Movie Star Homes – Page 5

October 8, 2010October 7, 2010

The “Poison Ivy” Mansion

Back in early August, Drew Barrymore aficionado Ashley, from the Drewseum website, challenged me to find the large pink mansion belonging to the Cooper family – Sylvie (aka Sara Gilbert), Darryl (aka Tom Skerritt), and Georgie (aka Cheryl Ladd) – in the 1992 thriller Poison Ivy. But because I was just a few weeks away from my upcoming wedding at the time, I didn’t get a chance to do any research on it. Thankfully though, fellow stalker Terri stepped in and managed to track down the location for us! Terri had discovered a message board thread on the IMDB Poison Ivy page on which a commenter had stated that the Cooper mansion was located in a “section of Los Feliz called the Oaks”. She then used Google Street View and managed to track down the massively large residence, which amazingly enough looks very much the same today as it did back in 1992 when the movie was filmed! Thank you, Terri!

[ad]

In real life, the 13,000-square foot, 5 bedroom, 9 bathroom home, which sits on over a half acre of land, was first built in 1926 and, according to my buddy E.J. over at The MovielandDirectory, belonged to Geena Davis in the early 90s, although that is a claim that the Thelma & Louise actress denies. The Geena Davis rumor was actually featured in a small blurb in the September 1997 issue of Los Angeles Magazine, which states that the extensive property was purchased for $1.3 million in 1992 by the “Sav-On Trust” (believed to be created by Geena) and that an extensive remodel of the residence was subsequently begun. After the roof, windows, and doors had been removed from the estate, though, the remodel was abruptly stopped and the property left in ruins. At one point, squatters even moved into the residence, which is located in a very affluent neighborhood. Sav-On Trust sold the decrepit property to a new owner in 1995 for $1,050,000, with the trust actually carrying the majority of the loan. When the new buyer defaulted on his payments, the home went into foreclosure, with Geena still denying that she had anything to do with the property. Why she didn’t want to be associated with the home, I don’t know, but she doesn’t have much of a leg to stand on being that the trustee of the Sav-On Trust is none other than Greg Kress – Geena Davis’ business manager. Hmmmm. Anyway, the remodel on the property was finally completed in the late 1990s and the mansion is absolutely beautiful today. The home, which you can see some fabulous interior photographs of here, currently boasts a 1,000-bottle wine cellar, a private gym, a game room, an infinity pool, a movie theatre, TWO elevators, a cigar room, a grotto, a spa, a library, and striking views of Los Angeles. Talk about living the high life!

The Cooper mansion figured quite prominently in Poison Ivy and both the interior and the exterior of the property appeared in the flick.

The mansion’s garage area . . .

. . . and main balcony were also used repeatedly in the movie, although both look quite a bit different now. An addition to the house has since been added on to the garage area and a turret has been added next to the balcony.

The exterior stairwell that was formerly located next to the garage has also since been removed.

And the stairs that led to the front of the property in the movie have now been replaced by a sloping driveway. Even with all of those changes, though, the home still looks almost exactly the same today as it did in Poison Ivy. And I so love that it is still almost the same color pink!

Randomly enough, just a few days after stalking it, I spotted this very same location while watching the pilot episode of the new series Law & Order: Los Angeles. The residence showed up in the very beginning of the episode, which was titled “Hollywood”, as the burgled home of teenaged actor Colin Blakely (aka Travis Van Winkle) . Being that I had just stalked the place a few days beforehand, I literally just about fell over when I saw it.

Especially when I noticed the home’s real life address plaque pass by in the background of one of the scenes. So darn cool!

The real life interior of the estate was also used in the episode.

Big THANK YOU to Ashley, from the Drewseum website, for challenging me to find this location and to Terri for actually tracking it down! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Poison Ivy mansion is located at 2208 West Live Oak Drive in Los Feliz.

September 27, 2010September 24, 2010

Liberace’s Former Home

A couple of weeks ago, while doing some stalking in the Valley, I became a bit obsessed with locating the home where legendary pianist Liberace lived back in the 1950s. I first heard about this location, ironically enough, from comedian and Whose Line Is It Anyway? star Ryan Stiles, who also owned the property at one point in time. I got to know Ryan – and several other members of The Drew Carey Show cast and crew – after some extra work I did on the series in the summer of 2000. For about a year I would fairly regularly meet up with “the Drew Crew”, as I liked to call them, after the show taped every Tuesday night at the now-defunct Dalt’s Grill in Burbank. During one of those outings, Ryan mentioned that he lived in a Sherman Oaks-area home that had once belonged to Liberace and that the home had a piano-shaped swimming pool in the backyard, which I thought was just about the coolest thing ever! Being that that conversation took place almost a decade ago, though, I’m not quite sure what made me think of it two weeks ago, but for whatever reason, as my fiancé and I drove through the Valley my mind flashed on that piano-shaped pool and I immediately pulled out my blackberry and started cyberstalking the place. I fairly quickly stumbled upon this Los Angeles Times article from July of 2007 which listed the address of Liberace’s former house and immediately dragged my new husband right on over to stalk it.

Liberace himself designed the L-shaped house, which, of course, was decorated with a piano motif throughout, in 1953 and he and his mother, Francis, moved in that very same year. As his fame grew, fans would reportedly hop the fence into his backyard to catch a glimpse of the entertainer at home and the property was eventually deemed far too accessible for a man who was, at the time, the highest-paid entertainer in the entire world. Liberace moved out of the 4-bedroom, 4-bathroom, 3,907-square foot home sometime in or around 1958 and migrated to the Palm Springs area, while Francis stayed behind. Amazingly enough, the property still looks much the same today as it did when Liberace first built it over 57 years ago. So darn cool!

The residence made headlines in July of 1957, when Francis was attacked by two masked men while throwing away trash in the garage. At the time, Liberace was involved in a $20 million libel lawsuit against Confidential Magazine which had featured a recent cover story insinuating that the entertainer was gay. Liberace had given a deposition earlier that day and it is widely believed that the attack on his mother was a direct result of the lawsuit, although the perpetrators were never identified.

[ad]

Sadly, the piano-shaped pool that I had so loved hearing about from Ryan Stiles cannot be seen from the street. But thankfully it is visible via Bing’s aerial views and was also featured in a Life Magazine photoshoot from 1954. Oh, what I wouldn’t give to see that pool in person!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Liberace – and Ryan Stiles’ – former home is located at 15405 Valley Vista Boulevard in Sherman Oaks.

September 24, 2010September 23, 2010

Kristin Cavallari’s House from Season 6 of “The Hills”

Literally just around the corner from Philippe Chow, the restaurant that I blogged about on Tuesday where Brenda and Donna ate veal brains on Beverly Hills, 90210, is the home where Kristin Cavallari lived during Season 6 of fave show The Hills. I am embarrassed to say that I spent an exorbitant amount of time looking for this particular location and had absolutely no luck whatsoever in finding it. Thankfully though, fellow stalker Britney embarked on her own hunt to track it down and quickly stumbled upon this Shelterpop article which stated that Kristin’s home was formerly owned by “celebrity” hairstylist Eric Bilardi (apparently Eric has tressed everyone from Daryl Hannah to Jane Seymour). Britney then searched for information on Eric online, wound up finding some public records which listed his former address, and voila, it was the right place! Yay! So, after my father and I finished lunch at Philippe’s last Friday afternoon, we headed right on over to stalk Kristin’s former pad.

Unfortunately though, because the property is surrounded by extremely tall hedges and a very high fence, not a whole lot of it can be seen from the street.

Nor can much be seen from aerial views.

But that’s why God created real estate listings! Kristin’s Spanish-style home, which was originally built in the 1920s, was available for rent earlier this year at a rate of $5,750 per month. The property, which last sold in 2007 for $1.3 million, boasts two bedrooms, two bathrooms, 1,400-square feet of living space, a garden, hardwood flooring throughout, a covered patio, several fountains, and an outdoor fire pit.

The house first showed up in the second episode of The Hills’ sixth season, which was titled “Rumor Has It”, in which Kristin throws a little housewarming shindig for herself. I am fairly certain, though, that, like most of The Hills residences, Kristin never actually lived on the premises, but that it was used for filming purposes only. And from how it appears in the real estate photos, producers seem to have used all of the real life homeowner’s actual furnishings during filming –

– right down to the cups in the kitchen cupboards . . .

. . . and the cushions on the living room couch. You can check out more photos of the house on the Shelterpop website here.

Ironically enough, the finale scene, in which Kristin walks out of her house and says a tearful good-bye to both Los Angeles and Brody Jenner, was not actually filmed in front of the property, as it was made to appear. And unfortunately I have not yet been able to discern exactly where that scene was shot. Ideas, anyone?

Big THANK YOU to Britney for finding this location! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Kristin Cavallari’s house from Season 6 of The Hills is located at 819 North La Jolla Avenue in West Hollywood. Philippe Chow, the restaurant where Brenda and Donna ate veal brains on Beverly Hills, 90210, is located just a half a mile south at 8284 Melrose Avenue, also in West Hollywood.

August 30, 2010August 30, 2010

Drew Barrymore’s Childhood Home

A few weeks ago, Drew Barrymore aficionado Ashley, from The Drewseum website, asked me and fellow stalker Owen for some help in tracking down the home where the young E.T. star lived from 1984 through 1988. Over the years, Ashley had accumulated a few clues as to the property’s location, mostly from Drew’s autobiography Little Girl Lost, which was published in 1990. In the book, co-author Todd Gold describes the house as “a lovely two-bedroom ranch-style home in Sherman Oaks, a comfortable upper-class neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley”. With that vague bit of information, Ashley tried to track down the residence’s location, but didn’t have much success. Then a few weeks ago, while looking at the Drew Barrymore Brasil fansite, she happened upon the above photograph of Drew from a 1987 photo shoot in which the then 12-year old actress was photographed while standing in front of her home. And, lo and behold, an address number (4002) was visible! YAY! I just have to say here that I would absolutely die if I ever came across a photograph of my girl Jen A. standing in front of her childhood home. What I wouldn’t give to be able to stalk that residence! Anyway, armed with an address number, a city, and a picture of the front of the house, Owen set about tracking down the residence using aerial maps and Google Street View. And, amazingly enough, about ten minutes later he had an address for us. As it turns out, Drew’s former dwelling is not actually located in Sherman Oaks as author Todd Gold had described, but in the neighboring suburb of Studio City. In Todd’s defense though, the house is located right on the border of Sherman Oaks and Studio City and, for whatever reason, city boundary lines quite often get blurred in that area.

[ad]

Once Owen told me the address, I immediately dragged the Grim Cheaper – and both of my parents, for that matter – out to stalk the property. And I am VERY happy to report that it still looks much the same today, over 23 years later!, as it did in the photograph from Drew’s photo shoot.

Sadly, though, quite a bit of foliage has grown since the days when Drew called the place home, so I wasn’t able to take a picture that exactly matched Drew’s childhood photograph. The one pictured above was my best effort.

As you can see in the above photographs, though, several aspects of the house match up to Drew’s childhood picture, including the white door located next to the garage, the brick front stairwell, and the popped-out picture window located next to the front door. I was so hoping that the 4002 address post would still be standing at the front of the house, but alas that was not to be.

You can also see in the above aerial views that both the shape of the home’s pool and the shape of its deck area match the pictures taken during Drew’s 1987 photo shoot perfectly.

Drew’s former home is surprisingly normal-looking, especially considering that the E.T. phenomenon was living there during the height of her childhood fame. Of the home, Todd Gold says, “Compared to the West Hollywood bungalow they left behind, the move marked a significant leap up the economic ladder. Not that the Barrymores were rich. Not even close. But they were comfortable, and for the first time they were no longer encumbered by the constant worry of making ends meet each month”. The home, which was built in 1951, boasts two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and 1,763 square feet of living space. Drew’s mom, Jaid, sold the house in the summer of 1988 in order to move into a smaller condominium which was easier to maintain being that Drew was spending the majority of her time on location filming movies.

The above photographs were also taken at the star’s former home at what I’m guessing was around the year 1985.

On a side note – I just finished reading Little Girl Lost, Drew’s autobiography which she wrote in the winter of 1988 at the tender age of 14. For those who have yet to read the memoir, I highly recommend it! Drew’s story is absolutely heartbreaking at times, but it is also incredibly empowering and uplifting. I have always liked the actress, but I have such a massive amount of respect for her now after reading her story. It is absolutely mindboggling to me that she hit rock bottom at such a young age and then was able to somehow pull herself together after experiencing such a tumultuous childhood. She truly is an amazing person.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Owen for finding this location and to fellow stalker Ashley, from the Drewseum website, for challenging him to do so!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Drew Barrymore’s childhood home is located at 4002 Ethel Avenue in Studio City.

June 29, 2010June 28, 2010

Michael J. Fox’s Childhood Home

My good friend – and fellow stalker – Owen is an absolutely huge and longtime fan of actor Michael J. Fox. In fact, I think it’s safe to say that MJF is Owen’s Jennifer Aniston. So, when I found out that the Canadian-born actor grew up in Burnaby, British Columbia, the very same Vancouver suburb where my man Michael Buble also spent his formative years, I just about died and decided I had to try to track down his childhood home before my trip up to the Pacific Northwest. I immediately emailed Owen and asked him to skim through Michael J. Fox’s autobiography, Lucky Man: A Memoir, which I knew he had a copy of, to see if the actor gave any clues as to where his former abode was located. And, sure enough, he did! I should mention here that celebrity autobiographies and biographies are FABULOUS stalking tools as they almost always dole out the addresses of otherwise unknown stalking locations, but I digress. Anyway, Owen got right down to scanning through the book, which was first published in 2002, and quickly sent me back an email. As it turns out, while MJF didn’t actually disclose the exact location of his childhood abode, he did write a detailed enough description of it that Owen was able to track it down. YAY! Thank you, Owen!

[ad]

In his autobiography, Michael J. Fox mentions that during the 1970’s he lived on the second floor of a three-story walk-up building named the Middlegate Apartments, which were located across the street from a “sprawling strip mall with an enormous parking lot perfect for endless hours of street hockey”. And while Googling the terms “Middlegate Apartments” got him nowhere, thanks to this Google Maps posting Owen was able to track down the location of the now-defunct strip mall with the large parking lot where MJF used to play. That strip mall was known as the Middlegate Shopping Centre and it was demolished in 2004 in order to make room for a new, more upscale complex named Highgate Mall. Once Owen had tracked down the former Middlegate Center’s address, it was simply a matter of using aerial maps to see if there was a three-story apartment building located across the street from it. And, sure enough, there was!

As a matter of fact, there were two! And while Owen and I were unable to discern which one of the the two very similar-looking, U-shaped buildings MJF used to call home, after visiting the place in person last month, I can say with 99.9% certainty that it was the one denoted with the blue arrow in the above aerial view.

Michael first moved into the Middlegate Apartments in 1971, at the tender age of ten, following his father’s retirement from the Canadian Army Signal Corps. According to the book, MJF spent quite a bit of time in the building’s “large, if indifferently maintained, outdoor swimming pool”, which, as you can see in the above photograph, has since been filled in with cement. It is because of that now-filled-in pool that I believe Michael lived in the eastern-most of the two buildings. While looking at the location using aerial maps, I had assumed that the two neighboring buildings were part of the same apartment complex, but after seeing the place in person, I now believe that they are actually two separate properties. And since the western-most building does not have a pool, nor does it look like it ever did, I am fairly certain that Michael J. Fox lived in the building located on the east. According to the book, Michael lived at the Middlegate Apartments until 1979 – the year he migrated south to Los Angeles in order to pursue a career in acting. And thank goodness he did, too, because just three short years later he was cast as one of the most iconic characters in television history – Alex P. Keaton on Family Ties.

Sadly, I can’t really recommend stalking MJF’s former building, as it is a fairly depressing place, although I don’t believe it was that way forty years ago when Michael lived there. Today, the building is extremely run-down and has a very bleak air about it. As you can see in the above photograph, even the word “middle” is misspelled on the awing above the front door. I don’t even know what to make of that!!! (At least I think it’s misspelled, being that I’ve never heard of the word “midle”.) And while my original plan was to knock on the manager’s door to see if he or she might know the exact unit where MJF used to live, the place gave off such an unfriendly vibe (I could even hear some tenants yelling at each other through one of the apartment windows) that I decided to abort my mission. Such a bummer, too, as I had so wanted to track down and snap a picture of MJF’s former front door for Owen. 🙁 Note to any celebrities who are currently penning an autobiography – please take a page out of Carol Burnett’s book (pardon the pun) and publish the exact location of your childhood home – including any apartment numbers, if need be! Hmph! Do I honestly have to think of everything? 😉

Big THANK YOU to Owen for finding this location! 🙂

Stalk It: The Middle Gate Apartments, where Michael J. Fox grew up, are located at 6961 Collier Street in Burnaby, British Columbia.

March 22, 2010March 21, 2010

Marilyn Monroe’s Former Doheny Drive Apartment Building

Another day, another Marilyn Monroe location. 🙂 Last month, fellow stalker and major Drew Barrymore aficionado Ashley, from The Drewseum website, tipped me off to The Marilyn Monroe Collection Blog which had just published a post about an apartment building where my girl had lived at two separate times during the 1950s and 1960s. Amazingly enough, for whatever reason, I had never heard of that particular apartment building in relation to Marilyn Monroe before and I immediately added the address to my list of must-see locations! So, while were out in Hollywood doing some Oscar Weekend stalking earlier this month, I finally dragged my fiancé right over to Doheny Drive in Beverly Hills to stalk Marilyn’s former residence. YAY!

I was especially excited to stalk this particular former residence of Marilyn’s because The Marilyn Monroe Collection Blog had posted a photograph of the actress which had been taken while she was parked in front of the building! So darn cool! As you can see in the photographs above, while there have definitely been some changes to the property since the picture of MM was taken – including the addition of garage doors and the removal of the vent-like structures above the carport area – the building is still very recognizable from the time when the actress lived there. Love it!

Marilyn first moved into the Doheny Drive apartment building, which had been constructed just one year prior, in 1953 and lived there for about a year before marrying baseball legend Joe DiMaggio on January 14, 1954. The actress, who was already wildly popular at the time thanks to starring roles in both Niagara and Gentleman Prefer Blonds, lived in Unit #3 of the building, a one bedroom, one bathroom dwelling which measured a scant 648 square feet! It is incredibly hard to imagine one of the world’s most popular movie stars living in such tiny digs, but she must have liked the place because in April of 1961, after her divorce from playwright Arthur Miller was finalized, the actress left New York and once again leased the very same unit in the very same building. She stayed there until March of 1962, at which point she moved into the Brentwood area home she had purchased a few months prior, the same home in which she would sadly pass away on the night of August 4th, 1962 (or in the early morning hours of August 5th, 1962, depending on which report you believe). Marilyn’s former apartment building is now a made up of individually owned condominium units.

[ad]

According to my buddy E.J. over at The Movieland Directory, Marilyn’s former building, the front entrance of which is pictured above, is no stranger to celebrity. Other stars who have lived on the premises include actor James Coburn, pinup girl Jeanne Carmen, French actress Bella Darvi, and actress Viola Mertz.

Big THANK YOU to Ashley from The Drewseum for tipping me off to this location! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Marilyn Monroe’s former apartment building is located at 882 North Doheny Drive in Beverly Hills. The actress lived in unit #3.

March 5, 2010March 4, 2010

Sierra Towers – Brody Jenner’s Building on “The Hills”

A few weeks ago, while out doing some stalking with my fiancé in West Hollywood, I made a little pit stop at the place where Brody Jenner is shown to reside on fave reality show The Hills, a West Hollywood building which is known as the Sierra Towers. I found this location once again thanks to fellow stalker Virginie who, being that she also managed to track down Spencer and Heidi’s new house and Kristin Cavallari’s beach abode, has proven to possess some absolutely mad Hills stalking skills! My hat is most definitely off to you, Virginie! 🙂 As us die hard Hills stalkers are well aware of, though, MTV has been known to pull the wool over its viewers eyes when it comes to the various cast residences shown on the series. So, while the Sierra Towers building is definitely the place shown for the establishing shots of Brody’s residence on The Hills, I can’t say for certain that the reality star actually lives there. According to this Los Angeles Times article, in March of 2007 Brody leased an apartment in the Villa Malibu complex in Malibu, so its quite possible he may still live there. But regardless of whether Mr. Jenner is a resident of Sierra Towers or not almost seems to be entirely beside the point, since the building’s registry reads like a who’s who of Hollywood. Pretty much anyone who’s anyone in this town has called the place home at one time or another.

[ad]

The 32-story Sierra Towers, which was built in 1964 by architect Jack A. Charney, originally consisted of apartments and was called the Spoon Apartment Building. The complex was converted into condominium units at some point thereafter – I am unsure of the exact date – and, due to its exclusivity, proximity to Hollywood, and many upscale amenities, became an almost immediate celebrity magnet. In fact, so many notables currently live in the building that paparazzi are pretty much a constant presence there. In recent years, the Sierra Towers has been given a new hipster image thanks to a savvy real estate agent named Russ Filice. Just a few of the amenities that the building currently boasts include maids quarters, a ballroom, a catering kitchen, a gym and a spa with his and her locker rooms, a swimming pool, and a 24 hour support staff made up of porters, valets, doormen, and security guards. And I can personally attest to the fact that the Sierra Towers security is pretty darn tight, as they were keeping a VERY close eye on my fiancé and I while we were snapping pictures of the place from across the street. There are currently 148 separate units in the building, six to a floor, each of which features its own eight foot wide balcony, floor to ceiling windows, and sweeping views of the Los Angeles skyline.

As you can see from the above photographs which were taken from a lookout point on North Doheny Drive, Sierra Towers is the tallest building in its vicinity, so its views are pretty much unparalleled. Can you even imagine living in a place like that? Sigh!

The exterior of the Sierra Towers building pops up pretty much weekly on The Hills,

but if you compare the interior of Brody’s apartment, which is shown above, to these photographs of a real life Sierra Towers unit, the two don’t seem to match. From what I’ve been able to discern by looking at photographs of various Sierra Towers units online, most of the condos boast floor to ceiling glass walls, a feature which Brody’s apartment doesn’t seem to have. So, I am fairly certain that the interior shots of his residence were filmed at another location altogether. Besides The Hills, the Sierra Towers building has also appeared in several episodes of the reality show Million Dollar Listing.

And now on to the Sierra’s famous celebrity residents! 😉 Just a few of the notables who have called the building home over the years include Matthew Perry, Elton John (you can see pictures of his unit here), Kate Moss, Joan Collins, George Hamilton, David Janssen, Diahann Carroll, Nino Tempo, fashion designer Edith Flagg, Julian Burke, PJ Harvey, Peter Morton, Jim Morris, Rachel Zoe, Fred Durst, Evander Holyfield, David Geffen, Peter Lawford, Jack Webb, Lindsay Lohan, Vincent Gallo, Patty Duke, Rhonda Fleming, Donald Ayres, Michael Milken, Vickie Morgan, Sidney Poitier, Tawney Kitaen, Bill Shoemaker, and Cher. Phew! That’s quite a list! The building is so famous, in fact, that there is not only a Wikipedia page dedicated to it and its many famous residents, but a Facebook page, as well! And being that in 2006 Variety Magazine proclaimed the building to be one of the most expensive in all of Los Angeles, costing a whopping $2,000 per square foot, you pretty much have to be a celebrity to live there! You can see a more detailed list of the building’s residents, both past and present, on my good friend and fellow stalker E.J.’s website, The Movieland Directory.

Big THANK YOU to Virginie for finding this location! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Sierra Towers, aka Brody Jenner’s condo from The Hills, is located at 9255 Doheny Road in West Hollywood. You can visit the building’s website here.

March 3, 2010March 2, 2010

Shannen Doherty’s Former House

One of the first locations I ever stalked, long before I moved to the L.A. area, was the residence that Shannen Doherty called home during the height of her Beverly Hills, 90210 fame. I was on summer vacation in between my Junior and Senior years of college at the time and had flown down to Southern California for the weekend to visit my then-boyfriend and then-best friend, both of whom lived near Los Angeles. The three of us ended up spending one of the days I was in town stalking the Hollywood area, although this was long before I called my unique hobby “stalking”. Our first stalk that day just happened to be Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, a place which I had only ever visited once previously during my teenage years. I remember being absolutely ecstatic upon seeing the numerous handprints and footprints of the stars, especially those of Tom Cruise who I was in love with at the time. At some point during our Grauman’s stalk, I wandered into the theatre’s little gift shop and stumbled upon The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book – a stalking tome the likes of which I had never before seen. I was instantly enamored with the book and, despite being a starving college student at the time, immediately forked over the $16.95 to purchase the guide. The rest of our day in Hollywood was spent using the book to tour various filming locations and numerous homes of the rich and famous. And while my then-best friend, whom we’ll call Julie for the purposes of this post, refused to take me to the Walsh House – she said it was WAY TOO FAR for her to drive – she did agree to make a stop at Shannen Doherty’s former West Hollywood abode, which I could NOT have been more excited about. And, as fate would have it, when we pulled up to the residence a man happened to be standing on the front porch. Well, let me tell you, I immediately started screaming and begged Julie to pull over so that we could ask the man some questions about SD, but she had an absolute meltdown and flat out refused to stop! In fact, she didn’t even want me to take a picture of the residence and was screaming at me the entire time to put my camera away. The above photo is the only one I managed to snap during her little tantrum. I’m not sure what it was that Julie was so nervous about, being that Shando had moved out of the home about four years prior and I had only wanted to ask the new resident if he had ever met the star and if the stories about her being a bad girl were true. But, alas, that was not to be. I’m fairly certain it goes without saying that Julie and I are no longer friends. 😉

She did agree to drive a bit north of the house, though, so that I could snap another photograph of the residence from farther away. That’s me and my college boyfriend in the above pic, along with a very tiny, very blurred view of SD’s former house.

Anyway, the other day while doing some stalking in the West Hollywood area, I was reminded of my long past failed stalk of Shannen’s house and mentioned the story to my fiancé. He thought the whole thing was absolutely hilarious, especially when I showed him the photograph I had taken out of Julie’s car window, and it was then that I decided I just had to blog about the place. So, later that day I dragged him up Doheny Drive to re-stalk Shannen’s former residence and was quite to surprised to discover that the property had been altered since my last visit. Apparently, Shannen’s former home, which is currently for sale at the bargain price of $4,695,000, was given a recent facelift, both inside and out.

As you can see in the above photograph, though, the house still has that weird round sculpted adornment above the front door that it had when I first stalked the place back in 1998. The 3 story, 3 bedroom, 3.5 bathroom residence, which was built in 1967 and measures 3,699 square feet, boasts city and ocean views, a gourmet kitchen, a master suite with a fireplace and an infinity bathtub (although I must confess I don’t even know what the heck an “infinity bathtub” is), a pool, a waterfall, a spa, and an outdoor fireplace.

[ad]

This is the same house that Shannen not only famously trashed, but was evicted from in March of 1993. Supposedly the actress moved out of the property in the middle of the night after being served with an eviction notice while still owing $14,000 in back rent. Her landlord ended up filing a lawsuit against her claiming she caused $136,300 in damage to the property while living there. Included in that $136,000 was a reported $70,000 in structural damage that was also caused by the actress. How in the heck one tiny person – SD is reportedly 5’2” – can cause that much structural damage to a house I’ll never know, but I digress. Shannen’s former home had actually seen its fair share of notoriety long before the 90210 bad girl moved in, though. In the 70s, famous Hollywood Madame and longtime Heidi Fleiss mentor, Alex Adams, also lived at the property and even operated a brothel out of it for several years.

While doing research for this post, I managed to dig up the above black and white photograph of the interior of the house which was taken just around the time Shannen lived there and was featured in a February 24th, 1997 People Magazine article about the star. The color photograph pictured above was taken off of the home’s real estate website – which you can view here – and as you can see, despite the recent remodel, the beamed roof and fireplace area still look very much the same today as they did when Shannen called the place home. So darn cool!!! 🙂

And, of course, while we were stalking the place a couple of weeks ago, I just had to drag my fiancé up the hill to take a photograph of the house from the same spot where I had taken a picture of it all those years beforehand.

On a side note – Fellow stalker Erika recently met Shannen Doherty while dining at the Marmalade Cafe in the Malibu Lumber Yard. Because Erika is 100% on Team Brenda (YAY), she just had to ask Shannen if she’d be willing to snap a picture with her, to which the star happily obliged! See, I knew SD HAD to be nice! 🙂 Oh, what I wouldn’t give to have my photo taken with Shannen Doherty!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Shannen Doherty’s former house is located at 1654 North Doheny Drive in West Hollywood.

March 1, 2010February 28, 2010

Kristin Cavallari’s Beach House from “The Hills”

Just down the street from Jennifer Aniston’s former beach house, which I blogged about on Friday, is the residence that Kristin Cavallari called home during this past season of fave reality show The Hills. So, since we were already in the area a couple of weeks ago, I just had to drag fellow stalker Mike, from MovieShotsLA – who I am sad to say is not at all a fan of the MTV show – over to stalk the place. I found this location thanks to fellow stalker Virginie who posted Kristin’s former address in the comments section of my site way back in October of last year and it’s been high up on my “To-Stalk” list ever since. Thank you, Virginie! Unfortunately, though, since I so rarely get out to the ‘Bu, I had yet to stalk the residence. And while I realize that The Hills ended its current season over two and a half months ago and that I am just slightly late to the game on this one, as I always say, it’s far better to be late than never. 🙂

The four bedroom, four bath beach house pictured above, which was built in 1969 and measures 2,972 square feet, first showed up when Kristin Cavallari joined the cast of The Hills in the Season Five episode entitled “It’s On Bitch”. But she didn’t stay there long. The Laguna Beach alum moved out of this location just ten episodes later, on the show’s season finale which was entitled “Boys of the Summer”. I am fairly certain that Kristin never actually rented this house, though, and quite possibly never even truly lived there, but that the property was leased by MTV solely for filming purposes.

And quite a bit of filming did actually take place on location at the residence. In fact, the house showed up in all ten episodes which featured Kristin during Season Five. The back side of the property was the area most often featured on the show . . .

[ad]

. . . and was the site of Kristin’s many beach parties and get-togethers. Oh, how I wish I had stalked this place back when The Hills was still filming so that I could have seen her little tiki bar and patio furniture in person. Sadly, all of the outdoor decor that appeared on the show has long since been removed.

And, of course, I just had to get a picture of the house’s back stairwell, which appeared numerous times on the show. I so wanted to pose for a picture while standing on the stairs, too, but being that someone was inside the property while we were stalking the place, I didn’t think that would be a very smart move. 😉

The inside of the home was also featured numerous times on the show and while I have to say that the residence’s interior is absolutely GORGEOUS, it doesn’t, in my opinion at least, really match up to the exterior, which seems to be a bit dated and weathered.

For whatever reason, the front entrance to the house was only ever shown once on The Hills, at the very beginning of the “It’s On Bitch” episode, in the scene in which Kristin is shown getting into her car and driving off on Pacific Coast Highway on her way to make an appearance at Spencer and Heidi’s “Welcome Home” party.

Amazingly enough, while doing research for this post I discovered that appearing on The Hills isn’t the home’s only claim to fame. The property actually has a long and storied Hollywood history. According to this article, in the early ‘80s the beach pad belonged to music executive Jerry Goldstein. In the ‘90s, it was purchased by another music man, record promoter and Giant Records president Charlie Minor. Sadly, on March 19, 1995, Minor, who had worked with both Sting and Janet Jackson during the course of his highly successful career, was murdered in the house by a former girlfriend named Suzette McClure who shot him nine times after catching him in bed with another woman. But the house’s notoriety doesn’t end there, for it was also used as one of the locations of the Silver Spoon Beach House – the notorious party pad where throngs of young Hollywood stars would hang out during the summer months. Just a few of the celebs who were seen there include Lindsay Lohan, Ali Landry, The Real Housewives of Orange County’s Slade Smiley (Ugh, gag me!) and Gretchen Rossi, Brody Jenner, and ironically enough, even Kristin Cavallari, who not only partied at the house, but also once did a photo shoot there.

A big THANK YOU to Virginie for finding this location! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Kristin Cavallari’s beach house from The Hills is located at 22058 Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. Jennifer Aniston’s former Malibu home is located just a few houses east of Kristin’s at 22164 Pacific Coast Highway.

February 26, 2010June 16, 2011

Jennifer Aniston’s Former Beach House

While out stalking the ‘Bu with Mike, from MovieShotsLA, a couple of weeks ago, I just about had a complete heart attack as the two of us passed by my girl Jen Aniston’s former beach house and I noticed that the door to the front gate was standing WIDE OPEN! Let me tell you, I must have screamed for a good sixty seconds over that one! Once Mike regained his hearing ;), he made an immediate U-turn across Pacific Coast Highway so that the two of us could head over to the house to get a peek behind the gates. I’ve actually stalked Jen’s former Malibu bungalow a few times in the past – and have even blogged about it once before – but being that this was the first time I was catching a glimpse of her front courtyard area, I figured the place was worth a re-post. And let me tell you, I was pretty much dying the whole time I was there. I mean never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I’d get to see past that front gate!

As we walked up to the house we noticed some workers standing out front, so I, of course, struck up a conversation with them. The workers told us that they were doing some landscaping in the front courtyard area of the residence, which is why the gate was open. When I asked one of them if he knew that Jennifer Aniston used to live on the property, he looked at me like he had absolutely no idea who Jennifer Aniston even was. LOL

I didn’t want to overstep my bounds or get the landscapers in any sort of trouble while I was stalking the place, so I stayed on the sidewalk area while taking the above pictures, but believe me I was absolutely dying to venture in for a closer look!

I did manage to catch a glimpse of the glass front door, though, which you can just barely see in the above pictures.

While there, I was so focused on seeing Jen’s former courtyard area that I didn’t even realize the garage door to the house was open. It wasn’t until Mike elbowed me and whispered really loudly in my ear, “GET A PICTURE OF THE GARAGE! GET A PICTURE OF THE GARAGE! That’s where Jen did her laundry!” that I even noticed it. LOL I so wanted Mike to ask the landscaping guys if we could peek inside the house, but he refused as he felt like that would definitely be crossing a line. And I have to admit I agree with him – which is why I didn’t want to ask the workers myself. 😉 But, oh, what I wouldn’t give to see the inside of that house!

[ad]

During the time Jen rented the home, the glass walls of the back patio area were actually covered over with some sort of black paneling which shielded the star from the prying eyes of not only the paparazzi, but stalkers such as myself. So, I was beyond floored when Mike and I traveled to the back side of the property and noticed that those panels were no longer there, which meant that Jen’s former “backyard” was visible. YAY! It’s actually very surprising to me that the notoriously press-shy Aniston ever lived in this house – especially during her divorce, when the media frenzy was at an all-time high – being that the public beach access walkway is located just a few feet to the east of the property. Because the area was so easily accessible, the paparazzi used to supposedly camp out night and day on the beach directly behind her house. Ugh!

Jen moved into her wood-shingled Malibu beach bungalow in early 2005, immediately following her separation from now ex-husband Brad Pitt. She leased the property, which is supposedly owned by Oracle C.E.O Larry Ellison, through the end of 2007 for a reported $30,000 a month. Despite the fact that it is located right on the sand, thisclose to the ocean, Jen’s former beach house is fairly modest by celebrity standards. The residence, which was built in 1945, boasts two bedrooms, three bathrooms, and measures a scant 1,531 square feet. And I have to say that I ABSOLUTELY LOVE the place. The house is incredibly charming and so very, for lack of a better word, cute and I would give anything to live in something similar. I am so enamored of the place in fact that I would consider it my dream pad, even if it hadn’t been previously lived in by Jen. 😉 The two-story bungalow is actually the place where the actress conducted her infamous first post-split interview which ran in the September 2005 issue of Vanity Fair magazine. According to several other interviews which also took place at the home, Jen decorated her bachelorette pad with mostly white furnishings adorned with white candles, white flowers, and quite a bit of Asian-inspired decor. She also reportedly kept a little vase filled with loose Merit brand cigarettes on an end table next to the couch for her guests to partake of. Apparently Jen remodeled the home a bit, even though it was a rental, before moving in. Vanity Fair author Leslie Bennetts says, “Although the bungalow was dark and depressing when she first saw it, a quickie makeover has transformed it into a cozy sanctuary that’s far more representative of Aniston’s personal taste than the showplace she and Pitt shared, where the decor seemed all hard edges and unforgiving materials.” Bennetts goes on to ask Jen what she likes best about being separated from Brad, to which the actress responds, “I can have a comfortable couch.” LOL

On a side note – Early last year fave website Big Time Listings reported on another (possible) former rental of Aniston’s in the Laurel Canyon area. And while Big Time Listings can’t actually verify that the actress ever lived in the home, according to the September 2009 issue of Elle Magazine, Jen did rent a house in Laurel Canyon during her pre-Friends days, so it’s a definite possibility.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Jennifer Aniston’s former beach rental is located at 22164 Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu.