One Hour Photo – IAMNOTASTALKER

October 9, 2017June 22, 2018

The “One Hour Photo” House

Today’s location is not spooky – at all, in fact. It’s actually quite exquisite. But it did figure rather heavily in the creepiest scene from one of the creepiest movies I’ve ever seen, so I thought it would only be fitting to include it in my Haunted Hollywood postings. I am talking about the contemporary residence where the Yorkin family – Will (Michael Vartan), Nina (Connie Nielsen) and Jakob (Dylan Smith) – lived in One Hour Photo. I first got interested in tracking down the ultra-modern pad after coming across this The Straight Dope message board while researching Lacy Park, another of the 2002 thriller’s locations. In the thread, user Ins&Outs&What-have-yous inquired if anyone had any information on the dwelling, though no one seemed to. Shortly thereafter, I found my way to this page on the FilmGrab site in which a commenter named Melissa also inquired about the Yorkin home. Her query did not garner any responses, either. So, since facts about the house seemed to be nil, I decided it was my duty to track the place down and blog about it come October.

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Finding this spot took quite a while, I am loathe to admit. I knew from the movie’s production notes that the Yorkin home was located somewhere in Brentwood. My first stab at tracking down its exact address was to do a Google search for “Brentwood” and “modern house,” which yielded a slew of links to a slew of gorgeous properties, but none of them were the Yorkins’. I then added “filming” to the mix and scoured countless more links and images – so many that I ultimately do not remember the exact details of how I was finally led to the right place. At some point, though, I came across the video below which showed the pad as it appeared in an episode of Californication. The clip’s caption proved especially forthcoming, providing not only the property’s name, Benton House, but its architect, Ray Kappe. From there, Google prompted me to 90210Locations’ Californication page which detailed the residence’s exact address –136 South Canyon View Drive. Thanks, 90210Locations! I ran right out to stalk the place shortly thereafter.

In 1989, psychologist/mom/architecture buff Dr. Esther Benton purchased a large home on a shaded plot of land in Brentwood with the intention of performing a vast remodel. She commissioned Kappe for the job, but the incredibly prolific architect wound up razing the structure and rebuilding in his signature style instead, generating magic out of glass, wood and concrete. His creation, which took three years to complete (from 1991 to 1994), was designed with the working mom in mind. The residence boasts three large rooms, or “suites” as a 1998 New York Times article described them – a master bedroom suite, a suite for Esther’s daughter, and an office suite, which Kappe fashioned with a swiveling wall so that the doctor could “watch over the house without interrupting her time at work.” The property is also fashioned with 20-foot ceilings, a large skylight, Douglas fir embellishments, multiple fireplaces, a sunken bathtub, a frameless glass shower, and a towering glass and steel staircase. Zillow estimates the pad is worth a whopping $8.9 million today! Though absolutely stunning, as you can see in photos here and here, sadly none of it is visible from the street.

But, as I’ve said before, that’s why God created aerial views.

For those who have not seen One Hour Photo, the movie centers on Seymour Parrish (Robin Williams), aka Sy, a Sav-Mart photo developer who becomes obsessed with the Yorkins, a family whose film he regularly develops. Though things are definitely not perfect in Will, Nina and Jakob’s world, through Sy’s eyes, the family and their home is idyllic, arcadian and devoid of any typical everyday problems. As Williams is quoted as saying in the film’s production notes, “In the outside world Sy stands out, especially when you get near the Yorkins’ house, which is very warm and incredibly beautiful, almost painfully beautiful because it is his idealized home.” Production designer Tom Foden further describes the dwelling as “representing a place of dreams and ideals.”

In the movie’s creepiest scene, Sy ventures into the Yorkins’ residence while they are away and proceeds to look through their things, put on their clothes, use their bathroom, watch their TV, and generally just make himself at home. In the end, it turns out the experience was all just a fantasy taking place in Sy’s mind, but because Williams played the role to such creepy perfection, the segment is seriously disturbing. The real life interior of the Benton House was utilized in the scene . . .

. . . as well as throughout other portions of the film.

When I first started looking into the Yorkin home, I couldn’t help but think about how much it resembles the residence belonging to Sebastian Stark (James Woods) on the television series Shark. So I was not too surprised to discover during the course of my research that the Shark pad was designed by Ray Kappe’s son, Finn Kappe. That property, one of my favorite TV homes ever, can be found at 2315 Live Oaks Meadow Road in Malibu.

What I was absolutely bowled over to learn, though, was that the inside of the Benton House was utilized as the inside of Sebastian’s home in Shark’s pilot episode, which aired in 2006. I had always assumed the Live Oak Meadows residence had been used for both interiors and exteriors! You can check out photos of the inside of that property here. As you can see, it looks nothing like Sebastian’s pad.

The Benton House interior was later re-created on a soundstage for the filming of all of Shark’s subsequent episodes. That set re-creation is pictured below. (And yes, that’s a young Matt Lanter – my favorite actor – in the second screen capture! <3)

In the Season 1 episode of Californication titled “Girls, Interrupted,” which aired in 2007, the Benton House plays itself. Well, sort of. In the episode, Hank Moody (David Duchovny) takes his ex-wife, architecture enthusiast Karen (Natascha McElhone), to see the home of director Todd Carr (Chris Williams). Though said to be in Bel Air and not Brentwood, the pad is described as a Ray Kappe house in the segment.

The residence’s interior also appeared in the episode.

Back in 1999, the Benton House popped up in Cruel Intentions as the supposed Long Island, New York-area home of Blaine Tuttle (Joshua Jackson).

As Geoff from 90210Locations also informed me, the Benton House portrayed the residence of Samantha Winslow (Susan Sarandon) during the fifth season of Ray Donovan.

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

Big THANK YOU to Geoff, of 90210Locations, for finding this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Yorkin house from One Hour Photo is located at 136 South Canyon View Drive in Brentwood.

September 20, 2017September 19, 2017

Lacy Park from “Say Anything . . . “

Despite having lived in the San Gabriel Valley for 15 years, I somehow never visited Lacy Park in San Marino. I had heard of it, sure (the kids I used to babysit would watch fireworks there every Fourth of July), and knew it was a popular recreation spot, but was never exactly certain of its location. Lacy Park is often called one of San Marino’s “hidden gems” and now that I have been there, I can see why. Those unaware of its presence could easily drive right by without noticing it at all. Largely unmarked by signs and its parking lot hidden from view, the site isn’t exactly easy to find. And, for whatever reason, I never sought it out. But when Greg Mariotti, from The Uncool website, informed me that a scene from Say Anything . . . had been lensed on the premises (while the two of us were working on our guide to the 1989 movie’s Los Angeles locations), I knew I had to get over there ASAP to see it for myself.

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The spot where Lacy Park is now situated was originally home to a lake. Yes, a lake! Lake Avenue in Pasadena is named after it, in fact. Created by streams that poured down from the nearby mountains, the reservoir served as a water supply for the Gabrielino-Tongva Indian tribe in its early days.

In the 1770s, Spanish missionaries descended upon the area and dammed up the lake in order to use it for power.

The mere got further use – and slowly began to dry up – in 1854 when a vintner named Benjamin D. Wilson purchased it, as well as a significant amount of surrounding acreage, and started employing the water to irrigate his vineyards. He eventually allowed owners of neighboring land to also utilize the spring, which he dubbed “Wilson Lake,” depleting it significantly.

In 1900, the site, which had been renamed “Kewen Lake,” was still large enough for swimming and George S. Patton, who grew up in the area, would take regular dips there. (There’s even a memorial to the General on the property – it’s pictured below.)

In the ensuing years, the reservoir continued to reduce in size, becoming little more than a pond. The city of San Marino decided the grounds would be better utilized as a public park and began re-imagining it as such in 1924.

City councilman William Hertrich and landscape designer Armin Thurnher helped devise the bucolic space, which opened to the public as Lacy Park, named in honor of San Marino’s then mayor Richard H. Lacy, in 1925.

The 30-acre idyll is easily one of the most beautiful parks I’ve ever had the pleasure of visiting.

Situated in the center of the peaceful glen is a huge, open expanse of rolling lawn, surrounded by two walking loops (one measuring 3/4 mile and the other measuring 1 mile) framed by a mass of trees on all sides. Much of the foliage, which includes oak, sycamore, and palm trees, was donated by railroad mogul Henry E. Huntington, whose estate – now the Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens – is located just blocks away. Lacy Park also boasts a rose arbor, six tennis courts, a baseball field, and a children’s jungle gym.

In Say Anything . . . , Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack), Diane Court (Ione Sky) and the rest of Lakewood High’s Class of ‘88 gather with friends and family at Lacy Park immediately following their graduation.

While there, Lloyd surreptitiously poses next to Diane while his BFF Corey Flood (Lili Taylor) snaps a photo.

Lacy Park also pops up in the 2002 thriller One Hour Photo as the spot where Seymour Parrish (Robin Williams) watches Jakob Yorkin (Dylan Smith) play soccer.

Supposedly Bill Cosby shot a movie at Lacy Park, as well, though I am unsure of which movie. Fellow stalker Chas, of the It’s Filmed There website, recently asked me how I identify all of the productions that have been lensed at a particular location. My answer? “I Google the sh*t out of places.” Winking smile Well, today’s locale definitely provided the most unusual tip I’ve ever unearthed regarding filming information. While up to my usual Google tricks researching Lacy Park, I came across a deposition from the Cosby case (which you can see here and here) in which a plaintiff asserts that she met the actor while he was filming a movie at Lacy Park “in or about 1974.” Despite the rather unusual nature of the lead, I, of course, felt compelled to figure out which movie she was referring to, but, unfortunately, as of yet, I have not been able to. The only two that fit the bill as far as timing goes are Let’s Do It Again and Uptown Saturday Night. While the former is not available for streaming anywhere, I was able to scan through the latter. Though it does feature a park scene (pictured below), because of the mountains visible in the background and the arid nature of the foliage, I am 99.9% certain that it was shot at Griffith Park, not Lacy.

And while this Outlook Newspapers article says that Monster-in-Law also did some filming at Lacy Park, I scanned through the 2005 movie and did not see it pop up anywhere.

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: Lacy Park, from Say Anything . . . , is located at 1485 Virginia Road in San Marino. Be advised – non-area residents have to pay a $4 fee to enter the grounds on weekends.

September 20, 2011September 19, 2011

Bob’s Big Boy Broiler in Downey from “License to Drive”

Hold onto your hats, my fellow stalkers, ‘cause today’s post is going to be a long one! Another Bob’s Big Boy location that the Grim Cheaper and I stalked recently was the legendary Bob’s Big Boy Broiler, aka Johnie’s Broiler, located on Firestone Boulevard in Downey. I had been longing to stalk the historic restaurant ever since 1988 when it stood in for Archie’s Atomic Drive-In in fave movie License to Drive. Sadly though, shortly after I moved to Southern California ten years ago, the eatery shuttered it doors and was then later partially – and illegally – demolished. It was not until this past year that the place re-opened and I was finally, finally able to drag the GC out there to see it in person.

Johnie’s Broiler was first founded in 1958 by former Clock-Broiler-restaurant-chain-partner Harvey Ortner and his wife, Minnie. In 1950, the couple purchased a poultry farm located at the corner of Firestone Boulevard and Old River School Road in Downtown Downey and hired architect Paul B. Clayton to design a Googie-style coffee shop on the 2-acre site. According to Clayton’s 2005 obituary in the Los Angeles Times, the architect later called the restaurant “the most important commercial design of his entire career”. Harvey’s Broiler, as it was then-named, was an immediate success, sometimes attracting over 5,000 patrons in a single weekend. Much as it was depicted in License to Drive, the spot was a popular high school hang-out where teens would come to grab a bite to eat and show off their cars. In 1965, the Ortners retired and sold their restaurant to a man with the last name of Johnson. He changed the eatery’s moniker to Johnie’s Broiler. Shortly thereafter, a former Harvey’s chef named Christos Smyrniotis purchased the property. He still owns the restaurant to this day. And while it continued to be successful, especially as a filming location, for whatever reason Johnie’s closed its doors in February of 2002. It was then transformed into a used car dealership and the interior was heavily remodeled to suit the needs of its new tenant.

When the car dealership’s lease expired a few years later, a new tenant named Aras Yanik moved in. Yanik immediately filed demolition permits with the City of Downey, but those permits were rejected. Local residents and area preservations were horrified at Yanik’s plans to level the historic site and quickly took action, having the property declared eligible for the California Register of Historical Places, which protected it, in theory at least, from any alterations. But despite the historical status and the city’s rejection of the demolition permits, at approximately 3 p.m. on the afternoon of Sunday, January 7th, 2007, Yanik illegally began to demolish the restaurant. Police were called in and Yanik was slapped with three misdemeanor charges and his lease on the property was revoked. Sadly though, the damage was done. The beloved coffee shop had been almost entirely destroyed.

You can watch a video which features numerous photographs of the destruction by clicking above.

In April 2008, Bob’s Big Boy franchise owner Jim Louder signed a lease with Smyrniotis and, along with help from Downey’s Redevelopment Agency and the Downey Historical Society, set about salvaging materials from the wreckage site and rebuilt the eatery in its entirety, using the original Harvey’s blueprints. The restoration project won the Los Angeles Conservancy’s prestigious President’s Award and the new Bob’s Big Boy Broiler opened to much fanfare on October 19, 2009.

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Johnie’s Broiler has been featured in countless productions over the years, many more so than I could ever dream of chronicling here. But I will do my best to try. In License to Drive, Les Anderson (aka Corey Haim) and his buddies, Dean (aka Corey Feldman) and Charles (aka Michael Manasseri), get into a scuffle with some punks while dining at the fictional high school hangout “Archie’s Atomic Drive-In”.

In 1988’s My Stepmother Is an Alien, Johnie’s is where Celeste Martin (aka Kim Basinger) goes to find breakfast recipes.

In 1989’s She’s Out of Control, Doug Simpson (aka Tony Danza) takes his daughter Katie (aka Ami Dolenz) and her boyfriend Joey (aka Dana Ashbrook) to Johnie’s for a bite to eat.

In 1989’s Earth Girls Are Easy, Valerie (aka Geena Davis), Candy (aka Julie Brown) and their new alien friends, Mac (aka Jeff Goldblum), Wiploc (aka Jim Carrey), and Zeebo (aka Damon Wayans), drive by Johnie’s Broiler in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it scene.

In 1993’s What’s Love Got to Do with It, Johnie’s is where Ike Turner (aka Laurence Fishburne) and Tina Turner (aka Angela Bassett) get into a fist-fight.

In 1993’s Short Cuts, Johnie’s is the restaurant where Doreen Piggot (aka Lily Tomlin) works.

Johnie’s shows up twice in the 1994 comedy Reality Bites. It first appears as the spot where Lelaina Pierce (aka Winona Ryder) runs into Troy Dyer (aka Ethan Hawke) after her disastrous job interview during which she is unable to define the word “irony”.

It later pops up in my very favorite scene in the entire movie as the restaurant where Lelaina and Vickie Miner (aka Janeane Garogalo) discuss the television series Melrose Place.

In 1995’s Heat, Johnie’s Broiler is where Neil McCauley (aka Robert De Niro) tries to kill one of his crew members, Waingro (aka Kevin Gage).

In 1997’s The Game, a destitute Nicholas Van Orton (aka Michael Douglas) stumbles into Johnie’s to ask patrons for a ride to San Francisco.

In 1998’s Can’t Hardly Wait, Johnie’s is where Preston Meyers (aka Ethan Embry) meets The Angel (aka Jenna Elfman) while trying to call Barry Manilow on a payphone.

In the Season 7 episode of The X-Files titled “Orison”, which aired in 1999, Johnie’s stood in for a supposed-bus stop/coffee shop in Harrisburg, Illinois where Fox Mulder (aka David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (aka Gillian Anderson) search for a murder suspect.

In the 1999 movie Jawbreaker, Johnie’s is where Courtney (aka Rose McGowan), Julie (aka Rebecca Gayheart), and Marcie (aka a pre-Dexter Julie Benz) discover that they have accidentally killed their friend.

In my favorite scene from 2000’s Bounce, the diner was where Abby Janello (aka Gwyneth Paltrow) removed toilet paper off of the shoe of an unknowing woman.

Supposedly the restaurant also appeared in Mission: Impossible II, but I scanned through the movie earlier today and did not see it anywhere. It did however appear in Limp Bizkit’s 2000 video for the song “Take A Look Around”, which was featured on the Mission: Impossible II soundtrack.

You can watch that video by clicking above.

Johnie’s was also used in the 2000 music video for the Bob Dylan song “Things Have Changed”.

You can watch that video by clicking above.

Johnie’s was also used extensively in the music video for the 2001 Staind song “For You”.

You can watch that video by clicking above.

It also popped up in the 2001 Kurupt “It’s Over” music video.

A cartoon rendering of the restaurant was even made for that video . . .

. . . which you can watch by clicking above.

The diner was featured in the 2001 music video for Madonna’s “What It Feels Like For a Girl”.

Which you can watch by clicking above.

It was also used in Knoc-turn’al’s “The Knoc” music video in 2002.

You can watch that video by clicking above.

In the ultra-creepy 2002 movie One Hour Photo, Johnie’s is the coffee shop where Seymour Parrish (aka Robin Williams) ate a late-night dinner after getting off work at the local photo lab.

Most recently, Bob’s Big Boy Broiler appeared in the Season 4 episode of Mad Men titled “Tomorrowland”, in the scene in which Sally Draper (aka Kiernan Shipka) spills a milkshake and her father, Don Draper (aka Jon Hamm), is shocked to discover that his girlfriend, Megan Calvet (aka Jessica Pare), is not upset by it.

That scene was shot in a booth located in Johnie’s side room, which was the same room that appeared in the Melrose Place scene in Reality Bites.

There is quite a bit of erroneous information out there about Johnie’s Broiler’s filming history. For instance, the 2003 flick Matchstick Men was not filmed at Johnie’s, but at KJ’s Diner & Restaurant near LAX; 1998’s American History X was not filmed at Johnie’s in Downey, but at the Johnie’s Coffee Shop Restaurant located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile District of L.A.; 1980’s Midnight Madness was also shot at Johnie’s Wilshire, not at the Broiler; as was the Sean Kingston video for the song “Beautiful Girls”.

Until next time, Happy Stalking and Happy Voting – don’t forget to vote for me to be the face of About Me! Today is the VERY LAST day to vote, so please get those votes in! Smile

Stalk It: Bob’s Big Boy Broiler, aka Johnie’s Broiler, aka Archie’s Atomic Drive-In from License to Drive, is located at 7447 Firestone Boulevard in Downey. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.