Tag: movie filming locations

Mercedes’ Apartment Building from “Larry Crowne”

The only Larry Crowne filming location that fellow stalker Mike, from MovieShotsLA, did not track down was the mid-century-style apartment building where East Valley Community College professor Mercedes Tainot (aka Julia Roberts) – that’s “T-A-I-N-O-T, not Tae Bow, not Tai Chi, not Tie Knot” – lived with her philandering husband, Dean Tainot (aka Bryan Cranston). And I just have to say here that I absolutely LOVED the scene in which “professional blog writer” Dean, trying to defend the fact that he does not have an actual job, says to Mercedes, “I had four postings today alone! Blog-caster . . . Sky-scan . . . Parse-it-twelve.com . . . ”, to which she responds, “They are not postings, they’re comments!” Cracks me up every time! Anyway, although Mercedes’ apartment building looks very much like a San-Fernando-Valley-area structure, I had an inkling that it might actually be located in Pasadena and, sure enough, it was! A quick input of the terms “Larry Crowne”, “filming” and “Pasadena” led me to this link on the Before the Trailer website, which stated that the flick had done some shooting at 325 South Orange Grove Boulevard on May 25th of last year. So I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out there to stalk the place this past weekend.

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Mercedes and Dean’s apartment building showed up numerous times throughout Larry Crowne and, because I just really liked the look of the place, I had been absolutely desperate to stalk it.

And I am very happy to report that it did not disappoint – the complex looks EXACTLY the same in person as it did onscreen! The portion of the building that appeared in Larry Crowne is not actually the structure’s main entrance on Orange Grove Boulevard, but a side entrance located just around the corner on Arbor Street.

Which is the same area where Dean was dropped off by a taxi cab after spending the night in jail.

While we were stalking the place, we happened to speak with some residents of the building who honestly could NOT have been nicer. They not only answered all of my silly little questions about the filming and told me that Tom Hanks had been extremely nice and that the shoot, which took one day to complete, was an incredibly fun experience, but they also pointed me in the exact direction of Mercedes’ apartment. Whoo-hoo!

So I, of course, just had to take a photograph in front of her door.

As you can see above, Mercedes’ apartment looks exactly the same in person as it did onscreen.

As does the neighbor’s apartment, which appeared in the background of the scene in which Larry Crowne (aka Tom Hanks) brought Mercedes home on his scooter.

Only the exterior of the apartment building was used in the filming. According to the Larry Crowne production notes, the interior of Mercedes and Dean’s (what they call) townhouse was just a set that was built inside of a soundstage at what I believe was Universal Studios. I am seriously in love with the Tainot’s kitchen, by the way. Sigh!

And I also so LOVE how the art department matched the interior detailing of the apartment to the real-life iron detailing of the building, as you can see above. Talk about attention to detail!

The actual unit where filming took place, Unit 325, which measures 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, and 1,396 square feet, was for sale recently. As you can see above, the interior looks nothing like the set that was created for the filming. You can check out the place’s real estate listing here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Mercedes’ apartment building from Larry Crowne is located at 325 South Orange Grove Boulevard in Pasadena. The side of the building that is shown in the movie can be found on Arbor Street, just around the corner from the main entrance.

January 11, 2012
Charles W. Eliot Middle School from “The Mentalist”

Located directly across the street from the Larry Crowne apartment building in Altadena, which I blogged about last Friday, is Charles W. Eliot (not Elliot) Middle School – a very unique and arresting structure that looms over the neighborhood thanks to its large fortress-like bell tower. My veterinarian is located just up the street from Eliot and I had driven by the school countless times during my ten-plus years of living in Pasadena, and whenever my mom happened to be with me, she would comment, “That school is just so picturesque! I can guarantee you that it has been in a movie!” Well, as it turns out, she was right! I never did much research on the place, though, or even thought to stalk it, until January of 2010 when it popped up in the Season 2 episode of The Mentalist titled “Rose-Colored Glasses”, at which point I recognized it immediately. So, two weekends ago, after stalking the Larry Crowne apartment building, I dragged the Grim Cheaper across the street (and I say “drag” because even though it was located less than 10 yards away from where we were then standing, he complained about having to walk over to it) so that I could finally stalk the place.

Charles W. Eliot Middle School was originally founded in 1931 and, at the time, was known as Eliot Junior High School. It was named in honor of Charles William Eliot – a professor who, with a term of 40 years, became Harvard University’s longest-running president and transformed the institution into a premiere research college. Surprisingly, even though Eliot Middle School is extremely unique, I could find no information whatsoever about its architecture or its history. Hmph! I was able to dig up the names of a couple of the school’s famous alumni, though. As it turns out, not only did actor Edward Furlong attend Charles W. Eliot Middle School, but, in an unfortunate twist, so did Sirhan Sirhan, the Jordanian nationalist who assassinated presidential hopeful Bobby Kennedy on June 6, 1968.

As you can see above, the most recognizable and striking aspect of Charles W. Elliot Middle School is its tower. It is that tower that has also captured the imagination of the many location scouts who have returned time and time again to film on the school grounds.

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In the “Rose-Colored Glasses” episode of The Mentalist, Charles W. Eliot Middle School stood in for the supposed Northern-California-area Rancho Rosa High School where Patrick Jane (aka Simon Baker) and the rest of the CBI team investigated the murder of a married couple which took place at a 15-year high school reunion. In the episode, several areas of the school were used, including the rear blacktop;

the gym;

and the boy’s locker room.

Fellow stalker Allyn let me know that Charles W. Eliot Middle School was also featured prominently in the 1998 flick Devil in the Flesh. In the movie, Eliot was the school where Debbie Strand (aka Rose McGowan) was transferred to after her mother and her mother’s boyfriend were killed in a fire.

The real life interior of the school was also used in the production.

In the 1998 film Apt Pupil, Charles W. Eliot Middle School stood in for Santa Donato, the high school attended by Todd Bowden (aka Brad Renfro). And yes, that is none other than Ross Gellar himself – aka Friends’ star David Schwimmer – pictured in the last screen capture above!

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that cutie Joshua Jackson, aka Dawson’s Creek’s Pacey Witter, had a minor role in the flick, as well. Sigh. Love him!

The school’s interior was also featured in Apt Pupil. And, in an odd twist, a lawsuit was actually filed against the filmmakers for a scene that took place on location in the Eliot Middle School locker room. Three teenaged extras hired to act in a shower scene alleged that director Bryan Singer had forced them to strip naked for the shoot against their will. The lawsuit was ultimately dropped due to insufficient evidence, but you can read more about it on the Entertainment Weekly website here.

The interior of Charles W. Eliot Middle School also stood in for the interior of Haddonfield Elementary, the school attended by a young Michael Meyers (aka Daeg Faerch), in the 2007 Rob Zombie-directed Halloween.

The school’s library was also used as the library of the fictional Haddonfield High School, where Michael Meyers spied on his younger sister, Laurie Strode (aka Scout Taylor-Compton).

And, according to a March 1987 Los Angeles Times article, Charles W. Eliot Middle School was also set to be used as a location in a low-budget movie titled Night School. Unfortunately though, I could find no such movie listed on IMDB, so I am guessing that it was not ever completed.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Charles W. Eliot Middle School, from the “Rose-Colored Glasses” episode of The Mentalist, is located at 2184 North Lake Avenue in Altadena. Please remember that this is an active learning institution and you should not trespass or visit the grounds during school hours. The Larry Crowne apartment building is located directly across the street from Eliot at 906 Boston Street in Altadena. And Thalia’s store from Larry Crowne is located at 2104 North Lake Avenue in Altadena.

January 9, 2012
The “Larry Crowne” Apartment Building

Two additional Larry Crowne filming locations that I stalked this past weekend were Talia’s, the vintage clothing store owned by Talia Francesco (aka the adorable Gugu Mbatha-Raw), and the apartment building where Larry Crowne (aka Tom Hanks) lived at the very end of the flick, both of which are housed inside of the same corner edifice in Altadena. I found this locale thanks to fellow stalker Mike, from MovieShotsLA, who, while doing some online research on the movie, came across an old listing on the Cazoodle Apartment website which not only announced that Tom Hanks’ Larry Crowne apartment was then available for rent, but also provided its exact location. Yay! So last Saturday afternoon, while doing some New Year’s Eve stalking, I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out there to stalk the place.

The non-descript two-story building shows up several times in Larry Crowne – first in the scene in which Talia, while driving around on her scooter, notices a “For Rent” sign in a vacant storefront window and stops to take a closer look.

It next appears in the scene in which Larry stops by Talia’s new store to reprimand her for dropping out of East Valley Community College. It is while there that he informs her that her new tattoo does not in fact spell out “courageous spirit” in Japanese as she had intended, but “soy sauce”. LOL

And finally, the building is featured in the ending scene in which Larry invites his former teacher Mercedes Tainot (aka Julia Roberts) to his new apartment for some homemade French toast. (If you’ll notice in the first screenshot pictured above, the apostrophe in the signage for Talia’s store is ostensibly missing. Larry was right – Talia definitely should have stayed in school. Then perhaps she would not have made such an egregious error. It looks like I need to submit this one to When Write is Wrong, my good friend Owen’s typos and grammatical errors blog.)

As you can see above, Talia’s store (or should I say Talias store? ) was dressed heavily for the filming of Larry Crowne and does not look at all in person as it did onscreen. The building was vacant during the time of the filming (and still is today), so producers were able to do with it what they wanted without having to disturb any operating businesses.

And although we are only given a brief view of the interior of the store through the front windows in the movie, I just had to snap some pics of it, nonetheless.

When I first watched Larry Crowne, I had assumed that the little courtyard area outside of Larry’s apartment had been a set due to the fact that it was so incredibly idyllic and picturesque. But I am very happy to report that the courtyard is, in fact, real!

Sadly though, as you can see above, the stairwell that leads to the second floor, where Larry’s courtyard is located, is gated and not accessible to the public. Boo! If only I had known about this place back when it was available for rent, I totally would have scheduled a viewing!

You can catch a minor glimpse of the courtyard if you venture across the street, though. According to the Cazoodle Apartment listing that Mike found, the 530-square-foot, 1-bedroom, 1-bath unit where Larry supposedly lived at the end of Larry Crowne was being offered for lease back in August of last year at a rate of $895 per month. And no, that was not a typo – the asking price was $895 per month for 530 square feet! Welcome to California. LOL

Pictured above are the photographs from that real estate listing and, as you can see, Larry’s apartment is pretty darn adorable.

In the movie, Larry’s address is noted as being 4225 Harbor #7.

And, as you can see above, producers even went so far as to change the address number plaque for the filming, so had the real estate listing not touted the apartment’s Larry Crowne connection, this would have been a very tough find! Nice work, Mike!

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On a Larry Crowne side-note – Back in June of last year, fave website AltadenaBlog posted a fabulous story about the filming, which you can read here. Apparently, during a break from the shoot, Tom Hanks wandered a few blocks up Lake Avenue to do some shopping at Webster’s Fine Stationers and not only posed for a picture with the owners, but also told them that he loved family-owned stationary stores. So incredibly cool! Especially since the GC and I had our own little run-in with Tom Hanks a few years back and let’s just say that he was less than friendly. Ah, let’s call a spade a spade here – the guy was a complete and total jerk and for a long while after that the GC refused to see any of his movies! But after reading the Webster’s Fine Stationers story on AltadenaBlog and after hearing how nice Tom was to Jose, the owner of Frank’s Restaurant where Larry Crowne filming also took place, it would seem that the actor has since changed his ways. One can hope, at least!

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Larry Crowne apartment building is located at 906 Boston Street in Altadena. Thalia’s store from the movie is located at 2104 North Lake Avenue in Altadena.

January 6, 2012
The Reno Main US Post Office from “Sister Act”

While visiting my grandmother in Sparks, Nevada over Christmas, I dragged her, along with my parents, out to stalk the Reno Main US Post Office, which masqueraded as the Reno Police Station in the 1992 movie Sister Act. I first found out about this location from fave book Shot on This Site: A Traveler’s Guide to the Places and Locations Used to Film Famous Movies and TV Shows (which was gifted to me by fellow stalker Lavonna ) while doing research on the area in preparation for my July trip out to the Silver State. For some reason, though, while I had managed to stalk the Washoe County Courthouse from The Misfits during my visit, I had somehow forgotten all about the post office – which is a pretty incredible feat being that the two buildings are located directly across the street from each other! As I have said countless times before on this blog, I am such a blonde! So during this recent visit, I made it a point to trek the family out to Downtown Reno once again so that I could finally do some Sister Act stalking.

The Reno Main US Post Office was originally constructed in 1932 by Frederic DeLongchamps, the prolific Nevada-area architect who also designed the Washoe Country Courthouse, the Riverside Hotel, and countless other noteworthy buildings across the Silver State. The structure was built on the site of what was formerly Reno’s very first public library. When the library was moved to a new location in 1931, DeLongchamps set to work on building the post office, which did not officially open for business until 1934. The Reno Main US Post Office, which also houses several Federal agency offices, is considered to be one of the finest examples of Zigzag Moderne architecture – a highly decorative style of Art Deco design that employs sunken vertical panel windows, flat roofs, geometric ornamentation, repetitive angular patterns, and astrological imagery – in all of Nevada. The structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 28th, 1990.

The interior of the Reno Main US Post Office is nothing short of breathtaking and not at all what I had been expecting when I first walked in. I mean, the Pasadena Post Office is quite beautiful as well, but nothing like this!

The detail in the design of the interior was absolutely astounding! There are ornate cast aluminum fixtures, like the one pictured above, fastened to the corner of every single marble tile which covers the lobby walls.

And each bank of mailboxes is adorned with an elaborately-carved border. Every time I turned around, I found myself discovering some new miniscule detail that I had not previously noticed. Simply amazing!

The original blue prints for the Reno Main US Post Office were even on display in the lobby, which I thought was so incredibly cool!

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The Reno Main US Post Office shows up twice in Sister Act. It first appears very briefly in the beginning of the movie, in the scene in which Deloris Van Cartier (aka Whoopi Goldberg) reports to the police that her boyfriend, Vince LaRocca (aka Harvey Keitel), has just killed his limo driver. According to the IMBD Sister Act trivia page, producers decided to film at the post office because they did not think that the actual Downtown Reno police station looked like a police station. LOL Ah, Hollywood!

The post office next shows up in the scene in which Vince leaves the police station with his lawyers after having been interrogated for six hours.

And while I had originally assumed that the interior of the Reno Main US Post Office had been used as the interior of the police station in Sister Act, as you can see above, that does not appear to have been the case. The interior does not look to have been a set, though, either, so I guess I am going to have to do a bit of digging to track down where filming actually took place.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Reno Main US Post Office, aka the police station from Sister Act, is located at 50 South Virginia Street in Reno, Nevada. The Washoe County Courthouse, from The Misfits, is located across the street at 117 South Virginia Street.

January 5, 2012
The Brass Monkey Bar from “Bad Santa”

Another Christmas-themed location that I stalked recently was the Brass Elephant bar – the Monrovia-area watering hole that stood in for the similarly-named “Brass Monkey” bar where Sue (aka Lauren Graham) worked in my least-favorite holiday movie of all time, 2003’s Bad Santa. Fellow stalker Chas, from the It’sFilmedThere website, had tracked down the establishment a while back and once I learned that it was located inside of the Aztec Hotel, an extremely unique structure that had intrigued me ever since I first moved to the San Gabriel Valley over eleven years ago, I decided that I just had to stalk the place. And this past Tuesday morning, I finally did just that.

The Aztec Hotel was originally built in 1925, on what was then the historic Route 66, by Robert Stacy-Judd, the English-born architect who also designed the Masonic Temple in North Hollywood, the First Baptist Church in Ventura, and the incredible Atwater Bungalows in Echo Park. The hotel was Stacy-Judd’s first commercial design job in the United States and he credited his inspiration for the project to John L. Stephen’s 1841 tome Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan. Although technically Mayan in design, the architect named the property the “Aztec Hotel” because, as he is quoted as saying in the 1993 book Robert Stacy-Judd: Maya Architecture and the Creation of a New Style, “When the hotel project was first announced, the word Maya was unknown to the layman. The subject of Maya culture was only of archaeological importance, and, at that, concerned but a few exponents. As the word Aztec was fairly well-known, I baptized the hotel with that name, although all the decorative motifs are Maya.”

And while the Aztec Hotel enjoyed immense success and was one of the most exclusive lodgings in the area for a brief period, it fell upon hard times due to both the Great Depression and the realignment of Route 66 and was forced to shutter its doors in 1935, less than a decade after opening. It was sold, by auction, shortly thereafter for $50,000. The new owners renovated the place and it once again became a popular retreat thanks to the proximity of the newly-opened Santa Anita Park race track. Such luminaries as Bing Crosby, Mickey Rooney, Clark Gable, and my girl Marilyn Monroe were all reportedly counted as guests at one time or another. Sadly though, the property fell, once again, into disrepair in the years following and served as everything from a drug den to a brothel. The 44-room, two-story hotel, which was named a National Historic Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was just recently purchased by new owners who have set about restoring the historic site to its former glory. Amazingly, numerous elements of Stacy-Judd’s original design remain in place to this day, including the tile floor in the lobby, ceiling light fixtures, stained glass windows, several murals, and a fireplace.

Sadly, the Brass Elephant bar, which is located just off of the Aztec Hotel’s lobby, was closed when I showed up to stalk it, but I did manage to snap the above pictures through an open window.

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In Bad Santa, the Brass Elephant stood in for the Brass Monkey – the supposed-Phoenix, Arizona-area mall bar where disgruntled Santa Willie (aka Billy Bob Thornton) first met bartender Sue. It popped up in two scenes in the movie – first in the scene in which Willie successfully hits on Sue before getting into a fist-fight with a fellow patron.

And later in the scene in which Gin (aka Bernie Mac) tries to blackmail Willie and his partner-in-crime, Marcus (aka Tony Cox). As you can see in the screen captures above, the Brass Elephant was dressed heavily for the filming, with special booths brought in, walls retouched, and bright lighting installed, and is virtually unrecognizable from its appearance onscreen.

Because the Brass Monkey was supposed to be located adjacent to a mall in Bad Santa, the real life exterior of the Aztec Hotel did not appear in the flick. A fake exterior for the bar was instead created at the Del Amo Fashion Center in Torrance, where the vast majority of the movie was lensed.

The Aztec Hotel was also featured extensively in the 2009 movie Spooner, as the place where Rose Conlin (aka the adorable Nora Zehetner), the object of Herman Spooner’s (aka the even more adorable Matthew Lillard’s) affection, stays for a few days after her car breaks down.

Quite a bit of the hotel appeared in the movie, including the front entrance;

the lobby;

several hallways;

the Aztec Barber Shop, which is an actual place;

one of (what I believe is) the hotel’s real life rooms;

and the Brass Elephant bar. And while I only scanned through Spooner in order to make screen captures for this post, I have to say that it looks like an incredibly cute movie that I definitely need to watch in its entirety in the very near future.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Chas, of the It’sFilmedThere website, for finding this location. You can check out Chas’ extensive Bad Santa filming locations page here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Brass Elephant, aka the Brass Monkey from Bad Santa, is located at 311 West Foothill Boulevard, inside of the Aztec Hotel, in Monrovia. You can visit the hotel’s official website here and you can visit the bar’s official Facebook page here.

December 23, 2011
Arthur Abbott’s House from “The Holiday”

Another location from the 2006 movie The Holiday that I set out to track down last week for my Christmas-themed stalking posts was the large Mediterranean-style abode where Arthur Abbott (aka The Misfits’ Eli Wallach) lived. Thanks to the flick’s production notes, I knew that the property was located somewhere in Brentwood and that it “reflected the glamour of old Hollywood”. So I spent quite a few fruitless hours searching aerial views of the area before coming up completely empty-handed. Enter Mike, from MovieShotsLA, who so graciously offered up his stalking services and spent almost the entire day scouring Brentwood streets looking for the house. And I am very happy to report that he did, indeed, find the place – without the help of a crew member or knowledge of an address number to guide him. Whoo-hoo! Thank you, Mike! So, I, of course, ran right out to stalk the residence this past weekend.

Amazingly enough, while we were stalking the place, not only was the front gate standing open, affording us a small peek at where filming of The Holiday had taken place, but two different super-nice neighbors also happened to walk by and informed us that the property has belonged to comedienne Phyllis Diller for over forty years now! How incredibly cool is that? And, in an ironic twist, fellow stalker E.J., of The Movieland Directory website, wrote to me yesterday morning after seeing my post on Miles’ house from The Holiday to let me know that he was fairly certain he knew where Arthur’s abode was located – he thought it might just be Phyllis Diller’s residence in Brentwood. As it turns out, E.J. has a good friend who formerly lived near Phyllis and when E.J. watched The Holiday for the first time over five years ago, he recognized the home immediately. As I responded in my email to him yesterday, “Where the heck were you last week when we were looking for the place???” LOL

In real life, Arthur Abbott’s home, which was originally built in 1914, boasts 8 bedrooms, 5 baths, 9,266 square feet of living space, and a 1.23-acre plot of land.

And, as you can see in the above aerial view, it also features an incredibly cool central courtyard that I am undeniably in love with!

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In The Holiday, Iris Simpkins (aka Kate Winslet) befriends Arthur Abbott, the elderly man who lives next door to the house where Iris is spending a two-week Christmas vacation thanks to a home swap with Amanda Woods (aka Cameron Diaz). (I blogged about Amanda’s residence way back in June of 2010.) As Iris soon discovers, Arthur is an accomplished Hollywood screenwriter and he winds up changing her life and infusing her with “gumption”, a trait that she had somehow lost along the way.

The neighbors that we spoke with also informed us that filming at the property took about three weeks to complete, which leads me to believe that the real life interior was used in the production.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Arthur Abbott’s house from The Holiday is located at 163 South Rockingham Avenue in Brentwood.

December 22, 2011
The Ohara House – aka Miles’ House from “The Holiday”

One location that my good friend/fellow stalker Lavonna suggested that I blog about during my Christmas-themed stalking week was the modernist abode where Miles (aka Jack Black) lived in the 2006 Nancy-Meyers-directed flick The Holiday. Ironically enough, just a few days after my conversation with Lavonna, my mom and I happened to catch The Holiday on TV and when a scene showing Miles’ residence popped up onscreen, she said, “Oh my gosh, what a cool house! Lindsay, you have got to find it!” Talk about synchronicity! So I started doing some research and quickly stumbled upon the flick’s production notes, which, amazingly enough, spelled out the property’s exact location. Whoo-hoo! I so love it when that happens! So I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out there to stalk the place this past weekend.

The Holiday’s incredibly informative production notes stated, “Miles’ house was designed by Richard Neutra, the Vienna-born master of Southern California modernism and is situated on Neutra Place in L.A.’s Silverlake [sic] area, near downtown.” As it turns out, in the 1950s and 60s, the legendary Neutra, who also designed the famous Kauffman house in Palm Springs which I blogged about last December, constructed ten residences on Silver Lake Boulevard and an adjoining cul-de-sac that is now known as Neutra Place. All ten dwellings were built in the Pavilion style – a design characterized by box-shapes, horizontal planes, open floor plans, and large plate glass windows. And towards the very end of that short Pavilion-home-lined cul-de-sac sits the property where Miles lived in The Holiday. In real life, it is known as the Ohara house and it was originally built in 1961 for June and Hitoshi Ohara and their two daughters. Sadly though, as you can see above, not much of it is visible from the street.

Because I was absolutely itching to see the property in person, I just had to climb up the front steps a tiny bit to catch a better peek. And I am very happy to report that the residence did not disappoint! As you can see above, it is absolutely spectacular in person! Even the Grim Cheaper, who is not fazed by much of anything, was impressed with it. In real life, the Ohara house boasts 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1,564 square feet of living space, and a .23-acre plot of land, and was last sold in December of 2003 for a cool $1.2 million.

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The exterior of Miles’ house showed up only once, and very briefly at that, in The Holiday. I absolutely LOVE how it appeared in the movie, with its expansive front yard and cantilevered roofline all lit up. Sigh! What I would not give to live in a house like that!

The interior of the property, which is also quite spectacular, was featured a few times in the movie, as well.

On a celebrity side-note – While out doing some Christmas shopping in Beverly Hills this past weekend, the GC and I stopped into Madame Chocolat, which I blogged about back in January of this year, and who should be there but Madame Chocolat herself, Hasty Torres. I had met Hasty once before at the shop and did not ask her for a photograph, which I have always regretted. Well, believe you me, I was not going to make the same mistake twice and I am very happy to report that Hasty seemed seriously flattered when I approached her and could not have been more excited to pose with me. Love it! For those not in the know, Hasty is the proprietor of the ever-popular Madame Chocolat and has appeared in such shows as The Girls Next Door and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Ohara house, aka Miles’ house from The Holiday, is located at 2210 Neutra Place in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles.

December 21, 2011
The “Bad Santa” House

A couple of weeks ago, my good friend/fellow stalker Lavonna suggested that I do a Christmas movie stalking theme during the entire month of December. I absolutely LOVED the idea, but, unfortunately, by that time it was too late for me to get enough locations together and actually stalk them prior to December 1st. I usually start preparing for my Haunted Hollywood posts in August of each year as it takes quite a bit of time to research and compile enough themed locations to fill a whole month. So, while next year one of my goals is to do both a Haunted Hollywood month and a Christmas month (fingers crossed that it will work out!), for this year I thought I would do a Christmas-themed week, instead. I hope that you enjoy it! So, while in the San Fernando Valley area two weekends ago, I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to stalk the house where “The Kid” aka Thurman Merman (aka Brett Kelly) lived in the absolutely HORRIBLE 2003 Christmas movie Bad Santa. Now you might be wondering why I would stalk a location from a movie that I thoroughly hated, but the sad truth is that when it comes to flicks of the holiday variety, very few were filmed in L.A. And being that fellow stalker Chas, of the It’sFilmedThere website, had already tracked the place down, it required no work on my part aside from driving out to stalk it. Beggars can’t be choosers, as they say.

As you can see above, the dwelling’s address number was changed from “7211” to “41” for the filming, but Chas was able to find the place thanks to a very helpful crew member.

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In Bad Santa, disgusting and disgruntled mall Santa Willie Stokes (aka Billie Bob Thornton) takes up residence with The Kid and Grandma (aka Cloris Leachman) because, as he tells them, “things are all f*cked up at the North Pole”. Now I have to say that that particular line did make me LOL, as did Willie’s line to his neighbor, “Well, you see, we don’t celebrate Christmas around here. We’re Muslims.” LOL LOL LOL Other than those two very brief moments, though, the movie is downright terrible!

I am very happy to report that, despite a change in the color of the garage and front doors, the Bad Santa house looks much the same in person as it did onscreen. In real life, the gargantuan abode, which was originally built in 1997, boasts 5 bedrooms, 5 baths and 4,100 square feet of living space.

As luck would have it, the Bad Santa home was listed for sale late last year and you know what that means, my fellow stalkers! Yessiree, we get to take a peek inside! I so love it when that happens! As you can see in the real estate listing, the actual interior of the home also appeared in the flick.

As well as the real life backyard and pool.

In an extremely random side-note – I have to ask, why in the heck was Leonardo DiCaprio given special thanks in the movie’s end credits?

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Lavonna for giving me the idea of doing a Christmas theme and to fellow stalker Chas, of the It’sFilmedThere website, for finding this location. You can check out Chas’ extensive Bad Santa filming locations page here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Bad Santa house is located at 7211 Whitehall Lane in West Hills.

December 19, 2011
David Santiago’s House from “Post Grad”

Unfortunately, this stalker is currently suffering from a bad cold (which, for some reason, always seems to happen to me right before the holidays) and thanks to the fact that I cannot breath out of my nose and have taken copious amounts of NyQuil, I am feeling just a wee bit out of it today. So I have to apologize if this particular post is somewhat off, but, regrettably, my head is somewhere in the clouds right now, instead of sitting on top of my shoulders in front of the computer screen where it should be. I will do my best to be coherent, though, so here goes. Located directly across the street from the house where Ryden Malby (aka Alexis Bledel) lived in Post Grad, which I blogged about yesterday, is the residence that belonged to her mysterious neighbor – zany, Brazilian infomercial director David Santiago (aka Love Actually’s/Lost’s Rodrigo Santoro). So I, of course, dropped by to stalk it while in the neighborhood last weekend.

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David’s one-story, stone-and-wood, ranch-style abode shows up numerous times throughout Post Grad. And oddly enough, while I actually think the exterior is quite similar in appearance to the Malby house, according to the Post Grad production notes David’s pad was supposed to represent a more “cosmopolitan” lifestyle, the very type of lifestyle that Ryden was seeking. In the notes, production designer Mark Hutman states, “The house we found for the Malbys is a single story, ranch-style house, which is very common in the Valley. It’s not new, but it’s not old either, it’s just somewhat non-descript. For David’s environment, we went very stylish and masculine. His house is more modern, with dark leather couches and a minimalist color palette. And he has a pool.”

As luck would have it, the real life owners of David’s house walked outside just as we showed up to stalk the place and they literally could not have been nicer! They spoke with us for quite a while and answered all of my silly little questions about the filming. Just a few of the tidbits they shared with us were that the shoot lasted just over three weeks and that a lot of filming did take place inside of their actual home.

As well as in their backyard and pool.

They also informed us that the production team replaced their entire back and side fence for the filming. And they mentioned that the experience was the most fun they had ever had in their entire lives. Um, you’re telling me! I think I would just about die if a movie set up shop in my apartment for over three weeks!

In real life, David’s house, which was built in 1960, measures 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, and 2,767 square feet. And I am very happy to report that it looks exactly the same in person as it did onscreen.

I was actually struck by how much it resembles the party house from fave movie Clueless, a location that has been the bane of my existence for years now as I just cannot seem to find it anywhere!!!! UGH! But I digress!

On a random side-note – while getting my hair blown out the other day, I was lucky enough to run into Summer Bishil, who plays Navid Shirazi’s (aka Michael Steger’s) sister Leila Shirazi on fave show 90210! Summer could NOT have been nicer and readily agreed to pose for a pic with me even though she had no make-up on and her hair had yet to be done. Love it! And when I told her that Matt Lanter was the love of my life, she said, “I think he’s pretty much the love of everyone’s life!” Love it even more!

On another side-note – I would like to wish my wonderful father a VERY happy 65th birthday today!! I love you so much, Dad!

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Chas, from the It’sFilmedThere website, for finding this location! You can check out Chas’ extensive Post Grad filming locations page here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: David Santiago’s house from Post Grad is located at 5901 Farralone Avenue in Woodland Hills. Ryden’s house from Post Grad is located directly across the street at at 22200 Tiara Street, also in Woodland Hills.

December 16, 2011
Ryden’s House from “Post Grad”

Another location that I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to stalk while in the San Fernando Valley area this past weekend was the ranch-style house where Ryden Malby (aka Alexis Bledel) and her extremely odd, but extremely loveable family – dad Walter (aka Michael Keaton), mom Carmella (aka Jane Lynch), brother Hunter (aka Bobby Coleman), and crazy Grandma Maureen (aka the always fabulous Carol Burnett) – lived in Post Grad. I saw the 2009 romantic comedy back when it first came out on DVD early last year and absolutely fell in love with it. So I, of course, immediately started attempting to track down all of its featured locations, especially the Malby residence, but I am sad to say that I was a complete and total failure at the endeavor. In my defense, though, it was not entirely my fault as the movie did somewhat lead me astray.

As you can see above, in one of Post Grad’s early scenes, Ryden is shown being dropped off by a taxi, on the door of which is written “North Hollywood Cab Co.”, so I made the incorrect assumption that the Malby residence was located in that area. And while I really should have known better, being that movies “cheat” that sort of thing all the time, the home just looked like a North-Hollywood-type residence to me. So I spent more than a few fruitless hours searching NoHo (as Angelinos are now referring to it) before calling off the hunt. Enter fellow stalker Chas, of the It’sFilmedThere website, who is pretty much the biggest Gilmore Girls/Alexis Bledel/Lauren Graham fan on the planet and who a few months later had begun his own trek to find the home. And find it, he did, thanks to a very helpful crew member. Once Chas told me of the location, I immediately added it to my “To-Stalk” list, but because I rarely get out to Woodland Hills, it took me quite a long time to actually visit the place.

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In Post Grad, after losing out on her book-publishing dream job, recent college graduate Ryden Malby is forced to return home to live with her parents in their quirky-looking abode.

I am very happy to report that the Post Grad house, which in real life measures 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, and 2,500 square feet, and was originally built in 1960, looks exactly the same in person as it did onscreen.

I was especially excited to see that the wooden wishing well that was situated in the home’s front yard in the movie was actually there in real life, as well. Love it!

Sadly, the little white fence that flanked the property’s front steps was not there, though.

I am fairly certain that the real life interior of the residence was also used in the filming, but I, unfortunately, could not find any photographs of the interior online with which to verify that hunch.

Big THANK YOU to Chas, from the It’sFilmedThere website, for finding this location. You can check out Chas’ extensive Post Grad filming locations page here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Ryden’s house from Post Grad is located at 22200 Tiara Street in Woodland Hills.

December 15, 2011