Your definitive source to filming locations and all things Hollywood!
The La Quinta Resort is where legendary director Frank Capra is said to have penned the screenplay for his Christmas classic It’s a Wonderful Life. Watch my latest reel to learn all about it! Fun fact – according to Reality Steve, the Golden Bachelor is set to tie the knot on the premises in January.
My family has long had a love affair with Catalina, the idyllic island located about 22 miles southwest of Los Angeles. One of our favorite spots to grab lunch or an evening cocktail while there is Descanso Beach Club, a toes-in-the-sand restaurant situated along the shore of Descanso Bay. I have visited the site more times than I can count over the years, but had no idea it was a filming location. So I was thrilled when I spotted it while re-watching an early episode of NCIS recently. I sat down to do a post on Descanso the following morning and was shocked to discover that, despite my many visits there, I hardly had any photos of the place. So I had to hold off on writing about it. Flash forward to this past weekend. My good friend Nat, who lives in San Francisco, made an impromptu trip to Catalina while in SoCal and texted me to ask if I had any area recommendations. I told her about Descanso Beach Club and what a great lunch spot it is. I also expressed that I would love her forever if she headed over there to snap some photos for me, which she happily did. Thank you, Nat! (Most of the pictures featured in this post are Nat’s, but a couple are ones that I took during my last trip to the island in 2009.)
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Descanso Beach Club is situated on the former site of the famed Saint Catherine Hotel, or Hotel St. Catherine as it was also known, which was established in 1918 by the Banning Family, who owned Catalina at the time. After a November 1915 fire destroyed many of the island’s tourist areas and lodgings, the Bannings decided to build an upscale resort on the grounds of their former home (which was also wiped out by the blaze), an idyllic plot of land overlooking Descanso Bay. Designed by the Milwaukee Building Company, St. Catherine opened its doors on June 28th, 1918. When William Wrigley Jr. purchased Catalina Island from the Bannings the following year, he added on to the Spanish-style hotel, installing a second guest wing and a swimming pool, among other amenities. The luxurious lodging soon became the stomping ground of many of Hollywood’s elite including Charlie Chaplin, Richard Arlen, Lana Turner, Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, Marlene Dietrich, Joe Schenck, Betty Grable, Norma Shearer, Humphrey Bogart, Irving Thalberg, and Johnny Weissmuller.
On December 23rd, 1941, just a little over two weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Catalina Island was closed to the public and became a training ground for the military. The Saint Catherine Hotel was transformed into living quarters for the soldiers. Though the property was converted back into a resort in the years following World War II’s end, it never regained its original luster and was razed in 1966. You can see what the St. Catherine looked like while it was still in operation here, here, here, and here. Following the demolition, the hotel’s once lush grounds were left vacant and largely abandoned for more than two decades. Though there were plans to build another luxury resort on the site, they never came to fruition. Instead, Descanso Beach Club was established there in 1992.
The word “club” is something of a misnomer. Though the site (including the beach area) is privately owned, it is accessible to the public and offers a wide array of seaside activities for tourists and locals alike. Guests can sit on Descanso’s large deck and order a meal, grab a drink at the open-air bar situated just steps from the ocean, or rent a chaise lounge or cabana and sip a libation on the sand. It is hands-down the best spot for cocktails and eats in Catalina. Fun fact – Descanso is the only place in Southern California where cocktails can legally be served on the beach.
Beginning in 2010, Descanso Beach Club was expanded and renovated to the tune of $6 million. A large special events hall was added to the property, as well as additional retail space, an espresso bar (yaaaas!), and an ice cream shop.
As I mentioned above, the last time I visited Catalina was in 2009, so I have yet to see the club in its current state, but Nat’s photos attest to the fact that it is just as beautiful as ever.
In the Season 1 episode of NCIS titled “The Immortals,” Descanso Beach Club masked as the Puerto Rico bar where Anthony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly) grabbed a cocktail after busting a local Navy Exchange clerk for illegally selling officer’s swords.
Though I recognized the bar immediately while watching the episode, I had to do a double take as the scene that took place there was incredibly brief. It was hard to believe that cast and crew headed all the way out to Catalina just to shoot that one short segment. “The Immortals” did feature quite a few boat scenes, though, so I am thinking that the production team zeroed in on the calm, clear waters off the island’s coast to shoot those bits, making Descanso Beach Club a convenient spot to film the bar segment.
The Season 15 episode of The Bachelor titled “Week 4: Radio Show Date” also did some filming at Descanso. In the episode, Bachelor Brad Womack took contestant Chantal O’Brien on a one-on-one date to Catalina Island. After an ocean-floor walk, the two finished off their visit with a romantic night cap at the club.
Aside from the actual beach, very little of the club was shown in the episode outside of a small view of the bar area that was visible when Brad and Chantal first arrived.
The Real Housewives of Orange County’s Vicki Gunvalson and Brooks Ayers shot a scene at Descanso in September 2011, but I scanned through all of the Catalina-based episodes from around that time period and it appears that the segment wound up on the cutting room floor. And back in the Hotel St. Catherine days, the 1927 film A Hero for a Night and 1935’s Murder on a Honeymoon were shot on the premises. Unfortunately, I could not find a copy of either movie with which to make screen captures for this post.
For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.
Huge THANK YOU to my friend Nat for stalking this location on my behalf! 
Until next time, Happy Stalking!
Stalk It: Descanso Beach Club, from “The Immortals” episode of NCIS, is located at 1 St. Catherine Way in Avalon on Catalina Island. You can visit the club’s official website here.
This past weekend, I was finally able to visit a place that has been on my To-Stalk list for eons! I first learned about Two Bunch Palms in Desert Hot Springs, which was featured in a Season 1 episode of The Bachelor, about a decade ago, but, because the exclusive wellness resort was only accessible to hotel guests and spa-goers at the time, was never able to see it in person. Though the Grim Cheaper and I were tempted to book a stay there many times over the years, neither of us is especially holistic by nature and were afraid the place wouldn’t exactly be our cup of tea, so we resisted. Then, this Sunday afternoon, we happened to find ourselves in Desert Hot Springs. I had read that the hotel had changed hands in 2012 and, figuring the new owners might have changed its accessibility policy, we decided to stop by. I was absolutely floored when the guard at the front informed us that Two Bunch Palm’s onsite restaurant, Essense, was now indeed open to the public. So we headed right on past the gate and were dazzled by what we encountered. The resort is nothing short of idyllic.
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Two Bunch Palms is so named thanks to a United States Camel Corps team who was surveying the area in 1907 and came across two palm groves (one of which is pictured below). The group originally dubbed the site “Two Bunches of Palms,” but by the time the survey was published had simplified it to “Two Bunch Palms.”
Rumors abound that gangster Al Capone happened upon the isolated site in the ‘20s and, figuring the remote, hilltop location would offer the ultimate in privacy as well as make it easy for his goons to spot approaching cars, set up shop there. Legend states that he constructed several bungalows and a casino, connected by underground tunnels and surrounded by a large wall, on the pristine grounds. Though the tales are largely unsubstantiated, one of Two Bunch Palm’s villas is dubbed the Al Capone Suite and it apparently contains a desk marked with the initials “A.C.,” a mirror marred by a bullet hole, and a lookout tower that has since been turned into a tanning deck. His supposed former casino now houses Essense restaurant.
In 1940, the property was turned into a hotel known as The Desert Spa. It became Two Bunch Palms in 1969 after being purchased by a new owner and then was sold once again in 1978, at which time the site underwent an extensive renovation. From there, it did not take long for the resort to become the stomping ground of the Hollywood elite, with such stars as Mel Gibson, Barbra Streisand, Jeff Bridges, Kelsey Grammer, Daryl Hannah, Robin Williams, Goldie Hawn, Meryl Streep, Bruce Springsteen, Julia Roberts, Madonna, Neil Diamond, Lisa Rinna, Justin Chambers, and Bette Midler all spending time there.
Despite consistently being ranked among the best spas in the world and winning countless accolades and awards, in 2010 Two Bunch Palms was placed under receivership when its then owner defaulted on a $38.8-million loan, causing the resort’s future to be uncertain. It was eventually rescued in 2012 by a group of Los Angeles-based movie producers, who immediately got started on a much-needed renovation to the site.
Today, Two Bunch Palms boasts 70 rooms and bungalows, a grotto with two mineral pools, a lap pool, a gym, large expanses of lawn, walking trails, a pond with koi, ducks and turtles, a 3,000-square-foot yoga dome, a 3.5-acre solar field (which generates 100% of the power needed to run the resort), and an award-winning spa that offers countless treatments and wellness programs.
Though the quiet exclusivity of the property and its lush 77-acre grounds, which are dotted with tamarisk trees and fan palms, are definite draws, Two Bunch Palm’s main attraction is its mineral baths. Situated on top of a 600-year-old mineral spring, the restorative waters that flow throughout the property are chock-full of lithium and other healing elements, yet low on sulfur so no dreaded odor permeates the air.
Essense, the hotel’s farm-to-table restaurant, is also pretty darn fabulous.
Not only was the eatery’s decor sleek, modern and inviting, but the food was nothing short of spectacular and the prices surprisingly reasonable.
The Grim Cheaper and I wholeheartedly fell in love with Two Bunch Palms on sight and are already planning on spending our upcoming anniversary there.
The adults-only hotel is serene, idyllic and tranquil. Loud voices and use of cell phones in common areas is frowned upon, which creates an environment of peace and relaxation. It truly is a place to get away from it all.
Being there almost feels like being in Hawaii, despite the fact that there is no ocean nearby.
Thanks to its countless picturesque vistas, it is not very hard to see how the place ended up being featured on The Bachelor.
Two Bunch Palms appeared in the reality series’ second episode, which aired in 2002. In the episode, Bachelor Alex Michel took five women, including future Bachelorette Trista Rehn, on a group date to the resort.
While there, the group headed to the Clay Cabana for mud baths.
Two Bunch Palms was also featured as the idyllic desert spa where Hollywood executive Griffin Mill (Tim Robbins) took his new paramour, June Gudmundsdottir (Greta Scacchi), in the 1992 dramedy The Player.
In the movie, while dining outside near the grotto, June asks Griffin, “Do places like this really exist?” To which he responds, “Only in the movies.” It is a fitting bit of conversation, as the resort truly does feel like a fantasy land.
Like Alex Michel and his Bachelor contestants, Griffin and June also partook of the mud baths while at Two Bunch Palms.
Due to the unseemly heat, Two Bunch Palms formerly shut its doors each year during the entire month of August. It was then that The Player filmed on the premises, which I cannot even imagine being that August temperatures typically run upwards of 115 degrees! How the cast and crew didn’t melt is beyond me!
For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.
Until next time, Happy Stalking! 
Stalk It: Two Bunch Palms is located at 67425 Two Bunch Palms Trail in Desert Hot Springs. You can visit the resort’s official website here. The onsite restaurant, Essence is open to the public, but keep in mind that the hotel is an adults-only property so only guests 18 years and older will be admitted.
I am a sucker for any kind of choreographed dance, especially if a wedding is involved. So when my mom sent me a link to this video of an epic seven-minute wedding dance, in which all 250 guests were included in on the action, I was all over it! In one portion of the video, a white curtain was lowered to reveal the groom, accompanied by a microphone and back-up band, lip-syncing a rather catchy song that I surmised was named “Sugar.” I had never heard the song before (I know, I know – my musical knowledge is limited at best), but immediately loved it and got to Googling so that I could download it. Turns out, the song, which is indeed titled “Sugar,” is by Maroon 5 and, when I came across the music video during my online search, I practically started drooling. In it, Adam Levine and the rest of the group crash several weddings in one evening in order to perform “Sugar” live. While watching, I happened to recognize Carondelet House, one of the wedding venues Adam crashed, which had me even more floored. I had walked by the location last October while on my way to stalk the American Cement Building and thought it was one of the prettiest facades I had ever seen. Even though I had no idea at the time what the property was or what it housed, I figured it had to have been used in a production at some point. Little did I know that I would later spot it in what has now become one of my favorite music videos of all time.
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Carondelet House was originally constructed in 1928 as a private residence.
The 7,683-square-foot site, which boasts Spanish and Italian design elements, also once served as the administration building of the prestigious Otis College of Art and Design.
In 2011, Alan Dunn, owner of the Tres L.A. catering company, toured the property and, figuring it would make a beautiful event space, purchased it and transformed it into Carondelet House.
The site features two courtyards, brick detailing throughout, a fireplace, hand-painted vaulted ceilings, exposed beams and ductwork, and hardwood flooring. You can check out some interior photographs of it here. It is easily one of the prettiest properties I have ever laid eyes on, both inside and out.
Its picturesque brick façade stands out from all of the other buildings on the street.
Though Carondelet House has hosted everything from fashion shows to celebrity events, it is most often used as a wedding venue – which made it the perfect spot to film “Sugar.”
A wedding was actually taking place when we showed up to stalk it. I love the below image of guests arriving at the nuptials.
In the “Sugar” music video, which was shot on December 6th, 2014, Adam and his bandmates crash several weddings at a string of venues around L.A., surprising guests with a spontaneous performance. The video opens with Maroon 5 leaving the Carondelet House and hopping into Adam’s convertible to drive to the first venue.
One of the weddings that was crashed also took place at Carondelet House, so the property’s interior was featured in the video, as well.
I am not typically cynical by nature, but I was a little skeptical about Maroon 5’s performances being a surprise. So much goes into a film shoot, like securing a permit, paying location fees, shutting down traffic, hiring police officers, etc., etc., etc., that I just found it very hard to believe that the production was done on the sly, without the knowledge of anyone associated with the various weddings. But it pretty much was! While researching the video, I came across a blog post about the December 4th wedding of Ryan and Melanie, which took place at the Carondelet House. As it turns out, Maroon 5 coordinated with each venue prior to the shoot and, in this particular case, Ryan knew about the performance ahead of time, though no one else did – not the bride, not the wedding planner, not the photographer, not the videographer, not the guests. So outside of the groom, the performance was a complete surprise to all involved! Such a cool idea for a video! And can we just take a moment to talk about how beautiful Ryan and Melanie’s wedding was? Love the wine bottle “guest book.” Love the rustic place settings. LOVE the guest seating “game.” And those Edison bulbs strung against the brick wall are uh-ma-zing! I would like to do that in my home! Two thumbs up on all of it!
You can watch the “Sugar” video by clicking below. It has such a feel-good vibe, not to mention that Adam Levine just seems like the coolest, most down-to-earth guy ever in it! I could watch it on repeat all day, every day.
Carondelet House portrays the Baltimore Blade newspaper offices, where Mary (Drew Barrymore) works, in the 2009 romcom He’s Just Not That Into You.
One of the property’s courtyards also appears in the ending scene in which Conor (Kevin Connolly) announces that he loves Mary.
Jess Day (Zooey Deschanel) and Winston Bishop (Lamorne Morris) unload Jess’ car in front of Carondelet House in the Season 1 episode of New Girl titled “Bells,” which aired in 2011.
It is never stated what the property is supposed to be in the episode, but I believe it is intended to mask as the exterior of Jess and the gang’s loft. The building that typically serves as the loft on the series is located about three miles to the east, but because the “Bells” episode also made use of MacArthur Park, which is less than a block away from Carondelet House, I am guessing it was more economical to shoot there on that one occasion.
Carondelet House is the site of a wedding in the Season 3 episode of You’re the Worst titled “The Inherent, Unsullied Qualitative Value of Anything,” which aired in 2016. (Thanks to Molly, from Almost Makes Perfect, for telling me about this one!)
Nick Viall took some of his girls to Carondelet House during a group date – the best group date ever, in my opinion (hello, Backstreet Boys!) – on the Season 21 episode of The Bachelor titled “Week 3,” which aired in 2017.
For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.
Until next time, Happy Stalking! 
Stalk It: Carondelet House, from Maroon 5’s “Sugar” music video, is located at 627 South Carondelet Street in Westlake. You can visit the venue’s official website here.
Each season, The Bachelor reality series whisks its stars and contestants to various exotic, high-end locales. During Brad Womack’s second stint as The Bachelor, he and the ladies (including my girl Emily Maynard) headed to the ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. Prior to last month, I had not been to Sin City in over a decade (that’s like a lifetime in Vegas years!), long before the ARIA had been built, and I was absolutely itching to stalk the place. So I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on over there to grab cocktails our second night in town.
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ARIA Resort & Casino, which is comprised of two curvilinear glass towers, is situated in the middle of CityCenter, a 67-acre, 6-building complex consisting of 3 condominium towers, 3 hotels with a total of 4,800 rooms, and an upscale mall named The Shops at Crystals.
ARIA was designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects and opened to the public in December 2009. According to a USA Today article from that year, the site’s unusual name was derived from the fact that the hotel is the focal point of the CityCenter complex and arias are the focal points of operas.
The AAA Five Diamond-rated hotel stands at 600 feet tall, measures 4,000,000 square feet, and is nothing short of stunning! The property features 4,004 rooms and suites, 16 restaurants, 15 bars and nightclubs, 5 pools, 3 hot tubs, an 80,000-square-foot spa, a convention center, a theater, and, of course, a casino.
ARIA’s three-story lobby boasts incredible textures. I realize that is kind of an odd way to describe the design of a hotel, but every corner of the place seems to sport a uniquely tactile feature. From a hanging glass ball curtain . . .
. . . to a wall of thick, reclaimed wood planks . . .
. . . to a massive chandelier made of what appeared to be paper-thin shells – every décor piece had its own unique look and feel and, when put together, the result was fabulous.
I was especially enamored of the 84-foot silver sculpture situated behind the registration desk. Named Silver River, the piece, which was designed by Maya Lin, who also designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., was inspired by the layout of the Colorado River.
And don’t even get me started on The Shops at Crystals! It is easily the most architecturally unique mall I have ever set foot in.
I mean, check out that ceiling!
The Crystals’ Starbucks was pretty darn amazing, as well.
During a Season 15 episode of The Bachelor, Brad Womack and the ladies ventured to Las Vegas for a series of dates. The ARIA was used extensively throughout the episode.
While there, the women stayed in one of the hotel’s massive Sky Suites.
Many of the dates took place at ARIA, as well.
The most memorable date, for me at least, was Shawntel Newton’s shopping spree date at The Shops at Crystals, during which she got to purchase anything and everything she wanted. Um, DREAM DATE!
As if that wasn’t enough, Shawntel’s date ended with a dinner and fireworks show on the roof of Crystals.
ARIA was also featured in a Season 6 episode of The Bachelorette in which Ali Fedotowsky took Jesse Beck to Las Vegas for a one-on-one date.
During the date, the couple spent time at ARIA’s Liquid Pool & Lounge . . .
. . . and ate dinner in a Sky Villa.
They also attended a private concert with singer Jamie Cullum at ARIA’s Haze Nightclub, which has since closed.
Much of Last Vegas, one of my favorite movies of 2013, took place at ARIA.
In the comedy, childhood buddies Billy (Michael Douglas), Paddy (Robert De Niro), Archie (Morgan Freeman) and Sam (Kevin Kline) gather at ARIA for Billy’s bachelor party.
Though much of the hotel was featured throughout the movie, the guys’ four-bedroom Penthouse Villa was just a set.
In the 2013 thriller Now You See Me, the Four Horsemen – J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson), Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher) and Jack Wilder (Dave Franco) – were arrested at the ARIA.
One of the hotel’s Sky Villas was used in the filming.
And this past weekend, Sarah Jessica Parker was on hand at The Shops at Crystals for the launch of the pop-up boutique for her The SJP shoe collection (images below via The Shops at Crystals Instagram and the SJP Collection Instagram).
For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.
Until next time, Happy Stalking! 
Stalk It: ARIA Resort & Casino, from The Bachelor, is located at 3730 South Las Vegas Boulevard in Las Vegas. You can visit the hotel’s official website here.
This season of The Bachelor has been one for the record books! I don’t think there has ever been a prior season featuring so many crazy contestants – and for The Bachelor, that’s really saying something. Sure there are a few sane women in the bunch (Whitney, Carly and Becca), but for the most part each episode is like a parade of crazy – and I am loving every minute of it! The Grim Cheaper and I just visited a location from a past season of the show last week while up in San Francisco for my grandma’s 90th birthday. One of my besties Nat, who lives in SF, planned a spectacular Valentine’s Day evening for us, during which we stopped by the iconic Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar at The Fairmont San Francisco Hotel. And, let me tell you, I could NOT have been more excited!
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Construction on The Fairmont began in 1902. In a bit of unfortunate timing, the hotel was completed, but had not yet opened, shortly before the 1906 earthquake. While the building was not harmed by the actual quake, the fires that followed wound up devastating the structure. Architect Julia Morgan, who co-designed William Randolph Hearst’s Ocean House in Santa Monica, was eventually brought in to rehabilitate it and The Fairmont was finally opened to the public in 1907. It soon became the city’s most popular upscale hotel. The property went through a succession of different owners during its early years and in 1929 was purchased by an engineer named George Smith, who installed a 75-foot indoor pool on the hotel’s Terrace level that he dubbed the “Fairmont Plunge.”
The hotel suffered a downturn during the Great Depression and was sold yet again, this time to Benjamin Swig. In the hopes of restoring The Fairmont’s popularity, Swig brought in interior decorator Dorothy Draper to redesign the place.
And it worked. The Fairmont once again became the toast of San Francisco society, as well as the go-to hotel for visiting celebs and dignitaries. Just a few of the stars who have stayed at The Fairmont over the years include Joan Crawford, Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Wells, William Randolph Hearst, Rudolph Valentino, Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, James Stewart, Kim Novak, Fred Astaire, James Brown, Ernest Hemingway, David Duchovny, Harrison Ford, Uma Thurman, Courteney Cox, Katie Holmes, and Mischa Barton. The Fairmont has also hosted such presidents as Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, John F. Kennedy and, just last week, Barack Obama. And it was in the hotel’s famed supper club, The Venetian Room, that Tony Bennett first sang his trademark song “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.”
In 1945, Swig hired MGM set director Mel Melvin to transform the Plunge into a nautical-themed Chinese restaurant that he named the S.S. Tonga. While popular, Benjamin decided to redesign the place once again in the 1950s due to the advent of the tiki bar craze. The new Polynesian-themed eatery was dubbed the “Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar.”
Swig stationed a barge, complete with a thatched roof, in the center of the pool and hired bands to play on it nightly.
He also installed a large dance floor that had been constructed out of the deck of the S.S. Forester, a ship that once travelled between San Francisco and the South Sea Islands.
To say that the Tonga Room is spectacular would be a gross understatement. The place is absolutely phenomenal and my photographs really don’t do it justice. It is easily one of San Francisco’s most unique spots and it is not surprising that producers chose to feature it in the Season 16 episode of The Bachelor that was filmed in SF. Oh, and did I mention that it rains there? So freaking cool!
The Fairmont popped up during Ben Flajnik’s season in the episode titled “San Francisco, California” and was shown several times throughout the episode.
Not only were the women put up at the hotel . . .
. . . but the incredibly dramatic rose ceremony - in which Shawntel Newton (from Brad Womack’s season) barged in and was then subsequently ousted (cue Courtney saying “Sayonara”) – took place on the patio of The Fairmont’s 6,000-square-foot Penthouse Suite. Just a few of the luminaries who have stayed in the suite include President John F. Kennedy, Prince Charles, Mick Jagger, Tony Bennett, Nat King Cole, and Marlene Dietrich. You can check out some photographs of the space here. The library room is uh-ma-zing!
The show’s group date took place in the Tonga Room. In the episode, Ben described the restaurant as an iconic and historic San Francisco landmark, so I was shocked that I had never heard of it before, especially considering that I grew up in SF. I immediately called my mom to ask how it was that my parents had never taken me there and she replied, “We never took you there? How is that possible?” I don’t know, mom! I don’t know! 
I have wanted to remedy the situation ever since and am so glad that I was recently able to do so!
The Bachelor returned to The Fairmont during its current season. In the fourth episode, titled “Camping,” Bachelor Chris Soules and contestant Jillian Anderson had an extremely awkward date on the patio of the Penthouse Suite, the same spot where Ben’s rose ceremony took place.
The Fairmont has been featured in countless productions over the years, so many that it would be impossible for me to chronicle them all here. As Jim Van Buskirk and Will Shank say in their book Celluloid San Francisco, “The Fairmont has starred in so many movies that, legend has it, the doorman is required to be a member of the Screen Actor’s Guild.” Love it! A few of its notable onscreen appearances include Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo. In the 1958 thriller, Madeleine Elster (Kim Novak) is shown briefly driving by the hotel.
Supposedly, the shots of San Francisco that appeared in the movie’s opening sequence were taken from the roof of The Fairmont, but I am unsure if that information is correct.
Hitchcock returned to the hotel to shoot a brief scene for 1976’s Family Plot, in which Blanche Taylor (Barbara Harris) leaves a cryptic message for George Lumley (Bruce Dern) with the doorman.
The Fairmont was used in establishing shots of the St. Gregory Hotel in the 1983 television series Hotel.
Interiors were shot on a set modeled after the inside of The Fairmont.
In the 1996 thriller The Rock, John Patrick Mason (Sean Connery) demands a suite at The Fairmont while helping the FBI with a case.
The FBI secures him the Penthouse Suite and it is on the patio that Mason gets his hair cut . . .
. . . and from which F.B.I. Director Womack (John Spencer) is thrown.
Though portions of the Penthouse interior were utilized in the filming (including the library, pictured below), I believe that most of the hotel room scenes were shot elsewhere.
And oddly enough, when Mason is shown exiting The Fairmont, he is actually standing in front of the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.
In the 1994 comedy Junior, an establishing shot of The Fairmont is shown as the location of the West Coast Pharmaceutical Convention.
But interiors were actually shot in the Gold Room at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel.
And when Dr. Alex Hesse (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Dr. Larry Arbogast (Danny DeVito) are shown leaving the convention, they are actually standing at the Biltmore’s limo ramp .
Fellow stalker Owen, from the When Write Is Wrong blog, also informed me that The Fairmont was where Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) gave a speech at the National Parks Conference in the Season 6 episode of Parks and Recreation titled “Moving Up.” The hotel was only used in establishing shots, though. Interior filming took place elsewhere.
The Fairmont has also appeared in Jade, Hard to Hold, Shoot the Moon, Chu Chu and the Philly Flash, A Night Full of Rain, Mother, Towering Inferno, Petulia, Midnight Lace, Alexander’s Ragtime Band, Magnum Force, Kiss Them For Me, The Streets of San Francisco and The Amazing Race.
For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online.
Until next time, Happy Stalking! 
Stalk It: The Fairmont San Francisco is located at 950 Mason Street in Nob Hill. You can visit the Fairmont’s official website here. The Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar is located on the hotel’s Terrace Level. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.
When Juan Pablo Galavis and Chelsie Webster went bungee jumping off of Pasadena’s Colorado Street Bridge in the recently-aired Season 18 episode of The Bachelor titled “Soccer Date,” I found myself wondering, “How did I miss the filming?” Although it has been over a year now, I still have to remind myself that the Crown City is no longer home. (The Grim Cheaper is convinced that all the blonde hair dye I use has finally started to affect my brain. 
) I happened to drive under the famed bridge while visiting Pasadena last week and got to thinking that it would make for a good Valentine’s-themed post (even though, per Reality Steve, Juan Pablo and Chelsie do not wind up together), so I pulled over to snap some pics. (The GC also “loaned” me a bunch of photos he took of the structure years ago.)
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The Colorado Street Bridge was designed by the Kansas City, Missouri-based engineering firm Waddell & Harrington. Construction on the 1,467.5-foot-long, two-lane structure was completed in 1913. The bridge, which towers 148.5-feet above the Arroyo Seco, is an architectural marvel boasting 11 Beaux Arts arches, ornamental clustered light posts and an iron balustrade. Shockingly, the magnificent, curving span was almost demolished in 1953 following the completion of the adjacent Pioneer Bridge, which connects the 134 and 210 freeways. The site was saved thanks to a letter-writing campaign and is now on the National Register of Historic Places.
Due to structural deterioration, the Colorado Street Bridge was closed to traffic in 1989 and a $27-million restoration project subsequently begun. The site was re-opened on December 13th, 1993 – the 90-year anniversary of its original completion.
The span is often referred to as the “Suicide Bridge” because more than 100 people have jumped to their deaths from it over the years, most during the 1930s in the midst of the Great Depression. While a wrought-iron suicide-prevention fence was installed at the time of the 1989 renovation, it has not halted the most determined troubled souls – thirteen people have jumped from the bridge since 2006 alone.
In the “Soccer Date” episode of The Bachelor, Juan Pablo first takes Chelsie to sample Venezuelan delicacies at Amara Chocolate & Coffee (located at 55 South Raymond Avenue in Old Town).
The two then head over to the Colorado Street Bridge where, after a considerable amount of hemming and hawing on Chelsie’s part, they embark on a tandem bungee jump.
The Bachelor is hardly the first production to make use of the picturesque site. The bridge has appeared in countless productions over the years – far too many for me to ever chronicle here. But I’ve compiled a few of the highlights. Way back in 1921, Charlie Chaplin featured the structure in his movie The Kid (which starred Jackie Coogan, grandfather of Keith Coogan, my girl Pinky Lovejoy’s husband.)
The Colorado Street Bridge showed up very briefly at the beginning of the 2005 romantic comedy Rumor Has It, in the scene in which Sarah Huttinger (Jennifer Aniston) and Jeff Daly (Mark Ruffalo) first arrived in Pasadena.
The bridge was where Carl (Jim Carrey) bungee jumped – and took a phone call – in 2008’s Yes Man.
Jim Carrey actually performed the stunt himself for the scene. You can watch a behind-the-scenes video of it being shot by clicking below.
In the Season 4 episode of The Closer titled “Fate Line,” which aired in 2009 (and which I got to watch being filmed – you can read my set report here), horror film producer Sean Thompson died in a car accident underneath the Colorado Street Bridge.
In the Season 2 episode of The Mentalist titled “The Scarlet Letter,” which also aired in 2009 (and which I also watched being filmed – you can read that set report here), the Colorado Street Bridge masqueraded as the Sacramento-area bridge where the body of Kristin Marley (Kristine Blackport) was found.
The structure was where two sisters killed themselves in another 2009 production – the Season 1 episode of Lie to Me (a series I absolutely loved) titled “Depraved Heart.”
For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.
Until next time, Happy Stalking! 
Stalk It: The Colorado Street Bridge, where Juan Pablo and Chelsie bungee jumped on The Bachelor, is located on West Colorado Boulevard, in between South Orange Grove Boulevard and North San Rafael Avenue, adjacent to the 134 Freeway, in Pasadena.
This past Sunday morning, Miss Pinky Lovejoy, from the Thinking Pink blog, called me up to let me know that she had just found out about a celebrity fundraising event in Santa Monica that was being hosted by actress Teri Hatcher. So, much to the Grim Cheaper’s chagrin, I immediately hopped right out of bed, ran a brush through my hair, threw on some make-up, grabbed my car keys, and dragged him right on over to the West Side to stalk it. To say that my life has changed for the better since meeting Pinky this past Valentine’s Day would be a rather gross understatement! I have met more celebrities and gone to more celebrity events in the past three months since knowing her than in the previous ten-plus years that I have lived in Los Angeles put together! And I have made a great friend in the process, to boot!
Teri’s fundraiser, which took place at the Tiato Market Garden Café, was a celebrity yard sale benefiting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (my girl Jen Aniston’s favorite charity) and the RockSTAR music education program, and featured for sale “gently used” clothing, handbags, and furnishings formerly owned by such celebrities as Dancing with the Stars judge Carrie Ann Inaba, actress Goldi Hawn, Glee’s Jayma Mays, and reality star Kourtney Kardashian. The yard sale was a very relaxed, low-key event and while there were several journalists on hand to document the goings-on, the only stalkers in attendance were me, Pinky, our friend Mike, from the Mike the Fanboy website, and his friend Erica. The autograph hounds, or the “graphers” as Pinky likes to call them, were thankfully nowhere to be found, which meant that I did not get pushed or shoved once the entire morning! Yay!
The first celeb to arrive on the scene was reality star Bob Guiney, who was a contestant on Trista Rehn’s season of The Bachelorette in 2003 and then later starred on the fourth season of The Bachelor. Bob was SUPER nice and remembered Pinky from when he had met her a few months prior and even joked with her about how he had kissed too many women during his Bachelor stint.
Next up was James Denton whom I have heard on countless occasions is one of the nicest celebrities out there and I am very happy to report that he did NOT disappoint! James was an absolute sweetheart and was very outgoing and friendly. Love, love, love him!
The next celeb to arrive was Mark Moses, aka Desperate Housewives’ Paul Young, and he was also SUPER nice and friendly in person, which was quite the shock to my system being that his character is so completely cold and devious. My brain almost could not process talking to him because he had a smile on his face the whole time which was such a huge departure from how I am used to seeing him on TV.
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Also in attendance was Tamra Barney from The Real Housewives of Orange County . . .
. . . who was GORGEOUS in person (she reminded me a lot of Emily Maynard from this past season of The Bachelor);
Natasha Alam from True Blood, whom I met a couple of weeks ago at the Decisions Movie Premiere and Celebration of Corey Haim’s Life event;
and Estella Warren from the 2001 Planet of the Apes re-make . . .
. . . whose dress I was absolutely obsessed with! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE dresses that have pockets!!!! And the color! Sigh! So incredibly adorable.
Teri Hatcher came out to walk the red carpet towards the end of the media portion of the event and she was ABSOLUTELY MOBBED by photographers and journalists, making it impossible to get close enough to her to ask for a picture. She was STUNNING in person, though, and SO INCREDIBLY TINY!
After about thirty minutes of watching Teri get mobbed by media people everywhere she went, Pinky and I resigned ourselves to not getting a photograph with her. But, as fate would have it, when we stepped inside of the restaurant to use the bathroom before leaving the event, we encountered Teri standing all by herself! Pinky and I each quickly posed for a pic with her and then she was off! Talk about your perfect timing! Had we been five seconds earlier or five seconds later we would have missed her entirely. This was one celebrity photograph that was definitely meant to be! 
I also randomly ran into Josh Sussman, who plays blogger/Rachel-Berry-lover Jacob Ben Israel on Glee, this weekend just after hitting up a Starbucks in Burbank. Unlike all of my other encounters with actors from Glee, Josh truly could NOT have been nicer and happily posed for a pic with me and even waited patiently while I dug around in my purse trying to find my camera. Yay! All in all, it was definitely a FABULOUS weekend.
On a stalking side note – Marci, the SUPER sweet owner of Lula Mae, my very favorite store, just gifted me with the notebook pictured above, which I think is just about the cutest thing ever! I stop by Lula Mae at least four times a week (what can I say, I am addicted to the place!) and spend quite a bit of time chatting with Marci about my various stalking adventures, so while she was out shopping this past weekend she spotted the “Actors I Met and Liked” notebook and immediately thought of me. Love it, love it, love it! I think I am going to have to add an “Actors I Met and Disliked” section to the book, too, as there are quite a few of those, as well. 
Big THANK YOU to Pinky Lovejoy, from the Thinking Pink blog, for telling me about this event!
Until next time, Happy Stalking!
Stalk It: Tiato Market Garden Café, where Teri Hatcher’s Red Carpet Charity Yard Sale was held, is located at 2700 Colorado Boulevard in Santa Monica. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.
As I’ve mentioned many times before on this blog, POP Champagne & Dessert Bar in Old Town Pasadena is my very favorite restaurant and, even though I wasn’t even engaged at the time, when I first walked through its front doors over a year and a half ago, I immediately knew it was the place where I wanted to hold the rehearsal dinner for my wedding. The only problem was that the Grim Cheaper and I had long been planning on getting married in Malibu and having a rehearsal dinner at a restaurant located over fifty miles away from the wedding venue wasn’t exactly the most viable of options. After the GC finally proposed, though, and we sat down to begin our wedding planning, my mom suggested that we hold the actual wedding rehearsal in the backyard of my parent’s Pasadena home, which is located just about two miles from POP, and an idea was born – our nuptials would be a two-city celebration! Much to the GC’s chagrin, I had long before decided that all of our wedding guests would be invited to our rehearsal dinner. Because weddings seem to go by in such a blur and because the vast majority of our guests were from out of town, I did not want the time spent with our closest loved ones to be limited to one short evening. I was a little worried, though, that our family and friends might be upset over the fact that each night’s festivities would be held in a different city, which would entail everyone having to rent a car AND moving hotel rooms from one night to the other. As it turned out, though, people absolutely LOVED the idea! Because most of our family and friends were not from the area, many of them told me afterwards that they loved getting to experience two very different parts of Southern California over the course of our wedding weekend. YAY!
Holding the rehearsal in my parents’ backyard actually turned out to be very memorable for my family, because just two weeks after the wedding my mom and dad put their beloved house up for sale – the same house they had lived in for the better part of a decade. So, it was nice to make one last and very significant memory there before we had to say good-bye. And yes, as you can see in the above photographs, during the rehearsal I did wear the Carrie Bradshaw veil that my best friend, Kylee, made for my Sex and the City-themed bachelorette party.
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Because fifty people would be attending, I did not want our rehearsal dinner to be a formal, sit-down event. I wanted our friends and family to be able to mingle and get to know each other and a formal sit-down dinner would not have been very conducive to that. So, we asked Kristin and Matt, the owners of POP Champagne Bar, if they could create a cocktail party-type atmosphere for us and they ended up pulling it off beautifully! In fact, they couldn’t have facilitated it better had I given them a roadmap! They wound up giving us the entire front portion of the restaurant and had several different groupings of tables and chairs set up for people if they wanted to sit down, while servers walked around with tray-passed food. There was also a buffet table set up with wine and champagne and a sampling of the food so that guests could also help themselves. The evening turned out perfect! Not only did the GC and I get to walk around and talk to all of our closest friends, but most of our guests also spent the evening mingling and speaking with different groups of people, so, by the time the wedding rolled around, everyone had really gotten know each other, which was so incredibly cool! And while I realize that it is a (large) added expense, if you can swing it, I honestly cannot more highly recommend inviting all of your guests to the rehearsal dinner. Doing so made our special day that much more memorable.
Not to mention the food was ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE – and almost unbelievably reasonably priced. There are several different special events menu choices available at POP and we chose the most expensive one, which was only $12 per person! Included in that price were seven different menu items of our choosing. We ended up picking the deviled eggs with chive truffle, bacon onion, and blue cheese flavoring (my favorite), POPcorn chicken (pictured above to the right), chorizo and Anaheim chili meatballs, sliders with three different toppings including bacon-gorgonzola mayonnaise, Pasilla chili-chorizo, and goat cheese & date (the GC’s favorite), the flatbread pizza du jour, wild mushroom and goat cheese bruschetta, and olive, mushroom, and sun-dried tomato flavored tapenade crostini (pictured above to the left). And there was no shortage of food! Amazingly enough, after two and a half hours of being there, Matt informed us that we hadn’t even eaten fifty percent of the food we had paid for! LOL For dessert we picked the three-item menu at $6 per person which included chocolate-covered strawberries, a trio of homemade cookies, and the house-made churros served with three different dipping sauces – spiced warm chocolate, Dulce de leche, and creamy strawberry. Because the bottles of wine and champagne offered at POP are all on the pricier side, Matt offered to special order some lower-priced options for our rehearsal dinner. We told him the amount we wanted to spend per bottle and gave him free reign to choose the brands he thought best and he ended up picking out some spectacular options for us. So not only was the party absolutely fabulous – all of our guests were raving about both the atmosphere and the food – but it was also completely affordable! And while not yet a filming location (although it was almost chosen to be in the soon-to-be released No Strings Attached movie, which would have been just about the coolest thing ever!), POP has become something of a celebrity hangout as of late. Such stars as Mila Kunis, Denzel Washington, Marc Curry, and The Bachelor’s Jason Mesnick and Molly Malaney have all been spotted there and ’80s pop star Tiffany even threw herself a birthday party at the restaurant! Love it!
Until next time, Happy Stalking! 
Stalk It: POP Champagne & Dessert Bar is located at 33 East Union Street in Old Town Pasadena. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.
During our recent Cabo San Lucas honeymoon, the Grim Cheaper and I stayed at the Pueblo Bonito Pacifica Holistic Resort & Spa. And while I knew from looking at the property’s website that it was a beautiful place, at the time I made our reservation I had absolutely NO idea that it was also a celebrity destination AND a filming location! They say that you attract those things to you that you think about the most, and in this case, that was most definitely true! But more on that later.
Before arriving in Cabo, I was a little apprehensive that it might be a somewhat dangerous place. As it turns out, though, I don’t think I’ve ever felt more safe. The city is beautiful, the people are some of the friendliest I’ve ever encountered, and the Cabo way of life is extremely laidback. And while people generally refer to the entire area as being called Cabo San Lucas, it is actually known as Los Cabos and is made up of three different sections which span the southern tip of the Baja Peninsula. The sections include San Jose Del Cabo, The Corridor, and Cabo San Lucas. Long before I had planned our honeymoon, I had heard Jennifer Aniston and Jennifer Love Hewitt describe Cabo as a “sleepy, little fishing town”. As it turns out, though, Jen and Love were not speaking about Cabo San Lucas proper, which is a major party city, but rather about San Jose Del Cabo, which is located about fifteen miles north. Most celebrities choose to stay in one of the many five-star resorts located along The Corridor, the most popular of which are the Esperanza, the One&Only Palmilla, and Las Ventanas Al Paraiso. Because The Corridor hotels are exorbitantly expensive, though, the Grim Cheaper and I chose instead to stay at a resort in Cabo San Lucas, but thankfully it was far removed from the whole party scene.
The 154-room Pueblo Bonito Pacifica Holistic Resort & Spa first opened in 2005 and is located inside of a gated community about five miles north of town. Thanks to the hotel’s strict adults-only policy and its remote location, it is an EXTREMELY quiet destination and has been billed as one of Cabo’s most romantic locales. And let me tell you, the GC and I absolutely LOVED the place. The resort is so quiet that we often looked around and asked ourselves if we were the only two people staying there. It was without a doubt the most relaxing, quiet vacation I have ever been on. In fact, outside of wanting to do a little stalking, neither of us found any reason whatsoever to leave the resort during our entire nine day stay. It was the perfect place to spend our honeymoon and, because it is so reasonably priced, we are already making plans for a return visit. 🙂
Upon first arriving at the resort, the Grim Cheaper and I were greeted with cool, wet towels infused with lavender oil with which to wash our hands.
The lobby, which overlooks the ocean, was also infused with a lavender scent, which made the experience of entering the hotel seem like walking into a spa. Love it!
The Pacifica features two pools, both of which overlook the ocean . . .
. . . and one of which features a swim-up bar.
The property is situated on a beautiful, private beach . . .
. . . where outdoor beds can be rented during the day and for overnight stays. The beds can also be rented for an ultra-romantic dinner under the stars, which we unfortunately didn’t find out about until the very last night we were there. Ugh! I so would have loved to have done that!
Our room was absolutely beautiful . . .
. . . and featured a private balcony . . .
. . . with a stunning view of the ocean and pool area.
And at night the view only got more spectacular. Sigh! Oh, how I wish I was still there!
The Pacifica features four different restaurants and bars, all of which serve up SEPCTACULAR food – especially the nachos, which were some of the best I’ve ever had in my entire life. In fact, I’d book a stay at the hotel just for those nachos – that’s how good they were. Best of all, the Pacifica also offers 24-hour room service, which the Grim Cheaper and I partook of virtually every single night.
Because the resort is so remote and so private, numerous celebrities have checked in there over the years, including John Travolta and Kelly Preston, Lindsay Lohan, Cindy Crawford, Dolph Lundgren, and a bunch of sports stars, including a few Olympic gold medal winners, whose names I didn’t recognize. And, let me tell you, I just about died when I found out that my girl Jen had once visited the hotel’s spa! My Spanish isn’t all that great, so when I was speaking to the woman at the spa, I originally thought she said that Jen had stayed at the hotel on one occasion, but after talking with the concierge it turns out that Jen was only on the premises for a spa appointment. It was still very exciting for me, nonetheless.
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Even more exciting, though, was when one of the Pacifica’s bartenders informed me that all three fantasy dates from Brad Womack’s season of The Bachelor had been filmed at the resort. In the fantasy date episode, which aired on November 5, 2007, Brad flew his top three Bachelorettes – DeAnna Pappas, Jenni Croft, and Bettina Bell – down to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. And not only were all three overnight stays filmed at the resort, but according to this press release, the entire cast and crew also stayed on the premises. ABC.com even sponsored a Bachelor contest, where viewers at home could win their own 4-day, 3-night fantasy vacation at the Pacifica. Sadly, Season 11 of The Bachelor does not seem to be available for purchase anywhere and because I didn’t watch the show that year, I am not sure which parts of the resort were featured in the fantasy date episode. I was able to find the above clip of DeAnna Pappas’ date on YouTube, in which one of the resort’s timeshare villas, named the Montecristo Estates, is briefly shown.
As you can see in the above pictures, which I got off of the Montecristo Estates Website, the entrance, bedroom, and private pool terrace are exact matches to the fantasy suite where DeAnna and Brad spent the night.
Supposedly, the hotel’s main restaurant, Siempre, also appeared on The Bachelor.
I honestly can’t recommend stalking the Pueblo Bonito Pacifica Holistic Resort & Spa enough! My honeymoon was truly one of the best vacations of my life!
On a side note – For those who are planning a trip to the Cabo area, rest assured – the city does have a Starbucks. 🙂
And it looks pretty much like any other Starbucks one might find in America . . .
. . . except that the menu is, of course, in Spanish. So darn cool!
When I asked the baristas to pose for the above photograph, they wrongly assumed that I had never before been to a Starbucks, which prompted them to ask, “Don’t you have a Starbucks where you come from?” LOL LOL LOL Oh, if they only knew!
Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂
Stalk It: Pueblo Bonito Pacifica Holistic Resort & Spa is located at Cabo Pacifica S/N, 23450 Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. You can visit the hotel’s official website here. The resort is located inside of a gated community and I believe you have to have a dining reservation at one of the Pacifica’s restaurants or at one of the restaurants located inside of its sister hotel, Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach Resort & Spa, to be admitted entrance.