movies – Page 23 – IAMNOTASTALKER

January 21, 2010April 2, 2010

Vasquez Rocks County Park

One location that I have been dying to stalk for what seems like ages now is Vasquez Rocks County Park in Agua Dulce, California. I first read about the park in fave stalking book Hollywood Escapes: The Moviegoer’s Guide to Exploring Southern California’s Great Outdoors about 7 months ago and absolutely begged my fiancé to take me there. He politely declined and I’ve pretty much been stewing about the whole thing ever since. It’s funny how things work out, though, because while Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I were driving in the Valley on our way to do some stalking a few months back, we got into an in-depth filming locations conversation, as we are often apt to do, and somehow missed the freeway exit we meant to take. When we realized our mistake about 15 miles later – I told you it was an in-depth conversation 🙂 – and turned off the freeway, we found ourselves at the entrance to Vasquez Rocks County Park and I just about died from excitement. So, we decided to take a little stalking detour and headed right into the park.

The large sandstone boulders which make up Vasquez Rocks County Park have been around since prehistoric times and were brought into their unique upturned positions thanks to numerous earthquakes and years of erosion. The 932-acre park is named after Tiburcio Vasquez, the infamous outlaw who wreaked havoc in the Los Angeles area from 1856 until 1875, the year he was executed. In 1874, just before being captured by authorities, Tiburcio spent quite a bit of time hiding out in the park that now bears his name. Even though the man murdered and pillaged all across L.A. for close to 20 years, because he claimed that all of his crimes were committed in the name of justice for Mexican-Americans, he is viewed by many as a hero.

According to The Los Angeles Times, the 150-foot high rocks which populate the park are “the most commercially photographed boulders on the planet”. And, even though the area looks like it could be found in a faraway land or on a distant planet, it actually lies within Hollywood’s “Thirty Mile Zone” (aka TMZ – and yes, that term is why the famous website is so named), which makes it extremely popular with location managers. For those not familiar with the term, the Thirty-Mile Zone encompasses the area within a thirty mile radius of the intersection of West Beverly and La Cienega Boulevards in Los Angeles. If a production is filmed outside of the Zone, SAG rules stipulate that travel time, mileage, and a special “distant location rate” must be paid to union members of the cast and crew. So, thanks to its money-saving location and amazing, unique beauty, Vasquez Park has appeared in COUNTLESS, and I do mean COUNTLESS, productions over the years.

There is even a little kiosk on the property that documents some of the filming that has taken place there in the past. Love it!

The main reason I wanted to stalk the park was because it was one of the main locations featured in one of my all time favorite music videos – the 1991 video for Michael Jackson’s hit song “Black or White”. In an ironic twist of fate, I just happened to be wearing my “I Heart MJ” shirt that day. 🙂 Love it! Vasquez Rocks were featured in the scene in the video in which George Wendt lands in a remote field after being blasted out of his house thanks to his son, Macaulay Culkin’s, loud music. The rocks also show up in a subsequent scene in which MJ dances on a stage with a group of Native Americans.

The rocks were not used, however, for the scene in the very beginning of the video in which Michael is shown dancing with a group of Aborigines. That portion of the video appears to have been shot in front of a green screen inside of a Hollywood studio.

The rocks also appeared in one of my favorite episodes of Las Vegas, which was entitled “Good Run of Bad Luck”, in the scene in which Delinda (aka Molly Sims), Nessa (aka Marsha Thomason), and Mary (aka Nikki Cox) go on a search for buried treasure and wind up getting stranded in the Nevada desert until eventually being rescued by country crooner Clint Black.

I absolutely LOVE the scene in which Delinda, lamenting over her belief that her father always wanted a son, says “We don’t have that click. You see him with Danny . . . click, click, click, click, click! I want Daddy and me to be close, you know, like George Jetson and Daughter Judy or Cliff Huxtable and what’s-her-name? You know, the one who married Lennie Kravitz.” LOL

The rocks also stood in for the Las Vegas set of the defunct sci-fi movie Shutter Speed in which Joey Tribbiani (aka Matt LeBlanc) was supposed to star in the Season 5 episode of Friends entitled “The One With Joey’s Big Break”.

The rocks show up very briefly in the 2004 movie First Daughter, in a beginning scene in which Samantha Mackenzie (aka Katie Holmes) is shown on a peace-keeping mission in an unnamed foreign land.

They were also the location of the Arena Diner in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.

And the location of Dr. Evil’s underground lair in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.

Bruce Campbell rides his horse through Vasquez Rocks in the 1992 flick Army of Darkness.

The large open dirt area was the parking lot where Joe Dirt realized his parents had abandoned him in the movie of the same name.

The entire town of Bedrock was built – out of styrofoam, no less – on the Vasquez Rocks property for the filming of both The Flintstones and The Flintstones: Viva Rock Vegas.

Rihanna and Justin Timberlake recently filmed their “Rehab” video at the Rocks.

And the park also flies by very quickly in fave movie Little Miss Sunshine, in the scene in which Olive and her family begin their journey from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Redondo Beach, California. The freeway they are driving on in the above screen captures is the 14.

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The rocks have also been featured in episodes of Monk, CSI:Crime Scene Investigation, Numb3rs, NCIS, Star Trek, Mission: Impossible, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, MacGyver, Charmed, The Lone Ranger, The X-Files, 24, Bonanza, Fear Factor, Roswell, Sliders, and in the movies Blazing Saddles, Holes, Alpha Dog, Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey, Starship Troopers, Wild Wild West, Short Circuit, Star Trek (2009), and Planet of the Apes (2001), among countless others. You can see an extensive breakdown of the many productions filmed at the park here.

Although the park measures well over 900 acres, the areas most commonly used for filming are those located within walking distance of the two large open dirt fields denoted in the screen captures above. The dirt fields are located very close to the main road and are easily accessible to stalkers. 🙂 While Mike and I were stalking the park, a student film was being shot on the premises and because one of the crew members thought we were part of the production – and we said nothing to dissuade him of that idea 🙂 – we were allowed to drive right up to the dirt lot. I am not sure that cars are admissible in that area on a normal basis, though.

Vasquez Rocks is an absolutely BEAUTIFUL place – one of the most unique and picturesque spots I’ve ever had the privilege of seeing with my own two eyes – and I HIGHLY recommend stalking it!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Vasquez Rocks County Park is located at 10700 Escondido Canyon Road in Agua Dulce. The park is open daily from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

January 19, 2010January 19, 2010

Julia Child’s Childhood Home

One of the best things about being a member of the Screen Actors Guild is that each and every January all guild members receive, often without notice, DVDs of various movies that have been nominated for an upcoming SAG award. These DVDs are doled out “for your consideration” so that members can watch them before casting their ballots for the upcoming awards. And, let me tell you, I can hardly stand the anticipation as I head to my mailbox each day during awards season, wondering what treasure I will find waiting for me in there. It’s like Christmas in January! This week alone I received five different DVDs, one of which was Julie & Julia. Ironically enough, while at a birthday celebration last Sunday night, some new friends were inquiring about my blog and asked if I had yet to see the Meryl Streep/Amy Adams movie, which I had not. They ordered me to run right out and rent it immediately, as not only was it a fabulous flick, but its plot also centered around the true life story of an intrepid young blogger named Julie Powell who they said reminded them of me. So, you can imagine my surprise when I opened up my mailbox just a few days later and found a copy of Julie & Julia waiting for me! YAY! So, I, of course, watched the movie that very night. I honestly didn’t have high hopes for it, though, despite the glowing recommendation I had just heard, because I am not that interested in the culinary arts. Actually, truth be told, I am not AT ALL interested in anything having to do with the culinary arts. I am an absolutely HORRIBLE cook. I somehow managed to ruin an entire serving of rice the other night – while using a RICE COOKER, no less! I am very lucky, though, because my fiancé actually does all of the cooking in our household. He LOVES to cook – says it calms him after a long day at work – and, really, who am I to argue? 😉 What can I say, he’s the perfect guy – he not only brings home the bacon, but cooks it, too! Anyway, amazingly enough, I ended up absolutely ADORING Julie & Julia. I pretty much loved EVERYTHING about the movie – both Meryl Streep and Amy Adam’s performances, the love both women had for their husbands, the amazing life story of the famous chef and how she inspired a young government worker to spend an entire year cooking out of one of her cookbooks and then writing a blog based on her experiences. But what I loved the most about Julie & Julia is the fact that it is the very first movie ever to be based on a blog. Now I just need someone to create a movie based on my blog and I’d be one happy camper! 🙂 Amazingly enough, the movie also inspired me, rice-ruining Lindsay, to cook! I have never in my life had a desire to cook anything – ever. But after watching Julie & Julia, I immediately ran right out and bought my very first cookbook, written by Julia Child, of course. I opted to purchase The Way To Cook, instead of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, which is the tome Julie Powell conquered in the movie, because the former is geared toward people with “little to no cooking experience”, which, let’s face it, describes me to a T! 🙂 But more on that later. Anyway, while watching Julie & Julia, I was shocked to find out that Julia Child actually grew up in Pasadena – the same city which I now call home! So, after watching the movie, I went on a cyberstalking mission to find her childhood house and almost immediately came across a website called Pasadena Daily Photo, which spelled it all out for me! Thank you, Pasadena Daily Photo! 🙂 So, the next morning, I dragged my dad right out to stalk the place.

As the daughter of John McWilliams, Jr., a successful landowner, and Julia Carolyn Weston, heir to the Weston Paper Company fortune, Julia Child grew up very wealthy. The Colonial-style home pictured above was built for her parents in 1912 by architect Reginald Johnson, who was also responsible for designing Pasadena’s All Saints’ Church and Santa Barbara’s Biltmore Hotel, among numerous other prominent Southern California structures. The home, which boasts five bedrooms, five bathrooms, and a whopping 4,210 square feet of living space, is truly ginormous and beautiful in person and it definitely has that Old Pasadena feel to it! It was so fascinating to be standing there decades later, imaging Julia Child as a little girl playing in the front yard, looking out the blue-shuttered windows, and walking in and out of the front door. While living in this house, Julia attended the prominent Westridge School for Girls, which is also located in Pasadena. While doing a bit of research on the world-famous chef, I found out that while growing up Julia’s family not only employed full-time drivers, gardeners and housekeepers, but chefs, as well. Ironic, dontcha think? 😉 And, her parents also honeymooned at San Diego’s Hotel Del Coronado, an oft-used filming location which I blogged about last summer. 🙂 So cool!!!

Taking a page from Julie Powell, I decided to not only cook a Julia Child meal this past Friday night, but to also blog about my experiences, as well. Like a dolt, though, I completely forgot to take photographs of the finished feast, so you’ll just have to take my word for it that it turned out beautifully. 🙂 For the meal I decided to cook Julia’s Cream of Mushroom Soup, Broccoli-Sauced Broccoli, and Chicken Breasts Meuniere: Sautéed in Butter. And while the chicken and soup turned out simply AMAZING – so amazing that I am still finding it difficult to believe I actually cooked them – the broccoli left a bit to be desired. But I am fairly certain that was due to me either leaving out an ingredient or misreading an instruction somewhere along the way, because the finished product did not look anything like its photograph in the book. When I realized I had messed up the dish, I had visions of Rachel Green after she completed her English Trifle/Mincemeat Pie desert in “The One Where Ross Got High” episode of Friends. 🙂 Anyway, I’d like to share a few things that I learned while cooking on Friday. One – my fiancé and I do not own a set of measuring spoons. How that’s even possible I’m not sure! Two – simmer does not mean low heat, as I had previously believed. It actually refers to a temperature just below boiling. And three – cooking is HARD WORK! It’s enjoyable work, don’t get me wrong, but, wow, it’s WORK! I had no idea how hard it was. I truly felt like I needed a nap afterwards. 🙂 But it was also extremely fun and I am already looking forward to my next go at it. I swear, if you had told me two weeks ago that I’d actually be able to enjoy the act of cooking in the near future, I never would have believed you in a million years.

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Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Julia Child’s childhood home is located at 625 Magnolia Avenue in Pasadena.

January 14, 2010January 14, 2010

Joe Jost’s from “Win a Date with Tad Hamilton”

As I’ve mentioned countless times before, Win a Date with Tad Hamilton is one of my all time favorite movies. And I have long been dying to stalk the restaurant which stood in for Lil’ Dickens, the Frazier’s Bottom bar where Rosalie (aka Kate Bosworth), Pete (aka Topher Grace), Cathy (aka Ginnifer Goodwin), and Tad (aka Josh Duhamel – sigh!) hung out in the flick. In real life, that bar is named Joe Jost’s and it is actually located in Long Beach, California, a good 2,300 miles west of the real Frazier’s Bottom. So, since we were in the area this past weekend, I just had to drag my fiancé right out to stalk the place.

Joe Jost’s was founded in 1924 by a man named, you guessed it, Joe Jost, who was born in a small town in Yugoslavia. At only 16 years of age, after a four year apprenticeship in a barbershop, Joe left Yugoslavia and immigrated to the U.S. He first settled in New York City where he continued his work as a barber for a few years before moving to the West Coast and setting up a home in Upland, California. In 1920, Joe opened up the first Joe Jost’s, a combination barber shop/pool hall/bar/restaurant, in Newport Beach where he sold such goods as candy, cigarettes, and because prohibition was in effect, a non-alcoholic drink known as “near beer”. In 1924, Joe moved his unique shop to its current location on Anaheim Street in Long Beach. It wasn’t long, though, before the Barbering Commission closed down the barber shop portion of the establishment, claiming that cutting hair in close proximity to alcohol being served was not “safe”. LOL So, Joe abruptly removed his barbershop chairs and installed booths – the very same booths where Joe’s customers still sit today! So cool! 🙂 Joe’s enjoyed immediate success as a restaurant and even managed to sustain itself throughout the depression years. To date, the place has served over 5,000,000 Joe’s Special Sandwiches, over 7,000,000 pickled eggs, over 15,000,000 glasses of beer, and over 1,800,000 pounds of Marmion’s peanuts! Joe’s is such an institution in Long Beach, in fact, that a term known as “josting” has been coined. Josting refers to the act of taking a photograph of oneself in different locations all around the world while wearing a Joe Jost’s T-Shirt. And, let me tell you, the T-shirts have been EVERYWHERE! Joe’s walls are literally COVERED in such photographs and I can’t tell you how incredible it was to be looking at the hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of pictures of said patrons – always with their backs to the camera so that the Joe’s logo can be clearly seen – in such far off places as the Pyramids in Egypt, Heidelberg Castle in Germany, Namoto Island in Fiji, and the Arctic Circle (not kidding!). Most amazing of all, though, were the numerous photographs of soldiers currently stationed in Iraq wearing Joe’s T-shirts. Incredible! What an unbelievably cool tradition!!!

Because my fiancé and I were first-timers, we had to try one of everything on the menu. And I have to say that even though I am a horribly picky eater, I LOVED it all! The pickled egg (pictured above) – which sounds disgusting, I know – was incredible, the Marmion’s peanuts were de-lish!, and the Special . . . oh my god, the Special! What can I even say about it except that it was simply A-MA-ZING! Joe’s Special consists of a homemade Polish sausage (made from their own secret recipe), a pickle, a slice of Swiss Cheese, and mustard smacked in between two slices of rye bread. And, oh my lord, is it good!

Because Lil’ Dickens is the regular hangout of Rosalie, Pete, and Cathy, Joe Jost’s shows up quite a few times in Win a Date. The areas used include the main bar;

and the billiards room, which was decked out with tables and chairs for the filming.

Sadly, though, Pete and Rosie’s dart board was just a prop that was brought in for the filming and is not there in real life. 🙁

Oddly enough, the area of the restaurant that I was most interested in stalking was the men’s bathroom, not so much because I wanted to see it in person, but because I wanted to verify if it was really there. As I had suspected, though, the Lil’ Dickens bathroom, in which Pete confronts Tad telling him that if he breaks Rosalie’s heart he’ll tear him to pieces with his “bare hands or vicious rhetoric” LOL, is not the real Joe Jost’s bathroom. Joe’s men’s room actually consists of one single room with a toilet and a sink (yes, I actually sent my fiancé in there to report back to me!), and because the scene called for a considerably larger restroom with actual stalls, a set had to be built. Interestingly enough, though, according to Dan, one of the SUPER nice Joe’s crew members that I spoke with, the Lil’ Dickens bathroom set was actually built right there on the Joe Jost’s property, in the back area of the restaurant.

The crew even ended up using the real Joe’s men’s room door, after making some small modifications, as the door of the Lil’ Dickens men’s room set. So cool!!!!

The crew also modified the real life Joe Jost sign, which is located in the pool hall area of the restaurant, into a Lil’ Dickens sign for the shoot. Love it! 🙂

Win a Date is hardly the only production to film at Joe’s, though. The restaurant is also where Kevin Costner took Whitney Houston on a date in 1992’s The Bodyguard.

And where they danced to John Doe’s version of the song “I Will Always Love You”, which Whitney calls “depressing” in the scene. LOL

The interior of Joe’s also stood in for the bar where Angelina Jolie worked in Gone in 60 Seconds.

The exterior of that bar (pictured above), however, was a different location altogether.

Joe’s showed up twice in the 2007 movie License to Wed, first as the site of Mandy Moore and John Krasinski’s pre-marriage group counseling . . .

. . . and second as the spot where John and his friend, DeRay Davis, grab a drink towards the end of the movie.

Producers definitely took some liberties when filming the exterior scenes for License to Wed, though. In the flick, it is made to appear as if Joe’s is part of a tall building located underneath the L Train somewhere in Chicago. In real life, though, Joe’s is a simple, small, one-story structure located on a busy Long Beach street corner. I SO love how they incorporated the real life Joe’s storefront into the digitally altered Chicago-area establishing shots, though, rather than using a real Chicago location for the exterior. So cool! Joe’s has also been featured in the movies Madison, The Vanishing, and True Confessions and in episodes of Chance of a Lifetime, The ‘60s, Roswell, Boomtown, Clubhouse, and Classmates. You can see a full list of Joe’s Hollywood credits here.

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Joe Jost’s is a VERY cool place and I honestly can’t recommend stalking it – or ordering up one of its Specials – enough!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Joe Jost’s is located at 2803 East Anaheim Street in Long Beach. You can visit their website here.

January 11, 2010January 11, 2010

Katherine Heigl’s Apartment Building from “The Ugly Truth”

A few months back I received an email from a woman named Marilyn (love it!) who wanted to know if I could track down the apartment building where Katherine Heigl lived in the 2009 romantic comedy The Ugly Truth. But because I am not a big Katherine Heigl fan – I just think the girl has entirely too much to say about . . . well, everything – I had yet to see the movie and didn’t really plan on doing so. So, I enlisted the help of fellow stalker Owen in tracking this location down and, even though he had yet to see the movie either, he found the place in record time! Thank you, Owen! 🙂 But then a funny thing happened. Once Owen gave me the address and I started looking at aerial views of the building via Google maps, I became more and more intrigued by it until I finally broke down and rented The Ugly Truth. And you know what? I absolutely LOVED it! In fact, I watched it twice!! 🙂 The Ugly Truth is cute and funny and both Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler are fabulous in it! Although, truth be told, I’m not sure if I liked the flick because it was actually a good movie or because my expectations were so incredibly low that I couldn’t help but be pleasantly surprised while watching. Either way, I truly enjoyed The Ugly Truth and my opinion of its leading lady couldn’t help but be improved after watching it. 🙂 So, once I had seen the movie, I, of course, just had to drag my fiancé out to stalk the building where Katherine Heigl’s character lived.

In The Ugly Truth, Katherine Heigl’s character “Abby” supposedly lives in the Sacramento area. But in real life, her Mediterranean-style complex, which is named “El Mirador”, is located a good 380 miles south of the state capital in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles. El Mirador, which is not to be confused with the famous El Mirador apartment building in West Hollywood, was built in 1936 and consists of several privately owned townhomes. The complex is truly charming in person and I absolutely fell in love with the place. Although I must say I am rather surprised that it was chosen to masquerade as a Sacramento area residence in The Ugly Truth, as, to me, the place just screams Southern California. The Ugly Truth complex is actually very reminiscent of both Le Borghese Apartments from the movie Mulholland Drive and the El Cabrillo Apartments from ‘Til There Was You and the television series Chuck. In fact, El Mirador is such a typical L.A. area courtyard building that I can’t imagine it existing anywhere else. But, then again, being that I haven’t spent all that much time in Sacramento, maybe there are similar style buildings located there, as well.

Sadly, not much of El Mirador can be seen from the street thanks to a large grove of trees planted along the perimeter of the property. But thankfully there is a little window in the complex’s front gate, through which I was able to take the pictures you see in the this post. 🙂

After I sent Marilyn the address of The Ugly Truth building, she sent me back the images pictured above from a Craig’s List posting she had stumbled upon advertising the rental of one of the El Mirador Townhomes. As you can see in the photos, while the interior of Katherine’s apartment in the flick was actually just a set built on a studio soundstage, it was, in fact, modeled after the real life interiors of the El Mirador. 🙂 So darn cool!

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Big THANK YOU to Owen for finding this location and to Marilyn for sending me the Craig’s List images! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Katherine Heigl’s apartment building from The Ugly Truth is located at 1930 Rodney Drive in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles.

January 8, 2010January 8, 2010

The “Dude, Where’s My Car?” Houses

About six or seven years ago, my best friend Robin came to visit me from Switzerland for a few weeks and one night we found ourselves renting the 2000 cult comedy Dude, Where’s My Car? Being that the entire premise of the flick centers around two guys who lose their car, I honestly didn’t have very high expectations for the movie, but, let me tell you, Robin and I were pretty much dying laughing throughout the entire thing. And if I’m not mistaken, I believe we even re-watched it again the following evening. 🙂 What can I say – I’m a big fan of lowbrow humor. 🙂 Robin and my catch phrase for a good year or two after that was “And then? And then? And then?” LOL I should admit here that I’ve also always had a special place in my heart for Ashton Kutcher (even though it’s truly difficult to like anyone who Twitters as much as he does) thanks to a story told to me by an acquaintance who spent an evening with him about a decade ago. According to my friend, who worked in PR at the time, back in the late 90s before Ashton had become a household name, she attended some sort of showbiz party with the rising star and a group of his friends. After the party, the entire group ended up crashing at Ashton’s house. The following morning, my friend awoke when Ashton Kutcher entered the room she had been sleeping in, pounced on her bed, grabbed her pillow out from under her head and proceeded to smack her in the face with it while screaming “PILLOW FIGHT!” Well, let me tell you, my friend was NOT happy about her unexpected wake-up call. Of the incident, she later said to me – and I quote – “All I could think was, did Ashton Kutcher honestly just pillow fight me????” LOL LOL LOL Needless to say, she and Ashton didn’t speak much after that, but once I heard the story I couldn’t help but love the guy. If someone had woken me up with a pillow to the face like that, I can honestly say that they would have become my new best friend! 🙂 What can I say, I love childish antics! Anyway, every time I see Ashton Kutcher onscreen now, I can’t help but think of my friend’s story and smile. So, when fellow stalker Chas texted me to let me know that Robert Patterson – not to be confused with actor Robert Pattinson 🙂 – from the website Movie Locations and More had tracked down two of the main houses used in Dude, Where’s My Car?, I just about died of excitement and immediately ran right out to stalk both of them. Thank you, Robert! 🙂

The first Dude, Where’s My Car? location Robert tracked down was the house belonging to Chester and Jesse (aka Seann William Scott and Ashton Kutcher) in the flick. And as you can see in the above screen captures and photographs, the residence has been cleaned up quite a bit since filming took place there ten years ago. I am not sure if the house was in a state of disarray prior to the filming and that’s why it was chosen or if producers had the place dressed down for the production, but either way it looks quite different today than it did when Dude, Where’s My Car? was filmed. And while I would normally be upset over someone altering a movie house, being that the dudes’ home was pretty much in shambles in the movie, this is one case where I really can’t fault the owner for changing things around. I am pretty sure I would do the very same thing. 😉 But even with a new walkway, new windows, a new paintjob, and new landscaping, I am happy to report that the Dude, Where’s My Car? house is still recognizable from the movie. The porch steps, porch light, porch awning, and address plaque all still look exactly the same today as they did in the flick. 🙂 YAY! (On a side note – I really have to apologize for the photos that appear in this post – they were taken right at dusk after a long day of stalking and unfortunately, due to the poor lighting, did not come out very well.)

The second house that Robert located was the residence belonging to the Twins (aka Marla Sokoloff and a very young Jennifer Garner) in the flick. The Twin’s house also looks quite a bit different today than how it appeared in the movie. And I have to say that I actually prefer the home’s movie appearance to the way it looks in real life, because, like all girls, I am a fan of Tiffany Blue and I just love that it was used as the house’s trim color in Dude, Where’s My Car? So darn cute! Also missing in real life is the circular popped out window that is located above the home’s front porch in the movie – a feature that I am assuming was added solely for the filming and then later removed. I am happy to report, though, that the white picket fence that got destroyed in Dude, Where’s My Car? is in fact a real feature of the house. In real life, though, it’s in a bit better shape than how it was portrayed in the movie. 😉

And a little bit of movie trivia for you – a pre-Bachelor Charlie O’Connell, brother of actor Jerry O’Connell, had a fairly large role in Dude, Where’s My Car? playing Kristy Swanson’s jerk boyfriend, Tommy.

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On a side note – For some odd reason, for the past few months I have been having a hard time responding to the comments on my blog and neither my fiancé nor I can figure out what the problem is. So, if you’ve been wondering why I haven’t responded to comments lately, that’s why. Hopefully we can get the problem worked out soon, but in the meantime keep commenting and I will try to respond when I can. Thanks for your patience with this and thank you to everyone who has been responding to the comments for me. I really appreciate it. 🙂

Big THANK YOU to Robert from Movie Locations and More for finding these locations! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Jesse and Chester’s house from Dude, Where’s My Car? is located at 4177 Bakman Drive in North Hollywood. Wanda and Wilma’s house from the movie is located just around the corner at 4160 Klump Avenue, also in North Hollywood.

January 6, 2010January 6, 2010

The “Father of the Bride” Churches

One location that I have wanted to stalk for what seems like years now is the church where Annie Banks married Bryan MacKenzie in my all time favorite wedding movie, the 1991 classic Father of the Bride. But, according to IMDB, two different locations actually stood in for Annie’s wedding church in the film – one for the exterior shots and a different one altogether for the interior scenes. And I’d been longing to stalk both of them pretty much ever since I moved to the Southern California area. What I didn’t realize at the time, though, was that IMDB actually got one of the churches – the one which they claim was used for the establishing shots – wrong. Get out of here! IMDB posted a bogus address?? Well, I simply don’t believe it! 😉 Thankfully though, fellow stalker Owen stepped in and decided to put the mystery of Annie’s wedding location to rest once and for all. While doing some cyberstalking recently, he happened to stumble upon this blog in which the author randomly mentions that he lives down the street from the church used in Father of the Bride. So, Owen contacted the blog author and asked for the name and address of the church, which he happily gave him and, voila, the mystery was solved! YAY! And once I had the correct addresses, I immediately dragged my fiancé right out to stalk both churches!

Surprisingly enough, even though the church used for the exterior shots – which is named HOPE Christian Fellowship in real life – looks very much the same today as it did when Father of the Bride was filmed back in 1991, it wasn’t at all what I was expecting to see in person. In the movie, the church, which is covered in snow thanks to an unprecedented Los Angeles snowstorm which takes place the night before Annie’s wedding, seems to be a charming, little small-town type of parish. But in real life, HOPE Christian Fellowship is located on a very busy and very wide thoroughfare, which takes away from its small-town feel. Other than that, though, I am happy to report that the church – and its bell tower – look pretty much identical in person to how they appeared onscreen in Father of the Bride. 🙂

The interior scenes of the Banks/MacKenzie wedding were filmed at Trinity Church in Santa Monica (pictured above), which is located a good thirty miles away from HOPE Christian Fellowship. Why the producers chose to film at two churches that were located thirty miles away from each other is beyond me, especially since the exteriors of both are quite similar looking. I am guessing, though, that they wanted the exterior of Annie’s wedding church to have a quaint feel to it, and Trinity Church, while pretty, is anything but quaint. You would think that producers would have been able to find a quaint church in the Santa Monica area to use for the exteriors, but I guess that’s Hollywood for you! 🙂

According to an EXTREMELY nice congregation member whom I spoke with named Bob, the Father of the Bride producers had the interior of Trinity Church painted for the filming and it has not been repainted since! So, in essence, the church still looks EXACTLY the same today as it did when the movie was filmed back in 1991! How incredibly cool is that??? Sadly, though, Bob told me that there are currently plans in the works to paint the entire interior an ivory color sometime this year. SO SAD! I tried to talk Bob into leaving the church exactly as it appeared in the movie, but unfortunately, being that I am not a member of the congregation, I don’t think what I had to say had much merit. LOL So, if you are a fan of FOTB and want to stalk the church where Annie got married, I suggest you do so sooner rather than later, as Trinity may look a whole lot different in the coming months. 🙁 Bob, who was actually the very person who negotiated the deal for Father of the Bride to be filmed at Trinity, also told me that producers had the crew lower the church’s overhead hanging lights for the filming, after which time they were returned to their normal height. As you can see in the above screen captures, the lights do not hang quite as low in real life as they did in the movie. The crew also brought in a red carpet to cover up the white tile located in the lobby’s entrance area and after the filming was over that carpet was gifted to the church. In fact, that very same carpet is still used to this day when the church hosts special events such as – you guessed it – weddings! 🙂 So cool!

As you can see in the above screen capture, it also appears that producers covered one of the church’s side doors with a fake wall for the filming, to make it appear as though the lobby had an ante-room. In reality, though, that area is little more than a hallway. Other than the height of the lights, the lobby rug, and the covering of the side door, though, Trinity Church still looks EXACTLY – and I do mean EXACTLY – the same today as it did when Father of the Bride was filmed there 18 years ago! Love it! Love it! Love it!

And, of course, I just had to take a picture sitting in the spot where George and Nina Banks (aka Steve Martin and Diane Keaton) sat during Annie’s wedding. In real life, though, there is no barrier separating the first row of pews from the altar as there was in the movie.

Trinity’s main entrance doors were also used in Father of the Bride, in the very brief scene in which Annie and her new husband, Bryan, exit the church immediately following their wedding ceremony.

Trinity Church of Santa Monica is absolutely beautiful in person and the people I spoke with while there could NOT have been nicer to me or more informative! I honestly can’t recommend stalking the place – or even getting married there – enough! If I didn’t already have my wedding venue locked down, I would seriously consider Trinity Church. I mean, how cool would be it be to get married in the same place where Annie Banks tied the knot? 😉

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Big THANK YOU to Owen for finding these locations! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The church used for the exterior shots in Father of the Bride is named HOPE Christian Fellowship and it is located at 6116 North San Gabriel Boulevard in San Gabriel. You can visit their website here. The church used for the interior shots is named Trinity Church of Santa Monica and it is located at 1015 California Avenue in Santa Monica. You can visit their website here.

December 28, 2009December 28, 2009

Wollman Ice Skating Rink

I’m sticking with my Christmas stalking theme for one more day – even though it’s already December 28th – as I had originally intended to publish this post on Christmas Eve, but, unfortunately, ran out of time. As I’ve said many times before, though, it’s better to be late than never! So, here goes! One New York location that definitely belongs in any collection of Christmas movie locales is Wollman Ice Skating Rink, a spot which appeared in one of my very favorite holiday flicks of all time, Home Alone 2: Lost In New York. I had the pleasure of skating at Wollman Rink with my fiancé back in 2004 and absolutely fell in love with the place. With the Plaza Hotel and other New York skyscrapers towering in the background, the rink actually looks more like a picture postcard than a real life location. If you haven’t been there yourself, take my word for it, Wollman Rink is absolutely magical. 🙂

Wollman Rink was originally constructed in 1949 thanks to a $600,000 donation from New York philanthropist Kate Wollman. Kate had the ice skating rink built in honor of her parents, Jonas and Bettie, and her four brothers, William, Morton, Henry, and Benjamin. From the beginning, Wollman Rink was an immediate success, welcoming over 300,000 skaters in its first year alone. Today, it is visited by an average of 4,000 skaters per day.

Like practically everything else in New York, Wollman Rink is currently owned and operated by real estate mogul Donald Trump, who purchased and completely rebuilt the property back in the ‘90s. His name is displayed on almost every square inch of the rink, lest anyone ever forget who it belongs to. 😉 In the summer months, the rink is transformed into a small amusement park named Victorian Gardens. Wollman Rink is not to be confused with the similarly named Kate Wollman Memorial Rink, which was constructed in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park by the William J. Wollman Foundation upon Kate’s death in 1955.

Thanks to its picturesque appearance, Wollman Rink has long been a favorite of location scouts, appearing in countless movies and television shows over the years. In Home Alone 2: Lost In New York, Harry and Marv, aka “The Sticky Bandits”, plan their robbery of Duncan’s Toy Chest while skating at Wollman Rink. Ironically enough, though, before my first visit to New York, this stalker was under the mistaken assumption that the Home Alone scene had been filmed at the famous Rockefeller Center ice staking rink. It wasn’t until I started making a stalking itinerary for my first Big Apple vacation that I realized my mistake. As it turns out, New York has not one, but TWO cinematically historic ice skating rinks. But I’ll save the Rockefeller Center rink for a future post. 😉

Wollman Rink also appeared in the Season One episode of Gossip Girl entitled “Roman Holiday”, in the scene in which Blair Waldorf (aka Leighton Meester), along with her mother, her father, and her father’s new boyfriend go ice skating just a few days before Christmas.

On a side note – I am absolutely IN LOVE with the skates with the hanging pink pompoms that Blair wore in that scene!!!! I have GOT to get me a pair of those! 🙂

In Serendipity – one of my fave romcoms of all time! – Jonathan (aka John Cusack) and Sara (aka Kate Beckinsale) go for a late night skate at Wollman Rink after sharing a Frrrozen Hot Chocolate at Serendipity 3 Restaurant.

After their skate, Jonathan draws the constellation of Cassiopeia on Sara’s arm while sitting on the rink’s benches.

And at the end of the movie, the two star-crossed lovers finally reunite at the rink. Wollman Rink has also been featured in Stepmom, Autumn in New York, Love Story, The January Man, The Devil’s Own, Odds Against Tomorrow, Carnal Knowledge, August Rush, A Journey That Wasn’t, Love and Other Impossible Pursuits, and the 2005 version of King Kong.

Celebrities also often visit Wollman Rink. In December of 2005, Tom Cruise took his then-pregnant girlfriend Katie Holmes there to celebrate her 27th birthday.

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Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Wollman Rink is located inside Central Park, near the corner of Central Park South and 5th Avenue, in New York. Follow the footpath from the Park’s 59th Street entrance over Gapstow Bridge and the rink will be visible on the west. Wollman Rink is open from November through March. You can visit its official website here.

December 22, 2009December 22, 2009

The Martini House from “It’s A Wonderful Life”

As difficult as it may be to believe, even though I absolutely love Christmas and even though I am a huge film buff, up until this past weekend I had never in my life watched the 1946 holiday classic It’s A Wonderful Life. I know, I know, for a person like me, not having seen that movie borders on sacrilege! But when fellow stalker David contacted me a few months back and let me know that he had tracked down a location used in the film, I just HAD to stalk the place – and, of course, include it in my Christmas posts. I also just HAD to sit down and finally watch It’s A Wonderful Life, which my fiancé and I did this past Saturday night. I have to admit that I didn’t actually have high hopes for the flick, as I pretty much expected it to be right on par with Citizen Kane, a movie I could hardly sit through despite the fact that it is generally regarded as the greatest film of all time. So, I was absolutely shocked when I ended up LOVING It’s A Wonderful Life. The movie was funny, heart-warming, and poignant. Most shocking of all, though, was how prevalent and timeless it actually was, despite the fact that it was filmed over 63 years ago. I literally almost fell off the couch laughing in the scene in which the Bailey’s housekeeper, Annie, eavesdrops on George and his father’s dinner conversation, causing George to say, “Well, Annie, why don’t you draw up a chair, then you’d be more comfortable and you could hear everything that’s going on.” LOL LOL LOL For those of you hold-outs out there who have yet to watch It’s A Wonderful Life, the movie truly is a must-see – especially in these days leading up to Christmas. 🙂

Unlike me, fellow stalker David has long been a fan of It’s A Wonderful Life. In the late ‘80s, he even got to stalk the inside of the Beverly Hills High School gym, where the infamous Charleston dance contest scene took place. And, yes, the floor of the BHHS gym really does open up to reveal a 25-yard swimming pool which is housed beneath. You can see a photograph of the pool here. So cool! Anyway, flash forward to about twenty years later when David’s wife bought him a book about the making of It’s A Wonderful Life for Christmas. The book stated that the house belonging to the Martini Family in the movie was located somewhere in La Canada Flintridge, a small city situated just outside of Pasadena. So, of course, David got to cyber-stalking, but, sadly, couldn’t seem to locate the residence. A short while later, though, he discovered a little website called Zillow, which he used to search the La Canada Flintridge area, and voila, it wasn’t long before he stumbled upon the correct house! YAY! David immediately posted the newfound address on Wikipedia’s It’s A Wonderful Life page, but – surprise, surprise – that information was quickly removed due to the fact that no source had been cited. Why legitimate information on Wikipedia is continuously removed while incongruous information is allowed to stay posted is BEYOND me. Not that I am bitter about it or anything. 😉 Anyway, David got into a bit of a Wiki-war with the administrators of the encyclopedia website, re-posting the information each and every time it was taken down LOL, which finally resulted in his posting about the house being deleted from the site for good. But, ironically enough, in the midst of the Wikipedia battle, numerous filming location websites and It’s A Wonderful Life fansites picked up David’s information and posted it online, ultimately resulting in Wikipedia re-posting the address and deeming it “reliable” years later. LOVE IT! 🙂

The Martini House is featured very briefly in It’s A Wonderful Life, in the scene in which George (aka James Stewart) welcomes the Martini Family to their new home in Bailey Park and his wife Mary (aka Donna Reed) presents them with bread, so “that this house will never known hunger”, salt, so “that life will always have flavor”, and wine, so “that joy and prosperity may reign forever”. 🙂 I am very happy to report that the house looks EXACTLY the same today – over 63 years later!!!!!! – as it did when the movie was filmed! 🙂 Even the position of the address number, the doorbell, and the mail slot are EXACTLY the same! LOVE IT! LOVE IT! LOVE IT! 🙂

The Martini’s neighbor’s home, which flashes by quickly in the scene, also looks very much the same as it did back in 1946.

A few of the other homes on the street were also featured briefly in the Martini house scene, but as you can see in the above screen captures and photographs, those residences look much different today.

And try as I might, I have not been able to determine the exact house in front of which Sam Wainwright was parked during that scene, but I am pretty sure it is the property pictured above, which as you can see, has also changed significantly. Don’t quote me on that one, though. 🙂

The shot showing the Bailey Park entrance sign was filmed just down the street from the Martini House, at the corner of Viro Road and Lamour Drive, but as you can see in the above screen capture and photograph, that corner looks much different today. The curved tree where the sign once hung is now gone and new foliage has popped up all along Viro Road blocking the view of most of the houses.

In real life, the Martini neighborhood was completed in 1946, just prior to the filming of It’s A Wonderful Life. With the picturesque mountains in the background and the obviously new construction, it’s not hard to see why producers chose the community to stand in for the newly built Bailey Park neighborhood in the flick. As you can see, though, the area has grown quite significantly since the ‘40s.

I highly recommend stalking the Martini house to all fans of It’s A Wonderful Life. It truly is remarkable to see a location look exactly the same in person as it did in a movie which was filmed over six decades ago!

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Big THANK YOU to David for finding this location.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Martini house from It’s A Wonderful Life is located at 4587 Viro Road in La Canada Flintridge. The neighbor’s house is located at 4581 Viro Road. The entrance to the Bailey Park community can be found at the Southwest corner of Viro Road and Lamour Drive. In the shot showing the Bailey Park sign, the camera was looking north. In the scene, George’s car turns west off of Viro Road onto East Lamour Drive, but, in reality, he should have just continued straight on Viro Road to head to the Martini House. The houses George and Mary walk in front of at the end of the scene are located at 4588 and 4592 Viro Road. And, finally, I believe that the house where Sam’s car was parked is located at 4582 Viro Road.

December 21, 2009January 12, 2011

Bullocks Wilshire – The Department Store from “Christmas Vacation”

One location that I have been dying to stalk for months now is the former Bullocks Wilshire department store located just outside of Downtown Los Angeles – a spot which has been featured in countless productions since its grand opening way back in 1929. And, even though I am usually a big fan of immediate gratification, I waited to stalk this location until just recently as I wanted to blog about it in December, along with my other Christmas movie posts. So, what holiday movie was the building featured in, you ask? One of my very favorite Christmas flicks of all time – the 1989 holiday classic Christmas Vacation. In the movie, Bullocks Wilshire stood in for the Chicago area department store where Clark Griswold (aka Chevy Chase), accompanied by his son, Rusty (aka The Big Bang Theory’s Johnny Galecki), shopped for lingerie. I found this location thanks to fellow stalker Mike, from MovieShotsLA, who, as luck would have it, just happened to be driving right by the department store on the day filming took place way back in 1989. Once Mike noticed the production trucks, he, of course, immediately pulled over to inquire about what was being filmed and to watch some of the action. And, let me tell you, when Mike told me about the location a few months back, I just about passed out from excitement as I had always wanted to know where that scene had taken place! Thank you, Mike! 🙂

The Bullocks Wilshire building was originally built in 1929 by the father and son architecture firm of John and Donald Parkinson, a team who was also responsible for designing the Continental Building, which is better known as Los Angeles’ first skyscraper, Union Station, L.A.’s City Hall and the Memorial Coliseum. Department store magnate John G. Bullock commissioned the building in the hopes of creating the most luxurious and upscale shopping experience Angelinos had ever seen. The interior, which was designed by Eleanor Lemaire and Jock Peters, was the utmost in splendor, featuring travertine flooring, marble walls, ornate elevators, and rosewood display cases.

For the design of the relief located above the department store’s Wilshire Boulevard entrance, which reads, “To build a business that will never known completion”, Bullock looked to MGM art director Cedric Gibbons, who is best known for designing the first ever Oscar statue.

Because Bullock wanted to cater to the growing number of motorists in the L.A. area, the department store was the first in Los Angeles ever to feature a porte cochere, aka a covered driveway under which shoppers could hand over their vehicles to waiting valets.

The building’s most remarkable feature – in my mind, at least – has to be the highly elaborate mural painted on the ceiling of the porte cochere. Romanian painter Herman Sachs designed the brightly colored fresco secco as a tribute to Mercury, the god of travel. The painting features renderings of different forms of modern-day transportation, including airplanes, trains, and ships.

Upon its opening on September 26, 1929, the 241 foot tall Bullocks Wilshire encompassed over 230,000 square feet of retail space which included a perfume hall, a penthouse tea room, a “doggery” which sold trinkets for shoppers’ furry companions, a saddle shop, a Louis XVI room, a furrier, live mannequins, a salon, and a private suite where the truly elite could shop in complete privacy, all the while sipping martinis and snacking on the finest hors d’oeuvres. Years later, Bullock added a Chanel Room, a photography studio operated by celebrity photographer Neil Gittings, and a Ladies Custom Salon, run by future Hollywood costume designer Irene Lentz. Thanks to Bullock’s incredible attention to detail, the department store quickly became the place to see and be seen in Los Angeles. Such stars as Mae West, Clark Gable, Greta Garbo, Alfred Hitchcock, John Wayne, and Marlene Dietrich all visited Bullocks Wilshire at one time or another. And actresses June Lockhart and Angela Lansbury and former First Lady Patricia Nixon even worked there in their early years. Thanks to the building’s architectural detail and rich history, Bullocks Wilshire was added to the National Registry of Historic Places on May 25, 1978. Sadly, in the late 80s, the store began a precipitous decline, eventually being sold to the Macy’s chain. A few years later, the historic building was heavily vandalized both inside and out during the riots of 1992, with looters destroying display cases, prized artifacts, and even setting fire to the property. Bullocks Wilshire ended up closing its doors for the last time in 1993. But its story doesn’t end there. About a year later, the property was purchased by Southwestern Law School, which had long occupied a neighboring building. The school then set out on a ten year, $29 million restoration project which completely restored the historic building back to its original state. For this endeavor, Southwestern Law School received a National Preservation Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Today, Bullocks Wilshire is used as a part of the Southwestern Law School campus, where, coincidentally, actor Jerry O’Connell (husband of Rebecca Romijn) is currently a student. 🙂

And, while the building is not actually opened to the public, while stalking the place, I ventured inside and asked the security guard on duty if I might be allowed to take a quick peek. The guard truly could NOT have been nicer and allowed my fiancé and me to walk around the school. Unfortunately, though, photography is not allowed indoors, so I couldn’t take any pictures, other than the two pictured above, which I snapped through the building’s front window. But, take my word for it, the interior – which you can see photographs of here – is nothing short of magnificent. Walking into Bullocks Wilshire is like stepping back in time to a more glamorous era. The cafe, the lounge area, even the bathrooms have all been restored to their original state and I couldn’t have been more excited to be seeing it all with my own two eyes. And, even though the building is now technically a college campus, the interior still looks much as it did when it operated as an upscale department store. I was so mesmerized with the place, in fact, that I am just dying to get my hands on a copy of this book to learn more about the building’s rich history!

Bullocks Wilshire shows up just briefly in Christmas Vacation in the very memorable scene in which, while out shopping with his son Rusty, Clark Griswold meets and flirts with a lingerie saleswoman named Mary and utters that famous line, “It’s a bit nipply out”. LOL LOL LOL When I was a Senior in high school – and I should mention here that I went to a Catholic high school – one of my classmates, Marcus, came up with the inspired idea of reading a surf report to the entire school each morning during our daily announcements. Marcus’ little experiment was going well, too, until one particularly cold morning, when he announced to the student body that the ocean “was a bit nipply” that day. Needless to say, that was the end of that morning’s announcements – and our daily surf report. But, ever since that fateful day, even all these years later, I can’t help but think of Marcus and laugh every time I watch the Christmas Vacation shopping scene. 🙂

Bullocks Wilshire was also the store where Benjamin Siegel shopped at the beginning of the movie Bugsy;

its La Directoire room was the site of the ”Romantic Dinner” Taco Bell commercial featuring Gidget, the talking Chihuahua;

it was where Angela Chase (aka Claire Danes) shopped with her mother Patty (aka Bess Armstrong) in the Season 1 episode of My So-Called Life titled “The Zit”;

and the Louis XVI Room was where the Mother/Daughter Fashion Show was filmed in that same episode.

it was the location of the eponymous elevator in Aerosmith’s “Love in an Elevator” music video;

the exterior was featured briefly in Public Enemy’s “By The Time I Get to Arizona” music video;

and in The Aviator, it stood in for the nightclub where Howard Hughes and Ava Gardner got attacked by Hughes’ former girlfriend.

Supposedly, the final scene in Ghostbusters was filmed on the roof of Bullocks Wilshire, but as you can see in the above screen captures and photograph, the Ghostbusters roof and the Bullocks Wilshire roof look nothing alike. And, while it’s entirely possible that some close-up filming for that scene did take place on top of the Bullocks Wilshire tower, my best guess is that the entire scene was filmed on a studio soundstage somewhere in Hollywood. Bullocks Wilshire has also been featured in the movies Topper (where it stood in for the luxurious Connecticut area Seabreeze Hotel), Tarzan’s New York Adventure (where it was used as a New York hotel), Dunston Checks In (where it again stood in for a New York hotel), Fist of the North Star, On Deadly Ground, Family Plot, The Tie That Binds, Rough Magic, and in episodes of Murder, She Wrote, Judging Amy, and The Agency.

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Big THANK YOU to Mike for finding this location! 🙂

On a very sad side note – My thoughts and prayers go out to Brittany Murphy’s friends and loved ones today. I can’t even imagine losing someone so young, especially this close to the holidays. 🙁 Rest in peace, Brittany.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Bullocks Wilshire is located at 3050 Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. You can visit the building’s official website and see interior photographs of it here. Because Bullocks Wilshire is part of the Southwestern Law School campus, it is not open to the public. Once a year, though, tours of the property are given. You can check the Southwestern Law School website for further tour information.

December 18, 2009December 18, 2009

Nakatomi Plaza from “Die Hard”

Because we are currently knee deep in the middle of the Christmas Season – which just so happens to be my favorite season 🙂 – I decided to focus my next few blog posts on locations featured in holiday movies. And what better way to start off those Christmas posts than to blog about Nakatomi Plaza, the main building featured in the 1988 movie Die Hard. OK OK, so yes, it can be argued that Die Hard is not your traditional holiday flick, but because the entire movie takes place on the night of Christmas Eve and because Christmas music is played throughout, I deemed the production to be holiday-blog-worthy. 🙂 As surprising as it may sound, I had actually never seen Die Hard until just this past October, when my friend Robin came to visit and pretty much forced me to sit through the movie in its entirety. And, let me tell you, after it was over, I was just itching to stalk the Fox Plaza building in Century City, which stood in for Nakatomi Plaza in the flick. Fox Plaza, which measures 492 feet tall and houses a whopping 900,000 square feet of office space!!!, is the current headquarters for the 20th Century Fox film corporation. The Plaza was designed in 1987 by architects William L. Pereira, Scott Johnson, and Bill Fain. Pereira was also responsible for designing such landmarks as the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco, the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim (LOVE IT!), and the Geisel Library – named after Theodore Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss – on the campus of UC San Diego, which just so happens to be my alma mater! 🙂 Geisel Library has actually been featured in several productions, including the movie Killer Tomatoes Strike Back, but I’ll save that information for a future post 🙂

Die Hard takes place, pretty much in its entirety, on location at Fox Plaza. For the movie, both the interiors and the exteriors of the building were used. I am fairly certain, though, that the interiors of the actual Nakatomi offices, where the holiday party scenes took place, were sets that were built on a studio soundstage on the 20th Century Fox lot.

Unfortunately, most areas of the building that were featured in Die Hard are not accessible to the public. In the second aerial image of Fox Plaza pictured above, the pink arrow depicts the entrance to the building that can be viewed from the street and from where I took the photographs featured in this post, while the purple arrow denotes where most of the filming of Die Hard took place. As you can see, they are on opposite sides of the property.

The areas of Fox Plaza used in Die Hard include the building’s porte-cochere,

the revolving front doors of the main entrance;

the front desk;

the elevator bay;

and the main lobby, which we were able to snap a few photographs of through the building’s front windows. While taking said photographs, my fiancé and I were confronted by a VERY angry security guard who was obviously wearing his underpants too tight that day, because he literally came running after us to inform us, not so politely I might add, that if we did not vacate the premises immediately, we would be escorted off the property and our camera confiscated!!! I’ll never understand why people like that get so bent out of shape at us stalkers! If you’re going to put your building in a movie – in what is arguably the most famous action flick of all time, no less! – then you’ve gotta expect that people are going to want to stalk the place! It’s only natural. Geez! 😉

And, while the roof of Nakatomi Plaza was completely blown off at the end of Die Hard, that, of course, did not take place in real life. A scale model was used during the filming of the explosion scene and I am happy to report that the real Fox Plaza roof is one hundred percent intact. 😉

According to Wikipedia, the lobby of the Fox Plaza building was also used in the beginning elevator scene from the movie Speed, but that information is actually incorrect. After recently re-watching Speed, it is clear that both the interior and exterior of the Gas Company Building in Downtown Los Angeles were used for that scene. If you compare the above pictured screen captures to these photographs of the Gas Company Building, you can see that they are a perfect match. I must say that I was more than just slightly peeved to discover this erroneous information on Wikipedia, being that the encyclopedia website has apparently banned my blog from being cited as a source, deeming me “unreliable”! LOL So let me get this straight – I’m considered unreliable, but the douche bag who put up the Speed information is completely credible! Nice job, Wikipedia! Way to sift through your sources! 😉 Also according to Wikipedia (so who knows if this information is correct), Fox Plaza was featured in the 1994 movie Airheads and a cartoon rendering of it was shown in the Season 7 episode of Family Guy entitled “Fox-y Lady”. The building was also used as the law firm where Anthony LaPaglia worked in the television series Murder One. And, in real life, Ronald Reagan set up his main offices in the 34th floor penthouse of Fox Plaza following his presidency.

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Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Fox Plaza, aka Nakatomi Plaza, is located at 2121 Avenue of the Stars in Century City. Please remember that Fox Plaza is private property, so if you decide to stalk this location, DO NOT trespass, or you will be escorted off the premises and your camera confiscated. Don’t say I didn’t warn ya! 🙂 The Gas Company Tower from the beginning of Speed is located at 555 West 5th Street in Downtown Los Angeles.