Rosewood – IAMNOTASTALKER

July 7, 2017July 5, 2017

Off Limits Cocktail Lounge from “Rosewood”

I’m still in quite a bit of shock – not to mention completely heartbroken – over the recent cancellation of Rosewood. The cancellation was especially stinging being that there are a couple of locations from the former Fox series that I stalked, but have yet to blog about – namely Off Limits cocktail lounge, the supposed Miami-area dive-y bar that Dr. Beaumont ‘Rosie’ Rosewood, Jr. (Morris Chestnut) and partner Det. Annalise Villa (Jaina Lee Ortiz) regularly frequented. In reality, the watering hole (which, like Rosewood, was recently shut down) can be found in Orange County – Anaheim, to be exact – where the vast majority of the Florida-set series was lensed.

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I discovered this locale thanks to an April 2016 The Orange County Register article in which Rosewood co-executive producer Vahan Moosekian was quoted as saying, “We were scouting locations for a bar and house and we looked all over and we found them in Anaheim. The house (on Lemon Street) looked like it belonged in Florida and then we found the (Off Limits) bar just a few miles away.” Thank you, OC Register!

Sadly, by the time I stalked the place in mid-March of this year, it had been shuttered, so I only got to see the exterior. Yelp still has photos of the interior posted, though. You can check them out here.

As I learned from commenters on Off Limits’ Facebook page, the bar’s owner passed away earlier this year and the property was subsequently sold. Much to the dismay of the many longtime regulars, the site’s future is currently up in the air.

Thankfully, the watering hole’s signage has been left intact for the time being.

And what fabulous signage it is!

I’m kind of obsessed. I absolutely love retro roadside signs.

Off Limits cocktail lounge was originally established way back in August 1990. Prior to that, the space housed an upscale cook-your-own steak eatery/piano bar known as The Roberts Room.

Off Limits first popped up in Rosewood’s second episode, titled “Fireflies and Fidelity.” In the episode, Villa explains to Rosie that she “basically grew up” at the bar, spending many afternoons drinking Arnold Palmers while her dad hustled money out of gullible pool players. Despite her classification of the place as a “dump,” it holds special meaning for her. She says, “It’s my sanctuary. Some people go to church. I come here.”

The bar went on to become Rosie and Villa’s regular hangout, appearing almost weekly on the series.

It was utilized so often, in fact, that I am surprised a set re-creation of it wasn’t built at MBS Media Campus, the Manhattan Beach studio where the show was shot. That does not appear to have been the case, though. From what I can tell, the many scenes that took place at Off Limits were actually shot on location at the bar.

Though it was Off Limits’ interior that was mainly featured on Rosewood, the exterior – with its fabulous sign – did show up on occasion.

Off Limits was only utilized throughout Rosewood’s first season. Though it was never discussed on the series, Rosie and Villa just stopped hanging out there during Season 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: Off Limits cocktail lounge from Rosewood was formerly located at 819 South Euclid Street in Anaheim. The site is currently closed.

June 23, 2017June 21, 2017

Daisie Villa’s Houseboat from “Rosewood”

While I love the ocean, the thought of living on a houseboat has never appealed to me – that is until I caught a glimpse of the idyllic floating home belonging to Daisie Villa (Lisa Vidal) on the recently cancelled Fox procedural Rosewood. I became obsessed with the charming structure upon first seeing it in the Season 1 episode titled “Bloodhunt and Beats,” which aired in November 2015, and immediately attempted to track it down. I was unsuccessful in the hunt, though, and started to suspect that the picturesque liveaboard might be a façade built by producers solely for filming. Cut to May of this year. While doing some research on the Huntington Beach Civic Center, which masked as the East Miami Police Department on the series, I came across information about the houseboat’s location on Seeing Stars and just about passed out from excitement. The only problem was that when I took a look at aerial and street view imagery of the spot mentioned, there was no houseboat to be found. So I called in my friend/fellow stalker Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, who quickly figured things out for me.

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According to Seeing Stars, Daisie’s houseboat is located at Island Yacht Anchorage #1 at 1500 Anchorage Road in Wilmington. But as Owen discovered, the floating home can actually be found at Island Yacht Anchorage #2, which is at 700 Shore Road, on the opposite side of the promontory from Island Yacht Anchorage #1. Its exact location is denoted in the aerial view below.

A zoomed-in view of the houseboat’s location is pictured below.

Once Owen pinpointed the right locale, I rushed right out to stalk the place.

I was thrilled to discover that the houseboat is fully visible from the Island Yacht Anchorage #2 parking lot.

In person, the liveaboard did not disappoint.

As I mentioned above, the Rosewood houseboat first appeared in Season 1’s “Bloodhunt and Beats.” In the episode, recent Miami transplant Detective Annalise Villa (Jaina Lee Ortiz) temporarily moves in with her mom, Daisie, after the hotel where she has been staying closes due to a termite problem.

As you can see below, the pad is just as adorable in reality as it appeared to be onscreen.

Yeah, I think I could live here.

I could not find any information whatsoever about the property online. Because of its massive curb appeal, though, I would not be surprised if it has appeared in other productions.

Rosewood only utilized the houseboat during Season 1. In the episode titled “Thorax, Thrombosis & Threesomes,” Daisie leaves the structure for unnamed reasons and moves in with Annalise, who had found a home of her own in the interim.

Typically, only the north side of the property (pictured above) was shown on the series. That area is not visible from the Island Yacht Anchorage #2 parking lot, sadly. But in the episode titled “Paralytics & Priorities,” Villa has a discussion with Dr. Beaumont Rosewood, Jr. (Morris Chestnut) on the porch of the home’s west side, which is visible.

From the way the episodes were shot, I am fairly certain that the real life interior of the houseboat was also utilized on the series.

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

Big THANK YOU to my friend/fellow stalker Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, for finding this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Daisie Villa’s houseboat from Rosewood is located at Island Yacht Anchorage #2, which can be found at 700 Shore Road in Wilmington. The property can be a bit tricky to pinpoint via GPS. For those wanting to make the trip themselves, take Anchorage Road south to Shore Road and make a right. Shore Road curves around to the right and dead ends into the parking lot for Island Yacht Anchorage #2. Daisie’s houseboat is situated at the north tip of the parking lot.

May 19, 2017May 18, 2017

East Miami Police Department from “Rosewood”

I was saddened to learn of the cancellation of Rosewood last week. Yes, I said in recent posts (here and here) that the show had jumped the shark, but I was holding out hope that it would return strong for a third season. Unfortunately, as Fox announced last Tuesday, that is not to be. Even worse, because the series was given the ax after the Season 2 finale had already aired, there will not be closure to any of the main storylines, namely the will-they-or-won’t-they relationship of the two leads, Dr. Beaumont “Rosie” Rosewood, Jr. (Morris Chestnut) and Detective Annalise Villa (Jaina Lee Ortiz). My fingers are crossed that the procedural will be rescued à la Timeless (which I am SO thrilled about it), but I’m not holding my breath. In the meantime, I thought I’d blog about one of the main locations used on the now defunct series – the Huntington Beach Civic Center, which stands, ahem, stood in for the East Miami Police Department where Rosie and Villa work, ahem, worked.

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The Huntington Beach Civic Center was constructed between 1972 and 1974 to replace the city’s former civic center, which was built in the early 1920s.

The 187,000-square-foot modernist complex, which sits on a 14.28-acre plot of land, was designed by both Meyer & Allen Associates and the Honnold, Reibsamen & Rex architecture firm.

The Meyer & Allen website states that the site was “designed for service to citizens, rather than a monument to government” with “a flexible, open-end plan that can adjust to and grow with the requirements of an expanding local government.”

The center, constructed mainly out of concrete, is comprised of 5 main areas – a 5-story Administration Building, which houses City Hall, a 1-story Development Building, a 1,000-seat amphitheatre, a Police/Public Safety Building, and Council Chambers.

It is the Administration Building that is used on Rosewood.

For those who are not familiar with the series, Rosewood is set in Miami, Florida. While almost all filming took place in Los Angeles, the pilot was actually shot on location in The Magic City. In the episode, Miami City Hall, located at 3500 Pan American Drive, masked as East Miami PD.

Beginning with episode 2, titled “Fireflies and Fidelity,” filming moved to the L.A. area (namely Orange County) and the Huntington Beach Civic Center made its first appearance as East Miami PD.

Both the west side of the Administration Building (pictured above) and the east side (below) are utilized on the series.

I was most excited to see the east side, which is where Rosie got his car back in Season 2’s “Mummies & Meltdowns.”

The spot where the gang waited for him, posed in front of his beloved canary yellow 1968 Pontiac GTO convertible, can be found at the bottom of the steps leading to the Civic Center’s east parking lot.

In person, the center looks much the same as it does onscreen, minus a few East Miami Police signs.

While I was posing for my obligatory photo in front of the location, a couple walked by and said, “Yep, you’ve found it! East Miami PD!” The friendly duo then told us that Rosewood had also done some filming at the Huntington Beach Central Library and Cultural Center just up the street, so the Grim Cheaper and I headed right on over there. I so love receiving unexpected filming tips from locals! (If you missed my post on the library, you can read it 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: The Huntington Beach Civic Center, aka East Miami Police Department from Rosewood, is located at 2000 Main Street in Huntington Beach.

May 3, 2017May 2, 2017

Huntington Beach Central Library and Cultural Center from “Rosewood”

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – stalking begets stalking. While out and about sightseeing filming locales in Orange County last month, the Grim Cheaper and I struck up a conversation with a friendly local couple who informed us that fave show Rosewood (well, it was a fave show until it jumped the shark recently) had just done some shooting at the Huntington Beach Central Library and Cultural Center. So we headed right on over there and were both shocked at what awaited us! The library is one of the most architecturally unique, beautiful, and interesting spots I have ever had the pleasure of visiting!

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The Huntington Beach Central Library and Cultural Center, which took 3 years to construct at a cost of $5 million, was opened to the public on April 2nd, 1975.

The property’s striking design came courtesy of Dion Neutra, son of Richard Neutra, the world-renowned modernist architect who gave us the Los Angeles County Hall of Records, the Ohara House from The Holiday, the Kauffman House in Palm Springs, and the Lovell Health House from L.A. Confidential.

The post-modern structure, which originally measured 74,000 square feet, was constructed out of volcanic rock, stone, wood, glass, and concrete .

Of the airy, light-filled space, which can hold 250,000 tomes, Dion said, “The idea was to place all readers in the outer portion of the floor area and concentrate the bulk of the book collection in a multi-tiered central core, brilliantly illuminated.”

I’d say he succeeded brilliantly with his plan. Dion’s creation is a bright, peaceful, and bucolic respite. I can’t imagine a more beautiful place to read, study or quietly contemplate.

The design could not be more unique – or open. As a 1975 Daily Pilot article stated, “The book stacks are centralized with all activity rooms located on the perimeter of the stacks, removing the cluttered look of most libraries.”

The building also boasts floor-to-ceiling windows on its rear side, which only adds to the site’s overall open aesthetic and affords visitors incredible views of Central Park, which is situated just outside of the library’s doors.

Though with all of its lush foliage, the interior itself almost feels park-like.

The Huntington Beach Central Library and Cultural Center also features skylights, terraced reading decks, and seven interior fountains that Italian magazine Architecttura states “mask normal library sounds and permit conventional levels of conversation.”

The focal point of Neutra’s original design was a massive exterior spiral entrance ramp.

The concrete ramp, situated amidst a fountain, features seating areas, planters, and water displays.

In 1994, the library was expanded to 120,000 square feet, thanks to the addition of a large children’s wing, a 320-seat theatre, and 5 meeting rooms. Sadly, the project resulted in the enclosure of the front ramp and a massive overall of the site’s façade, which greatly altered Neutra’s design. You can see what the exterior of the building originally looked like here, as compared to its revamped state, which is pictured below.

Also altering the appearance of the library’s exterior is the fact that the huge moat-like fountain that surrounds it (which is very reminiscent of that of the John Ferraro Building in downtown L.A.) has been drained, for reasons I am sure have to do with California’s drought.

I can only imagine how stunning the views must be when the fountain is full.

In 2007, the library underwent another renovation, this time to restore Neutra’s original earth-toned color schematic to the interior.

Though the Huntington Beach Civic Center typically stands in for the East Miami Police Department on Rosewood, in Season 2’s “Half-Life & Havana Nights,” the Central Library was used instead. The scene in which Michelle Kelly (Joy Brunson) was brought in for questioning was shot just outside of the library on the pathway adjacent to the property’s large tiered fountain.

Later in the episode, the library’s east side (which I, unfortunately, did not get a photo of) masqueraded as the entrance to EMPD, where Harley (James Harvey Ward) was killed.

Central Park, which, as I mentioned earlier, is situated just outside of the library, was also featured in Rosewood, albeit briefly, in the Season 2 episode titled “Prosopagnosia and Parrot Fish,” in which it masked as a Miami cemetery.

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: Huntington Beach Central Library and Cultural Center, from the “Half-Life & Havana Nights” episode of Rosewood, is located at 7111 Talbert Avenue in Huntington Beach.

April 26, 2017April 24, 2017

The Waterfront Beach Resort from “Rosewood”

It is such a shame when a favorite show jumps the shark. If its latest episode, titled “Amparo & the American Dream,” is any indication, that fate seems to have befallen Rosewood, the FOX procedural currently in its second season. While I was all in with the recent storyline centering around Captain Ryan Slade (Eddie Cibrian) donating his kidney to Dr. Beaumont “Rosie” Rosewood, Jr. (Morris Chestnut) and the complications that arose from that, as soon as the focus shifted to Slade possibly being a dirty cop, I completely lost interest. The sudden addition of Detective Annalise Villa’s (Jaina Lee Ortiz) brother, Marcos (Manny Montana), has been another low spot. He needs to go away, and fast! While this week’s show might be a turnaround, considering how catastrophically bad “Amparo & the American Dream” was, I’m not holding out hope. One bright spot in the episode was that I recognized a location – one that has appeared on Rosewood before (in my favorite episode of the series) and that I had stalked, but not yet blogged about – Huntington Beach’s The Waterfront Beach Resort.

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The 12-story Waterfront Beach Resort opened its doors in 1990. At the time, it was known as “The Waterfront Hilton.” It is still a Hilton property today.

The 285-room, Four-Diamond resort sits a short hop from the sand and boasts 21,000 square feet of meeting and event space, a heated pool and whirlpool overlooking the Pacific, a fitness center, a market/espresso bar, and an eatery named Shades Restaurant & Bar.

Stepping into The Waterfront feels like stepping onto a tropical island. The Grim Cheaper and I popped by for a quick visit while in Orange County last month and I found myself seriously considering rearranging our schedule so that we could book a room for an immediate spontaneous stay. Sadly, we couldn’t.

The hotel started undergoing an extensive $140-million, 18-month renovation and expansion in early 2016.

During the project, a 9-story suites-only tower with a restaurant, a lounge, a pool deck, and an events lawn will be added to the property. Many areas of the existing hotel are also being altered, including the lobby and pool.

In the Season 1 episode of Rosewood titled “Atherosclerosis and the Alabama Flim-Flam,” which is hands-down my favorite of the entire series, The Waterfront portrays the Coconut Beach Crown Plaza Hotel in Coconut Beach, Florida, where Rosie serves as a keynote speaker for the Forensic Pathology Organization of America’s Annual Convention. During the conference, someone murders one of Rosie’s fellow pathologists, utilizing methods detailed in his speech. So he calls on his East Miami PD colleagues, including Villa, to help solve the case and track down the killer.

The episode was shot pretty much in its entirety on location at the hotel. Areas used include the Grand Ballroom;

several hallways;

the pool;

the Tides Ballroom,which masked as Surf and Turf restaurant, where Rosie and Villa carried out the “Wilma Illinois Screamer” scam on two suspects (and where Rosie professed his love for Villa, only to have her deny him moments later);

Shades Restaurant & Bar;

and the lobby, where Villa made a grand entrance wearing a “gift shop” dress.

Sadly, the lobby has already undergone the majority of its renovation, so, while the basic set-up remains the same, it looks quite a bit different today than it did onscreen in Rosewood.

I believe that several of the hotel’s actual rooms were also used in the shoot – either that or production utilized sets very closely modeled after The Waterfront’s accommodations. You can check out what some of The Waterfront’s rooms look like here and here.

In Rosewood’s “Amparo & the American Dream” episode, which is hands-down my least favorite of the entire series, The Waterfront masks as Miami Beach’s The De Leon Hotel, where Rosie and Villa track down a prostitution ring. The resort was only featured briefly in the episode. Areas used include the exterior;

the pool;

a room;

and several hallways.

A couple of other productions have also been shot at The Waterfront. Amanda Woodward (Heather Locklear) and boyfriend Bobby Parezi (John Enos III) stayed there in the Season 4 episode of Melrose Place titled “The Bobby Trap.” In the episode, not only was an establishing shot of the exterior of the hotel shown . . .

. . . but Bobby and Amanda dined by the resort’s pool.

One of the hotel’s hallways was also utilized . . .

. . . as was one of the rooms.

It is also at The Waterfront that Jackie Dorsey (Christy Carlson Romano) takes a California vacation with some friends in the 2006 ABC Family movie The Cutting Edge: Going for the Gold.

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 Waterfront Beach Resort, aka the Coconut Beach Crown Plaza Hotel from the “Atherosclerosis and the Alabama Flim-Flam” episode of Rosewood, is located at 21100 Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach. You can visit the hotel’s official website here. The Hyatt Huntington Beach, which stood in for the Beverly Hills Beach Club on 90210, is located just down the street at 21500 Pacific Coast Highway. You can visit the website for that hotel here.

March 24, 2017March 19, 2017

The Villa Del Sol from “Rosewood”

The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon is a term used to describe the experience of coming across an obscure word, thing, or piece of information for the first time and then subsequently happening upon references to that same word, thing, or piece of information on a regular basis. I had never heard of it until fellow stalker/guest poster extraordinaire Michael (you can read the many articles he has written for IAMNOTASTALKER here) mentioned it to me while discussing Haskell’s Ice Cream Hut from The Brady Bunch, a locale he tracked down back in 2014 that he has since seen pop up in several other productions. We have encountered so many instances of Baader-Meinhof lately that Michael recently suggested we rename the phenomenon after the two of us in regard to filming locations. Case in point – while watching the Season 2 episode of Rosewood titled “Half-Life and Havana Nights” in early December, I became a bit fixated with the supposed “Cuba” courtyard where Dr. Beaumont Rosewood, Jr. (Morris Chestnut) and Detective Annalise Villa (Jaina Lee Ortiz) interrogated a suspect. After a bit of research, I discovered that the courtyard was part of a historic building known as The Villa Del Sol in Fullerton. I had never heard of the place, but quickly added it to my To-Stalk List. Well, not 48 hours later, I was poring over the December issue of Westways magazine and was shocked to see The Villa Del Sol featured in a Local Outings blurb. The article made me even more obsessed with seeing the site in person, so when I found out that my dad had a doctor’s appointment in Orange County last week, I informed the Grim Cheaper that we would be tagging along in order to do some Rosewood stalking.

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The Villa Del Sol was originally built as a luxury lodging known as the California Hotel. Construction on the three-story property took place from January 1922 to January 1923.

The Spanish Colonial-style hotel was designed by architects Frank Benchley and Morien Eugene Durfee.

At its inception, California Hotel consisted of ground-level shops, 22 suites, 55 single rooms, and a courtyard that opened to what was then Spadra Road (today it’s Harbor Boulevard). You can see some photographs of what the picturesque site looked like during its early days here and here.

In 1964, the hotel underwent a renovation, was expanded, transformed into a commercial building, and re-named The Villa Del Sol. During the remodel much of the structure’s Spanish Revival detailing was removed. The building’s courtyard was also closed off from the street, creating a peaceful little oasis shaded by tall palm trees.

In 1992, the property was remodeled once again after being purchased by Dunlap Real Estate Investments. The group revitalized the site, bringing back much of its original design.

Today, the marketplace houses restaurants, boutiques, and office space. One of the eateries, The Cellar, is not only reportedly haunted, but was designed by the same people who were responsible for The Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland! Sadly, it was closed when we were there, but it’s on my list for a re-stalk.

The Villa Del Sol is absolutely idyllic. It comes as no surprise that the quaint site is one of the O.C.’s most popular wedding venues. What is rather surprising is that, outside of Rosewood, I could find no other instance of filming on the premises.

In “Half-Life and Havana Nights,” Rosewood and Villa head to Cuba to get information from a fake I.D. maker named Lorenzo ‘Lo Down’ Veras (Roberto Sanchez).

They wind up encountering him in The Villa Del Sol’s courtyard, which masked as a busy Cuban marketplace.

In the scene, Lo Down was holding court in the southern section of the courtyard, near the entrance to Green Bliss cafe.

The Villa Del Sol’s second floor also appeared in the episode, portraying the Cuban apartment building where Michelle Kelly (Joy Brunson) lived.

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 Villa Del Sol, from the “Half-Life and Havana Nights” episode of Rosewood, is located at 305 North Harbor Boulevard in Fullerton.

January 9, 2017January 4, 2017

Donna’s House from “Rosewood”

I’ve never met a police procedural I didn’t like. When one centers around an insanely charming male lead who constantly (and comically) spars with his cynical female partner, it’s a guarantee it will make my top ten. Such was the case with the FOX drama Rosewood, which began airing in 2015. For those who don’t watch, the insanely charming male lead in this instance is Dr. Beaumont “Rosie” Rosewood, Jr. (Morris Chestnut) and his cynical partner is Det. Annalise Villa (Jaina Lee Ortiz). An additional bonus – though the series is set in Miami, it is lensed primarily in Southern California. So I, of course, became obsessed with finding its locations at around the same time I became obsessed with the show. The one spot at the top of my track-down list was the large Craftsman-style home belonging to Rosie’s mom, Donna (Lorraine Toussaint), aka “Mama Rosewood.” It was not until the seventh episode of the series aired in November 2015 that I was able to locate it, though.

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In the episode, titled “Quadriplegia and Quality Time,” an address number of 521 was visible on the front of Donna’s house. I knew from researching the show that filming mainly takes place in the Anaheim area. I also knew, from the shots of the residence shown in previous episodes, that it was situated on a corner. And, because the dwelling is large, grand, and such an amazing example of Craftsman architecture, I had a hunch it was a historical landmark of some sort. So, armed with that information, I started searching the 500 blocks of historic areas of Anaheim for a large Craftsman home located on a corner. It was not long before I found the right place at 521 North Lemon Street.

Because I so rarely find myself in Orange County, I did not make it out to see the residence in person until this past October, almost a full year after tracking it down. But it was worth the wait. As you can see, the home is absolutely stunning.

My hunch about it being historical turned out to be correct! Known as The Duckworth House, the 1922 pad was originally built for food merchant/land developer William E. Duckworth and, as the sign affixed to the front porch states, has been designated as “historically significant to the Anaheim Colony Historic District.”

The sprawling property boasts 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 3,701 square feet of living space, and 0.39-acres of land complete with fruit trees and rose gardens.

In person, the residence is massive – even larger than it appears to be on TV.

Aside from that, though, it looks much the same as it does on Rosewood.

Donna’s home is featured regularly on the series, typically during the scenes involving the Rosewood family’s weekly dinners.

In an April 2016 The Orange County Register article about the show’s locations (which I wish had been published at the time I was looking for Donna’s house as it would have saved me some time), Rosewood co-executive producer Vahan Moosekian said that “The house (on Lemon Street) looked like it belonged in Florida.” That statement is rather surprising to me because, being Craftsman in style, the residence, in my opinion at least, couldn’t be more quintessentially Californian.

I believe that the real life interior of The Duckworth House is used as the interior of Donna’s home on the series, which is unusual. Don’t quote me on that, though. The inside of Mama Rosewood’s residence could also very well be a set at MBS Media Campus in Manhattan Beach where the show is lensed. From the way episodes are shot, though, it appears that the property’s actual interior is utilized.

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: Donna Rosewood’s house from Rosewood is located at 521 North Lemon Street in Anaheim.

June 1, 2016June 1, 2016

The Willmore from “Rosewood”

The Grim Cheaper and I became obsessed with a myriad of new shows this year, namely Blindspot, Quantico (though I think that one may have already jumped the shark), The Family, Limitless, The Grinder (those last three have, sadly, all been cancelled), and Rosewood. Oh, how we love Rosewood. The police procedural perfectly mixes comedy with drama, the writing is witty and smart, and Morris Chestnut, who plays the endlessly positive and charming titular character Dr. Beaumont “Rosie” Rosewood, Jr. is perfection, as is Jaina Lee Ortiz, who portrays his fiery cynical counterpart, Det. Annalise Villa. My favorite aspect of the show, though, is that, while set in Miami, it is lensed largely in Los Angeles. (Beaumont’s Magic City Lab is one of the few non-L.A. locales featured on the series – it can be found at 2043 North Miami Avenue in Miami). One location that I recently became obsessed with identifying was the gorgeous Italian Renaissance-style building used in the episode titled “Aortic Atresia and Art Installations.” And I have the GC to thank for tracking it down.

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In “Aortic Atresia and Art Installations” (try saying that one three times fast!), Rosie and Villa are led to the Willmore Hotel, said to be located at 315 Collins Avenue in Miami, via a clue left for them by a cryptic serial killer they have been chasing. Not only was the name “Willmore” shown prominently in the killer’s clue . . .

. . . but it was also visible above the front doors when Villa and Rosie arrived on the scene. For whatever reason, though, I was quick to assume that the name and signage were fakes. Thank goodness for the GC because when I paused the episode to ask him where he thought the building might be located, he said, “Looks like Long Beach. I’m guessing the name is real, too.” Though I doubted the latter, I figured his Long Beach hunch was correct, so I did a quick Google search on my phone for “Willmore” and “Long Beach” and was shocked to see that he was right! Not only is the Willmore a real place, but it is indeed located in the LBC! Nicely done, GC! I am not ashamed to admit that he completely outwitted me on this one!

Both the interior and the exterior of the Willmore were featured on Rosewood and, though shown only briefly, I was captivated by the place’s beauty. The interior, which you can see some photographs of here, reminds me quite a bit of the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown L.A.

The Willmore was originally built in 1927 by the Stillwell Hotel Corporation. At the time, it was operated as an upscale apartment hotel and was known as the “Stillwell.”

The 11-story structure was designed by Fisher, Lake and Traver, the same architecture firm who gave us the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

Shortly after its inception, the property’s name was changed to the Willmore in honor of William Erwin Willmore, one of Long Beach’s first developers.

Today, the building, which was deemed a City of Long Beach Historic Landmark in 1986, is made up of individually-owned condominiums, like this loft-style unit which came on the market in February 2015. Love the half-exposed brick!

Rosewood is not the only production to have made use of the site. First Congregational Church, Long Beach, the main location featured in License to Wed, is situated across the street from the Willmore and, as such, the building was seen several times in the background of the 2007 romcom.

The Willmore’s parking lot, located on the western side of the property, was also used as the church parking lot in a scene.

The building was also where Henry (Paul Rudd) lived in Over Her Dead Body. Ironically, way back in 2010, a fellow stalker named Virginie sent me the addresses of a couple of filming locations from the 2008 comedy, one of which was the Willmore. I had never seen the movie and, aside from adding the sites to my To-Stalk List, did not do any further research on them, which is why I did not recognize the Willmore when it popped up on Rosewood. It was not until I started gathering my Long Beach addresses together shortly before heading down there for a stalking expedition last week that I realized the connection. Thank you, Virginie!

The interior of Henry’s apartment was not a real Willmore unit, but a set.

A portion of the Willmore’s bottom level houses a popular Italian restaurant named La Traviota.

It was there that Henry and Ashley (Lake Bell) dined – and discussed cats – in Over Her Dead Body.

Thanks to the book Emergency!: Behind the Scene (which was written by fellow stalker Richard Yokley), I learned that the Season 2 episode of Emergency! titled “Peace Pipe” was lensed at the Willmore. Richard was even nice enough to provide the screen capture below. Thank you, Richard!

And, according to Location Filming in Long Beach, Ally McBeal and Profiler also did some filming at the Willmore, but I am unsure of which episodes in particular were shot there.

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Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Willmore, from the”Aortic Atresia and Art Installations” episode of Rosewood, is located at 315 West 3rd Street in Long Beach.