Shenae Grimes – IAMNOTASTALKER

March 29, 2012March 28, 2012

The Ritz-Carlton, Marina del Rey from “90210”

Way back in July of last year, the Grim Cheaper and I found ourselves on the West Side of Los Angeles with a few hours to kill, so we decided to head down to Marina del Rey as I had never before done any stalking there. I ended up absolutely falling in love with the seaside community, especially its downtown shopping area where I know I could have done some serious damage to my credit cards had the GC not been with me. Anyway, one of the area locations that had long been listed in my trusty stalking notebook was The Ritz-Carlton, Marina del Rey hotel, which had made an appearance in the 1998 remake of The Parent Trap. So I dragged the GC right on over there as soon as we got into town. Flash forward to this past February when I was checking out fellow stalker Geoff’s 90210Locations website and, let me tell you, I just about fell out of my chair when I saw that the hotel had been featured prominently in a recent episode of the series. Now, as you all know, I watch 90210 religiously and am always keeping my eye out for locations, but, for whatever reason, I had somehow not recognized the place at all! Am I losing my touch here? Winking smile

The Ritz-Carlton, Marina del Rey is situated on a 5.6-acre plot of land directly overlooking the picturesque marina from which the town gets its name. With its dark paneled walls, marble floors, and huge floral arrangements, the beautiful hotel reminded me quite a bit of The Langham Huntington in Pasadena, which, not so coincidentally, was formerly owned by the Ritz-Carlton Corporation. Needless to say, I fell in love with the place on the spot and so wanted to book a room and spend the night there, but the GC was having absolutely none of that. Shocking, I know. Winking smile

The Ritz-Carlton Marina del Rey, which is Los Angeles’ only waterside AAA Five Diamond hotel, features 304 guest rooms, each with its own “Juliet” balcony, tennis courts, marina and city views, over 30,000 square feet of event space, a fitness center, and a Michelin-recommend restaurant. According to the hotel’s website, it also boasts “L.A.’s only waterfront pool and whirlpool” (pictured above). Besides being a filming location, the place is also a big-time celebrity hot spot. Just a few of the stars who have been spotted there include Adrian Grenier, John Travolta, Johnny Depp, Bridget Marquardt, Brooke Shields, Chris Henchy, Zac Efron, The Bachelorette’s DeAnna Pappas and then fiancé Jesse Csincsak, Brad Garrett, Mary Hart, Halle Berry, Hulk Hogan, Dave Annable, Odette Annable, Jason Lewis, Jason Mraz, Scott Caan, Paul Bettany, and Steve Carell. Snoop Dogg and childhood sweetheart Shante Taylor got married there in 1997. And pop star Britney Spears is a regular guest. In fact, these famous (and oh-so-classy) photos of BritBrit and then fiance Kevin Federline were taken on one of the hotel’s balconies.

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In the Season 4 episode of 90210 titled “No Good Deed”, the Ritz-Carlton, Marina del Rey, popped up twice. The hot tub area was first used as the spot where Naomi Clark (AnnaLynne McCord), wearing a very skimpy, blue cut-out bathing suit (and I’m telling you, if I had that body, I’d be wearing that bathing suit every single day of my life!), convinced movie star Mitchell Nash (Will Kemp) to let her throw a party for him.

That spa area is pictured above.

Later in the episode, the hotel’s pool area was the site of the Hillingsbrook Foundation’s “Clean Up Castillo Bay” charity event which Annie Wilson (Shenae Grimes) hosted.

The spot where Liam Court (my love Matt Lanter) rescued the drowning girl is located just outside of the pool area, in the Marina del Rey harbor.

The scene where the event’s silent auction was held was also most likely filmed at the Ritz, although I did not see any areas which resembled the screen captures above while I was there, nor can I find any similar-looking rooms on the hotel’s website.

In the 1998 remake of The Parent Trap, the Ritz-Carlton, Marina del Rey’s pool stood in for the pool of the fictional “The Stafford Hotel”. Interestingly enough, two other spots were also used to masquerade as The Stafford in the flick – the exterior was the Treasure Island Administration Building in San Francisco and the interior scenes were filmed at the Langham Huntington Hotel in Pasadena.

The Ritz-Carlton, Marina del Rey was also used extensively in the Season 5 episode of Dexter titled “Take It”, as the hotel where Jordan Chase (Angelina Jolie’s ex-husband Jonny Lee Miller) hosted his “Take It” convention. Quite a few areas of the hotel were used in the episode, including the exterior;

The Ritz-Carlton Ballroom, which you can see a photograph of here;

one of hotel’s outdoor terraces;

The Ritz-Carlton Suite, which you can see a photograph of here;

and two neighboring 7th floor suites.

Big THANK YOU to Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, for informing me of the hotel’s 90210 connection! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Ritz-Carlton, Marina del Rey, from the “No Good Deed” episode of 90210, the “Take It” episode of Dexter, and The Parent Trap remake, is located at 4375 Admiralty Way in Marina del Rey. You can visit the hotel’s official website here.

September 22, 2011September 21, 2011

The Old Plaza at El Pueblo de Los Angeles from “90210”

Last week, after reading my post on the Bob’s Big Boy in Burbank in which I mentioned that I had actually stalked the iconic restaurant way back in November, fellow stalker Chas, from the It’sFilmedThere website, sent me a text asking, “If you did not stalk ever again, how many blogs could you write before you ran out?” My response, “I don’t know . . . but A LOT!” If I had to guess I would say there are at least 200 locales stored away in my stalking back log. In fact, there are still quite a few spots from my trip to the Pacific Northwest last May that I have yet to post. So not to worry – even if I were to never stalk again, I would still be cranking out posts for a very long time to come! Smile Anyway, Chas’ text got me to thinking about all of the locations that I have pushed to the back burner in recent months – one of which was The Old Plaza at El Pueblo de Los Angeles, which appeared in the Season 3 episode of fave show 90210 titled “The Enchanted Donkey” and which I had dragged the Grim Cheaper out to stalk back in July. Speaking of 90210, I would just like to state here, for the record, that I am NOT AT ALL happy about the latest developments in the “Lannie” saga. But I digress.

El Pueblo de Los Angeles, or the Los Angeles Plaza Historic District as it is also called, is the oldest surviving section of the city and serves as a monument to L.A.’s September 4th, 1781 founding. On that day, at a site located along the L.A. River just northeast of the Plaza, eleven families, consisting of 22 adults and 22 children, arrived from the Gulf of Mexico and established a small pueblo with mud huts and a village square. In 1815, a flood washed away that original settlement and it was later rebuilt in 1825 at its current location, which sits on higher ground. The Plaza immediately became the social, commercial, and cultural center of Los Angeles and remained that way throughout most of the 19th Century. By the 1920s, the area had sadly fallen into serious disrepair and was set to be largely demolished to make way for a railway station. Thankfully, a woman named Christine Sterling came along in 1926 and, with help from Harry Chandler and several local businesses, transformed the site into a bustling marketplace and popular tourist attraction. Today, the 44-acre property, which is considered to be the “birthplace of Los Angeles” and is a State Historic Monument and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, consists of five separate museums, a church dating back to 1861, the Mexican marketplace known as Olvera Street, 27 historic buildings, including L.A.’s oldest firehouse, and a central plaza, aka The Old Plaza.

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In “The Enchanted Donkey” episode of 90210, The Old Plaza stood in for the supposed-Cabo-San-Lucas-area marketplace that Annie Wilson (aka Shenae Grimes) and Liam Court (aka my love, Matt Lanter – sigh! Winking smile ) visited while in Mexico during Spring Break. It is there that Annie gets bitten by a rabid monkey which lands her in the hospital. Because the BEST Mexican restaurants in all of Southern California can be found there, the GC and I have visited El Pueblo de Los Angeles countless times over the years. So when The Old Plaza popped up on 90210, I recognized the place immediately.

In “The Enchanted Donkey” episode, the rock that the monkey is sitting on is located in the northern-most section of The Old Plaza, under one of the site’s four historic Moreton Bay Fig trees. Ironically enough, as you can see above, that rock bears a plaque which reads “Los Angeles Plaza”, which, being that the scene was supposed to have taken place in Mexico, explains why it was covered over with a blanket for the filming, . Ah, the magic of Hollywood!

While watching the scene, I also immediately recognized the leather clip that Annie was wearing in her hair as being from Murillo Leather, a store that is located about twenty feet from the Old Plaza and that I mentioned in my post about Olvera Street way back in May of 2009. I have visited the shop, which is owned and operated by Armando Murillo, who made all of the purses and belts worn by Jessica Simpson in the movie The Dukes of Hazzard, countless times over the years and even have a belt that was made by the second-generation leather craftsman.

So while we were there I just had to stop by to ask Armando if my hunch about Annie’s barrette had been correct. He confirmed for me that not only did his hand-crafted hair clip appear in the episode, but that Shenae Grimes herself had come into his shop to pick it out. I was literally drooling hearing Armando talk about meeting Shenae and how incredibly sweet she was. (This was before I was fortunate enough to meet the actress myself this past August.) And while I SO wanted to buy a Shenae-style hair clip while we were there, the GC immediately ixnayed the idea, noting that my hair was far too short to ever be able to get any use out of it. Hmph!

As I mentioned in my post about Olvera Street back in May 2009, The Old Plaza was also featured in Lethal Weapon 3 as the spot where Martin Riggs (aka Mel Gibson) and Roger Murtaugh (aka Danny Glover) were assigned to work patrol after being demoted for blowing up a building. It is there that Riggs and Murtaugh threaten to shoot a man for jaywalking and also witness an armored-car robbery.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Old Plaza at El Pueblo de Los Angeles, from “The Enchanted Donkey” episode of 90210, is located at 1 Olvera Street, across from Union Station, in Los Angeles. In the episode, Annie and Liam stood in front of the large rock located under the huge Moreton bay fig tree in the northern-most section of The Old Plaza, in the area depicted with a pink arrow in the above aerial view. Murillo Leather, where Annie’s hair clip was made, is located just up the street from The Old Plaza at 6 Olvera Street in Los Angeles.

August 30, 2011August 29, 2011

Figaro Bistrot from “Made of Honor”

As I mentioned in my post about Le Petit Bistro back in early August, one location that I have been longing to stalk for quite some time now is Figaro Bistrot, an adorable little French cafe that has appeared in numerous productions over the years, most notably the Louis Vuitton Spring/Summer 2009 advertising campaign which featured pop star Madonna. For whatever reason, though, the Grim Cheaper and I had just never made it out there. Until this past Saturday evening, that is, when we found ourselves in Los Feliz and I suggested stopping by for a cocktail. The sandwich board sign out in front of the restaurant proclaimed that Figaro offered “the very best Happy Hour in Los Feliz” and, let me tell you, it was not an exaggeration! Not only did the GC and I absolutely stuff ourselves silly, but we managed to get out of there for under $45!

As you can see in the photographs above, Figaro Bistrot is an absolutely ADORABLE little spot. Decorated with authentic French antiques, flower-shaped chandeliers, tiny sidewalk bistros, gilded mirrors, and a zinc-plated bar, the setting could not be more magical. Walking through the front doors, one is immediately transported to Paris. Not real life Paris, but a fantasy Paris – the Paris of the movies, the Paris that Bogey and Bergman so fondly reminisced about in Casablanca. And the food! Oh my god, the food! It was quite simply out of this world! The GC and I both ordered two items off of the happy hour menu, each of which were priced at around $5. The GC opted for the Beef Carpaccio and Moules Gratinees aux Fromage (mussels gratin with parsley butter sauce), while I ordered the Mini Burger, which was quite simply the best burger I have ever had in my life, and the Croquettes de Crabe (crab cakes), which were also divine. The GC was so insanely happy over the large portions, inexpensive prices, and fabulous fare that I can pretty much guarantee this is one spot we will be stalking again and again.

The Spring/Summer 2009 ad campaign for Louis Vuitton, which was directed by fashion icon Marc Jacobs and shot by legendary fashion photographer Stephen Meisel, featured the café quite prominently, most notably the bar area and the red leather banquettes located in the rear of Figaro’s southern-most dining room. And even though I am not a fan of Madonna – like at all – I have to admit that Meisel’s pictures of her are absolutely stunning. (The photographs above do not belong to me, but are the sole property of photographer Stephen Meisel and Louis Vuitton.)

As I mentioned in my post about Le Petit Bistro in August, the exterior of Figaro was featured in a brief establishing shot in the Season 3 episode of 90210 titled “How Much is that Liam in the Window”. It was used as the exterior of the French restaurant where Charlie Selby (aka Evan Ross) took Annie Wilson (aka Shenae Grimes) on a date. For some reason, though, the interior scenes were shot about six miles away at Le Petit Bistro in West Hollywood.

Our super-nice bartender informed us that Figaro had also made an appearance in the 2008 flick Made of Honor and I just about died of excitement. You see, I have always had a very special place in my heart for that movie because when I first asked my non-celebrity-obsessed best friend, Robin, who is male and lives in Switzerland, to stand up for me at my wedding, he sent me an email which stated, “I would do absolutely everything to be at your wedding. I just don’t know what the best man has to do. I’m not so familiar with the American rules of marriage. I went to watch a really bad movie last Spring with Steffi [his girlfriend]. I, of course, don’t know the name of the movie or of the actor in it, but it was with the guy who plays the doctor in Grace [his spelling, not mine – love it] Anatomy. Anyway, he had to organize the bachelor party for women and stuff like that. So you will have to give me a summary of the duties of the bride’s best man.” So incredibly cute! I immediately printed out that email and have carried it around in my wallet ever since. Smile The “really bad” movie he was speaking about was, of course, Made of Honor, which I had actually never before seen. So after our dinner at Figaro, the GC and I headed right on over to Blockbuster to rent it. And I have to say that it was not half bad. It is not great, mind you, but it is a cute, little lightweight romantic comedy. Anyway, Figaro Bistrot was featured a few times in the flick. The exterior first pops up as the supposed Manhattan bakery where Hannah (aka Michelle Monaghan) tries to guess what dessert her best friend Tom (aka Patrick Dempsey – the guy who plays the doctor in Grace Anatomy Winking smile ) is going to order.

It later pops up in the scene in which Tom, who has since realized that he is in love with Hannah, takes a random date out for dessert and tries to get her to play the guessing game, which she fails miserably at. While there, she also complains about the long line, to which Tom says, “This is the best bakery in the world! That’s why it’s worth waiting in line.”

And, finally, the interior pops up in the scene in which Tom, while eating two pieces of cake, thinks about Hannah, who is on a business trip in Scotland for six weeks.

Figaro Bistrot is also something of a celebrity hot spot. Just a few of the stars who have been spotted there include Katherine Heigl, Josh Kelley, Isabel Lucas, Lindsay Price, Jessalyn Gilsig, and Keifer Sutherland. The GC and I also once spotted Archie Panjabi dining at one of the restaurant’s sidewalk tables while we were walking by after grabbing a bite to eat at nearby Fred 62.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Figaro Bistrot, from Made of Honor, is located at 1802 North Vermont Avenue in Los Feliz. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here. Figaro offers Happy Hour from 5 to 7 p.m. daily, including Saturdays and Sundays!

August 5, 2011August 4, 2011

Le Petit Bistro from “90210”

A couple of Saturday nights ago, the Grim Cheaper and I found ourselves in West Hollywood, tired and hungry after a long day of stalking. We happened to come across an absolutely adorable little French restaurant named Le Petit Bistro and decided to pop in for a bite to eat. Now, usually I do not like to frequent eateries that are not mentioned on my (very long and ever-growing) “To Stalk” list, but because the place was so darn cute I made an out-of-character exception. So imagine my surprise when later that week I happened to be perusing through my friend and fellow stalker Geoff’s 90210Locations website and saw that Le Petit Bistro was listed as a filming location from fave show 90210! I literally just about fell off my chair and immediately started mentally kicking myself for not taking more pictures of the place.

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In the Season 3 episode of 90210 titled “How Much Is That Liam In The Window”, college student/budding writer Charlie Selby (aka Evan Ross, who I just found out is Diana Ross’ son!) takes Annie Wilson (aka Shenae Grimes) out for a date at Le Petit Bistro, his favorite French restaurant. After the waiter approaches their table and says something in French, Annie asks Charlie, “Are you sure you didn’t secretly drug me and take me to Paris?” (The menus pictured above are the eatery’s actual menus, by the way! How incredibly cool is that?)

Annie’s assessment of the Zagat-rated restaurant, which first opened in 1993, could NOT have been more spot-on! Thanks to its dark red walls, French-accented waiters, wood-paneled bar, and covered patio (made complete with twinkle lights), the Grim Cheaper and I absolutely did feel like we had been magically transported to Paris! And I am very happy to report that besides the incredible ambiance, Le Petit Bistro also serves up some out-of-this-world food! For whatever reason, I opted for a bit of a strange order that night – a parmesan cheese salad that was one of the evening’s specials, the Blue Crab Cakes appetizer, and a side of marinated wild mushrooms. Even though it might sound odd ordered all together like that, it was an absolutely incredible meal, especially the mushrooms! My mouth still waters just thinking about those mushrooms weeks later! The GC ordered one of the restaurant’s fish specials which was adorned with homemade mushroom risotto and it was also scrumptious! And best of all (in the GC’s eyes at least), the prices were extremely reasonable. We both absolutely fell in love with the place and cannot wait to go back!

Besides being a filming location, Le Petit Bistro is also something of a celebrity hot spot. Just a few of the famous faces who have dined there over the years include Dr. Dre, Neve Campbell, Julio Iglesias, Alfred Molina, Sean Connery, Salma Hayek, Robert Forster, Denise Grayson, Suzanne Somers, director Jared Hess, and Flight of the Conchords’ Jemaine Clement.

Ironically enough, the very brief exterior establishing shot of Annie and Charlie’s date restaurant on 90210 was not of Le Petit Bistro, but of a different L.A.-area French eatery – Figaro Bistrot, which is located at 1802 North Vermont Avenue in Los Feliz. While making screen captures for today’s post, I immediately recognized Figaro as I have walked past the cute little French restaurant numerous times in the past and have always wanted to stalk it due to its appearance in a Louis Vuitton ad featuring Madonna (which you can see photographs of here). And I should clarify here that while I have never been a particularly big fan of Madonna, I am a HUGE fan of Louis Vuitton. I also spotted Archie Panjabi, who plays investigator Kalinda Sharma on The Good Wife, dining on Figaro’s sidewalk patio a couple of months back.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Le Petit Bistro, from the “How Much Is That Liam In The Window” episode of 90210, is located at 631 North La Cienega Boulevard, just north of Restaurant Row, in West Hollywood. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.

July 13, 2011July 12, 2011

Lucky Strike Lanes in Hollywood

Two weekends ago, while doing some stalking in the Hollywood area, I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to the Hollywood & Highland Shopping Center to grab a quick drink at Lucky Strike Lanes, an oft-used filming location and celebrity hot-spot. While I had first heard about the bowling alley/lounge when it originally opened eight years ago and knew of its appearance on numerous reality series, for whatever reason I did not have much interest in stalking the place. Then, a couple of months ago, fellow stalker Lavonna happened to tell me a little bit of trivia about the alley that had me absolutely chomping at the bit to go see it.

Lavonna informed me that when the iconic Hollywood Star Lanes, which first opened in 1960 and was where the majority of the movie The Big Lebowski was filmed, was torn down back in 2003 to make way for a new elementary school, the owners of the soon-to-be opened Lucky Strike decided to purchase all of the wood that comprised Hollywood Star’s Lane #7. They then proceeded to use that wood to construct the bar at their new establishment. How incredibly cool is that?

They also purchased the exterior neon signage from Hollywood Star Lanes to use as a wall hanging. Love, love, love it!

As you can see above, Lucky Strike Lanes is a VERY cool little spot. Unfortunately, I have to say that I was not all that crazy about the food. And sadly, the GC and I did not have time to do any bowling while we were there, but fellow stalker Lavonna has plans to hit the place up when she comes to visit L.A. in November, so you know what that means – I will definitely be doing a re-stalk!

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As I mentioned above, Lucky Strike Lanes in Hollywood is an oft-used filming location. In the Season 6 episode of The Hills titled “The Elephant in the Room”, Kristin Cavallari, Brodie Jenner, Frankie Delgado, Stacie Hall (aka Stacie the Bartender), and Audrina Patridge and her new boyfriend, singer Ryan Cabrera, spent the evening bowling and flirting at Lucky Strike.

Ryan Cabrera returned to the bowling alley to film the Season 1 episode of the ULTRA-stupid reality show Pretty Wild titled ”The Hearing”, in which he angers series star Tess Taylor by inviting a friend to accompany them on their date.

Vinnie Chase (aka Adrian Grenier), Eric Murphy (aka Kevin Connolly), Johnny ‘Drama’ Chase (aka Kevin Dillon), and Turtle (aka Jerry Ferrara) took their girlfriends, one of whom was Gossip Girl’s Leighton Meester, to Lucky Strike for an evening of bowling in the Season 1 episode of Entourage titled “Date Night”.

In the Season 11 episode of America’s Next Top Model titled “Fierce Eyes”, J Alexander hosted a runway challenge at Lucky Strike in which the models had to practice walking down the super-slippery bowling lanes while wearing high heels.

In the Season 1 episode of No Ordinary Family titled “No Ordinary Sidekick”, Jim Powell (aka Michael Chiklis), along with his family, Stephanie (aka Dexter’s Julie Benz), Daphne (aka Kay Panabaker), and J.J. (aka Jimmy Bennett), and their friends Katie Andrews (aka The O.C.’s Autumn Reeser) and George St. Cloud (aka Romany Malco), spend the evening using their super-powers to bowl at Lucky Strike.

And while I had originally believed that the Season 1 episode of fave show 90210 titled “Lucky Strike” was filmed at the Lucky Strike Lanes in Hollywood, as it turns out filming actually took place at the chain’s Torrance location, inside of the Del Amo Shopping Center.

And the Season 2 episode of Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County titled “Since You Been Gone” was filmed at the chain’s Block at Orange location.

As I mentioned above, Lucky Strike Lanes is also a veritable celebrity magnet. Just a few of the stars who have been spotted there include Drew Barrymore, Liv Tyler, John Mayer, Glee’s Cory Monteith, The Bachelorette’s Ali Fedotowsky and Roberto Martinez, Demi Moore, Bruce Willis, Rumor Willis, Geena Davis, Robin Williams, Paris Hilton, Nick Carter, Matthew Lillard, Fergie and Taboo from the Black Eyed Peas, Mandy Moore, Judy Greer, Vanessa Hudgens, Courteney Cox, Nicole Richie, Trevor Donovan, Jessica Simpson, and even my girl Jen Aniston. I once spotted David Arquette walking into the bowling alley for some sort of celebrity event back in December of 2008 and while I tried to take the above photograph of him, as you can see, it did not turn out very well due to the bright lights on the red carpet. You can definitely tell it is him, though.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Lavonna for telling me about this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Lucky Strike Lanes is located at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard, inside of the Hollywood & Highland Shopping Center, in Hollywood. You can visit the bowling alley’s official website here.

June 20, 2011June 20, 2011

The Manhattan Beach Marriott Hotel from “90210”

Another location that the Grim Cheaper and I stopped by a couple of weeks ago while doing some stalking in the South Bay was the Manhattan Beach Marriott, which stood in for the supposed-Beverly-Hills-area hotel where the West Beverly High Senior Prom was held in the Season 3 episode of fave show 90210 titled “The Prom Before the Storm”. I found this location thanks to fellow stalker Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, who was kind enough to put together an entire 90210-themed South Bay stalking list for me as soon as he found out that I was heading down that way. Sadly, due to some major traffic that the GC and I encountered on our way down there (darn you, 405!), we were not able to spend as much time in the area as I had hoped and only managed to hit up a couple of locations, one of which was the prom hotel. Ironically enough, not only had the GC and I actually stayed at the Manhattan Beach Marriott a few years back, but thanks to its appearance in an early episode of The O.C., I had even blogged about it. So the fact that I did not recognize it when it appeared in “The Prom Before the Storm” episode is highly embarrassing! I mean, what kind of a stalker am I??? Winking smile

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Only the exterior of the Manhattan Beach Marriott Hotel was featured in the episode, in the scene in which Liam Court (aka cutie Matt Lanter – sigh!), Annie Wilson (aka Shenae Grimes), Naomi Clark (aka AnnaLynne McCord) and the rest of the West Beverly High gang arrive at their Senior Prom. As you can see in the screen capture located on the bottom right above, producers put up curtains to block the interior of the hotel in the scene as it did not match up with the interior set that they had created at Manhattan Beach Studios where the series is lensed.

That set, which was centered around Silver’s (aka Jessica Stroup’s) half-baked Cirque du Soleil prom theme, is pictured above.

I am very happy to report that the hotel looks exactly the same in person as it did in the episode. Ironically enough, the Manhattan Beach Marriott is eerily similar in appearance to the Universal Sheraton, where Brenda Walsh (aka Shannen Doherty), Dylan McKay (aka Luke Perry), Donna Martin (aka Tori Spelling) and the rest of the original West Bev gang attended the spring dance in the Season 1 episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 aptly titled “Spring Dance”.

The exterior staircase located just east of the hotel’s front entrance also made an appearance in the episode as the spot where Ivy Sullivan (aka Gillian Zinser) caught her then-boyfriend, now-husband Raj Kher (aka Manish Dayal) drinking.

As I mentioned above, the Manhattan Beach Marriott Hotel was also featured in the Season 1 episode of The O.C. titled “The Debut”. In the episode, the interior of the hotel masqueraded as the interior of Newport Beach’s Pelican Hill Country Club where the dance rehearsals for Marissa Cooper (aka Mischa Barton) and Summer Roberts’s (aka Rachel Bilson’s) Debutante Ball were held.

Both the hotel’s Grand Lobby, which as you can see above has changed its color scheme drastically since the episode was filmed;

and the Manhattan Ballroom, which was unfortunately closed when we showed up to stalk the place but which you can see photographs of here, were featured in the episode.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, for finding this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Manhattan Beach Marriott Hotel, from “The Prom Before the Storm” episode of 90210, is located at 1400 Parkview Avenue in Manhattan Beach. The hotel’s main entrance and the exterior stairwell, which is denoted with a pink arrow in the above aerial view and is located just east of the main entrance, appeared in the episode. In “The Debut” episode of The O.C., the hotel’s front lobby and Manhattan Ballroom were featured. You can visit the Manhattan Beach Marriott’s official website here.

June 10, 2011June 14, 2011

The Figueroa Hotel from “90210”

A couple of years ago, while perusing through an issue of AAA’s Westways Magazine, I spotted an article about Southern California’s nicest most reasonably –priced hotels and, because I was dating the Grim Cheaper at the time, I figured I’d best read through it. Of the ten properties featured in the column, the Moroccan-themed Figueroa Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles immediately caught my eye and I dragged the GC right on over there to grab a cocktail just a few nights later. The two of us pretty much fell in love with the place’s unique architecture and exotic décor on sight and have returned there a couple of times over the years to grab a drink or just hang out. So imagine my surprise when the Fig, as it is commonly referred to, popped up on fave show 90210 as the Cabo San Lucas resort where Liam Court (aka cutie Matt Lanter – sigh!), Annie Wilson (aka Shenae Grimes), and the rest of the West Beverly gang spent their Spring Break in the recently-aired Season 3 episode titled “The Enchanted Donkey”. Because I had not taken many pictures of the hotel during our past visits, I immediately added the place to my Re-Stalk list and dragged the GC right on back over there this past weekend.

The Figueroa Hotel, which was designed by Stanton, Reed, & Hibbard at a cost of $1.25 million, was originally built in 1925 by the YWCA as a hotel/residence for businesswomen and their families. Shortly following the Great Depression, the 12-story, 409-room structure was turned into a public hotel and it later served a brief stint as housing for troops during World War II. The property fell into disrepair in the years following, until the late 1990s when it was purchased by Uno Thimansson, who immediately set about renovating the place, giving it a Moroccan theme. And, let me tell you, he did an incredible job. Walking through the hotel’s front doors, one is quickly transported from the busy streets of Downtown L.A. into a Casablanca-esque oasis. Every time I am there, I half expect to see Sam tickling the ivories while Bogie puffs away on a cigarette somewhere nearby. True to Westways Magazine’s word, despite the hotel’s fabulous ambiance and location directly across the street from Staples Center and L.A. Live, it still boasts extremely reasonable room rates. And while the reviews on Trip Advisor and Yelp are quite mixed, in this stalker’s never-to-be-humble opinion, the Figueroa looks like an extremely cool place to vacation. Not to mention that the poolside bar is something of a celebrity hotspot, with everyone from Keanu Reeves to members of Depeche Mode dropping by for a cocktail throughout the years.

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The Figueroa Hotel was used quite extensively in “The Enchanted Donkey” episode of 90210 in which it masqueraded as the “Hotel Burro Encantado” (aka the Enchanted Donkey Resort) in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Areas of the hotel which appeared in the episode include the main entrance;

the poolside bar, where Teddy Montgomery (aka Trevor Donovan) met up for drinks with former schoolmate Tripp Wallison (aka Alan Ritchson);

and the pool area . . .

. . . behind which producers had an image of the Cabo San Lucas skyline superimposed. In reality, the Figueroa Hotel pool boasts views of several massive Downtown L.A. skyscrapers. I was literally cracking up taking the above photograph while envisioning the way the pool appeared on 90210. Winking smile

And while I had assumed that one of the hotel’s real life hallways had been used in the episode, the GC and I ventured upstairs to take a look at one and, as you can see above, it does not at all match up to what appeared onscreen. It seems that producers built a fake hallway set for the filming.

I had also assumed that some of the Figueroa’s actual rooms had been used in the episode, as well, but as you can see on the hotel’s website, that does not seem to be the case.

The super-nice front desk clerk also informed us that the Figueroa’s lobby restaurant, the Fig Street Café, stood in for a supposed Cuba-area eatery in the Season 7 episode of fave show CSI: Miami titled “The Deluca Motel”.

The hotel was also featured in the Season 4 episode of Chuck titled “Church Versus the Seduction Impossible” as the Marrakesh, Morocco-area hotel where Chuck Bartowski (aka Zachary Levi), Colonel John Casey (aka Adam Baldwin), and Sarah Walker (aka Yvonne Strahovski) were sent to rescue Roan Montgomery (aka John Larroquette).

In the Season 2 episode of Make It or Break It titled “Worlds Apart”, the Fig stood in for the Rio de Janeiro-area hotel where Kaylie Cruz (aka Josie Loren) and the rest of her teammates stayed during the World Gymnastics Championships.

In the Season 2 episode of NCIS: Los Angeles titled “Harm’s Way”, the Figueroa stood in for the Blue Oasis Hotel in Sana’a, Yemen, where Sam Hanna (aka LL Cool J) and G. Callen (aka Chris O’Donnell) stayed while trying to capture the leader of a terrorist group.

One of the hotel’s real life rooms – one that the GC, randomly enough, just so happened to snap a photograph of – also appeared in the episode.

I find it highly ironic that NCIS: Los Angeles filmed at the Figueroa as I have always thought that the hotel’s lobby bears a striking resemblance to the NCIS headquarters on the series.

Some filming of the yet-to-be-released James Cameron flick Battleship, which stars Liam Neeson, Alexander Skarsgard, and Brooklyn Decker, also took place at the Figueroa Hotel this past February.

And on a Matt Lanter side-note – a couple of weeks ago the cutie actor tweeted that he was going to be featured on the cover of the June 2011 issue of Metro Magazine. Well, I took one look at that tweet and ran right over to Vroman’s Bookstore to purchase a copy. Sadly though, Allen, the man who runs the Vroman’s newsstand (and yes, I know his name because I shop there FAR too often) told me that not only did the store not carry Metro Magazine, but it was apparently not even available from their distributors. So I marched on home and started searching for the publication online, but came up completely empty-handed. I could not find it anywhere and I am a pretty good Googler! Over the past few weeks I have also visited several newsstands and bookstores in search of the mag, but no one, it seemed, had ever even heard of it. Flash forward to last night when the GC came home from work with the above pictured laminated photograph in his hands. My birthday is today and he has been gifting me with little presents every night this week. Last night’s present, as it so happens, was a copy of Matt Lanter’s issue of Metro Magazine. As it turns out, Metro is published in the Philippines and not only was the GC able to figure that out, but he somehow managed to track down a man in the Philippines via eBay whom he had go purchase a copy for him! It is currently being shipped to me and I absolutely cannot wait to get my hands on it! When the man heard why the GC had gone to such trouble to purchase the magazine, he said that he had inspired him to be a better husband. How cute is that???? Best.present.ever! Thank you, GC!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Figueroa Hotel, from “The Enchanted Donkey” episode of 90210, is located at 939 South Figueroa Street in Downtown Los Angeles. You can visit the Figueroa’s official website here.

May 27, 2011May 26, 2011

Tapas & Vino from “90210”

Another location that I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to stalk this past weekend while in the Redondo Beach area was Tapas & Vino restaurant which appeared in the Season 3 episode of fave show 90210 titled “Best Lei’d Plans”. I found this location, as always, thanks to fellow stalker Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, and because Matt Lanter, the love of my life, had appeared in the scene that had been filmed there, I was absolutely dying to stalk the place! So after hitting up the Yellow Vase Café, which I blogged about yesterday, for lunch, the GC and I headed just a few doors north to snap a few quick pics of the Spanish-fusion restaurant.

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In the “Best Lei’d Plans” episode of 90210, newly-famous pop star Adrianna Tate-Duncan (aka Jessica Lowndes) takes her publicist, Renee (aka Elaine Hendrix), hair-stylist, Ilon (aka Jeffery Self), and make-up artist, Ginny (aka Cassandra Church), as well as her (as she calls them) “normal, non-famous friends” Navid Shirazi (aka Michael Steger), Annie Wilson (aka Shenae Grimes), Silver (aka Jessica Stroup), Teddy Montgomery (aka Trevor Donnovan), Dixon Wilson (aka Tristan Wilds), Naomi Clark (aka AnnaLynne McCord), and Liam Court (aka cutie Matt Lanter – sigh!) out for a celebratory lunch at Tapas & Vino.

While the gang is dining, a few paparazzi show up and start snapping photos of Adrianna. And while she feigns annoyance and calls the paps “vultures”, as we later come to find out, it was actually the wannabe starlet herself who tipped the photogs off in the hopes that it would generate publicity for her new singing career. Oh, Adrianna! Such a drama queen!

While watching the episode, Geoff had noticed a sign reading “Curl Up & Dye” located across the street from the restaurant and he immediately got to work using Google to search for a salon by that name in the L.A. area. And sure enough, he found it – almost directly across the street from the Yellow Vase Café.

Unfortunately we did not have time to grab a bite to eat, or even a cocktail, at Tapas & Vino while we were in the Redondo area. The restaurant looks like a VERY cool place, though, and the GC promised to take me back there for a meal in the near future. Even though we weren’t actually dining there, Tapas & Vino’s SUPER-nice owner came out to chat with us and spent quite a bit of time answering all of my silly little questions about the filming. She said that both the cast and the crew of 90210 were EXTREMELY nice and that the filming was absolutely hassle-free and went off without a hitch. She also informed me that all of the cast members went outside after the shoot wrapped to snap pictures with the fans who were in attendance. Sigh! If only I had been there!!!!! Not everyone, it seems, was pleased with the shoot, though. You can read a rather negative article about the inconveniences the filming, which took place on October 20th, 2010, caused on the Redondo Beach Patch website here. Apparently Redondo residents were beyond irritated that 90210 was filming in their town. Really? REALLY? I would be so incredibly floored if the cast and crew of 90210 came to Pasadena to film. They could shut down the street in front of my apartment building for an entire week and you wouldn’t hear one complaint from this stalker! Sheesh! What the heck is wrong with people? Honestly! Winking smile

As you can see in the above photographs, all of the restaurant’s real life furnishings were moved out for the filming and new tables and chairs were brought in, which I thought was absolutely bizarre. So in real life the restaurant looks quite a bit different than it did onscreen. It is definitely a cool place, though, and I cannot wait to go back there to eat!

On a stalking side-note – yesterday I attended a Read-In event to promote literacy at the school where my mom works. Each guest of the event was assigned to an individual classroom where we were supposed to both talk about out careers and read a passage from our favorite book. A few days before the event, each class decorated their particular room’s door in honor of their reader and my decorated door, as well as the two students who were in charge of designing it, are pictured above. I thought the door was absolutely ADORABLE and had to share it with my fellow stalkers.

Not only did the students post a photograph of me and Matt Lanter on the door, but they also created a fake pink computer out of construction paper, complete with a keyboard that popped out. So incredibly cute! Smile

Big THANK YOU to Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, for finding this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Tapas & Vino, from the “Best Lei’d Plans” episode of 90210, is located at 1729 South Catalina Avenue in Redondo Beach. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here. The Yellow Vase Café, from the “What’s Past is Prologue” and “Another Another Chance” episodes of 90210, is located just a few doors south of Tapas & Vino at 1805 South Catalina Avenue in Redondo Beach. You can visit the official Yellow Vase Café website here. Salon Riviera, from the “To the Future!” episode of 90210, is located nest door to the Yellow Vase Café at 1807 South Catalina Avenue in Redondo Beach.

May 12, 2011May 12, 2011

Marla Templeton’s House from “90210”

Last week, fellow stalker Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, emailed me to let me know that he had just tracked down the home where actress Marla Templeton (aka Sally Kellerman, who is best known for playing the role of Major Margaret “Hot Lips” O’Houlihan in the 1970 movie MASH) lived in the Season 3 episodes of fave show 90210 titled “Nerdy Little Secrets” and “Women On The Verge”. Marla’s house had such a fabulous sense of charm and almost seemed to be a character in and of itself in the episodes that I fell in love with the place pretty much upon site and was absolutely dying to know of its real-life location. So you can imagine my excitement when I read Geoff’s email and discovered that he had somehow managed to track it down. Geoff had actually first tracked down the home where Marco Salazar (aka Freddie Smith), the new love interest of Teddy Montgomery (aka Trevor Donovan), had pretended to live in the “Woman on the Verge” episode – a location which I will be blogging about tomorrow – and, as fate would have it, while looking at aerial views of the place, happened to spot Marla’s abode located directly across the street. Yay! So I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out to stalk the place this past weekend.

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Sadly, as you can see in the above photographs, Marla’s house is located at the end of a very long, very secluded driveway and not much of the property is visible from the street. But, as I’ve said before, that is why God created real estate listings! The mid-century-modern-style residence, which was built in 1964 and boasts 3 bedrooms, 5 baths, 3,998 square feet of living space, an elevated dining room, an outdoor bar complete with flat screen TV, wood-beamed ceilings, a large pool, and amazing views of the city of L.A., was recently listed for sale for a cool $5,995,000. You can check out the listing, which has some fabulous close-up and interior photographs of the property, here.

In the Season 3 episode of 90210 titled “Nerdy Little Secrets”, Annie Wilson (aka Shenae Grimes), who is looking for a way to make some money before heading off to college, applies for a job as a personal assistant to a glamorous elderly woman named Marla Templeton. Marla is a bit of a hoarder and she winds up hiring Annie – at $1,000 a week! – to organize and catalog the many items that she has collected over the years. Annie later finds out that Marla was, at one time, an extremely famous actress and the two women end up bonding over their shared love of old Hollywood.

Both the interior and the exterior of Marla’s house were used quite extensively in the episode.

And the property’s A-MA-ZING backyard also made an appearance.

The dwelling then popped up again in the following week’s episode of 90210 titled “Women On The Verge”, in which Annie not only finds out that Marla is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, but that she is also planning on committing suicide in the very near future.

Both the interior and the exterior of the property were featured in “Women On The Verge”, which, while depressing, was one of my favorite episodes of the entire season. In my never-to-be-humble opinion, I thought Shenae Grimes did some of her best acting to date in the episode, especially in the very last scene. Sigh! Love her! But I digress. Anyway 90210 costume designer Kime Buzzelli, whom I follow on Twitter (@kbuzzy), recently tweeted a photograph that she took of the living room area of the home while it was dressed for the filming of the show, which you can check out here. So incredibly cool!

Big THANK YOU to Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, for finding this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Marla Templeton’s house, from the “Nerdy Little Secrets” and “Women On The Verge” episodes of 90210, is located at 542 Bellagio Terrace in Bel Air.

April 25, 2011April 25, 2011

Crumbs Bake Shop from “90210”

Another location that I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to see while doing some stalking in Beverly Hills two weekends ago was Crumbs Bake Shop, the popular cupcakery which appeared in the Season 2 episode of fave show 90210 titled “What’s Past is Prologue”. Crumbs has been a veritable institution in the Beverly Hills area for quite some time now and, being that I do love me some cupcakes, I am absolutely shocked that it took me this long to finally stalk the place, especially since it appeared on 90210 well over a year ago. As I have said before, though, there are just too many places to stalk and not enough hours in the day to do so! Thankfully, Crumbs was well worth the wait!

The original Crumbs Bake Shop first opened on New York’s Upper West Side in March of 2003 and was founded by former lawyer Mia Bauer and her entrepreneur husband Jason. Mia, who grew up on a farm in Israel, first started making coconut-flavored cupcakes for her family and friends when she was just a young child in the second grade. When she made a batch for Jason, her then boyfriend, one day in 2002, an idea was born. Mia left her law career behind shortly thereafter and, along with Jason, opened up her first cupcakery. It became an instant success and the couple now owns over 35 stores in six different states, including one in Washington, D.C. Today each shop offers over fifty different flavors of cupcakes daily, each of them made by hand. Sadly, because photographs are not allowed inside of the store, I had to settle for snapping a few pics of the exterior only.

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The GC and I opted to try one of Crumb’s espresso-flavored cupcakes and, let me tell you, it was A-MA-ZING! I am pretty picky about my cupcakes and I have to say that Crumbs serves up some fabulous ones! Loved, loved, loved them! Because the GC is a big fan of Howard Stern, he really wanted to try the Artie Lange cupcake, which was created by Artie on the air during an episode of The Howard Stern Show back in 2008 and consists of a vanilla cupcake filled with chocolate cream cheese, topped with vanilla cream cheese frosting, dipped in chocolate fondant, and then sprinkled with chocolate and vanilla sprinkles. We thought it might just be a wee bit too rich, though. Winking smile Artie Lange is hardly Crumbs’ only celebrity fan. Brooklyn Dekker, Andrea Bowen, Alyssa Milano, Scarlett Johansson, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Jason Alexander (the actor from Seinfeld, not Britney Spears’ ex), Tori Spelling, Selena Gomez, Jennifer Garner, Jessica Biel, Katy Perry, Russell Brand, Chace Crawford, Justin Timberlake, Lauren Conrad, and my girl Jen Aniston have all been known to sample the sweet treats. In March of 2009, Katie Holmes and Suri Cruise stopped into the Beverly Hills Crumbs to get their cupcake on. And in September of 2008, Crumbs unveiled a limited-edition Cosmo-flavored cupcake especially for the DVD release party for Sex and the City: The Movie. Love it, love it, love it!

In the “What’s Past is Prologue” episode of 90210, Annie Wilson (aka Shenae Grimes), Naomi Clark (aka AnnaLynne McCord), and Erin Silver (aka Jessica Stroup) meet up at Crumbs to discuss Silver’s relationship with Teddy Montgomery (aka Trevor Donovan).

It is while they are enjoying their cupcakes that Annie notices her ex-boyfriend, Jasper Herman (aka Zachary Ray Sherman), sitting at a nearby table and finally realizes that he is stalking her.

Ironically enough, just around the corner from Crumbs Bake Shop is a Vietnamese restaurant named 9021Pho, which I think is just about one of the funniest names for a restaurant that I have ever heard! The place cracks me up every single time I drive by it!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Crumbs Bake Shop, from the “What’s Past is Prologue” episode of 90210, is located at 9465 Little Santa Monica Boulevard in Beverly Hills. You can visit the official Crumbs’ website here. 9021Pho is located just around the corner from Crumbs at 490 North Beverly Boulevard in Beverly Hills. You can visit the official 9021Pho website here.