television locations – Page 20

July 23, 2009July 22, 2009

The Second Peach Pit

Two weekends ago, thanks to Mike from MovieShotsLA, I was able to stalk a location that I have long been on the lookout for – the storefront that was used as the second Peach Pit on the original Beverly Hills, 90210 series. Yes, I did say the “second” Peach Pit. As most fans of the series know, for some odd reason, three different locations were used to represent Brandon, Brenda and the gang’s favorite afterschool hangout throughout the show’s ten year run. And while Mike and I had found the other two Peach Pit locations a while back, the “second” one proved to be quite elusive. Until a few weeks ago, that is, when Mike randomly walked by it while doing some stalking in the Venice area and recognized it immediately!

Truth be told, what Mike actually recognized was not the Peach Pit storefront itself, but the alleyway located right next door which currently houses a nursery. During our search for this location, Mike and I had spent hours studying screen captures of the Peach Pit and could not for the life of us figure out what was located directly next door to it. It appeared to be some sort of empty lot or alleyway enclosed by a detailed wrought iron gate. So, when Mike saw that gate in person, he immediately recognized it! It is very surprising to me that producers chose to use this location for the Peach Pit, because, as far as I know, it is the only Venice location every used on the series.

I am very happy to report that the Peach Pit still looks exactly the same today as it did when Beverly Hills, 90210 was filmed there back in 1990. And, ironically enough, while the storefront where the Peach Pit supposedly existed is currently vacant, it looks as if a diner style restaurant is in the process of moving in there. 🙂 How apropos!

This particular location was only used as the Peach Pit during the show’s first season, beginning with the episode entitled “Higher Education”. The last episode it was featured on was the Season One finale entitled “Home Again”.

When Nat decided to remodel his restaurant in the Season Two episode entitled “”Pass, Not Pass” (pictured above), the producers moved to an entirely new location to film the Peach Pit’s exteriors. The reasoning behind the location change has remained a 90210 mystery, but my best guess is that either a new owner moved into the Venice storefront and wasn’t cool with the filming, or, even more likely, the producers decided that the Venice location was just too far out of the way to go for filming and decided to relocate the Pit to Pasadena, just a few miles from the Walsh House.

I cannot recommend stalking the “second” Peach Pit enough!!!!! It is absolutely unbelievable to me that, almost two decades later, it still looks exactly the same as it did during the 90210 days. For all of you 90210 fans out there, this location will definitely bring back some memories! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The “second” Peach Pit can be found in the Venice Place Building which is located at 1027 Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice. The first Peach Pit is located at 10801 West Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles and the third, final, and most recognizable Peach Pit is located at 45 South Fair Oaks Avenue in Pasadena.

June 18, 2009June 16, 2011

Il Cielo

Looking at wedding venues is so darn fun that, I swear, I think I would be happy just remaining engaged forever. It could be my full time job. What do you do? Oh, I’m engaged – full time! 🙂 LOL On Tuesday, my wedding venue expedition led my mom and me to a little restaurant in Beverly Hills named Il Cielo. And I have to say that the place was downright amazing!!! So much so that it’s at the very top of my very narrowed down list of possible locations. Because I am such a picky eater, for years I’ve been steadfast about serving a buffet at my wedding, as opposed to a set menu. Il Cielo doesn’t offer a buffet – they only do sit-down dinners – yet they are STILL at the top of my list! Now, that’s saying a lot! 🙂

Il Cielo, which means “the sky” in Italian, was opened up in 1986 inside of a tiny Beverly Hills bungalow by a man named Pasquale Vericella. In the 70s, that bungalow was the home to another Italian restaurant named En Brochette. A frequent visitor to En Brochette, Pasquale adored the intimate, homey feel of the restaurant and decided it was just the type of place he himself wanted to own someday. He was so adamant about opening his restaurant in that exact spot, in fact, that for years he begged En Brochette’s owners to sell the restaurant and the bungalow to him. They finally relented in 1986, and Pasquale opened up his own Tuscan-style restaurant, featuring his mother and grandmother’s traditional family recipes. I had the pleasure of meeting Pasquale yesterday and of course asked him all sorts of questions about which celebrities had dined at Il Cielo. He quickly brushed off my queries and said “When you get married here, the only celebrity we are concerned with is YOU!” 🙂 So cute!!!!

Il Cielo has been voted “the most romantic restaurant in Los Angeles” numerous times by numerous publications. It has also been named “one of the top five places to get married in the country” – yes, the COUNTRY – by The New York Times. Those are some pretty amazing accolades! The restaurant has hosted over 1,500 weddings in its 23 year history. According to the restaurants’ events manager, Fabio, Il Cielo’s philosophy is service first, food second, and ambiance third. And from what I witnessed yesterday, all three of those seem to be top notch, especially the service. When I asked where the bar gets placed during a wedding reception, Fabio looked at me with confusion on his face. Then, realization dawning, he explained, “Oh no, we do not do waiting in line here. Our servers walk around taking drink orders, so that your guests never have to get out of their chair!” OMG LOVE IT! Even better than that, after the reception ends, guests are served lattes, cappuccinos, and biscotti out on the sidewalk while waiting for the valet to retrieve their cars. SO LOVE THAT! I mean, this place is downright A-MA-ZING.

And, of course, there’s also the celeb factor! Google the words “Il Cielo” and “celebrities” and a list of a hundred well-known names will pop up, including Christian Bale, Nancy Reagan, my girl Jennifer Aniston, Ellen DeGeneres, Portia De Rossi, Robert Redford, Rod Stewart, Colin Farrell, Claudia Shiffer, Ali Larter, Brandon Routh, Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Nikki and Cathy Hilton. Lesley Ann Warren was married at Il Cielo and (that little homewrecker) Brad Pitt took Gwyneth Paltrow there on their first date.

And, of course, Il Cielo is also a filming location. At the beginning of Legally Blonde, it’s the restaurant where Elle Woods’ boyfriend, Warner, does not propose. When Warner first announces he is taking Elle to Il Cielo, she says “Oooh, I love that restaurant. I heard Madonna went into labor there.” LOL LOL LOL

Il Cielo’s patio area stood in for the patio of Adam Sandler’s restaurant in the 2004 movie Spanglish. The exterior of Adam’s restaurant (pictured above) is actually the exterior of the Hal Valentine Hair Salon, which is located directly next door to Il Cielo.

On the Season Three episode of Entourage entitled “Strange Days”, Ari Gold re-proposes to his wife after 15 years of marriage with a ginormous diamond ring on Il Cielo’s back patio. The restaurant has actually popped up in Entourage no less than three times!

In the Season 3 episode of The Hills entitled “A Date With The Past”, former flame Ste-phen Colletti takes Lauren Conrad out for a “strictly platonic” dinner at Il Cielo. Smart move, Ste-phen, bringing a girl you just want to be friends with to the most romantic restaurant in all of L.A.! LOL Il Cielo was also featured in the Season Five opener of The Simple Life entitled “Welcome to Camp Shawnee” as the location where Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie finally bury the hatchet and become friends again over an Italian lunch.

I honestly can’t recommend stalking Il Cielo enough – either as a wedding venue or for a romantic dinner!!!! This place is truly one of a kind!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Il Cielo is located at 9018 Burton Way in Beverly Hills. You can visit their website here. Il Cielo is closed on Sundays.

June 17, 2009August 17, 2009

The “Joey” Apartment Building

For quite a while now I have been begging Mike, from MovieShotsLA, to locate the apartment building where Joey Tribbiani lived with his nephew, Michael, on the Friends spin-off Joey. So, imagine my surprise when I came across the address randomly in The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book. In the book, the address is listed as an almost after-thought, which is why it took me so long to notice it. LOL Apparently, most stalkers aren’t as interested in finding Joey filming locations as I am. 🙂 LOL Being that the show was canceled after only 14 episodes, I can’t say I’m all that surprised. But, because Joey was always my favorite Friends character (besides Rachel, of course!), I absolutely loved that show! “How you doin’?” 😉

On the show, Joey lived in a large apartment building named Monroe Manor, located directly beneath the Hollywood sign. Apparently, production designer John Schaffner chose the 50s style building because of its mid-century appeal. He said, “I didn’t want to do another Los Angeles show in a Spanish house or Craftsman cottage. I was more inspired by architects like Frank Lloyd Wright and Rudolph Schindler, who worked in natural materials that create a more casual feeling.” Monroe Manor definitely has a unique appearance to it and evokes a feeling of old time Hollywood.

The Monroe Manor complex was constructed in 1949 and is made up of ten terraced, duplex-type units built right into a Hollywood hillside. Each of the twenty apartments in the complex is entirely different in size and style. A side view of the building, which shows its tiered design, is pictured above. As you can see in the above photograph, the building is actually much larger than it’s front exterior would lead you to believe and much larger than it appeared onscreen in Joey. I read online that Monroe Manor was supposedly modeled after my girl Marilyn Monroe, but – call me crazy – I just don’t see the resemblance. 😉 LOL I think it is safer to say that the building was most likely just named after her. 🙂

In an interesting side note, after Joey was cancelled in 2004, a paramedics company in Charlotte, North Carolina purchased the entire set from the show (pictured above) to be used for their training simulations! Apparently, simulations are acted out on the former Joey set and recorded for later review and evaluation. How incredibly cool is that?? I so think I need to go work for that company!!!! North Carolina, here I come! 😉

In an even more interesting side note, when Matt LeBlanc first came to Hollywood, long before hitting it big with Friends, he actually lived at Monroe Manor!!!!! It was a complete coincidence years later when production designer John Schaffner chose the building to be used as the residence of struggling actor Joey Tribbiani. This was definitely a case of art imitating life! 🙂 Ironically, my good friend Maura has been asking me to find Matt LeBlanc’s house for some time now – so, Maura, this one’s for you. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Joey apartment building, aka Monroe Manor, is located at 2232 North Beachwood Canyon Drive in Hollywood. Joey lived in Apartment #7. In real life, Matt LeBlanc lived in #16.

May 28, 2009August 12, 2009

The Taken Mansion

This past weekend, my fiance and I rented the movie Taken – which was phenomenal, by the way!!!! – and I immediately recognized a home featured in it that was originally used in a Season One episode of fave show Beverly Hills, 90210. I have been dying to stalk the home for the past few years, but, unfortunately, it is located inside of a gated community and I haven’t been able to get past the guards. Yet!!! 🙂 But that’s why God created real estate websites – which is where I got the above photo. 🙂 The home, which was built in 1915 and is located inside of the exclusive Fremont Place complex in Hancock Park, has been featured in DOZENS of productions over the years. It has five bedrooms, four and a half bathrooms, boasts 8,240 square feet, and sits on almost two acres! Besides being featured on the silver screen, the home was also lived in by both Mary Pickford and Mary Miles Minter at different points in time.

In the movie Taken, the mansion stood in for the home of Liam Neeson’s ex-wife, Lenore, and her new uber-wealthy husband, Stuart. The mansion shows up several times in the movie, most notably as the site of Liam’s daughter’s birthday party.

Way back in 1990, the mansion was featured as the home of Brenda’s shoplifting pal Tiffany Morgan in the Season One episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 entitled “Every Dream Has It’s Price”. Ironically enough, though, no actual filming of Beverly Hills, 90210 took place at the home. A very brief establishing shot of the mansion was used in the episode, but all of the actual filming took place in the backyard of an Altadena home located directly across the street from Casa Walsh.

The same house also showed up in the Season 7 episode of CSI: Miami entitled “Dead on Arrival”. In the episode, the mansion was used as the setting of the fictional Bachelor-esque reality series “The Marrying Kind”.

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The mansion was also used in the Season Six episode of Cold Case entitled “November 22” as the present day home of pool shark Baltimore Red. And, as if all of that was not enough, in 2008 alone the home was featured in an infomercial, a DiGiorno pizza commercial, and episodes of Prison Break, Monk, Numbers, and the episode of The Mentalist entitled “Ladies in Red”. How cool would it be to own that place?!?!? Oh, I would be in heaven!!!! 🙂

According to The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book, the movie War of the Roses was also filmed in the Fremont Place community, just a few houses down from the Taken mansion. But, if you compare the above screen capture to the aerial image of the property supposedly used, the two houses don’t quite seem to match. So, unless some major renovations were done to the home since the filming of War of the Roses took place, I don’t think The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book’s information is correct. 🙁 Supposedly, the house from the Rocky movies is also located on the same street, but I haven’t been able to verify that yet. You can see photographs of some of the Fremont Place homes that have been used for filming and a really cool schedule of the 2007 and 2008 productions that filmed there here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Taken mansion is located at 56 Fremont Place in Los Angeles. The supposed War of the Roses home is located just down the street at 119 Fremont Place West. Please keep in mind that both of these houses are located inside of a gated, private community and trespassing is not allowed. 🙂

May 27, 2009June 27, 2019

Descanso Gardens

This past weekend I dragged my fiance and my parents out to stalk Descanso Gardens in La Canada Flintridge – another location that I discovered thanks to my new favorite stalking book. The 160-acre botanical garden has been featured in countless movies and television shows over the years and is also a popular wedding venue.

E. Manchester Boddy (pronounced “Boh-dee”) first purchased the property now known as Descanso Gardens in 1937 to build a home for his family. Besides being the owner and publisher of the Los Angeles Illustrated Daily News, Boddy was also a horticulturalist and a commercial camellia grower and he needed a piece of property large enough to cultivate his prized flowers. Rancho de Descanso, as it was then known, fit the bill perfectly. In 1938, he commissioned a 12,000 square foot home to be built on the property. The 22-room mansion, named the Boddy House, was designed in the Hollywood Regency style by “architect to the stars” James E. Dolena. Boddy positioned the home in the very southeast corner of Descanso – which means “rest and repose” in Spanish – so that he and his family would be able to enjoy specatular views of the San Gabriel Mountains. In 1953, Boddy sold the entire 160 acre property, including his custom built home, to the City of Los Angeles, who later opened it up to the public. In 2007, the Boddy Home was featured as the Pasadena Showcase House of Design and was completely renovated and restored to its former glory. The bottom floor of the home is open for all visitors of Descanso Gardens to tour. The Boddy House can also be rented out for weddings and private events.

Descanso Gardens encompasses a twenty-acre oak tree forest, a bird sanctuary, a five-acre rosarium featuring over three thousand roses, a Japanese tea garden, countless waterfalls and koi ponds, a lilac garden, and a California garden featuring Redwood trees, California poppies, and chaparral plants. The site is stunning and extremely expansive, but also, sadly, very crowded, I believe due to its low admission price.

The venue’s beauty has, of course, led to countless onscreen cameos. Descanso was the location of Nikolas Natchios’ funeral in the 2003 movie Daredevil.

Its greenhouse was used in a prominent scene in Minority Report.

And Reese Witherspoon has filmed no less than three productions at the Gardens! In Legally Blonde, Descanso was transformed into Golden Springs Spa where Reese and her partner Luke Wilson interviewed Raquel Welch. The building located just to left of Descanso’s main entrance was used as the entrance to the spa.

Both the interior and the exterior of the Boddy House were used as the home of John Voight, where Reese spends Christmas, in last year’s Four Christmases. Because the movie has not yet been released on DVD, I was not able to make screen captures of it. 🙁 According to one of the Boddy House docents, though, the mansion was significantly dressed up for the filming of the movie and is not very recognizable. Four Christmases featured many areas of the Boddy House, including the front entrance, main foyer, library, and living room. Reese also filmed her latest Avon commercial, which has yet to be released, at Descanso Gardens.

An episode of Mad Mad was also recently filmed on Descanso’s main lawn area (pictured above). Descanso Gardens was also featured in Memoirs of a Geisha, America’s Sweethearts, Graduation Day, Tiny Dancer, Congo, Land of the Lost, the recently wrapped Untitled Duplass Brothers Project starring Marisa Tomei, Jonah Hill, and John C. Reily, and Eddie Murphy’s new movie The Incredible Shrinking Man.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Descanso Gardens is located at 1418 Descanso Drive in La Canada Flintridge. The Gardens are open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The entrance fee is $8 for adults and $3 for children aged 5 to 12. Children under 5 are free. You can visit the Descanso Gardens website here.

May 21, 2009March 24, 2011

Naomi Clark’s House

Back in March, I came across this post on fave website On Location Vacations which stated that 90210 was filming that day at a private residence located at 145 North Rossmore Avenue in Los Angeles. That residence turned out to be the mega-mansion that Naomi Clark and her sister moved into in the episode of the CW series that aired last week, entitled “Zero Tolerance”. And since the home was also featured quite prominently in last night’s episode as the location of Naomi’s after-prom party, of course I just had to run right out and stalk it. 🙂 Thanks, On Location Vacations!!!!!

As you can see in the aerial images pictured above, Naomi’s house is absolutely ginormous in person!!! The mansion, which was originally built in 1923, boasts 5 bedrooms, 8 bathrooms!!! and a whopping 6,147 square feet.

Thanks to its sheer size and the two large towers (complete with flagpole) that flank its entrance, the mansion actually looks more like a museum or a monument of some sort than a residence. It’s hard to believe that a real person actually lives there!

The home is so big, in fact, that it even has its own separate service entrance! 🙂 LOL

Both the interior and the exterior of the mansion were used quite extensively on last night’s episode of 90210, which was entitled “One Party Can Ruin Your Whole Summer”. Featured on the show were the front entrance;

the front yard area – where Annie had her meltdown;

the pool area – where Silver encouraged all the girls to go swimming in their prom dresses and where Naomi’s sister, Jen, hit on Liam;

and the covered walkway – where Ethan kissed Silver.

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I couldn’t help but cringe last night while watching Naomi’s house being trashed during her out of control prom party. If I owned that beautiful mansion I don’t think I could have handled watching that happen – even if it was all fake. LOL 🙂 According to Zillow, this same home was also used in an episode of CSI: Miami, but I am not sure which one. I will have to keep my eyes open for it. 🙂

I have to say that I am actually a bit surprised that that this particular house was used for filming, as it doesn’t seem to be situated in a very film-friendly location. Rossmore Avenue is a fairly busy thoroughfare, with pretty much constant traffic congestion. I had a hard time even just walking across Rossmore to take a picture from the other side of the street, so I can’t imagine how the crew was able to set up the many film trucks and equipment needed for the day without at least partially shutting down the street. Needless to say, though, the house is absolutely beautiful and absolutely huge and it is just the type of home I’d picture 90210’s resident princess purchasing for herself. You can see some great interior and close up pics of the house here. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Naomi Clark’s house is located at 145 North Rossmore Avenue in Los Angeles.

May 20, 2009May 19, 2009

Altadena Town and Country Club

As I predicted a few weeks ago, getting engaged has opened up a whole new stalking world for me! And even though I have known for years now the exact spot where I want to get married, I am fully planning on dragging my fiance from one end of L.A. to the other looking at wedding/filming locations. Hey, a girl should really keep her options open, shouldn’t she? For stalking’s sake, at least. 🙂 So, yesterday I set out to stalk my very first wedding (and, of course, filming) location – the Altadena Town and Country Club. I had heard rumors a few years back that a scene from Dirty Dancing had been filmed at the club – how did these Dirty Dancing being filmed in Altadena rumors get started, anyway???? – and have wanted to stalk the place ever since. Yesterday, I finally had my chance.

Altadena Town and Country Club, which was established in 1910 and was originally called the Altadena Country Club, is an absolutely beautiful private club located at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains.

The five and a half acre property boasts sprawling lawns;

a beautiful rose garden;

a sparkling swimming pool complete with a poolside snack bar;

multiple tennis courts;

a 27,000 square foot clubhouse,

consisting of several beautiful ballrooms with wood-beamed ceilings;

a large terrace overlooking the pool;

and an upscale restaurant with a top notch wine list. In fact, one of my very favorite champagnes is on the Club’s list of options for wedding toasts. 🙂 Altadena Town and Country Club looks like the perfect setting to host a wedding and the prices are extremely reasonable to boot!!! I didn’t end up taking the full wedding tour while I was there yesterday, as it was the event coordinators’ day off. But I think I am going to make an appointment to do just that, as I ended up really liking the place. 🙂

And, while I am absolutely certain that Dirty Dancing was not filmed at the Altadena Town & Country Club, many other productions have been filmed there. The Club stood in for Marsante Country Club in the Season One episode of The Mentalist entitled “Scarlett Fever”;

it was used as Vince Vaughn’s pool club in Starsky & Hutch;

and it was the location of the Lambda Omega Omega “End of Finals Loo-au” in Van Wilder. Altadena Town and Country Club was also featured in an episode of Mad Men, the 1994 movie Speechless, and the Wonder Years two-part series finale entitled “Summer/Independence Day”.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Altadena Town and Country Club is located at 2290 Country Club Drive in Altadena. You can visit their website here. Unfortunately, the Club is not open to the public, but it is available as an event and wedding venue.

May 19, 2009May 20, 2009

Farnsworth Park

My favorite movie of all time has got to be Dirty Dancing. I’ve loved the coming-of-age film ever since I was about 13 years old. Oh, how I wanted to be Baby! 🙂 Growing up, I made my best guy friend practice doing “the lift” with me everytime we were in a swimming pool. LOL And, like Baby, I could never seem to get it right! 🙂 It has long been my location dream to one day travel to Pembroke, Virgina to stalk Mountain Lake Resort, the hotel where most of the filming of the movie took place. So, imagine my surprise yesterday when I read in my new favorite stalking book that the final dance sequence from Dirty Dancing was actually filmed right here in L.A.! I literally just about died of excitement!!!! LOL According to the book, the Kellerman Playhouse, which supposedly existed at the Catskills resort where Baby and her family were vacationing, was, in reality, the Davies Memorial Building located in Farnsworth Park in Altadena. So, of course, I ran right out to stalk it!

Unfortunately, though, after watching Dirty Dancing earlier today – accompanied by screenwriter Eleanor Bergstein’s commentary – I am fairly certain that the rumors about the movie being filmed in Altadena are simply that – rumors. As you can see in the above screen captures, the Davies Memorial Building in no way resembles the Kellerman Playhouse where Johnny and Baby performed their famous final dance. 🙁 The differences between the two buildings include: the Kellerman Playhouse has French doors and stone columns running along its walls, but the Davies Building does not; the ceiling of the Davies Building is flanked by wooden beams, while the ceiling of the Kellerman Playhouse has an almost curtain-like ceiling; the Davies Building features a huge rock fireplace centered on one wall, while the Kellerman Playhouse is lacking a fireplace; and the chandeliers in the Davies building are craftsman style, while the Kellerman Playhouse chandeliers are more traditional. Final proof that the dance scene was not filmed at the Davies Building? In the commentary, Eleanor states that the scene, which took a whopping five full days to film, took place in North Carolina. SUCH A BUMMER!!!!

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My stalking trip to Farnsworth Park wasn’t a complete bust, though. While I can pretty much state with absolute certainty that Dirty Dancing’s final dance scene did not take place there, I am happy to report that many other productions have been filmed on the property. 🙂

In American Pie 2, Farnsworth Park stood in for Tall Oaks Band Camp. The amphitheatre area was featured in the scene where Jim played the trombone before a packed audience . . .

. . . and the Davies Memorial Building was used as the camp lodge where Jim and Michelle had a late night chat. You can see the building’s huge stone fireplace behind Jim and Michelle in the above screen capture. Farnsworth Park also made an appearance in the movie’s sequel, American Pie Presents Band Camp.

The Davies Memorial building was also used in the Margaret Chow series Two Sisters and it’s kitchen area was featured in an episode of NCIS, where it was dressed up to look like a morgue. The picnic area of Farnsworth Park has been featured in CSI: Las Vegas, numerous episodes of Ghostwhisperer, and a commercial for Apple Computers.

And even though Dirty Dancing wasn’t filmed there, I still highly recommend stalking Farnsworth Park. It is a really pretty place to walk around, lounge in the shade, or have a picnic. The staff there is also EXTREMELY friendly. I was even given a mini-tour of the property by one of the staff members, who told me all about what filming had taken place there. 🙂 Love it!!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Farnsworth Park is located at 568 East Mount Curve Avenue, at the corner of Mount Curve and Lake Avenues, in Altadena. Park hours are from 9 a.m. to sunset. Parking is free. You can visit the park’s official website here.

May 13, 2009May 13, 2009

My Day on the Set of Chelsea Lately!

As I mentioned in Monday’s post, this past weekend was a complete whirlwind for me!! But getting engaged wasn’t the only exciting thing that happened. No, the excitement of the weekend for me actually started on Friday when I got to spend a day on the set of my new favorite show, Chelsea Lately!!! A few weeks back while my friend Blaze and I were waiting in line to watch a live taping of Chelsea’s show, one of her Production Assistants came outside to tell us about a new bit that was being added to the show that they needed volunteers for. The new segment involves Chelsea pretending to be a detective who solves weird and obscure mysteries. The P.A. wanted to know if any of us in the audience had any mysteries in our life that needed solving. Now, mind you, Blaze had spent that entire morning while in line complaining about the fact that his agent never sends him out on acting auditions. So, I immediately raised my hand and yelled out, “My friend here has a mystery that needs solving! He needs to know why he never has any auditions!” 🙂 The P.A. really liked Blaze’s “mystery” and took down his information and said she might be calling to book him for a segment. Sure enough, last week he got a call saying they would be filming his mystery on Friday if he was available!!!! And, being the nice guy that he is, Blaze asked the P.A. if I could tag along. She said that while I couldn’t watch the actual taping, I could hang out in Chelsea’s green room all day. So, of course, I did! And, let me tell you, I could not have been more excited!!!! I literally didn’t sleep a wink the night beforehand!!!!! LOL

Blaze and I arrived at the Digital Media Center, where Chelsea Lately is taped, at around 10:30 a.m. on Friday morning and were led immediately to the green room. For those of you not familiar with industry lingo, a “green room” is a sort of waiting room for performers. It’s a place where actors or musicians can hang out and relax before going on stage. Chelsea’s green room is not actually green, but silver, and I could not have been more FLOORED to be seeing it in person!!! I couldn’t help but think about all of Chelsea’s famous guests who had sat in that room at one time or another. The fact that I was now sitting there was mind-boggling to me! I mean, who in the heck am I to be in the green room of the Chelsea Lately show????

Since I knew beforehand that I would not be able to watch the actual taping of Blaze’s segment, the two of us decided to really live it up while waiting in the green room! And, of course, I just had to take pictures of absolutely EVERYTHING! 🙂

Sitting in the make up chair;

modeling with the celeb photographs on the wall;

a super cute pic of Chelsea and Chuy;

the green room door with Michelle Trachtenberg’s name on it (she was the celebrity guest the previous evening);

and just hanging out. 🙂

But my favorite part of the green room had to be Chelsea’s “guest book” – a little book which all of the celebrity guests sign before going on air to be interviewed.

I cannot tell you how much fun I had going through that book and reading all of the messages that celebs had written to Chelsea. Included in the book were messages from Jamie Kennedy, Roselyn Sanchez, Dr. Drew, Jenny McCarthy, Perez Hilton, Khloe Kardashian, Kris Kardashian, Taryn Manning, former Spice Girl Mel B, Vivica A. Fox, and, my personal fave, The Hills’ Lo Bosworth (pictured above).

At one point during the day, frequent round table guest and Chelsea Lately “Staff Homosexual” Guy Branum walked by the green room and I just about died of excitement!!!! I was too scared to talk to him, so Blaze ran outside and asked him to pose for a picture with me. YAY! Guy was super nice in person and actually ventured into the green room quite a few times during the day. 🙂

But the biggest highlight of the day for me was when Chuy, Chelsea’s assistant, visited the green room to introduce himself to everyone. Chuy was dressed up in a little policeman outfit for the segment they were taping and looked absolutely adorable!! Not only did he give me a hug, but he also kissed me on the cheek and I could not have been more excited! He seemed like such an incredibly sweet man! All in all, I had an ABSOLUTE blast spending the day at the Chelsea Lately show!! Ironically enough, though, Chelsea ended up running out of time and wasn’t able to tape Blaze’s segment. But you know what that means, don’t you??? Yes sir, we get to go back another day to do it all over again! YAY! My fingers are crossed that this time I’ll get to meet Chelsea!!!!!! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Chelsea Lately is filmed at the Digital Media Center, which is located at 12312 West Olympic Boulevard in Los Angeles. You can get tickets to watch a live taping here. You can catch the Chelsea Lately show weeknights at 11 p.m. on E!

May 7, 2009May 6, 2009

The “Biggest Loser” Ranch

This past weekend, I dragged my boyfriend out to Calabasas to stalk the King Gillette Ranch, otherwise known as The Biggest Loser Ranch. I found this location thanks to the couple we met while stalking the Adamson House a few weeks back. Our new friends, who just recently got engaged, have been traipsing all over the Los Angeles area touring wedding locales. Many of those locales also happen to be filming locations! I swear, if my boyfriend ever gets off his butt and proposes, a whole new stalking world is going to open up for me. 🙂 Anyway, our friends recently toured King Gillette Ranch and immediately called me up to let me know that it is where The Biggest Loser is filmed. And even though I’ve never watched the show, I just had to run right out and stalk it! 🙂 THANKS Nancy and Eric! 🙂

Actually, I did see one brief segment of The Biggest Loser on Talk Soup a few months back when Joel McHale showed the above clip of trainer Bob Harper absolutely FREAKING OUT at a contestant. LOVE IT! LOL LOL LOL I think I need to hire that guy to be my trainer!!! 🙂

King Gillette Ranch was originally built by King Camp Gillette (yes, that’s an actual name), the founder of the Gillette Safety Razor Company. King purchased the 588 acre property in 1926 and commissioned famed architect Wallace Neff – who designed Brad and Jen’s famous former home– to built a 26,000 square foot Mediterranean style mansion on the site. When Gillette died in 1932, his widow sold the extensive property to movie director Clarence Brown. Clarence threw so many elaborate Hollywood parties in the mansion that he ended up building his own private airstrip so that his famous guests could land directly on the property ! LOL In 1952, the Ranch was sold to Bob Hope and his wife, Dolores, who donated the entire 588 acres to the Claretian Order of the Catholic Church. They used the property as a seminary for the next 25 years, until eventually selling it to New Age leader Elizabeth Clare Prophet. Elizabeth planned to use the property as the headquarters for her religious movement, the Church Universal and Triumphant, but faced much government opposition and ended up selling it to Soku University of America in 1986. The Ranch was finally collaboratively purchased by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, California State Parks, Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, and National Park Service, who opened the property to the public on June 30, 2007. It is currently a nature and wildlife reserve featuring numerous hiking trails, a former Chumash Indian settlement, walking paths, a man-made lake, and picnic grounds.

And, of course, it’s also a filming location! For the past two years, beginning with Season 4, King Gillette Ranch has been used as the location where contestants vie to become The Biggest Loser. While we were stalking the place, we had the good fortune of running into one of the Biggest Loser crew members who was busy setting up for Season 8, which begins filming in a few weeks. He was INCREDIBLY nice and pointed out all of the areas featured on the show, including the gym, which, as you can see in the above photograph (which was taken through a closed window! LOL ) was empty at the time;

the pool –

which was flanked by fake flowers!!! LOL;

the production offices;

the “dormitories” where the contestants sleep – which is actually just a section of the main house;

the patio area;

and the Administration Building –

which is used for the filming of the elimination ceremonies. Again, the above photographs were taken through a closed window, so they aren’t the greatest.

Evidence of the filming of The Biggest Loser could be found all over the Ranch, which I, of course, LOVED seeing! There was a leftover tape marker that was stuck on the ground outside of the elimination room;

wire cords were strung up on all of the buildings;

and those yellow signs that I so love were posted at the entrance gates. 🙂

King Gillette Ranch is a truly beautiful place. It is the perfect spot to spend an afternoon outdoors, go for a long hike, take a bike ride, or just sit back and nature watch.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: King Gillette Ranch is located at 26800 Mulholland Highway in Calabasas. The park is open daily to the public from 8 a.m. to sunset. Dogs are not allowed. Parking costs $5 per day. The Ranch is also available as a wedding or event location.