Matt Damon filming locations

June 13, 2013June 12, 2013

Frances’ House from “Behind the Candelabra”

One Behind the Candelabra location that I was not able to stalk two weekends ago was the palatial Palm Springs abode belonging to Frances Liberace (Debbie Reynolds), the flamboyant pianist’s overbearing mother, in the 2013 HBO biopic. So I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out to do so this past Saturday morning. And, as it turns out, the residence has quite a fascinating history.

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The ornate Hollywood Regency-style dwelling was originally designed in 1962 by James McNaughton, a Palm Springs-area architect who initially got his start in set decoration. In fact, he has the distinction of being television’s first set designer. McNaughton won numerous awards during his stint in show business, including a Look Award, a Christopher Award, and a Peabody award, and he also received quite a few Emmy nominations. I am fairly certain that the residence was commissioned by George Randolph Hearst, Sr. (the eldest son of publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst) and his wife, Rosalie. If the couple did not actually commission the property, they were at least its first owners.

After George’s passing in 1972, Rosalie held onto the residence. It was there that Patty Hearst, George and Rosalie’s niece, hid out in 1977 while on probation awaiting an appeal for her bank robbery conviction. In May 1991, Rosalie sold the house to Harvey and Lori Sarner for a whopping $1,650,000. The Sarners still own the property to this day.

The 7-bedroom, 4.75-bath, 7,557-square-foot house, which sits on a 0.62-acre plot of land, is quite eccentric. According to an August 2012 MyDesert.com article, the dwelling was so lavishly appointed in George and Rosalie’s day that it was known as “Little Hearst’s Castle.” From the looks of things, not much has changed since that time. The place actually has a very Liberace feel to it, ironically enough, and reminds me quite a bit of the pianist’s third desert home, which I blogged about here.

As you can see below, the entire property is surrounded by double-sided Greek goddess statues, which, according to the Radiant Writing blog, are holdouts from the George and Rosalie days. The Radiant Writing author describes the property, which she remembers from her childhood, as such, “This home was gaudy on a small scale and no doubt a son’s attempt at mimicking his father’s extravagant San Simeon Castle. All it looked like to me was a morgue. The home had lion statues guarding both sides of the front door and was surrounded by a wrought iron fence, reminiscent of the Haunted House at Disneyland. The most haunting thing about the always dark house was the presence of the Romanesque goddess bust type statues placed within 3 feet of each other along the scary fence. The goddess busts had 70’s style light globes on their heads.”

The Hearst house appeared once in Behind the Candelabra, in the scene in which Liberace (Michael Douglas) and his boyfriend, Scott Thorson (Matt Damon), visited Frances in Palm Springs and listened to her complain about being lonely. Only the property’s backyard was featured in the flick. As you can see in the screen capture below, the home’s pool area is very reminiscent of the iconic Neptune Pool at Hearst Castle in San Simeon.

Amazingly enough, Behind the Candelabra filming in Palm Springs took place in August, the city’s hottest month of the year, during which high temperatures average 107 degrees! Being that a one-minute segment can take hours upon hours to shoot, the cast and crew must have been absolutely miserable filming the scene in Frances’ backyard! I mean look at the clothes they are wearing! Ugh!

While stalking the house, I was floored to discover that the backyard is partially visible from a neighboring street.

On a Behind the Candelabra side-note – I did not even recognize Debbie Reynolds in the role of Frances Liberace and, in fact, had no idea it was her until after I had finished watching the movie and was researching its locations online. Talk about a fantastic make-up job!

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Frances’ house from Behind the Candelabra is located at 701 West Panorama Road in the Little Tuscany Estates area of Palm Springs. The backyard portion of the residence can be partially viewed from the intersection of West Vista Chino and North Via Monte Vista. The world famous Kauffman House (which I blogged about here) is located right around the corner at 470 West Vista Chino.

June 11, 2013June 10, 2013

Our Lady of Solitude Church from “Behind the Candelabra”

Another Palm Springs’ Behind the Candelabra location that the Grim Cheaper and I stalked recently was Our Lady of Solitude Church, where the funeral for Liberace (Michael Douglas) was held in the recently-aired HBO biopic. This locale was especially interesting because in a case of art imitating life, it was where the flamboyant pianist’s actual 1987 memorial service took place. But more on that later.

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In February 1926, Banning resident Father Philip LaVies began working on plans to found and build a Roman Catholic church in the Palm Springs area. The land for the parish was purchased from the Southern Pacific Railroad and temporary services were held there beginning in 1928. LaVies commissioned Albert Martin, the prolific architect who gave us St. Vincent de Paul Church (which I blogged about here), St. Monica Catholic Church (which I blogged about here), Los Angeles City Hall, and the Million Dollar Theatre, to design the site. The Spanish Revival-style structure was completed in 1930. A rectory was added to the property in 1964 and a parish center in 1974. Our Lady of Solitude, which was designated a Class One Historic Site on May 15, 1985, is currently one of the oldest churches still standing in Palm Springs

Our Lady of Solitude has had a few brushes with celebrity in its past. Apparently, President John F. Kennedy attended mass there whenever he was in town. And Jackie Coogan (who just so happens to be the grandfather of Keith Coogan, my girl Pinky Lovejoy’s fiancé) must have as well, because the GC spotted the placard pictured below posted on one of the church’s pews. So incredibly cool! It is also rumored that Liberace was an Our Lady of Solitude parishioner, although I am unsure if there is any validity to that.

Our Lady of Solitude church popped up only once in Behind the Candelabra, in the movie’s closing scene in which Scott Thorson (Matt Damon) attended the funeral of his estranged lover, Liberace (Michael Douglas).

In the scene, Scott parked in the lot located directly across the street from the church.

The actual interior of Our Lady of Solitude was also used in the filming.

As Scott watches the rather colorless ceremony, he starts to envision a funeral service that would be fitting of his flamboyant former lover. In his imagination, the church altar lifts away to reveal a lit stage . . .

. . . complete with Mr. Showmanship himself wearing a pink bedazzled suit and flying off into the great beyond.

Behind the Candelabra took a few liberties with the scene, though. The real story is as follows: Liberace passed away at The Cloisters, his Palm Springs home (which I blogged about here), at 2:05 p.m. on February 4th, 1987. According to a Daily News Wire Services article published a few days later, his body was removed from the house within hours and taken directly to Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills. A memorial service was held the following day, Friday, February 6th, at Our Lady of Solitude church. It was not an actual funeral, as was portrayed in Behind the Candelabra, though, as the pianist’s body was not present.

There seems to be quite a bit of confusion online about the Our Lady of Solitude service and which celebrities attended it. According to Scott Thorson’s 1988 book, Behind the Candelabra, on which the movie was based, only two stars were present – actress Charlene Tilton, from the television series Dallas (who was one of Liberace’s Palm Springs neighbors), and, ironically enough, Michael Douglas’ father, Kirk. And while the fabulous Findadeath website states that Debbie Reynolds, Donald O’Connor, and Robert Goulet were also in attendance, the truth of the matter is that two different public services were held to honor the pianist. The first was the February 6th service at Our Lady of Solitude. A second memorial was then held (after Liberace had already been entombed at Forest Lawn Memorial Park on February 7th) at St. Anne’s Catholic Church in Las Vegas on February 12th. That service was the one attended by Goulet, Reynolds, and O’Connor, as well as Rip Taylor and Sonny King.

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Our Lady of Solitude Church, from Behind the Candelabra, is located at 151 West Alejo Road in Palm Springs. You can visit the parish’s official website here.

June 5, 2013June 4, 2013

Palm Springs City Hall from “Behind the Candelabra”

The Behind the Candelabra location that I was most excited to stalk was Palm Springs City Hall, which appeared very briefly towards the end of the recently-aired HBO biopic. When I first saw the locale pop up onscreen, in all of its retro glory, I was convinced that it was a set that had been fabricated for the shoot. While I figured that set was most likely based upon what the actual Palm Springs City Hall looked like during Liberace’s era, never in my wildest dreams did I think the place would still bear the same façade today. So imagine my surprise when I pulled up pictures of the structure on my iPhone via Google Images and discovered that it looks exactly like it did onscreen – 1950’s signage and all! I, of course, immediately added the site to my To-Stalk List and dragged the Grim Cheaper right on over there this past Saturday morning. And I am very happy to report that the building is just as fabulous in person!

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Palm Springs City Hall was originally constructed beginning in 1952 and was designed by architects E. Stewart Williams [the mid-century modern marvel who designed the Kenaston residence from Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s infamous July 2005 W Magazine photo shoot, the Koerner House from Alpha Dog, and the 1951 remodel of Howard Manor (now the Colony Palms Hotel)], Albert Frey (the father of the desert modernism-style of architecture who designed a portion of the Burgess House from Alpha Dog), and Frey’s partners, John Porter Clark and Robson Chambers.

The one-story, concrete block building took five years to complete.

The eastern portion of the building houses the entrance to the City Council chamber and features a poured-concrete disc overhang with the words “The People Are the City.”

The building’s main entrance boasts a corrugated metal canopy with a large circular cutout.

That cutout is of the exact same diameter as the disc overhang in front of the City Council chamber, which brings a sense of symmetry to the building’s two entrances.

The three palm trees that grow through the cutout remind me of the “twin palms” that are the focal point of Frank Sinatra’s former desert home, which was also designed by E. Stewart Williams.

My favorite element of the building, though, has to be the bris-soliel (a term I just learned today) made of diagonally-cut aluminum piping, which not only provides an unusual design aesthetic, but morning shade to the structure’s interior.

Palm Springs City Hall only showed up once in Behind the Candelabra, in the scene in which a Riverside County Health Department spokesman announced to the press that Liberace (Michael Douglas) had died from complications of the AIDS virus and not from heart failure due to an anemia caused by a watermelon diet (I don’t even understand that diagnosis!) as had originally been reported by his manager, Seymour Heller (Dan Aykroyd).

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Palm Springs City Hall, from Behind the Candelabra, is located at 3200 East Tahquitz Canyon Way in Palm Springs.

June 4, 2013June 4, 2013

Liberace’s House from “Behind the Candelabra”

Two Sunday nights ago, I (along with the rest of the world) was glued to my television set watching Behind the Candelabra, the HBO biopic about legendary pianist Liberace (Michael Douglas) and his teenaged lover, Scott Thorson (Matt Damon). I have to say that I was a bit disappointed when all was said and done, though. As Melissa Maerz said in her review of the flick for Issue #1261/1262 of Entertainment Weekly magazine, “Liberace’s fans were actually mostly straight women, the older, blue-haired types. And for better or worse, that seems like the target audience for this movie, a glossy story of love gone wrong and then (slightly) redeemed at the end, without a whole lot of deep pathos in between.” While entertaining, I had expected more. I did, of course, become a wee-bit obsessed with tracking down the film’s many locations, though, especially being that quite a bit of it was lensed right here in Palm Springs. Mike, from MovieShotsLA, also got in on the hunt and managed to find Liberace’s desert home from the movie, so I ran right out to stalk it – braving 107-degree heat, mind you! – this past Saturday afternoon.

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Mike was able to locate the residence thanks to the fact that a massive brown manse was visible in the background of the scene in which Scott went to visit Liberace on his deathbed. Using aerial views and Google Street View, he matched up the angle of the manse shown in the movie to an address that was identified as 696 North Via Monte Vista in the Old Las Palmas neighborhood of Palm Springs. Sure enough, it was the right spot. Ironically enough, and unbeknownst to Mike, the hilltop mansion that he had spotted was none other than the house where Tom Rose (James Handy) lived in the Season 5 episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 titled “P.S. I Love You” (which I blogged about here).

In real life, the 5-bedroom, 4.5-bath, 2,772-square-foot dwelling, which was originally built in 1930, is known as Casa de Monte Vista. The site boasts a 0.77-acre plot of gated land, vaulted wood-beamed ceilings, a rotunda entrance, a formal dining room, a library, a clay tile roof, a covered patio, a saltwater pool, lush landscaping including an organic herb and vegetable garden, mountain views, and four (!) guest casitas. According to Zillow, the space last sold in May 1996 for $408,000. It appears to have been put on the market once again in 2008 at a price of $1,695,000, but was later taken off. The abode currently serves as a private residence/special events venue/vacation rental. You can check out the home’s website here.

As you can see below, the property is absolutely gigantic! According to the Casa de Monte Vista website, in the 1950s, the pad was owned by actor Robert Stack and then later, in the 1960s, became a frequent stomping ground of members of The Rat Pack. And while the short-lived Casa de Monte Vista blog states that the home also once belonged to Lucille Ball (as well as the creator of the margarita), I am not sure if that information is correct. The residence’s most recent brush with celebrity, besides the filming of Behind the Candelabra, took place on Sunday, May 26th when Debbie Reynolds, who played Liberace’s mom, Francis, in the flick, hosted a special viewing party on the premises.

Casa de Monte Vista was featured twice towards the end of Behind the Candelabra. The exterior of the house first popped up in the scene in which Scott went to say goodbye to Liberace at his Palm Springs residence after learning that he was gravely ill.

The real life interior of the residence, which you can see photographs of here, was also shown in that scene.

The exterior of the home showed up once again in the scene in which it was announced to the press that Liberace had passed away.

What was shown of the property in Behind the Candelabra looked so much like The Cloisters (Liberace’s real life former desert home) that I originally thought filming had taken place there. When Mike informed me that was not actually the case, I couldn’t help but wonder why on earth The Cloisters hadn’t been used. Then I passed by the place this past weekend and was shocked (and saddened) to discover that the exterior had been completely remodeled since I stalked it last and currently looks nothing like it did in Liberace’s day. (I think the actual residence might have been left unaltered, but the fencing, front gate, foliage, and driveway area have, unfortunately, been rendered unrecognizable.)

The photograph below is one I took of The Cloisters, from virtually the same angle as the above picture, back in April 2008 when I originally stalked the place. You can read that blog post here and I will be writing another post on the location in the near future.

While not technically used as a location in Behind the Candelabra, The Cloisters, in its altered state, did pop very briefly up in the background of Liberace’s funeral scene.

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for finding this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Casa de Monte Vista, aka Liberace’s house from Behind the Candelabra, is located at 696 North Via Monte Vista in the Old Las Palmas neighborhood of Palm Springs. You can visit the home’s vacation rental/special events venue website here.

September 23, 2011September 22, 2011

Barney’s Beanery in West Hollywood

Another location that has long been stockpiled (or should I say stalk-piled?) in my ever-growing stalking backlog is the original Barney’s Beanery restaurant in West Hollywood, which has been featured in numerous productions over the years and which I visited with fellow stalker Chas, from the It’sFilmedThere website, this past July. For whatever reason, even though the eatery is a major celebrity hot spot and a veritable Los Angeles institution, in my ten-plus years of living in Southern California I had yet to stalk the place.

Barney’s, which dubs itself as being the third oldest restaurant in Los Angeles, was originally founded by John “Barney’” Anthony, a Los Angeles native who got his culinary start by serving chili burgers and onion soup to his fellow soldiers during World War I. He opened his first men’s-only Beanery in Berkeley, California in 1920, but moved it to its present location on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood in 1927, after deciding that he wanted to live in a warmer climate. The eatery started out as little more than a one-room wooden shack with a small bar, but thanks to its location, which at the time was in the middle of nowhere, on Route 66, it attracted hundreds of travelers who were making their way from the East Coast to California. It became common practice for those patrons to leave their license plates behind at the bar in a symbol of saying goodbye to their previous life. The Barney’s of today is literally wallpapered with hundreds upon hundreds of old out-of-state license plates. When Anthony passed away on November 25th, 1968, a man name Erwin Held purchased the restaurant and promised to keep it in its original form. And despite a few expansions and another change in ownership (today the restaurant belongs to David Houston and Avi Fattal), the ramshackle little roadhouse-style Barney’s Beanery still looks much the same today as it did when it originally opened in 1927. In recent years, David and Avi have opened up four sister eateries and now have Barney’s locations in Old Town Pasadena, Santa Monica, Burbank, and Westwood.

The restaurant’s long-time popularity is largely due to its down-home food. Unbelievably, the menu features over 1,000 items (and no, that is a not a typo!), including 45 different varieties of chili, 20 different burgers with 24 different toppings, 13 types of hot dogs, and 200 varieties of beer. As they say at Barney’s, “If we don’t have it, you don’t want it!” The menu is so large in fact, containing everything from Mexican fare to pizza and calzones, that it is printed in newspaper format and boasts a whopping 12 pages! And while I did not eat at the original location with Chas that day, the Grim Cheaper and I used to frequent the Santa Monica outpost almost weekly when he lived on the West Side and I have to say that the fare is INCREDIBLE! The place serves up comfort food at its finest, including delectable chicken strips (my fave!) and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (SO COOL!). As owner David Houston is quoted as saying on the inmag website, “We’re not concerned about dieting, carb counting and all that because this is where you go to get away from it all.” LOVE IT!

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As I mentioned above, several productions have been filmed at Barney’s. The restaurant appeared almost weekly on the television series Columbo, as the regular hang-out of the show’s eponymous chili-loving Lieutenant Columbo (aka Peter Faulk). It first showed up in 1971 in the the Season 1 episode titled “Ransom for a Dead Man”, in which filming took place at the actual eatery. It next popped up in the Season 1 episode titled “It’s All In The Game” and in numerous later episodes as well, but only the exterior of the restaurant was actually used. The interior was just a set that had been based on the real Barney’s interior.

In 1984’s Body Double, Jake Scully (aka Craig Wasson) grabs a drink at Barney’s Beanery after discovering his girlfriend in bed with another man.

in 1985’s Real Genius, Barney’s stood in for Purgatory, the burger joint where Chris Knight (aka Val Kilmer) and his friends met up with Lazlo Hollyfeld (aka Jon Gries).

Val Kilmer returned to Barney’s in 1991 to shoot a rather disgusting scene for The Doors, in which Jim Morrison relieves himself on the bar. What is odd is that while Barney’s today still looks much the same as it did in Body Double, it does not look the way it did in The Doors, which was filmed some seven years later. I am guessing that producers had the bar dressed for the filming of The Doors to make the place appear as it did back in the days when Jim Morrison actually did hang out there.

In 2003’s Stuck on You, Barney’s Beanery was where conjoined twins Bob Tenor (aka Matt Damon) and Walt Tenor (aka Greg Kinnear) discuss undergoing surgery to separate themselves. The restaurant was also featured in the 1986 flick Out of Bounds, which unfortunately I could not find a copy of anywhere. Fail!

As I mentioned above, Barney’s has long been a celebrity hot spot. Just a few of the stars who have dined there over the years include Clara Bow (Hollywood’s first “It Girl”), Jim Morrison, John Barrymore, Clark Gable, Errol Flynn, Judy Garland, Lou Costello, Charles Bukowski, Marlon Brando, Bette Davis, Jack Nicholson, Elliot Gould, Bette Midler, Mel Gibson, Emilio Estevez, Demi Moore, Drew Carey, Rob Lowe, Keefer Sutherland, Charlie Sheen, John Cusack, Andrew McCarthy, Liza Minnelli, Matthew McConaughey, David Arquette, Chace Crawford, Lauren Conrad, my girl Jen Aniston, my other girl Marilyn Monroe, Ashton Kutcher, Courteney Cox, Josh Stewart, Wilmer Valderrama, Ed Westwick, Jessica Szohr, Adam Sandler, Billy Idol, James Dean, Ronald Regan, and Jean Harlow. Supposedly Quentin Tarantino wrote much of Pulp Fiction while sitting in his favorite booth at Barney’s. And Janis Joplin famously ate her last meal at the restaurant shortly before midnight on October 3rd, 1970. Janis apparently carved her name into the tabletop pictured above which is currently affixed to Barney’s ceiling. Unfortunately though, we could not find that carving anywhere, but the FindaDeath website has a great picture of it, which you can take a look at here.

Big THANK YOU to Chas, from the It’sFilmedThere website, for taking me to this location.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Barney’s Beanery, from Body Double, is located at 8447 Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood.