Tag: Sophia Vergara

Elevate Lounge from Britney Spears’ “Womanizer” Music Video

One location that has been at the top of my To-Stalk list for over two years now is Downtown L.A.’s Takami Sushi & Robata Restaurant and Elevate Lounge which were used extensively in Britney Spears’ music video for her 2008 hit song “Womanizer”. I first found out about this location while watching the ultra-depressing MTV special Britney: For the Record, which aired on November 30th, 2008 and chronicled 60 days in the pop star’s life, two of which were spent filming “Womanizer”. I, of course, immediately became obsessed with stalking the restaurant, but the Grim Cheaper objected every single time I suggested grabbing a bite to eat there, thinking it would be far too pricey for his tastes. It was not until this past Saturday afternoon when the two of us found ourselves hungry while doing some stalking in Downtown L.A. that I again suggested the restaurant and the GC decided it might be worth a try. Before agreeing completely, though, he first scoped the place out on Yelp and was absolutely DELIGHTED to discover a reviewer who had posted a comment with those three magic words – “fabulous happy hour”, which of course caused him to acquiesce and we immediately headed right on over there to grab a bite to eat and do some Britney stalking.



And I am very happy to report that we were NOT at all disappointed! Takami is one of the COOLEST restaurants that I have ever been to in my entire life! Located in the penthouse suite on the 21st floor of a Downtown L.A. office building, the indoor/outdoor, open-air restaurant boasts INCREDIBLE, 360-degree views of the infamous L.A. skyline.

Takami Sushi & Robata Restaurant and Elevate Lounge first opened in August of 2007 in what was a former office suite. The space was the brain-child of former Arthur Anderson financier Emil Eyvazoff who spent over five years touring over 100 different venues looking for the right location to build his dream restaurant. In a November 22, 2007 Los Angeles Times article, Emil is quoted as saying, “We told the two guys looking for us, ‘Make sure it’s jaw-droppingly unique.’ Then in April of ‘05 we saw [this] spot, and I think by the fourth step out of the elevator I said, ‘This is it.’” Tag Front, the design firm that was also responsible for the look of Boa, Geisha House, and Katana, was hired to design the space and, during an amazing two-year-process, gutted the 6,000-square-foot premises and brought in wood-paneled walling, a 25- by 40-foot sunken dance floor, 150 feet of sliding glass dooring, large modern couches, and a state-of-the-art DJ booth and sound system, transforming a drab office suite into the sleek, ultra-modern lounge and restaurant that it is today. And Emil was certainly spot on in his description of the place – it is most definitely “jaw-droppingly unique”. The food was out of this world, as well. And the Yelp reviewer had definitely been correct in his assessment – Takami does have a fabulous Happy Hour, which is, amazingly enough, also offered on Saturday and Sunday nights. During Happy Hour, all of the food served in the bar area of the restaurant is priced at $4 – not kidding! And the servings are huge, to boot! The GC and I tried almost everything on the menu and I just about died over the Japanese-style bruschetta, while the GC loved the Sushi Trio offering so much that he ordered a second serving of it immediately upon finishing the first.



Britney’s “Womanizer” music video was shot in Elevate Lounge, Takami Restaurant’s nightclub section, which was closed at the time we showed up to stalk the place. But our SUPER nice server asked the manager to take me on a private tour of the space when we finished dining. So incredibly cool!



Takami’s manager also could NOT have been nicer and gave me a very lengthy and in-depth tour of Elevate and pointed out where the filming of “Womanizer” had taken place. The video, which was shot on September 24th and 25th of 2008, was primarily filmed in one of Elevate’s three bar areas – the one located closest to the lounge’s main entrance.

As you can see in the above screen capture and photograph, the detailed mosaic design behind the bar area which appeared in the music video is actually there in real life. Love it!

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Takami’s kitchen area also appeared in “Womanizer”, but I, unfortunately, did not get a chance to stalk that part of the restaurant.

Some behind the scenes images from the video shoot are pictured above.

Elevate Lounge also hosted actresses Sophia Vergara and Natasha Henstridge and hairstylist Ken Paves for a “Beauty Roundtable” article which ran in the March 24, 2008 issue of US Weekly Magazine.

And OK Magazine held a photoshoot with singer Colbie Caillat for their February 28th, 2008 issue at the lounge. Elevate has also appeared in episodes of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, Brothers and Sisters, and Millionaire Matchmaker. The restaurant is also something of a celebrity hot spot and such stars as Audrina Patridge, Jason Biggs, Omar Epps, Kat Von D, Brody Jenner, Frankie Delgado, and David Archuleta have all been spotted there.

Britney Spears’ “Womanizer” Music Video at Elevate Lounge

You can watch Britney’s “Womanizer” music video by clicking above.

Britney Spears: For the Record–with the Making of “Womanizer”

And you can watch Britney: For the Record by clicking above.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Takami Sushi & Robata Restaurant and Elevate Lounge from Britney Spears’ “Womanizer” music video is located on the Penthouse level of the building at 811 Wilshire Boulevard in Downtown Los Angeles. You can visit the Lounge’s official website here. While Takami Sushi & Robata Restaurant is open daily, Elevate Lounge is only open on Friday and Saturday nights, from 10 p.m. to 2:30 a.m.

April 21, 2011
Cup ‘N Cakes Cafe from “Modern Family”

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

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

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

February 25, 2010
Jay and Gloria’s House from “Modern Family”

Once fellow stalker Robert, from the website Movie Locations and More, tracked down Phil and Claire’s house and Mitchell and Cameron’s duplex from the new hit series Modern Family, I set my sights on locating the modern-style abode where Jay (aka Ed O’Neill), Gloria (aka Sophia Vergara), and their son Manny (aka Rico Rodriguez) reside on the show.   For this task, I enlisted the help of fellow stalker Owen, who I am happy to report found the home’s location almost immediately, even though he had yet to ever watch even one episode of Modern Family! LOL All I gave him was the home’s street number and the general vicinity where I thought it might be located and, voila, just a few minutes later he texted me back with an address! So, I, of course, immediately grabbed my camera and headed out to go stalk the place.

Jay and Gloria’s ultra-unique home is MUCH bigger in person than it appears to be on Modern Family. For some reason, the establishing shots shown on the series only feature one angle of the residence. In reality, though, the home has a whole other half which has never appeared on TV. The house is so massive, in fact, that I couldn’t get all of if to fit in my camera lens, but you can sort of get an idea of its true size in the above photograph. According to Zillow, the residence boasts five bedrooms, six bathrooms, and a whopping 6,359 square feet!

The ultra-modern style home, which in real life is known as the Sinnot Residence, was built in 1992 by the architecture firm Abramson Teiger and, unfortunately, is not very visible from the street thanks to a large concrete wall which surrounds the property. But have no fear because I managed to find a few interior photographs of the home online, which you can take a look at here. 🙂 Even with the exterior wall, though, the house is still very recognizable from Modern Family.   🙂

Jay and Gloria’s house shows up each week in Modern Family’s opening credits . . .

. . . as well as in establishing shots which appear throughout the course of each episode.

Quite a bit of on-location filming has taken place at the residence as well. In the episode entitled “The Bicycle Thief”, Manny waits for his father to pick him up out in front of the house.



In the episode entitled “Coal Digger”, the entire family jumps into the house’s real-life pool fully-clothed.



And in the episode entitled “The Incident”, Mitchell has a heart-to-heart chat with his father by the very same pool.

On a side note – If you did not catch Chelsea Lately’s interview of Sophia Vergara which took place this past October, let me tell you, it is a MUST-SEE!   In fact, I might just go out on a limb here and say that it is my favorite CL interview EVER – and being that I watch her show nightly, that’s saying A LOT. Sophia Vergara is absolutely HILARIOUS and to see her match wits with Chelsea Handler makes for some awesome TV!

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Big THANK YOU to Owen for finding this location! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Jay and Gloria’s house from Modern Family is located at 121 South Cliffwood Avenue in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles.

December 9, 2009