Taryn Manning – IAMNOTASTALKER

February 6, 2012February 3, 2012

Café-Club Fais Do-Do from “Crossroads”

One location that I blogged about way back in March of 2009 and had been dying to re-stalk ever since – in order to snap some interior pictures – was Café-Club Fais Do-Do, the supposed New-Orleans-area karaoke bar that appeared in the 2002 movie Crossroads. (For those who did not catch my original post on the place, in the Spring of 2001 I was an extra in Crossroads and spent a full three days filming at the Fais Do-Do – a magical experience that I will never forget.) Because the club is typically only open at night for concerts and events, though, and because the Grim Cheaper has a major aversion to paying any sort of a cover charge, since the filming I had never been able to get back inside. Until last Wednesday afternoon, that is, when I tagged along with fellow stalker Mike, from MovieShotsLA, on a scouting expedition. A couple of months back, Mike actually joined the Location Managers Guild of America under the title of Apprentice and, when I heard that he was in the process of building his portfolio, I immediately (and a bit selfishly) suggested that he visit Café-Club Fais Do-Do – with me accompanying him, of course. Don’t get me wrong – the place is incredibly unique and visually stimulating and I knew that he would not only shoot some incredible photographs of it, but that it would also be a highly useful locale to have in his scouting arsenal. But mostly, I just really wanted to stalk it myself. Winking smile

The Art Deco building which currently houses Café-Club Fais Do-Do was originally constructed in 1930 and is actually comprised of two separate sections – The Club (pictured above) and The Ballroom. In its original incarnation, The Club was a branch of the First Citizens Savings Bank and Trust, which explains the structure’s uniquely rich and ornate interior. Sometime in the 1960s, the bank was converted into a jazz bar/underground club, but thankfully most of its architecturally and historically significant detailing was kept intact. During its years as a jazz club, such musicians as Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, BB King, Pearl Bailey, John Coltrane, and Billy Preston were all said to have hung out there.

The Ballroom (pictured above) was originally constructed as the single-screen Variety Movie Theatre and was where the filming of Crossroads took place. I am unsure of when exactly the Variety ceased showing movies, but in 1990 the entire building was purchased by a new owner who, while still keeping the two distinct areas separate, decided to turn the venues into a nightclub and bar which collectively would be known as Café-Club Fais Do-Do – “Fais Do-Do” meaning “nighty-night” in French. And while this post on the Lon’s Place blog states that The Club area was sold to a new owner in 2010, according the film liaison that we spoke with, the same person who bought the building back in 1990 still owns it to this day.

While we were stalking the Fais Do-Do, I was extremely sad to discover that the huge two-story bar that used to be located in the center of The Ballroom and on which I had sat in Crossroads had since been removed. To me, that bar, which had a dance floor on top of it, was the coolest, most unique aspect of the entire club and I cannot believe the owner did away with it! So incredibly sad.

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In Crossroads, Café-Club Fais Do-Do’s Ballroom was used for the interior of Club Bayou, where Lucy Wagner (Britney Spears), Kit (Zoe Saldana) and Mimi (Taryn Manning) competed in a karaoke contest in order to win money to fix their car which had just broken down.

That’s me in the blue pants standing next to Ben (Anson Mount) in the above screen capture. Smile

The Fais Do-Do dressing room, which you can see a photograph of here, was featured in the scene in which Kit, Mimi and Lucy get ready to go onstage. Sadly, a film crew was using that area at the time that we were stalking the club so we were unable to take any pictures of it.

The GC and I recently started watching fave show The O.C. again from the beginning and, let me tell you, I just about fell off my chair when I spotted Café-Club Fais Do-Do pop up in a Season 1 episode. In “The Escape”, the Fais Do-Do’s Ballroom stood in for “Boom Boom”, the supposed-Tijuana-area club where Marissa Cooper (Mischa Barton) caught Luke Ward (Chris Carmack) cheating on her.

And, while scanning through “The Escape” to make screen captures for this post, I was shocked to discover that the little bar where Marissa almost overdosed on pain pills later in the episode was none other than the Fais Do-Do’s Club! The Club was remodeled in 2010 (as you can see in these photograph on the Lon’s Place blog) and looks a bit different now, but, amazingly enough, the actual bar where Marissa sat still looks exactly the same today as it did when the episode was filmed back in 2003!

After reading my original post on the Fais Do-Do back in 2009, fellow stalker Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, figured out that The Ballroom also stood in for Delloser Hall, the reggae club where Josie Geller (Drew Barrymore) got stoned after inadvertently eating a pot-laced cake, in fave movie Never Been Kissed.

In the extremely odd 2006 film The Gymnast, the Fais Do-Do’s Ballroom was used extensively as the place where Jane Hawkins (Dreya Weber) and Serena (Addie Yungmee) learned aerial fabric acrobatics.

In the flick, you can clearly see the club’s former bar . . .

. . . as well as the dance floor above it.

Café-Club Fais Do-Do’s dressing room also appeared in The Gymnast.

And in one scene, a business card featuring the club’s actual address, fax number, and website was even shown. So incredibly cool!

Fellow stalker Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, also let me know that the Fais Do-Do had appeared in the Season 2 episode of Arrested Development titled “Queen for a Day”. In the episode, the exterior . . .

. . . as well as The Ballroom stood in for The Queen Mary, the bar that Tobias Funke (David Cross) purchased.

The Club was also used in that episode as the restaurant where Byron “Buster” Bluth (Tony Hale) took his new girlfriend, Starla (Mo Collins), out for a milkshake.

And the dressing room stood in for the Hot Cop stripper club, from which Lindsay Bluth Funke (Portia de Rossi) hired strippers to scare her husband into selling The Queen Mary.

Back in February of 2011, while doing research for my post on The Little Door restaurant, I discovered that Café-Club Fais Do-Do’s Club room was used in the Season 2 episode of Entourage titled “The Abyss”, in the scene in which the boys – Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier), Eric Murphy (Kevin Connolly), Johnny ‘Drama’ Chase (Kevin Dillon), and Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) – gather together to watch Saigon perform.

I was shocked to discover (thanks to the Ron’s Place blog) that in 1994’s Reality Bites, The Club stood in for the bar where “Hey, That’s My Bike!”, Troy Dyer’s (Ethan Hawke’s) band, regularly played. The room was heavily dressed for the filming, though, and is almost unrecognizable in the movie.

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The Fais Do-Do Club was also featured in the Jane’s Addiction video for “Underground”.

As was the dressing room area.

Jane’s Addiction “Underground” Music Video–Filmed at Café-Club Fais Do-Do in Los Angeles

You can watch the “Underground” video by clicking above.

The Club also appeared in the Destiny’s Child “No, No No, Part 1” music video.

Destiny’s Child–”No, No, No Part 1” Music Video Filmed at Café-Club Fais Do-Do in Los Angeles

You can watch the “No, No, No, Part 1” video by clicking above.

This Is 40, the yet-to-be released sequel to 2007’s Knocked Up, also did some filming in Café-Club Fais Do-Do’s Ballroom in 2011. And while the Ron’s Place blog stated that The Big Lebowski and American Gangster were also filmed at the Fais Do-Do, I scanned through both movies while doing research for this post and did not spot the place anywhere.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Café-Club Fais Do-Do, from Crossroads, is located at 5253 and 5257 West Adams Boulevard in Los Angeles. You can visit the club’s official website here.

August 10, 2011August 10, 2011

“The Perfect Age of Rock & Roll” Premiere

As I mentioned yesterday, I was unable to stick around to watch much of the Parks and Recreation filming at Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena last Wednesday afternoon as I had promised Miss Pinky Lovejoy, of the Thinking Pink blog, that I would meet her at Laemmle’s Sunset 5 theatre in West Hollywood that evening to do some stalking of the premiere of The Perfect Age of Rock ‘n’ Roll. As fate would have it, this particular event turned out to be a pretty fortuitous one for us because Sunset 5 is located right next door to Crunch Fitness, which is apparently a big time celebrity hot spot. So not only were we keeping our eyes peeled for stars dressed to the nines heading towards the theatre, but we were also keeping our eyes peeled for those dressed in work-out clothes entering and exiting the gym. Pinky, who pretty much has superhero powers when it comes to spotting celebrities, caught sight of comedian/actor Dane Cook walking into Crunch while we were eating dinner a good 300 yards away. The girl has got MAD skills, I tell ya! And while she ended up catching Dane on his way out of the gym about an hour later, the guy was NOT nice AT ALL and not only refused to take a picture with her, but would not even make eye contact, which resulted in her bestowing him with the “Douchebag of the Day” award on her blog later that week. Pinky also had this sage piece of advice for the surly actor, “If you don’t want to be recognized, don’t walk right through a movie premiere!” LOL LOL LOL I did not even attempt to approach Dane as he did not in any way, shape, or form seem friendly. Truth be told, he kind of scared me. I am very happy to report, though, that it was all uphill from there as shortly after Dane shot Pinky down, she spotted Rufus Sewell, who played Jasper Bloom in fave movie The Holiday, heading into Crunch. Rufus could NOT have been nicer and posed for at least a dozen photographs with various fans – and even agreed to pose for a second one with me after the first one we took failed to turn out. Rufus was so sweet, in fact, that he asked me to make sure our second picture was to my liking and even waited around while I did so, before heading off to the gym. Swoon!

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While I was posing with Rufus, Jason Ritter showed up and was absolutely mobbed by fans and the numerous “graphers” who were in attendance. Luckily enough, Pinky has known Jason for quite a long time and is actually sort of friends with the actor, so he immediately walked through the crowd and right up to her to say hi. I am sad to say that I had a major blonde moment while meeting him, though, as I had been planning on asking him if he happened to know where the apartment building from the opening credits of Three’s Company was located. Fellow stalkers Chas, from the ItsFilmedThere website, and Owen and I have been looking for that blasted building for quite a while now and I figured that if anyone would know its location, it would be Jason. But I got a bit flustered while speaking with him and the whole thing COMPLETELY slipped my mind! MAJOR FAIL! And big apologies to Chas and Owen! Jason could NOT have been nicer, though, and even though there were at least fifty people mobbing him, he stayed around to take pictures with and sign autographs for absolutely everyone who wanted one.

Taryn Manning arrived next and I was absolutely FLOORED to get a photograph with her as I have extremely fond memories of the actress from my time as an extra on the movie Crossroads. Taryn was easily the nicest of all of the Crossroads stars and, for whatever reason, remembered me each day that I was on set and would go out of her way to say hi. She also remembered me when I attended the movie’s wrap party, a week after filming had been completed, and walked up to me to say, “I’m so glad you were able to come to this.” So incredibly sweet! When I told her how nice she had been to me during the Crossroads shoot, she started laughing and said, “Aww. Well, I haven’t changed, I’m still very nice, I promise.”

We also spotted DJ Qualls, who played Kyle Edwards in 2000’s Road Trip, at the premiere . . .

. . . and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past/Grey’s Anatomy/The Devil Wears Prada star Daniel Sunjata, who was leaving Crunch Fitness – both of whom were extremely nice.

Also in attendance was Easy Rider himself, Peter Fonda, along with his much younger-looking wife, Margaret DeVogelaere. Sadly, Peter would not take any pictures or sign any autographs due to the fact that he was running late. And while we could have hung out and waited until the premiere was over to get a pic with Peter, I just really did not feel like doing so. If it was Matt Lanter, Michael Buble, or Joel McHale, I would wait around all day for a photo, but Peter Fonda? Not so much. 😉 All in all it was another FABULOUS celebrity-filled stalking adventure, though – save for the minor setback with Dane douchebag Cook.

Big THANK YOU to Pinky Lovejoy, from the Thinking Pink blog, for inviting me to this event!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Laemmle’s Sunset 5 is located at 8000 Sunset Boulevard, inside of the 8000 Sunset Strip shopping center, in West Hollywood. You can catch The Perfect Age of Rock ‘n’ Roll in theatres now.

April 7, 2011April 6, 2011

The “Crossroads” Grocery Store

Special Note – I attended a taping of Ellen yesterday afternoon and ended up being ON the show as one of her game contestants. 🙂 🙂 🙂 The episode will air today, so tune in! I absolutely CANNOT wait to see it! And now, on with the post . . .

A couple of weeks ago, I sent fellow stalker Chas, of the ItsFilmedThere website, on a mission to try to track down all of the as of then not-yet-found locations which appeared in the 2002 movie Crossroads. At the top of my list was the supposed Alabama-area Super A Foods grocery store where Lucy Wagner (aka Britney Spears) and her friends, Mimi (aka Taryn Manning), Kit (aka Zoe Saldana), and Ben (aka Anson Mount), made a pit stop during their road trip from Georgia to Hollywood in the flick. I knew from watching the movie’s DVD commentary with producer Ann Carli, director Tamra Davis, and writer Shonda Rhimes (who I just discovered was the same woman who created Grey’s Anatomy!) that the grocery store was located somewhere in the L.A. area and I had tried in vain to find it several times without any luck. I had also enlisted the help of my dad who, as I have mentioned before, used to work in the grocery business, and while he did have a few Super A stores that he previously consulted for, he sadly did not recognize the one that appeared in Crossroads. So imagine my surprise when Chas called me shortly after watching the movie to let me know that the grocery store was the first location he had managed to track down. Amazingly enough, all he did was input the words “Super A Foods” and “Los Angeles” into the Google search bar and the Crossroads store was the first entry that popped up! Not kidding! So, I dragged my dad right on out there to stalk the place the very next morning. Yay!

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I am VERY happy to report that the exterior of the market still looks EXACTLY the same in person as it did in onscreen.

In real life, the “Alabama’s Finest Meat & Produce” sign that was put in place for the filming reads “Carniceria”.

I was BEYOND excited when I discovered that the children’s mini merry-go-round machine that appeared in the movie was actually there in real life! So incredibly cool!

Some filming also took place inside of the Super A Foods market. In the DVD commentary, director Tamra Davis mentions that the shoot was an all-night event and that it was one of the hardest days of filming due to the fact that everyone was beyond exhausted. She also mentioned that more than a few squabbles took place that night.

Sadly, the interior of the store has since been remodeled and looks quite a bit different today than it did when Crossroads was filmed back in 2001.

The signs that appeared in the background of the scene have also since been changed, but the new ones are, thankfully, quite similar – in shape at least – to the old ones.

Crossroads was filmed in Super A Foods check stand #1, but as you can see in the above photographs, that area is much more modern now than it was in the movie. Such a shame!

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Chas, from the ItsFilmedThere website, for finding this location! Smile You can check out his extensive Crossroads filming locations page here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Super A Foods which appeared in Crossroads is located at 2925 Division Street in the Glassell Park area of Los Angeles, just southwest of Eagle Rock.

March 29, 2011March 28, 2011

The “Crossroads” Motel

One location that I have been trying to track down for what seems like ages now is the supposed Tucson, Arizona-area motel where Ben (aka Anson Mount) played the song “I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman” for Lucy (aka Britney Spears) in the 2002 movie Crossroads. In the flick, Ben takes Lucy into a large, very unique-looking, surfboard-shaped glass room and proceeds to play the song for her on a piano that is stationed there. Well, let me tell you, I became absolutely intrigued with that room ever since first seeing the movie almost a decade ago and immediately added the motel to my “To-Find” list, but for whatever reason could just not seem to locate it. So imagine my surprise when fellow stalker Owen emailed me a little over two weeks ago to ask if I happened to know where that motel was. He was trying to track it down because, as he said, “the big room with the large glass windows is pretty cool”. What can I say – great minds think alike. When I told Owen that I had no idea where it was located, he got right to work in finding it. He had learned from watching the Crossroads’ DVD commentary with producer Ann Carli, director Tamra Davis, and writer Shonda Rimes that the motel was located somewhere in “the Valley” and that a production designer named Waldemar had discovered it while driving around scouting locations for the film. So what did Owen do? Yep, he went straight to the source and contacted Waldemar directly! Well, the very next day there was an email from Waldemar waiting in Owen’s inbox – with an address. Yay! As it turns out filming had taken place at the Hometown Inn in North Hills. So I dragged my dad right on out to stalk the place a few days later. (Now I would be remiss if I didn’t mention here that I, too, listened to that very same DVD commentary while trying to locate the motel and never in a million years did it occur to me to go after Waldemar himself! Owen is most definitely the master and my hat is completely off to him on this one!)

Oddly enough, the room where Ben played “I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman” is now a restaurant of some sort and it looks quite a bit different today than it did when filming took place back in 2002. The whole motel has an odd feel to it, truth be told, and the place seemed to be rather deserted while I was there taking pictures.

I cannot express how cool it was to finally be standing in that room, though, and thinking about the fact that Miss Britney Spears had once been standing – and singing – in that same exact spot.

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Quite a bit of the Hometown Inn was featured in Crossroads, including the front entrance;

and the pool area . . .

. . . which appeared in the scene in which Lucy speaks with her friends, Kit (aka Zoe Saldana) and Mimi (aka Taryn Manning), about the fact that her mother does not want a relationship with her.

As you can see in the above screen capture and photograph, the blue lip which surrounds the perimeter of the pool still looks exactly the same today as it did when the movie was filmed!

The Hometown Inn was not used for the filming of the interior of Lucy, Kit, Ben, and Mimi’s motel room, though. As was the case with the majority of the motel room scenes in Crossroads, interior filming took place at the now-defunct Ambassador Hotel near Downtown Los Angeles. You can see what an actual Hometown Inn room looks like here.

While we were stalking the Hometown Inn, I desperately wanted to find the payphone where Lucy called her father, Pete (aka Dan Aykroyd), in the movie, but for the life of me I just could NOT seem to figure out where it was. I knew the phone had to be situated somewhere near the motel’s main entrance because Ben’s car was visible in the background behind Lucy in the scene, but I just could not locate it anywhere.

It wasn’t until after I returned home and watched the above-pictured deleted scene that I realized the payphone was located inside of the motel’s lobby.

That payphone is, sadly, no longer there. And while I did go inside the lobby while I was stalking the motel, because I did not realize it had been featured in the movie, I, unfortunately, did not get any photographs of it.

Crossroads Behind-the-Scenes Featurette–Hometown Inn

You can watch a behind-the-scenes video of the Hometown Inn scene being filmed by clicking above.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Owen for finding this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Hometown Inn, aka the Tucson, Arizona motel from Crossroads, is located at 9401 Sepulveda Boulevard in North Hills. You can visit the motel’s official website here.

February 25, 2011February 25, 2011

Burlesque Lounge from “Burlesque”

A couple of months ago, I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to see Burlesque and, because of all of the bad reviews the movie was generating, I did not have very high hopes that either of us would enjoy it much. As it turns out, though, I could NOT have been more wrong! It is a highly entertaining romp which boasts fabulous musical numbers, sparkling and intricately-designed costumes, and incredibly beautiful sets that made me want to hop right into the movie screen. I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it. And even though the movie is definitely a chick flick, the GC said he thoroughly enjoyed it as well. So when I saw that fellow stalker Gary, of the Seeing Stars website, had just published a page detailing various filming locations from the movie, I just about died. The were two locations that I was most interested in stalking, the first of which was the Mediterranean-style apartment complex where Ali (aka Christina Aguilera) and Jack (aka Cam Gigandet) lived, which come to find out does not, in fact, exist. Fellow stalker Chas, of the ItsFilmedThere website, contacted a few Burlesque crew members on my behalf to find out the location of the apartment building, but they all informed him that it was a set that had been built on the Sony Pictures Studio backlot, which was shocking to me as I had been convinced that the building was a real place. I absolutely cannot wait to get my hands on the DVD of the movie, which is being released on March 1st, so that I can listen to the commentary to learn more about the construction of that set. Anyway, the other location that I was dying to stalk was the exterior of the Burlesque Lounge, which, thanks to Gary I now know, was in actuality the side entrance of the historic Ricardo Montalban Theatre in Hollywood. So, I dragged the GC right on out there to stalk the place this past Monday afternoon.

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The Ricardo Montalban Theatre was first built in 1926 by Myron Hunt, the legendary Los Angeles architect who also designed the Rose Bowl, Occidental College, the California Institute of Technology, the Huntington Hotel (now the Langham), and the Huntington Library, among countless other area buildings. The Beaux Arts-style theatre was originally a live, or a “legitimate”, stage venue known as the Vine Street Theatre, but was transformed into a single-screen movie theatre during the Great Depression. A few years later it was purchased by CBS and became a radio broadcasting venue known as the CBS Playhouse Theatre. It was there that legendary Hollywood producer/director Cecil B. DeMille hosted his Lux Radio Theatre show in which movie stars of the day would act out radio versions of his many films. In 1954, the property once again became a live theatre venue and was renamed the Huntington Hartford. In 2000, the 1200-seat venue was purchased by Nosotros, a non-profit performing arts organization founded by Fantasy Island star Ricardo Montalban. The organization set about renovating the theatre and restoring the property to its former 1927 glory and in May of 2004 reopened the space as the Ricardo Montalban Theatre.

In Burlesque, the Ricardo Montalban Theatre’s side entrance, side exterior stairwell, and parking lot area were all used as the Burlesque Lounge’s main entrance. Amazingly enough, the wrought-iron gate which was featured so prominently in the movie is actually there in real life, which I was BEYOND excited to see! You can check out some pictures of the gate dressed for the filming here. (The theatre was having some sort of a movie screening when we showed up to stalk it, which is why there are people camped out on the sidewalk in all of my photographs).

Sadly, the parking lot area, which was featured in the scene in which Tess (aka Cher) and Nikki (aka Kristen Bell) get into a fight, has been ripped up and is currently under construction. According to the signs posted on the fence which now surrounds the former lot, a parking garage is set to be built in that area.

You can see what the parking lot area used to look like thanks to Bing Streetside in the pictures above and by clicking here.

I literally just about fell over when, while stalking the theatre, I recognized the burger stand located next door as the spot where Lucy (aka Britney Spears), Ben (aka Anson Mount), Kit (aka Zoe Saldana), and Mimi (aka Taryn Manning) signed up for the Slide Records singing audition in the movie Crossroads! I had actually been on the hunt for that location for quite some time and was absolutely FLOORED to have stumbled upon it in such a way. For whatever reason, I always seem to have that sort of luck when it comes to Crossroads locales as I also stumbled upon the gas station which appeared in the movie in a very similar manner.

If you would like to stalk the stand, which is named Molly’s Charbroiler in real life, you should do so soon as, according to fave website CurbedLA, the tiny restaurant may be torn down in the coming months in order to make way for a new office building. Sad smile Have I mentioned how much I love change?

Burlesque Trailer

You can watch the trailer for Burlesque, in which the exterior of the Burlesque Lounge is briefly shown, by clicking above.

Big THANK YOU to Gary, from Seeing Stars, for finding this location and to Chas, from ItsFilmedThere, for contacting Burlesque crew members to find out where Ali and Jack’s apartment building was located! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Ricardo Montalban Theatre, aka Burlesque Lounge from Burlesque, is located at 1615 North Vine Street in Hollywood. The Burlesque Lounge entrance is located on the north side of the property. You can visit the theatre’s official website here. Molly’s Charbroiler, from Crossroads, is located at 1601 North Vine Street. You can visit the burger stand’s official website here.

January 28, 2011January 27, 2011

The “Crossroads” Gas Station

One location that I was absolutely dying to stalk while visiting Palmdale last week was the supposed Texas-area gas station where Lucy Wagner (aka Miss Britney Spears) stole the keys to Ben’s (aka Anson Mount’s) Buick Skylark convertible in the 2002 movie Crossroads. I had known from watching the flick’s DVD commentary with director Tamra Davis and writer Shonda Rhimes that the gas station scene was filmed somewhere in the Palmdale/Lancaster area, but unfortunately its exact location was not specified. So, the night before my dad and I were set to head out that way, I got to work looking at aerial views of what I thought was every single gas station located within the Palmdale/Lancaster city limits. Unfortunately though, I came up completely empty-handed. So, imagine my surprise the following morning when I spotted what I was fairly certain was the Crossroads station while driving to the famed Four Aces movie set. I just about had a heart attack, slammed on my brakes, did a U-turn in the middle of the street, and headed right on back to the station to get a closer look.

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And, as it turns out, my instincts were right! The Super Store 6, as it is called in real life, was in fact the gas station from Crossroads! So, I immediately headed right on inside to speak with the owner who truly could NOT have been nicer. She told me that Britney had been very friendly and down-to-earth during the filming and that it had been a fairly low-key shoot. The owner also informed me that her station had appeared in both ZZ Top’s “Gimme All Your Lovin’” music video and the final scene from the original Terminator movie. Unfortunately though, the gas station has been completely remodeled since that time and looks quite a bit different today than it did in the early 1980’s when those productions were filmed.

Thankfully though, Crossroads was filmed after the remodel took place, so it still looks very much the same in person as it did onscreen. In what turned out to be one of my very favorite scenes from the movie, Lucy, Ben, and their friends Mimi (aka Taryn Manning) and Kit (aka Zoe Saldana), stop by the station to fill up their car with gas while making their way from Louisiana to California. After grabbing a snack in the station’s mini-mart, Lucy, Mimi, and Kit discover that Ben has fallen asleep in the backseat of his car and, even though they have been warned that they are not allowed to touch the car under any circumstances, they decide to steal his keys and drive to their next destination themselves.

Mimi nominates Lucy to steal the car keys from Ben’s pocket because, as she says, “Well, Kit and I voted and you lost!” (LOVE IT!) So, Lucy snatches the keys and the girls drive off into the sunset.

But not before snapping the above photograph of themselves which I think is just about the cutest thing ever. I love, love, love that famous cross-eyed, tongue-out Britney face . . .

. . . which she later duplicated in her Super Bowl commercial for Pepsi Cola, but I digress.

In Crossroads, Ben’s Buick is parked at the station’s southeastern-most pump, in the spot where I am standing in the above photograph. Because there was a large truck parked right near the pump, though, my dad had to take the picture from the opposite direction from which the camera was facing in the movie.

In the very final scene of The Terminator, Sarah Connor (aka Linda Hamilton) stops by the Super Store 6 to fill her tank with gas and winds up having her photograph taken by a young boy. I am fairly certain that the station was never actually colored pink and green in real life, but that producers had it painted solely for the filming of the movie and then painted it back to its original color when the production was wrapped. Because the gas station is supposed to be located somewhere in the Mexican desert in the flick, producers also added quite a bit of set dressing, including Spanish signs, piñatas, and souvenirs, making the place look quite a bit different than it actually appeared at the time.

ZZ Top’s “Gimme All Your Lovin’” music video takes place almost in its entirety at the Crossroads/Terminator gas station.

In the video, the woman in red parks her car in the exact same spot that Sarah Connor parked her Jeep in The Terminator, but the camera is facing in the opposite direction in the video than it was in the movie so the view is a bit different.

But, as you can see in the above screen captures, the square-shaped bars that cover the mini-mart’s windows . . .

. . . and the roofline and roof shape from the “Gimme All Your Lovin’” video exactly match that which appeared in The Terminator.

“Gimme All Your Lovin’” Music Video at Palmdale Gas Station

You can watch the “Gimme All Your Lovin’” music video by clicking above.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Super Store 6, aka the gas station from Crossroads, the final scene in the first Terminator movie, and ZZ Top’s “Gimme All Your Lovin’” music video, is located at 37202 90th Street East, at the corner of 90th Street East and Avenue S, in Palmdale. Some maps also list the gas station as being located in the town of Littlerock. In Crossroads, Ben’s car was parked at the pump located in the northeast corner of the station, in the area denoted with a pink “X” in the above aerial view. At the end of The Terminator, Sarah Connor was parked in front of the station’s western-most pump, in the area denoted with a blue “X” in the above aerial view. ZZ Top’s “Gimme All Your Lovin’” music video was filmed in the exact same spot that was used in The Terminator.

January 27, 2011January 27, 2011

The “Kill Bill” Church

One location that my dad and I visited while stalking in the Lancaster and Palmdale areas last week was the Sanctuary Adventist Church which was used prominently in the 2003 and 2004 Quentin Tarantino movies Kill Bill: Volume 1 and Kill Bill: Volume 2. And although I have never actually seen either of the Kill Bill flicks, I was dying to stalk the church because, thanks to fave book Hollywood Escapes: The Moviegoer’s Guide to Exploring Southern California’s Great Outdoors, I found out that it also had a very small, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo in the 2002 Britney Spears movie Crossroads, in which I was an extra. I should mention here that if you are planning to spend a day stalking in Palmdale – and I do HIGHLY recommend doing so – I suggest you print out maps of each and every location that you are wanting to visit before heading out the door. I failed to do so and had planned on using my navigation system to lead me to each locale, but, let me tell you, that did NOT pan out very well. At most points during our journey, my navigator had no idea where on earth we were – more than once it told me I was driving on a road that didn’t exist! LOL – and a few times it even took us on routes through dirt roads that wound up at dead ends. And while Palmdale and Lancaster are not exactly desolate – there’s even a Starbucks there! – most of the filming locations in that area are pretty far removed from civilization. I suggest that you not make a stalking journey out there alone and that you arrive with a full tank of gas and a car that is in good working order.

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The Sanctuary Adventist Church, which up until recently was known as the Calvary Baptist Church, is an actual working religious facility that, sadly, does not appear to currently be in the best of shape. The tiny Spanish-style chapel definitely has a Southwestern feel to it and it is not very hard to see why Quentin Tarantino chose to use it as the site of the wedding day massacre in his two-part action flick. Especially with that lone Joshua tree that stands in front of it and gives the church a very picturesque, very cinematic feel.

As you can see in the above photograph, the church is also located on a very desolate and very remote stretch of desert road, which gives it a very non-L.A., non-California feel. In fact it is hard to believe that the place is located just a scant sixty miles away from the hustle and bustle that is Los Angeles.

In Crossroads, the church stood in for the supposed Arizona-area Native American souvenir stand that Lucy (aka Britney Spears), Kit (aka Zoe Saldana), Mimi (aka Taryn Manning), and Ben (aka Anson Mount) stop at during their journey from Louisiana to California. It is while at the stand that Lucy asks her friends for advice on whether she should show up at her estranged mother’s house unannounced or call her beforehand.

Ironically enough, even though the church is supposed to be a roadside souvenir stand in the movie, for whatever reason producers decided to leave the Calvary Baptist Church sign up during the filming.

In Kill Bill: Volume 1 and 2, the Sanctuary Adventist Church stood in for the supposed El Paso, Texas-area Two Pines Wedding Chapel where the Deadly Viper Assassination Team (aka Vivica A. Fox, Lucy Liu, Daryl Hannah, Michael Madsen, and David Carradine) attempt to kill “the Bride” (aka Uma Thurman).

I am fairly certain that the real life interior of the church, which you can see a photograph of here, was also used in the production of both films.

The church has also been featured in numerous other productions, as well. In fact, the intersection of 198th Street East and East Avenue G, where the church is located, is quite a famous little stretch of land. In the 1981 movie True Confessions, the Sanctuary Adventist Church is where Detective Tom Spellacy (aka Robert Duvall) visits his brother Father Des Spellacy (aka Robert DeNiro).

The 1999 Jean-Claude Van Damme action flick Dessert Heat (which, for some reason, is also named Inferno), was filmed almost in its entirety in both the former High Vista Diner and the sundries store located directly across the street from the Sanctuary Adventist Church. The church is visible in the background throughout the vast majority of the movie.

Jubal Early (aka Pat Morita) is also shown ringing the church bell at one point in the movie, although that bell is no longer there in real life.

In Desert Heat, the High Vista Diner is where both Rhonda Reynolds (aka Gabrielle Fitzpatrick) and Dottie Matthews (aka Jaime Pressly) worked. In real life, the place was not a real working restaurant, but, much like Four Aces and Club Ed, was solely built for use as a filming location. Sadly though, the structure was torn down back in early 2008 and is now nothing more than a dirt lot. You can see a photograph of what it used to look like here and here.

Right next to the former High Vista Diner location is another vacant building which stood in for the Elis Emporium Sundries and Surplus store in Desert Heat. And while that structure is still currently standing, I am not sure for how long that will be the case.

As you can in the above photographs, the building does not look to be in the best of shape, although it is apparently still available for filming. Winking smile

The Elis Emporium structure was also visible in the background of the opening scene of True Confessions and I do believe that it was a real working grocery store at one point in time.

The little motel that Henry Howard (aka Robert Symonds) and his wife (aka Priscilla Pointer) owned in Desert Heat used to be located directly behind the Elis Emporium building, but it has also since been torn down.

In Nurse Betty, the High Vista Café stood in for the supposed Williams, Arizona-area Canyon Ranch Bar where Betty (aka Renee Zellweger), and later Wesley (aka Chris Rock) and Charlie (aka Morgan Freeman), stop while making their way towards California.

I am fairly certain that the interior of the Canyon Ranch Bar was filmed elsewhere though, as it looks nothing like the interior of the diner from Desert Heat and also appears to be quite a bit larger than the former High Vista Diner building. My guess is that the interior Canyon Ranch Bar scenes were filmed on a soundstage somewhere in Hollywood.

The Kill Bill church is also just barely visible in the background of Nurse Betty in the scene in which Charlie and Wesley arrive at the Canyon Ranch Bar.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Sanctuary Adventist Church, aka the Kill Bill church, is located at the intersection of 198th Street East and East Avenue G in Lancaster. The High Vista Diner was formerly located directly across the street from the church at the southeast corner of 198th Street East and East Avenue G. The Elis Emporium Sundries and Surplus Store from Desert Heat is located at the southwest corner of 198th Street East and East Avenue G.

August 15, 2008March 20, 2009

Watching The Hills Be Filmed!

Got one of the most exciting phone calls of my life on Tuesday! A good friend who has an in at the Project Beach House in Malibu called to invite me to a little shindig being held there yesterday, which would have been exciting news in and of itself. But what she said next almost gave me a heart attack – the event at the beach house was actually being held for a taping of The Hills!!!!! I swear I screamed so loud after hearing the news I am surprised my neighbors didn’t complain! LOL

So yesterday afternoon I headed out to Malibu to party at the Project Beach House. 🙂 In case you don’t read US Magazine, Beverly Hills PR firm Fingerprint Communications’ sponsored Project Beach House joined the ranks of other corporate sponsored celeb party houses in Malibu – ie. the Polaroid Beach House and the Silver Spoon Beach House. The Project Beach House is a $25 million six bedroom home, which was built by Frank Lloyd Wright, and sits on over four acres of land on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean and El Matador State Beach in Malibu. The mansion has huge sprawling lawns, a koi pond, tennis court, pool, and even a helicopter landing pad! Not to mention a great view of Brad and Angie’s Malibu home, which is located right next door, but I’ll save those pics for a future post. 🙂

When we arrived there were huge luxury double size chaise lounges set up (which might as well have been outdoor beds, they were so comfy), models walking around in bathing suits and really high heels, a ton of really cool freebies, a Garnier Fructis facial station, a poolside hair styling station, a DJ spinning records, waitresses walking around serving delicious fresh baked appetizers, and two full bars. Just being at the Project Beach House would have been exciting enough for this stalker – the whole time I was literally thinking “How in the heck am I here??” I mean, who am I to be hanging out at the PROJECT BEACH HOUSE??? 🙂 So cool!

At around 3:30PM, in walked Lauren and Whitney and I just about DIED! You can see them in the above pic – they are on the very left. Lauren was not as thin as I expected her to be, but she was just as cute in person as she seems on TV. I was kinda bummed out, though, as she did not seem very friendly at all. I hardly saw her smile at all during the filming. After they arrived, Whitney and Lauren kind of hung out off to the side of the house waiting for the camera crew to get set up. The Hills is taped with three cameras set up on tripods that are actually set pretty far back from where the action is taking place. I was really surprised at how far away the cameras actually were. I always pictured the cameramen to be using handheld cameras and to kind of be right in the girls’ faces, but they weren’t. Taping of the sound is done wirelessly with the cast wearing wireless mikes, so the sound guy also stands pretty far away from the girls.

I must say that the entire experience was absolutely BIZARRE. I can’t put my finger on what exactly made the taping so surreal, but it was definitely wierd. Prior to the taping, I had always believed that the show was not really a “reality” show. I was convinced it was scripted and heavy influenced by producers. However, that wasn’t actually the case. But while the show is real, it is more of an altered reality, which is, I think, what made the whole experience so strange.

To start off with, producers picked the exact spot where they wanted Lauren and the gang to sit well before Lauren actually arrived. The spot they chose was actually the chaise my friend and I had been sitting on all afternoon and they made us move shortly before Lauren and Whitney arrived. I guess we had chosen the best seats in the house. LOL

To further the altered reality, the premise of the episode is that Lauren and Whitney attend a fashion event for a clothing company called “Tt”. While there was sort of a fashion event/party going on at the beach house, the whole thing was pretty much just set up so that The Hills could be filmed. I seriously doubt there would have been any party going on had The Hills not wanted to film at the Beach House yesterday. One of the party guests actually asked a worker at the house if there was a fashion show scheduled since so many models were walking around. The worker replied “Well, it’s sort of a fake fashion show.” LOL Everyone at the “party” also had to sign releases to be on camera.

Once the camera crew got set up, they let Lauren and Whitney walk on screen. The girls walked to the pool area and went straight to the producer-chosen chaise lounge. And then they pretty much just sat there. And sat there. And sat there. The whole time my friend and I were wondering when they were going to start filming and then we realized that they HAD BEEN filming the whole time! I’ve been on a few movie sets and usually during filming there is some sort of action taking place, SOMETHING is happening, but not in this case. At some points Lauren and Whitney were just kind of looking around the party, not even talking to each other. So in that sense, the show is truly “reality” – Lauren and Whitney really were just sitting and hanging out at a party. I guess I shouldn’t really be surprised at their inaction, as not much else occurs on The Hills besides a lot of sitting around and talking. LOL After about 25 minutes or so, She-Pratt and her new boyfriend came out to the pool to hang out with LC and Whitney. Stephanie was surprisingly really pretty in person – she has amazing blue eyes!

The Hills crew was super laid back and I was floored when I found out that they were allowing pictures to be taken of the filming. At first I was totally trying to take pictures on the down low, as cameras are usually not allowed on most movie and TV sets. But once I realized that it was OK to take pictures, I moved in closer to get some better shots. 🙂 And when I did so, I noticed Audrina standing off to the side of the house. She had apparently been there the whole time, but had to wait for the producer’s go ahead before entering the filming area. SO STRANGE. The same thing occured with Frankie Delgado and his friends. I am not sure what the reasoning on that was. I am guessing that the producers were waiting for things to get boring with Lauren and Whitney before letting other characters enter the scene.

What I was very surprised about, though, was how hands off the producers were. I was convinced they would be yelling “Cut!” and having the stars constantly repeat dialog, but that was not the case. A producer only interfered with filming once, and it was to tell Whitney, who had been laying down on a chaise, to sit up as they couldn’t see her through the camera. The producers also pretty much left the party-goers alone. I thought for sure we would be cordoned off and not allowed to get near the stars or the filming area, but nothing like that occurred. People were walking freely all over the place – in front of the camera, around the stars, etc. That was another thing that made the situation really strange. At one point my friend’s husband was standing right next to LC while she waited in line at the bar – and yes, I swear, she actually waited in line!

I am convinced, though, that some of the partiers were actually paid extras. There were two people, especially, whom the producers kept talking to and moving around, and I know they had to be extras. At certain times, too, the producers would tell partygoers to move around in the background or to go sit on the chaises near Lauren, JUST LIKE on a movie set. I guess there wasn’t enough going on in the background to make the party look realistic enough. More of that altered reality. Producers also asked the Tt models (clad in teeny tiny bathing suits) to play a little “impromptu” soccer game behind LC and friends during filming -and they looked absolutely ridiculous doing so! And not at all realistic.

Another thing I found strange was that while I was absolutely FLOORED to be there and it was one of the most exciting days EVER – I was also completely bored during the filming. As I said before, the cast wasn’t very interesting to watch at all – they pretty much just sat there for about three hours not really doing a whole lot. Audrina and her friends jumped into the pool for a bit and sat around drinking in there, but that was the only real action that took place. LOL I read an article yesterday, though, that said it takes Hills editors FOUR TO SIX WEEKS to sift through enough of the footage of Lauren’s daily life to put together ONE episode. So they must not really be all that exciting. LOL

The whole party had kind of a weird vibe, too. It seemed more like a Hills viewing party than anything else as everyone was literally sitting around JUST watching Lauren and the gang film. It was very obvious that most party-goers were there for the sole purpose of seeing The Hills stars live and in person. Like I said, it was bizarre. I must say, though, that I had a BLAST at the party and just being there would have been excitement enough for me for one day – but seeing The Hills cast in person and watching them film was truly the icing on the cake. I can die a happy woman now! LOL

The Hills new season premieres this Monday night on MTV. I am not sure when the Project Beach House episode will air, but I am guessing in about 6-8 weeks. I CANNOT wait to see it! All in all, the entire cast was there during the shoot, minus Speidi (who I would have loved to have seen!), Lo, and Brody Jenner. Otherwise the rest of the group was present – LC, Stephanie Pratt and what seemed to be her new boyfriend, Audrina and a new guy she was cuddling up with, Audrina’s tattooed sister and her boyfriend, Whitney Port, and Frankie Delgado. And even though the whole thing was a bizarre experience to watch, I still absolutely love The Hills. In fact I think I like it even more now. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Project Beach House is located at 32340 Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. But sadly yesterday was the final day and the final party (until next summer, of course!) for the Project Beach House. I hear permanent residents are moving into the house next week.