The Ugly Truth filming locations

February 21, 2013February 20, 2013

San Francisco Saloon from “The Ugly Truth”

Before we moved in together in 2008, the Grim Cheaper lived on the West Side of Los Angeles and, consequently, the two of us spent the majority of our time out there. During those years, when driving back and forth from his condo, I would often pass by a bar named San Francisco Saloon. The place had always intrigued me (most likely because I grew up in the Bay Area), but, for whatever reason, I never stopped in. Then, back in 2009, I just about fell off my chair when I spotted the watering hole pop up in fave rom-com The Ugly Truth. We were living in Pasadena by then, though, so after I finished watching the movie, San Francisco Saloon pretty much slipped from my mind. Flash forward to this past weekend, when, while driving back to the GC’s boss’ loft in Santa Monica (our L.A. weekend crash pad), we passed by the eatery and I suggested we stop in for a spontaneous stalk and a bite to eat. Thankfully, the GC was game and, in a fortuitous twist, we ended up absolutely LOVING the place.

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Oddly enough, while the San Francisco Saloon website states that the establishment has been “serving spirits since 1934,” I could find virtually no other historical information about the place anywhere. The only scoop that I did come across was this Yellow Pages listing which claims that the bar was named in honor of San Francisco’s oldest watering hole, The Saloon. You can check out some photographs of The Saloon, which was founded in 1861, here. The place definitely does have the same look and feel as its Los Angeles counterpart.

Because I am pretty much the pickiest eater known to man, I was floored to discover that the San Francisco Saloon menu offered countless options. And when I saw that I could substitute a crispy chicken breast for a ground beef patty on any hamburger order, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I wound up creating my own crispy chicken burger with jack cheese, mushrooms, bacon, and ranch dressing, and, while I am sure that it goes without saying, the thing was uh-ma-zing! My “burger” came with a massive side salad full of mixed greens that was also fabulous – and made me feel a bit less guilty about my bacon/cheese/fried chicken-filled main portion. Winking smile The GC dined on the Saloon’s 49er Burger, with a regular beef patty, blue cheese crumbles, grilled onions, and mushrooms, and also absolutely loved it. And the prices were incredibly reasonable, too, which made him happy to no end. My favorite part of the evening, though, was when I ordered champagne and the bartender explained that the Saloon did not actually serve sparkling wine, but that he could make me some mock-bubbly by mixing white wine with seltzer water. How incredibly cool is that? While I have found myself in countless bars that do not serve champagne, never once have I had a bartender offer to make me a substitute. And his concoction turned out to be fabulous, to boot! On a sparkling wine side-note – my good friend Julia, creator of the fabulous Bunnies in L.A. jewelry line, recently asked me if I liked white wine. When I told her that I did not, she responded, “Exactly! It’s basically just flat champagne, so what’s the point?” Um, LOVE IT!

San Francisco Saloon popped up once in The Ugly Truth, in the scene in which co-workers/frenemies Abby (Katherine Heigl) and Mike (Gerard Butler) discuss Abby’s upcoming trip to Lake Tahoe with her new boyfriend, Colin (Eric Winter). Both the exterior . . .

. . . and the interior of the bar were used. According to one of the super-nice servers that I spoke with, several other scenes from the movie (all of which apparently wound up on the cutting room floor) were also filmed at San Francisco Saloon, as was an episode of Wilfred, but I was, unfortunately, unable to figure out exactly which episode.

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: San Francisco Saloon, from The Ugly Truth, is located at 11501 West Pico Boulevard in West Los Angeles. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.

February 25, 2010March 1, 2010

Cup ‘N Cakes Cafe from “Modern Family”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

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

January 11, 2010January 11, 2010

Katherine Heigl’s Apartment Building from “The Ugly Truth”

A few months back I received an email from a woman named Marilyn (love it!) who wanted to know if I could track down the apartment building where Katherine Heigl lived in the 2009 romantic comedy The Ugly Truth. But because I am not a big Katherine Heigl fan – I just think the girl has entirely too much to say about . . . well, everything – I had yet to see the movie and didn’t really plan on doing so. So, I enlisted the help of fellow stalker Owen in tracking this location down and, even though he had yet to see the movie either, he found the place in record time! Thank you, Owen! 🙂 But then a funny thing happened. Once Owen gave me the address and I started looking at aerial views of the building via Google maps, I became more and more intrigued by it until I finally broke down and rented The Ugly Truth. And you know what? I absolutely LOVED it! In fact, I watched it twice!! 🙂 The Ugly Truth is cute and funny and both Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler are fabulous in it! Although, truth be told, I’m not sure if I liked the flick because it was actually a good movie or because my expectations were so incredibly low that I couldn’t help but be pleasantly surprised while watching. Either way, I truly enjoyed The Ugly Truth and my opinion of its leading lady couldn’t help but be improved after watching it. 🙂 So, once I had seen the movie, I, of course, just had to drag my fiancé out to stalk the building where Katherine Heigl’s character lived.

In The Ugly Truth, Katherine Heigl’s character “Abby” supposedly lives in the Sacramento area. But in real life, her Mediterranean-style complex, which is named “El Mirador”, is located a good 380 miles south of the state capital in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles. El Mirador, which is not to be confused with the famous El Mirador apartment building in West Hollywood, was built in 1936 and consists of several privately owned townhomes. The complex is truly charming in person and I absolutely fell in love with the place. Although I must say I am rather surprised that it was chosen to masquerade as a Sacramento area residence in The Ugly Truth, as, to me, the place just screams Southern California. The Ugly Truth complex is actually very reminiscent of both Le Borghese Apartments from the movie Mulholland Drive and the El Cabrillo Apartments from ‘Til There Was You and the television series Chuck. In fact, El Mirador is such a typical L.A. area courtyard building that I can’t imagine it existing anywhere else. But, then again, being that I haven’t spent all that much time in Sacramento, maybe there are similar style buildings located there, as well.

Sadly, not much of El Mirador can be seen from the street thanks to a large grove of trees planted along the perimeter of the property. But thankfully there is a little window in the complex’s front gate, through which I was able to take the pictures you see in the this post. 🙂

After I sent Marilyn the address of The Ugly Truth building, she sent me back the images pictured above from a Craig’s List posting she had stumbled upon advertising the rental of one of the El Mirador Townhomes. As you can see in the photos, while the interior of Katherine’s apartment in the flick was actually just a set built on a studio soundstage, it was, in fact, modeled after the real life interiors of the El Mirador. 🙂 So darn cool!

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Big THANK YOU to Owen for finding this location and to Marilyn for sending me the Craig’s List images! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Katherine Heigl’s apartment building from The Ugly Truth is located at 1930 Rodney Drive in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles.