Pasadena – Page 2 – IAMNOTASTALKER

October 1, 2018October 16, 2019

Pasadena Central Library from “Foul Play”

It’s my favorite day of the year! No, it’s not Halloween already – it’s October 1st, which marks the start of my annual Haunted Hollywood postings and the beginning of the Halloween season (well, it marks the latter for most people, anyway – I started decorating for the holiday weeks ago!). To kick things off, I thought I’d write about Pasadena Central Library. I stalked the gorgeous book repository last month in preparation for my October blogs, figuring the place would be the perfect segue into the season thanks to its appearance in several scary productions, most notably the 1990 “thrill-omedy” Arachnophobia. But as I only just learned thanks to a few knowledgeable chat room commenters, while the library was briefly featured in the film’s original theatrical run, apparently the footage shot there was not included in later releases – not in any versions available on DVD nor via streaming. Because the site has numerous other connections to the chiller genre, though – namely a cameo in the 1978 mystery Foul Play – I decided to forge ahead with the post.

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The Pasadena Public Library was originally established as the Pasadena Library and Village Improvement Society in 1882, four years before the city itself was incorporated. Its initial headquarters, built in 1884, was situated on Colorado Boulevard near Raymond Avenue (though it was known as “Raymond Street” at the time) on what was then the Central School campus. Two years after it was constructed, the entire building was moved a few blocks south to 42 West Dayton Street. When the need to expand arose in 1890, the library then set up shop in a dramatic turreted property on the corner of Raymond Avenue and Walnut Street. A model of that site, made from stone taken from the actual building and currently on display in the Central Library’s Main Hall, is pictured below. (Sadly, that structure was razed at some point after the current library was erected. Oh, how I wish it had been left intact! I mean, it couldn’t look more like a real life haunted house if it tried! Can you imagine the Halloween fun that could be had there if it was still standing?)

In 1922, the Bennett, Parsons and Frost architecture firm was commissioned to oversee the development of a civic center for Pasadena set to include a city hall, a civic auditorium, and a new library.

The firm held a design contest for the three structures in which ten architecture companies competed. Myron Hunt (who also gave us Thornton Gardens, Occidental College, Wattles Mansion, the Langham Huntington Hotel, the Huntington Library, Art Collection, and Botanical Gardens and the Pasadena Elks Lodge) and H.C. Chambers’ proposal was chosen for the new library and construction on their Spanish Colonial Revival-style masterpiece began on May 19th, 1925.

The structure was completed a little less than two years later and the building was dedicated on February 12th, 1927.

The exterior of the three-story, U-shaped property is comprised of a central courtyard with a fountain, cast concrete friezes, Corinthian cast stone columns, paned arched windows, and outdoor reading alcoves.

While undeniably impressive . . .

. . . the interior is the real sight to behold.

Boasting intricate woodwork, spectacular coffered ceilings, pendant lighting, Italian marble flooring, oak shelving, and ornately carved doorways and hallways, the inside of the building is nothing short of breathtaking.

The sweeping Main Hall is the library’s crown jewel. Measuring 33 by 203 feet, the room features 45-foot ceilings, oak wainscoting and bookshelves, cork flooring (to mask the sound of footsteps), and a set of handsome dark wood and wrought-iron tables that run the length of the space.

Each of the library’s many chambers can be reached via the Main Hall, including the Children’s Room . . .

. . . which was originally named the “Peter Pan Room” in honor of the Maud Daggett-sculpted fireplace that stands as the space’s focal point and depicts the story of the beloved children’s book;

the Reference Room;

the Centennial Room;

the Business Wing;

the Humanities Wing;

and the floors upon floors of book stacks.

The city embarked upon an extensive restoration and “historically sensitive” renovation of the building between 1984 and 1990. The result is nothing short of striking as the photos in this post attest to.

Pasadena Central Library, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, is elegant, opulent, and grand.

It is not at all hard to see how the site wound up onscreen copious times.

It is also not hard to see how it ended up in so many productions of the spooky nature. Though gorgeous, with its towering ceilings, dark woodwork, colossal size, and maze-like stacks, the space does lend itself quite easily to the macabre.

I certainly wouldn’t want to be there alone after dark – like Gloria Mundy (Goldie Hawn) found herself in Foul Play.

In the flick, the interior of the Pasadena Central Library appears a few times as the inside of the supposed San Francisco-area Sarah B. Cooper Public Library where Gloria works – and is attacked by Whitey Jackson (William Frankfather) while on the job late at night.

Pasadena Central Library also pops up in the 1988 horror comedy Dead Heat as the spot where Roger Mortis (Treat Williams), Doug Bigelow (Joe Piscopo), and Randi James (Lindsay Frost) search through obituaries.

The venue portrays the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. where Lloyd Bowman (Ken Leung) decodes a threatening cypher from Francis Dolarhyde (Ralph Fiennes) in the 2002 thriller Red Dragon.

In the Season 5 episode of Ghost Whisperer titled “See No Evil,” which aired in 2009, a young student named Steve (Jerry Shea) is haunted by a vengeful specter while studying at Pasadena Central Library late at night.

I happened to visit the library during the filming of the scene, which took place on July 17th, 2009, and am happy to report that the crew could not have been nicer. They even allowed me to snap some photos of the set while the cast was on a break.

I am unsure of why the “hot set” tape was placed around the areas used in the filming, but I am guessing it was because producers had the space set up exactly as they wanted for the scene and did not want any elements disturbed. There were also quite a few special effects involved in the segment, so if sections of the library were already rigged, that would explain the tape, as well.

For one effect, special lamp shades with X’s cut into them were utilized, as a crew member pointed out to me.

The library has cameoed in a plethora of non-scary productions, as well.

Grace McQueen (Jessica Tandy) hosts a story hour in the Children’s Room at the end of the 1991 made-for-television movie The Story Lady.

The site portrays the Harvard Law Library where Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) studies in the 2001 comedy Legally Blonde.

The locale masks as the Georgetown Law Library where Clifford Calley (Mark Feuerstein) secretly meets with Donna Moss (Janel Moloney) and begs her to set up a meeting with Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford) in the Season 3 episode of The West Wing titled “H. Con-172,” which aired in 2002.

In the Season 3 episode of Cold Case titled “Beautiful Little Fool,” which aired in 2006, the property plays the Library of Philadelphia where Lilly Rush (Kathryn Morris) and Nick Vera (Jeremy Ratchford) research the Roaring Twenties while trying to solve a murder case.

Ray Drecker (Thomas Jane) meets with a new client at Pasadena Central Library in the Season 2 episode of Hung titled “Beaverland,” which aired in 2010.

Though countless websites claim that Matilda was shot on the premises, I have scanned through the movie numerous times and did not see it pop up anywhere. The library supposedly appears in the 2002 crime thriller The Salton Sea, as well, but I also scanned through that film and did not spot it.

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: Pasadena Central Library, from Foul Play, is located at 285 East Walnut Street in Pasadena. You can visit its official website here.

August 24, 2018August 23, 2018

Cameron’s Seafood from “Say Anything . . . “

The restaurant business is an insanely fickle one. So when I set out to find the eatery where Diane Court (Ione Skye) lunched with her mom, Mrs. Court (Lois Chiles), and her mom’s boyfriend, Ray (Stephen Shortridge), in the 1989 flick Say Anything . . . a few years back, I never dreamed it would be a place still in operation that I could actually stalk. It wasn’t until partnering with Greg Mariotti, from The Uncool website, to write our joint article about the movie’s Los Angeles locations in 2017 that I learned the scene had been filmed at Cameron’s Seafood (no relation to director Cameron Crowe Winking smile ) at 1978 East Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena. When I inputted the restaurant’s name into Google, I was shocked to not only discover that the joint was still open, but that it was a place I was very familiar with. Though I had never dined there, I drove by it regularly during the 10+ years I lived in Crown City and was always struck by its resemblance to The Fish Market outposts, a favorite restaurant chain of my parents. (You can check out what a couple of those places look like here and here.) So to the top of my To-Stalk List Cameron’s went and the Grim Cheaper and I headed right on over there for lunch a few days later.

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Cameron’s Seafood opened its doors in 1984.

Originally founded by John Cameron (hence the name), it was taken over just two year later by Peter Gallanis, who still owns it to this day.

Cameron’s quickly became a neighborhood staple – the go-to spot in Pasadena for fresh seafood. Per a 2003 The Conduit article, the popular eatery averages a whopping 400 patrons on weekdays and 900 on weekends.

The sprawling 9,800-square-foot space features an exhibition-style kitchen . . .

. . . a large main dining room . . .

. . . a front bar . . .

. . . a rear bar . . .

. . . an on-site fish market . . .

. . . and nautical décor throughout.

The GC and I both loved our lunch at Cameron’s and are now kicking ourselves for not frequenting the place regularly when we lived in the area. The crab cakes I ordered were divine, the ambiance warm and inviting, and the bartender who served us could not have been more friendly. The cherry on top of our meal, though, was when I asked said bartender if she was aware of any filming done at the restaurant, and she replied, “A movie was shot here once, but that was a really long time ago – in the ‘80s.” Shocked, I inquired if she was talking about Say Anything . . . and was floored when she responded in the affirmative. In my experience, it is a rare occasion for employees to know any filming information, even if the filming is iconic (case in point – the concierge at the Plaza Hotel New York who had no idea Home Alone 2 had been lensed on the premises), so for her to be aware of a relatively short scene shot at Cameron’s almost thirty years prior was downright phenomenal!

In Say Anything . . . , Cameron’s Seafood is the site of a rather terse luncheon during which Diane pleads with her mother to tell the IRS nice things about her father, who is being investigated on embezzlement charges.

In the scene, Diane, her mother, and Ray sit at the rear of Cameron’s main dining room, just beyond the counter that overlooks the exhibition kitchen. Though I didn’t get a close-up photo of that area of the restaurant, it is visible in the far back of my picture below.

With its nautical-themed décor, it is not very hard to see how Cameron’s came to be used Say Anything . . . , which was set in Seattle. Amazingly, the place still looks much the same today as it did onscreen 29 years ago.

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: Cameron’s Seafood, from Say Anything . . . , is located at 1978 East Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.

June 1, 2018May 31, 2018

Afeni Shakur’s House from “Unsolved: The Murders of Tupac & the Notorious B.I.G.”

I am unnaturally obsessed with pretty much all things southern – southern accents (what I wouldn’t give for a slow, lilting twang!), homemade fried chicken, and large plantation-style houses, among many others. So I, of course, immediately fixated on the huge columned estate where Afeni Shakur (Sola Bamis) lived on Unsolved: The Murders of Tupac & the Notorious B.I.G. as soon as I saw it pop up on my screen. The sweeping porch, the cascade of canopied trees, the wooden swing – there was no part of the picturesque property that I was not completely smitten with. When my dad called me up after noticing the house on the show himself a couple of days later and asked if I had any intel on its location, I knew I had to track it down STAT! Considering the home’s large lot, abundant foliage, and colonial style, my first inkling was that it was in Pasadena, though I couldn’t imagine such a stunning manse existing in my former town and not having any knowledge of it. That thought almost made me dismiss looking in Crown City altogether, but thankfully I forged ahead. I knew that if the residence was anywhere in the area, it would likely be in northeast Pasadena, so I set my sights there and, after quite a bit of searching, finally came across it at 3426 Barhite Street.

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The two-story estate was originally constructed in 1888 as part of a small development of homes known as the Vosburg Tract.

One of the first structures to be built on the now bustling Sierra Madre Villa Avenue, at the time of its inception the residence was situated on a huge parcel of land that spanned almost an entire block.

Portions of the original tract have since been sold off and the property no longer abuts Sierra Madre Villa Ave., but the parcel (roughly outlined in pink below) is still pretty darn substantial.

The home itself is absolutely massive, as well – 4,772 square feet according to Zillow – and stretches along a huge portion of Barhite Street.

The colossal dwelling boasts 6 bedrooms, 5 baths, hardwood flooring throughout, a fireplace, a covered wraparound porch, a wraparound balcony on the second floor, and vaulted ceilings.

The 0.97-acre grounds, which feature a tennis court, a sports court, a large pool, gardens galore, and a sprawling lawn, are nothing short of stunning, as you can see below.

The whole place just screams “antebellum south.”

You can check out some additional photos of the home here.

The estate only appeared in one episode of Unsolved: The Murders of Tupac & the Notorious B.I.G. – episode eight, titled “Tupac Amaru Shakur.”

It first popped up in the opening scene in which Afeni learns that her son, Tupac (Marcc Rose), has just been shot in Las Vegas.

It is then featured in a flashback scene in which Tupac surprises his mom by gifting her the house. Though it is never said where the residence is supposed to be located on the show, per a 1997 People magazine article, in real life the rapper purchased a 6-bedroom property situated on a 2.2-acre lot in Stone Mountain, Georgia for his mother in 1995. Of course, once I read those words, I set out to track that pad down and am 99.9% certain it can be found at 883 Rays Road.

Though that home is not visible from the street, you can check out an aerial view of it below.

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: Afeni Shakur’s house from Unsolved: The Murders of Tupac & the Notorious B.I.G. is located at 3426 Barhite Street in Pasadena.

May 21, 2018May 20, 2018

Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden from “Pure Genius”

The Grim Cheaper and I are finally getting around to landscaping the backyard of our new house, so to say I’m into gardens lately would be an understatement. If I knew how to use Pinterest (I swear I cannot figure that site out), I’d be pinning foliage design ideas left and right. Instead I’ve been visiting gardens IRL and snapping copious photos. One idyll that I only just learned about thanks to a brief mention in the March 2018 issue of Los Angeles magazine is Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden, a bucolic space tucked away on a sleepy residential street in Pasadena. When I discovered upon further digging that the spot is also a filming location, I decided I had to visit it stat for both backyard inspo and blogging purposes.

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Originally commissioned by Charles Storrier Stearns and his wife, Ellamae Sheppard, on the grounds of their sprawling Pasadena manse (which you can see a photo of here) in 1935, the 2-acre glen took a whopping 7 years to complete.

The couple called upon landscape architect Kinzuchi Fujii to design the picturesque space.

Sadly, shortly before completing the project, Fujii was sent to an internment camp where he remained until the end of World War II. Though he considered the garden his crowning achievement, he never returned to see his vision finalized.

What he created is nothing short of magical, with walking paths;

two large ponds;

a 15-foot devil’s bridge made of granite,

a teahouse that was initially constructed in Japan and then taken apart before being shipped to Pasadena, whereupon it was reassembled at the garden;

numerous footbridges;

and a plethora of plant varieties including Japanese maples, Chinese elms, and redwood trees.

Upon Ellamae’s death in 1949, the Storrier Stearns estate was sold at auction to an antiques dealer named Gamelia Haddad Poulsen. Though she subdivided the vast property into seven separate parcels and razed the massive mansion, she held onto the Japanese garden as well as an adjoining plot on which she built a modest home.

Gamelia cherished the tranquil space, caring for and maintaining its beauty until the state declared imminent domain on a 1/3-acre portion of it in 1975 as part of the Interstate 710 expansion. With the fate of the garden in flux, she left it to deteriorate. The ponds eventually dried up, the plants shriveled, and the teahouse burned down.

When Gamelia passed away in 1985, her son, Jim Haddad, and his wife, Connie, inherited the garden and the home. The 710 expansion had still yet to see fruition by that time, so the couple finally decided to restore the property. The painstaking project took 15 years to complete, but the ponds were eventually filled, the teahouse was rebuilt to exacting specifications, the foliage was replanted, and Fujii’s vision was restored.

The Haddads kept the garden, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, mainly private, opening it up to the outside world solely as a special events venue and for filming.

It was not until 2016 that the couple made the site available to tour.

Today, Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden is open to the public every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and the second and last Sunday of each month.

Thanks to the Pasadena Star-News, I learned that the pilot of Pure Genius (originally named Bunker Hill) was lensed on the premises in 2016. (Though the article misreported the location of filming as Arlington Garden, which is situated across the street, one quick scan through the episode told me that shooting had actually taken place at Storrier Stearns.)

The garden appeared throughout the episode, masking as the grounds of the supposed Palo Alto-area Bunker Hill Center for the Advancement of Medicine.

As you can see in the screen capture below, the exterior of a Bunker Hill building was digitally added to the background of one of the scenes featuring the garden.

While I know that Storrier Stearns must have been utilized in other filmings over the years, I was unable to dig up any other productions it appeared 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: Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden, from the pilot episode of Pure Genius, is located at 270 Arlington Drive in Pasadena. The property is open Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and the second and last Sunday of each month from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $10. You can visit the garden’s official website here.

April 4, 2018April 5, 2018

Pasadena Elks Lodge from “Veep”

Anyone who has visited Pasadena has likely taken note of the sprawling pillared building situated on the southeast corner of Colorado and Orange Grove Boulevards. As the many signs adorning the structure indicate, it serves as Elks Lodge #672. I passed the site regularly during the 15+ years I called Crown City home and knew of its frequent use as both a filming location and production basecamp (Star Waggons are ubiquitous in the massive parking lot out front), but because the lodge is private and only accessible to members, I never set foot on the premises. When I learned, thanks to this Instagram photo posted by Veep executive producer David Mandel, that the property had been featured extensively in the popular HBO series’ Season 6 episode “Georgia,” though, I became a wee bit obsessed with changing that. So, while in L.A. a couple of weeks ago, I decided to stop by to see if I could possibly be given a tour. Thankfully, the member who answered my knock could not have been nicer and immediately invited me in to see all the areas that appeared on Veep and to regale me with a brief history of the lodge and the Elks organization itself.

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The Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks of the United States of America (B.P.O.E.) was initially founded in 1867 by singer Charles Algernon Sidney Vivian as a drinking club for Manhattan performers, of all things. Originally dubbed the “Jolly Corks,” per the Elks official website the main function of the organization was “to circumvent a New York law that closed saloons on Sundays.” The group’s focus eventually became far more altruistic and service-oriented, leading to its name change. According to the website, the order chose their eponym based upon a “number of attributes that are deemed typical of those to be cultivated by members of the fraternity. The Elk is distinctively an American animal. It habitually lives in herds. The Elk is the largest of our native quadrupeds, it is yet fleet of foot and graceful in movement. It is quick and keen of perception; and while it is usually gentle and even timorous, it is strong and valiant in defense of its own.”

Today, the Elks organization boasts a million members with 2,000 lodges dotted across the U.S.

Lodge #672 was erected in 1911. Designed in the Colonial Revival style by architect Myron Hunt (who also gave us Thornton Gardens, Occidental College, Wattles Mansion, the Langham Huntington Hotel, and the Huntington Library, Art Collection, and Botanical Gardens), the 31,000-square-foot structure has served as the Pasadena headquarters of the B.P.O.E. ever since.

Though a Bennett-and-Haskell-designed annex was added to the property in 1928 and a restoration took place in 2010, little of the lodge has changed over the course of its 107-year history.

You can check out some early photos of it here.

Though Lodge #672 appears quite large from the street, I was shocked at the sheer size of the place upon entering. The structure is huge with myriad meeting places, event venues and ballrooms, each of them prettier than the next.

The Main Ballroom, pictured above and below, was being dressed for an event while we were there.

Our tour guide informed us that the Veep production team altered the Main Ballroom’s bar for the “Georgia” shoot . . .

. . . adding in the mirrors and shelving you see below for a scene that ultimately wound up on the cutting room floor.

A few faux maroon pillars, like the one pictured below, were also installed for the filming of the deleted scene . . .

. . . and the walls surrounding the bar were painted with the faces of Old Hollywood stars. While the Elks chose to leave the paintings intact, I was not able to view them, unfortunately, due to the fact that they were temporarily covered over with the faux stone walls you see below by yet another production that filmed on the premises just prior to us stalking the place.

The room below, which I believe is named the Fireside Room, is situated off the lodge’s main entrance.

The formal space boasts a fireplace . . .

. . . and a perimeter of decorative columns.

It is the Lodge Room, though, that is the most impressive.

The venue, which is situated on the second floor and boasts plush seating along the two side walls, serves as the Elks’ meeting room.

Calling it grand would be an understatement.

Though the room is original to the property, the stage was added in 1945 and a remodel took place in 2000.

You can check out some more images of the lodge’s interior here.

The Pasadena Elks Lodge portrays two different locations in “Georgia.” The Lodge Room masks as Georgia’s Election Monitoring Headquarters where Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) flip-flops on which candidate she is backing (based upon which of them happens to be offering to donate the most money to her presidential library at the time) in the county’s first free and democratic election.

The lodge’s Fireside Room portrays the lobby of the Tbilisi Grand Hotel, where Selina and her team stay while in town.

A prop elevator was set up in the corner of the room for the shoot, as you can see in the background of the images below.

In reality, that area serves as a doorway to Lodge #672’s front office.

The image below is the only view we get of the Main Ballroom in the episode. It appears in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment as the Tbilisi Grand’s restaurant in the scene in which Jonah Ryan (Timothy Simons) discovers that his fellow congressmen are dining without him.

Only the interior of the Pasadena Elks Lodge is featured in “Georgia.”

For exterior shots of the Tbilisi Grand, producers used a mash-up of locations both near and far. The establishing shot of the hotel is of an actual Georgian lodging – the Ambassadori Tbilisi Hotel and Casino located at 17 loane Shavteli Street. You can check out some images of it here.

All on location exterior filming took place much closer to home at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel located at 506 South Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles.

The hotel was significantly roughed up for the shoot, with graffiti added to the walls and strewn furniture discarded on the sidewalk out front.

The Pasadena Elks Lodge has been host to many filmings over the years.

In the 1992 comedy The Distinguished Gentleman, the EPA oversight hearing of the Committee on Power and Industry takes place in the Lodge Room.

Senator Bob Rumson (Richard Dreyfuss) campaigns in the Lodge Room in the 1995 comedy The American President.

Though no part of Lodge #672 can actually be seen, per the book Twilight: Director’s Notebook, Bella’s (Kristin Stewart) bedroom set was rebuilt on the premises for a reshoot of the scene in which she and Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) kiss for the first time in 2008’s Twilight.

Ron Donald (Ken Marino) caters his own reunion at the Pasadena Elks Lodge in the Season 1 episode of Party Down titled “James Rolf High School Twentieth Reunion.”

As you can see, when the episode was shot in 2009, the Main Ballroom’s bar was in its original state and looked much different than it does now after the alterations made by the Veep crew.

In the 2010 comedy The Back-up Plan, Nana (Linda Lavin) marries Arthur (Tom Bosley) in the lodge’s Fireside Room.

Thanks to my buddy Mikey, from the Mike the Fanboy website, I learned that the lodge masked as Elder & Massey Auction House, where Doug Wilson (Kevin Nealon) attended a NASA inventory liquidation auction and almost won a flight-worn suit of Captain Jim Wetherbee, in the Season 8 episode of Weeds titled “Unfreeze,” which aired in 2012. Mikey was actually on set the day filming took place and got to meet and take a photo with Kevin. You can read about his experience 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: Pasadena Elks Lodge, from the “Georgia” episode of Veep, is located at 400 West Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena. You can visit the lodge’s official website here. Please keep in mind that the club is private and not accessible to the public.

March 9, 2018March 8, 2018

The Royal Laundry Complex from the “As Long As You Love Me” Music Video

Friends often refer to me as a “foamer,” i.e. a person who foams at the mouth over all things Disney. Apparently, I am not a very good one, though, because up until just recently I had no clue that for the past thirteen years the Disney Store has been headquartered at the Royal Laundry Complex, a historic former laundry plant in Pasadena. I was only made aware of the locale and its Disney connection a couple of weeks ago when, while perusing Instagram, I came across an image of an incredible Minnie-Mouse-shaped topiary on fellow stalker Julie’s page. I immediately clicked on the location link at the top of the photo and just about fell over when the map came into view with a pin dropped at 443 South Raymond Avenue in Pasadena. I was further intrigued when I read Julie’s caption, which stated that the site had been featured in the Backstreet Boys’ “As Long As You Love Me” music video. How in the heck did I not know about this place – especially considering I lived in Pasadena for almost two decades and count myself an expert on the city? I, of course, promptly added the location to my To-Stalk list and headed right on over there last weekend while visiting Crown City. Thank you, Julie!

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The Royal Laundry Complex was originally constructed for the Royal Laundry Company in 1927. Designed by Gordon Kaufmann, the prolific architect who also gave us the La Quinta Resort & Club, Santa Anita Park and Greystone Mansion, the property was initially composed of a single Spanish Colonial Revival building (pictured below) situated on the southwest corner of East Bellevue Drive and South Raymond Avenue.

At some point before 1931, the company needed additional space and a large one-story annex was installed along the building’s south side.

While originally designed in a utilitarian style, the structure was remodeled to be more Streamline Moderne in 1939.

That same year, Royal Laundry added a third, drive-up facility in order to accommodate its growing customer base.

It, too, was designed in a Streamline Moderne style.

The marquee signage, which originally boasted neon lettering that spelled out “DRIVE-IN & SAVE,” was added in 1955.

Though the neon has long since been removed and the background lettering painted over, you can still sort of see the wording in my photo below.

After the Royal Laundry Company closed its doors in the 1980s, the complex was left vacant for many years.

It was finally sold to Lee Group Inc. in 1995 and underwent an extensive $8-million renovation that was completed in 2005. The Disney Store leased the complex that same year and transformed it into their worldwide headquarters.

The company hired Clive Wilkinson Architects to redesign the interior of the sprawling 72,500-square-foot facility prior to moving in.

Of the highly innovative and unique space, the Clive Wilkinson website says, “The existing brick-walled structure inspired the creation of brick-like elements for the interior, which allude to the playful building block habits of children. A 20-person ‘Block Conference Room’ is formed on two sides by foam block walls. When the foam modules are disassembled, they become the seating system for 200-person company meetings. A modular honeycomb structure, conceived as a flexible means of managing Disney sample product display, forms a second conference room.” You can check out some interior photographs of the 260-person facility here.

In September 2014, the Royal Laundry Complex, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, was sold to the Swig Co. for $26.1 million. At the time, the Disney Store still had a little over 3 years left on its 13-year lease, so the company remained in place. The lease did just expire at the beginning of this month, though, and, from what I’ve read, it does not appear that it was renewed. I am unsure of what that means for the future of the complex – or its Minnie Mouse topiary.

Sadly, not much of the topiary can be seen from the street.

You can just make out the top of Minnie’s shrubberied ears in my images above and below.

Those who want a better view can check out some close-up images of the statuary here. Man, what I wouldn’t give to pose in front of it!

The Backstreet Boys descended upon the Royal Laundry Complex on June 15th, 1997 to shoot their “As Long As You Love Me” music video. Though AJ, Nick, Kevin, Brian, and Howie D. had already taken Europe by storm by that time, the group was just on the cusp of becoming famous stateside and Tiger Beat magazine was on hand to report on the shoot. Prior to coming across Julie’s Instagram post, I had never actually seen the “As Long As You Love Me” video (while I am familiar with their music, the Backstreet Boys hit just a little bit after my time) and I wound up absolutely loving it! And slightly obsessing! I’ve literally seen it like thirty times now. I cannot stop watching. It is such a great video (that chair dance!), especially considering the fact that it was made over two decades ago! The song is fabulous, too. I haven’t been able to get it out of my head for like three weeks straight.

“As Long As You Love Me” mainly makes use of Royal Laundry’s interior, but the exterior is shown for a brief moment at the very end.

Interestingly, Backstreet Boy Brian Littrell met his future wife, Leighanne Wallace, during the filming. She played model “Donna” in the video. (That’s her below.) The two apparently hit it off while on set, started dating, and eventually tied the knot on September 2nd, 2000. They are still married today. The “As Long As You Love Me” video shoot took place relatively early on in Brian’s career, before he hit superstardom, so the fact that they are still together is incredible – and incredibly cute.

You can watch the full “As Long As You Love Me” video by clicking below. (Be prepared to have the song stuck in your head for the foreseeable future!)

The Royal Laundry Complex can also be seen in the Backstreet Boys – All Access DVD, which documented the making of the “As Long As You Love Me” video, as well as several others. You can can watch a segment of it here.

The Royal Laundry Complex also pops up a couple of times as Donatelli’s Royal Laundry & Dry Cleaning in An Innocent Man. Both the exterior . . .

. . . and interior of the facility are shown in the 1989 drama.

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

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Julie for alerting me to this locale! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Royal Laundry Complex, from the Backstreet Boys’ “As Long As You Love Me” music video, is located at 443 South Raymond Avenue in Pasadena.

March 7, 2018March 6, 2018

Hilton Pasadena from “The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training”

I always love it when a filming location sneaks up on me. This past weekend, the Grim Cheaper and I headed to Pasadena to attend the closing party for my favorite store, Lula Mae. (Yes, you read that right – Lula Mae, my happy place, is, sadly, shuttering later this month. While I am devastated over the closure and will miss the shop and its owner, Marci, more than words can say, I couldn’t be happier for Marc as she embarks upon a new adventure in the Pacific Northwest.) After checking in to the Hilton Pasadena upon arriving in Crown City, I decided to do some Googling to see if anything had been filmed on the premises and was thrilled to come across a Wikipedia mention of the hotel’s appearance in the 1977 comedy The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training. Some further digging revealed that the property had played host to a couple of other productions, as well, throughout the years. While I typically try to only book lodgings that have been featured onscreen for all of my travels, in this case, staying at a filming location was a happy accident! So I decided I just had to blog about the place.

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The Hilton Pasadena originally opened its doors in December 1970.

Since that time, the 13-story property has undergone numerous renovations, the most recent of which was completed in fall 2017.

So it goes without saying that the site looks quite a bit different today than it did in its early years, when it boasted 264 rooms, a 26,000-square-foot shopping arcade, a top-floor restaurant, a two-story lobby, and a dark wood and deep red color palate.

Currently the lodging features 296 rooms and suites, 28,494 square feet of meeting space (including downtown Pasadena’s largest ballroom!), an outdoor pool and hot tub, a health club, a business center, a pantry market, and a bright, open lobby.

The hotel also boasts an onsite restaurant, The Corner Craft Kitchen + Bar.

Hilton Pasadena is a gorgeous property and the GC and I thoroughly enjoyed our time there.

In The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training, the site masquerades as The Houston Hilton, where the Bears are put up while in town to play a charity game at the Astrodome. The exterior of the property is only shown once in the movie and very briefly at that.

I am fairly certain that one of the hotel’s actual hallways and a couple of the rooms were also utilized in the film.

Thanks to the Remington Steele Shrine website, I discovered that the Hilton masks as the Brinkley Hotel, where Laura Holt (Stephanie Zimbalist) spies on her sister’s husband in order to determine if he’s having an affair during a dental convention, in the Season 2 episode of Remington Steele titled “Steele Sweet on You,” which aired in 1984. Both the exterior . . .

. . . and interior of the site are used extensively in the episode.

Watching it, you really get a sense of how different the property looked during its early days.

It looks so different, in fact, that at first I wasn’t sure if Remington Steele had made use of the Hilton’s interior for the shoot or if the production had utilized another hotel. Thankfully though, after scrutinizing the episode, I am able to say with certainty that it was, indeed, filmed inside the property. As you can see below, in one scene, Remington Steele (Pierce Brosnan) walks by a lobby directory and a listing for “Harry Kamp Clothiers” is visible. Some Googling led me to this 2009 Pasadena Now article which states that the clothing boutique was initially located in the lobby of the Pasadena Hilton. Eureka!

The rooms . . .

. . . and hallway that appeared in the episode were not actual parts of the Hilton, but sets built at CBS Studio Center where the series was lensed.

Thanks to Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, I learned that in the Season 8 episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia titled “Frank’s Back in Business,” which aired in 2012, a Pasadena Hilton meeting room is the site of the Atwater Capital shareholders’ meeting. Though the hotel’s ballrooms have since been remodeled, you can check out an old photograph of one of the event spaces in which the carpet matches what appeared in the episode 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: Hilton Pasadena, from The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training, is located at 168 South Los Robles Avenue in Pasadena. You can visit the hotel’s official website here.

September 15, 2017September 14, 2017

Ambassador College from “That Thing You Do!”

All historic structures in the Los Angeles area with the word “ambassador” in their name seem to be doomed. The famed Ambassador Hotel, which once stood at 3400 Wilshire Boulevard in Koreatown, was razed in 2005. And the former Ambassador College, at 131 South St. John Avenue in Pasadena, was largely demolished beginning in 2013. Coincidentally, both sites were featured in the 1996 film That Thing You Do! I never got to see the Ambassador Hotel in person while it was still intact, sadly, but I did visit Ambassador College on many occasions during the time I lived in Pasadena. Though a frequent filming locale, for whatever reason, I never blogged about the place. Until now, that is.

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Ambassador College was originally established by radio evangelist/Worldwide Church of God founder Herbert Armstrong in 1947. Upon moving his church’s headquarters to Pasadena, Armstrong decided to create a four-year university on the premises that would teach the religious institution’s ideals. He purchased several neighboring homes and mansions on Orange Grove Boulevard and began transforming them into a school.

Over the years, Armstrong acquired more nearby residences and plots of land, and his school, which he dubbed Ambassador College, eventually encompassed a large 4-block, 48-acre area consisting of outcroppings of mansions, gardens, and buildings.

In 1963, he employed the Daniel, Mann, Johnson and Mendenhall (DMJM) architecture firm to devise a cohesive design for the haphazard site.

The group’s creation was a mid-century modern masterpiece.

DMJM hired architect Peter J. Holdstock to design many new campus buildings, including three that became a focal point – the Ambassador Auditorium;

the Hall of Administration;

and the Student Center;

all of which surround a reflecting pool and fountain . . .

. . . that is capped off by a towering sculpture of egrets taking flight designed by David Wynne.

Daniel, Mann, Johnson and Mendenhall also bought in landscape architect Garrett Eckbo to overhaul the campus’ sprawling grounds.

The result was a dazzling array of colorful gardens, picturesque vistas, and sparkling fountains. You can see some fabulous photos of the school shortly after the redesign project was completed here.

Sadly, virtually none of it remains. Armstrong passed away in 1986 and Ambassador College faltered in his absence. The school, a four-year, liberal arts institution, was not without its fair share of controversy, which didn’t help matters. I won’t get into the details, but tales from disgruntled alumni can be found all over the internet, most describing the Worldwide Church of God as a cult. The campus was shuttered in 1990 and students and teaching staff were transferred to a sister facility in Texas. The Pasadena site remained vacant for almost a decade before being put up for sale in 1999. The property was finally sold off in 2004 to three different entities – Harvest Rock Church, Maranatha High School, and the Sares-Regis Group. The latter made plans to turn their 11-acre portion of the campus into a mixed-use development.

As part of the project, Sares-Regis tore down many of the school’s historic structures. Today, Ambassador College is a shell of its former self.

My most recent visit to the school took place last month and I was shocked to see that the campus was virtually unrecognizable. Thankfully, the Ambassador Auditorium still stands.

The fabulously honeycombed Hall of Administration is long gone, though.

Fortunately, I managed to snap a photo of its interior during a previous visit in August 2015.

Ambassador College was featured at the end of That Thing You Do!, in exterior shots of the supposed Santa Monica City of Broadcasting, where The Wonders filmed their The Hollywood Television Showcase segment.

The Ambassador Auditorium’s dressing room . . .

. . . and a campus bathroom were also utilized in The Hollywood Television Showcase scene.

That Thing You Do! is hardly the only production to have been lensed at Ambassador College, which should come as no surprise. The school’s clean lines and striking architecture transfer beautifully to both the big and small screen.

The campus has been such a hotbed of filming activity over the years, in fact, that it would be impossible for me to chronicle its entire resume here. But a list of some of the highlights can be found below.

In the Season 1 episode of The Incredible Hulk titled “Life and Death,” which aired in 1978, Ambassador College masked as the hospital where Dr. Stan Rhodes (Andrew Robinson) worked, though not much of it was shown.

The school popped up once again on The Incredible Hulk later that same year, this time as a psychiatric institute at the University of Hawaii in Season 2’s “Married.”

The campus’ Hulett C. Merritt mansion is where Dr. David Banner (Bill Bixby) married Dr. Carolyn Fields (Mariette Hartley) in the episode.

James ‘Thunder’ Early (Eddie Murphy) drops his pants during a live televised performance being shot in the Ambassador Auditorium in 2006’s Dreamgirls.

George (Colin Firth) taught at Ambassador College in the 2009 drama A Single Man. Of shooting at the school, an Interiors article states, “The filmmakers searched for a lecture hall that fit the time period; while most colleges had updated their lecture halls and buildings, this college in particular had been left untouched, for the most part. There was some modification and adjustments done in the interior spaces, such as painting and the removal of modern accoutrements, such as replacing whiteboards with blackboards, as a way of making the space more appropriate for the period.” Sadly, the Fine Arts Building, where filming took place, was one of the buildings lost to development, demolished in 2013.

2009 was busy for Ambassador College. That year, the interior of the Hall of Administration portrayed an immigration office in the Season 1 episode of Lie to Me titled “Depraved Heart.”

That same year, Nathan Ford (Timothy Hutton) attended a gala at the Ambassador Auditorium in the Season 1 episode of Leverage titled “The First David Job.”

The Hall of Administration popped up – as a museum – in the Leverage episode that followed, as well, titled “The Second David Job.”

The Hulett C. Merritt mansion also served as temporary safe house for Nathan and his team in the episode. Both the exterior . . .

. . . and interior of the property were utilized in the shoot.

The Hall of Administration portrayed the FBI office where Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) worked in Fast & Furious, also in 2009.

President Fitzgerald Grant (Tony Goldwyn) was shot outside of the Ambassador Auditorium in the Season 2 episode of Scandal titled “Happy Birthday, Mr. President,” which aired in 2012.

That same year, the school appeared in one of my favorite commercials of all time, the Microsoft Surface “Movement” ad directed by Jon Chu. You can watch it here.

The campus was featured extensively in the first season of the reality competition series King of the Nerds, which aired in 2013.

In 2014, Jennifer Jareau (A.J. Cook) was kidnapped from outside of the Ambassador Auditorium at the end of the Season 9 episode of Criminal Minds titled “The Road Home.”

That same year, the interior of the Hall of Administration masked as the interior of Golden Fang Enterprises, Inc. Corporate Headquarters in Inherent Vice.

Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen) fights Andrew Garner (Blair Underwood) in the Hall of Administration’s lobby in the Season 3 episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. titled “Chaos Theory,” which aired in 2015.

And in 2016, Ambassador College masked as the Japanese National Archives in Tokyo in the Season 3 episode of The Last Ship titled “Legacy.”

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: The former Ambassador College site, from That Thing You Do!, is located at 131 South St. John Avenue in Pasadena.

September 13, 2017September 12, 2017

Community Church at Holliston from “That Thing You Do!”

Many moons ago, around the time I first moved to Los Angeles in early 2000, the Pasadena Historical Society hosted a special exhibition about filming in the area. I, of course, attended and, along with learning that Dylan McKay’s (Luke Perry) house from Beverly Hills, 90210 was located just down the street from Casa Walsh, I also gleaned that fave movie That Thing You Do! had been lensed at two Crown City locales – the now largely defunct Ambassador College (at 131 South St. John Avenue) and the Holliston Avenue Methodist Church, now Community Church at Holliston (at 1305 East Colorado Boulevard). Though I visited both sites many times over the years, I have somehow never done a blog on either. So I figured it was time to change that. A write-up on Ambassador College will be coming soon, but today I thought I’d cover the Community Church.

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Community Church at Holliston has an interesting history – one that involves a move. Yes, the structure was actually moved from one location to another. But more on that in a bit.

The parish was originally built in 1887 at the southeast corner of East Colorado Boulevard and South Marengo Avenue (where the Pacific Southwest Trust & Savings Bank building stands today). The Gothic-style structure, then known as the First Methodist Episcopal Church, was razed after its tower and roof were blown off during a bad storm in 1891. A replacement church was subsequently constructed on the site in 1901.

The new church, Richardsonian Romanesque in style, was designed by architect John C. Austin, who was also responsible for giving us the Theodore Groene/Bahn Jewelry Store building in Ventura and the Griffith Observatory in Griffith Park. You can see photos of the church during its early days here, here, and here.

In 1923, it was decided that the congregation needed more land and a larger worship space, so the First Methodist Episcopal Church was taken apart – literally – and moved piece by piece to its current location at the corner of East Colorado Boulevard and South Holliston Avenue, where it was rebuilt with a few alterations. It re-opened to the public in December 1924.

The sanctuary boasts a façade consisting of Sespe-covered-bricks which, along with the gothic-style windows, apses, and crenelated roofline, gives the church a very castle-like appearance.

The large inner courtyard is especially reminiscent of a castle.

The parish has undergone several name changes over the years, becoming Holliston Avenue Methodist Church, then Holliston Church, and finally Community Church at Holliston, as it is known today.

In That Thing You Do!, the Community Church at Holliston was the spot where The Oneders recorded their first single, for their soon-to-be-hit song “That Thing You Do.”

The reason their inaugural record was laid down in a church? That’s all thanks to Guy Patterson (Tom Everett Scott). When the idea of recording an album first comes up, Guy informs the group that he has a relative in the record industry. Well, sort of. As Lenny Haise (Steve Zahn) explains, Guy’s uncle, Uncle Bob (Chris Isaak), “records church music, choirs, favorite sermons, stuff my mom listens to.” Uncle Bob does indeed help The Oneders, though, recording their first single in what is supposedly a locale Eerie, Pennsylvania church. In the scene, you can see the sanctuary’s E.M. Skinner pipe organ.

Sadly, when we showed up to stalk the church, mass had just ended and the interior was packed with people. Though we did get to see the inside, I did not snap any photographs of it due to the crowds. I was able to take pictures of the courtyard area, though, thankfully. You can check out some images of the Community Church at Holliston’s interior here.

I used to live not far from Community Church and happened upon the filming of a Cold Case episode on the premises one day. Or actually, episodes. The locale appeared in Season 6’s special two-parter, titled “The Long Blue Line” and “Into the Blue,” both of which aired in 2009. For the shoot, the church was transformed into the Pennsylvania Military Institute.

Though I couldn’t venture onto the property to watch the filming, I could see a few of the courtyard scenes being shot from the street, all of which involved military formations and marching. It could not have been more cool to witness!

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: The Community Church at Holliston, from that Thing Thing You Do!, is located at 1305 East Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena.

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.