Kevin Bacon – IAMNOTASTALKER

Last Thursday afternoon, before grabbing lunch at Pinches Tacos from The Hills which I blogged about on Tuesday, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, took me by a famous apartment complex in West Hollywood named the Harper House. Because the Spanish Baroque-style building was featured in Scream 3 (as well as countless other productions), Mike thought that I might be interested in blogging about it during my annual Haunted Hollywood month this upcoming October (and yes, I am already gathering locations for that!). After seeing the place in person, though, I became just a wee bit intrigued by it and started doing research immediately. So I figured that now was as good a time as any to do a post on the historic building.

The Harper House, which was built in 1929, was designed by Leland Bryant, the very same architect who also gave us the art deco-style Sunset Tower Hotel, one of my very favorite places in all of Los Angeles that I blogged about way back in September of 2008. The complex was originally constructed to provide housing for show business and studio professionals and such luminaries as silent film actress Norma Talmadge and silent film actor Gilbert Roland once called the place home. The four-story, 21-unit, L-shaped building, as well as the entire block that it is located on which is known as the North Harper Avenue Historic District, was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 28, 1996.

Mike had actually just recently scouted the Harper House a few weeks before taking me there and was nice enough to share the above photographs that he snapped of the building’s elevated central courtyard area, which is absolutely idyllic. It is no wonder that so many movies have been filmed on the premises!

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The Harper House pops up twice in Scream 3. It first shows up at the very beginning of the movie as the building where Cotton Weary (Liev Schreiber) and his girlfriend, Christine Hamilton (Gossip Girl’s Kelly Rutherford), are murdered.

I am fairly certain that the real life interior of one of the apartments was also used in that scene. As you can see in these CurbedLA pictures of the inside of an actual Harper House apartment, the fireplace, doors, windows, and stairway railings all match up to what appeared onscreen.

The exterior of the Harper House next pops up in the scene in which Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) watches the news about Cotton’s murder on TV.

In the 1988 flick Cop, the Harper House was where Lloyd Hopkins (James Woods) investigated a murder at the very beginning of the movie.

The real life interior of one of the apartments was also used in the filming of that scene.

In 1989’s The Big Picture (which is a FABULOUS movie, by the way), the interior and the exterior of the Harper House stood in for the building where up-and-coming film director Nick Chapman (cutie Kevin Bacon – sigh!) moved after breaking up with his longtime girlfriend, Susan Rawlings (Emily Longstreth).

In 1991’s The Last Boy Scout, the Harper House is where murdered stripper Cory (Halle Berry) lived and where Joe Hallenbeck (Bruce Willis) and Jimmy Dix (Damon Wayans) go to investigate her killing.

Oddly enough, though, the interior of Cory’s apartment and her balcony were a different location entirely. As you can see in the above screen shots, the windows of Cory’s bedroom and the railings of her balcony do not match up with the actual building.

In the pilot episode of Murder One, which was titled “Chapter One”, the Harper House was where Jessica Costello (Collette White) was killed. Solving her case became the central storyline of the series’ first season, but the exterior of the building was actually only shown once, in the brief scene in which Ted Hoffman (Daniel Benzali) watched a news story about the murder while at home with his wife, Annie (Patricia Clarkson), and his daughter, Elizabeth (Vanessa Zima).

The real life interior of one of the units also appeared in that episode in the flash back scene in which Richard Cross (Stanley Tucci) recounts how he discovered the body.

And brief glimpses of the Harper House were also shown each week during the Murder One opening credits.

The Harper House was also featured in 1978’s The Big Fix, 1982’s Partners, and as the building where Alice Pieszecki (Leisha Hailey) lived on the Showtime series The L Word, but, unfortunately, I could not find copies of any of those productions with which to make screen captures for this post.

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for telling me about this location, for the photographs of the building’s courtyard and for making the Cop screen captures which appear in this post! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Harper House, from Scream 3, is located at 1334/1336 North Harper Avenue in West Hollywood. Pink Taco, aka the former site of the Roxbury, is located just up the street at 8225 West Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood. You can visit the official Pink Taco website here. And Pinches Tacos, from the “It’s On Bitch” episode of The Hills, is located just around the corner at 8200 West Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood. You can visit the official Pinches Taco website here.

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.

Tag: Kevin Bacon

The Harper House from “Scream 3”

Kyra Sedgwick’s Walk Of Fame Star Ceremony