Perry Mason – IAMNOTASTALKER

October 3, 2019August 7, 2020

Mountain View Mausoleum from “Lucifer”

Given my proclivity for graveyards and extensive knowledge of Los Angeles (especially the Pasadena area), it is shocking that I only learned of Altadena’s Mountain View Mausoleum a few months ago. Sure I’ve visited the neighboring Mountain View Cemetery numerous times and even dedicated a post to it, but somehow I never knew about its mausoleum, situated directly across the street on Marengo Avenue. It was only while watching the latest season of Lucifer, which Netflix dropped in May, that I discovered the place. More beautiful than scary, I figure it’s still a perfect spot to include in my Haunted Hollywood blogs. (How fitting is that orb in the photo above, by the way?)

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In the Season 4 episode of Lucifer titled “Somebody’s Been Reading Dante’s Inferno,” Mountain View Mausoleum masks as the church library in Italy where Los Angeles police detective Chloe Decker (Lauren German) researches biblical stories about the devil in an attempt to gain clarity on the disturbing things she has recently learned about her partner, Lucifer Morningstar (Tom Ellis).

Producers went to great lengths to transform Mountain View into a library for the shoot, sparing what seems to be no expense on set décor including tables, chairs, desk lamps, red curtains, and large bookshelves filled with tomes to cover the crypts. The result was extremely convincing. While initially viewing the episode, I was sure filming had taken place at an actual area athenaeum. Being that I am something of an aficionado of such spaces (as evidenced here, here, here, here, here, here, and here), I was shocked I had never come across the place in all of my stalkings. It wasn’t until taking a closer look at the scenery while scanning through “Somebody’s Been Reading Dante’s Inferno” the following day that I realized the site where Chloe researched was actually a mausoleum.

From there, it was not very hard to pinpoint the exact spot used. A simple Google search for the terms “ornate mausoleum,” “arched ceilings,” “stained glass,” and “Los Angeles,” led me straight to Mountain View. I finally ran out to stalk it this past weekend.

Though I do intend on penning another post about Mountain View Cemetery (since my previous one was published way back in 2010!), I will only be covering the mausoleum itself in this column.

Designed in 1925 by architects Clarence L. Jay and Cecil E. Bryan (the latter was a one-time student of Frank Lloyd Wright!), Mountain View Mausoleum is a sight to behold!

While certainly compelling from the outside . . .

. . . it is the interior of the Neo-Mediterranean-style structure that is truly special.

Though Bryan designed more than eighty mausoleums throughout his lifetime, he considered Mountain View his pièce de résistance. So much so that when he passed away in 1951, it was there that he chose to be interred. And it’s not very hard to see why.

Unsurpassed beauty is found around every turn.

The mausoleum’s focal point is easily its 180-foot-long Great Gallery featuring an ornate vaulted ceiling hand-painted by artist Martin Syvertsen. The massive mural, depicting a frescoed version of the story of Christianity, took four years to complete and is nothing short of awe-inspiring.

The Mausoleum also boasts stained glass windows created by Judson Studios, surfaces fashioned from more than 64 varieties of Italian marble, and intricate tile work.

It is, hands down, one of the most beautiful spaces in Los Angeles.

I mean!

Sorrow coexists with lightness seamlessly here . . .

. . . and there are plenty of eerie tucked-away corners to explore for those who are so inclined.

At one point, while perusing the mausoleum, I found myself separated from the Grim Cheaper, on a lower floor by myself, sans cell signal and surrounded by a quiet permeating the space so strongly it was almost deafening! In my haste to get back to civilization, I wound up lost and wandered through the basement level for what felt like hours, though I’m sure it was only minutes. Needless to say, I was sufficiently spooked. Those looking for a scary experience can definitely find it here.

Not initially associated with the cemetery, the mausoleum was acquired by Mountain View in 1971 and adopted its name at the same time.

Of the building, Altadena Historical Society President Jane Backman said, “This is Altadena’s own Sistine Chapel. Most Altadenans, even those who have lived here all their lives, have driven past the mausoleum on Marengo but have never gone inside.” It is such a shame that most locals (myself included, until just recently) don’t even know it’s there! Mountain View is a true hidden gem.

There seems to be quite a bit of misinformation floating around concerning the mausoleum’s cinematic history, so I’ve decided to rectify that.

Sebastian Stark (James Woods) gives Jennifer Randolph (Elizabeth Lackey) a stern talking to at the mausoleum in the Season 2 episode of Shark titled “Partners in Crime,” which aired in 2008.

In 2011, D.B. Russell (Ted Danson) and Greg Sanders (Eric Szmanda) encountered a distraught Joanna Sapphire (Frances Fisher) there in the Season 12 episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation titled “Maid Man.”

James Woods returned to the mausoleum in 2013, this time playing Sully Sullivan in the Season 1 episode of Ray Donovan titled “New Birthday,” which I learned about thanks to Geoff, of 90210Locations. He also provided the screen captures that appear below. Thank you, Geoff!

That same year, the mausoleum appeared in Pharrell Williams’ “Happy” music video.

Geoff also informed me that Rick Stevens (Nat Wolff) went to confession there in the 2014 comedy Behaving Badly.

Elizabeth (Lady Gaga) visits the tomb of Rudolph Valentino (Finn Rittrock) at Mountain View Mausoleum – and learns that he’s not actually dead – in the episode of American Horror Story: Hotel titled “Flicker,” which aired in 2015.

Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon) and Nick Torres (Wilmer Valderrama) head to the mausoleum to investigate the murder of a Navy lieutenant in the Season 15 episode of NCIS titled “Twofer,” which aired in 2017.

In the finale of the new Netflix series Hollywood, Avis Amberg (Patti LuPone) gives Henry Wilson (Jim Parsons) the green light for his new movie at the mausoleum.

And (spoiler alert!) the funeral for Dick Samuels (Joe Mantello) also takes place in the mausoleum’s onsite chapel, The Chapel of the Gardens.

The mausoleum also appears as the funeral home that Emily Dodson (Gayle Rankin) and Della Street (Juliet Rylance) visit in the second episode of the new HBO series Perry Mason titled “Chapter 2.”

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: Mountain View Mausoleum, from the “Somebody’s Been Reading Dante’s Inferno” episode of Lucifer, is located at 2300 North Marengo Avenue in Altadena. The property is open to the public daily and photos are not only allowed, but encouraged!

December 21, 2018August 24, 2020

The Majestic Downtown from “The Holiday”

The Holiday has definitely been on my brain as of late. I wrote about two of the houses used in the 2006 film for the December issue of Los Angeles magazine and recently got to tour Thorne Hall at Occidental College, the setting of one of its most poignant scenes. So I figured it was only appropriate to dedicate a post to another of the movie’s locales, DTLA’s SB Spring building, more specifically its lower level former bank space known as The Majestic Downtown, which masqueraded as the supposed London office of The Daily Telegraph newspaper in the flick. I have blogged about this spot twice before, once in 2010 for my own site and then again in 2014 for L.A. mag. The last time I did some stalking of it, though, an event was being set up and the friendly security guard manning the front door happened to invite me inside for a closer look! I have yet to share the photos I snapped that day, so I decided it was definitely time for a third go-round.

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SB Spring was originally erected in 1924 as the headquarters of the Hellman Commercial Trust and Savings Bank.

Commissioned by Isaias Hellman at a cost of $2.5-million, the Beaux Arts-style structure was designed by the Schultze & Weaver architecture firm.

Featuring an Indiana limestone façade with sweeping arched windows and doors and terra cotta carvings, the 12-story building originally housed offices on the upper levels . . .

. . . and a two-story Spanish Revival-style bank on the ground floor boasting 40-foot-tall hand-painted coffered ceilings, marble columns, stairs and flooring, intricate bronze chandeliers, and a large mezzanine. You can check out a photo of what the grand space looked like during its early days here.

Soon after construction of the property was complete, Hellman Commercial merged with Merchants National Bank and then was taken over by Bank of America shortly thereafter. The 250,000-square-foot structure became the financial institution’s Los Angeles headquarters and, as such, was known largely as the “Bank of America Building.”

When B of A moved its headquarters to a new location on Flower Street in 1972, the upstairs offices of the Spring Street building were leased out to various companies. The ground floor bank, however, remained in operation until its doors were finally closed due to a decline in business in March 1988.

Developer Barry Shy purchased the structure in 2009 and converted the upstairs offices into a 174-unit loft-style apartment building known as SB Spring.

Thankfully, the bank space, now a special events venue known as The Majestic Downtown, has been left largely intact over the years, making it the perfect spot for filming. And locations scouts have definitely taken note!

In The Holiday, The Majestic Downtown is where Iris Simpkins (Kate Winslet) works as a newspaper writer.

It is during the paper’s Christmas party at the beginning of the film that Iris learns her total cad of an ex-boyfriend, Jasper Bloom (Rufus Sewell), has proposed to the girl that he cheated on her with.

SB Spring has appeared in countless productions in addition to The Holiday. So many, that it would be impossible to chronicle all of its onscreen appearances here, but below are a few of my personal favorites.

Sam Wheat (Patrick Swayze) has Oda Mae Brown (Whoopi Goldberg) fill out a signature card under a fake name at the bank in 1990’s Ghost.

The Majestic Downtown masks as the Fourth Reich Bank of Hamburg where Harris K. Telemacher (Steve Martin) provides his financial records in an attempt to secure a dinner reservation at L’Idiot restaurant in the 1991 comedy L.A. Story.

The site portrays Edge City Savings & Loan, where Stanley Ipkiss (Jim Carrey) works, in the 1994 comedy The Mask.

Robbie Hart (Adam Sandler) applies for a job there in the 1998 romcom The Wedding Singer.

In 2001’s Heartbreakers, Max Conners (Sigourney Weaver) and her daughter, Page Conners (Jennifer Love Hewitt), attempt to withdraw money from their accounts at the bank, but are thwarted by the IRS.

Jenna Rink (Jennifer Garner) saves a party at The Majestic Downtown by performing the Zombie Dance from Thriller in the 2004 comedy 13 Going on 30.

And, yes, I did, of course, imitate Jenna doing a Thriller move while I was there, but unfortunately the lighting in the building was extremely low, so my photo did not come out. (Many of the images I took that day suffered the same fate, unfortunately.)

The exterior of SB Spring masquerades as Belle en Blanc bridal salon in the 2011 comedy Bridesmaids.

Me doing my best Helen (Rose Byrne) out in front. Too bad the shop’s ornate intercom isn’t actually there in real life.

Though the interior of the salon was a studio-built set, it is outside of SB Spring that the scene’s most memorable moment took place.

It is there that Lillian (Maya Rudolph), ahem, loses her sh*t in the middle of the street.

Had to do it! (Though I accidentally posed a bit too far to the north.)

SB Spring plays Capitol Trust Bank, where Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg) and the gang attend a Homeland Security counterterrorism drill, in the Season 2 episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine titled “Windbreaker City,” which aired in 2014.

In 2018, the exterior of the bank popped up in the music video for the Lil Dicky/Chris Brown song “Freak Friday,” which you can watch here.

And E.B. Jonathan (John Lithgow) unsuccessfully attempts to secure a loan there in the hopes of saving his practice in the Season 1 episode of the new HBO series Perry Mason titled “Chapter 4.”

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 Majestic Downtown, aka The Daily Telegraph newspaper office from The Holiday, is located at 650 South Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles. You can visit the venue’s official website here.

January 5, 2016August 7, 2020

The “Wicked City” Library

I have one more Wicked City location up my sleeve (for the time being, at least – I did track down a couple of others after watching the recently-released final five episodes, but have yet to stalk them) – the former Second Church of Christ, Scientist in West Adams, which masked as an L.A. library in “Should I Stay or Should I Go.” I have long been familiar with the stately, domed structure thanks to my many area stalkings (Fatty Arbuckle’s former house is located on the same street, as is the oft-filmed St. Vincent de Paul Church) and recognized it immediately upon viewing the episode. I had never done a proper stalking of it, though, and promptly dragged the Grim Cheaper right on over there to remedy that a couple of weeks ago.

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Second Church of Christ, Scientist was designed by architect Alfred H. Rosenheim, who also designed the American Horror Story house. The prolific Albert C. Martin, Sr. (of Million Dollar Theatre, Los Angeles City Hall and Thomas Higgins Building fame) acted as the engineer. The massive Italian Renaissance-style structure, which was modeled after the First Church of Christ, Scientist in Boston, aka the “Mother Church,” took more than two years to complete at a cost of $318,000. Its doors were opened to the public on January 23rd, 1910.

The property, which was built out of terracotta, brick, stucco and granite, was so grand that, according to the Big Orange Landmarks website, a 1908 Los Angeles Times article deemed it “the largest and most elaborate church west of Chicago.”

At the time of its completion, the interior featured a pipe organ, mahogany woodwork, stained glass windows, wainscoting throughout, and seating for 1,200 churchgoers.

The site’s most impressive feature, though, was – and still is – its 130-foot tall copper-clad, poured-concrete dome, which according to Big Orange Landmarks, measures 70 feet in diameter and weighs 1,400 tons.

The green-tinted dome seems to sparkle in the sunlight and only adds to the grandeur and beauty of the already picturesque church, which was named a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1968.

Due to declining membership and the high cost of maintaining the property, Christian Science Church vacated the building in 2008. The empty structure proved attractive to vandals, who spray painted the once stately structure with graffiti and broke many of its stained glass windows.

In December 2009, the site was sold to The Art of Living Foundation, a non-profit organization that teaches meditation, yoga, breathing, and emotional balance. The group lovingly repaired the damage done to the property and today use it as their main headquarters.

The former Second Church of Christ, Scientist played a significant role in Wicked City’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go.”

Masking as a local library, it is there that Kent Grainger (Ed Westwick) leaves the head of one of his murder victims among the stacks of books for detectives Jack Roth (Jeremy Sisto) and Paco Contreras (Gabriel Luna) to find.

I initially thought that the actual inside of the former church had also been used in the filming of the library scenes, but as soon as I looked through these interior photographs of the place I realized that was not the case.

As it turns out, interior filming took place at DC Stages, a downtown Los Angeles studio that has been around since 1988. The facility, which was originally called Dos Carlos Stages, is situated inside of a a former perishable food storage center and boasts several standing sets including that of a police station, a city hall, a courthouse, political offices, a hospital, a jail, apartments, hotel rooms, a restaurant, and, of course, a library. You can check out a drone video shot of the various sets here and some some photographs here. What I wouldn’t give to see the inside of that place in person!

Many sources state that the Second Church of Christ, Scientist was used regularly as the Fulton County Courthouse on the television series Matlock, but I have not been able to verify that. I downloaded a couple of episodes to scan through and in each of them a different building masked as the courthouse, neither of which was the Second Church of Christ, Scientist, as you can see below. The series aired for nine seasons, though, so it is quite possible the West Adams church did make an appearance (or several appearances) at some point during that run.

The locale also pops up as the Radiant Assembly of God church on the HBO series Perry Mason.

Only the exterior of the building is utilized on the series. Interior church scenes were shot at the Trinity Auditorium, located at 851 South Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles.

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: Second Church of Christ, Scientist, aka the Wicked City library, is located at 948 West Adams Boulevard in University Park. DC Stages, which was used for the interior library scenes, is located at 1360 East 6th Street in downtown L.A. Be advised that the studio facility is not open to the public.

February 2, 2015August 7, 2020

The “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” Police Station

Once in a while a filming location comes along that blows my mind. Today’s post is about one of those locations. Recently, fellow stalker Chas, of the It’s Filmed There site, texted to let me know that he had just tracked down the police station from fave movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. I was shocked to learn not only that the place still looks exactly the same today, almost thirty years later, but that it is located in L.A.! (For those not in the know, Ferris was set in Chicago and, aside from a few SoCal locales, largely filmed in the Windy City.) So I ran right out to stalk it while visiting L.A. two weeks ago.

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In real life, the site is not a police station at all, but the former Los Angeles headquarters of Hills Bros. Coffee. The structure, which was built in 1929 and designed by architect George H. Kelham, housed both a warehouse and second floor offices for the java company. It is those second floor offices that masked as the police station in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

Today, the property belongs to the Southwestern Bag Company.

Sadly, I was not able to get inside to see the interior, but while doing research for this post came across these fantastic images online that were taken by location scout Nick Morley. I contacted Nick to ask if he would allow me to use some of his photographs for this post and he wrote back right away giving me the go-ahead! Thank you, Nick! You can also check out another set of pictures that show the building’s first floor here.

In Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, the police station is where Jeanie Bueller (Jennifer Grey) is taken after being picked up by the police for making a phony 911 call. It is also where she meets “Boy in Police Station” (Charlie Sheen) and says one of my favorite lines in movie history – “Why don’t you put your thumb up your butt!”

The scene was shot in the lobby area of the building’s second floor, right at the top of the staircase. As you can see in Nick’s photograph as compared to the screen capture below, the space looks exactly the same today as it did in 1986 when Ferris Bueller’s Day Off was filmed.

The office where Det. Steven Lim (Robert Kim) informs Katie Bueller (Cindy Pickett) about Jeanie’s fake 911 call is located adjacent to the second floor lobby area. In Nick’s photograph below it is shown from an opposite angle than the screen capture pictured.

It, too, looks much the same today as it did when the movie was shot.

Oh, what I wouldn’t give to get into that building! I would so love to pose for a pic on the stairs where Jeannie stood in the scene!

Chas actually found this location thanks to its appearance in a couple of other movies. While putting together a page about filming locations from Divergent a few months back, Chas tracked down the spot where Tris (Shailene Woodley) came into contact with her mother. As it turns out, that was the Hills Bros. Coffee building. Only the exterior of it was shown in Divergent, though.

Then while watching the 1987 action-comedy Beverly Hills Cop II a couple of weeks ago, Chas realized that the shaping, sizing and paning of the windows of the “Detroit” police station where Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) worked matched those of the windows of the building in Divergent. So he went searching for interior photographs of the Hills Bros. building and came across Nick’s page of images. Sure enough, what was shown in Nick’s pics matched the Beverly Hills Cop II police station.

Upon closer inspection, he realized that the staircase and lobby area from the Beverly Hills Cop II police station were an exact match to those from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. So he then compared screen captures from FBDO to Nick’s photographs and confirmed that the two places were one and the same!

The Hills Bros. Coffee building has actually appeared in countless productions over the years. The north side of it masked as a – yep, you guessed it! – police station in the 1988 thriller Jack’s Back.

In fave movie License to Drive, which was also released in 1988, Les Anderson (Corey Haim) falls asleep during driver’s ed class and dreams about speeding around in a Ferrari with his crush Mercedes Lane (Heather Graham). At one point, Les lights a cigarette for her, throws the match out the window and starts an explosion. That bit was shot in the alleyway that runs along the western side of Hills Bros. Coffee.

In 1990’s Child’s Play 2, Hills Bros. Coffee masked as the social services office where Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent) was sent after his foster father was killed.

The interior of the building – as well as that famous staircase – was also utilized in the film.

Hills Bros. Coffee served as a police station once again in 1992’s Unlawful Entry.

Thanks to The Rockford Files Filming Locations blog, I learned that the building was used as the Bunker Hill Division of the Metropolitan Police Station in the series’ 1996 made-for-television movie “If the Frame Fits.”

Hills Bros. Coffee masked as a police station yet again in 1998’s The Negotiator.

In the Season 1 episode of Angel titled “She,” which aired in 2000, the building stood in for both an ice factory and a private security firm office.

Hills Bros. Coffee regularly masqueraded as Ojai Foods on the television series Brothers and Sisters, which ran from 2006 to 2011.

It also popped up in the 2011 movie The Muppets.

And in the Season 1 episode of How to Get Away with Murder titled “Smile, or Go to Jail,” Hills Bros. was used extensively as the police station where both Annalise Keating’s (Viola Davis) new client, Paula Murphy (Ana Ortiz), and murder suspect Rebecca Sutter (Katie Findlay) were being held.

The interior of the building also appeared in the episode. There’s that staircase again!

The building is featured as a Los Angeles police station circa 1932 on the HBO series Perry Mason.

Hills Bros. Coffee also apparently popped up in the Season 1 episode of Castle titled “A Chill Goes Through Her Veins” (though I could not track it down to make screen captures for this post) and in several episodes of CSI: NY (though I am unsure of which episodes specifically).

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

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Chas, of the It’s Filmed There website, for finding this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Ferris Bueller’s Day Off police station is located at 635 South Mateo Street in downtown L.A. The address of the building is also sometimes listed as 642 Mateo Street, but that address is incorrect and would be located across the street from where the building actually stands.