Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen

October 19, 2018October 16, 2019

Chateau Emanuel from “The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley”

I am a HUGE fan of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen movies, as I have mentioned previously. Passport to Paris, When in Rome, New York Minute – all favorites, even though I am just a wee bit off age-wise when it comes to their target demographic. So when fellow stalker Chris (he’s the one who tracked down the location of the Full House downhill derby) emailed me this past summer and mentioned that he knew of a few other locales from the twins’ many productions, I was all in. One he informed me of, Chateau Emanuel from “The Case of Thorn Mansion” episode of The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley, especially piqued my interest. The massive property sits high atop a bluff overlooking pretty much all of Eagle Rock and I was shocked that in my 15+ years of living in neighboring Pasadena and stalking its environs, I had never come across the place. Because it played an abandoned and haunted house in the episode, I figured the pad had all the makings of a great October post. So I ran right out to stalk it.

[ad]

Chateau Emanuel was originally commissioned by Bekins Moving Company founder Martin Bekins. Designed by architect F. Eugene Barton, whom Martin also secured to design the seven-story Bekins Storage Building in nearby Glendale, the Dutch Colonial-style manse was completed in 1927.

When Martin passed away in 1933, the residence was acquired by philanthropist Wilfred “Bill” Lane, who made his fortune by inventing a perforating gun that expedited oil well drilling. The property did not change hands again until 1965, when Lane’s widow sold it to Emanuel and Maria Kvassay. It then remained in the Kvassay family for the next five decades.

The Kvassays, who founded the Sierra Packaging Company, emigrated to the United States from Czechoslovakia after it fell to communist rule. The couple became activists, working to free their native country from communism, and, as such, held numerous fundraisers and political events at the home, which at the time was known as the “Bekins-Lane Mansion.” The dwelling was also the site of countless press functions, weddings, meetings, and galas during the Kvassays’ tenure. Just a few of the politicos and luminaries who attended gatherings there over the years include Stan Lee, Oliver Stone, Marion Ross, Shirley Temple Black, Dr. Edward Teller, Eric Roberts, Rita Wilson, Jesse Jackson, Archbishop José Horacio Gómez, and Lech Wałęsa. Ronald Reagan even hosted a fundraiser for his presidential re-election campaign at the residence in 1984.

When Emanuel and Maria passed away, their three sons inherited the property. Two of the boys remained living on the premises and eldest son, Robert, became the main caretaker, rechristening the place “Chateau Emanuel” in honor of his late father.

The sprawling manse became too much for Robert to handle in recent years, not to mention too expensive – per the Tracy King Team website, water and power bills ran a good $3,500 each month and the lawn took a whopping four hours to mow! In 2010, Robert put the pad on the market with a price tag of $5.99 million. There were no takers, though. He relisted it the following year at a reduced $4.45 million, but no one bit. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles eventually expressed interest in purchasing the residence in 2016 in order to turn it into a retreat and prayer center. In an interesting twist, Katy Perry was even involved in the deal. The pop star offered to buy the pad for the church as part of her ongoing quest to acquire the former Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary convent in Los Feliz. That plan never came to fruition, though, due to zoning problems and in 2017, Chateau Emanuel was listed once again, this time for $5.5 million.

Per the real estate listing, which describes the place as a “compound,” the property boasts a 5,700-square-foot main house with 9 bedrooms, 10 baths, 2 full kitchens, numerous fireplaces, a wet bar, a game room, 2 sitting rooms, an art room, maid’s quarters with a full bath and separate entrance, and a dining room with space for 40 guests. There are also 2 detached guests homes on the premises, the first measuring 3,500 square feet and the second 1,100. The lush 2.1-acre grounds feature a greenhouse, a croquet court, a bistro, a pool, a spa, a stage, rose gardens, a pond, several fountains, pathways, arbors, four gates, cabanas, and parking for 40+ cars! I was particularly taken with the charming wooden footbridges, which look like something out of a fairy tale. I half expected to see Snow White running across one while we were there!

In January of this year, Chateau Emanuel finally sold to none other than Chris Hardwick for $5,250,000. The comedian does not plan on living in the abode, but instead purchased it out of a desire to protect it. Chris was first informed of the dwelling by his mom, real estate agent Sharon Hills, and was quickly smitten. As Curbed Los Angeles explained in an article about the sale, “His purchase of the Bekins estate was motivated in part by the worry that, because the property is so large, it could be sold and redeveloped or otherwise altered. ‘He truly bought this property to preserve it,’ says Hills.’” A man after my own heart! Chris is said to be keeping the home open to historical organizations who wish to hold events there. I’m guessing it will also be available for filming.

In “The Case of Thorn Mansion” episode of The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley, which was released in 1994, Chateau Emanuel portrays the abandoned Thorn Mansion, supposedly located on Black Widow Lane in Transylvania, where the Olsen & Olsen Mystery Agency detectives (“We’ll solve any case by dinner time!”) investigate a supposed haunting. Spoiler alert – the pad turns out not to be haunted. As the twins discover, the “ghost” that neighbors reported seeing on the property was just Mr. Thorn’s granddaughter who was tending to her late grandfather’s beehives.

The property’s real life interior also appeared in the episode.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Chris for finding this location! Smile

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: Chateau Emanuel, from “The Case of Thorn Mansion” episode of The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley, is located at 1554 Hill Drive in Eagle Rock.

August 15, 2018August 14, 2018

Michelle’s Downhill Derby from “Full House”

There’s nothing like remnants of a film shoot remaining behind years after the fact to set my heart aflutter. Last June, a fellow stalker named Chris kindly emailed me a lengthy and comprehensive list of Full House locations he had tracked down, one of which was the Griffith Park road where the Downhill Derby from Season 7’s “Michelle a la Cart” took place. Though I did not remember the episode, the locale had me particularly intrigued thanks to some vestiges from the shoot Chris noted were still visible. As he wrote in his email, “In the 2007 imagery on Google Street View, you can still see the faded lane markings on the road from the race.” Um, sign me up! So onto my To-Stalk List the site went and I finally headed out there to see it in person a few weeks ago.

[ad]

In re-watching “Michelle a la Cart” in preparation for this post, I realized there’s a reason I did not recall it from its original airing in 1994 – the episode just isn’t all that memorable. It centers around three less-than-scintillating storylines. First, D.J. Tanner (Candance Cameron) laments a phone message left by her ex-boyfriend, Steve Hale (Scott Weinger) – she thinks he’s despondent over their recent break-up, but it turns out he just really wants a CD back. Then there’s Joey Gladstone (Dave Coulier) who attempts to learn ballet from Stephanie Tanner (Jodie Sweetin) in the hopes it will improve his hockey-playing skills, which gives us this great visual. Oh, Joey!

In the main narrative, Michelle Tanner (Mary-Kate and Ashely Olsen) decides to build a soapbox car with her aunt Becky (Lori Loughlin) so she can compete in the local Downhill Derby and defeat neighborhood meanie Kenny (K. Evan Bonifant), who thinks she can’t win because she’s a girl. Though lackluster as a whole, the episode did give us a great zinger from Michelle. When faced with her nemesis’ jeering, she tells him, “My dad said if I can’t say anything nice then I shouldn’t say anything at all . . . but my dad’s not here and you’re a weenie!” (You can see a clip of the fabulous moment here.)

The episode culminates in the big Downhill Derby competition, which was set up on Vista Del Valle Drive just west of where it intersects with North Vermont Canyon Road in Griffith Park. The race’s starting point was positioned at the very eastern edge of Vista Del Valle Drive, close to where it dead ends.

The finish line was set up about two hundred feet away, where the hilly part of the road bottoms out.

(Spoiler alert – Michelle, of course, wins the derby and, in the process, learns that girls can do anything boys can do.)

In the episode, the racers’ lanes are made up of uninterrupted white lines and dotted yellow lines, as you can see below.

It is those lines that are still visible today – not just on Google Street View imagery from 2007 as Chris had mentioned, but in real life, too.

Though extremely faded, the dotted yellow lines . . .

. . . and the uninterrupted white lines are still somewhat intact, as you can see in my photos above and below.

While I originally assumed that the markings were painted onto the road strictly for the Full House shoot, it is entirely possible they were there prior to the filming – especially since the yellow lines pictured in my images appear to be newer additions. Considering said lines are not typical road boundaries, though (I have never seen anything like them, at least), and it is unclear as to exactly what they designate, I do not believe they are original elements of the street. Either way, I love that markings visible in a shoot that took place 24 years ago remain evident today.

While I was stalking the Downhill Derby site, security guards happened to be setting up street closures on the premises for a concert that was taking place nearby later that night. I can only imagine their befuddlement in seeing me bounce all over the road, enthusiastically snapping photo after photo of faded lines and loudly exclaiming to the Grim Cheaper how thrilled I was to be seeing them in person. Ah, to be on the outside looking in.

Big THANK YOU to Chris for finding this location and telling me about it! Smile

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 Downhill Derby from the “Michelle a la Cart” episode of Full House took place on Vista Del Valle Drive just west of where it intersects with North Vermont Canyon Road in Griffith Park. (Be advised, some maps refer to Vista Del Valle as “Boy Scout Road,” though Google Maps and my GPS both recognize the street as Vista Del Valle.)

April 28, 2015April 27, 2015

24/7 Restaurant

All stalkers have those locations – the ones that, despite years of searching, remain on our unfound list. Miraculously (and thanks to an insane amount of good fortune), I managed to track down one of mine recently, after over a decade of hunting for it!

[ad]

During the early 2000s, I had major girl crushes on both Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. (Truth be told, I still love their movies, as evidenced in this post.) In 2003, I came across the image below in a magazine (though I can’t for the life of me remember which magazine), thought it was adorable, cut it out and pasted it to the front of my acting class notebook. Every time I looked at it, I wondered at which diner the photograph had been taken. From time to time, I would search for the place, but because I had so little to go on (I wasn’t even sure if it was in L.A.), I figured it would never be found. Flash forward to this past January when I randomly got inspired to do some sleuthing. I happened to spot the picture, as well as other images from the shoot, on the Mary-Kate and Ashley Fan website and was floored to see that the name of the photographer, Gail Albert, was mentioned. I did a Google search to see if I could find contact information for Gail, came across her website and emailed her.

That email was sent with feeble hope. For one, I never thought that Gail would get back to me and, if she did, I never thought she’d recall the diner’s location and, if by some miracle she did remember, never did I believe the place would still be in operation! Well, not only did she reply (within just a few hours, no less!), but she informed me that the shoot had taken place at the 24/7 Restaurant at The Standard hotel in West Hollywood, which, miraculously, is still in existence! My mind was absolutely BLOWN over the news and I could NOT have been more excited to get out there to see the restaurant for myself!

I have been to The Standard many times over the years (and even blogged about it back in 2008), but, for whatever reason, had never ventured inside 27/7 Restaurant.

The Standard was originally built in 1962 as the Thunderbird Motel. For a time it operated as the Hollywood Sunset Hotel and then as a retirement home before being taken over by hotelier Andre Balazs in 1998.

Balazs hired production designer Shawn Hausman to remodel the interior of the property and the result of her efforts is spectacularly unique. The lobby’s most famous feature is the glass display case located behind the front desk, which exhibits live performance art (usually of the nude variety).

The lobby also features shag-carpeted ceilings and walls;

hanging bubble chairs;

and a pool flanked by royal blue AstroTurf.

The property opened as The Standard, Hollywood Hotel in 1999 and, thanks to its retro-modern aesthetic and celebrity investors, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Benicio Del Toro, Cameron Diaz and The Smashing Pumpkins’ D’arcy Wretzky and James Iha, the place became an instant hit with the It Crowd.

27/7 Restaurant, which originally had no name but was simply referred to as “the restaurant,” is located off of The Standard’s lobby.

I was absolutely floored to see that virtually nothing about the place had been changed since Mary-Kate and Ashley’s 2003 photo shoot.

Unfortunately though, my server did inform me that a remodel might be occurring in the near future, so if you would like to see the restaurant in its current state, I would get out there quickly.

I cannot express how nice the wait staff at 24/7 Restaurant were! Their friendliness was such a welcome change from what I had experienced just a few hours prior at the 18th Street Coffee House in Santa Monica. Not only did my server tell me that I was welcome to take all of the photographs of the place that I wanted, but when I asked if he could take a picture of me in the same booth where MK & A sat, not only did he happily oblige, but he snapped about a dozen pics just to make sure he had captured the correct angle!

For those fellow stalkers who also want to re-create the photo, Mary-Kate and Ashley posed in the fifth booth from 24/7’s entrance during the shoot.

The Standard, Hollywood Hotel is also a filming location. In the Season 3 episodes of Sex and the City titled “Escape from New York” and “Sex and Another City,” Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) and the girls stayed at The Standard while vacationing in L.A.

The hotel was used quite extensively in the episodes.

If only I had a pair of different colored shoes!

In the episodes, Carrie stayed in one of The Standard’s real life rooms – Room 322.

The spot where Carrie had some trouble navigating up a hill in her rented stick shift can be found on the eastern side of the hotel, on North Sweetzer Avenue.

The Standard was also featured in the Season 3 episode of Entourage titled “I Wanna Be Sedated,” in the scene in which Turtle (cutie Jerry Ferrara) and Johnny ‘Drama’ Chase (Kevin Dillon) search for Saigon, who played himself.

Things do not quite go as planned and Drama winds up being hung upside-down from one of The Standard’s balconies.

The Standard was also where Britt Reid (Seth Rogen) threw a rather raucous hotel party at the beginning of the 2011 flick The Green Hornet.

Ally Hilfiger and Jaime Gleicher stayed at The Standard while visiting L.A. in the 8th episode of the MTV reality series Rich Girls, but, unfortunately, I could not find a copy of the episode anywhere with which to make screen captures.

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: 24/7 Restaurant is located inside of The Standard, Hollywood Hotel at 8300 Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood. You can visit the hotel’s official website here.

April 15, 2011April 14, 2011

Alverno High School from “Passport to Paris”

As I promised in Tuesday’s post, here is a photograph of me dressed as Buffy the Vampire Slayer for Halloween back in 1992. My mom made the costume for me by hand and she made it absolutely PERFECT, so I was especially excited to tell Kristy Swanson about it when I met her this past Sunday night at the Celebration of Corey Haim’s life. And now, on with the post! Smile

Two weekends ago I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to stalk a location that has long been at the top of my To-Stalk list – Alverno High School in Sierra Madre. The school has appeared in hundreds upon hundreds of productions over the years, but I had been dying to stalk it for one reason and one reason only – it was one of the primary locations featured in the 1999 Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen video Passport to Paris. Being that I was 22 years old when Passport to Paris was released and a full decade older than the flick’s targeted demographic, I can’t really explain why it was that I liked it so much. But the truth is that, as an adult, I absolutely LOVED all of the MK & A videos and would rent them regularly from my local video store. And yes, I know how strange that is. 😉 When in Rome and Winning London are my two favorites out of the twins’ myriad of straight-to-video movies, but Passport to Paris definitely runs a close third. And because the vast majority of the Olsen’s movies were primarily filmed on location in exotic locales around the globe, you can imagine my excitement and surprise when I discovered that the main home used in Passport to Paris was literally right in my own backyard!

Alverno High School was originally built as a private home for physician Walter Jarvis Barlow in 1924. The manse was designed by legendary architect Wallace Neff and was modeled after a Tuscan-style mansion located in Tavainuzze, Italy named Villa Collazi. Barlow dubbed his new residence Villa del Sol d’Oro, which roughly translates to Manor of the Golden Sun. After Barlow passed away in 1942, his widow, Marion Patterson Barlow, sold the property to the Sisters of St. Francis while she promptly moved into the Huntington Hotel (now the Langham Hotel and Spa) in Pasadena, where she spent the remainder of her days. Not too shabby of a place to spend your final years! Anyway, for the next 18 years, Villa del Sol d’Oro was used as a novitiate – a home where nuns live during a probationary period before taking their vows. In 1960 a high school named Alverno Heights Academy was founded on the property. The name was later changed to Alverno High School, as it is known today. Several buildings have since been constructed on the school grounds, but Villa del Sol d’Oro, which is a historical landmark, has thankfully been left untouched. And while classes are not held in the actual Villa, the building is used regularly for special school events.

Because Alverno is a working school, I did not expect to be able to get onto the property and was beyond FLOORED to discover that the side gate was standing open and several people were walking around the grounds. One lady that I spoke with told me that she comes to the school each weekend just to walk around and appreciate the beauty of the place. And it is not very hard to see why. As you can see in the above photographs, Villa del Sol d’Oro is absolutely breathtaking!

And, amazingly enough, there was a photo shoot taking place on the property when we showed up to stalk it, so all of the Villa’s doors were open. And even though the SUPER nice staff member who was on duty at the time thought I was EXTREMELY odd for liking Passport to Paris so much, he allowed me to go inside to take a quick peek around and snap a few pictures, which I could NOT have been more excited about!

[ad]

In Passport to Paris, Alverno High School stood in for the American Embassy in Paris, France, where Ambassador Edward (aka Peter White), the grandfather of Melanie “’Mel’ Porter (aka Mary-Kate Olsen) and Allyson ‘Ally’ Porter (aka Ashley Olsen), lived. And while the exterior of the property (pictured above) shown in the flick was a building in Paris . . .

. . . Villa del Sol d’Oro was used for all of the interior scenes.

I am fairly certain that the girls’ bedroom in the movie was also located at Villa del Sol d’Oro, but because I did not get to see the upstairs portion of the property I am not able to verify that.

In 1992’s Poison Ivy, Villa del Sol d’Oro was the high school that Ivy (aka Drew Barrymore) and Sylvie (aka Sara Gilbert) attended.

Alverno High School also appeared at the very beginning of 1996’s Executive Decision as a Chechen Mafia safehouse supposedly located just outside of Trieste, Italy.

In Legally Blonde, Alverno stood in for the Delta Nu sorority house where Elle Woods (aka Reese Witherspoon) and her “sisters” lived.

And while a private home in San Francisco, which I blogged about back in April of 2008, stood in for the exterior of the San Francisco-area Anthony P. Grove High School in 2001’s The Princess Diaries, Alverno’s courtyard was used for all of the courtyard scenes in the movie.

It was the convent where Christina Crawford (aka Diana Scarwid) was sent to live in the 1981 movie Mommie Dearest.

In 1995’s A Walk in the Clouds, the interior of Villa del Sol d’Oro stood in for the interior of the Las Nubes vineyard home where the family of Victoria Aragon (aka Aitana Sanchez-Gijon) lived.

The Villa was used as the Los Angeles Visitor Security Headquarters in the 1984 television mini-series V: The Final Battle.

Although they changed the property’s exterior gate for that production quite a bit. LOL I just about died laughing when I scanned through V and saw the above-pictured pseudo-space-age electronic gate. Could it be any more ‘80s?

The Villa’s actual gate is pictured above.

The Villa was also the site of Axl Rose and Stephanie Seymour’s wedding reception in the Gun ‘N Roses “November Rain” music video . . .

November Rain–Villa del Sol d’Oro

. . . which you can watch by clicking above.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Alverno High School, from Passport to Paris, is located at 200 North Michillinda Avenue in Sierra Madre. We entered the school via its Wilson Street gate. Please remember that Alverno High School is an active learning institution and you should not trespass or visit the grounds during school hours. You can visit Alverno’s official website here.

May 26, 2009July 13, 2009

It’s A Wrap!

Got an email the other day from fellow stalker Heather who told me about a store in Burbank named It’s A Wrap that sells clothing, props, and memorabilia from recently wrapped movies and television shows! Being that the store sounded right up my alley, I immediately ran out to stalk it!! 🙂 It’s A Wrap has been in business selling Hollywood costumes and movie merchandise since 1981. Owner and founder Janet Dion purchases clothes and props directly from the many movie studios in the area and sells them to the public out of two retail stores – one in Burbank and one in Beverly Hills. It’s A Wrap has sold clothing from hundreds upon hundreds of productions over the last twenty-eight years, including The Flinstones, Beverly Hills, 90210!!!!, Seventh Heaven, Charmed, Drillbit Taylor, Twilight, Lipstick Jungle, Spanglish, Seven, Guiding Light, Varsity Blues, Seinfeld, Baywatch, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and Las Vegas. Love it!!

[ad]

Not only does It’s A Wrap provide the general public access to movie items we might otherwise never have the ability to purchase, but the store also has INCREDIBLE deals!!!! I’m talking INCREDIBLE!!!! Designer dresses are usually marked down well over 50% below retail value. Yesterday, while I was stalking the place, I spotted a few super cute BCBG dresses with the original price tags still attached. The dresses, which were originally priced $298, were selling for $98!!! But, of course, not a one of them was in my size!!! Ugh! Such a bummer!

Because It’s A Wrap receives new merchandise from the local studios on a daily basis, you simply never know what treasures you are going to discover there. While I was stalking the place last week, I found clothing from Kath & Kim, Ugly Betty, General Hospital, Hancock, According to Jim, and CSI: Miami – just to name a few. But the cutest clothes, by far, had to be from the newly-released Wayans Brothers’ movie Dance Flick. I pretty much loved every single piece from that collection, which included a large assortment of tees by fave designer Michael Stars. 🙂 It’s A Wrap was also selling a HUGE array of evening gowns and cocktail dresses from the soap opera General Hospital. If I was still in high school, this would DEFINITELY be the place I’d shop for my prom dress. 🙂

The store even had a dress from Disney Studios that looked strikingly similar to Silver’s prom dress from last week’s episode of 90210. Oh, if only I had a prom to go to! 🙂

I honestly can’t recommend stalking It’s A Wrap enough. But be sure to keep in mind that even though the shop sells movie costumes, it is still a used clothing store. Don’t go in there expecting it to look like a Beverly Hills boutique. It’s A Wrap is a thrift shop, and if you don’t like that sort of thing, you won’t like this place. 🙂 Also don’t go in there expecting to find a specific costume from a specific movie or television show. While all of the clothing for sale at It’s A Wrap bears tags marking what production or what studio it came from, no reference is made to what actor or actress actually wore the item. In fact, many of the clothes for sale were most likely not worn by a lead actor, but by secondary and background actors. And some of the costumes may never even have been worn at all. At the same time, though, you simply never know what you are going to find at It’s A Wrap. A few years back, one lucky customer walked away with Brad Pitt’s shoes from the movie Seven. 🙂 Any visiting tourist who wants to take a piece of Hollywood home with them should definitely stalk It’s A Wrap! Oh, and the best part about the store? Showcased on the walls are countless costumes worn in famous movies and television shows, including items worn by Shannen Doherty, Shirley MacLaine, Sean Penn, and Demi Moore. If you do happen to stalk It’s A Wrap, be sure to keep your eyes peeled for celebs, because, amazingly enough, quite a few of them are fans of the store. Famous customers include Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, Mario Lopez, Jennifer Love Hewitt, David Arquette, Brittany Murphy, Nicole Eggert, Drew Barrymore, Geena Davis, Sir Anthony Hopkins, and my fave Shannen Doherty. 🙂

Big THANK YOU to Amanda for telling me about It’s A Wrap! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: It’s A Wrap has two Los Angeles area locations. The first is located at 3315 West Magnolia Boulevard in Burbank. The other can be found at 1164 South Robertson Boulevard in Beverly Hills. You can visit the It’s A Wrap website here. Another great place to purchase movie and celebrity memorabilia is the website www.starwares.com.

July 6, 2008February 13, 2009

MK & A’s Alma Mater

I must admit that I have long been a fan of the Olsen twins. What can I say – they are my guilty pleasure. Even today I still enjoy renting their movies (New York Minute is a personal favorite!) and, yes, I even have the Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen fashion dolls! LOL Currently, I do think the twins are a bit odd and I am so not into their whole homeless-chic wardrobe thing, but about five or six years ago I was absolutely obsessed with them. So I was stoked to find out while reading last month’s Elle Magazine that during high school MK & A attended Campbell Hall Episcopal School in North Hollywood, and I immediately dragged my boyfriend right out to stalk it.

Campbell Hall Episcopal School was started in 1944 and currently has approximately 1,000 students. The K-8 school advocates an education of the heart as well as the mind, and favors a well-rounded curriculum by encouraging the study of art, athletics, music, drama and dance. Apparently their performing arts department is incredibly strong, so it’s no wonder that MK & A chose to attend school there. Mary-Kate and Ashley both attended Campbell Hall for, I believe, all of their schooling and graduated on June 7, 2004. Shortly thereafter Mary-Kate entered a rehabilitation facility to allegedly battle anorexia.

Campbell Hall sits on about 12 acres right on Laurel Canyon Boulevard. Although we did not venture onto school grounds, looking in through the gates, the school looked really beautiful and peaceful. Campbell Hall actually looks more like a national park than a school and the grounds reminded me a lot of L.A.’s Griffith Park. There are huge eucalyptus trees as far as the eye can see surrounded by long, winding dirt pathways. Despite being on Laurel Canyon, the grounds were extremely quiet. Standing there, I really just wanted to grab a good book and a blanket and lay out under one of the trees and read all afternoon. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Campbell Hall Episcopal School is located at 4533 Laurel Canyon Boulevard in North Hollywood. The yearly tuition costs between $18,440 to $23,460 depending on grade level!!