Nicole Kidman – IAMNOTASTALKER

June 17, 2019July 16, 2019

Blissful Drip Café from “Big Little Lies”

Big Little Lies producers sure like their fake coffee shops! In the hit HBO series’ first season, Madeline Martha Mackenzie (Reese Witherspoon), Celeste Wright (Nicole Kidman) and Jane Chapman (Shailene Woodley) regularly hung out at Blue Blues, a supposed Old Fisherman’s Wharf restaurant that, as I mentioned here and here, was actually a studio-built set situated in front of a green screen. This season, the trio frequents Blissful Drip Café, another faux spot that was installed, not on a soundstage, but on location at Lovers Point Park in Pacific Grove. I learned about the prop coffee bar thanks to several articles written about its construction back in April 2018 (you can read one here and one here) and I, of course, made note of it. So when my friend Nat headed out to Monterey a couple of weekends ago and asked if I needed anything stalked, Lovers Point Park was the first thing I mentioned!

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Lovers Point Park and Beach is an area I am very familiar with. Growing up in nearby San Francisco, Monterey was a favorite vacation spot for my family. Countless hours were spent at the Pacific Grove retreat, namely at the snack bar overlooking the water where my dad and I would always order an extra helping of fries to feed the seagulls that would inevitably join us.

The bucolic 4.4-acre site, which regularly plays host to sunbathers, scuba divers, windsurfers, swimmers, bicyclists, runners, and fishermen, boasts a large beach surrounded by a rocky cove, a pier, a children’s swimming pool, a volleyball court, picnic areas, a restaurant, the aforementioned snack bar, and a large park situated on a grassy bluff fronting Monterey Bay.

It is the park area that serves as the home of Blissful Drip Café on Big Little Lies. In the Season 2 premiere titled “What Have They Done?”, Madeline and Celeste pop by the funky seaside coffee shop (which per Madeline “smells like weed”) after dropping their kids off for their first day of school.

While there, Madeline runs into Mary Louise Wright (Meryl Streep), who curtly informs her that she finds “little people to be untrustworthy.”

Celeste and Jane also meet up at Blissful Drip in “Tell-Tale Hearts.”

In “The End of the World,” Jane and Mary Louise have coffee and discuss Perry (Alexander Skarsgård) there, though not much of the place can be seen.

And in “She Knows,” Celeste and Mary Louise have a tense tête-à-tête at Blissful Drip.

Though the café is charming and boasts stellar views, I can’t help but miss Blue Blues while watching – not to mention Tom (Joseph Cross), the eatery’s cutie owner who struck up a romance with Jane toward the end of Season 1. Why Tom isn’t making an appearance this time around, I am unsure. (Yes, I do know that Cross landed a leading role in the upcoming Netflix series Medal of Honor, but Iain Armitage, who plays Jane’s son, Ziggy Chapman, somehow made S2 of Big Little Lies work despite being the star of Young Sheldon and I feel Joseph could have done the same.) I do have an answer for Blue Blues’ absence, though. Per a Monterey County Now article, current director Andrea Arnold, who was brought on to replace Jean-Marc Vallée, wanted to showcase more outdoor locations than were featured in Season 1. Blue Blues, therefore, was scrapped and replaced with Blissful Drip. The fake café stood at Lovers Point Park for a total of 12 days (including installation and dismantling) and cost the production $44,077.50 in park use fees. (You can check out a breakdown of those costs here and here.) According to Monterey County Now, Madeline and the gang will be hanging out at the coffee bar throughout Season 2. In fact, HBO donated the café set to Pacific Grove after filming wrapped with the understanding that the company would have access to it if the show gets picked up for a third season. What the city will end up doing with it, I don’t know, but how cool would it be if it became a real coffee shop?

In reality, the area where Blissful Drip was installed (denoted with a pink arrow below) is nothing but an empty (albeit very picturesque) patch of grass.

The exact spot where the café was built is denoted in the aerial view below, with the pentagon representing the eatery’s gazebo and the attached rectangle its trellised patio.

The very same area of Lovers Point Park was featured in Big Little Lies’ Season 1 finale titled “You Get What You Need,” in the scene in which Jane tells Celeste that it is her son, Max (Nicholas Crovetti), who has been bullying Amabella Klein (Ivy George).

The spot where Blissful Drip was constructed (denoted with a pink arrow below) was visible behind Celeste in the segment.

As I detailed in my comprehensive list of locales from the series’ first season, Lovers Point Park and Beach popped up in additional episodes of Big Little Lies, as well.

Ed Mackenzie (Adam Scott) and Nathan Carlson (James Tupper) almost go to blows on the northern edge of Lovers Point Park, just due north of where Blissful Drip was built, in “Serious Mothering.”

Jane and Ziggy hang out at Lovers Point Beach in “Push Comes to Shove” . . .

. . . and in the area just south of the beach in “Living the Dream.”

Big THANK YOU to my friend Nat for stalking this location for me!

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Lovers Point Park, where the Blissful Drip Café set was built for the second season of Big Little Lies, is located at 631 Ocean View Boulevard in Pacific Grove.

April 15, 2019August 5, 2019

The Complete Guide to the Season 1 Filming Locations of “Big Little Lies”

As longtime readers know, I watch a LOT of TV. Only a handful of shows have ever become full-fledged obsessions, though, Beverly Hills, 90210, The Hills, and Big Littles Lies among them. The second season of the latter will finally be debuting in June and I am beyond excited! I cannot wait to revisit the women of Monterey! Can we just fast-forward to summer already? To stave off my anticipation, I recently did some more digging into locations from the show’s inaugural season and figured I should update my 2017 round-up of spots featured on the series accordingly. So here goes! As was the case with that post, because I have not visited the majority of these sites in person, I am relying on screen captures instead of photos for imagery. And be forewarned – there are spoilers galore ahead! If you haven’t seen Big Little Lies and are planning to, I’d hold off on scrolling any further.

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1. Madeline’s House (30760 Broad Beach Road, Malibu) – Easily my favorite locale of the entire series, the Cape Cod-style pad where Madeline Martha Mackenzie (Reese Witherspoon) and husband Ed (Adam Scott) live can be found in Malibu. The beachfront property, which serves as a vacation rental IRL, is no stranger to the screen boasting countless cameos in such productions as Models Inc., Diagnosis Murder, and Hannah Montana. You can read a more in-depth post on it here.

Interestingly, a different spot was utilized as the front of Madeline’s home in a few episodes. And that pad can actually be found in Monterey. It’s at 2830 14th Avenue in Carmel-By-The-Sea.

2. Renata’s House (27326 Winding Way, Malibu) – Renata (Laura Dern) and Gordon Klein’s (Jeffrey Nordling) massive modern home can also be found in The ‘Bu. And it’s an oft-filmed spot, as well, with roles in everything from 90210 to Brothers & Sisters to Revenge.

3. Jane’s House (161 North Chester Avenue, Pasadena) – The modest cottage where Jane Chapman (Shailene Woodley) resides with son Ziggy (Iain Armitage), which I wrote about here, can be found on a sleepy, tree-lined street in Pasadena.

4. Bonnie’s House (636 Crater Camp Drive, Calabasas) – The bucolic bohemian bungalow belonging to Bonnie Carlson (Zoë Kravitz) and her husband, Nathan (James Tupper), sits tucked away in a wooded area of Calabasas.

5. Celeste’s House (40 Yankee Point Drive, Carmel) – Celeste Wright (Nicole Kidman) and husband Perry’s (Alexander Skarsgård) stunning cliffside estate, another of my favorites from the series, is the sole residence that can actually be found on the Central Coast (not counting the front of Madeline’s). Only the exterior (both front and back) and lower floor of the property appeared on Big Little Lies. All of the other portions of the Wright home were studio-built sets.

6. Otter Bay Elementary School (Kenter Canyon Elementary School, 645 North Kenter Avenue, Brentwood) – Otter Bay, the elementary school attended by all of the children on the series, is actually Kenter Canyon Elementary in Brentwood. The site’s exterior and interior, including the principal’s office, library and auditorium, appear on the show.

7. Blue Blues Restaurant (The Culver Studios, 9336 Washington Boulevard, Culver City) – Though the actual Old Fisherman’s Wharf in Monterey (101 Washington Street) is shown as the ladies walk up to Blue Blues, their regular hangout owned by Tom (Joseph Cross), in “Somebody’s Dead” . . .

. . . . the actual café can’t be found there. As I covered in this post, the coffee shop was just a set built entirely inside of a soundstage at The Culver Studios, where the series is lensed. Fans can still get their Blue Blues fix by visiting Paluca Trattoria (6D Old Fisherman’s Wharf, Monterey), which served as the inspiration for the bayside eatery.

The pathway leading to Old Fisherman’s Wharf is also where Jane and the girls run in “Once Bitten” . . .

. . . and the adjacent parking lot is where Madeline and Joseph Bachman (Santiago Cabrera) get into an accident in the same episode.

The same parking lot is also where Joseph confronts and kisses Madeline in “Push Comes to Shove.”

8. Side Door Café (Happy Trails Garden, 207 South Fair Oaks Avenue, Pasadena) – Side Door, the ladies’ other regular hangout, is an actual restaurant. Or, at least, it was. Pasadena’s Happy Trails Garden, which was very reminiscent of Carmel’s popular Hog’s Breath Inn, shuttered much to my dismay in 2018 and now sits vacant. The bucolic site, which was outfitted with a plethora of firepits for the shoot and is said to have been modeled after Monterey’s Restaurant 1833, popped up three times on the series – once in “Serious Mothering” and twice in “Push Comes to Shove.” You can read my 2017 post on it here.

9. Madeline’s Fall (Intersection of Esplanade Street and Ocean View Drive, Pacific Grove) – The spot where Madeline “rolls her ankle” in “Somebody’s Dead,” thereby setting off the entire storyline, can be found on Ocean View Drive in Pacific Grove. A stop sign was installed for the scene just north of where Madeline falls, at the intersection of Ocean View Drive and the north end of Esplanade Street. In real life there is a parking sign standing in that spot.

10. Liberation Yoga (124 South La Brea Avenue, Hancock Park) – The yoga studio that Bonnie owns, which pops up in both “Everybody’s Dead” and “Push Comes to Shove,” is actually Liberation Yoga in Hancock Park.

11. Wanderlust Hollywood (1357 North Highland Avenue, Hollywood) – The above is not to be confused with the other yoga studio shown on the series. In “Serious Mothering,” Madeline and Celeste run into Bonnie and Nathan while taking a class at Wanderlust Hollywood.

12. Lovers Point Park & Beach (631 Ocean View Boulevard, Pacific Grove) – The popular shoreline retreat Lovers Point makes several appearances in Big Little Lies. In “Serious Mothering,” Nathan and Ed have a rather terse tête-à-tête in the park area situated above the beach.

Jane and Ziggy visit Lovers Point in both “Living the Dream” and “Push Come to Shove.”

And it is at Lovers Point that Jane tells Celeste that her son Max (Nicholas Crovetti) is the one who has been bullying Amabella Klein (Ivy George) in “You Get What You Need.”

13. Gordon Klein’s Office (1999 AOS, 1999 Avenue of the Stars, Century City) – In “Living the Dream,” Renata heads to Century City office building 1999 AOS for a mid-day visit with her husband. Only the exterior and lobby of the property were utilized for the scene, though.

Gordon’s actual office can be found on the 26th floor of nearby Century Park Plaza (1801 Century Park East, Century City).

14. Monterey Bay High School (Ulysses S. Grant High School, 13000 Oxnard Street, Van Nuys) – Screen favorite Grant High School in Van Nuys portrays Monterey Bay High, the school attended by Madeline’s eldest daughter, Abigail Carlson (Kathryn Newton), which pops up in “Living the Dream.” Areas used in the episode include the principal’s office, a hallway and the main quad. You may recognize Grant from its myriad of cameos in such productions as Saved by the Bell, Clueless, The Office, Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy” music video, and Crazy. Stupid. Love. You can check out an in-depth post I wrote about the place for Los Angeles magazine here.

15. Studio City Recreation Center (12621 Rye Street, Studio City) – In “Living the Dream,” Ziggy hits a home run during his first Tee-ball game at Studio City Recreation Center, aka Beeman Park. The site is also very briefly featured via flashback in “Push Comes to Shove.” You can check out an in-depth post I wrote about the park, detailing its appearances in Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Scrubs and Role Models, here.

16. Colton Hall Museum (570 Pacific Street, Monterey) – Another Central Coast location, Colton Hall Museum masks as Monterey City Hall, where Celeste acts as Madeline’s lawyer in “Push Comes to Shove.”

The interior of the museum, which you can see a photo of here, was also used in the episode.

17. Bixby Creek Bridge (CA-1, Big Sur) – In “Once Bitten,” Madeline has a bad dream that takes place at Bixby Bridge, the same span shown in the series’ opening credits. The picturesque structure, one of the most photographed bridges in California, can be found in Big Sur, about twenty miles south of Monterey.

18. Saxon Baker’s Interior Design Office (1035 East Green Street, Pasadena) – In “Once Bitten,” Jane heads to a supposed San Louis Obispo interior design office to confront her possible rapist, Saxon Baker (Stephen Graybill). In reality, filming took place at a quaint brick building on Green Street in Pasadena where Albert Einstein once worked.

19. Celeste and Perry’s Therapist’s Office (130 Fountain Avenue, Pacific Grove) – Perry and Celeste start seeing marriage counselor Dr. Amanda Reisman (Robin Weigert) in “Living the Dream,” but the exterior of her charming office, another of the show’s Monterey locales, isn’t shown until “Once Bitten.”

20. Cypress Community Hospital (Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, 23625 Holzman Highway, Monterey) – After their car accident in “Once Bitten,” Madeline and Joseph are taken to “Cypress Community Hospital,” which is actually the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula. Only the exterior of the facility was featured on the series.

I believe that interiors were shot at Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital (333 North Prairie Avenue, Inglewood), which was, sadly, razed in late 2017.

21. Monterey Regional Airport (200 Fred Kane Drive, Monterey) – This spot, where Celeste and her boys surprise Perry when he returns home from a business trip in “Once Bitten,” plays itself.

The airport’s interior appeared in the scene, as well.

22. Celeste’s New Apartment (1 Surf Way, Monterey) – In “Burning Love,” Celeste attempts to break away from Perry by renting an oceanside apartment. Her new place is another of the series’ Monterey locations. Known as Ocean Harbor House in real life, the picturesque complex, which is made up of condos, sits overlooking Del Monte Beach.

23. Madeline’s Community Theatre/Trivia Night Costume Gala – Barnsdall Art Park (4800 Hollywood Boulevard, East Hollywood) – Easily the series’ most memorable locale, Barnsdall Art Park serves as two notable spots on Big Little Lies. In virtually every episode it pops up as the community theatre where Madeline works. The constantly broken stairs she is regularly forced to walk up can be found on the eastern side of the park, adjacent to the Junior Art Center.

The theatre itself is a mash-up of two Barnsdall spots – interiors were shot at the Barnsdall Gallery Theatre (which you can see photos of here) . . .

. . . while exteriors were filmed at the adjacent Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery.

Most notably, though, Barnsdall Art Park is where the Audrey and Elvis Trivia Night costume gala is held in “You Get What You Need.”

The community theatre’s broken stairs are the very same ones that figure so heavily in the episode’s climax.

Barnsdall also appears in Big Little Lie’s opening credits. You can read an in-depth post on the park here.

24. Mountain View Cemetery (2400 North Fair Oaks Avenue, Altadena) – Toward the end of “You Get What You Need,” Perry is laid to rest at one of L.A.’s most oft-used locations, Mountain View Cemetery in Altadena, which has appeared in everything from The Office to Seinfeld to A Lot Like Love. You can read a post I wrote on it here.

25. Garrapata State Park Beach (CA-1, Carmel-By-The-Sea) – The series comes to an end with the women and their children frolicking on the picturesque beach at Garrapata State Park (which is also where Jane, Celeste and Madeline run in “Once Bitten”). The scene was such a perfect closing to the show, I am almost fearful to have the story opened up again for Season 2. Though I truly can’t wait to revisit the women of Monterey, in some ways I would like to just be able to picture them forever standing together on that beach, bittersweetly frozen in time.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

August 14, 2017July 16, 2019

Happy Trails Catering from “Big Little Lies”

UPDATE – Sadly, Happy Trails Catering is no longer open. The restaurant closed in 2018 and its beautiful garden currently sits vacant.

As you probably noticed, I was unexpectedly MIA for most of last week. My dad had an experimental five-day procedure done at a hospital in Orange County, so my family and I spent the week by his side. I fully intended to write new content while there, but the hospital Wi-Fi wasn’t really amenable to that. (What is it with hospital Wi-Fi, by the way? I’ve literally never encountered one even halfway decent!) But I am finally home and ready to get back to my regularly scheduled programming. So, on with the post! As someone who routinely plays tourist in my own town (wherever that happens to be), I counted myself an expert on Pasadena, the Southern California city I called home for more than 15 years. One spot that remained a secret to me for almost a decade, though, was Happy Trails Catering, a bucolic special events site/café/garden located in Old Town. My mom learned about the place while looking for L.A.-area wedding venues shortly after I got engaged in 2008 and, upon seeing photos of it online, told me we had to head out there pronto for a tour. I was dazzled at what awaited us! Situated just steps from the bustling sidewalk lining Fair Oaks Avenue, virtually hidden behind wooden entrance gates, is an absolutely charming garden positioned around a massive camphor tree. While I did not wind up choosing to tie the knot on the premises (the Grim Cheaper and I instead got married at our good friends’ house), Happy Trails made a definite impression. So it is quite surprising that I did not recognize the place upon sight when it popped up on Big Little Lies earlier this year. It wasn’t until the property’s third appearance on the HBO mini-series that I was actually able to identify it!

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Happy Trails Catering was originally founded in 1986.

As its name suggests, the company mainly operates as a catering business, run out of a small brick storefront.

Situated next to that storefront is the entrance to the property’s spectacular garden.

The pristine landscaped grounds serve as the company’s onsite special events venue.

Thankfully, you don’t have to be invited to a soiree on the premises to catch a glimpse of the peaceful idyll, though. Each weekday from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., the Happy Trails kitchen is transformed into a walk-up café open to the public.

Patrons can grab one of the eatery’s homemade soups, sandwiches, salads, or quiches . . .

. . . and head outside to enjoy it in the garden under the canopy of the camphor tree.

While Happy Trails is no-doubt one of the prettiest venues Pasadena has to offer . . .

. . . the site is just as well-known for its fare.

Though my mom and I didn’t sample any of Happy Trails’ offerings the day we toured the place, the GC and I stopped by the café recently for lunch and were thoroughly impressed. The Sage Roasted Turkey Breast Sandwich is honestly one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had.

Happy Trails Catering, masking as the supposed Monterey-area Side Door Café, was featured three times during the first season of Big Little Lies. It first showed up in the episode titled “Serious Mothering” in the scene in which Celeste Wright (Nicole Kidman) and Madeline Martha Mackenzie (Reese Witherspoon) discuss their sex lives over cocktails, before being interrupted by their frenemy Renata Klein (Laura Dern).

The site was significantly dressed for the scene, with lounge areas, fire pits and outdoor heaters spaced throughout the garden, which is why I did not recognize it.

Happy Trails then popped up twice in the episode titled “Push Comes to Shove” – first as the restaurant where Madeline and her ex-husband, Nathan Carlson (James Tupper), meet to talk about co-parenting their teenage daughter, Abigail (Kathryn Newton). Though the property’s camphor tree was visible in the scene, I am ashamed to say that I still did not recognize the place!

Later in the episode, Jane Chapman (Shailene Woodley) meets up with Ms. Barnes (Virginia Kull) at the eatery to discuss whether or not her son, Ziggy (Iain Armitage), is bullying a fellow student. While watching the scene, I spotted Happy Trails’ rear barn doors behind the two women and placed them immediately. It was definitely a facepalm moment. I cannot believe it took three scenes for me to identify the locale!

The restaurant also makes an appearance in Big Little Lies Season 2 premiere titled “What Have They Done?” as the spot where Celeste and Jane talk about their complicated relationship.

It is not hard to see why Happy Trails was chosen to appear on Big Little Lies. The site has a very Carmel-ish feel to it. Per a Monterey County Weekly article, while filming Season 1 on the Central Coast, the BLL crew frequented Restaurant 1833 (which is now closed) and hoped to locate a similar spot in L.A. to stand in for it on the show. They found exactly what they were looking for in Happy Trails. As you can see in these images of the now defunct 1833, the two spaces bear a striking resemblance to each other. To me, though, Happy Trails is even more reminiscent of Hog’s Breath Inn, the iconic Carmel restaurant that was originally founded in 1972 by none other than Clint Eastwood. Fun fact – when the actor wanted to expand the eatery in 1986, he encountered quite a bit of bureaucratic red tape. He was so frustrated by the situation that he wound up running for mayor so that he could make some policy changes. His run was successful and Eastwood served as Carmel’s mayor for the next two years. Though he sold his interest in the Hog’s Breath Inn in 1999, the restaurant is still in operation today and looks much the same as it did during Clint’s tenure.

Sadly, the other main restaurant featured on Big Little Lies is not accessible to the public. Blue Blues, the supposed Fisherman’s Wharf café where Madeline, Jane and Celeste regularly hung out, was nothing more than a studio-built set located inside of a soundstage. Quite a bit of misinformation about the location seems to floating around online, though. Several sources state that Paluca Trattoria, located at 6 Old Fisherman’s Wharf, masked as Blue Blues on the series. Heck, even Paluca Trattoria’s official website makes that claim. While the restaurant is situated in the same area of the wharf that Blue Blue’s was purported to be, no actual filming took place there. Not only is it obvious when looking at images of Paluca Trattoria in comparison to screen captures of Blue Blues that the two places are not one and the same, but production designer John Paino confirmed the matter in a February 2017 New York Post article, stating “We made the whole thing on a stage, and the background is digitally dropped in.” It is not hard to see why audiences were fooled, though. The café does look incredibly realistic, as you can see below. You can read an in-depth post I wrote about Blue Blues here.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Happy Trails Catering, aka Side Door Café from Big Little Lies, is located at 207 South Fair Oaks Avenue in Pasadena. You can visit the eatery’s official website here. The café and garden are only open Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., so plan accordingly.

April 5, 2017July 16, 2019

A Round-Up of “Big Little Lies” Filming Locations

I’ve decided to break with tradition a bit for this post. My latest small screen obsession, Big Little Lies, came to an end on Sunday night and, though the finale was excellent, I am bummed to say the least that the HBO miniseries is now over. During its seven-episode run, I tracked down most of the L.A.-area locales, as well as a few of the Monterey spots, featured in it and I thought it would be fun to chronicle them here. Because I have not visited many of the sites in person, I am relying on screen captures instead of photos for this post’s imagery.

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1. Madeline’s House (30760 Broad Beach Road, Malibu) – Though I already wrote an in-depth post on the gorgeous Cape Cod-style home belonging to Madeline Martha Mackenzie (Reese Witherspoon) on the series, I would be remiss if I did not include information about it here for those who missed the article. Madeline’s beachfront pad, by far my favorite of all of the residences featured on the show, is an oft-filmed gem that has also appeared on Models Inc., Diagnosis Murder, and Hannah Montana.

2. Jane’s House (161 North Chester Avenue, Pasadena) – The bungalow where Jane Chapman (Shailene Woodley) lives is another spot I’ve already covered, but, again, I thought I should include its information here.

3. Celeste’s House (40 Yankee Point Drive, Carmel) – The architectural masterpiece belonging to Celeste Wright (Nicole Kidman) and her husband, Perry (Alexander Skarsgård), ranks a close second when it comes to my favorite residence on the series. Only the exterior and bottom floor of the clifftop stunner were utilized on Big Little Lies. The Wright’s bedroom, bathroom and massive walk-in closet were part of a studio-built set. In real life, the dwelling, which was originally built in 1988, serves as a vacation rental.

4. Renata’s House (27326 Winding Way, Malibu) – The massive contemporary home where Renata Klein (Laura Dern) and her husband, Gordon (Jeffrey Nordling), reside is another oft-filmed property that can be found on a private road in Malibu. The 10,000-square-foot residence’s onscreen resume (which includes appearances on 90210, Brothers & Sisters, and Revenge) almost led to it not being featured in Big Little Lies. As location manager Gregory Albert told Vulture, “I was resisting, even showing it to [director] Jean-Marc [Vallée] because of that, but we presented it and he picked it and then I was kicking myself. I felt in some way it was doing a disservice to the show. But then I remember watching the first episode and there’s Renata standing at the edge of the world, glass of wine in her hand. The [director of photography] had shot it in a way that I’ve never seen the house shot before and I thought, That’s why Jean-Marc’s the auteur and visionary that he is.” I actually find Albert’s statement kind of funny because I recognized the pad instantly when watching the scene described.

5. Bonnie and Nathan’s House (636 Crater Camp Drive, Calabasas) – The bohemian compound where Madeline’s ex, Nathan Carlson (James Tupper), lives with his new wife, Bonnie (Zoë Kravitz), sits tucked off the road in a wooded part of Calabasas near Malibu Creek State Park. The secluded residence, which Albert says, “feels like it is part of the environment,” is situated on 1.12 acres of lush, forested land.

6. Otter Bay Elementary School – Kenter Canyon Elementary School (645 North Kenter Avenue in Brentwood) – Otter Bay, the elementary school attended by all of the characters’ children on the series, is actually Brentwood’s Kenter Canyon Elementary. Both the interior and exterior of the site appeared on the show.

7. Side Door Café – Happy Trails Garden (207 South Fair Oaks Avenue, Pasadena) – While Blue Blues, the supposed Fisherman’s Wharf coffee shop where Madeline, Celeste, and Jane often hang out, is not a real place but a studio-built set, the other eatery frequented by the group is authentic. Or, at least, it was. The picturesque outdoor restaurant referred to as Side Door Café on the show, which is very reminiscent of Carmel’s popular Hog’s Breath Inn, was known as Happy Trails Garden in real life. Sadly, it shuttered in 2018 and currently sits vacant. The bucolic site was featured three times on the series. It first showed up in “Serious Mothering” as the place where Madeline and Celeste meet for drinks and get into a confrontation with Renata. Then in “Push Comes to Shove,” it appeared as both the spot where Madeline and Nathan discuss co-parenting Abigail and where Jane meets with Ms. Barnes (Virginia Kull). You can read a more in-depth post on the eatery here.

8. Studio City Recreation Center (12621 Rye Street, Studio City) – Jane’s son, Ziggy (Iain Armitage), tries out Tee-ball for the first time – and hits a home run – at Studio City Recreation Center, which is also known as Beeman Park. I wrote about the oft-filmed site last year, detailing its appearances in Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Scrubs, Role Models, and Parks and Recreation. You can read that post here.

9. Interior Design Office (1035 East Green Street, Pasadena) – Madeline tracks down (Spoiler alert!) Jane’s possible rapist, Saxon Baker (Stephen Graybill), to an interior design office in San Louis Obispo. In reality, the office is part of Invicta Fitness, a workout studio located in a quaint brick building where Albert Einstein once worked on Green Street in Pasadena.

10. Celeste’s Apartment (1 Surf Way, Monterey) – The apartment Celeste leases in “Burning Love” is another Monterey-area location. Situated on the sand overlooking Del Monte Beach, the complex is made up of condos in real life and is known as “1 Surf Way.”

11. Community Theatre – Barnsdall Art Park (4800 Hollywood Boulevard, East Hollywood) – The community theatre where Madeline works, as well as the constantly under-repair stairs that lead up to it, are both parts of Barnsdall Art Park in East Hollywood. The stairs can be found on Lower Road in the southeast portion of the park, just north of and adjacent to the Art Center. The theatre itself is actually a mash-up of two Barnsdall spots – interiors were shot at the Barnsdall Gallery Theatre (which you can see photos of here), situated north of the Art Center, and exteriors were filmed at the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, which sits adjacent to it. Barnsdall Art Park is also where the Trivia Night event was held in the final episode, “You Get What You Need.” You can read an in-depth post about the park’s use on the series here.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

March 1, 2011April 21, 2011

Stalking the 2011 Academy Awards

As I have mentioned countless times before on this blog, Oscar Weekend is, hands down, my favorite weekend of the entire year. Hollywood just seems to come alive during Oscar Weekend and I honestly cannot get enough of it. And this year was no different. My Oscar stalking began early this past Saturday morning and continued on through late Sunday night and I think it is safe to say that the poor Grim Cheaper is absolutely beat. Winking smile Thankfully though, some good friends and fellow stalkers – Beth, Mary, Debbie, and Carol – were in town from Louisville, Kentucky and they let me tag along with them all weekend, so the GC did get somewhat of a reprieve. And while this year was, sadly, not as great as previous years due to the fact that hotels have seriously beefed up their security and many would only let actual guests through their front doors, we still managed to have an absolute BLAST! We started out our 2011 Oscar stalking adventure Saturday morning when we hit up the blue carpet at the Independent Spirit Awards – and yes, the event does actually feature a blue carpet. The Spirit Awards are held in a tent directly next to the beach in Santa Monica and, let me tell you, this year the weather was absolutely FREEZING – and I mean that literally! It actually SNOWED in many parts of Los Angeles this past weekend (not kidding!) and the GC and I witnessed it firsthand at one point, which I am fairly certain he was more excited about than any of the celebs that we encountered.

When we arrived at the Spirit Awards, there was already a HUGE group camped out along the blue carpet, but we still managed to snag a pretty good spot in which to stand. While there, I ran into celebrity stalker extraordinaire Pinky Lovejoy (pictured above), from the Pinky Lovejoy Blog, whom I had met at Alec Baldwin’s Star Ceremony a few weeks back. Smile

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We had an absolute blast stalking the red carpet and just a few of the stars who were on hand include Jason Isaacs – aka “Lucius Malfoy” from the Harry Potter movies;

Warren Beatty;

Annette Bening;

Jennifer Lawrence;

Amanda Peet, who is absolutely ADORABLE in person;

Anthony Mackie;

Terrance Howard;

director Danny Boyle;

Diego Luna;

John Hawkes;

Sarah Steele from Spanglish;

Greta Gerwig from Greenberg;

Samuel L. Jackson;

Liev Schreiber;

Aaron Eckhart, who is GORGEOUS in person;

one of fellow stalker Owen’s favorite actors, Paul Rudd;

Malin Ackerman;

Amber Tamblyn;

David Cross;

Erika Christensen;

Jane Lynch (YAY!);

(I absolutely LOVE that the GC managed to snap a picture of Jane making one of her famous Sue Sylvester faces!);

Eva Mendes;

Jesse Eisenberg (he did not turn towards the crowd when he arrived, so we only got a picture of the back of his head);

Jeremy Renner;

Rainn Wilson (aka Mr. Dwight Schrute!);

Jamie Foxx;

Ben Stiller;

Rosario Dawson;

Joel McHale (LOVE, LOVE, LOVE him!);

and Nicole Kidman (who is STUNNING in person) and Keith Urban.

I LOVE the picture of Nicole above, which my friend Carol snapped. So cute!

Natalie Portman tried to sneak in behind Nicole and Keith, but thankfully the GC still managed to get some pics of her. Smile

After the Spirit Awards arrivals wrapped up, the GC and I headed on over to the Kodak Theatre to do some stalking of the Academy Awards’ red carpet. Sadly though, everything was blocked off this year and we were not allowed to walk on the red carpet or to get very close to any of the set-up, which was incredibly disappointing.

We did spot the above-pictured Oscar statue being hauled from the Renaissance Hotel to the Kodak Theatre, though, which I thought was absolutely hilarious.

We then headed over to the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel (where the first Academy Awards ceremony was held) to see if anything was going on there. As fate would have it, the E! channel was running rehearsals for their Oscar coverage show in the lobby of the hotel and we were lucky enough to be able to watch. As you can see in the above photographs, Kris Jenner was on site rehearsing for the show.

As was Ross Mathews, from Chelsea Lately.

As luck would have it, Kris wound up leaving the hotel at the exact same time we did and she was nice enough to pose for a photo with me on her way out, which I could NOT have been more excited about. I have actually never been a fan of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, but I will always have a special place in my heart for the series due to the fact that anytime someone encounters my family for the first time, they invariably say, “You guys need your own reality show! You are funnier than the Kardashians!” My good friend Nat keeps threatening to secretly videotape us and send the result to the E! channel. LOL I guess I can see where people are coming from, though. Case in point – this past Friday afternoon the GC downloaded and then proceeded to spend a good ten minutes showing me an app in which one, while in a store, can scan the barcode of an item along with its price using the camera on their iPhone and the phone will then subsequently spit back a list of places where you can purchase said item for less money. Not kidding! I totally thought he was joking with me, but sadly he wasn’t. Not only is that app real, but the GC fully expects me to USE it! Oh, the things I have to put up with!

On Sunday evening, while doing some more hotel stalking, I spotted Doris Roberts, from Everybody Loves Raymond and Christmas Vacation fame. My grandma absolutely LOVES Doris, so I just had to ask her to pose for a photograph with me and thankfully she obliged, which I could NOT have been more excited about. Smile Other celebs that we spotted out and about this weekend, but didn’t get photographs of were Mark Wahlberg, Lou Diamond Phillips, Bai Ling, Frances Fisher, Gary Busey, Ed Asner, Pat Boone, Meat Loaf, Charo, Caroline Herrera (on her way to the Oscars in an absolutely STRIKING dress), Tara Reid, Brenda Strong (aka Mary Alice from Desperate Housewives), Gloria Allred, Noah Wyle, Taylor Armstrong from The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Jessica Stroup (aka Silver from 90210), Glee’s Chris Colfer and Matthew Morrison, Jennifer Lopez (who is absolutely STUNNING in person!), Renee Zellweger, Russell Brand, Kirk Kerkorian, Megan Mullally, Nick Offerman, Harvey Weinstein, Chace Crawford, Cate Blanchett, Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen (who are sooooo tiny in person it was almost unbelievable), Ron Jeremy, Jeffrey Ross, Fred Willard, Sofia Milos, Pierce Morgan, Robert Downey Jr. and Susan Downey, Jude Law, George Hamilton, Reese Witherspoon, Timothy Olyphant, Elton John, Craig Robinson (aka Darryl from The Office), Joanne Worley, and Antonio Sabato Jr.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Oscars are held each year at the Kodak Theatre, which is located at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood. The Grim Cheaper and I usually drive up and down Sunset Boulevard during Oscar weekend, stopping into various hotels along the way to spot celebs. A few of the hotels we usually stalk include The Mondrian, which is located at 8440 Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, which is located at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel, which is located at 1755 North Highland Avenue in Hollywood, and the Chateau Marmont, which is located at 8221 West Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles.

April 8, 2010April 7, 2010

Isabel’s House from the “Bewitched” Movie

Last week, fellow stalker Tony, from the On Location in Los Angeles flickr page, asked for my help in tracking down the residence belonging to Isabel Bigelow (aka Nicole Kidman) and her loyal cat, Lucinda, in the 2005 movie adaptation of the television series Bewitched. So, I, of course, immediately called upon “The Team” – aka fellow stalkers Owen, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and Chas, from ItsFilmedThere – to see if they could help me find it. Which they, of course, did! Owen fairly quickly came upon fave website Hooked on Houses’ awesome write up about the cottage which stated that it was located somewhere in L.A.’s San Fernando Valley. And because the house’s address number – 4427 – was also visible in the movie, we had two very strong leads to follow. Owen immediately began searching the Valley – once he figured out exactly what part of Los Angeles constituted “The Valley”, something I have still not yet been able to do 😉 – for houses with a “4427” address number and voila, it wasn’t very long before he found the correct one. YAY! Thank you, Owen! So, bright and early yesterday morning, I headed out to stalk the place.

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In Bewitched, Isabel discovers the house pictured above during a walk and immediately decides it would be the perfect place to start her new, “normal”, non-witch life in which she has vowed to stop using magic. She does, of course, continue to use magic – fairly soon after making the decision not to, in fact – and, with a simple twitch of her nose, has a “for rent” sign put on the residence’s front lawn and immediately leases the place and moves right in. It’s not very hard to see why producers chose to use the charming colonial style cottage featured in the movie, as it is extremely picturesque and idyllic. It’s exactly the type of place I’d imagine a witch seeking normalcy to want to live. Heck, I would LOVE to live there, myself!

As you can see in the above screen captures and photographs, Isabel’s house looks almost EXACTLY the same in person as it appeared onscreen, right down to the address plaque, white front porch bench, and red front door. Love it!

In fact, the only differences I noticed in real life were the absence of Isabel’s single-car garage and the shutters on the window just to the left of it.

As you can see in the above photographs, that single-car garage is not there in real life. There is a detached two-car garage located directly behind and to the right of the house, though, which leads me to believe that Isabel’s garage was simply a facade that producers had built solely for the filming. And, according to Hooked on Houses, only the exterior of the real life residence was used in Bewitched. The absolutely adorable interiors, sadly, only ever existed on a studio soundstage.

On an ironic side note – According to IMDB’s Bewitched Trivia Page, in real life Isabel’s home was once owned by Bewitched director Nora Ephron’s parents’ friends. Ephron had visited the residence numerous times during her childhood and when it came time to scout locations for the movie, she remembered the house and thought it would be perfect to use as her lead character’s abode. What Nora didn’t realize, however, was that her parents’ friends who once owned the house were none other than Larry Berns and his wife, Sandra Gould – an actress who is best known for playing nosy neighbor Gladys Kravitz on the Bewitched television series. Cue the Disney music, ‘cause it truly is a small world after all!

Big THANK YOU to Owen for finding this location! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Isabel’s house from the Bewitched movie is located at 4427 Radford Avenue in Studio City.