Los Feliz – IAMNOTASTALKER

January 31, 2020January 31, 2020

Joe’s Apartment from the Second Season of “You”

The second season of You couldn’t have been more quintessentially L.A.! Nowhere is that more evident than in the apartment building that served as Joe Goldberg’s (Penn Badgley) new West Coast home. As a reader commented about the place to me last week on Facebook, “It seems like I’ve passed it 284739484 times in my travels.” I’m guessing that was by design. Producers likely picked the building based on its universal Los Angeles appeal. It literally looks like almost every other apartment complex in the city – and is exactly the sort of spot Joe would have selected in his attempt to blend in while hiding out in La La Land. Despite its ubiquitousness, though, thankfully the place was a cinch to track down!

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In the first episode of the season, titled “A Fresh Start,” an address number of “1830” was visible above the stairwell leading up to Joe’s apartment in several scenes. Being that much of the episode was shot in Los Feliz, I decided to start my search there and, voila, it wasn’t long before I found Joe’s new building at 1830 Winona Boulevard. I ran out to stalk it shortly thereafter.

Along with Anavrin, the Streamline Moderne complex was Season 2’s most prominent locale.

In real life, the 1953 building looks much the same as it did onscreen.

A few minor changes were made for the production, though, including the addition of a courtyard fountain . . .

. . . which, as you can see, is not a real element of the building.

Some fake drought-resistant foliage was also draped over the second-floor railings for the shoot.

Though my photos don’t show it well, nothing adorns the railings in actuality.

Addressed 1824 to 1834 Winona Boulevard, the complex is also quite a bit larger than it appeared on You, which only showcased its central courtyard area.

In real life, the property features covered parking, an onsite manager, and 25 units with hardwood flooring and crown moldings throughout.

The building also boasts some fabulous mid-century flourishes.

On You, Joe lived in the rear northernmost second-floor unit overlooking the courtyard.

That apartment is numbered 3 in real life.

I am fairly certain that only the exterior of Unit 3 was used in the filming and that the inside of Joe’s apartment was a set, though it does bear a resemblance to the interior of other units in the building, one of which you can see here. While Joe calls the place “Home, sweet prison,” it’s actually pretty darn nice – and so very L.A.! In fact, it is pretty much a carbon copy of the apartment the Grim Cheaper called home when we first met.

I believe the laundry room shown on the series also may have been a set, though, per this rental listing, the building does boast laundry facilities in real life.

The only substantial discrepancy between the real building and its onscreen counterpart is the fact that the house belonging to Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti) isn’t situated directly behind it as is purported on the series. Love’s residence can instead be found a good three miles away at 3022 Windsor Avenue in Silver Lake. You can check out some photos of it here.

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: Joe’s apartment from Season 2 of You is located at 1830 Winona Boulevard in Los Feliz.

February 20, 2019February 14, 2019

Carlotta’s House from “Hail, Caesar!”

Today’s locale involves something I’ve never come across in all my years of stalking! Last June, a reader named Molly posted a comment on my Challenge Lindsay page asking for some help in tracking down the house where Carlotta Valdez (Veronica Osorio) lived in the 2016 Coen Brothers comedy Hail, Caesar! She mentioned that two places had actually been used to portray the exterior of the residence and that while she had found one, she was still looking for the other. Somehow I had never heard of the film (and I love a good Hollywood farce!), but was fascinated by the query. A Google search led me to an L.A. Weekly article chronicling a few of the movie’s sites which backed up Molly’s claim – the segment taking place outside of Carlotta’s pad was indeed lensed in two different spots. Though location trickery is old hat in Hollywood, this was the first I’d heard of a scene shot in two entirely different places, then stitched together to appear as one. Appropriately intrigued, I set out to help Molly on her quest.

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Carlotta’s house pops up in one brief scene in Hail, Caesar! in which the starlet, who was inspired by real life “Brazilian Bombshell” Carmen Miranda, is picked up by cowboy actor Hobie Doyle (Alden Ehrenreich) to go to a movie premiere. In the bit, the two characters are shown standing outside of Carlotta’s pad on a picturesque street greeting each other and making small talk. In reality, the two sides of the segment were lensed miles apart. Watching the illusory scene, which you can can do here, is quite jarring. Despite knowing the logistics, the whole thing was done so seamlessly that I could hardly believe it was not all shot in the same spot.

Though Molly had already tracked down the Hollywood Hills street where Hobie’s portion of the segment was lensed, she was looking for the gorgeous Spanish Colonial Revival that served as the backdrop for Carlotta’s.

As denoted in the L.A. Weekly article (and as Molly informed me), Hobie’s side of the scene was filmed at the intersection of Grace and Whitley Avenues in the Hollywood Hills. Location manager John Panzarella, who also worked on L.A. Confidential, explains, “Joel and Ethan [Coen] are not shy about cheating reverses; they really embrace it. They want the visual they have conceived.” That visual consisted of Hobie performing a dazzling array of lasso tricks while waiting for Carlotta on a sleepy street corner. Panzarella says, “Whitley Terrace was perfect for that, with the view of Hollywood in the background.” The only trouble was, there was no dwelling in the vicinity that matched the Cohens’ vision of Carlotta’s pad.

The directors instead found a place that fit the bill about three miles away in Los Feliz. While the L.A. Weekly article did not denote the home’s exact location, it did mention that the pad was designed by famed architect Paul Revere Williams in 1927. So I headed over to Google, where a quick search for “Paul Williams,” “Los Feliz,” and “1927” led me to this page on the Paul Revere Williams Project website about a dwelling at 4791 Cromwell Avenue. One look at the images posted told me it was the right spot!

The stunning 5,211-square-foot, 4-bedroom, 4-bath property looks much the same in person as it did onscreen, though the film definitely showcased it through a 1950s-style Hollywood filter which muted its color palette a bit.

In real life, the home is known as the Blackburn Residence in honor of its initial owners Bruce and Lula Blackburn, who hailed from Missouri, but moved to Los Angeles in the early 1900s. Initially settling in West Adams, once Bruce found financial success thanks to his invention of a roll-up window screen, he commissioned Williams to design the large Los Feliz estate.

Williams (who also gave us Johnny Weissmuller’s Bel Air home, the famed Perino’s restaurant, and Sloane’s house from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) incorporated Bruce’s innovative screens into his design. They made such an impression on the prolific architect that he used them in many of his later works, as well.

The sprawling Blackburn Residence also boasts 12 rooms, 2.5 stories, an elevator, a triple fireplace, ornate tile work, wrought iron detailing throughout, vaulted ceilings, a grand 2-level arched entry, and a lush 0.35-acre plot of land.

The home continued to be owned by the Blackburn family until 1978, when it was offloaded by Bruce and Lula’s daughter, Elizabeth. The property, which is Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #913, last sold in November 2003 for $2,199,000 and, per Zillow, is worth a whopping $4.5 million today!

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

Big THANK YOU to Molly for challenging me to find this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Blackburn Residence, aka Carlotta’s house from Hail, Caesar!, is located at 4791 Cromwell Avenue in Los Feliz. The portions of the scene featuring Hobie were filmed at a different spot – on Grace Avenue in the Hollywood Hills. More specifically, Hobie’s car was parked in front of the entrance to the condominium complex at 1979 Grace Avenue and he practiced his rope tricks at the intersection of Grace Avenue and Whitley Avenue.

July 23, 2018July 26, 2018

The Trails Café from “The Catch”

Today’s locale required a ridiculous amount of stalking – of myself. A few months back, while scanning through a television show making screen captures for a post, I spotted what I thought was the side of The Trails Café, one of my favorite L.A. eateries. A quick look at Google Street View’s imagery of the restaurant confirmed my hunch. Distracted by the piece I was writing, I failed to jot down the information, though, and promptly forgot about it. Flash forward to last weekend when the Grim Cheaper and I found ourselves hungry during a stalking trip to Griffith Park. I suggested we pop by The Trails and, while enjoying our scrumptious egg salad sandwich, was reminded of the place’s onscreen appearance. The only trouble was I could not for the life of me recall what show I had seen it in. Figuring it would come to me eventually, I snapped photos of The Trails and added it to my To-Blog List. Days later, though, I was still at a loss. The only remedy I could think of was a deep dive through my browser history. That dive turned out to be far deeper than I had envisioned. With the GC as my guide, I pulled up my search history, inputted “Trails Café” and quickly discerned that I made the discovery of the restaurant’s cameo on January 9th. As I backtracked through all of the other queries I performed on that date, I felt like I was entering A Beautiful Mind territory. I don’t normally consider myself as having ADD tendencies, but my online habits are evidence to the contrary. At no time that day did I have less than ten windows open – often on multiple browsers. Using the disjointed information to pinpoint what show The Trails had appeared in proved extremely time consuming (and a bit unnerving), but I eventually hit pay dirt – the eatery was featured in the pilot episode of The Catch, which I had discovered while making screen captures for my post on Emerson College Los Angeles. Phew!

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The Trails Café was founded by Grammy-winning music producer Mickey Petralia and television executive Frank Lentz in June 2005. The venture might seem an unusual one for two people with backgrounds so widely removed from the culinary world, but as Petralia told L.A. Weekly in a 2010 interview, “When I first started putting this place together, I code-named it ‘Operation Exit Strategy.’ The record industry had started to change, and I was pretty certain it was never going to get back to where it was. It’s hard to sustain a house and two kids on music alone now.”

Situated just steps from the idyllic Ferndell Nature Center, another one of my favorite L.A. spots, the structure that now houses The Trails was originally a city-owned concession stand that served mediocre burgers. By the time that Petralia and Lentz got their hands on the place, it had long been sitting vacant and boarded up and had grown run-down.

The duo spent about nine months cleaning up the property and transforming it into a charmingly rustic eatery, all of which was done during off time from their day jobs.

While the menu was originally helmed by musician Aaron Sperske, at some point pastry chef Jenny Park came on board as a co-owner and the mastermind behind The Trails’ delectable offerings including pastries, sandwiches and salads, all of which are made from scratch each day on the premises.

The tiny café (it measures less than 400 square feet!) quickly became an area staple, with hungry patrons flocking there like bees to honey. Most days you’ll find the colorful picnic tables packed and throngs of people waiting at the order window.

It is not hard to see why The Trails is so beloved. Not only is the fare amazing, but the setting is absolutely idyllic. Sitting there, you half expect woodland fairies to come flying by, sprinkling pixie dust in their wake.

The restaurant is also something of a celebrity hot spot. Such stars as Amanda Seyfried, Flea, Minka Kelly, Jessalyn Gilsig, Jayma Mays, Drew Barrymore, Alia Shawkat, and Paul Adelstein have all popped by for a bite to eat. Mandy Moore even did a photo shoot at The Trails for How You Glow.

Considering its celebrity clientele and gorgeous aesthetic, it is no surprise that the eatery wound up onscreen.

In the pilot episode of The Catch, private investigator Alice Vaughan (Mireille Enos) discovers that her fiancé, Christopher Hall (Peter Krause), is a fraud who has made off with her entire life savings. Her team decides to try to ensnare him, but, as her employee Danny Yoon (Jay Hayden) laments, “This guy was good – like really good. His entire web presence is gone. No archived search items, no photos. I don’t even know how to start investigating.” Alice assures him that she has photographs of Christopher, but when she heads to her computer to bring them up she realizes that his face is obscured or turned away from the camera in every single one. Two of the pictures she scans through in the scene were taken at The Trails Café. The restaurant’s appearance is fleeting at best in the segment, which is perhaps why I had such a hard time recalling it.

Alice and Christopher are sitting on the café’s southern side in the images, in the area pictured below.

The Trails Café was also featured in the Season 14 episode of Visiting . . . with Huell Howser titled “Ferndell,” which aired in 2006.

In the episode, which you can watch here, we are given a glimpse of what the eatery looked like when Petralia and Lentz first took it over in 2004. The industrial shack is quite a stark contrast to the whimsical café that exists now.

Thanks to fellow stalker Justin, I learned that The Trails also appears as The Tummy Pleaser concession stand in the Season 1 episode of Salute Your Shorts titled “Cheeseburgers in Paradise,” which aired in 1991.

Quite an extensive scene was shot there affording us a fabulous look at the property in its original state.

I cannot say enough good things about The Trails Café. There’s a reason I included the place in My Guide to L.A. – Coffee post. It is definitely one of the best spots in the city to grab a latte and enjoy a shaded respite.

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 Trails Café, from the pilot episode of The Catch, is located at 2333 Fern Dell Drive in Griffith Park. The entrance to Ferndell Nature Center, my favorite L.A. walking trail, can be found just south of the restaurant at the intersection of Fern Dell and Black Oak Drives.

March 28, 2018March 29, 2018

Tal Weaver’s House from “Beverly Hills, 90210”

Oh man, have I been wanting to say this for years – Tal Weaver’s house has been found! It is thanks to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, that I finally get to! For those who have no earthly idea what I am talking about, Tal Weaver – and his house – appeared in the Season 2 episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 titled “Leading from the Heart.” In the episode, Tal, played by a very young and very long-haired Gabriel Macht (aka Suits’ Harvey Specter – my latest celebrity crush), throws a raving party at his sprawling Beverly Hills manse that is attended by Brenda Walsh (Shannen Doherty), her brother Brandon (Jason Priestley), and their wheelchair-bound cousin, Bobby (Gordon Currie). Though the home’s onscreen role was brief, it was extremely memorable and I have spent the past few years trying to track it down. I recently brought Mike in on the hunt and he managed to get in touch with Phil Buckman, aka the episode’s “Surfer Dude” – “Did you hear what that dude in the wheelchair said to me?” – who, thankfully, remembered where filming had taken place. Come to find out not only is Tal’s house one of L.A.’s most famous, but it’s a spot I had actually stalked and blogged about previously. As Phil informed Mike, Tal’s mansion is none other than the Cecil B. DeMille Estate located at 2000 De Mille Drive in Los Feliz. How I never realized it is beyond me! So, thank you, Mike and Phil! (When Mike gave me the good news, I told him, “You’re my hero!” to which he responded, “Some heroes don’t wear capes!” Winking smile )

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Though I covered the DeMille Estate’s history in my previous post on the pad, I figure a brief recap is in order here. Built in 1914, the Beaux Arts-style dwelling was originally designed by architect B. Cooper Corbette for Homer Laughlin, co-developer of Los Feliz’ exclusive Laughlin Park community. Homer did not live at the site long, selling the massive manse to DeMille in 1916 for $27,893. Five years later, the famed director acquired the home next door – formerly occupied by Charlie Chaplin – and connected the two with an atrium-like breezeway, meshing them into one ridiculously large compound with the Chaplin portion serving as a screening room/offices/guest quarters. Cecil remained on the premises until his passing in 1959. His estate then held onto the property for the next three decades, reportedly changing nothing from the time DeMille called it home, even going so far as to put fresh flowers on his desk daily. The compound was eventually sold to attorney Terry O’Toole and his wife, Evelyn, in 1988. According to a few articles I dug up via newspapers.com (which I cannot link to as a subscription is needed to view them), the couple briefly updated the estate before selling it to a Japanese company in 1990.

In 1996, the hilltop abode was purchased by art consultant/curator Lisa Lyons and her husband, art consultant/writer Richard Grossman. Prolific rehabbers, the couple enlisted architect Brian Tichenor of Tichenor & Thorp to separate and restore the two properties, first the Chaplin home (which they subsequently sold to producer/writer John Wells) and then the DeMille Estate. The renovation of the latter took a whopping six years. You can read a great Town & Country article about the extensive restoration here.

Grossman and Lyons put the 6-bedroom, 10-bath, 7,472-square-foot pad (which also boasts a pool, a pool house/gym, a detached studio, a rose garden, arched windows, iron balconies, molded ceilings, Doric columns, a mahogany-paneled dining room, a formal library with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, and a whopping 2.1 acres of land) up for sale in 2008 for $26.25 million. There were no takers, though, so the listing was removed the following year. It then hit the market again in early 2017 (you can check out the MLS photos here), this time selling after just a couple of months for $24.5 million to none other than Angelina Jolie. Considering Laughlin Park’s long tenure as a celebrity enclave, the purchase was not surprising. Besides DeMille, Chaplin and Jolie, just a few of the stars to call the community home over the years include Natalie Portman, Jenna Elfman, Portia de Rossi, W.C. Fields, Carole Lombard, David Fincher, Lauren Graham, and Ellen Pompeo. Though the neighborhood is gated and not accessible to the public, the Grim Cheaper’s best friend’s parents are longtime residents and we’ve been fortunate to visit many times. During one of those visits, I did some stalking of the DeMille Estate, which is where the photos in this post come from. I am so thankful I snapped them, too, because I’m fairly certain getting any pics of the place now would be virtually impossible considering its current resident.

In “Leading from the Heart,” which originally aired in October 1991, Kelly Taylor (Jennie Garth) takes a liking to Cousin Bobby, who is visiting from Minnesota, and invites him to a party at her friend Tal Weaver’s house. As Kelly tells him, “Tal throws the best parties!”

When Kelly, Bobby and the rest of their group arrive, though, trouble ensues as the only way to gain entrance to the soiree is via a massive set of exterior steps that leads to Tal’s front door.

So it’s Brandon, Steve Sanders (Ian Ziering) and Dylan McKay (Luke Perry) to the rescue! With Brenda and Kelly clearing a path, the three carry Bobby up the steps.

As you can see in the screen captures below (as well as the many above) as compared to the photographs above, when 90210 was filmed on the premises 27 years ago, the DeMille Estate was enclosed with fencing mainly consisting of wrought iron. Though the posts remain, the ironwork has since been replaced with a stucco wall and wooden gates, making the front steps much less visible – which is perhaps why I didn’t recognize the place as Tal Weaver’s pad. (Yeah, I’ll just keep telling myself that. Winking smile )

Things don’t improve much for poor Cousin Bobby upon venturing inside Tal’s residence, for which the real interior of the DeMille Estate was utilized.

Not only does someone fall onto Bobby’s lap and accidentally spill a drink on him, but Tal asks Kelly to dance, which sends Bobby into an ugly downward spiral. It is not long before he begs Steve, Dylan and Brandon to carry him back down the steps so that he can call a cab and leave. While re-watching the episode, I came to the conclusion that Cousin Bobby is actually kind of a jerk. Pretty much everyone he encounters at the party is incredibly friendly, nice, and accommodating (including Tal and the girl who spilled a drink on him), but he is curt and rude (towards Brandon and Steve, too!) and seemingly does his best not to fit in, even going so far as to read Kelly the riot act when (for the first time in the history of the show!) she has not actually done anything wrong. (I cannot believe I’m defending Kelly here!) By the time the credits roll, though, all is good again in Walsh-land, Kelly and Bobby have mended fences, and the gang heads out for a drive – with Brenda behind the wheel (gasp!) – before Bobby’s flight back to the Midwest.

I would be remiss if I did not post a photo of Tal in all of his long-haired glory. The role was actually Gabriel Macht’s first television job and, of the experience, he told BuzzFeed, “I remember Jason Priestley being on his phone a lot and dropping all these F-bombs. I thought that was funny because he was like America’s apple pie golden boy. I also remember having no idea what to talk about with Shannen Doherty and Jennie Garth while we were hanging around the set.” So he did what any good theatre student would do – he created a backstory. In the episode, it is said that Tal and Kelly once attended a Sting concert together, so Macht used that as a jumping-off point. As he explained to BuzzFeed, “I was coming from theater school, so I was coming up with backstory about our time at the Sting concert and she looked at me like I was crazy. It was my first TV gig and I wanted him to be this sensitive guy — but I don’t think anyone named Tal Weaver, which is the greatest name in all of television, will ever come across like the good guy.” (No surprise that Jennie doesn’t sound all that friendly in his story. Winking smile )

As I mentioned in my original post on the DeMille Estate, the director is reported to have shot the Garden of Gethsemane scenes from his 1927 film The King of Kings on the grounds of the mansion, but, unfortunately, due to the passage of over ninety years time and the fact that the property and its acreage have been extensively renovated, I was unable to verify that.

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

A MONUMENTAL thank you to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for finding this location and to Phil Buckman for helping him to do so! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Cecil B. DeMille Estate, aka Tal Weaver’s house from the “Leading from the Heart” episode of Beverly Hills, 90210, is located at 2000 De Mille Drive in Los Feliz. The residence is located in the gated community of Laughlin Park and is, unfortunately, not accessible to the public.

January 3, 2018December 27, 2019

Home Restaurant from “Raines”

Every once in a while a show comes along that immediately hooks me. Such was the case with Raines, an extremely short-lived police procedural boasting a scant seven-episode run. I was unaware of the NBC series at the time of its original airing in March 2007. In fact, I only learned of it this past October while doing research for my post on High Tower, the iconic Hollywood Hills campanile from Dead Again that, as I learned via IMDB, also had a prominent role in Raines’ pilot. I was thrilled to discover that the series is available to stream on Amazon and quickly downloaded the inaugural episode. Though I intended to only scan through it to make screen captures for my post, I instantly became intrigued, mainly due to the locations – one of which was an absolutely charming outdoor eatery that I fell in love with upon sight.

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The Raines pilot centers around the murder of beautiful young call girl Sandy Boudreau (Alexa Davalos). The lead cop assigned to solve her killing is Michael Raines (Jeff Goldblum), an eccentric LAPD detective with a unique method of talking to the dead victims he is investigating in order to close cases. (No, he doesn’t actually “see dead people” – the apparitions he encounters are merely figments of his imagination.) In one of the episode’s flashback scenes, Sandy is shown dining at an adorable café where she meets, and winds up dining with, a married man named Harry Tucker (Jeff Perry). One look at the restaurant’s unique signage reading “THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME” and idyllic front patio and I was smitten. I promptly halted my research on High Tower and instead switched my efforts to tracking the eatery down. Thankfully, a quick Google search of the terms “Home,” “restaurant,” and “Los Angeles” led me to the right spot – Home Restaurant at 1760 Hillhurst Avenue in Los Feliz. I ran right out to stalk it shortly thereafter.

Home Restaurant was originally established in 1997 by the husband-and-wife team of Aram and Rose Serobian.

More than twenty years later, the place is still going strong – though eagle-eyed viewers will notice the signage has changed a bit since Raines aired just over a decade ago.

Home has become such a success that the Serobians, who lived above the restaurant on the property’s second floor during its early days, have since opened two sister eateries – a second Home at 2500 Riverside Drive in Silverlake and H Coffee, a café situated next to the original Home at 1750 Hillhurst Avenue. (The couple just recently closed the latter to undergo a renovation and rebranding. It will open in January as Guest House.)

Nestled in amongst a canopy of trees, Home’s setting is absolutely magical.

In a 2016 interview with the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office of Public Engagement, Aram explained that he landed on his eatery’s name because “The word ‘home’ means everything in my culture, and almost everyone holds that idea and concept close to their hearts. So, I put my own heart and soul into this restaurant and see the customers as guests in my own house. It’s about feeling welcome and comfortable, being able to get away from the often-hectic nature of Los Angeles. If everyone can walk in and feel like they’re part of a family, even for just an hour, then I know it has been a success.” Aram can definitely pat himself on the back for a job well done because the restaurant truly does have the feel of a home – albeit the home of someone with impeccable taste in décor.

Situated around a sparkling fountain, with furniture made of reclaimed wood, the patio is especially inviting.

The restaurant also boasts an indoor dining room for those who do not want to eat amongst the elements, but, in my opinion, the patio is where it’s at.

Though neither the Grim Cheaper nor I are big breakfast people, we were both completely enamored with Home’s fare. I opted for the cafe’s California Omelette and it was hands-down one of the best omelets I’ve ever had in my life. The GC selected The All American, with eggs, pancakes, and bacon, and it, too, was fabulous.

Home’s prices are surprisingly reasonable, especially considering the fact that the place is not only a brunch hotspot and hipster haven, but the portion sizes are enormous.

The eatery is also something of a celeb magnet. Mark Ballas, Kristen Stewart, Katherine Heigl, Sophia Bush, Jon Foster, Rachel Bilson, and Audrina Patridge have all been spotted there.

Patridge likes the place so much, she even filmed a scene from her short-lived reality series Audrina there. In Episode 2, she meets with her sister Casey Loza at the restaurant to discuss their parents’ upcoming anniversary party.

Thanks to fellow stalker Ellie I learned that Home was also the spot where Dr. Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) met up with Dr. Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) at the end of the Season 1 episode of Grey’s Anatomy titled “No Man’s Land,” which aired in 2005.

And in the Season 2 episode of You titled “Just the Tip,” Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) spies on Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti) and her friends at Home.

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: Home Restaurant, from the pilot episode of Raines, is located at 1760 Hillhurst Avenue in Los Feliz. You can visit the eatery’s official website here.

February 3, 2017February 3, 2017

Skylight Books from “Veep”

While we are on the subject of historic book shops featured in Washington, D.C.-based productions (you can read my post on Idle Time Books from A Few Good Men here), I would be remiss if I did not mention a bookseller that popped up on my new favorite show, Veep. The Grim Cheaper and I recently became obsessed with the HBO series thanks to a recommendation from my good friend Lavonna and blew through all 48 episodes in about 2 weeks. It is easily one of the best-written, best-acted, most hilarious shows I have ever had the pleasure of watching. I mean, any production that pretty much starts out with the main character sh*tting their pants at a public event is something I am going to be all over! I, of course, started researching its locations right out of the gate and was a little heartbroken to discover that the first four seasons were shot in the D.C. area, especially considering we had only just returned from the District a few weeks prior. There was a silver lining, though – Veep relocated to Los Angeles for Season 5. But somewhere along the way I forgot that fact and viewed all of the L.A.-based episodes without paying any sort of attention to the locales. It was not until we completed our binge that I remembered, which meant I had to go back and re-watch all of the fifth season (though that was by no means a chore). During my second go-around of the episode titled “C**tgate,” I recognized Skylight Books, one of my favorite L.A. bookstores, featured in a scene. Though I stalked and blogged about the place long ago, way back in 2011 (hence why I look so different in the above pic), I figured it was worthy of a re-do.

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Skylight Books was established at the former site of another landmark bookstore, Chatteron’s, which shut its doors in 1994 upon the death of its owner after two decades in business. The space remained vacant for the next two years before eventually being brought back to life thanks to the efforts of a group of twelve people, including actors Milton Katselas, Tony Danza and Jeffrey Tambour, who banded together to create Skylight Books. The shop opened its doors to the public on November 1st, 1996.

Skylight Books quickly became a Los Feliz staple and remains so today.

The store is known for its bright and airy aesthetic, the hundreds of signings with notable authors it hosts each year (you can check out the Skylight Books events page here), and the 20-foot tall ficus tree that stands at its center.

Its book inventory is also unparalleled. I always stumble upon the most unique and noteworthy finds while there. I once walked away with a fold-out map of famous literary locations. You just don’t see stuff like that anywhere else. The shop has a fabulous selection of cards and gifts, as well.

In “C**tgate, President Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) heads to a D.C.-area bookstore with her boyfriend, Charlie Baird (John Slattery), for a holiday shopping photo-op. While there (spoiler alert!), Charlie learns that Selina has decided not to bail out his bank, forcing him into bankruptcy. (Because as much as Selina hopes “to fiscal f*ck the Fed has a trillion dollars stuffed in a mattress somewhere,” that sadly isn’t the case.) Needless to say, the outing does not end well. Not only does Charlie storm out, but he plastic-surgery shames the president over her recent eye lift. And I just have to say here that Louis-Dreyfus is sheer magic as Selina. I mean is there any role she doesn’t absolutely nail? From Margo Chester in Christmas Vacation to Elaine Benes on Seinfeld to Vice President/President Meyer on Veep – she is perfection in every part.

Little of Skylight Books was shown in Veep, but I immediately recognized the space’s light wood shelves, brickwork, and the ficus tree branches that canopy the stacks.

Only the interior of the shop was featured in the episode. For the exterior establishing shot, an actual D.C. bookstore named Kramerbooks & Afterwords was utilized. That location can be found at 1517 Connecticut Avenue Northwest in Dupont Circle.

As mentioned in my 2011 post, Skylight Books was one of the main locations used on Joan of Arcadia. In the pilot, Joan Girardi (Amber Tamblyn) got a job at the bookstore, which was referred to by its real name, but was said to be located in Arcadia, Maryland. She continued to work there throughout the series’ two-year run. During the show’s first season, filming took place regularly at the Los Feliz shop.

But for Season 2, a set re-creation of Skylight Books was constructed on a soundstage. As you can see, production designers changed things up quite a bit with the set. Though similar to Skylight, the re-creation is much larger and features more brickwork. You can read an interesting article on the store’s use in the series here.

Calvin Weir-Fields’ (Paul Dano) book signing at the end of the 2012 dramedy Ruby Sparks takes place at Skylight Books, as well.

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: Skylight Books, from the “C**tgate” episode of Veep, is located at 1818 North Vermont Avenue in Los Feliz. You can visit the store’s official website here. The oft-filmed Fred 62 restaurant can be found a few doors away at 1850 North Vermont. You can visit Fred’s official website here. The Dresden, another oft-filmed restaurant, is located a block south at 1760 North Vermont. You can visit that eatery’s official website here.

December 10, 2015December 2, 2015

New “L.A.” Mag Post – About the Dresden from “What Women Want”

Be sure to check out today’s Scene it Before post for Los Angeles magazine about the Dresden from What Women Want. My articles typically get published in the early afternoon hours.

October 26, 2015September 29, 2017

The Occult Store from “The Craft”

I often receive emails from fellow stalkers who are planning trips to Los Angeles and want some help in tracking down a favorite film or television location. The emails always give me a pang of recognition. I was that stalker once upon a time. During one of my first trips to L.A., I was absolutely desperate to see the Walsh house from Beverly Hills, 90210. I had forgotten my trusty tour book at home, though. This was long before the days of filming location blogs and websites, so without the book I was pretty much out of luck. I knew the house was somewhere in Altadena, so my mom and I headed that way and I asked literally everyone I encountered if they could point me in the right direction. No one could, but I did finally make it to Casa Walsh that day and finally seeing it in person was worth all the work it took to get me there. Assisting fellow stalkers in similar quests is one of the reasons I started this site. So when I received an email back in May from a reader named Nathan who was desperate to track down the occult store from the 1996 horror/fantasy flick The Craft before an upcoming trip to L.A., I promised him I would help. I was having a little trouble finding the place, though, so I called upon expert stalker Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and he wound up tracking it down within minutes. Thank you, Mike! Nathan was floored over Mike’s find and ventured over there while in town this past July. I loved hearing about his visit and how meaningful it was for him to be there. Figuring the place would be perfect for my Haunted Hollywood posts, I, too, ran out to stalk it recently.

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The occult shop from The Craft is located in Hollywood’s El Adobe Studio Building. The small Spanish-style strip mall was originally built in 1928 and, according to the You Are Here website, was designed by architects Arthur Kelly and Joe Estep.

In the book The Story of Hollywood, author Gregory Paul Williams contends that the site was the “world’s first mini-mall,” constructed on farmland owned by D.P. Baldwin. Of the evolution of the property, Williams says, “The original farmer’s stalls later became a grocery store. Baldwin created the L-shaped building around it as rental spaces for artists who worked in the movies.” That grocery store, El Adobe Market, still operates on the premises today. You can check out a 1935 image of the El Adobe Studio Building here and one from 1970 here. As you can see, not much of the complex has changed over the years.

Along with the El Adobe Market, today the center houses a pharmacy, a furniture store, and several live-work studio office spaces. You can check out some interior photos of an El Adobe office that is currently for rent here. What an incredibly cool place to work!

The occult store makes a few appearances in The Craft. It first pops up in the beginning of the movie, in the scene in which Nancy Downs (Fairuza Balk), Bonnie (Neve Campbell), and Rochelle (Rachel True) take Sarah Bailey (Robin Tunney), the new girl in school, shopping. The women return to the store several times throughout the flick.

Though the whole El Adobe Studio Building is featured in the movie, the actual storefront that served as the occult shop is located in the northwest corner of the complex.

I originally thought that the storefront was a part of the Adobe Pharmacy, which stands at the southwest corner of the El Adobe Studio Building, but Nathan ventured inside the drugstore while he was there and that does not appear to be the case. The Craft occult store seems to be a separate space. (Big THANK YOU to Nathan for the photos below!)

I am unsure if the interior of that space was used in the filming of The Craft or if the inside of the occult shop was just a set.

From the way things were shot, though, I would guess interiors were lensed in the actual space.

Unfortunately, that particular unit sits behind a locked fence which bars the interior from view, so I was unable to catch a glimpse of it. I am also unsure of what the space currently houses, but I believe it is some sort of office.

I am fairly certain, though, that if the actual interior was used that it was dressed considerably for the filming and looks quite a bit different in person. I would also guess that the stained glass window shown at the top of the stairs in the movie was a fake.

I am also fairly certain that the occult store from The Craft was based upon Panpipes Magical Marketplace located at 1641 North Cahuenga Boulevard in Hollywood. The site, which was originally founded in 1961, has the distinction of being the oldest occult shop in the U.S. And it is also a filming location! Panpipes has appeared in such productions as Unsolved Mysteries, Witchboard 2, Dream On, The Rockford Files, Hardball and North Mission Road. The owners also regularly serve as consultants for television shows and movies that deal with metaphysical themes. Interestingly, Fairuza Balk spent quite a bit of time at Panpipes while researching her role for The Craft and wound up buying the place in 1995. The actress owned it through 2001, before selling it to its current owners.

The mural that Sarah and the girls walk by on their way to the occult shop in The Craft is real, though it has been changed since the movie was shot in 1996.

The mural actually appears to change regularly. As you can see below, it looked completely different when Nathan stalked the El Adobe Studio Building in July . . .

. . . than it did when I was there earlier this month.

The cast of The Craft also posed for a promotional still in front of the mural during the filming, which I was pretty floored to come across while researching this post.

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

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Nathan for challenging me to find this location and to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for tracking it down! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: El Adobe Studio Building, aka the occult shop from The Craft, is located at 5201-5209 Hollywood Boulevard in Los Feliz.

September 3, 2015August 27, 2015

New “L.A.” Mag Post – About the Griffith Park Merry-Go-Round from “Teen Witch”

Don’t forget to read my latest post for L.A.mag.com about the Griffith Park Merry-Go-Round from Teen Witch. My articles typically get published in the late morning/early afternoon hours.

July 23, 2015July 16, 2015

Latest “L.A.” Mag Post – About the “Vacation” House

Don’t forget to read my latest post for L.A.mag.com, about the Griswold house from National Lampoon’s Vacation. My articles typically get published in the late morning/early afternoon hours.