Michael Jackson – Page 4

July 3, 2009April 20, 2010

Forest Lawn Memorial Park Hollywood Hills

I was all set to publish a blog post today about the Old School house, but a drive through Burbank yesterday evening caused that plan to go awry. At around 7 p.m. last night, after running a random errand in Hollywood, I drove home via Forest Lawn Drive in Burbank and practically had to stop my car right in its tracks due to a virtual circus that was taking place out in front of Forest Lawn Memorial Park. Over fifteen news vans were parked on the side of the road and countless media personnel were milling about on the sidewalk in front of the Burbank area cemetery. I had heard rumors that Michael Jackson’s funeral might take place at Forest Lawn early next week, but I didn’t believe reporters would be setting up already. So, of course, I just had to pull my car over to find out what was going on!

According to the reporters staked out at Forest Lawn, there are numerous unconfirmed reports that Michael Jackson’s family is planning to bury the King of Pop in a private ceremony at Forest Lawn Memorial Park on Tuesday morning at 10 a.m. I asked one of the reporters why so many media vans were there if the funeral reports were not yet confirmed and he informed me that the cemetery, which goes by the full name of Forest Lawn Memorial Park Hollywood Hills, is their “best guess as to Michael’s funeral location”. Apparently, the reporters are camping out in teams for the next FOUR days until the funeral takes place. It is absolutely incredible to me that they are willing to actually camp out for over NINETY-SIX hours on the side of the road on the off-chance that Michael’s funeral might take place nearby! Unreal! Only time will tell if the funeral actually will take place at Forest Lawn, but if the media is willing to camp out there for FOUR full days, I am guessing they must have a pretty solid tip to go on. And I can only imagine what the place is going to look like in the days to come!

It seemed yesterday that pretty much every single news outlet imaginable was already on duty in front of Forest Lawn. Even Telemundo was there!

Apparently, CNN thought they could simply tape off a piece of the road to reserve their spot, in lieu of having their reporters camp out on-site. LOL If I was reporter for a competing station I’d so stand there and be like, “Um, sorry! You snooze, you lose!” 🙂

Most of the news vans on-site already had GINORMOUS satellite equipment set up so that they could broadcast live. It was absolutely incredible to see!

And although I have yet to stalk the inside of Forest Lawn Memorial Park Hollywood Hills, I promise to do so in the near future so that I can write a more complete blog post about the cemetery. Forest Lawn has long been popular with the rich and famous and Michael Jackson is hardly the first celeb to be buried there. Forest Lawn is also the final resting place for Bette Davis, Lucille Ball, Ozzie Nelson, Freddie Prinze, Liberace, Telly Savalas, John Ritter, Sandra Dee, Steve Allen and the recently deceased David Carradine. Apparently, the Forest Lawn staff is remiss about divulging the location of star’s graves, but thankfully the Seeing-Stars website provides a plethora of information about the cemetery including a virtual map!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Forest Lawn Memorial Park Hollywood Hills is located at 6300 Forest Lawn Drive in Burbank. Do not confuse this Forest Lawn cemetery with their other location named Forest Lawn Glendale, which is located just a few miles away at 1712 S. Glendale Avenue in Glendale.

June 27, 2009April 20, 2010

Michael Jackson’s Walk of Fame Star

Still saddened by the sudden death of Michael Jackson, early yesterday afternoon I decided to pay my respects to the legendary pop star by visiting his Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I thought I would post the pictures I took while there for those of you who do not live in the L.A. area and cannot visit the star yourselves.

I honestly don’t think Los Angeles has ever seen the likes of anything comparable to this in its entire history. I had absolutely no idea what I was in store for when I set out for Hollywood yesterday. Hundreds upon hundreds of fans showed up to visit the pop legend’s star and to drop off flowers and personal mementos. When I arrived at around 12:30 p.m., Michael’s star had already been cordoned off by the many policemen on duty and there were about two hundred people waiting in line to see it. Pictured above is the haphazard line that the crowd had formed in order to view Michael’s star. I don’t think the police had expected such a large turnout because they all seemed to be milling around trying to maintain crowd control, but largely unsure of what to do. Trying to cordon off hundreds of people into some sort of functioning line in the middle of Hollywoods’ busiest sidewalk cannot have been an easy task and due to that fact the whole thing was slightly chaotic. Thankfully, all of the fans were very respectful and I didn’t witness any sort of problems while I was there.

A huge crowd was even forming across the street from where Michael’s star is located.

And news vans were lined up along Hollywood Boulevard as far as the eye could see. It was absolutely incredible! There were far more people and news reporters on Hollywood Boulevard yesterday than at all the premieres I have been to in the past year combined!

The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, which is located directly across the street from Michael’s star, even had a tribute posted on their famous Cinegrill billboard.

I only had to wait in line for about thirty minutes to see Michael’s star, but by the time I left it seemed there were more than double the amount of people in line as when I had first arrived. And I anticipate that even more people will be coming to view the star as the days progress. One gentleman I was in line with told me that his friends who live in England are flying out to Los Angeles tomorrow morning just to see the star! I couldn’t believe it. It is definitely true what they say about Michael Jackson transcending all races, ages, and cultures. People of all ages from all over the world were there yesterday to pay their respects to the pop star.

The policemen at the head of the line were letting ten people onto the sidewalk at a time to view the star. You can see above the way Michael’s star was cordoned off by the police in an effort to control the flow of the people who were there to visit it. News media crews were lined up on the other side of the partition, filming the hundreds of fans who walked past the star.

The area surrounding Michael’s star was completely covered in flowers, letters, and mementos. We were only given about ten seconds in front of the star, just barely enough time to snap a few photographs and say a quiet prayer. And although brief, it was still a comforting experience to be there. It was nice to share stories with the people in line who, like me, had grown up listening to Michael’s music and who were now all feeling the same sadness I was. It was nice to have some sort of place to go to pay my respects. It was nice to be able to say good-bye. If you were at all a fan of the pop star and live in the area, I definitely recommend going.

UPDATE:

Fellow stalker April visited Michael’s Star Saturday night and sent in the above photographs. As you can see, his star is almost completely covered over with flowers now.

Stalk It: Those wishing to pay their respects to Michael Jackson by visiting his Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame can find it directly in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, which is located at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood. The line to view the star starts at the East side of Grauman’s, near the Kodak Theatre’s Hollywood Boulevard entrance. You can see where the line is formed in the above photograph. If you are planning to visit the star in the near future, I would be prepared to wait in line for at least an hour.

June 26, 2009April 20, 2010

Rest in Peace, Michael

I was absolutely devastated to learn yesterday of the passing of music legend Michael Jackson. I had no idea his death would affect me in the way that it did, but I simply could not stop crying. Due to the sad news of his death, I didn’t feel it would be appropriate to post a regular blog entry today.

And while I do realize that Michael Jackson was hated just as much as he was loved, because I grew up long before any of the problems in his personal life had occurred, my memories of the pop star are all good ones. Simply put, Michael Jackson was a part of my childhood. Some of my fondest memories in life are of sitting in front of the television set watching and re-watching The Making of Thriller with my dad, learning the steps to the Thriller dance with my adolescent friends, and, of course, stalking the many locations from Michael’s iconic music videos. As John Mayer said after the news was announced “I think we’ll mourn his loss as well as the loss of ourselves as children listening to Thriller on the record player.” Whatever Michael Jackson did or did not do in his personal life, no one can argue that the man was a musical genius, an icon, and a legend who absolutely revolutionized the music industry. I find it only fitting that Michael’s “retirement” concert tour that was scheduled to begin on July 13th will never see fruition, as his is a legend which can never be retired.

Michael, you will be missed.

For some happier reading, you can re-read my post on the recent Michael Jackson exhibit in Beverly Hills here.

June 10, 2009June 10, 2009

The Pantages Theatre

As promised earlier in the week, I thought I would dedicate today’s post to the historic Pantages Theatre in Hollywood where I saw Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story On Stage last Tuesday night . And let me tell you, the Pantages Theatre is a site to see, in and of itself! The Art Deco landmark was built in 1930 by vaudeville theatre mogul Alexander Pantages for a whopping $1.25 million – and we’re talking 1930’s money!!!! It was designed by architect B. Marcus Priteca, who conceived most of the theatres in the Pantages chain. But, in an ironic twist of events, when the theatre first opened to the public on June 4, 1930, it was not opened as a Pantages, but instead under the Fox Theatre name. In 1929, while the Pantages was being built, Alexander was knee-deep in a scandal involving another of his many theatres. It seems Alexander, who was in his sixties at the time, was accused and found guilty of raping one of his sixteen year old female ushers at his theatre in Downtown Los Angeles. After being sent to jail, he was forced to open his new Hollywood theatre under a different name. In 1931, Pantages appealed the case and was awarded a new trial. His defense in the second trial maintained that rival theatre company RKO along with Joseph Kennedy (yes, that Joseph Kennedy) had framed him in order to purchase his theatre chain at a low price. Since the broom closet where the rape had supposedly occured was too small a space for two people to fit in, the jury acquitted him and Alexander was released from prison. But Pantages never regained his luxor in Hollywood. Alexander Pantages passed away only two months after his release from prison, broke and broken.

The Pantages has gone through a succession of owners during its almost eighty year history. In 1949, Howard Hughes purchased the theatre and renamed it RKO Pantages. His offices were located above the theatre on the building’s second floor. During the RKO years, from 1949 to 1959 , the Pantages hosted ten Academy Awards ceremonies. It was also home to the Emmy Awards through 1977. In 1967, the Pantages was taken over by Pacific Theatres, who in 1977 joined forces with the Nederlander Theatre Organization to refurbish the property and turn it into a live theatre venue. In October of 2000, Disney opened its hit show The Lion King at the Pantages, which ran for over two years and almost 900 performances. Just prior to The Lion King’s opening, the Pantages underwent a painstaking $10 million renovation process, bringing the theatre back to her original splendor. Since that time, the theatre has been home to over 45 live stage productions including Mama Mia, Annie, Rent, Cats, and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.

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The Pantages is an absolutely beautiful theatre and a stunning example of Art Deco architecture.

From its sweeping staircases . . .

. . . to its sparkling Art Deco chandeliers, I was absolutely mesmerized by the architectural detail throughout. The Pantages is truly a wonder and I HIGHLY recommend stalking it, if you get the chance!

The Pantages is no stranger to the silver screen, either. It was featured in The Bodyguard, as the site of the Academy Awards ceremony where Whitney Houston was a presenter;

the exterior of it shows up very briefly in The Black Dhalia, as Josh Hartnett makes his way into the Frolic Room which is located right next door;

and in L.A. Confidential, as Kevin Spacey does the very same thing;

and its stage was featured in Michael Jackson’s music video for the song “You Are Not Alone”. The Pantages also showed up in Season Two of Ugly Betty (it’s the “New York” theatre where Henry takes Betty to see the musical Wicked), Paparazzi (it’s the site of Cole’s movie premiere at the very end), Ed Wood, The Jazz Singer, Money Talks, and Batman Forever.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Pantages Theatre is located at 6233 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood. You can visit their website here. Dirty Dancing: The Classic Story On Stage is currently running at the Pantages now through June 28th. Upcoming shows include Legally Blonde: The Musical and How The Grinch Stole Christmas.

April 21, 2009April 20, 2010

The Michael Jackson Exhibit by Julien’s Auctions

As I’ve mentioned once before, even though he has some major issues, darn if I don’t love me some MJ! So when one of my readers, Amanda, posted a comment this morning about the Michael Jackson Exhibit that is currently being held in Beverly Hills, I just about had a full blown panic attack right there in my own living room. HOW IN THE HECK HAD I NOT HEARD ABOUT THIS??? LOL I immediately called my dad, who also loves himself some MJ, and the two of us headed right over to Beverly Hills to check out the exhibit.

The Michael Jackson exhibit was originally slated as an auction to be hosted by Julien’s Auctions company. Michael Jackson himself hired the auction house, which specializes in entertainment memorabilia, to sell off virutally all of the contents of his now defunct Neverland Ranch. At the last minute, though, MJ changed his mind and decided to cancel the auction and buy back all of his memorabilia from Julien’s. But he did agree to go through with the scheduled exhibition of his valuables, which is open to the public now through April 25th. And I am so glad he did, as my experience there today was nothing short of incredible!!!!!

I was literally on the edge of my seat for the entire drive to Beverly Hills! And the exhibit did not fail to disappoint! The first thing you see when walking up to the exhibition area is – are you sitting down for this??? – the famed NEVERLAND RANCH GATE! I have wanted to see that gate for as long as I can remember and was so disappointed when I stalked Neverland Ranch back in 2007 and discovered that it wasn’t visible from the street. I was so floored to see that gate in person, in fact, that I couldn’t imagine there’d be anything inside the exhibit hall that could top it! But, boy, was I wrong! The Neverland gate was just the beginning! 🙂

In a very lucky twist of fate, after asking a security guard a question upon entering the exhibit, I was referred to a man named Michael Doyle. Well, it turns out that Michael is the administrator of the entire exhibit and a SUPER nice guy. After I told him a bit about my blog, he ended up taking me on my own mini private tour of the exhibit!!!!! Unbelievable!!!!! 🙂 According to Doyle, the 30,000 square foot, 1,400 lot exhibit took over nine months to coordinate. The removal of the items from Neverland Ranch alone took ninety days! Doyle was at the ranch during that entire ninety day period and got to see up close and personal how the King of Pop lived. What an experience! When I told Doyle that I had actually been to Neverland Ranch, he said “Oh, you were invited there?” LOL I had to clarify and tell him that no, I had not been invited to Neverland Ranch, but had stalked the outside of it for my blog. LOL LOL LOL While I was speaking with Doyle, he got a call that Sharon Osbourne would be touring the exhibit later that day. I guess even celebs are fascinated with the King of Pop. 🙂

The entire exhibit, which feels very much like a museum, is set up in such a way that visitors feel as if they are actually stepping inside of the real Neverland Ranch. Before arriving, I was nervous that cameras would not be allowed, as I knew that I’d want to take pictures of EVERYTHING. Well, I really needn’t have worried, as cameras are not only allowed, but encouraged!!! The ultra-friendly security guards and docents kept telling us to be sure to take a lot of photographs. And my dad and I sure complied!! The two of us took over 200 pictures while there! Obviously I can’t post all 200 pictures here, as this post would be never-ending. So, I had to choose a few of my favorites. 🙂

On display are numerous costumes that the King of Pop wore during performances. Seeing them in person I could not believe how tiny MJ is! According to one of the docents, he has a 28 inch waist! I took the above photograph for comparison – now, I am a small girl (a size 2 usually) and look how much smaller Michael is than me! He’s like half my size!!!

Michael had 114 arcade games at Neverland Ranch, all of which are in working order and on display at the exhibit. Apparently, when the auction was still set to happen, the arcade games were garnering the most attention. Not from Michael Jackson fans, though, but video game enthusiasts. 🙂

On display were both a personal letter from then-president Ronald Regan offering his condolences after the pop star’s accident while filming a Pepsi commercial,

and the original contract MJ signed with the William Morris Agency on May 21, 1970. As an actress, seeing his agency contract absolutely fascinated me!

Numerous awards were also on display, including a fairly banged up American Video Award for “Beat It” from 1983.

Countless Disney items were featured, most of them presented to the pop star from Disney themselves, including several animatronic window displays which were located at the entrance to Neverland’s movie theatre.

Also on display was a huge collection of the singer’s blinged out clothes;

and sparkly gloves;

including THE glove;

his wax figure from Madame Tussauds in London;

his household furniture, including China, silverware, and glasses;

hundreds upon hundreds of statuaries;

a huge collection of cars, including three limousines, a Neverland Ranch firetruck, and several mini-cars that look like they might have once been part of a Disneyland ride;

and his tour bus complete with a ginormous plasma TV and a huge marble bathroom with a bidet.

But my absolute favorite part of the exhibit was the large stage set up in the main room that featured a huge movie screen that played the Michael Jackson: Live In Bucharest DVD on loop. It was amazing to be walking around what basically amounts to a replica of Neverland Ranch while listening to music from the pop star himself. My dad pretty much stood mesmerized watching that DVD for a good 45 minutes. 🙂

And, of course, I just had to do the Thriller dance. 🙂

I cannot recommend stalking the Michael Jackson exhibit enough!! If you are at all a fan of the pop star, or are enthralled with celebrity in general, you MUST stalk the exhibit. It was an AMAZING experience for me – a once in a lifetime, really – and I can’t even believe I got to see it all with my own two eyes. BIG THANK YOU to Amanda for letting me know about the auction!!!!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: You can visit the Michael Jackson Exhibit by Julien’s Auctions through this Saturday, April 25th in the old Robinsons-May building, which is located at 9900 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills, directly next door to the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The exhibit is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission is $20 per person. Parking is $10. I’d allow yourself a minimum of two hours to see the exhibit. Ladies, if you carry expensive purses, I suggest you leave them at home as you will have to check all bags at the door. Cameras, however, are welcomed and encouraged! 🙂 You can visit the Michael Jackson Exhibit website, where you can watch videos about the exhibition and browse through the five auction catalogs, here.

October 30, 2008September 29, 2017

Michael Jackson’s Thriller Zombie Dance Location

Last week, while cyber-stalking the theatre used in Michael Jackson’s Thriller , I read that the final dance sequence in the video was filmed on a street in Los Angeles named Union Pacific Avenue. So, of course, I immediately called up Mike from MovieShotsLA to let him know. Unfortunately, Union Pacific Avenue is a very long street and the two of us had no idea where the exact spot was that Thriller was filmed. But, as usual, Mike worked his magic and within about ten minutes he had found it! He is so my hero!! So, with only two days left to go of my Haunted Hollywood theme, this morning I dragged my dad out to Union Pacific Avenue to do some Thriller stalking.

I was EXTREMELY excited to see that the street looks EXACTLY the same today as it did back in 1983 when Thriller was filmed! The wall that MJ and his fellow zombies dance in front of is still standing and looks just the same as it did in the Thriller days. In fact it was that wall that Mike used to figure out the location of the filming. Using Google Maps Street View, he went up and down Union Pacific Avenue on his computer looking for the wall, hoping it was still standing. And it was! I am absolutely amazed (and thrilled!) that the wall is still there for us stalkers to appreaciate all these years later.

It also looks like the very same company that inhabited the building where the dance sequence took place twenty five years ago, is still, in fact, stationed there. As you can see in the above screen captures, the company signage is still in the exact same spot and looks pretty much identical to how it did in the video. 🙂 I can’t tell you how excited I was to be standing in the exact spot where MJ danced twenty-five years ago! There were a few workers standing around eating breakfast at a food truck while my dad and I were taking pictures and they thought we were absolutely crazy! They were looking at me while I was doing my Thriller poses as if I was stark raving mad. LOL Love it!

Had to do it! 🙂

You can watch the Thriller video here. On a side note, this year is the 25th Anniversary of Thriller and Michael Jackson released a 25th Anniversary Special Edition Album for the occasion. How did I not know about this???? I mean Thriller is my favorite album of all time! The Anniversary Edition contains seven bonus tracks with special guest artists including Fergie and Kanye West, a promotional booklet, and a DVD of music videos including Michael Jackson’s legendary “Billie Jean” performance at the Motown 25 television special.

Big THANKS as always to Mike for finding this location – just in time for Halloween, too! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Thriller main dance sequence location can be stalked at 3701 East Union Pacific Avenue in Los Angeles, just outside the City of Commerce. The area is highly industrial and not in the safest part of town, so please exercise caution – especially if you visit it at night.

October 22, 2008September 29, 2017

The Thriller Movie Theatre

Michael Jackson’s Thriller is, in my humble opinion, the best music video ever created. And ever since seeing the Thriller dance scene from 13 Going On 30 (which has to be one of my favorite movie scenes of all time) I have loved nothing more than to bust out the Thriller dance at parties! 🙂 I so want to someday do the Thriller Dance at my wedding, but unfortunately I know there is NO way in hell my boyfriend would agree to that! But since my dad did volunteer to play the Michael Jackson role if I do decide to “rock my reception”, there’s still hope. 🙂 I’m pretty sure he’d even wear the red jacket. 🙂

So when I found out that the movie theater used in Thriller is located in Downtown Los Angeles, I just had to drag my dad out to stalk it. The theatre is named the Palace and it was designed by G. Albert Landsburgh in 1911 for the Orpheum Vaudeville Circuit company. The theater was originally named “The Orpheum”, but when a new, and larger, Orpheum theater was built on the same street in 1926, the original Orpheum’s name was changed to the Palace. The Palace is the oldest remaining Orpheum theater still standing in the United States. Numerous celebrities have performed at the Palace in the past, including Harry Houdini, Bob Hope, the Marx Brothers, W.C. Fields, and Will Rogers. After the decline of Vaudeville, the Palace was turned into a regular movie theater showing first run features. Sadly, though, the theater closed down in the mid 1990’s and is currently only used for special events and as a filming location. Besides Thriller, the Palace Theater was also used in the movie Dreamgirls. And, in an interesting bit of trivia, while the Palace was used for all of the exterior theatre scenes in Thriller, the interior scenes were actually filmed at the Rialto Theatre in South Pasadena.

I could not have been more excited to see this location in person, especially during the Halloween season. And, of course, I just had to bust out a little bit of the Thriller dance while there (which my dad captured in one of the above photos). The people standing outside the theater thought I was absolutely crazy, but that’s just because they didn’t realize that they were in the midst of a landmark filming location! How great would it be to rent this place out for a huge Halloween party – or a wedding reception! 🙂 Maybe someday!

You can watch the entire Thriller video here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Palace Theatre is located at 630 S. Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles.

November 21, 2007April 20, 2010

Never Never Land

Now, even though he has some issues – I do love me some MJ. So I was quite distressed to find out last weekend that MJ’s ranch, Neverland, is in a state of disarray and might be sold and torn down. I just happened to be spending a couple of days in Santa Barbara, so I figured I better go check the place out while I still had the chance. I dragged my poor boyfriend 45 miles north of SB to Santa Ynez to stalk at the famed gates of Neverland Ranch.

Even though it wasn’t the greatest stalking location and there wasn’t much to see – I was still pretty excited to be able to do the Thriller dance right on MJ’s property! 🙂

I thought for sure I’d get to see at least the very tip top of one of the roller coasters, or maybe the roof of the mansion, or at the very minimum the famous golden gates with “Neverland” written across them that the media always shows on newscasts about the pop star. Unfortunately, none of that can be seen from the street. All that is viewable to the public from Figueroa Mountain Road is a guard house and a simple wooden gate.

The guard house does look like it is straight out of Fantasyland, though – exactly like Snow White’s Castle, but with a Direct TV dish on the roof!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Neverland Ranch is located at 5225 Figueroa Mountain Road in Los Olivos, CA. It is waaaaaaaay out there in the middle of nowhere and I wouldn’t recommend driving all that way just to see a Disney-esque guard shack. I would suggest instead doing your stalking from home on this one- armed with your laptop and live local search – you get to see a lot more that way!