Palm Springs attractions – IAMNOTASTALKER

April 20, 2018April 19, 2018

Moorten Botanical Garden

If you follow any lifestyle, fashion or beauty blogger, chances are you’ve seen some variation of the photo above. For those who don’t keep up with influencers, the image is of the cactarium – aka cacti terrarium – at Moorten Botanical Garden in Palm Springs. The structure has been documented on social media so frequently as of late that The Telegraph recently dubbed it “the most Instagrammed greenhouse in the world.” I first learned about the garden in December 2015 while reading this article about the desert in Sunset magazine. In the days that followed, I spotted pictures of the place pop up in the IG feeds of no less than three bloggers I follow. Moorten it seemed was everywhere! Considering I had called the Coachella Valley home for three years by that point, I thought it was a bit sacrilegious that I had never seen the idyll in person myself. So I promptly dragged the Grim Cheaper right on over there a few weeks later – and was thrilled to learn upon doing so that the site is a filming location!

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Moorten Botanical Garden was established by railroad-worker-turned-actor Chester Moorten, who was best known for appearing in the Keystone Cops silent films. Upon being diagnosed with Tuberculosis in the ‘30s, Chester left Los Angeles and headed east to Palm Springs with the hope that the desert air would provide him some relief. A longtime green thumb, Moorten started cultivating and selling cacti and other desert foliage at a downtown Palm Springs shop/nursery that he opened in 1938 and quickly earned himself the nickname “Cactus Slim.” Everyone from area locals to the actor’s celebrity friends were customers.

In 1940, Moorten married botanist Patricia Haliday. Together the couple expanded Chester’s business to include landscape design and were soon hired by such luminaries as Walt Disney, Red Skelton, Jimmy Van Heusen, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and Lily Pons to create backyards at their desert homes. Walt even tapped the duo to curate the foliage for Frontierland at his soon-to-be-built Disneyland Resort.

The couple also expanded their nursery into a cactus museum of sorts, using it as a showcase for their growing landscape business.

Cultivated from plants gathered during the couple’s many world travels, the site soon evolved into an area attraction.

In its early days, such luminaries as Dwight Eisenhower, Mamie Eisenhower, and Ginger Rogers were all known to pop in.

In 1955, Chester and Patricia moved the garden to its current home, a 1.5-acre plot of land at 1701 South Palm Canyon Drive complete with a sprawling Mediterranean-style estate that became their residence.

Dubbed “Cactus Castle,” the 1929 dwelling was originally commissioned by nature photographer Stephen Willard and his wife, Beatrice, who lived on the premises until 1947.

When Slim passed away in 1980, Patricia continued to live at the estate, but handed over the daily operation of the garden to the couple’s son, Clark, who shared his parents’ deep love of horticulture.

Clark then moved into Cactus Castle with his family upon Patricia’s passing in 2010. He continues to run the garden to this day, carrying on his parents’ legacy with gusto.

Currently, Moorten Botanical Garden, which is also known as Desertland, is comprised of 3,000 different varieties of plants organized into 9 geographical regions including California, Texas, Arizona, Baja California, Colorado, the Mojave Desert, the Sonoran Desert, South Africa, and South America.

Woven landscapes greet visitors at every turn . . .

. . . as do unique relics like the loveseat created from a cedar burl pictured below . . .

. . . and vegetative curiosities such as the extraordinary S-shaped tree situated just outside of Cactus Castle’s front door, which was moved to the garden from Palm Canyon after being struck by lightning.

The bolt caused the tree to burn and collapse to the side, but it survived and continued to grow in a curved position.

The Moortens propped it up on rocks after re-locating it and subsequently created a waterfall underneath (which was not turned on the day we were there).

Moorten Botanical Garden also boasts an array of crystals, rocks, fossils, antique mining tools, a gift shop/nursery, and a menagerie of desert animals.

Its biggest draw, though, is the cactarium. An invention of Chester’s, the shutter-worthy structure was erected one day when Patricia happened to be out of town.

As Clark explained to The Telegraph, “Originally the cactarium had a wooden frame, and it was covered with double thickness window screen for shade. My father wanted a more greenhouse-type of structure, so he bent all the pipes while mother was away for a week in around 1976 or 1977.” Patricia was reportedly not at all happy with the result. Little did she know the rounded shed would become one of the desert’s biggest draws some forty years later. Though not much to look at from the outside . . .

. . . the cactarium’s interior is pretty spectacular.

Filled with rare specimens of plants . . .

. . . the structure is literally dripping with greenery.

Looking around Moorten Botanical Garden, it is not hard to see why so many are enchanted with the place and how Instagram has served to make it even more popular.

The site is just that picturesque.

True to form, I ran into a popular blogger, iPhone camera in hand and photographer husband trailing closely behind, while I was there.

Moorten Botanical Garden is not just an Instagram star, though. The site has also popped up a couple of times onscreen.

Back in 1995, the garden was featured in the 18th episode of the 6th season of Rescue 911 in the segment titled “Chance Encounter,” which covers the true tale of two young hikers both named Jennifer who were rescued after falling off a cliff in Palm Springs in 1994. At the end of the bit, the real life Jennifers stroll through Moorten with their rescuers. You can watch the segment here.

In the Season 13 episode of Visiting . . . with Huell Howser titled “Moorten Botanical Garden,” which aired in 2005, the convivial host visits the site and conducts an extensive interview with Clark. You can watch the full episode here.

Moorten also makes an appearance in the 2017 horror film Valentine DayZ in a scene that is featured in the trailer, which is where the stills below came from. I couldn’t actually find the flick available to stream anywhere, which the GC said is incredibly telling. Winking smile

If you happen to find yourself in the desert, I highly recommend a visit to Moorten Botanical Garden.

The site can easily be traversed in about an hour and admittance is only $5.

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: Moorten Botanical Garden is located at 1701 South Palm Canyon Drive in The Mesa neighborhood of Palm Springs. You can visit the garden’s official website here.

July 14, 2015July 13, 2015

That Pink Door

I have yet to really hop aboard the Pinterest bandwagon, but I know I’m in the minority on that one. Those who are Pinterest-philes are most definitely familiar with what has come to be known as “That Pink Door.” That Pink Door is actually the brightly-hued front door of a residence in the Indian Canyons neighborhood of Palm Springs. The home also pops up regularly on Instagram (do a search for #thatpinkdoor and you’ll be inundated with blush-colored images) as well as on countless fashion blogs, which is how I came to discover it. I have long been obsessed with fashion blogger Julia Engel, of Gal Meets Glam. Back in May, Julia, her BFF Jordan Jones and their friend Vero Suh visited Palm Springs for what they dubbed a “Best Bebs Weekend.” While in town, they snapped some photos at That Pink Door. When I saw the pics pop up on Julia, Jordan and Vero’s respective websites, as well as the Style Me Pretty website, a few weeks later, I became enamored of the place – and was shocked that I had never heard of it before. So I immediately added it to my To-Stalk list and finally made it over there last week.

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I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that I totally stalked Julia while she was in town. I follow her on Snapchat (@galmeetsglam) and could tell from one of her videos that she was eating at Norma’s at the Parker Palm Springs. So I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on over there in the hopes of getting a pic with her. As it turns out, Julia could not have been nicer! Jordan and Vero were incredibly sweet, as well, and we all wound up chatting for a good ten minutes. I also ended up later purchasing the romper that Julia had on when we met, much to the GC’s chagrin. As I said, I am obsessed! I just think she’s adorable and has such a fabulous and unique fashion sense. If you haven’t checked out her website before, you definitely should! But I digress.

The That Pink Door residence is absolutely massive in person, much larger than I expected it to be.

The post and beam-style home was originally built in 1968 and boasts four bedrooms, five baths, 5,310 square feet and a 0.57-acre plot of land.

The pad’s pink door came courtesy of interior designer Moises Esquenazi, who purchased the residence with his partner, Bryan Graybill, in 2004. At the time, the property was unkempt, outdated and begging for a remodel. The two quickly began redesigning the space into a mid-century modern dream home with such features as glass walls, two fireplaces, a billiard room with a sunken bar, a 75-foot pool with an inlaid tanning shelf, a 12-person spa, two outdoor bars, three fire pits, and an outdoor movie theatre. You can check out what the interior of the home looks like here. While pretty, I had hoped there would be a lot more pink.

The home’s cherry on top, of course, is the pastel pink front door. While Moises and Bryan sold the pad for a whopping $1,820,000 in 2008, the new owners have, thankfully, not touched the color of the door.

The residence has won many accolades, including being featured as one of the “Best Homes in America” in the 25th Anniversary issue of Metropolitan Home magazine. Palm Springs Life also published a piece on it in November 2006. And while the property is said to have been featured on an HGTV program, for the life of me I cannot figure out which program. If anyone happens to know, please fill me in.

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: “That Pink Door” is located at 1100 East Sierra Way in the Indian Canyon area of Palm Springs.

August 8, 2013August 13, 2013

Copley’s on Palm Canyon – Cary Grant’s Former Guesthouse

One location that I had been chomping at the bit to stalk for what seemed like ages was Copley’s on Palm Canyon – a restaurant created out of what is said to be Cary Grant’s former Palm Springs guest house. Because the eatery does not open until 6 p.m. each night, though (I am nothing if not an early bird), and because it is closed during the scorchingly hot summer months of July and August, I had never had the chance. Until this past May, that is, when the Grim Cheaper and I happened to find ourselves just down the street from Copley’s on a Sunday afternoon at around 5:45 p.m. Thankfully, it only took a little arm twisting to convince him to venture inside for a quick happy hour cocktail. And I am so glad that we did, because the place is simply fabulous!

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Copley’s, which is named after its England-born executive chef, Andrew Manion Copley, first opened its doors in December 2004. Andrew, accompanied by his wife, Juliana, landed in Palm Springs earlier that same year after culinary stints at numerous five-star sites including the Turtle Bay Resort in Oahu (where Forgetting Sarah Marshall was filmed), The Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco, The Park Lane Hotel and The Savoy in London, and The Lodge at Koele at the Four Seasons Resort Lana’i. Upon migrating to Palm Springs, the couple, along with business partner Greg Butterfield, purchased a recently-shuttered Persian restaurant named La Shank House located at what was once supposedly the guest house of Hollywood legend Cary Grant.

As the story goes (and I have, unfortunately, not been able to verify it), Cary purchased the property sometime during the 1940s and proceeded to use it as off-site guest quarters for visiting family and friends, many of whom were Hollywood royalty, through the 1950s. I am not quite sure where in Palm Springs Cary lived during that time period, but I do not believe it was at the so-called “Cary Grant Estate” that I blogged about in July 2011. (He owned that particular home from 1954 to 1972 and it had its own on-site guest quarters.) I did find an article on the CaryGrant.net website that stated that in 1949 Cary and his third wife, Betsy Drake, “spent some time at a tiny place in Palm Springs which Cary used to refer to as ‘The Dump.’” Because the abode was described as “tiny” and therefore most likely did not have room for guests, I am guessing that might be where he lived when he purchased the Copley’s site. Unfortunately though, the website makes no mention of “The Dump’s” exact location. So you know what that means! I’ve got another locale to track down! Is my work here never done?

After purchasing the site, Andrew and Juliana immediately began renovating and restoring the 3,500-square-foot property, which was originally built sometime during the 1920s. During the renovation, which took 64 days to complete, the couple refurbished the estate’s original hardwood flooring, replanted every bit of foliage on the 0.50-acre grounds and transformed the former garden into an outdoor dining area. The result is nothing short of spectacular!

Because we showed up 15 minutes before Copley’s actually opened and they were nice enough to allow us in, we had the place entirely to ourselves. And the super-nice bartender even went so far as to take me on a little tour to explain how the structure was set up when Grant owned it. As you can see below, the indoor dining area is divided by cut-out arched walls. During the Cary Grant days, those walls were filled in, sectioning off the building into several neighboring suites (I think there were a total of five separate suites), all of which opened out to the garden/patio. So the property was essentially like a private mini-hotel. How great would it be to have a place like that to stash visiting family and friends? Love it!

One of the former suite areas is pictured below.

Copley’s definitely does not have the typical restaurant feel to it. Being there is like hanging out at a good friend’s house – well, a rich good friend’s house. And whether or not Cary Grant ever actually owned the place, it was still insanely fun to sit on the patio and sip champagne while imaging that the iconic actor had once done the exact same thing in the exact same spot.

And, bonus! The Grim Cheaper was especially excited to learn that Copley’s offers $5 champagne on its happy hour menu – something that is not at all typical. You can check out the full happy hour menu here.

And while we did not partake of any food while we were there, the dinner menu does look pretty darn uh-ma-zing (the Sesame Seared Tofu has my name written all over it!) and we are looking forward to going back there for a special occasion meal.

For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Copley’s on Palm Canyon is located at 621 North Palm Canyon Drive in Palm Springs. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here. The eatery only serves dinner and is open each night starting at 6 p.m. The property is closed on Mondays during the month of June and is closed completely from July through August each year.

May 31, 2013May 31, 2013

Liberace’s Third Palm Springs House

Shortly after moving to the desert back in January, I took my dad to a doctor appointment and, while in the waiting room, happened to pick up the November 2012 issue of Palm Springs Life magazine. It turned out to be a fortuitous choice because in it was an article titled “Living With Liberace” about a recently-remodeled Old Las Palmas-area residence that had once been owned by the legendary pianist. The article, of course, piqued my interest, but, let me tell you, I just about fell out of my chair when I read that the property’s new owners, accountant Garth Gilpin and his wife, doctor Elizabeth Smalley, originally hailed from Pasadena, the city that I had just migrated from! I decided I had to stalk the home as soon as possible – especially considering all of the hoopla that was then (and is still now) surrounding the recently filmed HBO biopic Behind the Candelabra (which finally aired this past Sunday) – and I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out to do just that a few days later.

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Liberace, who was born Wladziu Valentino Liberace and who was at one time the world’s highest-paid pianist, purchased the one-story desert dwelling on North Kaweah Road in 1968. It was his third Palm Springs home. Lee, as he was known to his friends, actually owned six Coachella Valley-area properties throughout his lifetime (including one that he purchased for his mother and another that he purchased for his brother). Of his penchant for buying residences, he said, “Some people collect stamps, I like to collect real estate. I am a firm believer in the good earth.”

During Liberace’s years there, the four-bedroom, five-bath, 3,101-square-foot abode, which was originally constructed in 1952 and sits on a 0.33-acre plot of land, was decorated in a French Provincial style and boasted a Louis XIV room and a large fountain. According to the Palm Springs Life article, Mr. Showmanship would play his piano nightly, much to the joy of his neighbors, and each Halloween, would pass out silver dollars, much to the joy of local trick-or-treaters. Garth told the magazine that the man who formerly lived next door (he has since passed away), would share anecdotes of Lee’s time on North Kaweah, saying “He told us how Liberace would come over in the mornings, in his bathrobe, and go into his icebox and chow down on his fried chicken leftovers. Then at night he’d hear him playing the piano. It’s such a great Palm Springs story, isn’t it? ‘I lived next door and got to hear Liberace playing the piano for free.’”

Liberace purchased his final desert residence, which was named The Cloisters (you can read my blog post on it here), in 1967. It was in disarray at the time and the pianist immediately began a long restoration process, to the tune of $136,000, while still living on North Kaweah Road. He finally moved into The Cloisters in 1972, at which point he offloaded the Kaweah property.

When the Kaweah house was put on the market in 2009, it boasted a price tag of $995,000 and was in quite a state, as you can see below. There are quite simply no words for the monstrosity that the interior had become. Wait, I take that back. There are words. Two of them, in fact. Hot mess!

Shockingly, the extravagant décor was not a leftover from Liberace’s days, but was the brainchild of the home’s then owner who was apparently a huge fan of both Mr. Showmanship and Elvis. You can check out additional photographs of the residence’s unique interior on its real estate listing here.

Garth and Elizabeth wound up buying the property in May 2010 for $625,000. Of their first tour of the dwelling – a viewing which rendered the couple “speechless” – Elizabeth says, “There were painted cherubs on the ceiling, a room that was Dalmatian and cow print, fake flowers, red velvet, gold, with Elvis and Liberace everywhere. It was the most dysfunctional house we’ve ever seen. Nonetheless, we thought, how can we not do this?” Shortly after purchasing the residence, they hired designer Christopher Kennedy to help them “honor and respect Liberace’s original vision without, you know, recreating it” and “to make it feel Liberace without looking Liberace.” You can see the result – which is fabulous – on the Palm Springs Life website here. Hard to believe it’s the same house as the one shown in the photos above!

Thankfully, subtle reminders of the pad’s famous former owner were left on the exterior of the property, as well, including music notes on the front gates.

And a piano-shaped mailbox, which I fell in love with!

The house is even named “Piazza di Liberace” and bears a sign informing visitors of that fact. Love it!

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Liberace’s third desert home is located at 1441 North Kaweah Road in the Old Las Palmas section of Palm Springs.

July 25, 2012July 24, 2012

Elvis Presley’s Honeymoon Hideaway

While visiting my parents in the Coachella Valley last month, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, suggested that I do a re-stalk of the desert home where Elvis Presley and his new bride, Priscilla, spent their honeymoon in 1967. I had originally stalked and blogged about the property way back in March 2008, when my website was just a few months old, but because the post (which you can read here) was a mash-up of sorts about several Palm Springs-area celebrity vacation homes, Mike thought it would be a good idea to re-visit the location and dedicate a post solely to it. So I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on over there on our way out of town.

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The Elvis Honeymoon Hideaway, as it is commonly known, was designed in 1960 by architect William Krisel for real estate developer Robert Alexander, owner of the The Alexander Construction Company, who built the pad himself, at a cost of $300,000, for his wife, Helene. Together, Alexander and Krisel had constructed almost 2,000 homes in the Palm Springs-area, most notably in what came to be referred to as the “Alexander Tract”, which, according to a February 2009 Palm Springs Life article, historian Alan Hess called the “largest Modernist housing subdivision in the United States”.

The design of the house consists of four perfect circles built on three levels and incorporates many circular elements, including a 64-foot circular banquette couch that surrounds a circular fireplace and a circular-shaped kitchen that curves around a rounded stove. And, as you can see below, the pathway leading to the front door is made up of overlapping circular steps.

I absolutely LOVE the musical clefs on the home’s front gate, by the way.

And the rock outside which declares that Elvis honeymooned on the premises. As I’ve said countless times before on this blog, why don’t more owners of famous homes do this??? LOVE IT! But I digress.

When Look Magazine published an eight-page feature on the property called “The Way-Out Way of Life” in September 1962 (which you can take a look at here), “The House of Tomorrow”, as it was dubbed, became wildly famous, as did the Alexanders. Sadly, the couple, who were said to be the movers and shakers of the Palm Springs social scene at the time, were killed in a plane crash on November 14th, 1965. Elvis, who first heard about the dwelling from his manager, Colonel Tom Parker (who lived nearby at 1166 North Vista Vespero), ended up leasing the property a little less than a year later, on September 16th, 1966, at a rate of $21,000 per year. And while the singer and his then girlfriend, Priscilla Beaulieu, were set to be married on the grounds, when the media caught wind of the impending nuptials, plans were changed and the couple was whisked away to Las Vegas for an impromptu ceremony at the Aladdin Hotel on May 1st, 1967. That afternoon, the newlyweds returned to their Ladera Circle home, where Elvis famously carried Priscilla over the threshold. Lisa Marie was born exactly (like to the day!) nine months later, on February 1st, 1968, by which time the couple had moved into a ranch located in Memphis, Tennessee.

The two-bedroom, four-bath, 4,695-square-foot home, which was restored to its original glory in 1990, features a pool, an outdoor stage, a tennis court, a fruit orchard, a private garden, floor-to-ceiling windows, panoramic views of the Santa Rosa Mountains, and a honeymoon master suite (natch!). You can check out some fabulous interior photographs of the residence here. The dwelling is currently used as venue for weddings and private events, and – wait for it! – guided tours of the property are also given on a daily basis at a rate of $25 per person. How cool is that?

And the home is also a filming location! In the 1998 made-for-TV movie Poodle Springs, the exterior of the abode stood in for the residence where Philip Marlowe (James Caan) lived with his wife, Laura Parker-Marlowe (Dina Meyer – aka Beverly Hills, 90210’s Lucinda Nicholson).

The interior and backyard scenes were shot elsewhere, though – most likely at a home in Los Angeles.

And while the 1998 made-for-television movie Elvis and Me, which was based on Priscilla Presley’s 1985 book of the same name, supposedly filmed some scenes at the Honeymoon Hideaway, I scanned through it prior to writing this post and did not spot the house anywhere.

The Honeymoon Hideaway is also a popular spot for photo shoots and such stars as Jenny McCarthy, Elisabeth Shue and Jennifer Jason Leigh have all posed there for such noted lensmen as Mario Testino, Mark Seliger and Annie Leibovitz.

Be sure to “Like” IAMNOTASTALKER on Facebook here and “Friend” me on my personal page here. You can also check out the IAMNOTASTALKER About Me page here and you can follow me on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And you can take a look at my latest post about one of my favorite to-go meals on my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for suggesting that I write another post about this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Elvis Honeymoon Hideaway is located at 1350 Ladera Circle in Palm Springs. You can visit the home’s official website here. Tours of the property, tickets for which can be purchased here, are given on a daily basis at a cost of $25 per person.

March 7, 2012March 7, 2012

The “Rain Man” Convenience Store

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Patrick Warburton, aka “David Puddy” from Seinfeld;

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

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

Mike Inez, from Alice in Chains;

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

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

Cheech Marin;

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

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

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

September 9, 2011September 8, 2011

Castelli’s Ristorante in Palm Desert

Early last week, one of my mom’s friends told her about a Palm Desert-area eatery named Castelli’s Ristorante that he had just dined at the previous evening. While he was lauding the place’s authentic Italian fare, he happened to mention that its walls were decorated with hundreds upon hundreds of photographs of the various celebrities who had been spotted there over the years. Well, once my mom heard that she immediately called me up to see if I was aware of the establishment. Amazingly enough, I was not! I, of course, just about died of excitement upon hearing those two magic words – “celebrity photographs” – and quickly added the place to my Coachella Valley “To Stalk” list. And while we were in the area this past Sunday night, I dragged my parents and the Grim Cheaper right on over there to grab a cocktail.

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Castelli’s Ristorante is a very old school-style eatery that closely resembles my former San Fernando Valley-area favorite Vitello’s, which, as I mentioned last week, drastically changed its menu (and not for the better) earlier this year. But I digress. With its wood-beamed ceilings, dark lighting, lace curtains, Rat Pack music and painted frescos, walking through Castelli’s front doors I was instantly transported back in time and, like one reviewer on Yelp stated, I half expected to see Tony Soprano sitting at a nearby booth. The restaurant, which is owned and operated by brothers John and Michael Castelli, first opened over 23 years ago and, thanks to its authentic, fresh-cooked Italian cuisine, has been going strong ever since.

Since we had already eaten dinner at the La Quinta Cliffhouse shortly before hitting up Castelli’s, we sadly did not order any meals while there, but the menu looked absolutely amazing. And once I heard that the place served cannoli (I learned today that “cannoli” is actually a plural noun, the singular form of the word is “cannolo”), I just about died and promptly ordered up a serving. Amazingly enough, I had actually never sampled a “cannolo” until this past June and have been absolutely obsessed with the ricotta cheese-filled desert ever since. Because I am diabetic, I can only have them on special occasions, but, let me tell you, my cravings for them are so strong I feel like I a pregnant woman! Winking smile And I have to say that Castelli’s cannoli were some of the BEST that I have ever had. Oh my god were they good! My dad liked them so much, in fact, that he ordered up a second serving immediately after we had finished the first.

The best part about Castelli’s – even better than its cannoli – though, had to be its celebrity photographs. Oh, the fun that my parents, the GC, and I had roaming around the restaurant trying to figure out who was who in each of the pictures. We even had the waiters running around trying to help us out. Just a few of the luminaries who adorn Castelli’s walls include Martin Short, Bob Hope, Burn Notice’s Jeffrey Donovan, Kevin Nealon, Gary Valentine, Norman Schwarzkopf, Dick Cheney, Robert Wagner, Stefanie Powers, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Andy Garcia, Don Cheadle, Dick Butkus, Joe Pesci, Sylvester Stallone, Craig T. Nelson, Dennis Franz, Emmitt Smith, Samuel L. Jackson, Gary Sinise, Jerry Lewis, Kurt Russell, James Caan, Dennis Farina, Hal Linden, John O’Hurley (aka “Mr. Peterman” from Seinfeld), and sportscaster Chris Berman. I think it goes without saying that I cannot more highly recommend stalking this restaurant! In fact, I think it is safe to say that the place is my new favorite Desert eatery.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Castelli’s Ristorante is located at 73-098 Highway 111 in Palm Desert. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.

September 7, 2011December 6, 2013

Marilyn Monroe’s Former Palm Springs Home – Revisited

This past Friday afternoon the Grim Cheaper and I headed out to Palm Springs to spend Labor Day Weekend with my parents at their new desert abode. And even though most of our time was devoted to relaxing (and to watching Dance Moms, which has to be one of the most addicting shows I have EVER seen, but I digress), I was able to get a little bit of stalking in while we were there, including a LONG overdue visit to the Cabazon Dinosaurs which were made famous thanks to an appearance in the 1985 flick Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. But more on “Dinny” and “Mr. Rex”, as they are known, later. For today I thought I would write about one of my VERY favorite locations that I ever stalked – Marilyn Monroe’s former Palm Springs home, which I originally visited – and blogged about – back in March of 2008. Because I had lumped the dwelling in with several other properties in a post about Palm-Springs celebrity vacation homes and because I had only included one photograph of the place in that post, though, I figured that this was one location that was most definitely worthy of a re-stalk. So I dragged the GC right on over there on our way into town.

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I originally found out about Marilyn’s former desert oasis thanks to a Map of the Stars’ Homes that I picked up – for free! – at the Palm Springs Visitors’ Center on one of my very first trips to the Coachella Valley. And even though it was long before my MM obsession took hold, I absolutely fell in love with the charming little bungalow as soon as I laid eyes upon it. With its Spanish-tiled steps, black-and-white striped awnings, abundant foliage, and gold-trimmed wrought iron front gate, the dwelling just screamed “fifties” to me and I immediately envisioned the starlet tending to some flowers in her quaint little garden, all the while wearing a pink scarf in her hair. According to an article titled “The Road to Fame and Fortune”, which was written by Greg Archer and appeared in the September 2010 issue of Palm Springs Life Magazine, the exterior of the home still looks exactly the same today as it did back in the days when Marilyn lived there. LOVE IT! In the article Greg also states that the property is the “most beautiful house on the block”. I couldn’t agree more! In fact, I would even go so far as to say that it is one of the most beautiful houses that I have ever seen in my entire life. Oh, what I wouldn’t give to take a tour of the inside! Sigh!

Unfortunately, I have not been able to pinpoint the exact dates that Marilyn owned the dwelling as there seems to be a bit of conflicting information online. According to “The Road to Fame and Fortune” article, Marilyn owned the the four bedroom, three bath, 2,978 square foot bungalow from 1960 to 1961, but according to the home’s property records, which I found via fave website Property Shark, the place was not even built until 1961, so something is mixed up somewhere. UPDATE – fellow stalker E.J., of The Movieland Directory website, has done quite a bit of research on the home and has never been able to find any property records which tie it to MM, so he is guessing that she never actually owned the house, but may have rented it for a time.

As you can see in the above photographs (the one on the left was taken when I first visited the house in March 2008 and the one on the right was taken this past weekend), the foliage in front of the property has grown considerably in recent years, blocking quite a bit of the home’s exterior from view. It is still an absolutely adorable little abode, though, and I cannot more highly recommend stalking it.

On a VERY exciting side-note: This past Friday morning, the powers that be at the About Me website sent me a tweet alerting me to the fact that they had featured me on their “Spotlight Directory” page, which you can check out here. (I appear on a different portion of the page each time it is opened, so you may have to scroll through a bit to see me.) SO INCREDIBLY EXCITING!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU, ABOUT ME! And thank you so much to everyone who has been voting for me to be the new face of the company! I appreciate it so much and, amazingly, I am currently in the top 5%! So please keep those votes coming, my fellow stalkers! You can vote by clicking on the green “Vote for this profile!” tab in the upper right-hand corner of my About Me profile. You can only vote once every 24 hours – and the voting clock does not reset at midnight, which means that if you vote at 2:31 p.m. on a particular day, you will not be able to vote again until the following day at 2:32 p.m. Annoying, I know.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Marilyn Monroe’s former Palm Springs home is located at 1326 Rose Avenue in Palm Springs.

August 4, 2011December 6, 2013

Twin Palms – Frank Sinatra’s Former Palm Springs Estate

Another Palm-Springs-area location that the Grim Cheaper and I stalked two weekends ago while vacationing in the Coachella Valley was Twin Palms, the former desert home of legendary crooner Frank Sinatra and his then-wife Nancy Barbato. And while I have actually stalked – and even blogged about – this location once before (way back in April of 2008!), since it was in the very early days of my site, it was an extremely short post that did not include any of the property’s vastly fascinating history. So I decided that the estate was most definitely worthy of a re-write.

Apparently, on May 1, 1947, Frank Sinatra, who had just signed a highly profitable movie contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, wandered into the offices of newly-founded architectural firm Williams, Williams, & Williams. At the time, now-legendary architect E. Stewart Williams, who designed Frankie’s house from Alpha Dog which I blogged about last Thursday, was a novice who had just joined his father’s firm and had yet to design a private residence. Frank, who was holding an ice cream cone and wearing a sailor’s hat, informed the team that he wanted them to design and build a huge Georgian-style estate by Christmas, in time for a party the singer was hosting. And even though the desired finish date was only seven short months away, Williams, Williams, & Williams took the job. Apparently, Frank was a difficult man to say “no” to. E. Stewart came up with two designs for the singer, one in the Georgian-style that Frank had originally envisioned, and another in the mid-century-modern-style, which Stewart would later become famous for. Sinatra liked the modern design and the rest, as they say, is history. E. Stewart’s partner and brother, Roger, later said, “We’d have been ruined if we’d been forced to build Georgian in the desert.”

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The four-bedroom, five-bathroom, 4,500-square-foot estate, which was built fully air-conditioned at a cost of $150,000, was completed in time for Frank’s party. The property was nick-named “Twin Palms”, thanks to the two large palm trees which flanked the home’s piano-shaped swimming pool. The estate, which is currently used as a vacation rental and filming location, currently boasts authentic period furniture, countless Frank Sinatra memorabilia, the original Valentino sound system on which Frank used to cut his records, a pool house complete with his-and-her bathrooms, and a full library of the iconic crooner’s music.

Frank and Nancy divorced in 1948 and Frank’s mistress and future wife Ava Gardner subsequently moved in. Of her time in the house, Ava said, “It was the site of probably the most spectacular fight of our young married life, and honey don’t think I don’t know that’s really saying something . . . Frank’s establishment in Palm Springs, the only house we really could ever call our own, has seen some pretty amazing occurrences.” Indeed! According to the home’s rental website, one of the sinks in the master bathroom bears a crack from a champagne bottle that Frank threw at Ava during one of their legendary brawls. You can see a photograph of that crack here. Frank also reportedly once threw all of Eva’s belongings into the driveway of the home after she had attempted to catch him cheating on her with actress Lana Turner. It was also in this house that Frank kept a room for his friend and my girl Marilyn Monroe, who was a frequent guest. In 1957, after filing for divorce from Ava, Frank sold the property and moved to a new home in nearby Rancho Mirage. Today, Twin Palms is a Palm Springs Class 1 Historical Site and is featured regularly in photo shoots for fashion magazines, including Men’s Health, Town & Country, Palm Springs Life, Sunset, German Elle, and Vogue. And the dwelling is also a filming location! Apparently Frank allowed the exterior of the property to be featured in the 1950 movie The Damned Don’t Cry, which starred Joan Crawford. You can see some fabulous interior photographs of the estate on the Rearranged Design website here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Twin Palms, Frank Sinatra’s former desert home, is located at 1148 East Alejo Road in Palm Springs. You can visit the property’s official website here. Tours of the estate are conducted on a semi-regular basis and private tours, for a minimum of 20 guests, can also be arranged by clicking here.

August 3, 2011August 2, 2011

The Miramonte Resort & Spa in Indian Wells

One Palm-Springs-area hotel that I have long wanted to vacation at – not because it is a filming location, but because it is just simply beautiful – is the Miramonte Resort & Spa in Indian Wells. The Grim Cheaper and I ate dinner at the resort once upon a time many years back and I have been enamored of the place ever since. So for our recent Coachella Valley getaway two weekends ago, I begged the GC to book us a room there. And even though the rates weren’t exactly inexpensive despite the intense summer heat, he readily agreed! Shocking, I know! It was not until the very end of our stay, as we were checking out of the hotel, that I discovered, thanks to the super nice concierge on duty, that the resort was not only something of a celebrity hot-spot, but also a filming location! They say that the more you think about something, the more you attract that thing to you and in this particular instance that was definitely the case. It seems I always find myself stalking, even when I am not necessarily intending to. Winking smile

The Miramonte Resort & Spa, which has been awarded Four Diamond status from AAA, boasts 215 spacious guest rooms sprawled throughout an 11-acre piece of property that has been designed to resemble a Tuscan villa. The well-manicured grounds include several flower and herb gardens, outdoor fireplaces and piazzas, meandering pathways, hammocks tucked away in shaded little spaces, sparkling fountains, 24-hour room service (LOVE it!), a two-story, 12,000-square-foot spa, which was named the “#1 Resort Spa in North America & Caribbean” by Conde Nast Traveler, two 18-hole championship golf courses, two pools, including an adults-only pool, and over 30,000 square feet of event and meeting space. And while the resort is quite large and boasts countless amenities, it somehow manages to retain an intimate, secluded, and quiet ambiance. Both the GC and I absolutely loved the place!

Best of all, we somehow got upgraded to a 425-square-foot “Estate Room” during our stay, which featured a full marble bathroom, two queen-sized ‘Desert Dream Beds’, a sitting area, free wireless internet (which the GC was absolutely floored about), a 42-inch flat screen TV, and striking views of the Santa Rosa Mountains.

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The Miramonte’s SUPER-nice concierge, who spent about twenty minutes speaking with me about filming locations and my website, informed me that The Real Housewives of Orange County had once filmed at the hotel. In the Season 6 episode titled “Body Shots”, Housewife Peggy Tanous and her husband, Micah, spent the weekend with their two daughters, Capri and London, in the Miramonte’s Presidential Suite. It was while laying by the resort’s pool that baby Capri cut her finger and had to be rushed to the hospital – which was just a slight overreaction to the situation in my opinion, but I digress.

The concierge also informed me that in the Season 1 episode of Flavor of Love titled “Flav’s Trippin’”, Flavor Flav took contestants Brooke Thompson, aka “Pumkin”, and Nicole Alexander, aka “Hoopz”, to the Miramonte for a spa getaway. Just a few of the other celebrities who have been spotted at the resort include Larry King, three-time Olympic figure skating World Champion Peggy Fleming, Bernie Mac, George Lopez, Tony Bennett, Tommy Hilfiger, Chris Tucker, and Judy Sheindlin, aka “Judge Judy”.

On a side note – while at my parents’ new house this past weekend, I came across a few celebrity autographs that I had compiled over the years, including the one pictured above from Miss Liza Minnelli. And even though, because I have always been far more into photographs than autographs, there are not that many of them, I thought it might be fun to post a few on my site. So I created a new page titled “Celebrity Guest Book”. You can check it out here. Enjoy!

And a very big HAPPY ANNIVERSARY goes out to my parents today, who are celebrating a whopping 37 years of marriage! Congratulations, guys! I love you!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Miramonte Resort & Spa is located at 45000 Indian Wells Lane in Indian Wells. You can visit the hotel’s official website here.