Kevin Connolly – IAMNOTASTALKER

November 21, 2016November 20, 2016

Annie’s House from “Sleepless in Seattle”

We all have those movies – the ones that affected us so much upon first viewing, they left a lasting imprint on our hearts. Sleepless in Seattle is one such movie for me. As I mentioned in this 2010 post about the houseboat from the 1993 romcom, I still remember exactly where I was the first time I saw it and have my ticket stub tucked away in a box. The film had an immediate visceral effect on me – and still does to this day. So when I found out that the Grim Cheaper and I were heading to Baltimore, where Sleepless was partially filmed, this past September, I started putting together a list of must-see locales from the movie, namely the gorgeous brick townhome where Annie Reed (Meg Ryan) and her fiancé, Walter (Bill Pullman), lived.

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Annie’s residence has been well-documented online for years, so I did not have to do any sleuthing to hunt it down.

Miraculously, the dwelling looks almost exactly the same today as it did 23 years ago when Sleepless in Seattle was filmed.

Even the duck boot scraper visible in the bottom right of the above screen capture is still intact.

Annie’s house was featured several times throughout Sleepless in Seattle.

In real life, the three-story property, which was originally built in 1900, houses 1,995 square feet of space and 3.5 baths.

Though I do believe the structure was a private residence at one point, today it serves as an office, housing the Baltimore branch of Captel, a fundraising and membership development company.

Only the exterior of the site was used in Sleepless in Seattle. While I always assumed that the charming interior of Annie’s home was a set, my friend/fellow stalker David, who is a denizen of the Pacific Northwest, has heard that interiors were shot at an actual residence in West Seattle. So the jury’s still out on that one.

If interiors were shot at a real place, what I wouldn’t give to track it down!

The pier just outside of Annie’s home was also used in the filming.

In one particularly memorable scene (well, to me, anyway), Annie walks to the end of the pier and sits on a bench located there, while Sam Baldwin (Tom Hanks) does the exact same thing more than 2,000 miles away at a dock in Seattle. (As you can see in my images above and below, a car commercial was being shot on the pier the day we were there! Apparently, Broadway Pier, as it is known, is used for filming quite often.)

Unfortunately, the bench where Annie sat in the scene was just a prop.

But that didn’t stop me from posing for a photo there. Smile

Broadway Pier was also used very briefly in the “ . . . if she’s not sleeping with you” vignette from He’s Just Not That Into You. The building visible in the background of the scene has been remodeled in recent years and looks quite a bit different today than it did in 2009 when HJNTIY was shot, so I’m using a comparison image below from Google Street View that was taken in 2011.

Broadway Square, which is located just about one hundred feet north of Annie’s house, was also featured in He’s Just Not That Into You, as the spot where Connor (Kevin Connolly) called Mary (Drew Barrymore) to discuss the placement of his real estate ads. In the scene, Connor sat at the southern end of Broadway Square, just east of Admiral Fell Inn.

I recently discovered a couple of other He’s Just Not That Into You locales in the same vicinity. Duda’s Tavern, which is located about 500 feet west of Annie’s house at 1600 Thames Street, served as the exterior of City Supper Club, the bar owned by Alex (Justin Long) in the flick.

And The Waterfront Hotel, located about 300 feet east of Annie’s house at 1710 Thames Street, masked as the exterior of The Huntsman’s Den, where Alex gave Gigi (Ginnifer Goodwin) some pointers on reading body language.

The entire area around Annie’s house is absolutely adorable.

Unfortunately, we did not get to spend a lot of time there, but I found myself wishing we had stayed at one of the hotels lining the main drag as there are so many shops and restaurants in the cobblestoned vicinity.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Annie’s house from Sleepless in Seattle is located at 904 South Broadway in Baltimore’s Fells Point neighborhood. The spot where Connor sat in He’s Just Not That Into You can be found about one hundred feet north at Broadway Square, just east of the Admiral Fell Inn at 888 Broadway. Duda’s Tavern, which was used as the exterior of City Supper Club in HJNTIY, is located one block west of Broadway Square at 1600 Thames Street. And The Waterfront Hotel, which masked as the exterior of The Huntsman’s Den in HJNTIY, is located one block east at 1710 Thames Street.

November 14, 2016November 10, 2016

Connor and Gigi’s Date Restaurant from “He’s Just Not That Into You”

Not every location from He’s Just Not That Into You was a challenge to track down. [As I mentioned yesterday and the day before, both Janine (Jennifer Connelly) and Ben’s (Bradley Cooper) home and Conor’s (Kevin Connolly) row house listing proved to be real thorns in my side.] Case in point, the exterior of the restaurant where Gigi (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Conor went on a date in the 2009 flick. That site, which was actually the heavily dressed entrance to two neighboring Mount Vernon eateries named Thairish and The Helmand, was spelled out in a 2007 The Baltimore Sun article that was written while the cast and crew were in town shooting portions of the movie. I came across the piece shortly after I first saw He’s Just Not That Into You and jotted down the addresses in case I ever traveled to Baltimore, an opportunity that finally arose this past September.

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Gigi and Conner’s date restaurant, shown to be named “Red Seven,” only popped up once at the very beginning of He’s Just Not That Into You. As you can see below, due to massive set dressing, the locale looks quite different in person than it did onscreen. For the shoot, the exteriors of Thairish and The Helmand were covered over and made to appear as if they were one large brick and glass-clad space. The Baltimore Sun column states, “While the entrance of Thairish only was covered with cardboard, The Helmand underwent more drastic changes. The Helmand’s manager, Assad Akbari, says contractors with the film changed its sign and swapped out the front door.”

Another Sun article from around that same time went into further detail, stating, “In Mount Vernon, restaurants Thairish and The Helmand were temporarily redecorated Saturday with new lights, a new door and a new name: Red Seven.”

Thairish, a Thai eatery, was shuttered in 2016 and today Khun Nine Thai occupies the space. The Helmand, though, is still going strong. Originally opened in 1989, the Afghan restaurant is something of a Baltimore institution.

Unfortunately, there was a sidewalk fair set up right in front of the two restaurants when we showed up to stalk them, which made getting photographs rather difficult.

The neighborhood where The Helmand and Khun Nine Thai are located is absolutely adorable – and boasts quite a view of the Washington Monument, as you can see below. The Grim Cheaper and I spent quite a bit of time there, exploring the shops and admiring the handsome brick buildings.

Only the exterior of Khun Nine Thai and The Helmand were utilized in He’s Just Not That Into You.

At the time I started researching the movie’s locales, I was unsure where the interior of Conner and Gigi’s date scene was shot. Finding the right spot proved to be a snap, though. One look at photographs of the inside of both The Helmand and Thairish told me that interior footage was lensed elsewhere. My guess was that filming had most likely taken place in Los Angeles, where the majority of the romcom was shot. Red Seven, the name that producers had given to their fictional restaurant, seemed unusual to me. So unusual that I figured it was likely the moniker of a real place – either an actual Baltimore establishment filmmakers wanted to pay homage to or, possibly, the site in L.A. where interiors were filmed. Fingers crossed, I Googled “Red Seven,” “restaurant,” and “Los Angeles” and discovered that there is indeed an eatery by that name in West Hollywood! Images of it matched perfectly to the spot where Gigi and Conor enjoyed a beer and a Ketel-soda. Why the crew went to all of that trouble and did not just use a fake name or no name at all is beyond me, but I’m grateful they did as I might never have found the location otherwise.

As you can see below, filmmakers also went to the trouble of matching the entrance door of their fake restaurant to the actual walls of Red Seven.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The exterior of Connor and Gigi’s date restaurant from He’s Just Not That Into You was created outside of both Khun Nine Thai and The Helmand, which are located at 804 and 806 North Charles Street in Baltimore’s Mount Vernon neighborhood, respectively. Interiors were filmed at Red Seven, which is located at 700 North San Vicente Boulevard, in the Pacific Design Center, in West Hollywood. You can visit Khun Nine Thai’s official website here, The Helmand’s here and Red Seven’s here.

November 10, 2016November 9, 2016

Conor’s Row House Listing from “He’s Just Not That Into You”

He’s Just Not That Into You was the thorn in my side prior to my recent trip back east. As I mentioned yesterday, the 2009 romcom is one of my all-time favorites and before heading to Baltimore, where the film was set and partially shot, in September, I got a bit obsessed with tracking down its locales. After a rather long and arduous pursuit to find Ben (Bradley Cooper) and Janine’s (Jennifer Connelly) stately home, I set my sights on the row house that real estate agent Conor (Kevin Connolly) was trying to sell – and that he also wanted to buy for Anna (Scarlett Johansson) – at the end of the movie. It proved just as difficult to locate and, once again, I found myself watching and re-watching the flick, looking for a clue I knew I was missing.

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During my umpteenth re-watch of the one scene involving the house (I saw it so many times, I can pretty much recite it from memory), I spotted a barely-visible address number displayed on the residence next door.

Though the number was not clear in the streamed version of the movie I was watching (which is where the above screen capture came from), I knew it would be via Blu-ray, so I popped in my DVD and, sure enough, there was the address 3104, clear as day. (Unfortunately, I cannot make screen captures of the Blu-ray version of the film as my computer does not have a Blu-ray drive).

It was also clear in the scene that the house was located on a road that ran perpendicular to a one-way street (as you can see in the background below). So I started searching 3100 blocks in Baltimore that abut one-way streets and fairly quickly found the right spot.

Though He’s Just Not That Into You was only filmed six years ago, I was nevertheless thrilled to see that Conor’s listing still looked exactly the same as it had onscreen.

In real life, the property, which was originally built in 1880, just sold to new owners in July of this year for $279,000. Per the listing, the pad boasts 2.5 baths, 1,920 square feet of living space, a brand new kitchen with Caesar stone countertops and stainless steel appliances, updated bathrooms, a brick patio, refinished hardwood flooring throughout, and custom built-ins. The listing information also states that the home has two bedrooms, but from looking at the photographs I believe there are actually four.

I was shocked to discover that the listing even makes mention of the property’s appearance in He’s Just Not That Into You. Really wish I had happened upon it prior to spending so many hours searching for the place!

The real life interior of the home was also used in the filming, as you can see in the screen captures as compared to the real estate listing photos below.

While the kitchen has since been remodeled, its layout remains the same.

Despite the renovation, the built-in ironing board that Anna fawned over in the movie remains intact! Love it! There seems to be some sort of placard affixed to it, too. I wonder if it says something along the lines of, “Scarlett Johansson touched this.” Or “Screen-used ironing board.” Or “Our ironing board is famous.” Man, I wish the real estate listing had provided a close-up photograph of it.

One thing I did spot in the listing photographs – which floored me to no end – was the “For Sale” sign that was affixed to the front of the house in the movie! Apparently the owners were allowed to keep it and chose to display it on their wall, which is so incredibly cool.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Conor’s row house listing from He’s Just Not That Into You is located at 3102 O’Donnell Street in Baltimore’s Canton neighborhood.

February 6, 2012February 3, 2012

Café-Club Fais Do-Do from “Crossroads”

One location that I blogged about way back in March of 2009 and had been dying to re-stalk ever since – in order to snap some interior pictures – was Café-Club Fais Do-Do, the supposed New-Orleans-area karaoke bar that appeared in the 2002 movie Crossroads. (For those who did not catch my original post on the place, in the Spring of 2001 I was an extra in Crossroads and spent a full three days filming at the Fais Do-Do – a magical experience that I will never forget.) Because the club is typically only open at night for concerts and events, though, and because the Grim Cheaper has a major aversion to paying any sort of a cover charge, since the filming I had never been able to get back inside. Until last Wednesday afternoon, that is, when I tagged along with fellow stalker Mike, from MovieShotsLA, on a scouting expedition. A couple of months back, Mike actually joined the Location Managers Guild of America under the title of Apprentice and, when I heard that he was in the process of building his portfolio, I immediately (and a bit selfishly) suggested that he visit Café-Club Fais Do-Do – with me accompanying him, of course. Don’t get me wrong – the place is incredibly unique and visually stimulating and I knew that he would not only shoot some incredible photographs of it, but that it would also be a highly useful locale to have in his scouting arsenal. But mostly, I just really wanted to stalk it myself. Winking smile

The Art Deco building which currently houses Café-Club Fais Do-Do was originally constructed in 1930 and is actually comprised of two separate sections – The Club (pictured above) and The Ballroom. In its original incarnation, The Club was a branch of the First Citizens Savings Bank and Trust, which explains the structure’s uniquely rich and ornate interior. Sometime in the 1960s, the bank was converted into a jazz bar/underground club, but thankfully most of its architecturally and historically significant detailing was kept intact. During its years as a jazz club, such musicians as Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, BB King, Pearl Bailey, John Coltrane, and Billy Preston were all said to have hung out there.

The Ballroom (pictured above) was originally constructed as the single-screen Variety Movie Theatre and was where the filming of Crossroads took place. I am unsure of when exactly the Variety ceased showing movies, but in 1990 the entire building was purchased by a new owner who, while still keeping the two distinct areas separate, decided to turn the venues into a nightclub and bar which collectively would be known as Café-Club Fais Do-Do – “Fais Do-Do” meaning “nighty-night” in French. And while this post on the Lon’s Place blog states that The Club area was sold to a new owner in 2010, according the film liaison that we spoke with, the same person who bought the building back in 1990 still owns it to this day.

While we were stalking the Fais Do-Do, I was extremely sad to discover that the huge two-story bar that used to be located in the center of The Ballroom and on which I had sat in Crossroads had since been removed. To me, that bar, which had a dance floor on top of it, was the coolest, most unique aspect of the entire club and I cannot believe the owner did away with it! So incredibly sad.

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In Crossroads, Café-Club Fais Do-Do’s Ballroom was used for the interior of Club Bayou, where Lucy Wagner (Britney Spears), Kit (Zoe Saldana) and Mimi (Taryn Manning) competed in a karaoke contest in order to win money to fix their car which had just broken down.

That’s me in the blue pants standing next to Ben (Anson Mount) in the above screen capture. Smile

The Fais Do-Do dressing room, which you can see a photograph of here, was featured in the scene in which Kit, Mimi and Lucy get ready to go onstage. Sadly, a film crew was using that area at the time that we were stalking the club so we were unable to take any pictures of it.

The GC and I recently started watching fave show The O.C. again from the beginning and, let me tell you, I just about fell off my chair when I spotted Café-Club Fais Do-Do pop up in a Season 1 episode. In “The Escape”, the Fais Do-Do’s Ballroom stood in for “Boom Boom”, the supposed-Tijuana-area club where Marissa Cooper (Mischa Barton) caught Luke Ward (Chris Carmack) cheating on her.

And, while scanning through “The Escape” to make screen captures for this post, I was shocked to discover that the little bar where Marissa almost overdosed on pain pills later in the episode was none other than the Fais Do-Do’s Club! The Club was remodeled in 2010 (as you can see in these photograph on the Lon’s Place blog) and looks a bit different now, but, amazingly enough, the actual bar where Marissa sat still looks exactly the same today as it did when the episode was filmed back in 2003!

After reading my original post on the Fais Do-Do back in 2009, fellow stalker Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, figured out that The Ballroom also stood in for Delloser Hall, the reggae club where Josie Geller (Drew Barrymore) got stoned after inadvertently eating a pot-laced cake, in fave movie Never Been Kissed.

In the extremely odd 2006 film The Gymnast, the Fais Do-Do’s Ballroom was used extensively as the place where Jane Hawkins (Dreya Weber) and Serena (Addie Yungmee) learned aerial fabric acrobatics.

In the flick, you can clearly see the club’s former bar . . .

. . . as well as the dance floor above it.

Café-Club Fais Do-Do’s dressing room also appeared in The Gymnast.

And in one scene, a business card featuring the club’s actual address, fax number, and website was even shown. So incredibly cool!

Fellow stalker Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, also let me know that the Fais Do-Do had appeared in the Season 2 episode of Arrested Development titled “Queen for a Day”. In the episode, the exterior . . .

. . . as well as The Ballroom stood in for The Queen Mary, the bar that Tobias Funke (David Cross) purchased.

The Club was also used in that episode as the restaurant where Byron “Buster” Bluth (Tony Hale) took his new girlfriend, Starla (Mo Collins), out for a milkshake.

And the dressing room stood in for the Hot Cop stripper club, from which Lindsay Bluth Funke (Portia de Rossi) hired strippers to scare her husband into selling The Queen Mary.

Back in February of 2011, while doing research for my post on The Little Door restaurant, I discovered that Café-Club Fais Do-Do’s Club room was used in the Season 2 episode of Entourage titled “The Abyss”, in the scene in which the boys – Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier), Eric Murphy (Kevin Connolly), Johnny ‘Drama’ Chase (Kevin Dillon), and Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) – gather together to watch Saigon perform.

I was shocked to discover (thanks to the Ron’s Place blog) that in 1994’s Reality Bites, The Club stood in for the bar where “Hey, That’s My Bike!”, Troy Dyer’s (Ethan Hawke’s) band, regularly played. The room was heavily dressed for the filming, though, and is almost unrecognizable in the movie.

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The Fais Do-Do Club was also featured in the Jane’s Addiction video for “Underground”.

As was the dressing room area.

Jane’s Addiction “Underground” Music Video–Filmed at Café-Club Fais Do-Do in Los Angeles

You can watch the “Underground” video by clicking above.

The Club also appeared in the Destiny’s Child “No, No No, Part 1” music video.

Destiny’s Child–”No, No, No Part 1” Music Video Filmed at Café-Club Fais Do-Do in Los Angeles

You can watch the “No, No, No, Part 1” video by clicking above.

This Is 40, the yet-to-be released sequel to 2007’s Knocked Up, also did some filming in Café-Club Fais Do-Do’s Ballroom in 2011. And while the Ron’s Place blog stated that The Big Lebowski and American Gangster were also filmed at the Fais Do-Do, I scanned through both movies while doing research for this post and did not spot the place anywhere.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Café-Club Fais Do-Do, from Crossroads, is located at 5253 and 5257 West Adams Boulevard in Los Angeles. You can visit the club’s official website here.

July 13, 2011July 12, 2011

Lucky Strike Lanes in Hollywood

Two weekends ago, while doing some stalking in the Hollywood area, I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to the Hollywood & Highland Shopping Center to grab a quick drink at Lucky Strike Lanes, an oft-used filming location and celebrity hot-spot. While I had first heard about the bowling alley/lounge when it originally opened eight years ago and knew of its appearance on numerous reality series, for whatever reason I did not have much interest in stalking the place. Then, a couple of months ago, fellow stalker Lavonna happened to tell me a little bit of trivia about the alley that had me absolutely chomping at the bit to go see it.

Lavonna informed me that when the iconic Hollywood Star Lanes, which first opened in 1960 and was where the majority of the movie The Big Lebowski was filmed, was torn down back in 2003 to make way for a new elementary school, the owners of the soon-to-be opened Lucky Strike decided to purchase all of the wood that comprised Hollywood Star’s Lane #7. They then proceeded to use that wood to construct the bar at their new establishment. How incredibly cool is that?

They also purchased the exterior neon signage from Hollywood Star Lanes to use as a wall hanging. Love, love, love it!

As you can see above, Lucky Strike Lanes is a VERY cool little spot. Unfortunately, I have to say that I was not all that crazy about the food. And sadly, the GC and I did not have time to do any bowling while we were there, but fellow stalker Lavonna has plans to hit the place up when she comes to visit L.A. in November, so you know what that means – I will definitely be doing a re-stalk!

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As I mentioned above, Lucky Strike Lanes in Hollywood is an oft-used filming location. In the Season 6 episode of The Hills titled “The Elephant in the Room”, Kristin Cavallari, Brodie Jenner, Frankie Delgado, Stacie Hall (aka Stacie the Bartender), and Audrina Patridge and her new boyfriend, singer Ryan Cabrera, spent the evening bowling and flirting at Lucky Strike.

Ryan Cabrera returned to the bowling alley to film the Season 1 episode of the ULTRA-stupid reality show Pretty Wild titled ”The Hearing”, in which he angers series star Tess Taylor by inviting a friend to accompany them on their date.

Vinnie Chase (aka Adrian Grenier), Eric Murphy (aka Kevin Connolly), Johnny ‘Drama’ Chase (aka Kevin Dillon), and Turtle (aka Jerry Ferrara) took their girlfriends, one of whom was Gossip Girl’s Leighton Meester, to Lucky Strike for an evening of bowling in the Season 1 episode of Entourage titled “Date Night”.

In the Season 11 episode of America’s Next Top Model titled “Fierce Eyes”, J Alexander hosted a runway challenge at Lucky Strike in which the models had to practice walking down the super-slippery bowling lanes while wearing high heels.

In the Season 1 episode of No Ordinary Family titled “No Ordinary Sidekick”, Jim Powell (aka Michael Chiklis), along with his family, Stephanie (aka Dexter’s Julie Benz), Daphne (aka Kay Panabaker), and J.J. (aka Jimmy Bennett), and their friends Katie Andrews (aka The O.C.’s Autumn Reeser) and George St. Cloud (aka Romany Malco), spend the evening using their super-powers to bowl at Lucky Strike.

And while I had originally believed that the Season 1 episode of fave show 90210 titled “Lucky Strike” was filmed at the Lucky Strike Lanes in Hollywood, as it turns out filming actually took place at the chain’s Torrance location, inside of the Del Amo Shopping Center.

And the Season 2 episode of Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County titled “Since You Been Gone” was filmed at the chain’s Block at Orange location.

As I mentioned above, Lucky Strike Lanes is also a veritable celebrity magnet. Just a few of the stars who have been spotted there include Drew Barrymore, Liv Tyler, John Mayer, Glee’s Cory Monteith, The Bachelorette’s Ali Fedotowsky and Roberto Martinez, Demi Moore, Bruce Willis, Rumor Willis, Geena Davis, Robin Williams, Paris Hilton, Nick Carter, Matthew Lillard, Fergie and Taboo from the Black Eyed Peas, Mandy Moore, Judy Greer, Vanessa Hudgens, Courteney Cox, Nicole Richie, Trevor Donovan, Jessica Simpson, and even my girl Jen Aniston. I once spotted David Arquette walking into the bowling alley for some sort of celebrity event back in December of 2008 and while I tried to take the above photograph of him, as you can see, it did not turn out very well due to the bright lights on the red carpet. You can definitely tell it is him, though.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Lavonna for telling me about this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Lucky Strike Lanes is located at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard, inside of the Hollywood & Highland Shopping Center, in Hollywood. You can visit the bowling alley’s official website here.

July 7, 2011July 6, 2011

Barneys New York from “Just Go With It”

This past Friday night, the Grim Cheaper and I sat down to watch Just Go With It on DVD and I have to say that I loved the flick even more the second time around! I honestly think it is my girl Jen’s best movie yet! Although I did seriously love me some Office Space, but I digress. So while the GC and I were in the area doing some stalking last Sunday afternoon, I just had to drag him out to stalk the Women’s Shoe Department at Barneys New York department store on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills, where, in what turned out to be one of my favorite scenes in the film, Jen’s character, Katherine, tried on some expensive kicks at the behest of her boss/pretend soon-to-be ex-husband, Danny Maccabee (aka Adam Sandler).

Before arriving at Barneys I was a little apprehensive that the store would have a no photos policy, but amazingly enough I ended up chatting with a super nice saleswoman who not only showed me the exact spot in the shoe department where filming had taken place, but also told me that I was free to take all of the pictures that I wanted. Yay! The woman also informed me that she had once waited on Jen and that she had been incredibly nice and down to earth. Sigh!

The Just Go With It scene was filmed in the very center of Barneys’ Women’s Shoe Department, in the area that features a square-shaped couch. I was especially excited to see that the couch pillows that appeared in the scene were actually there in real life, as well! Love it!

And OH MY GOD do I LOVE me the shoes that Jen tried on in the scene!!! What I wouldn’t give to have a pair of those!!!! (They are made by Tabitha Simmons and they are called the “Bailee Suede” for those who are interested and have an extra $882 lying around. That’s the sale price, by the way, they originally cost $1,470.)

Just Go With It–Barneys New York in Beverly Hills

You can watch the absolutely hilarious scene that took place at Barneys by clicking above.

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The saleswoman that I spoke with also told me that Jen’s ex, Brad Pitt, filmed a very brief scene for the 1999 movie Fight Club at Barneys, in which his character, Tyler Durden, and “The Narrator”, who was played by Edward Norton, sell soap to a high-end department store.

The store was also where Turtle (aka Jerry Ferrara), Vincent Chase (aka Adrian Grenier), Eric Murphy (aka Kevin Connolly), and Johnny ‘Drama’ Chase (aka Kevin Dillon) shopped for pajamas for the annual Playboy Mansion Lingerie Party in the Season 2 episode of Entourage titled “Aquamansion”.

Barneys New York in Beverly Hills is also a major celebrity hot spot. Just a few of the stars who have been spotted shopping there in recent months include Courteney Cox, Lauren Conrad, Kate Bosworth, Audrina Patridge, Ashley Tisdale, Lindsay Lohan, Rihanna, Dakota Fanning, Nicole Richie, and Jessica Alba. Barneys was also where Victoria Beckham and Katie Holmes famously shopped for shoes together back in 2006. In fact, the above photograph was taken in the exact same spot where Just Go With It was filmed. And the last time that the GC and I were at Barneys, we spotted Jessica Lowndes, aka Adrianna Tate-Duncan from 90210, doing some shopping with a friend.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Barneys New York, from Just Go With It, is located at 9570 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. In the movie, Jennifer Aniston shopped in the very center of the Women’s Shoe Department. You can visit the official Barney’s website here.

February 11, 2011February 10, 2011

The Little Door Restaurant from “Monster-in-Law”

One restaurant that I have long wanted to stalk, but could just never seem to find was the adorable little outdoor courtyard spot where Kevin Fields (aka Michael Vartan), his mother, Viola Fields (aka Jane Fonda), and his new fiancé, Charlie Cantilini (aka Jennifer Lopez), lunched towards the end of the 2005 romantic comedy Monster-in-Law. Then, as fate would have it, back in September while trying to track down the French restaurant where Brenda Walsh (aka my girl Shannen Doherty) and Donna Martin (aka Tori Spelling) accidentally ate veal brains during Season 2 of fave show Beverly Hills, 90210, I came across the website for The Little Door on West 3rd in Los Angeles and immediately recognized it as the restaurant from Monster-in-Law. I added the spot to my “To-Stalk” list and the Grim Cheaper and I finally headed out there this past Saturday night to grab some cocktails. And I have to say the place was AMAZING!

The Little Door, which was opened in 1996 by French-born brothers Frederic and Nicolas Meschin, is easily one of the most adorable restaurants I have ever had the pleasure of dining at. The property, which is actually a converted former schoolhouse, is made up of four different dining areas: the Blue Room, the Winter Garden, the Patio, and the Piano Room. The most popular area, and the area where Monster-in-Law was filmed, is the Patio, a romantic garden setting complete with trees, trickling fountains, twinkle lights, and a retractable glass roof that is opened during the summer months. (The room is also very dimly-lit, which is why the above photographs came out so poorly.) The Little Door has been named “Most Romantic Restaurant of L.A.” and it is not very hard to see why. It is easily one of the romantic places I have ever visited. The staff was also incredibly NICE and lacked any sort of that fancy-L.A.-restaurant-type snootiness. In fact, the bartender and I talked non-stop about celebrities while we were there, which was refreshing as many servers in L.A. try to act like they are above the whole Hollywood thing, when in reality over 90% of them are actors. Winking smile And while the eatery is on the pricier side, the food is absolutely FABULOUS and I honestly cannot recommend stalking the place enough!

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In Monster-in-Law, Charlie, Viola,and Kevin meet up for lunch in the Patio area of The Little Door whereupon Charlie finally turns the tables on her soon-to-be horrendous mother-in-law Viola and announces “It’s my game now!”

The Little Door was also featured in the Season 2 episode of Entourage titled “The Abyss”, in the scene in which Eric Murphy (aka Kevin Connolly) and Sloane McQuewick (aka Emmanuelle Chriqui) discuss the fact that Vinnie Chase (aka Adrian Grenier) no longer wants to be in the movie Aquaman.

Besides being a filming location, the restaurant is also a big-time celebrity hotspot. Just a few of the stars who have dined there recently include Russell Brand, Katy Perry, Jim Carrey, Britney Spears, Gary Oldman, Scott Weiland, Mark McGrath, Cameron Diaz, Justin Timberlake, Scarlett Johansson, Ryan Reynolds, Eva Longoria, Tony Parker, Jay-Z, Jessica Alba, Christina Aguilera, Posh Spice, David Beckham, Lisa Marie Presley, Pink, Tara Reid, Salma Hayek, Nigel Lythgoe, and Paris Hilton. The list literally goes on and on! In fact, the GC and I spotted Dennis Haysbert, who played President David Palmer on the hit television series 24, having a quiet dinner while we were there. So incredibly cool!

While we were dining, our bartender informed us that an episode of Entourage had also been filmed next door at the Little Door’s sister restaurant, Little Next Door. So, after we finished eating, we ran right over to stalk the place. Little Next Door, which is a full-service restaurant as well as a bakery and a café, is an absolutely adorable little spot and is already on my list of places that I need to re-stalk in the very near future.

Little Next Door popped up in the Season 4 episode of Entourage titled “No Cannes Do” in the scene in which Eric and Vinnie have a production meeting with independent film director Billy Walsh (aka Rhys Coiro) and actress Anna Faris, who played herself on the series.

Little Next Door is also a celebrity hotspot and such stars as Rachel Bilson, Lo Bosworth, Tyra Banks, Jessica Biel, Audrina Patridge, Michelle Trachtenberg, Ali Larter, and Isabel Lucas have all been spotted there.

On a side note – Ever since seeing Blair Waldorf (aka Leighton Meester) gorging herself on macarons in the Season 4 episode of Gossip Girl titled “Juliet Doesn’t Live Here Anymore”, I have been dying to find a bakery that sells the tiny French cookies so that I could sample some for myself.

So, when I saw a myriad of them on display in the bakery case at Little Next Door, I just had to purchase a boxful. And, let me tell you, they were simply AMAZING! Like the best cookies I have ever had in my entire life! Macarons, which consist of flavored ganache sandwiched between two almond meringue cookies and are not to be confused with the similarly-named macaroons that are made out of coconut, are light, airy, flavorful and literally melt in your mouth! It is no wonder that Blair Waldorf is obsessed with them! Because I am diabetic, I only sampled a bite of both the chocolate and Dulce de Leche-flavored macarons, but the Grim Cheaper tried a few of the other flavors and absolutely LOVED them all! The cookies aren’t sold in many places in L.A. that I have found, but let me tell you, if you can get your hands on some, you simply must try them!!!!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Little Door restaurant, from Monster-in-Law and “The Abyss” episode of Entourage, is located at 8164 West 3rd Street in Los Angeles. Contrary to what was shown on Entourage and in Monster-in-Law, the eatery does not serve lunch, but is only open for dinner beginning at 6 p.m. nightly. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here. Little Next Door, from the “No Cannes Do” episode of Entourage, is located at 8142 West 3rd Street and is open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday through Sunday.

February 3, 2011February 2, 2011

Drago Ristorante from “Entourage”

Last Monday afternoon, I found myself having to kill a few hours of time while my car was being repaired at a mechanic’s shop on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, so I headed across the street to grab a latte and some lunch at a restaurant named Aroma Bakery & Café. I had never before dined at Aroma, but thought the name sounded vaguely familiar and had a brief recollection that it had once been featured on the hit HBO television series Entourage. Well, my memory is obviously not quite as good as I thought because as it turns out the restaurant was never actually featured on the show (it was Urth Café that I had been thinking of), but my mis-memory ended up to be very fortuitous. While I was researching Aroma Bakery on my Blackberry, I came across a thread on the Chowhound website detailing numerous area restaurants which had been featured on Entourage and I almost fell off of my chair when I saw that one of the eateries mentioned was Drago Ristorante in Santa Monica, a place that I have actually dined at numerous times before, but had never realized was a filming location! Then I almost fell off my chair once again when I received a call from the Grim Cheaper a few days later, informing me that his boss had just invited us to dinner at Drago Ristorante that Friday night!!! Talk about synchronicity! So, a few days later the GC and I headed out to the West Side for some dinner and some Entourage stalking. Yay!

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Drago Ristorante was originally opened in 1991 by native Sicilian chef Celestino Drago, who had previously founded Celestino restaurant in Beverly Hills. Drago became a virtual overnight success and now, almost two decades later, it is a veritable Santa Monica institution. Celestino has also become something of a celebrity chef along the way and has since opened up several other eateries including Dolce Forno bakery in Culver City, Entoneca Drago and Il Pastaio, both in Beverly Hills, Drago Centro in Downtown Los Angeles, and Celestino in Pasadena. And I have to say that Drago is EXCELLENT! I opted for the Petto Di Pollo, Funghi Trifolati entrée which featured king trumpet mushrooms that were quite possibly the largest mushrooms I have ever seen in my entire life! They were A-MA-ZING and I would have honestly been happy eating a handful of them by themselves, but I , of course, also chose to gouge myself on the chicken which was doused in a light truffle sauce. And, oh my lord, was it good! I should forewarn my fellow stalkers that the restaurant is on the pricey side, so if you are looking for a reasonable night out, Drago would not be a good choice. If you don’t mind dropping a couple pennies, though, it is ENTIRELY worth the expense.

In the “Oh, Mandy” episode of Entourage, Vince Chase (aka Adrian Grenier) meets up with Mandy Moore, who played herself on the series, at Drago Ristorante in order to talk about the upcoming movie Aquaman, in which they are both set to star. While the two are dining, Eric Murphy (aka Kevin Connolly), Johnny ‘Drama’ Chase (aka Kevin Dillon), and Turtle (aka Jerry Ferrara) wait for Vince in their car out in front of the restaurant. Drago Ristorante also appeared in an early season episode of fave reality show The Bachelor, although I am not sure of exactly which episode or which season. The place is also something of a celebrity hot spot. The GC’s boss saw Ed ‘Neill, Anne Bancroft, Mel Brooks, and Garry Marshall there all on one night a few years back!

On an Entourage side note – Thanks again to the Chowhound website, I recently discovered that HBO has a locations tab on the Entourage section of its website which lists the main locales featured in each and every episode of the show. HOW INCREDIBLY COOL IS THAT??? Why do ALL shows not do this???? Love it! Love it! Love it!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Drago Ristorante, from the “Oh, Mandy” episode of Entourage, is located at 2628 Wilshire Boulevard in Santa Monica.

November 15, 2010June 16, 2011

The 101 Coffee Shop from “Swingers”

One location that I have wanted to stalk ever since moving to Los Angeles over a decade ago, but didn’t because there were numerous erroneous reports floating around online which stated that the place had since closed down, was the 101 Coffee Shop which appeared in the 1996 movie Swingers. It wasn’t until Mike, from MovieShotsLA, pointed out the restaurant to me while driving by it after we finished our tour of Paramount Studios back in September that I realized the location was, indeed, still open for business. I added the cafe to the top of my “To Stalk” list that very day and when fellow stalkers Lavonna, Beth, Debbie, and Connie came out from Ohio for a Hollywood stalking trip a few weeks later, we all hit the place up for a quick bite to eat.

Apparently, there is quite a bit of confusion surrounding this particular location, so I thought I’d put all the mystery to rest with today’s post. The diner, which is located on the first floor of the Best Western Hollywood Hills Hotel, originally opened in the 1930’s and was named the “Hollywood Hills Coffee Shop”. In 1994, the restaurant, which was faltering at the time, was taken over by a French chef named Susan Fine Moore and her husband, Michael, who revamped the property’s interior and updated its menu to include an array of standard comfort foods along with some Mexican dishes. Of the new menu, which vacillated greatly from L.A.’s typical low-fat fare, Fine said, “We kind of pride ourselves on being an oasis from all that craziness. There’s a new diet, a new fad every week, but actually people seem a little bit less obsessed than they used to be about diets. Otherwise we wouldn’t be so busy. Generation X is lovely – they’ll eat anything. And the older generation is figuring, I suppose, who wants to live to 108 if you can’t put butter on your potato?” Love it! The Hollywood Hills Coffee Shop really started to take off under the helm of Susan and Michael and it was at that point that the place, thanks to its high-quality food and laid-back attitude, started attracting celebrities. A few stars who were known to frequent the diner include Brad Pitt, my girl Jen Aniston, Sandra Bullock, Gwyneth Paltrow, Johnny Depp, Andy Garcia, Minnie Driver, Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, and Kevin Spacey. After losing their lease in July of 2001, Susan and Michael moved their restaurant two miles east to a new location at 1745 North Vermont Avenue, but the place, sadly, closed down shortly thereafter. In the meantime the former Hollywood Hills Coffee Shop space was leased to new owners – Warner Ebbink and Brandon Boudet of the Eat Heavy Restaurant Group – who opened a new eatery in its place.

That new restaurant is named the 101 Coffee Shop and, let me tell you, it is a VERY cool place. Ebbink, who has a passion for architecture as well as food, redesigned the property’s interior himself, modeling it after the old-time cafes of the ‘60s and ‘70s. Boudet serves as the head chef and, under his tutelage, the eatery still serves up high-quality comfort food, including macaroni and cheese, meatloaf and gravy, and tuna melts. For the foodies in your group, more highbrow offerings, like the Grilled Tandoori Salmon Sandwich, the Kale “Greek” Salad, and the Grilled Albacore Tuna Burger, are also on the menu. And, despite the change in ownership, the restaurant is still a big time celebrity hotspot. Fellow stalker Chas ran into both Nicolas Cage and Matt LeBlanc on two separate occasions while dining at the cafe. So, while the Hollywood Hills Coffee Shop is no longer in operation, the 101 Coffee Shop is alive and well, and, despite the remodel, is still very recognizable from Swingers.

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Then out-of-work actors Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau actually wrote the screenplay for Swingers over several meals at the Hollywood Hills Coffee Shop. (The restaurant seems to be something of a lucky charm for writers as the pilot episode of the extremely successful CBS comedy series Everybody Loves Raymond was also penned in one of the cafe’s back rooms.) According to a November 1998 New York Times article, Favreau and his good friend Vaughn used to frequent the diner regularly. Of the restaurant, Favreau said, “It was like a family atmosphere. We didn’t have a lot of money, and I lived in a tiny apartment up the block. I loved the people who ran the place, who made you feel like a big shot, even if you weren’t. Very good portions – you never left hungry.” Once the screenplay was sold, Favreau decided to use the restaurant as a filming location for no less than three scenes in the movie! The Hollywood Hills Coffee Shop first appears in the opening scene in which Mike (aka Favreau) talks to Rob (aka Sex and the City’s Ron Livingston) about how to get his girlfriend back.

That scene was filmed in the second booth to the left of the restaurant’s main door, which, despite the remodel, still looks very much the same today as it did in the movie.

The scene in which Trent (aka Vince Vaughn) tells Mike that he is “all growns up” was also filmed at the cafe. The booth where that scene was filmed is, sadly, no longer there. It looks as if the restaurant also had some sort of a grocery section at the time the movie was filmed, but it no longer does today.

The movie’s ending scene, in which Trent thinks a fellow diner is making goo-goo eyes at him, also took place at the former Hollywood Hills Coffee Shop.

In more recent years the coffee shop stood in for Winkie’s, the diner where Lorelai (aka Lauren Graham), Rory (aka Alexis Bledel), and Emily Gilmore (aka Kelly Bishop) stopped to grab a bite to eat while on their way to North Carolina to attend Mia’s wedding in the Season 7 episode of Gilmore Girls titled “Gilmore Girls Only”.

Randomly enough, Gilmore Girls filmed in pretty much the exact same spot where Lavonna, Debbie, Connie, Beth, and I ate lunch! 🙂 So cool!

In the Season 1 episode of Entourage titled “Date Night”, Vincent Chase (aka Adrian Grenier), Johnny ‘Drama’ Chase (aka Kevin Dillon), Eric Murphy (aka Kevin Connolly), and Turtle (aka Jerry Ferrara) grab some breakfast at the cafe on the morning of Vince’s big movie premiere.

Some filming for that episode also took place outside of the coffee shop.

The Entourage boys returned to the cafe to film the Season 7 episode of the show titled “Buzzed”, in which Turtle’s credit card is rejected after he tries to pick up the gang’s lunch tab.

The coffee shop was also featured twice in the 2007 movie In the Land of Women. It was first seen in the opening scene in which Sofia Bunuel (aka Elena Anaya) breaks up with Carter Webb (aka Adam Brody).

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And it was used in the ending scene in which Carter meets Janey (aka fave actress Ginnifer Goodwin).

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for telling me about this location! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The 101 Coffee Shop, aka the former Hollywood Hills Coffee Shop from Swingers, is located at 6145 Franklin Avenue, on the first floor of the Best Western Hollywood Hills Hotel, in Hollywood. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.

February 2, 2010February 2, 2010

The Standard Hotel Rooftop Bar in Downtown Los Angeles

Another Fracture filming location that I recently stalked – without actually realizing it – was the Standard Hotel’s Rooftop Bar in Downtown L.A. I say “without actually realizing it” because at the time I stalked the place I had no idea it was a filming location. I ended up there while on the way to the Los Angeles airport where I was dropping off my good friends from Switzerland who were flying home after a two week visit. I thought it would be nice to stop for a cocktail at an L.A. hot spot before their flight took off and so I got to Googling, whereupon I found a myriad of websites all touting the amazing views that could be found at the Standard’s rooftop watering hole. So, we made a pit stop there before heading to LAX and, as fate would have it, the place turned out to be the PERFECT spot for my friends to bid their farewells to Los Angeles.

Downtown L.A.’s Standard Hotel opened up in May of 2002 and was the brainchild of famed hotelier Andre Balazs, the same man who gave us New York’s Mercer Hotel, the original Standard Hotel in West Hollywood, and the updated version of Hollywood’s legendary Chateau Marmont. The twelve story building now known as the Standard was originally built in 1952 and housed the Southern California headquarters of Superior Oil. The structure, which was designed by architect Claude Beelman, had stood vacant for over a decade when Balazs purchased it in 2000. He left most of the original architectural details intact, including the two-story lobby area’s stainless steel time zone clock which displays the times of 15 different countries and stands at over ten feet tall, the oil mining frieze located above the entrance doors, a pair of escalators (left over from when Union Bank of California occupied the building), the black and white marble flooring, and the original S-shaped door handles. To that he added shag carpeting, an absolutely enormous digital wall hanging, a sunken lounge area, an outdoor fire pit, a 125 foot long couch designed by Vladimir Kagan, and a foosball table station situated next to the valet desk. It’s retro-modern decor at its finest! The Standard’s piece de resistance, though, is its 1,220 square foot Rooftop Bar, which features astro-turf, a heated swimming pool, outdoor sofas, a dance floor, numerous topiaries, vibrating waterbeds, movies which are projected onto the walls of neighboring buildings, red plastic “pod” gazebos, Verner Panton-designed furniture, a fab menu and a full bar.

Oh, and did I mention the view? Yes, the bar also features an absolutely breath-taking, awe-inspiring view of Downtown Los Angeles.

So breath-taking and awe-inspiring, in fact, that it’s almost impossible to do anything but stare out at the skyline while there. The above photograph was taken of my friend Stephanie while at the bar and it perfectly encapsulates how one feels while visiting the place. 🙂 Of the hotel, Travel + Leisure Magazine said it is “Los Angeles like you have never seen it before.” My sentiments exactly!

The Standard Rooftop Bar is such a unique spot that it became an almost immediate celebrity magnet. Stars such as Owen Wilson, Charlize Theron, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Mark Wahlberg, Lara Flynn Boyle, Moby, Nicolas Cage, and Sophia Coppola have all been spotted hanging out there. And I honestly can’t recommend stalking the place enough! Whether you’re a native Angelino or a first-time visitor to Southern California, I can’t think of a better place from which to enjoy the City of Angels.

Due to its unique architecture and unparalleled views of the city, the Standard has become a frequent filming location. In Fracture, the Standard’s Rooftop Bar is featured very briefly as the spot where Willy Beachum (aka Ryan Gosling) meets up with Nikki Gardner (aka Rosamund Pike) after losing his court case against Ted Crawford (aka Anthony Hopkins).

The bar was also featured in the Season 3 episode of Entourage entitled “Strange Days” as the spot where Eric Murphy (aka Kevin Connolly) meets up with Sloane’s best friend Tori (aka Malin Akerman).

In Collateral, Jamie Foxx “borrows” a stranger’s cell phone while out in front of the Standard’s main entrance. And last, but not least, the hotel was also where Robert Downey Jr. stayed in the 2005 movie Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, which I unfortunately don’t own a copy of.

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Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Standard Hotel is located at 550 South Flower Street in Downtown Los Angeles. You can visit their website here.