Rashida Jones filming locations

May 29, 2013May 29, 2013

Rent-A-Swag from “Parks and Recreation”

Back in early May, fellow stalker Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, emailed me to let me know that he had just tracked down Rent-A-Swag – the supposed Pawnee, Indiana-area high-fashion rental store for teenagers owned by Tom Haverford (Aziz Ansari) on fave show Parks and Recreation. So I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out to stalk it – Starbucks in hand (but to be fair when do I not have a Starbucks in hand? Winking smile ) – while visiting Los Angeles this past Memorial Day weekend.

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While watching the Parks and Rec Season 5 finale, which was titled “Are You Better Off?”, Owen had spotted an address number placard with a missing digit (120-9) on the exterior of the Rent-A-Swag storefront. His eye was immediately caught by that missing digit and his interest piqued, so he decided to begin searching for the locale. Thankfully, the hunt was an easy one and he wound up finding the shop at 12059 Ventura Place in Studio City.

And while Owen and I had both assumed that the 5 had been removed during the Parks and Rec shoot in order to thwart the efforts of us stalkers, that does not appear to have been the case. As you can see below, the digit is missing in real life, too, which I was shocked to discover!

In real life, the Rent-A-Swag storefront is vacant and looks to have been so for some time, which is probably how it came to be used on Parks and Recreation. The 4,000-square-foot space, which is currently divided into two separate units, most recently housed a branch of the US Postal Service. In January, EaterLA reported that the property was rumored to be the site of the future Valley outpost of the popular mid-city restaurant Joan’s on Third. And while Joan’s founder Joan McNamara did talk about opening a cafe in a former post office on Ventura Place in this April 2012 Los Angeles Times article, as you can see below, the site is still presently available for lease, so that venture appears to have fallen through.

Unfortunately, the GC and I showed up to stalk the site on Sunday morning, smack-dab in the middle of the highly-popular Studio City Farmers Market which takes place directly in front of Rent-A-Swag, so I was not able to get the greatest of photographs.

Rent-A-Swag first showed up in the Season 5 episode of Parks and Recreation titled “Pawnee Commons” and has been featured fairly regularly ever since.

In “Pawnee Commons”, Tom rents out a space, which he states in a later episode is located on Durham Avenue, to house his latest brainchild – a store in which he will lease his expensive threads to tweens. Of the new venture, he says, “I started a business where I rent my fancy clothes to teens so their parents don’t have to buy them nice things they’ll just grow out of. So if you see a 14-year-old kid wearing a Louis Vuitton cravat, you know who to thank – me . . . and Louis Vuitton, for making some dope-a*s cravats.” LOL In “Pawnee Commons”, Tom enlists his Parks and Recreation Department co-workers to help him get the space, which is in pretty dire straits, ready for the grand opening. The real life interior of the store, which you can see pictures of here, was also used in the episode, as well as in several episodes since.

The group’s first go at the renovation turns out rather dire, as well, so they wind up remodeling it twice in the episode.

The final result is pictured below.

In an odd twist, while scanning through Season 5 episodes of Parks and Recreation to make screen captures for this post, I discovered that the other side of the Rent-A-Swag storefront (as I mentioned earlier, the space is currently divided into two separate units) was used as the Pawnee VideoDome/XXX Adult DVD Emporium in the episode titled “Bailout”.

In “Bailout”, Councilwoman Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) petitions the city council to declare Pawnee’s local video store, Pawnee VideoDome, a historical landmark to prevent its impending closure. Leslie succeeds, but the site winds up re-opening as a pornographic video shop – owned in part by the government. LOL

The real life interior of the space was also used in the episode.

I was shocked to learn, while doing research for this post, that the very same location was used in another of Owen’s favorite shows – Seinfeld. The Rent-A-Swag storefront popped up briefly in the Season 4 episode titled “The Trip (2)”, which aired in 1992, as the spot where Jerry Seinfeld (Jerry Seinfeld) and George Costanza (Jason Alexander) watched as two policemen arrested a man for attempted robbery. At the time, the space housed the Bicycle Shack bike store and looked quite a bit different than it does today. Although, structurally still the same, since the time that Seinfeld was filmed, a large awning has been added, significantly altering the look of the place.

The location also appeared in 1994’s Beverly Hills Cop III, in the background of the scene in which Det. Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) jumps out of a car to escape from Jon Flint (Hector Elizondo).

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.

Big THANK YOU to Owen, from the When Write Is Wrong blog, for finding this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Rent-A-Swag from Parks and Recreation is located at 12059 Ventura Place in Studio City.

August 31, 2012August 31, 2012

Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center from “Parks and Recreation”

One location that had been lingering at the top of my To-Stalk for more than a few months was Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, which stands in for Pawnee Saint Joseph Hospital, where Ann Perkins (Rashida Jones) works, on fave show Parks and Recreation. I found this locale thanks to Mike, from the always-fabulous Franklin Avenue blog, who recognized the site way back in 2010 when it popped up in the Season 2 finale of P&R titled “Freddy Spaghetti”. And while I did drag the Grim Cheaper out to stalk the place in early June, because I had failed to bring along any screen captures, I could not for the life of me figure out which angle of the building was used on the show and we ended up leaving after just a few minutes. I promptly added Providence to my Re-Stalk list, though, and, after doing some celebrity stalking in the area this past Monday afternoon with my girl Miss Pinky Lovejoy, of the Thinking Pink blog, I dragged her right on over there to properly stalk the place.

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Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center, which was originally founded in 1943 by the Sisters of Providence Health System, is the largest hospital in the entire San Fernando Valley, boasting 431 beds. The location is also one of the largest employers in the SFV, with over 650 physicians and a staff of almost 2,500 on its payroll. The hospital is located directly across the street from The Walt Disney Studios and, in fact, has a very large Disney connection.

Walt Disney himself turned over the first official piece of sod during Providence’s groundbreaking ceremony, provided funding for its construction, commissioned his animators to create artwork for the interior décor, and even served on the hospital’s original Advisory Board (all of which you can see pictures of on the Started by a Mouse website here). And sadly, after collapsing in his home on November 30th, 1966, he was taken to Providence where he remained for the next two weeks before passing away on December 15th. According to the Started By a Mouse website, during his hospital stay, Walt “plotted out designs for his property in Florida [Walt Disney World] on [Providence’s} acoustical ceiling tiles.” Walt’s older brother, Roy O. Disney, also passed away at Providence, five years later – almost to the day – on December 19th, 1971. But the connection does not end there. Just recently, in 2010, the Roy and Patricia Disney Family Cancer Center (named in honor of Roy O.’s son, Roy E. Disney, and his former wife), was founded. According to the Providence website, the state-of-the-art, four-floor, 55,000-square-foot facility provides cutting-edge care to “treat the body, mind and spirit of each patient” and utilizes both Western medical technologies, such as radiation and chemotherapy, as well as Eastern, including acupuncture, meditation, fitness, yoga, and herbal remedies.

Parks and Recreation and Walt Disney are hardly Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center’s only claims to fame. Due to its proximity to both The Walt Disney Studios and NBC Studios, the hospital has seen its fair share of celebrities come through its automatic doors. Pop star Justin Bieber was taken there in January 2011 after suffering from an allergic reaction while filming an episode of CSI; Lucy Lawless was rushed there in October 1996 after falling off a horse while filming a skit for The Tonight Show; and John Ritter tragically passed away there on September 11th, 2003, as did Corey Haim on March 10th, 2010. (As you can see in the photograph below, some filming was actually taking place while Pinky and I were stalking the hospital, but we did not see any crew members whom we could ask about it. All of the filming signs were marked “BOP” and for the life of me I cannot figure out what that acronym stands for. Any ideas? UPDATE – the Providence Found blog tweeted me to let me know that the television series Body of Proof was filming at the hospital the day we were there. Thanks, Providence Found!)

On Parks and Recreation, Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center pops up pretty much weekly in establishing shots of Pawnee Saint Joseph Hospital, or Saint Joseph’s Medical Center as it is also sometimes referred to.

The interior of Pawnee Saint Joseph Hospital, though, is, of course, just a set.

Oddly enough, though, while Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center is used for all establishing shots of Pawnee Saint Joseph Hospital, a different location – St. Vincent Medical Center, located at 2131 West 3rd Street, just north of MacArthur Park, in Los Angeles – stood in for the place in the Season 1 finale of Parks and Recreation, which was titled “Rock Show”.

Some actual filming of that episode also took place inside of St. Vincent Medical Center.

Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center was also featured in the Season 2 episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians titled “Kris the Cheerleader”, as the place where Kris Jenner underwent emergency knee surgery, although a different side of the building was shown than what is regularly shown on Parks and Rec.

Filming of the “Kris the Cheerleader” episode also took place inside of the hospital. And I have to comment here that, wow, that show is bad! It was painful just scanning through a single episode to make screen captures for this post! Winking smile

The Providence Found blog let me know that in 2010’s Due Date, Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center was “Pacific Mercy Hospital” where Sarah Highman (Michelle Monaghan) gave birth and the place that Peter Highman (Robert Downey Jr.) spent the entire movie trying to get to.

The interior of the hospital also appeared in the movie.

Providence Found also informed me that Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center stood in for “Los Angeles Hospital” where Julia Fitzpatrick (Jennifer Garner) discovered that her boyfriend, Dr. Harrison Copeland (Patrick Dempsey), was married. The catwalk over the hospital’s healing garden was used in the film.

As was the GI waiting area.

On a stalking side-note – My buddy E.J., of The Movieland Directory website, who is easily one of the best researchers and wittiest writers I know, recently penned a book about Old Hollywood titled Unscripted: Hollywood Back-Stories, Volume 1. I highly recommend checking it out! You can purchase an e-copy of the book (it is currently only available digitally) on Nook here and on Kindle here.

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my latest post – about a nightmare experience at the DMV – on my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center, aka Pawnee Saint Joseph Hospital from Parks and Recreation, is located at 501 South Buena Vista Street in Burbank. You can visit the hospital’s official website here. The area shown in establishing shots on Parks and Recreation is the exterior of Providence’s emergency room, which is located off Buena Vista Street, while the Alameda Street entrance was the entrance shown on Keeping Up with the Kardashians.

July 5, 2012July 4, 2012

The Bulge from “Parks and Recreation”

Another day, another location from fave show Parks and Recreation! Seriously, I hope you guys aren’t getting sick of P&R locales yet. Winking smile Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I hit up the Oxford Inn in Van Nuys, aka the bar that stands in for the Bulge – Pawnee, Indiana’s local gay bar. I learned of this location, as always, from fellow stalker Owen of the When Write Is Wrong blog.

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While watching the Season 3 episode of Parks and Recreation titled “Go Big or Go Home”, Owen had noticed an address number of 13713 written above the Bulge’s front door. One quick Google search of “13713”, “bar” and “Van Nuys” (because the show typically films in that area), led him to the Oxford Inn at 13713 Oxnard Street, directly across from Barone’s Famous Italian Restaurant from The Office, which I blogged about here. And, voila, the Inn turned out to be the right place. Yay! Come to find out, though, our search would not end there. But more on that later.

While the interior of the Bulge has been featured in two episodes of Parks and Recreation (Season 2’s “Pawnee Zoo” and Season’s 3 “Go Big or Go Home”), the exterior has only popped up once – in “Go Big or Go Home”. In the episode, Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) and Ben Wyatt (Adam Scott) crash Ann Perkin’s (Rashida Jones’) first date with Chris Traeger (Rob Lowe) and then convince the two of them to go dancing at the Bulge. As you can see below, aside from the fake neon “the Bulge” sign, the Oxwood Inn looks much the same in person as it did onscreen. And, in a synchronistic twist of fate, the Oxwood Inn is actually a gay bar in real life, too!

The interior, however, is another story entirely. As you can see below, the interior of the Oxwood Inn has a very definite blue hue to it. And while I did not remember that blue hue from the series, I figured that producers had changed the lighting for the filming. Oh, how wrong I was.

When I got home and re-watched “Pawnee Zoo” and “Go Big or Go Home”, I realized that a completely different bar had been used for all of the interior scenes – which meant that I had another hunt on my hands.

Because I am like a pit bull when it comes to stalking (once I latch on to a search, I have a very hard time letting go), I immediately started looking online for “divey” bars located in the San Fernando Valley. And while it took me a looooooooong time to track the place down, I am very happy to report that I finally did! As it turns out, the interior of the Bulge is Serra’s Dine & Dance in Studio City. I, of course, dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out there to grab some lunch just a few days later, but unfortunately the eatery is only open at night, so we were unable to go inside. I will be definitely be heading back there for a re-stalk in the near future, though. In the meantime, you can check out some interior photographs of Serra’s here and here. As you can see, it looks much the same in person as it does onscreen.

I am guessing that the reason two different bars were used as the Bulge’s interior and exterior is because the exterior of Serra’s Dine & Dance does not look very much like a small-town dive bar, while the Oxwood Inn does, as you can see below.

Big THANK YOU to Owen, from the When Write Is Wrong blog, for finding this location! Smile

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 don’t forget to check out my new blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Oxwood Inn, aka the exterior of The Bulge from the “Go Big or Go Home” episode of Parks and Recreation, is located at 13713 Oxnard Street in Van Nuys. You can visit the bar’s official website here. Right across the street from the Oxwood Inn at 13726 Oxnard Street is Barone’s Famous Italian Restaurant from The Office, Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Bad News Bears, which I blogged about here. You can visit the Barone’s website here. Serra’s Dine & Dance, aka the interior of The Bulge from Parks and Recreation, is located at 12449 Ventura Boulevard in Studio City. You can visit Serra’s official website here.

June 8, 2012June 7, 2012

Ann’s House from “Parks and Recreation”

As I mentioned in Wednesday’s post about the Sullivan Street Pit from fave new show Parks and Recreation, during our whirlwind stalking adventure last Friday, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I also hit up the house where Ann Perkins (Rashida Jones) lives on the show. Just as it is made to appear on P&R, Ann’s supposed Pawnee, Indiana-area residence is actually located directly behind the undeveloped plot of land in Van Nuys that stands in for the Pit on the series. So, after snapping some pictures of Lot 48, Mike and I walked one block east to do some stalking of the abode. I, of course, found this location thanks to Owen, from the When Write Is Wrong blog – the very same fellow stalker who also informed me of countless other Parks and Recreation locations, including Leslie Knope’s house and the Sullivan Street Pit.

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Ann’s house first popped up in the pilot of Parks and Recreation and has subsequently been featured in pretty much every episode since. During the first season, Ann lived in the one-story residence with her slacker boyfriend, musician Andy Dwyer (Chris Pratt), but she ends up kicking him out in the episode titled “Rock Show” after discovering that he had asked his doctor to keep his leg casts on for an extra two weeks because, as he explained to Ann, “I really, really like it when you serve me food.” LOL

In real life, Ann’s house, which was originally built in 1948, boasts two bedrooms, one bath and 1,407 square feet and, thankfully, looks pretty much exactly the same in person as it does onscreen in Parks and Recreation. Even the yellow fire hydrant located at the edge of the front lawn is there in real life, which was absolutely shocking to me as I had always assumed that the hydrant was a prop put in place for the show. I mean, has anyone ever seen a fire hydrant situated inside of someone’s front yard before? Will wonders never cease? Winking smile

The property’s back gate area also appears quite frequently on the show.

And the home’s backyard was featured in the Season 1 episode of Parks and Recreation titled “Boys’ Club”, in what was hands down one of my very favorites scenes in the entire series – the scene in which Andy takes a bath in a kiddie pool before chasing his neighbor down the street, while naked and on crutches.

And while I would have bet money on the fact that the real life interior of the home had been used in the filming of the pilot episode before later being recreated on a soundstage (which is a fairly typical scenario), I came across some interior photographs of the residence on fave website Zillow and, as you can see below, it looks NOTHING AT ALL like Ann’s house. So incredibly odd!

While doing research for today’s post, I happened to discover that the apartment complex that formerly stood on the site of the Sullivan Street Pit is actually still visible on Bing aerial maps. LOVE IT!

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Owen, from the When Write Is Wrong blog, for finding this location! Smile

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.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Ann Perkins’ house from Parks and Recreation is located at 5655 Murietta Avenue in Van Nuys. The Sullivan Street Pit from the series is located directly behind Ann’s house at at the southeast corner of Hazeltine Avenue and Collins Street in Van Nuys.