend Jennifer Westfeldt. They were super nice and stopped to take pictures with every fan who asked!

Elisabeth Rohn from Law and Order – she seemed very sweet. 🙂

A very heavily made up Teri Hatcher – you can just barely see her in the above pic. She is standing behind the guy in the suit. As soon as she drove up, the paps went ABSOLUTELY NUTS and completely surrounded her, so I wasn’t able to get a very good pic. 🙁

The Office’s Rainn Wilson

Elisha Dushku (who you can just barely see in the above pics)

Ron Livingston (aka SATC’s Jack Berger) who looked to have just been in an accident of some sort. Ugh, it broke my heart to see him like that! 🙁 Poor Berger!

Film critic Leonard Maltin

And this guy who the paps and fans went absolutely CRAZY for – like so crazy I thought it might be Brad Pitt pulling up! – but I have no idea who he is!!!! LOL Does anyone recognize him?

And, finally, this actor who I am sad to say I also didn’t recognize. 🙁 Does anyone know who he is?

After stalking the Spirit Awards, I dragged my boyfriend from one end of L.A. to the other, hotel and bar hopping. There were Oscar parties galore going on literally every hundred feet or so and the celebs were out in full force! And I just about died over two celeb run-ins that I had. My personal fave was when my girl Jen Aniston came up and stood about two feet away from me for a good six minutes. Unfortunately we were inside a hotel at the time, and no hotels were allowing any sort of pictures to be taken last night. But even though I didn’t get to snap a pic of her, I was still in heaven. Jen looked A-MA-ZING! I’ve seen Jen in person on two other occasions and I have to say this was the best I’ve ever seen her. She seemed very healthy and happy. Forty years old suits her. 🙂 She is just so freaking adorable I can’t stand it! And she has the best laugh ever – it’s this huge guffaw that fills the whole room. And she was doing a lot of laughing last night. Needless to say I was mesmerized! 🙂

A bit earlier in the evening I just happened to spot Ginnifer Goodwin who stars in my favorite movie as of late He’s Just Not That Into You. She was the only celeb I saw yesterday that I just HAD to go up to. In a situation like yesterday, where there are tons of celebs around and hotels aren’t allowing photographs, I am very content to just sit and observe their comings and goings. Sort of like being in a celebrity zoo. LOL But when Ginnifer Goodwin walked by, I just couldn’t help myself! So I walked up to her and told her how amazing she was in He’s Just Not That Into You and how I absolutely loved the movie. And she was SO SWEET! She thanked me for coming up to her, shook my hand, and introduced herself. I just about died. She is completely adorable in person, too! I mean, does it get any better than that??

But I’d have to say that THE most exciting part of the night for me was when I got recognized! Yes, I got recognized!!!!! While I was eating dinner last night a lady came up to me and asked if I was the “I Am Not A Stalker Girl”! I am not kidding!!!! Someone actually recognized me and I just about died! I think I was more excited about that than the fact that Nicole Kidman was eating just a few tables away. LOL I’m always amazed to hear that people actually read my blog, as most of my loved ones just barely tolerate my stalking addiction. So the fact that there are people that actually care what I have to say is AMAZING! It’s nice to know that there really are other people like me out there. 🙂 My fan (and new best friend! LOL ) introduced me to her friends and one of them asked me how my dad was doing! I was like “Wow, you guys really do read my blog!” LOL They were the NICEST group of ladies, but unfortunately they live in another state – otherwise I think we’d all make a great stalking team! 🙂 When I woke up this morning I really had to think for a minute to be sure that that part of my evening wasn’t just a dream. LOL

Anyway, without further ado, here is the list of stars I saw in and around Hollywood on Saturday:

Nicole Kidman
La Toya Jackson – my boyfriend and I kept going back and forth as to whether it was La Toya or Janet. LOL
Mickey Rourke
Robin Wright Penn
Olivia Wilde
Sarah Silverman
Seth Rogan
Dax Shepard
Kristen Bell
Topher Grace
Dennis Leary
Amy Adams
Darren Le Gallo
Jason Bateman
Amanda Anka
Josh Radnor
Lindsay Price
Forest Whitaker
Zach Braff
Kevin Connolly – said hi to me as he walked by 🙂
Molly Sims
Chace Crawford
Deborah Messing – super pretty in person
Amy Poehler
Will Arnett
Tina Fey – sooooo short and tiny
Eric McCormack
Neil Patrick Harris
Kristin Davis – said “Hi” as she walked by and I was floored to see that she walked with a little bounce JUST LIKE Charlotte does on SATC!
Aaron Eckhart
Holly Robinson Peete
Rodney Peete (NFL)
Gwen Stefani – absolutely stunning in person!
Christian Siriano (Project Runway winner)
Elle Macpherson
Nikki Hilton
Christopher Walken
Ben Stiller
Christine Taylor
Laura Dern
Tobey Macguire
Jennifer Meyer
Kimora Lee Simmons
Djimon Hounsou (Kimora Lee Simmon’s baby daddy)
Victor Garber
Kathy Hilton
Jessica Alba – had the coolest red sequin shoes on! and she made my boyfriend practically drool!
Kerry Washington
Leo!!! – I can finally, finally cross Leo off my must-see celebrity list. SIGH! 🙂
Breckin Meyer
Rachel Bilson
Adam Rodriquez
Michael Chiklis
Andy MacDowell
Debra Winger
Sally Field
Ron Livingston (Jack Berger on SATC)
Tim Allen
James Marsden
William Shatner
Eddie Murphy
Kate Bosworth
Anne Hathaway
Christine Ricci
James Caan
Robert De Niro
Bill Maher – with his twelve year old looking girlfriend
Wentworth Miller
Michael Buble (sigh!) – such a cutie in person! I was practically swooning! 🙂
Josh Hartnett
Ellen Pompeo
Ellen Pompeo’s husband Chris Ivery
Jack Black
Tanya Haden (Jack Black’s wife – she’s a model)
Alyssa Milano
Michelle Monaghan (from The Best Man and Eagle Eye)
Chris Pine
Ron Howard
Josh Brolin
Diane Lane
Kathy Najimy
Michael Moore – just as unattractive in person as he appears in his movies
Chris Rock
Jenna Fisher
Heather Locklear
Jennifer Aniston
Josh Duhamel
Bridget Moynahan
Elton John
Steven Spielberg – thanks to a red fedora he looked like a total douchebag! LOL
Kate Capshaw
Hugh Laurie
Cameron Diaz
Brian Grazer
Stacy Keibler
Geoff Stults
Bradley Cooper
Whoopi Goldberg
Shirley MacLaine
Ginnifer Goodwin
Elisha Cuthbert
Fred Savage – looked really old!
Frances Fisher
Richard Jenkins
Melissa Leo
Taraji P. Henson
Claire Danes
Hugh Dancy
Josh Grobin
Prince Frederick von Anhalt (Zsa Zsa Gabor’s ex)
Steven Baldwin
Dule Hill
Kiersten Warren (At least I think it was her!)
Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire star)
Anil Kapoor (Slumdog Millionaire star)
Kirk Kerkorkian
Ralph Lauren
Valentino Garavano
Terri Hatcher
Elisabeth Rohn (D.A. from Law and Order)
Rosie Perez
John Hamm
Jennifer Westfeldt (star of Kissing Jessica Stein)
Michael Bolton
Leonard Maltin (movie critic)
Elisha Dushku
Dustin Lance Black (Academy Award and Independent Spirit Award winner for Milk screenplay)
Rainn Wilson

There were just so many that I am sure I forgot some of them somewhere along the way! LOL All in all an absolutely AMAZING DAY! And I can’t wait to do it again next year!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: I stalked so many hotels and bars this Oscar Weekend, that there are far too many to list here. For a detailed list of places to go to see movie stars, check out this blog post. The Spirit Awards are held the Saturday before the Oscars each year on the beach in Santa Monica just South of Shutters Hotel.

February 19, 2009February 21, 2009

Le Borghese Apartments

While Mike, from MovieShotsLA, was cyberstalking the ‘Til There Was You apartment building a few weeks ago, he came across a comment on a website which stated that the very same building from ‘Til There Was You was also used in the 2001 David Lynch thriller Mulholland Dr. Well, after doing a bit more research, Mike and I discovered that information is actually incorrect. While there was a Spanish style courtyard apartment building featured in Mulholland Dr., it was not the El Cabrillo apartments which I blogged about yesterday. The building used in Mulholland Dr. is actually named Le Borghese and while it does not look very similar to El Cabrillo, both buildings are extremely picturesque and serene and it is easy to see how they might have been confused for each other.

I have yet to see Mulholland Dr., but I really want to now after researching this post. Especially since the movie centers around an actress trying to make it in the bizarre world of Hollywood. I’m pretty sure I can relate. 🙂 I have heard from more than person, though, that Mulholland Dr. is by far the strangest movie they have ever seen. LOL In Mulholland Dr., Betty Elms (Naomi Watts) stays at the Le Borghese after moving to Hollywood to try her hand in show business. Ann Miller plays Betty’s apartment manager, CoCo, in her very last onscreen role.

Le Borghese was built back in 1929 by architect Charles Gault, who built a number of famous courtyard buildings in the L.A. area in the 1920s. Apparently a large olive tree existed on the lot where Le Borghese was to be built and instead of uprooting the tree, Charles ended up centering the building’s courtyard around it. That tree is still there today and is now over 100 years old. Luckily, Le Borghese’s front gates were wide open while I was stalking the place, so I got to venture inside for a little looksie. All I could think after stepping inside the building’s amazing central courtyard was “I want to live here!” 🙂 Le Borghese is quite an idyllic place. It is peaceful and serene, with koi fish and turtles swimming in the central fountain, numerous crawling wisteria vines, an outdoor fireplace, and light green benches tucked away in shaded alcoves. After seeing the building in person, it is no surprise that Le Borghese was chosen to be featured on the cover of the book Courtyard Housing in Los Angeles. The building was also featured in the 1996 movie The Truth About Cats and Dogs. I highly recommend stalking Le Borghese as it is one of the most beautiful apartments I have ever seen! You can see more photographs of the building here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Le Borghese apartments are located at 450 North Sycamore Avenue in the Hancock Park area of Los Angeles.

February 18, 2009June 16, 2011

The “‘Til There Was You” Apartment Building

Another day, another elusive location found thanks to Mike – God of Stalking – over at MovieShotsLA. 🙂 I have been challenged several times over the past few months to find the beautiful courtyard apartment building featured in the 1997 movie ‘Til There Was You. Unfortunately I had never seen the movie before and my local Blockbuster did not carry the title. And according to Amazon.com, the DVD had been discontinued by the manufacturer. So I thought I was really out of luck on this one, as without seeing the movie firsthand I had no idea what I was looking for. Then, a couple of weeks ago, I just happened to mention my quandry to Mike and he set out to find the location. Within about fifteen minutes Mike called me back with an address. Amazing! He had found the location by doing a simple Google search. And all this time I had been trying to find the DVD. But who needs a video or screen captures when you’ve got mad stalking skills like Mike? LOL 🙂

Once Mike had found the location – and once I found out that BOTH my girl Jen Aniston and SJP starred in the movie – I decided to make one last ditch effort to purchase the DVD. And sure enough, I found it on Ebay! The only problem? For sale was a Region 2 DVD, which meant it would only work on European DVD players. LOL Thank God my boyfriend is good with computers, because somehow he was able to rig my laptop so that I could watch the movie. So, finally – after about a six month long wait – I got to see ‘Til There Was You. I must say that the movie was pretty cute. I wouldn’t recommend going through what I did to watch it, but if you happen to see it in a video store, it’s worth a rental. 🙂

The entire premise of ‘Til There Was You centers around the proposed demolition of a Spanish style courtyard apartment building named La Fortuna. In the movie the building has a very romantic quality to it and everyone who sets foot inside of its picturesque courtyard immediately falls in love with it. In real life that apartment building is named El Cabrillo and it is no stranger to the film industry. El Cabrillo was constructed in 1928 by none other than Cecil B. DeMille who needed a place to house his out of town actors. The building was designed by noted architects Arthur and Nina Zwebell, who built numerous Los Angeles courtyard style apartment buildings in the 1920’s, many of which are now on the National Register of Historic Places. Notables who have lived in the building at one time or another include transvetite actress Divine, actress Ann Harding, director Lowell Sherman, makeup artist Perc Westmore, and playwright John Willard.

Besides being featured in ‘Til There Was You, legend has it that El Cabrillo was also used in a Rudolph Valentino movie many moons ago. It is also currently being used as the home of the main character on the television series Chuck. Interestingly enough, Chuck’s pilot episode was actually filmed on location at El Cabrillo. The courtyard area and three different apartments were used for that episode. But once the show got picked up by NBC a replica of the apartments and the courtyard were rebuilt on a soundstage at Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank.

Sadly, El Cabrillo’s gates were closed while I was stalking it, so I did not get to see the interior courtyard area. From the outside El Cabrillo is amazingly non-descript and completely covered in foliage. You could easily drive right past the building without realizing the beauty that lies just on the other side of its gates.

But for those of you who would like an up-close-and-personal look at the building, I have some good news! A few of the units are currently available as vacation rentals. And it appears from the rental website photographs that El Cabrillo’s interiors are absolutely beautiful!! They actually remind me a lot of the interior of Amanda Peet’s apartment in fave movie A Lot Like Love. In fact the interiors are so similar, that I can’t help but wonder if the A Lot Like Love set was modeled after the interior of a real El Cabrillo apartment (both are pictured above).

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The ‘Til There Was You apartment building, aka El Cabrillo, is located at 1832-1850 North Grace Avenue in Hollywood.

February 13, 2009February 17, 2009

“It Never Rains In Southern California . . . “

As the old Albert Hammond song says “It never rains in Southern California, but girl, don’t they warn ya, it pours man, it pours!” And pour it did almost all last week all over the normally sun drenched landscape of Los Angeles. While on my way to stalk Burbank’s Handy Grocery Store in the pouring rain this past weekend, I happened to pass right by Walt Disney Studios on Buena Vista Street and was reminded about a story I once heard that seemed quite fitting of the day’s weather.

According to The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book, journalist Peter J. Boyer stated in a Vanity Fair article that Disney is “a place so reviled that even its architecture inspires nasty rumors, such as the apocryphal story that architect Michael Graves arranged the drainage system in the Disney headquarters building [aka the Team Disney building] in such a way that the huge sculpted Seven Dwarfs atop the edifice would seem to be peeing on Disney executives whenever it rained.” LOL So, since it just happened to be raining at the time, I pulled over to see if Boyer’s story had any merit. 🙂 After seeing the Dwarfs in person in the pouring rain, I have to admit that I think the anecdote is somewhat of an urban legend, but it still makes for a great story and hopefully a great blog post. 🙂

Walt Disney built his Burbank studio in 1940 after the enormous financial success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs – the world’s first full length animated feature film. At the time it was built the 41 acre lot was comprised of four full size soundstages (there are now six), a backlot that included a Western town, a town square, a residential street, and a small pueblo (the entire backlot has since been demolished), and recreation areas for employees which included ping pong tables and a volleyball court. Over the years many productions have been filmed on the historic Disney lot, including That Darn Cat, Something Wicked This Way Comes, The Absent Minded Professor, The Swamp Fox, The Princess Diaries, Eight Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter, Boy Meets World, Home Improvement, Lizzie Maguire, Less Than Perfect, and Mary Poppins. Ironically enough, Mary Poppins was filmed solely indoors, using up all four of the Disney Studio soundstages. Even the Cherry Tree Lane set where the Banks Family lived was built inside of a soundstage. Being a huge Mary Poppins fan myself, I was highly disappointed when I found this out as I had always hoped to one day see Cherry Tree Lane in person. 🙁 On an interesting side note, even though he passed away in 1966, Walt Disney still holds the record for most Academy Awards won by a single person. In his lifetime, he won a incredible TWENTY-SIX Oscars!

Unfortunately, Disney does not currently offer tours of its studio. : ( But the good news is that the Team Disney building can be viewed from the street outside the studio gates. If you are a big Disney fan, I highly recommend stalking the exterior of the building as it is very cool to see in person. The Seven Dwarf statues are absolutely HUGE. I was shocked at their size when I saw them in person as pictures simply do not do them justice!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Disney Studios is located at 500 S. Buena Vista Street in Burbank. The Team Disney building, with its Seven Dwarfs facade, can be viewed through the main gate located just around the corner on Alameda Avenue. Unfortunately the studio does not offer tours of its property. 🙁 But for $2,169 (per person!!!!!) you can purchase a 6 day/5 night “Hollywood and the Disneyland Resort” vacation from the Adventures by Disney Vacations company. One of the days consists of a behind the scenes tour of Walt Disney Studios.