Simon Baker – Page 2 – IAMNOTASTALKER

March 2, 2011June 16, 2011

Casa del Mar Hotel from “Just Go With It”

On February 11th – which just so happened to be my girl Jennifer Aniston’s 42nd birthday – I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to see the actress’ latest movie, Just Go With It. Because there are very few JA movies that I have ever actually liked (even though I am a HUGE fan of hers, Office Space and He’s Just Not That Into You are the only two that I can honestly say that I LOVE), I did not have high hopes for the flick. But I am very happy to report that I ended up absolutely LOVING it! Even more amazing was the fact that the GC loved it, too. And even more amazing still was the fact that the GC also recognized a location from it – the Casa del Mar hotel in Santa Monica which was used in the scene in which Katherine (aka Jennifer Aniston) poses as Danny’s (aka Adam Sandler’s) soon-to-be ex-wife and meets his new girlfriend, Palmer (aka Brooklyn Decker), for the first time. So, while we were in Santa Monica this past weekend stalking the blue carpet at the Independent Spirit Awards, I dragged the GC right on over to the Casa del Mar to do a bit of Just Go With It stalking.

Casa del Mar hotel was first opened in 1926 as the luxurious and ultra-exclusive Club Casa del Mar beach club, which catered to Southern California’s elite and featured an indoor, Olympic-sized swimming pool, a private stretch of white, sandy beach, weekly dinner dances, upscale accommodations, and a grand ballroom. Even though it was founded during the heart of America’s Prohibition era, booze apparently flowed freely at the hotel and gambling was a frequent guest pastime. According to local lore, Santa Monica policemen would turn a blind eye to the illegal goings-on at the property and would tip off the club staff members each time there was going to be a raid. During World War II, the US Army took over the building and used it to house American soldiers. Fallen into disrepair, the hotel shuttered its doors shortly after the war ended. Charles E. Dederich purchased the Renaissance Revival-style property shortly thereafter and turned it into a drug rehabilitation facility known as Synanon. In the late 1970’s, the building was purchased by nutrition guru Nathan Pritikin and transformed into the Pritikin Longevity Center, where actor Chris Farley was a one-time guest. The Edward Thomas Hospitality Corporation took over the property in 1998, restored the building to is original 1920’s grandeur, and in 1999 reopened it as the Casa del Mar hotel. It has been going strong ever since.

The hotel currently boasts a Zoltar fortune machine, a la the machine that made Tom Hanks “big” in the movie of the same name, in its lobby area, which I found so incredibly cool!

The Casa del Mar hotel popped up in what was, in my never-to-be-humble opinion, the funniest scene in Just Go With It, in which JA pretends to be a rich, snobby Beverly Hills socialite with a bit of a drinking – and pill – problem. Jen is ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS in the scene and even had the GC LOL-ing at several points, even though he typically does not find her to be at all amusing.

The Just Go With It scene was filmed in the southern portion of the Casa del Mar lobby, just south of the rear side of the hotel’s main fireplace. The lobby’s furnishings were changed quite a bit for the filming, though.

And I, of course, just had to recreate the scene in which Jen first arrives at the hotel and tells her limo driver that she “shant be long”. Smile

The scene that supposedly takes place just outside of the hotel was shot at a different location, though, and I have not been able to determine exactly where that location is yet.

Just Go With It Trailer – Casa Del Mar Hotel

You can watch the Just Go With It trailer, in which Casa del Mar is featured, by clicking above.

The hotel also popped up in the Season 2 episode of The Mentalist titled “18-5-4” as the supposed San Francisco-area Tidewater Resort where Oliver Simon McDaniel (aka Evan Peters) hid out.

For whatever reason, producers had a fake check-in desk built in front of the hotel’s fireplace for the filming of the episode.

The scene in which Patrick Jane (aka Simon Baker) tells Teresa Lisbon (aka Robin Tunney) that she should have the CBI Headquarters moved to the beach was filmed in the hotel’s Veranda Bar area . . .

. . . which I, unfortunately, could not get a great photograph of due to the brightness of the sun.

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The SUPER nice concierge that we spoke with while we were stalking the hotel also let us know that the Casa del Mar’s Colonnade Ballroom was used in another Jennifer Aniston flick – the 2006 movie Friends With Money, in the scene in which Olivia (aka JA) and her friends attend a benefit for ALS. He also informed us that the ballroom was used in episodes of both Hung and Curb Your Enthusiasm, as well.

As fate would have it, the ballroom just happened to be unlocked while we were stalking the hotel, so I was able to walk in and snap a few pictures of it.

The exterior of the hotel is visible in the scene in 2005’s Be Cool in which wanna-be gansta Raji (aka an absolutely HILARIOUS Vince Vaughn) and Elliot Wilhelm (aka Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) get into a fight and Raji announces, “I smell you man! I feel your pain!” LOL

Besides being a filming location, the hotel is also something of a celebrity hotspot. Just a few of the stars who have been spotted there in recent years include Lindsay Lohan, Christian Bale, Ryan Phillipe, AnnaLynne McCord, Cameron Diaz, Megan Fox, Gisele Bundchen, Tom Brady, Maria Shriver, Pamela Anderson, Christian Slater, Emma Watson, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Justin Timberlake, Bradley Cooper, Molly Ringwald, Oprah Winfrey, Kevin Bacon, Jessica Alba, Cash Warren, Will Smith, Josh Duhamel, and Renee Zellweger. Sophia Bush and Chad Michael Murray were married at the hotel in 2005 and Miss Britney Spears and then-husband Kevin Federline even lived there for a time while their Malibu mansion was being renovated. I was lucky enough to spot Jen Aniston at the Casa del Mar once – along with Vince Vaughn, Joey Lauren Adams, and Jon Favreau – back in 2006. She was doing press for The Break-Up at the time and the GC and I had randomly stopped by the hotel to grab a cocktail. I was wearing my “Team Aniston” sweatshirt and when Jen saw it she pointed, smiled, and said, “Oh, thank you!” Ever since that day, the GC has referred to Casa del Mar as the “Jen Aniston hotel”. Love it! (The GC took the above photograph of Jen that day on his blackberry, which is why it turned out so poorly. After seeing the picture, I solemnly swore I would NEVER again be caught out and about without my camera and I now carry it with me at all times.)

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Casa del Mar hotel, from Just Go With It, is located at 1910 Ocean Way in Santa Monica. You can visit the hotel’s official website here.

October 21, 2010October 24, 2010

The Griffith Park Merry Go Round from “The Mentalist”

One location that I have wanted to stalk for almost two years now, ever since November of 2008 when it appeared in the Season One episode of The Mentalist titled “Seeing Red”, was the merry go round where Patrick Jane (aka Simon Baker) lured murder suspect Travis Tennant (aka Noel Fisher). The only problem was that I had absolutely NO idea whatsoever where to find it, as in my ten-plus years of living in Southern California the only merry go round that I had ever encountered was the one located on the Santa Monica Pier and it didn’t look anything like the one that had appeared in The Mentalist. So, I immediately called up Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and asked him if he knew where it was located. Sure enough, he did! As fate would have it, the merry go round is located right in the heart of L.A.’s Griffith Park and Mike used to ride it regularly when he was a kid!

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The Griffith Park Merry Go Round is actually something of a Los Angeles landmark and I am extremely shocked that, up until its appearance on The Mentalist two years ago, I didn’t even know of its existence. The Merry Go Round was first built in 1926 by the Spillman Engineering Company and is currently the only full size Spillman carousel still in operation today. It was originally commissioned by the Spreckels family, of the Spreckels Sugar Company, to be used at their San Diego theme park, the Mission Beach Amusement Center. Sadly, the amusement center was shuttered in 1935 in the midst of the Great Depression and the Merry Go Round was subsequently moved to Balboa Park to be featured in the California Pacific International Exposition. When the exposition ended in 1937, a man named Ross Davis purchased the carousel and transported it over 120 miles north to its new home in Griffith Park, where it is still in operation to this day, over seven decades later.

The Griffith Park Carousel is comprised of 68 different hand-made horses, all of which “jump” – ie. move up and down – and boast tails made of authentic horse hair.

The carousel also features a custom-built Stinson 165 Military Band Organ, which plays a library of over 1500 different songs.

And, incredibly enough, the Griffith Park Merry Go Round even served as the inspiration for one of the most famous landmarks in the entire world – Disneyland! Yes, you read that right. According to one of my very favorite stalking tomes, Hollywood Escapes: The Moviegoer’s Guide to Exploring Southern California’s Great Outdoors, Griffith Park historian Mike Eberts states, “Walt Disney brought his young daughters to the carousel and this is one of the places where he began to dream up the idea that would lead to Disneyland.” So incredibly cool! The bench where Walt used to sit during those outings (which is pictured very poorly above) is still on display at the merry go round to this day. And, according to the book Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination, Walt’s daughter Diane “thought the inception [of Disneyland] took place during the Sunday afternoons when Walt picked the girls up from religious services – he never attended himself – and took them to the Griffith Park merry-go-round, where they would spend hours. ‘He’d see families in the park,’ Diane would later recall, ‘and say, ‘There’s nothing for the parents to do . . . You’ve got to have a place where the whole family can have fun.’” Further adding to the carousel’s celebrity status is the fact that James Dean’s very first acting job took place there! It was a commercial for Pepsi Cola and, in it, the newbie actor was shown handing out bottles of the soft drink to teenagers who were riding the merry go round. Such incredible history!

I, of course, had to take a ride on the carousel while I was there and it was so incredibly fun! Being there brought me RIGHT BACK to my childhood when I used to ride the Edgewater Packing House Carousel on Monterey’s Cannery Row each and every weekend. In an odd coincidence, I just found out today that my childhood merry go round was also designed by the Spillman Engineering Company, but it is sadly no longer in operation publicly as it was purchased by a Vegas millionaire who had it installed in a room in his home! Not kidding! But I digress.

In the “Seeing Red” episode of The Mentalist, Patrick Jane hypnotizes a young murder suspect named Travis in order to lead him to a supposed Sacramento-area merry go round so that he can be captured by the CBI.

Mike clued me into the fact that the Merry Go Round was also featured at the very end of the 1988 comedy Twins, in the scene in which Julius and Vincent Benedict (aka Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito, respectively) meet up with their wives, Marnie and Linda Mason (aka Kelly Preston and Chloe Webb, respectively), and their new twin children at a carousel in a park.

Once Mike told me about the Merry Go Round, I started noticing it popping up in all sorts of movies and television shows, including the Season 2 episode of CSI: New York titled “Zoo York”, in which the body of a teenage debutante is found on the supposed Central Park carousel.

The Griffith Park Merry Go Round also showed up in the 1992 flick Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as the spot where Amylin (aka Paul Reubens) turned Grueller (aka Sasha Jensen) into a vampire.

And it also appeared briefly in the Season 1 episode of MacGyver titled “Every Time She Smiles” as a supposed Bulgaria-area merry go round.

And thank you to fellow stalker Eileen, who informed me that the carousel also appeared in the video for the Jessica Simpson/Nick Lachey song “Where You Are”.

The Merry Go Round was also featured in the Sally Field-directed movie Beautiful, but I don’t own that movie, so I was not able to make screen captures.

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for telling me about this location! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Griffith Park Merry Go Round is located at 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, inside of Griffith Park, in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles. The Merry Go Round is open each Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. During the summer months, it is also open on weekdays. The Merry Go Round can be a bit tricky to find and is not entirely visible from the road. The easiest way to get there is to take Los Feliz Boulevard to Crystal Springs Drive and head north. Make a left onto Fire Road and park in the first lot that you come to. The Merry Go Round is located just north of that lot.

January 5, 2010January 4, 2010

Simon Baker’s Former House

While doing some cyberstalking on fave website Virtual Globetrotting a few weeks back, I came across this post listing the address of a Santa Monica home which formerly belonged to cutie Mentalist star – and my latest celebrity crush – Simon Baker and I just about keeled over from excitement. So, when my dad asked if I would be able to take him to a doctor appointment in the Santa Monica area yesterday morning, I literally jumped at the opportunity and informed him that we’d be making a little stalking pit stop first. 🙂 Thankfully, since my dad is also a big Mentalist fan, he didn’t give me much grief about being dragged along on this particular stalking expedition.

My dad and I were both quite shocked when we pulled up to the residence and saw it in person, as it is a lot smaller than we had anticipated and looks like a fairly normal suburban home. A very nice suburban home, of course, but still fairly normal, nonetheless. My dad kept saying, “There is no way Simon Baker lived there!” Thanks to the property’s ostensible lack of a front wall and exterior gate, it’s hard to imagine a celeb like SB ever calling the place home. But I guess it sort of makes sense being that Simon lived in the house about nine months before The Mentalist hit the airwaves, turning him into a household name and creating the need for some sort of exterior wall to keep stalkers like myself at bay. 😉

SB and his wife, actress Rebecca Rigg, purchased the 2,394 square foot, three bedroom, two bath home, which was originally built in 1934, on December 13, 2006 for a whopping $2,626,000 and sold it just a little under 13 months later, on January 10, 2008, for a nice little profit at $2,895,000. While living in the house, the couple remodeled and expanded the kitchen area and added a pool and spa to the backyard. You can see interior photographs of the home at the time it belonged to SB here. The area where the house is located – which just so happens to be one of the most expensive areas in all of Los Angeles County – is known as Gillette’s Regent Square and was developed by none other than King Camp Gillette, the razor blade magnate who also gave us King Gillette Ranch, aka the Biggest Loser Ranch, in Calabasas. Amazingly enough, during the time that Simon lived in the house, my fiancé lived just a few blocks away [in a much less expensive area, of course. ;)], yet we never ran into him! How we missed each other is beyond me, being that Owen Wilson also used to live in that same vicinity (at 947 23rd Street) and my fiancé and I ran into him not once, but twice!!!! Oh, SB, where were you hiding??? 😉 According to fave website The Real Estalker, when SB sold this house, he purchased an even larger one also in the Santa Monica area. So, you know what that means, don’t you?? Yessiree, there’s a whole other Simon Baker residence out there just waiting for me to stalk it! 🙂 YAY!

On an interesting side note – Fellow stalker and Mentalist aficionado Liz recently alerted to me to the fact that Rebecca Rigg, SB’s real life wife and mother of his three children, played widowed actress Felicia Scott in the Season One episode of The Mentalist entitled “A Dozen Red Roses”. So cool! 🙂

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Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Simon Baker’s former house is located at 534 20th Street in Santa Monica. Owen Wilson’s former residence is just a few blocks away at 947 23rd Street. Courteney Cox also owned a house in the area, at 606 Alta Avenue, during her Friends days. Across the street from Courteney’s former digs is the 7th Heaven house, which can be found at 527 Alta Avenue. Also in the area is Danny Devito’s house from Twins, which can be found at 323 11th Street, and Darrin and Samantha’s house from Bewitched, which is located at 267 18th Street.

August 4, 2009August 3, 2009

Watching the Filming of The Mentalist!

Last week, while out and about stalking in Pasadena, I just happened to run across a large production crew filming underneath the Colorado Street Bridge, so, of course, I just had to pull my car over to ask what was being filmed. 🙂 Well, when I found out the filming was for my new favorite TV show The Mentalist,I just about flipped my lid with excitement!!! And I was even more excited when one of the crew members told me that I was welcome to hang out onsite for as long as I wanted to watch all of the action that was taking place! YAY!

The Mentalist was being filmed in a little wooded clearing in the Lower Arroyo section of Pasadena’s Arroyo Seco Canyon. To stay out of the way of the cast and crew, I parked myself on a walking trail located just above the clearing, which turned out to be the PERFECT spot to watch the filming, but, unfortunately, did not offer me the best vantage point from which to take photos. 🙁 So, please accept my apology for the less than stellar pics. 🙁

When I first walked up to watch the filming, none of the actors were yet on set. So, I just had to ask one of the crew members if cutie Simon Baker would be filming that day and I just about spazzed out right there on the spot when he told me yes! LOL As I’ve mentioned before, I absolutely LOVE me some Simon Baker!!! 🙂 Then, literally, the next thing I knew, out walked the ENTIRE Mentalist cast and, let me tell you, I just about died!!!!! On site besides SB were actors Robin Tunney, Tim Kang, Amanda Righetti, and Owain Yeoman. When I watched The Mentalist being filmed this past March, only actor Tim Kang was in attendance, so, as you can imagine, I was SUPER excited to see them all this time around.

I am very happy to report that Simon Baker is JUST as cute in person as he appears to be on TV. 🙂 And, let me tell you, I just about fainted when I saw that he was wearing his cute little Patrick Jane vest and carrying that ubiquitous stick of his for the filming!!!!! SO CUTE!!!! The highlight of the day for me came during a break from the filming, when SB looked up at me, waved, and said “Hello!” Sigh! I could have died a happy girl right there on the spot!!!! 🙂 SB seemed very sweet and very friendly in person, but unfortunately I never got close enough to him to ask him to pose for a picture with me. 🙁 Such a bummer!

The actor who I thought looked most different in person was Owain Yeoman, who plays Detective Wayne Rigsby on The Mentalist. While Owain is just okay-looking on the show, let me tell you, in person he is downright dreamy!!! 🙂 I was shocked! Owain is much taller and much thinner than he appears to be on TV and actually looks quite a bit like Josh Duhamel. And you all know how I love me some Josh Duhamel! 🙂

The scene I watched being filmed involved (what I am assuming was) the murder investigation of a woman who had been pushed off of a Sacramento area bridge. And while the above picture shows the actors filming around a mannequin, for most of the takes there was a real woman lying on the ground playing the murder victim.

The filming of The Mentalist was an absolutely HUGE production!!! On site were hundreds of crew members, numerous filming trucks, a myriad of props, and a large machine on wheels which provided shade for the area being filmed (pictured above). It was pretty incredible to see!!! At one point I looked down at my watch to check on the time and was SHOCKED to see that three hours had passed since I’d first arrived on the set! LOL Like they say, time flies when you’re having fun! After the scene I was watching had been wrapped, one of the crew members was nice enough to invite me to watch more filming later that afternoon on top of the Colorado Street Bridge, but unfortunately, because that was a closed set, I couldn’t take any pictures while there. It was EXTREMELY cool to see, though!

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The spot where The Mentalist was filmed is actually a very popular filming location that has also been featured in NCIS, The Shield, and JAG. Ironically, it’s also the same spot where I watched The Closer being filmed last October.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Mentalist was filmed underneath the Colorado Street Bridge in Pasadena, just off North Arroyo Boulevard. Filming also took place on the Colorado Street Bridge. Look for the episode to air in about six to eight weeks.

May 8, 2009May 7, 2009

Hollywood Center Motel

A few weeks ago, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, called me up to ask me if I knew that my latest Hollywood crush, Simon Baker, had one of his earliest acting roles in the 1997 movie L.A. Confidential. And I almost fell out of my chair! Even though I’ve seen that movie about a hundred times, I never realized that SB had acted in it. The then-unknown Mentalist star had the small, but pivotal role of homosexual actor/prostitute Matt Reynolds in the film. That’s him in the above screen capture. I can’t believe how young he looks!!!!

Mike also told me the address of the location where SB’s character meets his untimely demise towards the middle of the movie – Room 203 of the Hollywood Center Motel. So, of course, since I was in the area yesterday, I just had to stalk it. 🙂

In the scene filmed at the Hollywood Center Motel, Hush-Hush magazine editor Sid Hudgeons (Danny DeVito) and Detective Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey) set up a sting operation to catch the Los Angeles District Attorney in an illicit rendevous with homosexual prostitute SB.

But, at the last minute, Jack has a change of heart and shows up at the motel early to warn SB of the set-up.

Unfortunately, he is too late, and when he enters the seedy motel room he finds SB’s character dead on the floor. 🙁 Poor Simon!

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Hollywood Center Motel is an odd little place, with what appears to be a large central guesthouse surrounded by small motel rooms. I am guessing that most of the motels’ guests live there full time. Aside from a change in paint color, the Hollywood Center Motel looks pretty much exactly the same today as it did twelve years ago when it appeared onscreen in L.A. Confidential. Unfortunately, other than the fact that it was built in the 20’s, I couldn’t find out much information about the small motel online. And I can’t say that I’d really recommend stalking the place, as it is pretty seedy and run-down. But being that it definitely has that Old Hollywood vibe to it, it’s easy to see why producers chose to use it in their film about a 50’s era Los Angeles.

While I was stalking the motel, the manager happened to be outside sweeping the parking lot, so, of course, I had to ask him what other productions had been filmed on the premises. He looked at me like I was absolutely out of my mind, laughed, and then walked away without saying a word. LOL LOL LOL I am fairly certain, though, that, due to its historic and unique look, the motel has to have been used in other productions besides L.A. Confidential. I am going to have to keep my eyes open for it from now on. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Hollywood Center Motel is located at 6720 West Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood.

March 24, 2009March 24, 2009

On Location With The Mentalist!

Yesterday morning while doing some Downtown Los Angeles stalking, I happened to stumble upon a large film crew outside of Union Station. I, of course, asked one of the background actors what was being filmed and almost fell over when she told me it was my new favorite show, The Mentalist!!!! I asked if Simon Baker was on set and she laughed and said “Everyone’s been asking for him all morning! It’s cause he’s such a cutie.” LOL Sadly, SB had already been wrapped for the day, as had actress Robin Tunney. 🙁 Such a bummer!!

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But I did get to see actor Tim Kang, who plays Detective Kimball Cho on the show (pictured above). I love Kang’s character, so I was pretty floored to see him in person. He was filming a scene that basically consisted of him sitting on a bench reading a newspaper at the entrance to Union Station’s former ticket concourse. Needless to say, it wasn’t that exciting. LOL

I didn’t stick around very long to watch the filming as not a whole lot was going on and, sadly, the crew wasn’t all that friendly. The area where the scene was being filmed wasn’t shut off to the public as filming areas normally are, so I am guessing that the crew was just slightly annoyed at the many random people who were walking directly into their shot while the cameras were rolling. I guess the people didn’t notice the many signs that were posted around the area announcing that filming was taking place (pictured above). LOL I can’t tell you the number of people I saw who walked right in front of the camera and into the former ticket concourse, then stopped and looked around with confusion on their faces, only to walk right back out in front of the camera once again. I’m not kidding! I can imagine how that might have gotten old for the crew real quick!

Countless productions have filmed at the historic train station since its opening in 1939, including Nick of Time (Johnny Depp’s daughter is kidnapped there), Charlie’s Angel’s: Full Throttle (Demi Moore lived in the former ticket concourse area which is pictured above), Can’t Hardly Wait (Jennifer Love Hewitt and Ethan Embry finally get together in the station’s waiting area), 24, Alias, Blast From The Past, Bugsy, Catch Me If You Can, Blade Runner, Guilty by Suspicion, Garfield, The Italian Job, Pearl Harbor, and a 1950’s movie actually entitled Union Station.

Union Station is an absolutely beautiful place to visit and I highly recommend stalking it, even if you aren’t a film locations buff. The interiors, which have been beautifully maintained, immediately transplant you back to the 1930s. It’s not hard to see why the station has been a favorite of location scouts over the years. Union Station, which was built by architects John Parkinson, Donald D. Parkinson, and Jay van der Lin, is on the National Register of Historic Places and according to Wikipedia, is considered the “Last of the Great Railway Stations” built in the U.S. You can see some great photographs of the station here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Union Station is located at 800 North Alameda Street in Downtown Los Angeles. Ironically, it is located just around the corner from The Mentalist’s CBI Headquarters. 🙂

March 20, 2009March 23, 2009

The Mentalist’s CBI Headquarters

My location obsession as of late has been the CBI Headquarters building where Patrick Jane and the gang report to work each week on my new fave show The Mentalist. I do love me some Simon Baker! He’s such a cutie! 🙂 Being that it is quite unique in appearance, I had an inkling that Mike, from MovieShotsLA, might recognize the building used on the show, but since he had never watched The Mentalist I was out of luck there – until this past Tuesday night when the episode entitled “Bloodshot” aired. For the first time ever, the cast and crew actually filmed on location at the Headquarters building (in the past it had only been used for set-up shots) and I was able to make quite a few screen captures to send to Mike. And, sure enough, he recognized the building immediately! He’s so my hero!

In actuality, CBI Headquarters is the rear entrance of the Pico House, a former luxury hotel and a National Historic Landmark located in Downtown Los Angeles. I am ashamed to admit that I have actually visited the Pico House several times, but never recognized it as the CBI Building, most likely because the front of the former hotel looks strikingly different from the back. The front of the Pico House is pictured above. The Pico House was built from 1869 to 1870 by Pio Pico, a former governor of Alta California. The building was designed by architect Ezra F. Kysor and at the time of its opening was considered the most upscale hotel in the L.A. area. It was also the first three story building located in Los Angeles. The luxurious hotel boasted 82 rooms, 21 ballrooms, a French restaurant, and bathrooms for “both sexes” on every floor. LOL Pio Pico lost the hotel due to financial difficulties just ten years after its grand opening. For the next thirty years, beginning in 1892, the hotel was known as The National and was a cheap boarding house. In 1953, the hotel was taken over by the City of Los Angeles who has managed it ever since. The Pico House was restored in the 60s and again in the 80s and 90s. Today it is no longer a hotel, but remains vacant and is used as an event location and for filming. You can see great interior photographs of the Pico House here.

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Once Mike told me that CBI Headquarters was really the Pico House, I dragged my dad right out to stalk it. He actually didn’t mind being dragged to this location, as The Mentalist is one of the few shows on television that he actually likes. My dad was especially excited to see the CBI building in person since he had just watched the “Bloodshot” episode, in which the Pico House is featured prominently, the night before. He kept saying “This is so cool – I just saw this place on TV last night!”

I am happy to report that the CBI building looks exactly the same in person as it does onscreen. The “Bloodshot” episode featured several parts of the Pico House, including the exterior stairwell area where the team exited the building after being evacuated due to a bomb threat;

the alleyway where Van Pelt met her boyfriend for an early morning cup of coffee and also where Jane’s team got evacuated;

the parking lot area where the car bomb exploded and later where a temporarily blind Jane drove Van Pelt’s car;

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and Hype Nightclub, which in actuality is not a nightclub at all, but the entrance to the Pico House’s central courtyard.

I highly recommend stalking the CBI Headquarters building to all Mentalist fans. Who knows, you might even catch them filming an episode while you’re there! Even though no filming was going on while I was stalking the Pico House, I can’t tell you how excited I was to finally be seeing CBI Headquarters in person! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Mentalist’s CBI Headquarters, aka the Pico House, is located at 430 North Main Street in Downtown Los Angeles. The back side of the Pico House, which is the area shown on The Mentalist, can be viewed on West Arcadia Street in between North Main and North Spring Streets. The area surrounding the Pico House is open to the public, so I would suggest parking your car and taking a walk around the historic building. The parking lot where the “Bloodshot” episode was filmed is really the El Pueblo De Los Angeles parking lot located on the corner of West Arcadia and North Spring Street. And the fake Hype Nightclub’s entrance is located on the Pico House’s South facing wall.