Indian Wells – IAMNOTASTALKER

August 3, 2011August 2, 2011

The Miramonte Resort & Spa in Indian Wells

One Palm-Springs-area hotel that I have long wanted to vacation at – not because it is a filming location, but because it is just simply beautiful – is the Miramonte Resort & Spa in Indian Wells. The Grim Cheaper and I ate dinner at the resort once upon a time many years back and I have been enamored of the place ever since. So for our recent Coachella Valley getaway two weekends ago, I begged the GC to book us a room there. And even though the rates weren’t exactly inexpensive despite the intense summer heat, he readily agreed! Shocking, I know! It was not until the very end of our stay, as we were checking out of the hotel, that I discovered, thanks to the super nice concierge on duty, that the resort was not only something of a celebrity hot-spot, but also a filming location! They say that the more you think about something, the more you attract that thing to you and in this particular instance that was definitely the case. It seems I always find myself stalking, even when I am not necessarily intending to. Winking smile

The Miramonte Resort & Spa, which has been awarded Four Diamond status from AAA, boasts 215 spacious guest rooms sprawled throughout an 11-acre piece of property that has been designed to resemble a Tuscan villa. The well-manicured grounds include several flower and herb gardens, outdoor fireplaces and piazzas, meandering pathways, hammocks tucked away in shaded little spaces, sparkling fountains, 24-hour room service (LOVE it!), a two-story, 12,000-square-foot spa, which was named the “#1 Resort Spa in North America & Caribbean” by Conde Nast Traveler, two 18-hole championship golf courses, two pools, including an adults-only pool, and over 30,000 square feet of event and meeting space. And while the resort is quite large and boasts countless amenities, it somehow manages to retain an intimate, secluded, and quiet ambiance. Both the GC and I absolutely loved the place!

Best of all, we somehow got upgraded to a 425-square-foot “Estate Room” during our stay, which featured a full marble bathroom, two queen-sized ‘Desert Dream Beds’, a sitting area, free wireless internet (which the GC was absolutely floored about), a 42-inch flat screen TV, and striking views of the Santa Rosa Mountains.

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The Miramonte’s SUPER-nice concierge, who spent about twenty minutes speaking with me about filming locations and my website, informed me that The Real Housewives of Orange County had once filmed at the hotel. In the Season 6 episode titled “Body Shots”, Housewife Peggy Tanous and her husband, Micah, spent the weekend with their two daughters, Capri and London, in the Miramonte’s Presidential Suite. It was while laying by the resort’s pool that baby Capri cut her finger and had to be rushed to the hospital – which was just a slight overreaction to the situation in my opinion, but I digress.

The concierge also informed me that in the Season 1 episode of Flavor of Love titled “Flav’s Trippin’”, Flavor Flav took contestants Brooke Thompson, aka “Pumkin”, and Nicole Alexander, aka “Hoopz”, to the Miramonte for a spa getaway. Just a few of the other celebrities who have been spotted at the resort include Larry King, three-time Olympic figure skating World Champion Peggy Fleming, Bernie Mac, George Lopez, Tony Bennett, Tommy Hilfiger, Chris Tucker, and Judy Sheindlin, aka “Judge Judy”.

On a side note – while at my parents’ new house this past weekend, I came across a few celebrity autographs that I had compiled over the years, including the one pictured above from Miss Liza Minnelli. And even though, because I have always been far more into photographs than autographs, there are not that many of them, I thought it might be fun to post a few on my site. So I created a new page titled “Celebrity Guest Book”. You can check it out here. Enjoy!

And a very big HAPPY ANNIVERSARY goes out to my parents today, who are celebrating a whopping 37 years of marriage! Congratulations, guys! I love you!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Miramonte Resort & Spa is located at 45000 Indian Wells Lane in Indian Wells. You can visit the hotel’s official website here.

June 6, 2011August 6, 2018

Kyle Richards’ Former Palm Springs House

Last weekend, the Grim Cheaper and I once again headed out to Palm Springs for a little weekend getaway and while there I, of course, just had to drag him out to stalk the vacation home formerly belonging to Kyle Richards and her husband, Mauricio Umansky, which was featured in the Season 1 episode of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills titled “Chocolate Louboutins”. I found this location thanks to a Real Housewives message board on the Survivor Sucks website and wrongly assumed that it was going to be quite the easy little stalk. And I should mention here that I absolutely CANNOT stand Kyle Richards (I think the woman is just a big ol’ bully who completely manipulates her older sister, child star Kim Richards), but because I love the show, I was absolutely dying to stalk the residence. So, the GC and I headed right on over there while killing time before grabbing dinner with his boss our first night in the Desert. Things did not turn out quite as planned, though, as we arrived at our destination only to discover that it was located inside of the private and gated Indian Wells Country Club! Yes, this particular stalk was a definite fail!

As you can see in the above photographs, the only part of the neighborhood visible from the street is the guard shack.

Sadly, not much can be see via aerial views, either.

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In the “Chocolate Louboutins” episode of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Kyle and Mauricio invite their friends Lisa Vanderpump and Ken Todd, as well as Kyle’s sister Kim and her four children to spend Easter Weekend at their family home in the Coachella Valley. And while it is stated in the episode that Kyle’s house is located in Palm Desert, in actuality, the property is located just east of Palm Desert in the city of Indian Wells, directly behind the Indian Wells Resort Hotel, which, as it just so happens, was founded by Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, but that is another story for another post. Winking smile

In the episode, Kyle says that the 3 bedroom, 2 bath house, which was built in 1985 and measures 1,503 square feet, originally belonged to her mother, but that it is now used as a family home. There has been much speculation online, though, that it was possibly this residence that Kim was referring to in the Season 1 finale episode titled “Unforgivable” when she screamed at Kyle, “You stole my god-damn house!” According to some of the gossip on several Real Housewives message boards (and please keep in mind that it is just that, gossip, and that I have no idea whatsoever if any of it is true), Kim at one time owned the Indian Wells house and that somehow Kyle got the rights to it after their mother passed away or possibly that Kim paid for property with her childhood earnings and then when the mother passed away, the home was divided up among all three Richards sisters. Who knows what the actual story is, but let me tell you, I am absolutely DYING to know! You can check out some of the message board gossip about the house here and here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Kyle Richard’s former vacation house, from the “Chocolate Louboutins” episode of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, is located at 45389 Club Drive in Indian Wells. The home is located inside of the Indian Wells Country Club, which is a private, gated community, so please do not trespass.

November 2, 2009September 29, 2017

Halloween 2009 at The Nest!

I hope my fellow stalkers had an absolutely fabulous Halloween 2009! As I’ve mentioned many times before, Halloween is downright my favorite holiday. I pretty much look forward to it all year long! So, today I thought I’d take a little break from my New York blogging to write a post about this year’s Halloween adventure, which took place, yet again, in Palm Springs, where my fiancé and I had been invited to a little All Hallows’ Eve party. As you know, the two of us always dress up as either a famous celebrity couple or characters from a movie or TV show for Halloween. Well, after seeing Dirty Dancing: The Classic Story On Stage back in June, I decided that this year my fiancé and I just had to dress up as Baby and Johnny! And yes, I always plan my costumes that far in advance. 🙂 I told you, I LOVE Halloween. I practically live for the holiday! So, pretty much immediately after seeing the Dirty Dancing stage show, I started scouring the internet and local thrift shops for a pink chiffon dress that would resemble the frock Baby wore in the movie’s famous final dance sequence. And, unbelievably, I came up completely empty-handed! I am still in shock, actually, that no one, not even an EBay seller, had a dress like Baby’s to hawk!! In fact, the only pages I came across while performing a Google search for “Baby’s pink dress from Dirty Dancing” were entries posted from women like myself who wanted to know where they could purchase an outfit similar to Baby’s. Thankfully, in answer to one of those queries, a woman had posted a link to a dress pattern that was a pretty close match to the one Jennifer Grey wore in the movie. So, I begged and pleaded with my mom, who is an excellent seamstress, to make me Baby’s dress. Begrudgingly she agreed, and did quite the excellent job on it, I might add. THANK YOU, mom! 🙂

Because my fiancé and I were dressed as one of filmdom’s most famous dancing couples, before heading out to our Halloween party we just had to hit up the hottest dance spot in the entire Coachella Valley – a little place known as The Nest. The Nest is actually a combination bar/eatery/piano lounge/dance club which first opened up in 1965 and is now known as Indian Wells’ most famous restaurant and night club. My fiancé and I refer to it, though, as the “Cougar Den”. Contrary to how it might sound, trust me when I say that the nickname is a term of endearment as The Nest is quite simply one of my very favorite places to visit in all of Palm Springs. And while the food is great, the drinks are strong, the music is live, and the atmosphere is hopping, none of those attributes are the restaurant’s main draw. No, going to The Nest for the food or drinks or even the music is entirely beside the point. The Nest’s main attraction has to be its lively, dressed-to-the-nines, up-all-night-on-the-dance-floor patrons, who are almost all between the ages of 65 and 100. Yes, you read that right! You’d be hard pressed to find any Nest regulars who don’t fall under the senior citizen category. You’d also be hard pressed to find any of them sitting down! On no, the Nest’s patrons don’t let a little thing like age stop them from dancing all night long! And, let me tell you, I can only hope that I look and feel as good as they do when I am their age. But who am I kidding, I don’t even look or feel that good now! My fiancé and I always feel a bit cadish when asking for our check – usually yawning while doing so – at around 10 p.m. – 11 at the latest – while all of the club’s more senior regulars are still on the dance floor and showing absolutely no signs of stopping! It’s truly unbelievable! And so are the outfits, which are usually quite risqué. And thanks to A LOT of medical enhancement, the women look far better than I would in such clothing. LOL It’s an absolute hoot to see and something that everyone visiting Palm Springs should experience at least once!

Ironically, I thought my fiancé and I would be a big hit at The Nest come Halloween thanks to our dance-themed costumes. I could not have been more wrong about that one, however! No, thanks to the many aged 75 and older women who were dressed in extremely sexy Halloween costumes, no one even gave my fiancé and I a second glance! LOL LOL LOL Our costumes were far too tame for The Nest, I guess. I’ve actually never seen anything quite like The Nest on Halloween. It was like a Leg Avenue Catalog had come to life, right before my very eyes. In attendance were a sexy Batgirl, a sexy Catwoman, a sexy cop, and even a cougar! 🙂 But the costume that really caught my eye? A Playboy Bunny, complete with a bowtie, fishnet stockings, and . . . a thong leotard. Yes, you read that right! LOL I honestly didn’t think such a thing was possible, but The Nest is even more of a sight to see on Halloween than on any other night!

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Besides cougars, celebrities have also been frequenting The Nest since it first opened over forty years ago, and they’ve got the autographed pictures on the walls to prove it. 🙂 In fact, crooner Frank Sinatra and some of his famous friends were regulars during the bar’s early days. Today a bevy of different celebs and sports stars (mostly professional golf and tennis players) can be spotted dancing or singing along with the club’s live “piano” – it’s actually an electronic keyboard – on a nightly basis. Country star Toby Keith recently spent a few nights at The Nest and even obliged some fans by stepping up to the mic to sing a few songs. 🙂 So cool! Even without the celeb connection, though, I’d still recommend stalking the place, as it is just so darn entertaining! It’s DEFINITELY a Palm-Springs-Must-See! If you arrive after 9 p.m., be prepared to wait, though, as you’ll be hard pressed to find a seat, or even standing room, for that matter!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Nest is located at 75-188 Highway 111 in Indian Wells, just outside of Palm Springs. You can visit their website here. The live music starts at 7 p.m. nightly. And if you would like to make your own Dirty Dancing dress, the pattern my mom used is Vogue’s Vintage Pattern #2902.