Los Angeles filming locations – Page 6

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.

April 1, 2009March 31, 2009

The Bradbury Building

While serving on jury duty a few years back, I had the opportunity to visit one of the most incredible buildings I’ve ever seen in my life. Since jurors are oftentimes given incredibly long lunches (sometimes lasting over two and a half hours!!), the jury orientation paperwork includes a list of some “Things To Do” in the area. On that list was the Bradbury Building, which is located just a few short blocks away from the L.A. courthouse. Thanks to its prominent appearance in the 1982 science fiction flick Blade Runner, the Bradbury is quite famous among film location buffs – it’s listed in pretty much every book ever written on the subject. But surprisingly, I had never visited the building myself. I am not into the science fiction genre and have never seen Blade Runner, so I wasn’t ever really interested in visiting the building in person. But since I was only a few blocks away during my three day stint as a juror, I figured I may as well take a gander.

And I am so thankful I did! While the building is fairly non-descript on the outside, its interior is nothing short of AMAZING. The Bradbury was built in 1893 by millionaire real estate developer Lewis Bradbury. Mr. Bradbury was in poor health at the time and wanted to create a building that would be a sort of monument to himself before he passed away. He first enlisted architect Sumner Hunt to design a suitable building, but when none of Sumner’s designs were exceptional enough, Bradbury looked to one of Sumner’s young assistants. That assistant, George Wyman, was only 32 years old at the time and possessed virtually no architectural or design experience to speak of. Perhaps realizing this, Wyman at first turned Bradbury down. Thankfully, his dead brother Mark stepped in, eventually changing his mind. Yes, you read that right. George and his wife “consulted” with Mark via a planchette board (aka a spirit board) upon which Mark wrote “Take Bradbury Building. It will make you famous.” And the rest is architectural history.

Wyman’s inspiration for the design of the legendary building actually came from a science fiction book written in 1887 named Looking Backward From 2000 to 1887. In the book, author Edward Bellamy wrote that the typical office building in the year 2000 was a “vast hall full of light, received not alone from the windows on all sides, but from the dome, the point of which was a hundred feet above . . . The walls were frescoed in mallow tints, to soften without absorbing the light which flooded the interior.” It’s amazing to me that a building built 116 years ago, inspired by a book written 122 years ago, remains awe-inspiring to this day.

And awe-inspiring it truly is! Pictures honestly don’t do the amazing architecture of this building justice. It has to be seen in person to be truly appreciated. The building’s central courtyard is covered by a five story high peaked glass roof, which “Arts and Architecture Magazine” called “a fairytale of mathematics”. The roof bathes the entire interior of the building in a soft natural light. Lewis spared absolutely no expense in the making of his monument – the Bradbury’s walls are made of a glazed brick, the floors are covered in Mexican tile, and the stairs are carved out of Belgium marble. But by far, the building’s most gorgeous element is the lavish wrought iron detailing that is located throughout.

The building’s two open cage elevators are also housed by beautiful wrought iron detailing. The Bradbury definitely turned out to be the extraordinary monument that Lewis Bradbury set out to build. Unfortunately, he passed away three months before seeing its completion. All in all the Bradbury cost $500,000 to construct.

The building’s unique architecture and abundance of natural light have long made it a favorite of location scouts. The Bradbury Building was featured most prominently in the 1982 movie Blade Runner, where it was used as the apartment building of J.F. Sebastian. In the movie, the real name of the building is used, but the exterior looks nothing like it does in real life (pictured above). It is quite ironic to me that the Bradbury was chosen to be used in Blade Runner, as producers made the interior, which is so famous for its light, look so incredibly dark.

The historic building was also featured in Chinatown, Good Neighbor Sam (as Jack Lemmon’s hotel), Double Indemnity, D.O.A., Mr. Wrong (as Dean Stockwell’s office), Pushing Daisies (as Ned and Chuck’s apartment building), Quantum Leap, Pay It Forward, Wolf (as Jack Nicholson’s office), Disclosure, Lethal Weapon 4 (as Joe Pesci’s dentist’s office – pictured above), Murder in the First (as Christian Slater’s law office), the television series Pasadena (as the Los Angeles Sun’s newspaper office), as well as countless others. The ground floor of the building is home to Ross Cutlery – the knife store where O.J. Simpson allegedly purchased a 12-inch stilleto knife three weeks before the murders of Ronald Goldman and Nicole Simpson.

The Bradbury is also used quite often for photography shoots. While out stalking in Downtown L.A. last weekend, I dragged my boyfriend and my parents to the building, where we stumbled upon the band Shattered Atom posing for photographs for their new album cover (pictured above).

A statue of Charlie Chaplin, on loan from the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, is currently on display just inside the Bradbury Building’s side entrance.

I HIGHLY recommend stalking the Bradbury Building. In fact, it should be a “must see” location for both natives and tourists of Los Angeles alike. It is a truly amazing, literally breathtaking structure, like nothing I have ever seen anywhere else in my life. Even if you are not a filming locations buff, I can pretty much guarantee you will be a fan of this building and its awe-inspiring architecture.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Bradbury Building is located at 304 South Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles. The building’s first floor and courtyard area are open to the public daily.

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 24, 2009March 24, 2009

On Location With The Mentalist!

Yesterday morning while doing some Downtown Los Angeles stalking, I happened to stumble upon a large film crew outside of Union Station. I, of course, asked one of the background actors what was being filmed and almost fell over when she told me it was my new favorite show, The Mentalist!!!! I asked if Simon Baker was on set and she laughed and said “Everyone’s been asking for him all morning! It’s cause he’s such a cutie.” LOL Sadly, SB had already been wrapped for the day, as had actress Robin Tunney. 🙁 Such a bummer!!

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But I did get to see actor Tim Kang, who plays Detective Kimball Cho on the show (pictured above). I love Kang’s character, so I was pretty floored to see him in person. He was filming a scene that basically consisted of him sitting on a bench reading a newspaper at the entrance to Union Station’s former ticket concourse. Needless to say, it wasn’t that exciting. LOL

I didn’t stick around very long to watch the filming as not a whole lot was going on and, sadly, the crew wasn’t all that friendly. The area where the scene was being filmed wasn’t shut off to the public as filming areas normally are, so I am guessing that the crew was just slightly annoyed at the many random people who were walking directly into their shot while the cameras were rolling. I guess the people didn’t notice the many signs that were posted around the area announcing that filming was taking place (pictured above). LOL I can’t tell you the number of people I saw who walked right in front of the camera and into the former ticket concourse, then stopped and looked around with confusion on their faces, only to walk right back out in front of the camera once again. I’m not kidding! I can imagine how that might have gotten old for the crew real quick!

Countless productions have filmed at the historic train station since its opening in 1939, including Nick of Time (Johnny Depp’s daughter is kidnapped there), Charlie’s Angel’s: Full Throttle (Demi Moore lived in the former ticket concourse area which is pictured above), Can’t Hardly Wait (Jennifer Love Hewitt and Ethan Embry finally get together in the station’s waiting area), 24, Alias, Blast From The Past, Bugsy, Catch Me If You Can, Blade Runner, Guilty by Suspicion, Garfield, The Italian Job, Pearl Harbor, and a 1950’s movie actually entitled Union Station.

Union Station is an absolutely beautiful place to visit and I highly recommend stalking it, even if you aren’t a film locations buff. The interiors, which have been beautifully maintained, immediately transplant you back to the 1930s. It’s not hard to see why the station has been a favorite of location scouts over the years. Union Station, which was built by architects John Parkinson, Donald D. Parkinson, and Jay van der Lin, is on the National Register of Historic Places and according to Wikipedia, is considered the “Last of the Great Railway Stations” built in the U.S. You can see some great photographs of the station here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Union Station is located at 800 North Alameda Street in Downtown Los Angeles. Ironically, it is located just around the corner from The Mentalist’s CBI Headquarters. 🙂

March 20, 2009March 23, 2009

The Mentalist’s CBI Headquarters

My location obsession as of late has been the CBI Headquarters building where Patrick Jane and the gang report to work each week on my new fave show The Mentalist. I do love me some Simon Baker! He’s such a cutie! 🙂 Being that it is quite unique in appearance, I had an inkling that Mike, from MovieShotsLA, might recognize the building used on the show, but since he had never watched The Mentalist I was out of luck there – until this past Tuesday night when the episode entitled “Bloodshot” aired. For the first time ever, the cast and crew actually filmed on location at the Headquarters building (in the past it had only been used for set-up shots) and I was able to make quite a few screen captures to send to Mike. And, sure enough, he recognized the building immediately! He’s so my hero!

In actuality, CBI Headquarters is the rear entrance of the Pico House, a former luxury hotel and a National Historic Landmark located in Downtown Los Angeles. I am ashamed to admit that I have actually visited the Pico House several times, but never recognized it as the CBI Building, most likely because the front of the former hotel looks strikingly different from the back. The front of the Pico House is pictured above. The Pico House was built from 1869 to 1870 by Pio Pico, a former governor of Alta California. The building was designed by architect Ezra F. Kysor and at the time of its opening was considered the most upscale hotel in the L.A. area. It was also the first three story building located in Los Angeles. The luxurious hotel boasted 82 rooms, 21 ballrooms, a French restaurant, and bathrooms for “both sexes” on every floor. LOL Pio Pico lost the hotel due to financial difficulties just ten years after its grand opening. For the next thirty years, beginning in 1892, the hotel was known as The National and was a cheap boarding house. In 1953, the hotel was taken over by the City of Los Angeles who has managed it ever since. The Pico House was restored in the 60s and again in the 80s and 90s. Today it is no longer a hotel, but remains vacant and is used as an event location and for filming. You can see great interior photographs of the Pico House here.

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Once Mike told me that CBI Headquarters was really the Pico House, I dragged my dad right out to stalk it. He actually didn’t mind being dragged to this location, as The Mentalist is one of the few shows on television that he actually likes. My dad was especially excited to see the CBI building in person since he had just watched the “Bloodshot” episode, in which the Pico House is featured prominently, the night before. He kept saying “This is so cool – I just saw this place on TV last night!”

I am happy to report that the CBI building looks exactly the same in person as it does onscreen. The “Bloodshot” episode featured several parts of the Pico House, including the exterior stairwell area where the team exited the building after being evacuated due to a bomb threat;

the alleyway where Van Pelt met her boyfriend for an early morning cup of coffee and also where Jane’s team got evacuated;

the parking lot area where the car bomb exploded and later where a temporarily blind Jane drove Van Pelt’s car;

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and Hype Nightclub, which in actuality is not a nightclub at all, but the entrance to the Pico House’s central courtyard.

I highly recommend stalking the CBI Headquarters building to all Mentalist fans. Who knows, you might even catch them filming an episode while you’re there! Even though no filming was going on while I was stalking the Pico House, I can’t tell you how excited I was to finally be seeing CBI Headquarters in person! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Mentalist’s CBI Headquarters, aka the Pico House, is located at 430 North Main Street in Downtown Los Angeles. The back side of the Pico House, which is the area shown on The Mentalist, can be viewed on West Arcadia Street in between North Main and North Spring Streets. The area surrounding the Pico House is open to the public, so I would suggest parking your car and taking a walk around the historic building. The parking lot where the “Bloodshot” episode was filmed is really the El Pueblo De Los Angeles parking lot located on the corner of West Arcadia and North Spring Street. And the fake Hype Nightclub’s entrance is located on the Pico House’s South facing wall.

March 12, 2009March 12, 2009

Flash Forward!

This past weekend, while out doing some stalking, my boyfriend and I happened upon a rather large film shoot that shut down an entire block in Downtown Los Angeles. So, of course, we just had to pull the car over to find out what was being filmed. 🙂 Turns out it was the pilot episode of a new Lost-esque television series entitled Flash Forward that is set to premiere on ABC this Spring. The series is based on a science fiction novel of the same name written by Robert J. Sawyer. While the crew members were pretty tight-lipped about plot details and the show’s cast, they did let me snap some pics of the production. 🙂

And what a production it was!! I’ve don’t think I’ve ever seen a movie set that was quite so large or quite so involved. And what amazed me the most was how realistic everything seemed. It truly felt as if we were viewing a real life disaster area. The scene being filmed centered around a major accident involving several overturned cars and two totalled buses. If you look closely at the above pics, you’ll notice that both buses used in the filming feature advertising for ABC shows (Lost and Desperate Housewives) on their sides. LOL Gee, I wonder what network this show will be airing on. 😉

When I got home from stalking the Flash Forward set, I did some cyber-research on the show and this is the info I was able to gather. The script for the pilot episode, which is entitled “No More Good Days”, was written by David S. Goyer (author of The Dark Knight and Batman Begins movies among many others) and Brannon Braga (co-executive producer of the series 24). The show’s premise is this: at the exact same time all across the globe all of humanity loses consciousness for approximately two minutes. During that brief period of time people everywhere “flash forward” to a moment exactly five months into their future to witness an unexpected event in their lives. Sort of like what happened when the Ghost of Christmas Future visited Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol. 🙂 Adding to the drama is that fact that during the worldwide black-out, chaos takes over the earth – there are plane crashes, car accidents, deadly falls, etc. – and 40 million people lose their lives. Even though I am not a fan of the science fiction genre (I’ve never watched even one episode of Lost), I have to admit that Flash Forward’s already got me hooked and I am for sure going to tune in! The show stars Joseph Fiennes, John Cho, and Courtney B. Vance. You can read a great article about the new series here.

And although I didn’t see any stars while stalking the Flash Forward filming, I did spot an actor walking around in his tighty-whities (pictured above). LOL

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Flash Forward was filmed on South Broadway in between 8th and 9th Streets in Downtown Los Angeles. Look for Flash Forward to premiere on ABC sometime this Spring in the time slot before Lost.

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 12, 2009February 14, 2009

Quake!

The other night while driving home from the hospital – yes, my dad is in the hospital yet again – I happened to hit a red light at the corner of Green Street and Arroyo Parkway in Pasadena. The light took a really long time to change and while waiting I just happened to gaze off to my left. What I saw almost made me run my car right off the road! LOL Just down the street from me on Green Street, I saw what looked a whole lot like the exterior of Quake Restaurant from the television series Charmed. Even though I never watched Charmed while it was on the air, I have been slightly obsessed with finding Quake’s exterior ever since some Charmed fanatics challenged me to find it this past summer. And let me tell you, it was one difficult location to find!

For Christmas Mike from MovieShotsLA bought me the entire Charmed series on DVD and I just started watching the first season last week. By scrutinizing some screen captures I could tell that the exterior of Quake was not the exterior of a real restaurant. Basically Quake’s entrance consisted of two pillars and an archway that producers spruced up a little by adding some foliage, potted plants, and a sign reading “Quake”. My best guess was that the pillars were the entrance to an apartment building or a commercial driveway of some sort. But trying to find two random pillars in L.A. proved to be quite difficult and to tell you the truth I had no idea even where to begin looking. Due to the vagueness of what was shown on TV, this is one location I had no hope of ever finding. Until Sunday night, that is!

What caught my eye as I drove by Green Street the other night were the twinkle lights covering “Quake’s” archway (pictured above). I’ve probably driven by this location about a hundred times in the past, but in the daylight I never really noticed it. At night, though, the bright twinkle lights caught my eye and triggered something in my mind. I immediately pulled off to the side of the road, snapped a few photographs, and sent them off to Mike. He called me back right away and said that the Green Street location was, indeed, Quake!!!!

It turns out that in real life the exterior of Quake is the entrance to an office building named the Pasadena Livery Building. The lit archway in front leads to a small brick courtyard located at the Livery’s entrance. While the archway and courtyard area are very cute in person, I’m sure it will be pretty disappointing for Charmed fans to find out that in real life Quake is just a nondescript office building that one could easily drive right by without even noticing. LOL I was still SUPER excited to find it, though!!

Now that I can check Quake off my must-find locations list, I can pour all of my stalking attention yet again into finding the ever elusive Girls Just Want to Have Fun apartment . LOL For some reason not even Mike, master stalker, can locate that apartment building. But like I told him the other day, if we can find two pillars and an archway that were used in the filming of a television series over 11 years ago, surely we can find the Girls Just Want To Have Fun apartment!!!! LOL

And it’s definitely true what they say – every cloud does have a silver lining. Because while my dad might have spent all week in the hospital, had I not been driving home from visiting him late at night I never would have discovered Quake. Sometimes you’ve just gotta keep your eyes open to what the universe is trying to show you. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The exterior of the fictional Quake restaurant is really the entrance to the Pasadena Livery Building located at 101 East Green Street in Pasadena.

February 3, 2009February 9, 2009

The License to Drive School

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This weekend, thanks to Mike over at MovieShotsLA, I got to stalk the high school used in fave 80s movie License to Drive. When I found out that Mike had found this filming location long ago, I completely freaked out and of course immediately dragged my boyfriend, and my good friend Nat who was visiting from San Francisco, out to stalk it. It turns out, though, that the License to Drive high school is not really a high school at all, but rather a middle school named Walter Reed. And, let me tell you, for a middle school the place is absolutely HUGE. I couldn’t get over it! I think my entire junior high could have fit on Walter Reed’s front lawn. LOL

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Walter Reed Middle School shows up several times in License to Drive, most often as the location where Mercedes Lane waits on an outdoor bench for her Ferrari-driving boyfriend to pick her up after school. It was that bench that I was most excited to see in person as I absolutely worshiped Mercedes growing up! I am happy to report that Mercedes’ bench is still there twenty years later and looks pretty much exactly the same as it did when filming took place. I can’t tell you how excited I was to be sitting in the exact spot my idol Mercedes Lane had sat all those years ago. 🙂 Too bad I didn’t have my denim skirt and white ankle boots on for the picture. LOL

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Walter Reed’s unique pick-up/drop-off area located in front of the school is the reason I believe producers chose to use the school for filming. That area worked perfectly for the many pick-up/drop-off scenes featured in the movie.

Besides License to Drive, Walter Reed also appeared in 7th Heaven (as Simon Camden’s elementary school), 2006’s The Shaggy Dog remake, Role Models, Accepted, The West Wing, CSI, and Malcom in the Middle. The exterior of the school is very picturesque and has a very Middle America feel to it, so it is easy to see why it is used so often for filming. I was also excited to find out that quite a few celebs attended Walter Reed during their tween years, including Mayim Bialik (aka TV’s Blossom), Brian Austin Green, Adam Carolla, Teri Garr, Cuba Gooding Jr., Alyson Hannigan, Christina Milian, and, ironically, Khrystyne Haje who played Simone on Head of the Class. I say ironically because the storyline of Head of the Class, the show Khrystyne would later star in, was actually loosely based on Walter Reed’s honor’s program. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Walter Reed Middle School is located at 4525 Irvine Avenue in North Hollywood.

January 30, 2009February 13, 2009

Pawn Shop to the Stars

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Another day, another pawn shop to write about. 🙂 Ironically, just around the corner from the now defunct Beverly Hills, 90210 pawn shop that I blogged about yesterday, is yet another local pawn shop that also has a filming history. Who knew that pawn shops were such popular filming locations?? 🙂 Angelo’s Jewelry and Loan Company, which touts itself as the “Pawn Shop to the Stars”, opened up in 1984 and has the distinction of being Santa Monica’s oldest pawn shop. Since it was around at the time, I can’t help but wonder why it wasn’t used as Dylan’s pawn shop in the “Anaconda” episode of 90210. Or why there would be two pawn shops in such close proximity to each other. Perhaps that explains why the “Anaconda” one is no longer in business. Anyway, even though the tiny shop was overlooked by 90210 location scouts, it did get featured just last year in the Owen Wilson movie Drillbit Taylor.

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In Drillbit Taylor, a group of nerdy teenage boys hire con man Owen Wilson to be their bodyguard. But instead of protecting them, Drillbit ends up robbing them blind and hawking their goods at a local pawn shop. That pawn shop was Angelo’s. And it looks exactly the same in real life as it did in the movie. According to the owner Angelo’s has also been featured in other productions over the years, but he was unable to recall which ones – which boggles my mind! LOL My guess is that Angelo’s has appeared in one or more of the L.A. based crime dramas such as Without A Trace, Cold Case, or the CSI shows.

I found this location thanks to Mike over at MovieShotsLA, but the truth is I really should have recognized it myself. For over two years I took acting classes right around the corner from Angelo’s and would pass by the shop at least three times a week on my way to grab a coffee before or after class. Every time I walked by I would laugh at the silly signs in the store windows (pictured above). So when Mike told me that my acting class pawn shop was the very same pawn shop featured in Drillbit Taylor, I had to mentally kick myself for not immediately recognizing it. And I call myself a stalker!! LOL Sometimes I really think all that blond dye goes straight to my head. LOL Thanks, Mike!

According to this article, Angelo’s claim of being the “Pawn Shop to the Stars” is actually not a joke. Apparently movie stars do stop in to Angelo’s from time to time, although the owner refuses to divulge which ones. I didn’t see any while I was there, but who knows, while stalking the place you might end up spotting a celeb or two! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Angelo’s Pawn Shop is located at 206 Santa Monica Boulevard in Santa Monica.