television locations – Page 5

June 3, 2011April 5, 2013

A Q & A with the Cast of “Justified”

Last Tuesday evening, my good friend Mikey, from the Mike the Fanboy website, invited me to attend a SAG screening/cast Q & A for the FX television series Justified at a venue in North Hollywood. Now I should mention here that I have been a member of SAG for just about nine years and, while the union hosts screenings on an almost weekly basis, this was the first time I had ever attended one. You see, the only screenings I had ever heard about in the past featured Q & A sessions with writers, producers, and directors and, as I was explaining to Mikey, the last thing I want to do is sit around for an hour listening to some random production’s creative team wax philosophical about their “process”. Winking smile But once Mikey told me that the actual actors would be in attendance and that they typically pose for pictures and sign autographs after the events, I just about died of excitement! HOW IN THE HECK HAD I NEVER HEARD ABOUT THESE TYPES OF SCREENINGS BEFORE?????? Needless to say, Mikey has opened up a whole new world to me and not only did I attend a screening for Mad Men on Wednesday night, but I am also signed up for one next week, as well. The Grim Cheaper is SO not happy about this development, by the way! Winking smile Anyway, because SAG events are seated on a first come/first serve basis and because I am just a wee bit anal, I showed up three hours before showtime. Not surprisingly, I was the fourth person in line and when we were let into the theatre, I immediately snagged two front row spots for Mikey and me – which was great for the Q&A session, but not so much for the screening. As you can see in the above photograph, we were seated EXTREMELY close to the screen! My neck was absolutely KILLING me by the time the credits rolled on the episode that was shown. LOL

After watching the episode, which was titled “Bloody Harlan”, the cast members were called to the stage. In attendance was (from left to right in the above photographs) Natalie Zea, who plays Winona Hawkins; series star Timothy Olyphant, who plays U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens; series creator/executive producer Graham Yost; Margo Martindale, who plays criminal matriarch Mags Bennett; Walton Goggins who plays bad boy Boyd Crowder; and Erica Tazel, who plays Deputy Marshal Rachel Brooks.

I have to say that the Question and Answer session was extremely interesting – far more so than I had imagined it would be. Graham Yost, Margo Martindale, and Timothy Olyphant were all absolutely HILARIOUS and had the audience LOLing throughout most of the evening. One interesting tidbit that we learned about the series was that it was actually based upon two novels, Pronto and Riding the Rap, and the short story “Fire in the Hole”, all of which were written by Elmore Leonard, the legendary American novelist who penned the tomes which inspired the movies Get Shorty, Jackie Brown, Out of Sight, 3:10 to Yuma, and The Big Bounce .

Ashley Hebert Meets Ryan M.

After the Q&A segment, most of the cast hung around to sign autographs and take pictures with the fans. Because most actors consider themselves above the whole fandom thing, very few audience members tried to approach the stars. I was obviously not one of those people. Winking smile On a side note – I don’t know if any of my fellow stalkers are watching The Bachelorette this season, but in the premiere episode contestant Ryan Miller hopped out of the limo upon first meeting Bachelorette Ashley Hebert , with camera in hand, and promptly asked her to pose for a picture with him. After she did, he then said, “Later, I can get one with Chris Harrison, as well, that you can take, hopefully.” LOL LOL LOL That would SO be me if I was ever on that show! You can watch that scene by clicking above.

Anyway, Mikey and I first approached actor Timothy Olyphant, along with five other fans, all of whom wanted an autograph. Timothy signed the five autographs and then it was my turn. I asked him if he would take a picture with me and he said, “No, I’m not doing photos tonight!” And he then promptly left! Mikey turned to me and said, “Ouch! That really sucked!” And it did. I mean, I could understand him saying no if there were a bunch of other fans hanging around hoping to get a photograph as well, but being that I was ONLY one asking, I thought it was a pretty douchy maneuver on his part. The following day I found the above-pictured button at my favorite store, Lula Mae in Pasadena, and I just about died laughing. The GC said I should purchase a bunch of the buttons and hand them out to any actor who turns me down for a photo. Winking smile

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We next hit up actress Margo Martindale, whom I absolutely LOVED on Dexter, and I am very happy to report that she could NOT have been nicer! She really took her time speaking with the fans who approached her and signed all of the autographs and took all of the pictures people asked for. ABSOLUTELY LOVE HER!

Walton Goggins was also INCREDIBLY nice and happily posed for photos and signed autographs with his fans. He was so sweet, in fact, that after we took the above picture, he mentioned that my flash had failed to go off and asked if I wanted to take another.

Which we did. Smile SUCH a sweet guy!

And when I later found out that he had guest-starred as frat boy Mike Muchin on the Season 2 episode of fave show Beverly Hills, 90210 titled “The Pit and Pendulum”, I just about had a heart attack!

SAG set up a small cocktail party after the event and while Mikey and I were walking around (eating way too many of the AMAZING chicken strips that were being served!), we spotted Erica Tazel. I was dying to get my pic taken with Erica as she had guest-starred on two of my very favorite television shows – Sex and the City and The Office! Smile

On SATC, Erica played Charlotte York’s (aka Kristin Davis’) dance teacher, Grace, in the Season 4 episode titled “Baby, Talk is Cheap”.

And in the Season 5 episode of The Office titled “Lecture Circuit: Part I”, she played Julia, one of Stanley Hudson’s (aka Leslie David Baker’s) clients whom Andy Bernard (aka Ed Helms) very unsuccessfully tries to hit on. All in all it was a fabulous night and I, for one, cannot WAIT to attend more events just like it!

Big THANK YOU to Mikey, from the Mike the Fanboy website, for inviting me to this event! Smile You can check out Mikey’s write-up of the evening, as well as some videos that he of took of the Q&A session, here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: There is no stalking location for this one, but you can catch Justified each Wednesday night on FX. And you can visit the show’s official website here.

June 2, 2011June 2, 2011

Burbank Town Center Mall from the Season 3 Finale of “The Mentalist”

While watching the two-part Season 3 finale of fave show The Mentalist titled “Strawberries and Cream” a few weeks back, I just about died when I realized that the Burbank Town Center had stood in for the supposed Sacramento-area “Pinewood Shopping Mall” in the episode’s climatic final scene. While Burbank Town Center is not actually my local mall, I immediately recognized the place as the Grim Cheaper had taken me there on our very first date, just a little over a decade ago. We had first gone to see the movie Cast Away at a nearby theatre and then headed on over to the mall so that the GC could show me an antique carousel that used to be located there. Prior to our date, I had no idea of the carousel’s existence and thought it was so incredibly cool that the GC knew little tidbits about LA like that. I am pretty sure I fell in love with him right then! Smile And while the carousel was sold a few years back (I hear it is now located in the San Diego area), because we had spent at least a half an hour looking down upon it from the Center’s second floor, when that area of the mall popped up on The Mentalist I recognized it immediately. So yesterday, after getting my hair cut in Burbank, I decided to cruise on over there to snap a few pics of the place.

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In the “Strawberries and Cream” episode of The Mentalist (and a BIG warning here that there are major spoilers ahead, so if you have yet to watch the Season 3 finale and plan on doing so, you should STOP reading this post now), Patrick Jane (aka Simon Baker) sets up a sting operation in the middle of the mall in order to both prove that DLE Director Gale Bertram (aka Michael Gaston) is the CBI’s mole and to also hopefully discover the true identity of Red John, the serial killer who murdered his wife and daughter.

While there he ends up finally meeting and then killing Red John, who was played with perfection by The West Wing’s Bradley Whitford.

In what turned out to be my very favorite part of the episode, after shooting Red John and causing mass pandemonium in the mall, Patrick sits down calmly, finishes drinking his tea, and then calls out to the waitress, “Check please!” before surrendering himself to the authorities. LOL As you can see in the above screen captures, the central area of the mall, where the antique carousel used to be located, was decorated to look like a café for the filming.

Oh, how I wish they did actually serve espresso in that area of the mall! In reality, though, after the carousel was removed, a small – and not-very-aesthetically-pleasing – children’s train ride was placed there. Note to Starbucks – the Burbank Town Center is in desperate need of a cute café, pronto! Winking smile Photographs of the area which appeared on The Mentalist, taken from the mall’s second level, are pictured above.

And a view of that area from the mall’s bottom floor is pictured above.

The entrance to one of the Burbank Town Center’s garage areas was also used in the episode, but I completely forgot about that yesterday while I was stalking the place and failed to snap any pictures of it.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Burbank Town Center, from the “Strawberries and Cream” episode of The Mentalist, is located at 201 East Magnolia Boulevard in Burbank. You can visit the mall’s official website here. The area where Patrick Jane shot Red John is located in the very center of the mall, on the bottom level, in front of Old Navy and Shiekh Shoes. The parking garage entrance which appeared in the episode is located at 501 North Third Street.

May 27, 2011May 26, 2011

Tapas & Vino from “90210”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

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

May 26, 2011May 25, 2011

The Yellow Vase Café from “90210”

One location that I have been on the lookout for for over a year now is the yellow-hued coffee shop where Navid Shirazi (aka Michael Steger) ran into ex-girlfriend Adrianna Tate-Duncan (aka Jessica Lowndes) in the Season 2 episode of fave show 90210 titled “Another Another Chance”. I spent far more hours searching for this location than I really care to admit, but, for whatever reason, just could not seem to find it. Then last month, while scanning through the Season 2 episode of the series titled “What’s Past is Prologue” in order to make screen captures for the post I wrote about Crumbs Bakery, I spotted that very same coffee shop pop up in a scene featuring Miss Rumor Willis. Since Rumor has always been something of a paparazzi magnet, I figured that I might be able to find some images of her from the filming online and from there might be able to figure out the name and location of the ever-elusive bakery. And, sure enough, after just a few short minutes of searching I came across this article on the Pacific Coast News Online website which stated that the scene had been filmed at the Yellow Vase Café in Redondo Beach!!! Eureka! As fellow stalker Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, said after I told him that I had finally tracked down the cafe, “It’s nice to know the paparazzi are good for something!” Winking smile And even though I was absolutely DYING to stalk the place (like that very minute), the Grim Cheaper and I were not able to make it down to the South Bay until this past Saturday afternoon. I do have to say, though, that the restaurant was DEFINITELY worth the wait. In fact, it is one of the coolest coffee shops that I have ever been to in my entire life!

As you can see in the above photographs, the Yellow Vase Café, which is actually a bakery/full-service florist/coffee shop, is an adorably charming little restaurant that serves up some FABULOUS food. I opted to lunch on the Greek salad which was simply AMAZING, while the GC ordered up some homemade French Onion Soup which he absolutely devoured. I, of course, also had to sample a Yellow Vase latte while there and am very happy to report that it, too, was fabulous. The café’s bakery case was filled to the brim with colorful, freshly-baked sweets, which I so wanted to sample, but, being diabetic, couldn’t. They sure looked incredible, though. Sigh! Needless to say, I absolutely fell in love with the restaurant and its soft yellow-colored ambiance and so did the GC. Neither of us wanted to leave when we were finished with our meals. Ah well, I guess that just means we will have to go back there for a re-stalk in the very near future. Smile

In the “What’s Past is Prologue” episode of 90210, Silver (aka Jessica Stroup) sends her friend Gia Mannetti (aka Rumor Willis) to a “coffee shop on Robertson” to spy on her boyfriend Teddy Montgomery (aka Trevor Donovan) whom she suspects is cheating on her. As it turns out, he’s not, but the two break up anyway.

In the “Another Another Chance” episode, which aired three weeks after “What’s Past is Prologue”, the coffee shop was featured once again as the spot where Navid runs into Adrianna and he commends her for handling her recent break-up in such a “non-dramatic” way.

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Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, also clued me into the fact that Riviera Salon, which is located right next door to the Yellow Vase Café, was the spot where Silver and Adrianna got their nails done in the recently aired Season 3 finale of the series which was titled “To the Future!”

In the episode, the girls are shown walking out the doors of the salon and heading north on Catalina Avenue before stopping in front of the Yellow Vase Café to discuss Silver’s recent break up with Navid.

For some very odd reason, producers decided to swap the last two digits of the salon’s address number for the filming. As you can see in the above screen capture and photograph, in real life the salon’s address number is “1807”, while on the show it was switched to “1870”. I can see changing an address number on a private residence during filming, but on a public place? That just makes no sense to me! Ah, Hollywood!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Yellow Vase Café, from the “What’s Past is Prologue” and “Another Another Chance” episodes of 90210, is located at 1805 South Catalina Avenue in Redondo Beach. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here. Salon Riviera, from the “To the Future!” episode of 90210, is located nest door to the Yellow Vase Café at 1807 South Catalina Avenue in Redondo Beach.

May 24, 2011May 23, 2011

Pappa Don’s Delicatessen from “Modern Family”

I must apologize in advance for the length of today’s post. I spent most of my day yesterday at the Walk of Fame star ceremony for American Idol creator Simon Fuller – an event which I will be writing about later this week – and therefore did not have time to write a very lengthy blog post for today, so I am sorry. Anyway, a couple of weeks ago a fellow stalker named Cait wrote a comment on my blog post about Carmine’s II Restaurant from the “Boy’s Night” episode of Modern Family alerting me to the fact that the series had filmed its Season 1 episode titled “Fifteen Percent” at Pappa Don’s Delicatessen in South Pasadena. In her comment, Cait said she “you probably already know this (you know everything!) . . .”, but I have to admit that not only did I NOT know that information, until reading Cait’s comment I had never even heard of Pappa Don’s! So I immediately added the restaurant to my lengthy “To Stalk” list and finally made it out there to stalk the place this past Thursday afternoon. Yay!

Pappa Don’s Delicatessen was originally founded by the eponymous “Pappa Don” in the early 1960s. Sometime during the 80s Pappa sold the restaurant to a chef named Harry – a man whom many diners came to refer to as the “Soup Nazi” due to his reportedly gruff exterior. Harry apparently had no tolerance whatsoever for patrons who added what he felt were inappropriate additions to his sandwich creations. LOL Sadly, Harry passed away unexpectedly in August of 2007 at the tender age of 58 and Pappa’s was forced to shutter its doors for a time. On February 28th, 2008, the deli re-opened, this time under new owners who thankfully made very few changes to the restaurant or its menu. Pappa Don’s Delicatessen is a VERY cool little spot that serves up some fabulous sandwiches at EXTREMELY low prices. Because I am diabetic and usually try to avoid carbs altogether, I was unfortunately not able to sample any of the deli’s grub, but I purchased one of their “Anchor” sandwiches – which consisted of tuna salad on sourdough with Swiss cheese, tomatoes, cucumber, alfalfa sprouts, and mayo, all for only $4.95 – to take home to the Grim Cheaper and he absolutely devoured the thing. Said it was one of the best tuna salad sandwiches he had ever eaten.

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In the “Fifteen Percent” episode of Modern Family, Cameron Tucker (aka Eric Stonestreet) runs into his father-in-law, Jay Pritchett (aka Ed O’Neill), who is hanging out with his group of friends in front of Pappa Don’s. While there Jay ends up introducing Cameron not as his son-in-law, but as “a friend of my son’s”.

When Cameron tells his husband Mitchell Pritchett (aka Jesse Tyler Ferguson) how he was introduced, Mitchell marches right on over to the deli to confront his father. While there, he ends up meeting Jay’s friend, Shorty (aka Chazz Palminteri), whom he is convinced is gay.

The deli showed up once again at the very end of the episode in the scene in which Shorty, who has spent most of the episode adamantly denying that he is gay, gifts Jay with two tickets to see “the great Michael Buble”, who “sings like an angel”. Ah, Shorty, I couldn’t agree with you more on that count! And he’s not bad to look at, either. Winking smile

Susanne, the SUPER-nice owner of Pappa Don’s, also informed me that the deli had been featured in the pilot episode of the new Fox television series Traffic Light, in the scene in which Mike (aka The Office’s David Denman), Adam (aka Nelson Franklin), and Ethan (aka Love Actually’s Kris Marshall) discuss the fact that Ethan can get away with saying anything, no matter how obnoxious, thanks to the fact that he has a British accent.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Pappa Don’s Delicatessen, from the “Fifteen Percent” episode of Modern Family, is located at 303 Pasadena Avenue in South Pasadena. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here. Pappa Don’s is open Monday through Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and the place only accepts cash, so make sure to visit an ATM before you stop by.

May 18, 2011May 17, 2011

Meredith’s House from “The Office”

Another location from the Season 7 episode of The Office titled “Michael’s Last Dundies” that fellow stalker Owen tracked down recently was the supposed Scranton, Pennsylvania-area dwelling belonging to the series’ resident alcoholic/hussy/all-around slob Meredith Palmer (aka Kate Flannery), which just so happened to be the locale that I was most interested in stalking! Owen had spotted an address number of “14142” on the roof above Meredith’s porch while watching the episode and figured that the property had to be located in close proximity to Toby’s house, which I blogged about yesterday. And he was right! He ended up finding the place just two and a half blocks west of Toby’s abode. So, I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on over to stalk the place, just a few minutes after visiting Toby’s house, two weekends ago.

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In the “Michael’s Last Dundies” episode of The Office, Michael Scott (aka Steve Carell) and new manager-in-training Deangelo Vickers (aka Will Ferrell) drop by Meredith’s house at six o’clock in the morning while out delivering the Dundie Award nomination certificates. Upon first approaching the dilapidated property, Michael says, “I’ve never seen this place in the daylight!”, to which Deangelo replies, “This reminds me of Katrina!” LOL LOL LOL

When they arrive at Meredith’s front door, they find it not only unlocked, but ajar.

A few seconds later, Meredith comes meandering up the driveway, shoes in hand, and exclaims, “I’m so busted! Walk of shame!” She then invites Michael and Deangelo inside for breakfast, saying, “I have Vienna sausages and I have . . . napkins.” LOL When Deangelo announces, “I’m not going in there!”, Michael shuts the door quietly and the two sneak off the property. It should come as no surprise to regular viewers of the series that Meredith goes on to win the “Best Mom” Dundie award later that night. LOL

Before arriving at Meredith’s house, I had no idea what on earth to expect as I was not sure if the property had been dressed to appear run-down onscreen or if it actually looked that way in real life. Well, as you can see in the above photographs, amazingly enough, the house looks just as bad in person as it did onscreen, if not worse! When I emailed the above-pictured photographs to fellow stalker/Office aficionado Lavonna, she immediately wrote back asking, “So the house just looks like that????? I thought it had been decorated for the filming!!!!” LOL The Office location scouts must have been beyond ELATED upon discovering the residence and realizing that they would not have to change ANYTHING prior to filming. As Chelsea Handler would say, “Nailed it!”

While there, I, of course, just had to reenact Meredith’s walk of shame by posing with my shoes in my hand. Winking smile

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Meredith’s house, from the “Michael’s Last Dundies” episode of The Office, is located at 14142 Emelita Street in Van Nuys. Here is a map link to the location. Toby’s house from that same episode of The Office is located just around the corner at 5752 Calhoun Avenue, also in Van Nuys. Here is a map link to that location. Jim and Pam’s house is located just a few blocks northeast at 13831 Calvert Street in Van Nuys. Here is a map link to that location.

May 17, 2011May 16, 2011

Toby’s House from “The Office”

The night of April 28th, 2011 was one of the saddest nights I have experienced as of late due to the fact that it marked Steve Carell’s final appearance on fave show The Office. In the days leading up to the airing of his last episode, which was titled “Goodbye, Michael”, I had a fairly large pit in my stomach as I felt like I was gearing up to say goodbye to a good friend, which, in a way, I guess I was. Michael Scott is one of my all-time favorite characters in television history and the fact that he will no longer be visiting my living room each and every Thursday night is seriously depressing. I felt the exact same way when Sex and the City went off the air in February of 2004, but I digress. Anyway, even though I was absolutely dreading it, I was hoping that Michael’s last episode would be a spectacular one, but I have to say that I wound up being sorely disappointed. I felt that both Michael Scott and Steve Carell deserved a much bigger, much more sentimental send-off than what they actually received. I did, however, absolutely LOVE the episode titled “Michael’s Last Dundies”, which aired the week prior to “Goodbye, Michael”, in which the Dunder Mifflin team gathered together to attend the annual Dundie Awards. I thought the episode was a much more appropriate farewell for a man who meant so much to so many people during the past seven years that The Office has been on the air. So when fellow stalker Owen told me that he had tracked down almost all of the locations featured in it – including the house belonging to Michael’s nemesis, Toby Flenderson (aka Paul Lieberstein) – I just about died of excitement and ran right out to stalk them all that very weekend.

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In the “Michael’s Last Dundies” episode of The Office, Michael Scott and Deangelo Vickers (aka Will Ferrell), Dunder Mifflin’s new Scranton Branch manager-in-training, venture out to all of the Dunder Mifflin employees’ houses – at six in the morning, no less! – to deliver the much-coveted Dundie Award Nominations. After waking up Jim Halpert (aka cutie John Krasinski) and Pam Beesly (aka Jenna Fischer), and seriously angering the series’ resident grouch Stanley Hudson (aka Leslie David Baker), Michael and Deangelo head to Toby’s house. When they arrive, instead of ringing the doorbell and presenting the human resources director with a nomination certificate, Michael yells out, “Toby, you suck!” and then proceeds to throw eggs at his front porch, which causes Deangelo to ask, “Is this an employee of ours?” LOL LOL LOL

During the episode, Owen had spotted an address number of “5752” on the wall of Toby’s house and figured the property had to be located somewhere in close proximity to Jim and Pam’s residence in Van Nuys. And, sure enough, he was right! He ended up finding Toby’s house just a few blocks southwest of Jim and Pam’s.

Sadly, the real life owner of Toby’s house recently installed a rather large fence around the perimeter of the property, which not only completely changed the look of the place, but also made it quite difficult to take pictures. So I must say that this was one stalk that ended up being quite disappointing. I did get to talk to the owner of the property while I was there, though, and he truly could NOT have been nicer and answered all of my silly little questions about the filming of the episode. He informed me that it took about two hours to film the segment, which ended up lasting about ten seconds onscreen.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Toby Flenderson’s house, from the “Michael’s Last Dundies” episode of The Office, is located at 5752 Calhoun Avenue in Van Nuys. Here is a map link to that location. Jim and Pam’s house is located just a few blocks northeast at 13831 Calvert Street in Van Nuys. Here is a map link to that location.

May 13, 2011May 12, 2011

Marco Salazar’s Pretend House from “90210”

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, located directly across the street from the house belonging to Marla Templeton (aka Sally Kellerman) on fave show 90210 is the mansion where Marco Salazar (aka Freddie Smith) pretended to live in the Season 3 episode of the series titled “Women On The Verge”. So after stalking Marla’s home this past Saturday afternoon, the Grim Cheaper and I walked right on over to Marco’s faux abode to snap a few pics of the place. I found this location, yet again, thanks to fellow stalker Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, who somehow managed to track the residence down long before the “Woman On The Verge” episode even aired. How did he do that, you ask? Well, this past March, one of the directors of 90210, whom Geoff follows on Twitter (@90210director), tweeted a photograph of the mansion while he was doing some editing of the show. Geoff took one look at that photograph and immediately set about trying to find the place. And find it, he did – that very day. Being that the picture that @90210director tweeted showed an extremely limited view of the property, I was absolutely SHOCKED when Geoff emailed me to let me know that he had found it. Especially considering that he found it in Bel Air, which is the absolute LAST place on earth that I ever would have thought to look. Due to the mansion’s newer-looking construction, I would have assumed that it was located somewhere in the Encino area, so my hat is DEFINITELY off to Geoff on this one!

Marco’s faux residence is actually not just a filming location, but a former celebrity home as well. According to my good friend E.J. over at The Movieland Directory website, the property was where legendary singer Peggy Lee, of “Fever” and “Why Don’t You Do Right” fame, lived during her later years and was also where the crooner sadly passed away on January 21, 2002 after suffering from a heart attack.

Sadly though, as you can see in the above aerial view, the property has been extensively remodeled in recent years and no longer looks the same as it did when Peggy Lee lived there. In real life, the Tuscan-style mansion, which was originally built in 1969, boasts 4 bedrooms, 5 baths, and a whopping 6,052 square feet of living space.

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The property first popped up towards the beginning of the “Woman On The Verge” episode of 90210, in the scene in which Teddy Montgomery (aka Trevor Donovan) picks up his new boyfriend, Marco, whom he believes lives on the premises, for a date.

Later on in the episode, Teddy returns to the mansion in order to confront Marco after discovering that he has been lying to him about his whereabouts. It is then that Teddy meets the home’s actual owner and learns that Marco does not, in fact, live there at all, but that his mother is employed at the property as a housekeeper. Can you say drama?!?

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Marco Salazar’s pretend house from 90210 is located at 11404 Bellagio Road in Bel Air. Here is a link to the property’s location on Bing Maps. (Special thanks to fellow stalker John, from the Bay Area, who suggested that I include a map link in all of my posts, which I will be doing from this point forward. Smile ) Marla Templeton’s house from 90210 is located just across the street from Marco’s at 542 Bellagio Terrace. Here is a map link to that location.

May 12, 2011May 12, 2011

Marla Templeton’s House from “90210”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

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

May 11, 2011May 11, 2011

Laverne & Shirley’s Apartment Building

Back in August of last year, fellow stalker Don emailed me to inquire if I knew the location of the supposed Burbank-area apartment building where best friends Laverne DeFazio (aka Penny Marshall) and Shirley Feeney (aka Cindy Williams) lived during the final three seasons of the hit 1970’s television series Laverne & Shirley. Sadly, because I had never really watched the show, I had no idea where the apartment building might be located. As fate would have it, though, I was scheduled to take a tour of Paramount Studios the day after receiving Don’s email and, because Paramount had produced the show, I thought one of the studio tour guides might know of the apartment’s location. Well, let me tell you, I spoke to anyone and everyone I could that day, but not a one of ‘em knew anything about the apartment building. Not only that, but they all told me they had never before been asked about that particular location! How that is possible, I’ll never know. Anyway, I gave Don the sad news after I got home from my tour and figured that would most likely be the end of the quest. So imagine my surprise when I awoke last Tuesday morning to find an email in my inbox from Don with the news that he had found the building! Yay! So I dragged the GC right on out to stalk the place this past Saturday morning.

In the first episode of the series’ Sixth Season, which was titled “Not Quite New York”, Laverne & Shirley, seeking a fresh start after losing their bottle-capping jobs at Shotz Brewery, leave their hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and head to Southern California. At the very beginning of the episode, the girls are shown moving into a typical 1970’s-style apartment building that was supposedly located at 113 1/2 Laurel Vista Drive in Burbank.

The apartment building was then shown regularly each week in both establishing shots and during the opening credits of each show.

I am EXTREMELY happy to report that the building still looks very much the same today as it did three full decades ago when the series was originally filmed. So incredibly cool! There are two trees which now block the view of the home from the street, but, other than that, remarkably little has changed over the years. Love it, love it, love it!

Even the apartment building next door still looks very much the same as it did on the series! Smile

Laverne & Shirley–Burbank Apartment Building Clip

You can watch the opening credits of the Sixth Season of Laverne & Shirley, in which the apartment complex is featured, by clicking above.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The “Burbank” apartment building from the last three seasons of Laverne & Shirley is located at 419/421 North Sierra Bonita Avenue in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles. Google Maps and the GPS in my car both recognize this location as being in West Hollywood, though, so keep that in mind when printing out a map of the building or inputting its address into a navigation system.