movies locations – IAMNOTASTALKER

March 30, 2012March 29, 2012

“The Bodyguard” Mansion – aka The Beverly House Compound

After the sad passing of singer Whitney Houston last month, I mentioned to fellow stalker Mike, from MovieShotsLA, that we should try to track down the mansion where one of Whitney’s most legendary characters, pop star Rachel Marron, lived in 1992’s The Bodyguard. For some very odd reason, I thought that the place had yet to be found, but Mike told me that way back in 2007 he had come across an article on fave website The Real Estalker about “The Beverly House Compound”, the most expensive home then for sale in the United States. In the comments section of the post, someone had reported that the very same mansion had been used as Rachel’s residence in The Bodyguard. How I had not previously come across that information in all my years of stalking is absolutely beyond me, especially considering that the location is one that I have long been itching to stalk. Well, believe you me, once Mike gave me the address, I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out to Beverly Hills to see the place for myself.

The Beverly House Compound has a vast and storied Hollywood history. It was originally designed by Gordon B. Kaufmann, the very same architect who also designed the Hoover Dam, the Los Angeles Times Building, Scripps College, and the Athenaeum at the California Institute of Technology, a very popular filming location that I have yet to blog about. The Compound was commissioned by banker Milton Gerz in 1927 and cost over $1 million to construct – and we’re talking 1920’s money! In 1947, William Randolph Hearst and his mistress Marion Davies purchased the lavish three-story, 27-room estate, which sat on over 7 acres of land, for $120,000. Hearst died at the residence in 1951, as did Davies in 1961. Legend has it that John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier spent part of their 1953 honeymoon at the property and supposedly the mansion was also used as the West Coast headquarters for the Kennedy Presidential Campaign in 1960.

In 2007, financier Leonard Ross, who purchased The Compound in 1976, put it up for sale for a whopping $165 million, making it the most expensive home on the market in the entire country at the time. In 2010, the estate, minus three acres of land, was re-listed at the reduced price of $95 million. According to several articles, the lavish property, which has been expanded over the years, currently boasts four separate houses, a cottage, an apartment, 72,000 square feet of living space, 29 bedrooms, a two-story library, two movie projection rooms, a living room with a 22-foot arched ceiling, two tennis courts, a tennis pavilion, staff accommodations, a 50-foot entry hall, an 82-foot cascading waterfall, a disco, and three separate pools. You can check out some fabulous interior photographs of the mansion on the This and That and More of the Same blog here.

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In The Bodyguard, the exterior of The Beverly House Compound stood in for the exterior of the palatial home where Rachel Marron lived.

All of the interiors of Rachel’s estate were filmed at the nearby Greystone Mansion, though. You can see photographs of the room that was used as Rachel’s fake bedroom here and here.

And you can see a photograph of the Greystone Mansion kitchen here

And for the gate to Rachel’s home a third location was used! The gate actually belongs to the mansion located at 10231 Charing Cross Road in Beverly Hills, which just so happens to be the very same residence where Jeffrey Lebowski (David Huddleston) lived in The Big Lebowski.

A current Google Street View image of that gate is pictured above. And while it looks considerably different today than it did in The Bodyguard, you can see that the basic positioning remains the same.

I tracked down the location of Rachel’s gate thanks to an address number of “10224” that was visible in the background of the scene in which Frank Farmer (Kevin Costner) first arrived at Rachel’s mansion.

That gate also looks considerably different today, but, as you can see above, much like was the case with Rachel’s gate, the basic positioning remains the same.

The Beverly House Compound has been the site of constant filming over the years. In The Godfather, it was used as the mansion where movie producer Jack Woltz (John Marley) lived. Yes, that mansion.

According to The Worldwide Guide to Movie Locations website, only the exterior of The Compound was used in the filming, though. All of the interior scenes – including the infamous horse head scene – were shot at an estate located at 95 Middleneck Road on Long Island.

In the Season 1 episode of The Colbys titled “The Turning Point”, the residence stood in for the supposed Rome mansion where Francesca “Frankie”Colby (Katharine Ross) vacationed with Lord Roger Langdon (David Hedison).

Ironically enough, though, in the following episode, which was titled “Thursday’s Child”, Greystone Mansion stood in for that same Rome mansion.

In the 1979 movie The Jerk, the grounds of The Compound were used as the backyard of the home where Navin (Steve Martin) lived after he became rich.

As you can see above, though, the front of Navin’s home was a different location entirely.

In 1985’s Fletch, The Compound was where Alan Stanwyk (Tim Matheson) lived.

The real life interior of the property was also used in the filming.

In 1985’s Into the Night, the mansion was where Jack Caper (Richard Farnsworth) lived.

The real life interior of The Compound was used in the filming of that movie, as well.

Way back in 1966, The Compound was used as the home of Mrs. Sampson (Lauren Bacall) in the thriller Harper.

At that time, the backyard and pool area of the property looked considerably different than they do today.

In the Season 3 episode of Charlie’s Angels titled “Rosemary, for Remembrance”, the mansion was where Jake Garfield (Ramon Bieri) lived.

The real life interior of the mansion was also used in the filming of that episode.

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for telling me about this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Beverly House Compound, aka Rachel Marron’s mansion from The Bodyguard, is located at 1011 North Beverly Drive in Beverly Hills. Greystone Mansion, which was used as the interior of Rachel’s home, is located at 905 Loma Vista Drive in Beverly Hills. The gate to Rachel’s mansion, which looks considerably different today, is located at 10231 Charing Cross Road in Beverly Hills.

March 28, 2012March 27, 2012

AFI’s Warner Bros. Building – aka the Hospital from “The Artist”

Another locale from The Artist that I found thanks to John Bengtson’s fabulous Silent Locations blog was the Warner Bros. Building on the American Film Institute campus in Los Feliz, which stood in for the exterior of the hospital where George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) was admitted after being injured in a fire towards the end of the Academy Award-winning flick. Amazingly enough, despite the fact that I have lived in Southern California for over twelve years now, for whatever reason, while I had heard of the legendary film school, I had never before visited it. So I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out there to stalk the place two weekends ago, shortly after we stopped by Red Studios Hollywood, aka Kinograph Studios from The Artist which I blogged about yesterday.

The American Film Institute, or “AFI” as it is more commonly known, was founded in 1967 by the National Endowment for the Arts in order to “preserve the history of the motion picture, to honor the artists and their work and to educate the next generation of storytellers.” Such luminaries as actor Gregory Peck, director Francis Ford Coppola, historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., actor Sidney Poitier, and longtime Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) president Jack Valenti sat on the organization’s original Board of Trustees. The institute was first headquartered inside of the famous Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills, but moved to its current location, an eight-acre property which formerly housed Immaculate Heart College, in 1983. AFI Conservatory, the establishment’s fully accredited graduate film school which, in 2011, was named the #1 film school in the world by The Hollywood Reporter, boasts such notable alumni as David Lynch, Edward James Olmos, Darren Aronofsky, Terrence Malick, Amy Heckerling (the writer/director of fave movie Clueless!), Marshall Herskovitz (one of the Executive Producers of fave show My So-Called Life!), Edward Zwick (another of My So-Called Life’s Executive Producers!), and Gary Winick (the director of fave movie 13 Going on 30!). Talk about a Who’s Who of the film industry! The Warner Bros. Building (pictured above) is AFI’s main facility and houses classrooms, a soundstage, screening rooms, computer labs, and production offices.

Thanks to AFI’s hilltop location, the place boasts some rather incredible views of Downtown Los Angeles, as you can see above!

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The Warner Bros. Building only shows up once in The Artist – in the scene in which Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo) arrives at the hospital to check on George. According to the Los Feliz Ledger website, the short, one-day shoot took place on November 14th, 2010.

Only the exterior of the Warner Bros. Building was used in the filming. All of the interior hospital scenes were shot about four miles away at The Ebell of Los Angeles, a private women’s club that I have stalked twice, but have yet to blog about. And while hundreds upon hundreds of movies have been filmed at the historic property over the years, for today’s post I would like to concentrate on The Artist. A few different areas of The Ebell appeared in the flick. When Peppy runs through the hospital hallway and asks a nurse where she can find George’s room, she is actually running through the site’s Garden Arcade. And while I do not have a photograph of the actual Arcade, the area where it is located is denoted with a pink arrow above. (You may recognize the courtyard pictured above from the prom scene in fave movie Never Been Kissed.)

Peppy is then shown running through The Ebell’s Solarium Hallway into the 3rd Floor Terrace (both of which were also used prominently in Forrest Gump).

John at Silent Locations was lucky enough to speak with Carol Kiefer, the Art Department Coordinator for The Artist, who informed him that The Ebell had also appeared in several other scenes in the movie. The club’s Art Salon was used as the auction house where George sold all of his belongings after his career took a downturn.

When leaving the auction, George is shown walking down The Ebell’s Lounge Stairway, followed by his loyal chauffer, Clifton (James Cromwell).

The club’s Dining Room masqueraded as the storage room in Peppy’s mansion where George discovered all of his former possessions.

And while the Dining Room was made to appear much smaller than it actually is for the filming and is virtually unrecognizable from its appearance onscreen, I recognized this location thanks to the unique circular-shaped decoration above the window that was visible in the background of the scene.

Supposedly, the Kinograph Studios office of director Al Zimmer (John Goodman) was also located somewhere inside of The Ebell, but I did not see any areas of the property on either tour that looked even remotely like the screen captures pictured above. So I am guessing that a room of the property was either completely redone for the filming or that that information is incorrect.

The anteroom to Zimmer’s office is located at The Ebell, though. In actuality, it is a small room located on the building’s third floor.

Big THANK YOU to John Bengtson, from the Silent Locations blog, for finding these locations! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Warner Bros. Building at the American Film Institute, aka the exterior of the hospital from The Artist, is located at 2021 North Western Avenue in Los Feliz. You can visit the official AFI website here. The Ebell of Los Angeles is located at 743 South Lucerne Boulevard in Hancock Park. Sadly, The Ebell is not currently open to the public, but you can visit the property’s official website here.

March 27, 2012March 26, 2012

Red Studios Hollywood – aka Kinograph Studios from “The Artist”

In early March, my friend Tony, the fellow stalker who has the amazeballs On Location in Los Angeles Flickr photostream, wrote a comment on my post about the duplex where George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) lived in The Artist alerting me to a blog named Silent Locations. The blog, which is authored by business lawyer/film historian John Bengtson, features a six-part column chronicling several locales that appeared in The Artist and their connection with various silent films made during Hollywood’s heyday. I highly recommend checking out the feature and the site in general. It is fabulous! Anyway, one of the places mentioned in the column was Red Studios Hollywood, the exterior of which stood in for both the exterior of Kinograph Studios in The Artist and Maroon Cartoons in 1988’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit. So I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out to stalk the place on a very windy Sunday afternoon two weekends ago.

The site where Red Studios Hollywood now stands was originally founded as Metro Pictures Back Lot #3 in 1915, long before the company joined forces with Goldwyn Pictures and became Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. During its Metro heyday, such films as Scaramouche, Little Robinson Crusoe and The Champ were filmed on the premises. Beginning in May 1946, the lot went through a series of different owners, the most prominent of whom were Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. The showbiz powerhouse couple leased the property in 1953 and turned it into the very first Desilu Studios, where they shot seasons 3 through 6 of I Love Lucy. In 1974, the lot became known as Ren-Mar Studios, an independently owned and operated facility where various production companies were able to rent out studio space. Legendary television producer David E. Kelley made his home there in the 80s and shot Picket Fences (one of my faves!), Chicago Hope, The Practice and the first two seasons of Ally McBeal. In January 2010, the lot was sold yet again, this time to Red Digital Camera Company, who renamed the place Red Studios Hollywood.

A few of the countless other productions that have been filmed on the premises over the years include The Golden Girls, The Dick Van Dyke Show, the first four episodes of Seinfeld, The Andy Griffith Show, Make Room for Daddy, Lizzie McGuire, NewsRadio, Empty Nest, Monk, and, most recently, True Blood. The series Weeds was also filmed on the lot, back when it was Ren-Mar, and during Season 4, after Agrestic burned down, producers had Nancy Botwin (Mary-Louise Parker) move to a fictional seaside town named “Ren Mar” in honor of the historic studio. Love it!

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In The Artist, the back entrance of Red was used as the main entrance of Kinograph Studios, where George Valentin worked at the beginning of the flick.

As you can see above, that area was changed drastically for the movie – so much so that it is virtually unrecognizable today. A huge false front was built over the actual studio entrance for the filming and the Hollywood Rounder blog was lucky enough to get to watch it being constructed. You can check out some very cool pics of the construction here and here, the fake security guard kiosk here, and the finished product here.

Interestingly enough, when Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo) is shown being dropped off at a location that is supposedly directly across the street from the Kinograph entrance, she is actually on New York Street at Paramount Studios, in front of the building that is used regularly as the Boston police station on Rizzoli & Isles.

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At one point in The Artist, George is also shown walking in between some of the Red Studios Hollywood soundstages.

The area where he walked is denoted with a pink circle above.

In Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Red’s main entrance on Cahuenga Boulevard stood in for the entrance to Maroon Cartoons, where the famous animated hare worked.

The courtyard just beyond that entrance was also used in the filming.

That area is denoted with a pink circle above.

On a Who Framed Roger Rabbit side-note – while doing research prior to writing this post, I came across a blurb in The Worldwide Guide to Movie Locations book which, in reference to the flick’s title, stated, “No, there is no question mark, as it’s considered bad luck in a film title.” I had never before heard that bit of trivia and found it interesting, especially since my good friend Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong grammatical errors blog, had recently written a post which mentioned WFRR’s punctuation error. Superstition or not, I think the flick really needed the mark in its title and I found myself inadvertently adding one each time I typed “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” in this post. I guess some habits are hard to break.

The music video for Britney Spears’ hit 2000 song “Lucky” was also shot at Ren-Mar and the exterior of the studio is visible in the MTV Making the Video special about the production.

You can watch Part I of the Making the Video of “Lucky” by clicking above.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker John Bengtson, from the Silent Locations blog, for finding this location and to fellow stalker Tony, from the fantastic On Location in Los Angeles Flickr photostream, for pointing me to John’s site! Smile

Stalk It: Red Studios Hollywood, aka Kinograph Studios from The Artist, is located at 846 North Cahuenga Boulevard in Hollywood. You can visit the official Red Studios Hollywood website here. The area of the studio used in The Artist can be found on Lillian Way, in between Willoughby and Waring Avenues. The studio’s main entrance on Cahuenga Boulevard is the entrance that stood in for Maroon Cartoons in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Red Studios Hollywood is not open to the public and does not currently offer a tour.

March 7, 2012March 7, 2012

The “Rain Man” Convenience Store

Back in February, while doing research on the Hollywood Hills apartment building where Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise) lived in 1988’s Rain Man, I came across a September 2004 article on the Palm Springs Life website titled “Quiet on the Set” about filming in the Coachella Valley. And, let me tell you, I just about fell out of my chair when I read the (rather poorly written) words, “The wind energy farms on Interstate 10 are another popular attraction. Tom Cruise and Valeria Golino drove past the Palm Springs windmills in the opening minutes of Rain Man. Cruise exits from a convenience store at Windy Point on Highway 111 and puts sun block on the nose of his autistic brother, Dustin Hoffman.” Prior to reading the article, I had no idea whatsoever that any Rain Man filming had taken place in the area. So I, of course, immediately started searching through aerial views of Windy Point trying to locate the convenience store and, amazingly enough, it was not long before I found it! Yay! So I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out there to stalk the place two weekends ago while on our way to visit my parents in the Desert.

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In Rain Man, Charlie and his brother, Raymond Babbitt (Dustin Hoffman), stop at the convenience store towards the end of their long cross-country road trip. It is there that Charlie puts sunscreen on Raymond’s nose causing Raymond to say that his face feels “very slippery”. LOL

Remarkably, the convenience store still looks very much the same today as it did when the movie was filmed way back in 1988.

I absolutely LOVE that the two poles which appeared in the background of the Rain Man scene are still there in real life, almost two and a half decades later! SO INCREDIBLY COOL!

While we were stalking the place, the GC and I ventured inside to see if any of the employees happened to know about the filming and, amazingly enough, the woman behind the counter did! She informed us that the signs that were posted on the store back in 1988 when Rain Man was filmed were still there until just recently, when the property’s new owner had them replaced with the “Food Shop” sign pictured above. Oh, why, oh why did I not know about this location sooner? Ugh!

On a Rain Man side-note – I am itching to track down the laundromat where Charlie made a phone call to his business partner, Lenny (Ralph Seymour), and learned that the four Lamborghinis he was trying to sell had all been repossessed. The GC has a hunch that it is located in Nevada, somewhere near Red Rock Canyon, and I think he might be right. I have not had time to do any research on it, though, but thought I would put it out there to my fellow stalkers. Does the location look familiar to anyone?

And on a Palm Springs side-note – while in the Desert last week, fellow stalker Kim informed me that a celebrity golf tournament was going to be taking place on Sunday, March 4th. So, much to the GC’s chagrin, I, of course, just had to stalk it. I ended up having an AMAZING time and really cannot thank Kim enough! The stars (all of whom were incredibly nice) that I met while there were scratch golfer Oliver Hudson (Kate Hudson’s brother and Goldie Hawn’s son), from Dawson’s Creek and Rules of Engagement;

Sam Page, from Shark (such a cutie!);

Patrick Warburton, aka “David Puddy” from Seinfeld;

Rob Morrow, from Numb3rs and Northern Exposure (SO amazingly nice – LOVE HIM!);

Richard Karn, aka “Al Borland” from Home Improvement;

Mike Inez, from Alice in Chains;

Christopher McDonald, aka “Shooter McGavin” from Happy Gilmore (it was so incredibly cool to see “Shooter” play golf in person!);

guitarist/songwriter/music producer Steve “The Colonel” Cropper (he was also a member of The Blue Brothers band in both the 1980 and 2000 movies of the same name);

Cheech Marin;

and Alice Cooper. Such a fabulous day! Thank you, Kim! Smile

You can check out a great article about several Midwest Rain Man filming locations that I stumbled upon yesterday while doing research for this post on the Road Trip Memories blog here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The convenience store from Rain Man is located at 60490 Overture Drive, about two miles south of where State Route 111 meets the Interstate 10 Freeway, in Palm Springs.

March 6, 2012March 5, 2012

George Valentin’s Duplex from “The Artist”

As I mentioned way back in early 2010 in my post about Julia Child’s childhood home, one of the best parts about being in the Screen Actors Guild is the fact that all Guild members are sent several “For Your Consideration” DVDs just prior to the SAG Awards each year. One of the DVDs that I received this particular year was The Artist and I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. Out of all of the movies nominated, I definitely think it deserved to win the Best Picture Oscar for 2012. The concept was completely novel, the cinematography beautiful, the acting stellar, and best of all, in my opinion at least, was the fact that it featured numerous Los Angeles-area locations. It was actually My Week with Marilyn, though, that knocked my socks off and won my SAG vote for “Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role”. Michelle Williams was absolutely PHENOMENAL in it and not only managed to capture Marilyn’s walk, voice and mannerisms, but also that quality that MM had of not being able to take your eyes off of her. How that characteristic can be acted is absolutely beyond me, but Michelle did it, and seamlessly at that. I honestly cannot say enough good things about My Week with Marilyn or Michelle’s performance in it and I am beyond saddened that she did not take home the Academy Award! I mean, honestly, how many does Meryl Streep really need? But I digress. Anyway, as soon as I finished watching The Artist, I, of course, immediately started searching for the many locales featured in it, the most important of which was the duplex where silent film actor George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) lived towards the end of the flick. Thankfully, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, was able to track it down fairly quickly for me, and the two of us dropped by to stalk it while in the area a couple of weeks ago.

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In The Artist, George Valentin sees his career falter during the advance of “talking” pictures, much like real-life silent film actor Douglas Fairbanks, on whom the character of George seems to be loosely based. After divorcing his wife Doris (Penelope Ann Miller), George is forced to move out of his ornate Hollywood estate – which is located inside of the gated Fremont Place neighborhood in Hancock Park, just a few doors down from the Taken mansion, which just so happens to be where Peppy Miller (the absolutely adorable Berenice Bejo) lived in The Artist – and into the duplex pictured above. It is while living in the duplex that George (SPOILER ALERT) burns copies of his former films, accidentally setting fire to the property and almost killing himself in the process.

I sent screen captures of George’s duplex to Mike shortly after I first watched The Artist and, like me, he was convinced that the property was located somewhere in Hancock Park. And while we spent more than a few fruitless hours looking for it there, we both came up completely empty-handed. It was not until Mike expanded his search a couple of miles to the south that he finally found the right place, just a few blocks north of the 10 Freeway. And I am very happy to report that the building, which in real life was originally built in 1924, looks exactly the same in person as it did onscreen.

As does the sidewalk in front of the duplex, which also appeared in the movie.

Because the interior of George’s residence was very non-descript and because the ceilings were abnormally high, I am fairly certain that a set was used and not the actual duplex.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: George Valentin’s duplex from The Artist is located at 4056 West 21st Street in the Mid-Wilshire area of Los Angeles.

February 9, 2012February 8, 2012

Charlie Babbitt’s Apartment from “Rain Man”

A couple of weeks ago, I read on fellow stalker Lisa’s Finding the Famous blog that the apartment building where Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise) lived in the 1988 movie Rain Man was located somewhere in the Hollywood Hills. I, of course, immediately started trying to track down the building’s exact location and fairly quickly found the information I was seeking thanks to my buddy E.J. over at The Movieland Directory. E.J.’s website has actually been on a “hiatus” since January 8th of this year, while it is being updated from its previous database of 20,000 movie locales and celebrity addresses to one of over 90,000. And while that all sounds well and good, this stalker has been simply lost without the website, as I use it almost daily as a resource. When I emailed E.J. to tell him of my plight, he immediately sent over an extremely large Excel spreadsheet containing all 90,000 of his extensively-researched addresses for me to refer to at will. Um, how do I even begin to say thank you for that??? Needless to say, the gesture was GREATLY appreciated. And while I have to admit that I am, for whatever reason, supremely Excel-challenged, I have been using his database regularly and was able to find the location of the Rain Man apartment building with sufficient ease. Thank you, “Ctrl-F” and thank you, E.J.! So I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out there to stalk the place this past weekend.

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Charlie Babbitt’s apartment building shows up only once, and very briefly, towards they end of Rain Man, in the scene in which Charlie brings his newly-found autistic brother, Raymond Babbitt (Dustin Hoffman), home to Los Angeles after a long road trip across America. It is at the building that Raymond freaks out after setting off the fire alarm while attempting to cook Eggo Waffles in a convection oven.

The area of the apartment building shown in Rain Man is not the front exterior, but the west side, which, thankfully, still looks much the same today as it did when the movie was filmed in 1988, despite the fact that almost two and a half decades have since passed. The only difference I could spot is that the chain link fence which once surrounded the pool has since been replaced with a wooden fence. But otherwise, the place looks exactly the same in person as it did onscreen. So incredibly cool!

The front exterior of the building is pictured above. According to fave website Zillow, the dwelling was originally constructed in 1926 and measures 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, and 2,201 square feet. And while I could not find much information about the place online, I am guessing that it is comprised of 3 separate apartment units. I also learned from E.J.’s extensive files that actor Brad Pitt once lived on the premises sometime during the ‘90s, so the property has quite an extensive claim to fame!

I am fairly certain that the real life interior of the building was also used in the filming of Rain Man, although I, unfortunately, could not find any interior photographs of the place online with which to verify that hunch. And, legend has it that a lithograph of Tom Cruise, that was given to him during the production, still hangs in the property’s laundry room to this day. Oh, what I wouldn’t give to get in there to see that!

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Lisa, from the Finding the Famous blog, for informing me of this location and to my friend E.J., of The Movieland Directory website, for tracking it down. Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Charlie Babbitt’s apartment building from Rain Man is located at 8800 Evanview Drive/1599 Sunset Plaza Drive in the Hollywood Hills. The area of the building that was shown in the movie can be seen from Evanview Drive, just west of where it intersects with Sunset Plaza Drive.

February 8, 2012February 7, 2012

Pomona College’s Harwood Court – aka Eastland School from “The Facts of Life”

Well over six months ago, my good friend Mikey, from the Mike the Fanboy website, asked if I would like to do some stalking with him of Harwood Court, the Pomona College dormitory which stood in for the fictional Eastland School, attended by Blair Warner (Lisa Whelchel), Dorothy ‘Tootie’ Ramsey (Kim Fields), Natalie Green (Mindy Cohn), and Joanne ‘Jo” Polniaczek (Nancy McKeon), in the 1980’s television series The Facts of Life. My answer, of course, was a resounding “YES!” Because both of our schedules have been a bit hectic as of late, though, we were not able to make it out there until this past Sunday afternoon. Needless to say, we were both pretty excited about the whole adventure when it finally came to pass and, a few days before we headed to Claremont, Mikey sent me an email which stated, “Wow, this is just like going scuba diving with Jacques Cousteau, or playing football with Tim Tebow, or getting a pants-dropping lesson from Marky Mark! Well, maybe not that last one!” Um, my stalking skills being compared to the scuba skills of Jacques Cousteau?!?! LOVE IT!

This location was actually found by Robert, of the Movie Locations and More website, way back in the Summer of 2010. Earlier that year, Robert had read online that the exterior of Eastland School was a building on the Pomona College campus in Claremont, but because Google Street View of that area is not particularly clear, he was unable to track down the exact structure used via the internet. So when he came to Los Angeles for a stalking visit a few months later, he drove around the 140-acre campus, screen shot in hand, and, amazingly enough, was able to track down the building fairly quickly. Thank you, Robert! In reality, Eastland School is the Harwood Court residential hall – a 68,000-square-foot unisex dormitory that was built in 1921 and currently houses 170 students. The structure, which was originally an all-female dorm, was completely renovated by the Wheeler & Wheeler architectural firm in 1990. Thankfully though, it still looks much the same as it did onscreen in The Facts of Life.

A few years ago, Mikey had actually purchased one of Molly Ringwald’s costumes from the first season of The Facts of Life, as well as a promotional lunch box from the series that he had signed by none other than Mrs. Edna Garrett (Charlotte Rae) herself, and he brought both items with him on our stalk to add to the fun. On our way there, he mentioned that he thought I might be able to fit into the track jacket portion of Molly’s former costume and, shockingly, he was right! I cannot tell you how nervous I was to be wearing such an amazing piece of television history, while drinking a Starbucks, no less, so I only kept it on long enough to snap a couple of pics.

Molly is pictured wearing one of the track jackets above. So incredibly cool!!

While we were there, a resident happened to walk out of Harwood Court and we stopped her to ask if she would take a photograph of Mikey and me. She obliged and afterwards I inquired if she was aware that her dorm was, in fact, The Facts of Life school. Shockingly, she had not actually been aware, and, even more shockingly, she did not seem to be too impressed by the news. Ah well, I guess not everyone is a stalker. Winking smile

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Harwood Court showed up as the fictional Peekskill, New York-area Eastland School during the opening credits of The Facts of Life’s entire nine-season run.

“The Facts of Life” Filmed at Harwood Court Residence Hall at Pomona College

You can watch the series’ opening credits by clicking above. On an interesting side-note – the show’s insanely-catchy theme song was co-composed by Alan Thicke, aka Jason Seaver, the patriarch of the Seaver family on Growing Pains, and real-life father of R&B singer Robin Thicke.

While doing research before heading out to Pomona College with Mikey on Sunday, I discovered that Harwood Court had also appeared in several other productions. In 1985’s Real Genius, it was featured as the dormitory where Chris Knight (Val Kilmer), Mitch Taylor (Gabriel Jarret), and Jordan (Michelle Meyrink) lived.

And while some of the real-life interior of the building was actually used in the movie . . .

. . . I am fairly certain that the hallway and dorm rooms were sets.

In 1987’s Teen Wolf Too, Harwood Court stood in for the Hamilton College dormitory where Todd Howard (Jason Bateman) lived with his roommate, Stiles (Stuart Franklin).

The back side of the building appeared in the movie’s beyond-words-awful “Do You Love Me” dance sequence.

I believe that the interior scenes were all filmed on a set, though.

In the Season 1 episode of the reality series Top Chef Masters titled “Masters Get Schooled”, the Elimination Challenge, in which professional chefs Michael Schlow, Hubert Keller, Tim Love, and Christopher Lee were required to cook a gourmet meal in a dorm room, was held at Harwood Court.

You can read Mikey’s fab write-up of our The Facts of Life stalk on the Mike the Fanboy website here and you can watch a video Mikey put together of our adventure by clicking above.

Big THANK YOU to Robert, from the Movie Locations and More website, for finding this location and to Mikey, from the Mike the Fanboy website, for inviting me to stalk it with him.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Harwood Court residence hall, aka Eastland School from The Facts of Life, is located on the campus of Pomona College at 170 East Bonita Avenue in Claremont.

February 6, 2012February 3, 2012

Café-Club Fais Do-Do from “Crossroads”

One location that I blogged about way back in March of 2009 and had been dying to re-stalk ever since – in order to snap some interior pictures – was Café-Club Fais Do-Do, the supposed New-Orleans-area karaoke bar that appeared in the 2002 movie Crossroads. (For those who did not catch my original post on the place, in the Spring of 2001 I was an extra in Crossroads and spent a full three days filming at the Fais Do-Do – a magical experience that I will never forget.) Because the club is typically only open at night for concerts and events, though, and because the Grim Cheaper has a major aversion to paying any sort of a cover charge, since the filming I had never been able to get back inside. Until last Wednesday afternoon, that is, when I tagged along with fellow stalker Mike, from MovieShotsLA, on a scouting expedition. A couple of months back, Mike actually joined the Location Managers Guild of America under the title of Apprentice and, when I heard that he was in the process of building his portfolio, I immediately (and a bit selfishly) suggested that he visit Café-Club Fais Do-Do – with me accompanying him, of course. Don’t get me wrong – the place is incredibly unique and visually stimulating and I knew that he would not only shoot some incredible photographs of it, but that it would also be a highly useful locale to have in his scouting arsenal. But mostly, I just really wanted to stalk it myself. Winking smile

The Art Deco building which currently houses Café-Club Fais Do-Do was originally constructed in 1930 and is actually comprised of two separate sections – The Club (pictured above) and The Ballroom. In its original incarnation, The Club was a branch of the First Citizens Savings Bank and Trust, which explains the structure’s uniquely rich and ornate interior. Sometime in the 1960s, the bank was converted into a jazz bar/underground club, but thankfully most of its architecturally and historically significant detailing was kept intact. During its years as a jazz club, such musicians as Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, BB King, Pearl Bailey, John Coltrane, and Billy Preston were all said to have hung out there.

The Ballroom (pictured above) was originally constructed as the single-screen Variety Movie Theatre and was where the filming of Crossroads took place. I am unsure of when exactly the Variety ceased showing movies, but in 1990 the entire building was purchased by a new owner who, while still keeping the two distinct areas separate, decided to turn the venues into a nightclub and bar which collectively would be known as Café-Club Fais Do-Do – “Fais Do-Do” meaning “nighty-night” in French. And while this post on the Lon’s Place blog states that The Club area was sold to a new owner in 2010, according the film liaison that we spoke with, the same person who bought the building back in 1990 still owns it to this day.

While we were stalking the Fais Do-Do, I was extremely sad to discover that the huge two-story bar that used to be located in the center of The Ballroom and on which I had sat in Crossroads had since been removed. To me, that bar, which had a dance floor on top of it, was the coolest, most unique aspect of the entire club and I cannot believe the owner did away with it! So incredibly sad.

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In Crossroads, Café-Club Fais Do-Do’s Ballroom was used for the interior of Club Bayou, where Lucy Wagner (Britney Spears), Kit (Zoe Saldana) and Mimi (Taryn Manning) competed in a karaoke contest in order to win money to fix their car which had just broken down.

That’s me in the blue pants standing next to Ben (Anson Mount) in the above screen capture. Smile

The Fais Do-Do dressing room, which you can see a photograph of here, was featured in the scene in which Kit, Mimi and Lucy get ready to go onstage. Sadly, a film crew was using that area at the time that we were stalking the club so we were unable to take any pictures of it.

The GC and I recently started watching fave show The O.C. again from the beginning and, let me tell you, I just about fell off my chair when I spotted Café-Club Fais Do-Do pop up in a Season 1 episode. In “The Escape”, the Fais Do-Do’s Ballroom stood in for “Boom Boom”, the supposed-Tijuana-area club where Marissa Cooper (Mischa Barton) caught Luke Ward (Chris Carmack) cheating on her.

And, while scanning through “The Escape” to make screen captures for this post, I was shocked to discover that the little bar where Marissa almost overdosed on pain pills later in the episode was none other than the Fais Do-Do’s Club! The Club was remodeled in 2010 (as you can see in these photograph on the Lon’s Place blog) and looks a bit different now, but, amazingly enough, the actual bar where Marissa sat still looks exactly the same today as it did when the episode was filmed back in 2003!

After reading my original post on the Fais Do-Do back in 2009, fellow stalker Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, figured out that The Ballroom also stood in for Delloser Hall, the reggae club where Josie Geller (Drew Barrymore) got stoned after inadvertently eating a pot-laced cake, in fave movie Never Been Kissed.

In the extremely odd 2006 film The Gymnast, the Fais Do-Do’s Ballroom was used extensively as the place where Jane Hawkins (Dreya Weber) and Serena (Addie Yungmee) learned aerial fabric acrobatics.

In the flick, you can clearly see the club’s former bar . . .

. . . as well as the dance floor above it.

Café-Club Fais Do-Do’s dressing room also appeared in The Gymnast.

And in one scene, a business card featuring the club’s actual address, fax number, and website was even shown. So incredibly cool!

Fellow stalker Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, also let me know that the Fais Do-Do had appeared in the Season 2 episode of Arrested Development titled “Queen for a Day”. In the episode, the exterior . . .

. . . as well as The Ballroom stood in for The Queen Mary, the bar that Tobias Funke (David Cross) purchased.

The Club was also used in that episode as the restaurant where Byron “Buster” Bluth (Tony Hale) took his new girlfriend, Starla (Mo Collins), out for a milkshake.

And the dressing room stood in for the Hot Cop stripper club, from which Lindsay Bluth Funke (Portia de Rossi) hired strippers to scare her husband into selling The Queen Mary.

Back in February of 2011, while doing research for my post on The Little Door restaurant, I discovered that Café-Club Fais Do-Do’s Club room was used in the Season 2 episode of Entourage titled “The Abyss”, in the scene in which the boys – Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier), Eric Murphy (Kevin Connolly), Johnny ‘Drama’ Chase (Kevin Dillon), and Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) – gather together to watch Saigon perform.

I was shocked to discover (thanks to the Ron’s Place blog) that in 1994’s Reality Bites, The Club stood in for the bar where “Hey, That’s My Bike!”, Troy Dyer’s (Ethan Hawke’s) band, regularly played. The room was heavily dressed for the filming, though, and is almost unrecognizable in the movie.

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The Fais Do-Do Club was also featured in the Jane’s Addiction video for “Underground”.

As was the dressing room area.

Jane’s Addiction “Underground” Music Video–Filmed at Café-Club Fais Do-Do in Los Angeles

You can watch the “Underground” video by clicking above.

The Club also appeared in the Destiny’s Child “No, No No, Part 1” music video.

Destiny’s Child–”No, No, No Part 1” Music Video Filmed at Café-Club Fais Do-Do in Los Angeles

You can watch the “No, No, No, Part 1” video by clicking above.

This Is 40, the yet-to-be released sequel to 2007’s Knocked Up, also did some filming in Café-Club Fais Do-Do’s Ballroom in 2011. And while the Ron’s Place blog stated that The Big Lebowski and American Gangster were also filmed at the Fais Do-Do, I scanned through both movies while doing research for this post and did not spot the place anywhere.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Café-Club Fais Do-Do, from Crossroads, is located at 5253 and 5257 West Adams Boulevard in Los Angeles. You can visit the club’s official website here.

January 12, 2012January 13, 2012

L’Orangerie – aka Chez Quis Restaurant from "Ferris Bueller’s Day Off"

Back in 2010, this stalker became just a wee-bit obsessed with tracking down the restaurant interior which was used as the fictional Chez Quis French eatery in the iconic 1986 movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. I knew from listening to director John Hughes’ DVD commentary that the restaurant was somewhere in the Los Angeles area, but try as I might, I just could not seem to locate it. Because I feared that the place had most likely long since closed down and, as such, any hope of finding it would be extremely difficult, I enlisted fellow stalker Chas, of the It’sFilmedThere website, to contact a few crew members on my behalf. Amazingly enough, Chas was somehow able to get his hands on the email address of Jonathan Schmock, the actor who played the Chez Quis Maitre D’ in the movie. Even more amazing, though, was the fact that Jonathan wrote him back almost immediately and let him know that the Ferris Bueller’s Day Off restaurant was none other than L’Orangerie in West Hollywood, an incredibly famous French eatery which had sadly closed it doors in 2006 and had been remodeled and re-imagined as Nobu shortly thereafter. I cannot express how heartbreaking it was to learn this information as I had moved to LA in 2000, six full years before the restaurant, which I would have given my eye-teeth to stalk, closed down. I added Nobu to my “To-Stalk” list regardless, with the hope that some remnant of L’Orangerie might still exist on the premises. And this past Saturday evening, I finally, finally made it out there to investigate.

Before arriving at Nobu, I was nervous that the place would be extremely hoity-toity and not allow photographs of any kind, but I am very happy to report that nothing could have been further from the truth! The staff was not only exceedingly friendly and let me take all of the pictures that I wanted, but everyone that I spoke with was beyond excited to learn that their place of work was the site of the famous Ferris Bueller restaurant scene. Upon leaving, the manager even told me that he could not wait to start informing people of Nobu’s famous cinematic connection. AND, much to the Grim Cheaper’s delight, the eatery offers a very reasonable Happy Hour every single night (even Saturdays and Sundays!) in the bar and lounge area. This obviously goes without saying, being that the restaurant is known for being a culinary giant, but the food there was absolutely incredible! To say that the GC and I are in love with the place would be a gross understatement. And the cherry on top of my evening was when I discovered that the main body and layout of Nobu is exactly the same as that of L’Orangerie, so the place is still somewhat (albeit very, very remotely) recognizable from Ferris Bueller.

A couple of months back, I happened to find a Flikr photo album featuring pictures of L’Orangerie that a foodie blogger named Abby, from the Pleasure Palate website, had posted online. I contacted Abby and asked if she would be willing to let me feature her photographs in this post and she not only wrote me back immediately, but graciously agreed. A HUGE, HEARTFELT thank you goes out to her. All of the pictures of L’Orangerie which appear in this post were taken by her, unless otherwise noted.

According to the book Hollywood & the Best of Los Angeles Alive!, L’Orangerie was one of only two L.A.-area eateries that counted itself as a member of Relais & Chateaux, an extremely exclusive luxury hotel and gourmet restaurant group whose mission is to spread its “unique art de vivre across the globe by selecting outstanding properties with a truly unique character”. Alive!, which was published in 2002, also states, “The only restaurant in Los Angeles that is more expensive than L’Orangerie is Ginza Sushi-Ko in Beverly Hills, a sushi place that is the most expensive restaurant in the US, at around $300 a person.” Can you imagine if the GC and I had actually had a chance to stalk L’Orangerie when it was still in operation? One glance at the menu and he would have had a full-blown heart attack on the spot! L’Orangerie, which is French for “the orangery” – a beautifully-constructed greenhouse- or conservatory-type structure that was popular in Europe from the 17th to the 19th centuries and was used to house orange trees during the cold winter months – was originally founded in 1978 by native French couple Gerard and Virginie Ferry. The restaurant quickly became one of Los Angeles’ most premiere and exclusive eateries and remained so until it closed on December 31st, 2006, at which point the Nobu Group took over and an extensive remodel was begun.

Nobu opened in the Spring of 2008 and, while the dark, sleek, modern design is completely different from L’Orangerie’s bright, white, terraced-look, the overall shape and layout of the structure remains exactly the same. L’Orangerie was composed of four dining areas – the bar and lounge;

the main dining room (the picture above is from Mariani’s Virtual Gourmet Newsletter, but I believe it originally came from the now-defunct L’Orangerie website);

the outdoor terrace;

and the central courtyard . . .

which featured a retracting roof.

Nobu is also comprised of those same four dining areas – the bar and lounge;

the main dining room, which is on the northern side of the restaurant;

the terrace, which has since been enclosed and is now where one enters the restaurant;

and the central courtyard, which still features a retractable roof. If you will notice above, the room has six curtained doorways which are in the same spot where the French doors which opened to the courtyard were located when it was L’Orangerie. So incredibly cool!

There is also an additional lounge area which links all of the rooms together. That lounge area is the former L’Orangerie lobby, aka the spot where Ferris Bueller (aka Matthew Broderick) famously had his girlfriend, Sloane Peterson (aka Mia Sara), call Chez Quis to ask for Abe Froman, the Sausage King of Chicago.

In Ferris Bueller’s Day Off , Ferris, Sloane, and Ferris’ best friend, Cameron Frye (aka Alan Ruck), dine at Chez Quis while playing hooky from school. And while the exterior of the restaurant was actually the exterior of a private home located at 22 West Schiller Street in Chicago . . .

. . . all of the interiors were shot on location at L’Orangerie.

Including, I believe, the bathroom scene, in which Ferris delivers a long narrative to the camera while his father is, unbeknownst to him, using a nearby stall. I am kicking myself right now that I did not send the GC into Nobu’s men’s room to see if at all resembled the shape and size of the Ferris Bueller bathroom. Ah well, next time.

Because L’Orangerie was so incredibly picturesque, it saw more than its fair share of filming over the years. In the Season 1 episode of The Colbys titled “A House Divided”, L’Orangerie played itself as the spot where Sable Scott Colby (aka Beverly Hills, 90210’s Stephanie Beacham) had lunch with Zach Powers (aka Ricardo Montalban). As you can see in the second screen capture above, the entryway area looks exactly the same in The Colbys as it did in Ferris Bueller. Even the podium is a perfect match. Love it!

In the Season 3 episode of Hart to Hart titled “Blue and Broken-Harted”, L’Orangerie was where Jonathan Hart (aka Robert Wagner) and Jennifer Hart (aka Stefanie Powers) had lunch and ran into gossip columnist George Christy, who played himself. While there, Jennifer confronts Jonathan about her fear that he is having an affair. In 1982, when the episode was filmed, L’Orangerie did not have a front patio area, but one was later built, along with a large cement wall which surrounded it.

In the “Blue and Broken-Harted” episode, Jonathan and Jennifer dined in pretty much the same spot where the Ferris Bueller gang dined.

In 1982’s Bare Essence, L’Orangerie popped up as “the chicest restaurant in town” where clothing designer Matt Phillips (aka Joel Higgins) took New-York-newcomer Tyger Hayes (aka Genie Francis) for lunch.

In the 1983 made-for-television movie Making of a Male Model, L’Orangerie stood in for the supposed New York restaurant where Kay Dillon (aka Joan Collins) met male model Tyler Burnett (aka Jon-Erik Hexum) upon his return to Manhattan.

In 1985’s St. Elmo’s Fire, L’Orangerie stood in for the supposed Washington, D.C.-area restaurant where Kirby Keger (aka Emilio Estevez) and Dale Biberman (aka Andie MacDowell) went on a very brief date.

In 1985’s Brewster’s Millions, L’Orangerie was where Montgomery Brewster (aka Richard Pryor) took hundreds of random people for lunch immediately after inheriting $30 million.

In 2003’s Intolerable Cruelty, L’Orangerie was featured as the spot where Miles (aka George Clooney) met Marylin (aka Catherine Zeta Jones) for an introductory dinner.

Most recently, L’Orangerie appeared in the Season 2 episode of The Closer titled “Aftertaste” as L’Amboise, the eatery where Walter LaSalle (aka Francois Giroday) was arrested and where restaurant critic Tom Newman (aka John Billingsley) confessed to the murder of Karen Bevis (aka Julie Wagner).

I also spotted L’Orangerie pop up in a movie or television show that I watched a few months back, but, for whatever reason, I failed to write the information down in my stalking notebook and now, for the life of me, I cannot remember what it was. I have been wracking my brain for the past two weeks trying to figure it out, all to no avail. Ironically enough, while I had mentioned the movie or television show to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, back when I spotted it, he also cannot remember what it was. He has spent countless (and I do mean countless) hours over the past few weeks trying to help me figure it out, though. At one point, he texted me that he was looking through the 60th page of L’Orangerie search results on Google. The 60th page!!!!! All of the information in this post actually came from his extensive research. So thank you, Mike! All that work, though, and neither of us did ever figure it out. L’Orangerie’s courtyard (a photograph of which – one that I got off of the EaterLA website, who in turn got it from the Relais & Chateaux website – is pictured above) is the room that I remember appearing in the production. Does it look familiar to anyone? I know the answer will come to me as soon as I stop thinking about it, and when it does, I will update this post.

Fellow stalker Gilles in France also let me know that L’Orangerie was featured in both the pilot episode of L.A. Law and the 1982 Danielle Steele made-for-television movie Secrets, but unfortunately neither of those productions are available for rent or download anywhere, so I was unable to make screen captures of them for this post.

I can say with certainty, though, that L’Orangerie was not the restaurant that appeared in Some Kind of Wonderful, as some websites have stated. Some Kind of Wonderful was filmed just down the street at the former L’Ermitage restaurant, now Koi, located at 730 North La Cienega Boulevard.

There have also been some online reports that The Blues Brothers was filmed at the same restaurant as Ferris Bueller, but, as you can see above, that information is incorrect, as well. The Blues Brothers was actually filmed at Chez Paul, the legendary French establishment that was formerly located at 660 North Rush Street in Chicago, Illinois. You can read more about that location on The Blues Brothers Central website here.

Besides being a filming location, L’Orangerie was also a major celebrity hotspot. Motley Crew’s Vince Neil and former Playboy Playmate Heidi Mark were married there on May 28th, 2000, as were Fred Savage and Jennifer Stone on August 7th, 2004. Rob Lowe’s 40th birthday party was held at the restaurant. Teri Hatcher and Ryan Seacrest once had a date there, Ronald and Nancy Reagan were regulars, and Brad Pitt and my girl Jen Aniston shocked fellow patrons by cuddling during a three-hour candlelit dinner just a few weeks after announcing their separation. Brad also supposedly took Angelina Jolie to L’Orangerie for a meal during the filming of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, which I, of course, was not especially happy to hear.

L’Orangerie- the Ferris Bueller restaurant

You can watch a video which shows the interior of the former L’Orangerie restaurant by clicking above.

Big THANK YOU to Chas, from the It’sFilmedThere website, for finding this location and an even BIGGER THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for going above and beyond the call of duty (of both stalking and friendship) by spending countless hours doing research for me and reading through 60-plus pages of search results on Google while trying to figure out what movie it was that I had seen recently that had been filmed at L’Orangerie.

And a HUGE thank you to Abby, of the Pleasure Palate website, for so graciously allowing me to feature her photographs of L’Orangerie restaurant on my website. This post would not have been the same without her fabulous pictures! You can read Abby’s write-up on her dining experience at L’Orangerie here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Nobu, aka the former L’Orangerie restaurant, aka the interior of Chez Quis from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, is located at 903 North La Cienega Boulevard in West Hollywood. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.