Role Models – IAMNOTASTALKER

February 5, 2018June 5, 2018

Kaldi Coffee and Tea from “Lady Bird”

The Grim Cheaper and I are almost all settled in to our new desert home, so I should be getting back to my regularly scheduled blog programing in the near future. Thanks for bearing with me over the past few weeks. For my first post-move locale, I thought I’d write about a spot I originally covered back in early 2010 – Kaldi Coffee and Tea in South Pasadena, which I was thrilled to see pop up numerous times while watching a for-your-consideration DVD of Lady Bird prior to the SAG Awards in early January. Though I did not particularly like the Greta Gerwig-directed coming-of-age drama, Kaldi has long been one of my favorite San Gabriel Valley cafés, so I figured it was most definitely due for a re-post. Because of our move, I was not able to venture out to South Pas to snap any additional photos of the place, but, thankfully, my parents happened to be in L.A. for a brief visit last week and, while there, my mom did some Kaldi stalking on my behalf. Thanks, mom!

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The handsome brick building that houses Kaldi Coffee and Tea was originally constructed in 1903 as South Pasadena Bank, founded by George W. E. Griffith.

Designed by architect Thomas Preston in what this National Register of Historic Places Inventory calls “typical western storefront style,” the site has the distinction of being the city’s very first bank.

During its early years, the property also acted as a sort of unofficial city hall with its upper floor serving as office space for South Pasadena trustees.

Per the Historic Places Inventory, the building, which is South Pasadena Cultural Heritage Landmark #8, informed the architecture of nearby Mission Street, where most of the structures boast a similar two-story brick aesthetic.

The site’s ground-level corner space was transformed into Kaldi Coffee and Tea in 1995.

The café has been a South Pas staple ever since.

Though sold to new owners Susan and Chanho Park in December 2011, not much of the place has been changed over its two-plus decades in operation. Kaldi still serves up fabulous coffee, espresso specialties, sandwiches, salads, and bakery staples in a bright, sun-filled atmosphere.

So it should come as no surprise that the café is pretty much always bustling, as evidenced in the photos above and below.

Regardless of that fact, Kaldi still makes for a peaceful, quiet spot to enjoy a cup of joe.

Masking as Sacramento’s New Helvetia Coffee Shop, Kaldi is featured numerous times throughout Lady Bird. It first appears in the scene in which Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson (Saoirse Ronan) goes out with her new boyfriend, Danny O’Neill (Lucas Hedges), and some friends to hear a band play on Thanksgiving.

Lady Bird later gets a job at the café . . .

. . . where she gets into trouble for flirting on her first day.

Kaldi pops up in a few additional scenes, as well.

Lady Bird is hardly the first production to feature Kaldi. In fact, the place is something of a South Pasadena filming landmark, which is not surprising considering its charming Anywhere, U.S.A. look.

Felix Bonhoeffer (Anthony Hopkins) has coffee at Kaldi with his friend Tracy (Lisa Pepper) at the beginning of 2007’s incredibly weird drama Slipstream, though not much of the space can be seen in the scene.

Kaldi pops up a couple of times as Danny (Paul Rudd) and Beth’s (Elizabeth Banks) local coffee shop in the 2008 comedy Role Models.

That same year, the office space directly above Kaldi portrayed a therapist’s office in the horror flick Prom Night, which I learned thanks to the Movie Locations and More website. (South Pasadena’s oft-filmed Library Park – which is situated across the street and which I blogged about here – can be seen through the windows in the second screen capture below.)

As was the case in Lady Bird, Kaldi masks as a Sacramento café in The Ugly Truth. The locale is featured twice in the 2009 romcom – first in the scene in which Mike Chadway (Gerard Butler) begins to teach Abby Richter (Katharine Heigl) the way to a man’s heart.

Later, Kaldi is where Abby shows off her new boyfriend, Colin (Eric Winter), to her best friend, Joy (Bree Turner).

The coffee shop also pops up twice on the television series Brothers & Sisters. In the Season 3 episode titled “Owning It,” which aired in 2009, Tommy Walker (Balthazar Getty) meets with Kent Barnes (Scott Klace) at Kaldi to discuss his scheme to buy a vineyard.

And in Season 5’s “Get a Room,” which aired in 2010, Kaldi masks as the coffee shop near Wexley University where Kittie McCallister (Calista Flockhart) meets and flirts with handsome, young barista Seth Whitley (Ryan Devlin).

Kaldi portrays Cup ‘N Cakes Cafe, where Gloria Delgado-Pritchett (Sofia Vergara) gets into not one, but two car accidents in the Season 1 episode of Modern Family titled “Moon Landing,” which aired in 2010.

The café plays Berkeley Coffee, where Jim Kazinsky (Mike O’Malley) works – and gets dumped by Sarah Braverman (Lauren Graham) – in the Season 1 episode of Parenthood titled “The Deep End of the Pool,” which aired in 2010.

In the Season 4 episode of Rizzoli & Isles titled “We Are Family,” which aired in 2013, Kaldi masquerades as Boston’s “College Café,” where Maura Isles (Sasha Alexander) spies on her sister, Cailin Martin (Emilee Wallace).

Kaldi Coffee and Tea also pops up in the pilot episode of Splitting Up Together, which aired in 2018 – only in an establishing shot, though.

All actual filming took place at Habitat Coffee Shop and Cafe located at 3708 North Eagle Rock Boulevard in Glassell Park.

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

Big THANK YOU to my mom for stalking this location for me and for taking the photos that appear in this post!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Kaldi Coffee and Tea, aka New Helvetia Coffee Shop from Lady Bird, is located at 1019 El Centro Street in South Pasadena.

March 28, 2016March 25, 2016

Shakers Family Restaurant from “Old School”

Today’s locale is another one of those facepalm spots. For ages, I had been trying to track down the interior of the diner where Mitch (Owen Wilson) and the boys discussed saving their fraternity in the 2003 comedy Old School. While I had long known that Montrose Bakery & Café (which, sadly, Yelp is reporting has closed) was used as the exterior of the restaurant, the café that portrayed the interior remained a mystery. Then while watching the flick recently, I spotted something that I thought I recognized.

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Visible outside of the window behind Mitch in the restaurant scene was a red brick building that looked extremely familiar to me.

Upon scrutinizing the scene further, I spotted a Kentucky Fried Chicken outpost located across the street from the restaurant and it was then that everything clicked into place. I knew immediately that filming had occurred at Shakers Family Restaurant in South Pasadena. I used to get my nails done at a salon just south of Shakers and, though I had never eaten there, I passed by it, as well as the red brick building and the KFC (which is now Mamma’s Brick Oven Pizza and Pasta), on a regular basis, which is why they looked so familiar to me.

As soon as I figured out that filming had taken place at Shakers, I started doing some research on the eatery and its filming history and came across this mention of Old School being shot on the premises on the Scott’s L.A. Audio Tours website. Now, not only have I been to that website several times over the years, but I own and have listened to (several times, I might add!) the Scott’s L.A. Pasadena Audio Tour CD! D’oh! Feeling a bit sheepish, I immediately added the diner to my To-Stalk List and ran right on over there a couple of weeks later.

The Googie-style building that houses Shakers was originally built in 1965 for the Preble’s Restaurant and Coffee Shop chain. It was designed by the famed Armet & Davis architecture firm, who also gave us Norm’s La Cienega. You can see an advertisement for Preble’s here and you can check out what a few other restaurants built for the chain look like today here.

In 1971, the South Pasadena Preble’s changed hands and was turned into the Salt Shaker. Just a few years later, in 1975, the owners dropped “salt” from the name (according to Wikia, the change was made due to the many studies being released at the time that showed salt was unhealthy) and the eatery became known simply as “Shakers” or “Shakers Family Restaurant.” Though the interior has been remodeled slightly in recent years, it still boasts much of the same décor that it did when the Salt Shaker was originally established 45 years ago.

I cannot believe that in all the years I lived in Pasadena, I never dined at Shakers! The Grim Cheaper and I thoroughly enjoyed our lunch there, though I am really regretting not opting to order the chicken strips, which countless Yelp reviewers have touted as being the best they’ve ever had. That’s what I get for trying to be healthy! I cannot say enough good things about the Classical Cobb Salad that I did order, though. It was fabulous!

Thanks to the place’s fabulously retro aesthetic, it has long been a favorite of location managers.

In Old School, Mitch and his Alpha Epsilon Omega brothers discussed the Charter Certification Review of their fraternity while sitting in Shakers’ southern dining room.

As I mentioned earlier, only the interior of Shakers was featured in Old School. The exterior shown in the movie can be found at 2325 Honolulu Avenue in Montrose.

I was floored to learn via various websites and Yelp reviews that an episode of The X-Files had been lensed at Shakers. I was unsure of which episode, though, and while it took quite a bit of time, I finally managed to figure it out! Shakers was the spot where Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) told Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) the legend of the Lazarus Bowl in Season 7’s “Hollywood A.D.,” which aired in 2000 and was written and directed by Duchovny.

As I mentioned in my recent post about Beeman Park from Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Shakers masked as The Burger Hole in the 2008 comedy Role Models. The eatery popped up twice in the film and both the exterior . . .

. . . and interior were utilized.

In the Season 2 episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. titled “One of Us,” which aired in 2015, Calvin Zabo (Kyle MacLachlan) and the rest of the “Masters of Evil” dine at Shakers and discuss how to take down the Agents.

I immediately recognized the diner when it popped up in the recently-aired episode of Scandal titled “Wild Card” as the spot where Tom Larsen (Brian Letscher) convinced Wayne Turner (Braden Lynch) to hold up the Pennsylvania State Capital.

The exterior of Shakers also appeared in the episode.

The eatery was apparently featured in All Night Long, as well, but I could not find a copy of the 1981 comedy to verify that information.

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: Shakers Family Restaurant, from Old School, is located at 601 Fair Oaks Avenue in South Pasadena. You can visit the diner’s official website here.

February 25, 2010March 1, 2010

Cup ‘N Cakes Cafe from “Modern Family”

A few weeks back, a fellow stalker who identified himself as “Stepick” left a comment on my Step by Step house post informing me that a coffee shop in nearby South Pasadena had been featured in the recent episode of fave show Modern Family entitled “Moon Landing”. Unfortunately though, Stepick did not specify exactly which South Pasadena coffee house it was. So, I decided to do a little bit of digging to see if I could figure it out. I came up empty-handed at first, until this past weekend when a blog named “Greetings from LA” published a post about Modern Family filming locations along with a link to this article about the coffee shop that had been used on the show. Thank you, Greetings from L.A.! In real life, that coffee shop is named Kaldi Coffee & Tea and, amazingly enough, I had never before heard of the place. So, I, of course, had to run right out and stalk it, not just because I love Modern Family, but because, as those of you who read my site regularly know, I absolutely love coffee. Like LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT. Oh, what I won’t do for a good cup o’ joe. But I digress.

Kaldi Coffee & Tea, which has been in operation for over 15 years, is an incredibly charming little coffee house located inside of an old bank building. With its brick walls, mismatched chairs, large couch, and chalk board menu, the place evokes memories of the Central Perk set from Friends. So, needless to say, I loved it! And, amazingly enough, when I walked through the front doors I immediately recognized the shop from another production besides Modern Family! But more on that later. Despite what some internet reviews have stated, I am very happy to report that Kaldi’s serves up some FABULOUS coffee. I also indulged in a little veggie sandwich while there and I am happy to report that it, too, was fabulous! The staff at Kaldi’s was EXTREMELY nice and not only answered all of my silly questions about the filming of Modern Family, but also let me take all the photographs I wanted. Yay! I loved the place so much, in fact, that I am fairly certain I am going to be a frequent stalker there. 😉

The Kaldi’s scene from Modern Family starts out across the street from the cafe, on the sidewalk in front of the South Pasadena Public Library (a location which stood in for Haddonfield High School in Rob Zombie’s 2007 Halloween remake). In the scene, Gloria (aka Sophia Vergara) takes her son Manny (aka Rico Rodriguez) and her step-son/ lawyer Mitchell (aka Jesse Tyler Ferguson) to the site of her recent car accident so that she can explain what happened. After showing them where the accident took place, she heads over to Kaldi’s, which was called Cup ‘N Cakes Cafe in the episode, to grab some cupcakes, while Mitchell and Manny wait behind at the accident site to take pictures. It is there that Manny tells Mitchell that his mother was actually at fault in the wreck. When Mitchell asks why Manny didn’t tell his mom that, Manny explains “She can’t take criticism about her driving. Once an old lady yelled at her at a crosswalk. She honked so long, the horn ran out!” LOL LOL LOL

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Only a small portion of Kaldi’s exterior is shown in the scene . . .

. . . but the interior is featured quite extensively while the threesome is eating their cupcakes.

And it is outside of Kaldi’s that Gloria gets into her second car accident of the week, crashing into the side of the cafe and knocking down Cup ‘N Cakes’ large pink cupcake sign, which was, of course, just a prop that was brought in for the filming. The restaurant where Claire (aka Julie Bowen) met Valerie (aka Minnie Driver) for lunch in that same episode is located less than a block away from Kaldi’s. It is named Bistro de la Gare, but I have yet to stalk the place. Don’t worry, though, as it’s definitely on my list!

Kaldi’s also appeared in a brief scene in fave movie The Ugly Truth, in which Abby Richter (aka Katherine Heigl) and her best friend Joy (aka Bree Turner) fawn all over her new boyfriend Colin (aka Eric Winter). Oddly enough, I had actually been searching for The Ugly Truth coffee shop for MONTHS, but couldn’t seem to locate it anywhere! So, when I walked into Kaldi’s yesterday afternoon, I just about fell over as I immediately recognized it as the place I had long been searching for. Funny how stuff like that happens. 😉

The Ugly Truth also made use of the same stretch of sidewalk that appeared in Modern Family for the scene in which Mike Chadway (aka Gerard Butler) convinces Abby to purchase some hair extensions. That sidewalk is located directly across the street from Kaldi’s.

Kaldi’s was also featured in two scenes in the 2008 movie Role Models as Beth (aka Elizabeth Banks) and Danny’s (aka Paul Rudd’s) local coffee shop. One of the scenes features a very funny rant by Paul Rudd over the fact that the term “venti” does not actually mean large in Italian.

Producers completely remodeled Kaldi’s for the filming of Role Models, though, making it appear very Coffee-Bean-ish, so it almost unrecognizable from that flick. Kaldi’s was also featured in the 2007 Anthony Hopkins’ movie Slipstream and it will be appearing in an upcoming episode of the new television series Parenthood.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Kaldi Coffee & Tea, aka Cup ‘N Cakes Cafe from Modern Family, is located at 1019 El Centro Street, at the southwest corner of El Centro Street and Diamond Avenue, in South Pasadena. Bistro de la Gare, the restaurant where Minnie Driver and Julie Bowen ate on Modern Family, is located less than a block away at 921 Meridian Avenue.