Things to Do in Hollywood – IAMNOTASTALKER

April 16, 2012April 15, 2012

Shooters Bar & Grill from “Melrose Place”

One location that had been on my “To Stalk” list pretty much ever since I first moved to Southern California over twelve years ago was Fellini’s “Old Country” Italian restaurant – the Hollywood-area eatery that stood in for Shooters Bar & Grill on the 1992 Beverly Hills, 90210-spinoff Melrose Place. And while I was never a huge fan of the series (I think I was a bit too young for it as most of the storylines went right over my head), I did watch the entire first season and the pool hall/bar where the characters regularly hung out was a place that I had always wanted to see in person. For whatever reason, though, I had just never made it out there. So, while Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I were out doing some stalking in the Hollywood area two weeks ago, I suggested that we stop by. Sadly, this was a bit of a disappointing stalk for both of us, though, as the site has changed drastically since filming took place and is virtually unrecognizable from its weekly onscreen appearances as Shooters on Melrose Place.

Unfortunately, I could not find much information online about the history of Fellini’s, which is surprising being that the establishment seemed to be something of a Hollywood landmark and was around for almost two full decades. According to this December 1987 Los Angeles Times article, Fellini’s, which was named in honor of the legendary Italian film director Federico Fellini, was founded in 1976 by a man named Gary Michael Gilson. The portion of the building that stood in for Shooters was not actually a part of the original restaurant, but was added in 1982 when Gilson decided to expand into a vacant former antique shop located next door. During its heyday, such stars as Bonnie Raitt and Dennis Quaid were said to not only have hung out there, but were even known to jump up on the eatery’s tiny stage and sing a few tunes from time to time. Fellini’s ended up shutting its doors sometime in the late ‘80s, at which point it was transformed into a short-lived nightclub named Trinity that closed after less than a year. The establishment was then purchased by new owners and was reopened once again as Fellini’s, but not until 1993, so it seems that at the time Melrose Place was first filmed, the site was vacant. I am not sure when Fellini’s officially closed for the second time, but in mid-2010 the place housed a furniture store, as you can see in these photographs on the Daveland blog here. The storefront, which has since been painted a drab blue-grey color, currently houses MUSE Atelier hair salon.

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The exterior of Fellini’s showed up weekly on Melrose Place throughout the series’ seven-season run. You can check out some pictures of what Fellini’s used to look like when it was still in business here and a close-up of its doors here. As you can see in the photographs, not much was changed for the filming of Melrose Place. Sadly, that is not the case today. Gone are the familiar black awning, peach-colored paint, and arched double windows. Today, the storefront is a bleak reminder of its former self. As Mike said to me while we there, “This place looks like a morgue!” LOL Why the new owners would take a formerly very cute façade – not to mention a historic filming location – and turn it into something dismal is beyond me.

While we were there, Mike did notice that some markings from the former arched double windows were still visible on the exterior of the building. I SO love when there is some remnant, no matter how small, still in existence on filming locations that have been drastically altered. So incredibly cool!

While scanning through episodes of Melrose Place to make screen captures for today’s post, I noticed that something was not quite right about the close-up shots of Shooters’ front doors, and I came to the conclusion that a set of the entrance area had been created for all of the close-up filming.

As you can see in the above screen captures, the wall just to the left of the Shooters’ awning is popped out in the close-up view, but not in the faraway shot.

And in the close-up shot, the window to the left of the awning has no ornamentation surrounding it, but in the faraway shot it does.

Being that, in real life, the façade of the building is flat and does have ornamentation surrounding its side window, the only explanation is that a replica of the entrance was created on a soundstage at Santa Clarita Studios in Valencia where the series was lensed for all of the close-up shots. (You can see a pretty cool picture of the original Melrose Place apartment set on the Santa Clarita Studios website here.)

The interior of Shooters was also just a set and, from what I read online, it did not at all resemble the dark wood-paneled, Old World-style of the real life Fellini’s. Oh, what I wouldn’t give to have been able to have seen that place in person!

And while Fellini’s was used almost entirely for establishing shots on Melrose Place, some actual filming did take place there. In the pilot episode of the series, Jake Hanson (Grant Show) takes Kelly Taylor (Jennie Garth) on a date at Shooters and the two are shown pulling up to the front of the restaurant on Jake’s motorcycle.

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for taking me to this location.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The former Fellini’s restaurant (now MUSE Atelier salon), aka Shooters Bar & Grill from the original Melrose Place, is located at 6808/6810 Melrose Avenue, just west of North Highland Avenue, in Hollywood.

April 11, 2012April 10, 2012

Grub Restaurant from “The Hills”

While scanning through episodes of The Hills this past weekend looking for the scene that was filmed at Pinches Tacos in West Hollywood, which I blogged about yesterday, I just about fell off my chair when I spotted Grub Restaurant pop up in Season 5’s “Can’t Always Get What You Want”. Amazingly, way back in February of 2011, I had dragged the Grim Cheaper out to Grub as part of his Valentine’s Day scavenger hunt across L.A. (during which we had stalked LACMA, Boardner’s of Hollywood, and the HMS Bounty Bar and Restaurant), but at the time I was completely unaware that the place was a filming location. Thankfully, I snapped some pictures of it regardless, as I am always apt to do when visiting new eateries. I first learned about Grub thanks to fave book Peaceful Places Los Angeles: 110 Tranquil Sites in the City of Angels and Neighboring Communities, which I read while planning the GC’s hunt. Of the Hollywood hideaway, author Laura Randall had this to say, “Hidden by a high trellis bloom-full of seasonal morning glories, the restaurant’s small patio is marked by homey touches such as potted plants, mismatched umbrellas, and flea-market antiques. It sort of feels as if you’re eating in a friend’s back garden.” Because the place sounded so absolutely idyllic, I decided to make it the very first stop on our hunt.

Grub Restaurant was founded in 2001 by former San Francisco actress Betty Fraser and Arkansas native Denise DeCarlo, BFF’s who originally met a few years prior while waitressing at a L.A.-area California Pizza Kitchen. The two first launched a catering company in 1995, which they dubbed “As You Like It Catering” and ran out of a 1920s-era bungalow-style duplex in the heart of Hollywood’s Post-Production District. When neighbors began suggesting that they open an eatery in the charming little space, they thought “Why not?” and Grub Restaurant was born. The eclectic and humorous menu (one entrée is named “Our Friggin’ Amazing French Toast”) features upscale “California comfort food” with offerings such as the White Truffle Burger – a large patty topped with roasted mushrooms, Swiss cheese, caramelized onions, white truffle oil, and fresh arugula, and served on a toasted brioche bun – and the After School Special – a cheddar and Swiss grilled cheese sandwich on thick sourdough bread paired with a cup of homemade Creamy Dreamy Tomato Soup. Um, love it! Grub Restaurant has won countless well-deserved accolades over the years including LA Citysearch’s “Best Lunch Spot” in 2003, 2004, and 2005 and “Best Breakfast in Los Angeles” in 2009 and 2010, Los Angeles Magazine’s “Best Tuna Melt in LA” in 2009, and Zagat Survey’s “Top Five Breakfast Spots” in 2007.

Thanks to Grub Restaurant’s proximity to various Hollywood studios and post-production offices, the place has become a mecca for celebs. Just a few of the stars who have gotten their grub on there (see what I did there Winking smile ) include Sacha Baron Cohen, Charlize Theron, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Tom Sizemore, Jim Caviezel, Bob Guiney, Galen Gering, Zac Efron, Luke Wilson, and Daryl Hannah. Owner Betty Fraser is even a minor-celebrity herself, having appeared on Top Chef, The Today Show and Rachel Ray’s Tasty Travels.

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In the Season 5 episode of The Hills titled “Can’t Always Get What You Want”, Brody Jenner and my girl Kristin Cavallari discussed Brody’s tumultuous relationship with ex-girlfriend Jayde Nicole over breakfast at Grub. Upon first arriving at the eatery, Brody turned to Kristin and said, “You swear by this place”, so I am guessing that KCav used to be a frequent customer.

On a Hills side-note – while watching Season 5 of the series way back in 2009, I became just a wee-bit obsessed with the gold square-shaped necklace that KCav wore in almost every episode. And while I spent countless hours scouring the web trying to figure out who made the darn thing, I came up completely empty-handed. Then, last October, I happened to come across a post on the fabulous The Budgetista blog detailing exactly where I could order one. I ended up buying a gold-plated replica of the necklace (the GC would have killed me had I spent $300 on the actual thing) and not only is it absolutely adorbs, but it is also now one of my favorites. (I am wearing it in the above pic with Idris Elba.) Can’t thank you enough, Budgetista!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Grub Restaurant, from the “Can’t Always Get What You Want” episode of The Hills, is located at 911 Seward Street in Hollywood. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.

March 27, 2012March 26, 2012

Red Studios Hollywood – aka Kinograph Studios from “The Artist”

In early March, my friend Tony, the fellow stalker who has the amazeballs On Location in Los Angeles Flickr photostream, wrote a comment on my post about the duplex where George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) lived in The Artist alerting me to a blog named Silent Locations. The blog, which is authored by business lawyer/film historian John Bengtson, features a six-part column chronicling several locales that appeared in The Artist and their connection with various silent films made during Hollywood’s heyday. I highly recommend checking out the feature and the site in general. It is fabulous! Anyway, one of the places mentioned in the column was Red Studios Hollywood, the exterior of which stood in for both the exterior of Kinograph Studios in The Artist and Maroon Cartoons in 1988’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit. So I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out to stalk the place on a very windy Sunday afternoon two weekends ago.

The site where Red Studios Hollywood now stands was originally founded as Metro Pictures Back Lot #3 in 1915, long before the company joined forces with Goldwyn Pictures and became Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. During its Metro heyday, such films as Scaramouche, Little Robinson Crusoe and The Champ were filmed on the premises. Beginning in May 1946, the lot went through a series of different owners, the most prominent of whom were Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. The showbiz powerhouse couple leased the property in 1953 and turned it into the very first Desilu Studios, where they shot seasons 3 through 6 of I Love Lucy. In 1974, the lot became known as Ren-Mar Studios, an independently owned and operated facility where various production companies were able to rent out studio space. Legendary television producer David E. Kelley made his home there in the 80s and shot Picket Fences (one of my faves!), Chicago Hope, The Practice and the first two seasons of Ally McBeal. In January 2010, the lot was sold yet again, this time to Red Digital Camera Company, who renamed the place Red Studios Hollywood.

A few of the countless other productions that have been filmed on the premises over the years include The Golden Girls, The Dick Van Dyke Show, the first four episodes of Seinfeld, The Andy Griffith Show, Make Room for Daddy, Lizzie McGuire, NewsRadio, Empty Nest, Monk, and, most recently, True Blood. The series Weeds was also filmed on the lot, back when it was Ren-Mar, and during Season 4, after Agrestic burned down, producers had Nancy Botwin (Mary-Louise Parker) move to a fictional seaside town named “Ren Mar” in honor of the historic studio. Love it!

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In The Artist, the back entrance of Red was used as the main entrance of Kinograph Studios, where George Valentin worked at the beginning of the flick.

As you can see above, that area was changed drastically for the movie – so much so that it is virtually unrecognizable today. A huge false front was built over the actual studio entrance for the filming and the Hollywood Rounder blog was lucky enough to get to watch it being constructed. You can check out some very cool pics of the construction here and here, the fake security guard kiosk here, and the finished product here.

Interestingly enough, when Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo) is shown being dropped off at a location that is supposedly directly across the street from the Kinograph entrance, she is actually on New York Street at Paramount Studios, in front of the building that is used regularly as the Boston police station on Rizzoli & Isles.

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At one point in The Artist, George is also shown walking in between some of the Red Studios Hollywood soundstages.

The area where he walked is denoted with a pink circle above.

In Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Red’s main entrance on Cahuenga Boulevard stood in for the entrance to Maroon Cartoons, where the famous animated hare worked.

The courtyard just beyond that entrance was also used in the filming.

That area is denoted with a pink circle above.

On a Who Framed Roger Rabbit side-note – while doing research prior to writing this post, I came across a blurb in The Worldwide Guide to Movie Locations book which, in reference to the flick’s title, stated, “No, there is no question mark, as it’s considered bad luck in a film title.” I had never before heard that bit of trivia and found it interesting, especially since my good friend Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong grammatical errors blog, had recently written a post which mentioned WFRR’s punctuation error. Superstition or not, I think the flick really needed the mark in its title and I found myself inadvertently adding one each time I typed “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” in this post. I guess some habits are hard to break.

The music video for Britney Spears’ hit 2000 song “Lucky” was also shot at Ren-Mar and the exterior of the studio is visible in the MTV Making the Video special about the production.

You can watch Part I of the Making the Video of “Lucky” by clicking above.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker John Bengtson, from the Silent Locations blog, for finding this location and to fellow stalker Tony, from the fantastic On Location in Los Angeles Flickr photostream, for pointing me to John’s site! Smile

Stalk It: Red Studios Hollywood, aka Kinograph Studios from The Artist, is located at 846 North Cahuenga Boulevard in Hollywood. You can visit the official Red Studios Hollywood website here. The area of the studio used in The Artist can be found on Lillian Way, in between Willoughby and Waring Avenues. The studio’s main entrance on Cahuenga Boulevard is the entrance that stood in for Maroon Cartoons in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Red Studios Hollywood is not open to the public and does not currently offer a tour.

March 8, 2012March 8, 2012

Runyon Canyon Park from “The Hills”

A few years ago, after my good friend Nat happened to spot Runyon Canyon Park pop up in an episode of fave reality series The Hills, she sent me an email asking if I had ever stalked the place. And while I had long known that the locale was not only a big-time celebrity hangout, but also a popular filming location, because I am not a fan of hiking (or working out in general, if we are really being honest here), I had never added it to my “To-Stalk” list. But I assured Nat, who is very much into calisthenic-type activity and who, unlike me does not actually consider walking to Starbucks a form of exercise, that the next time she came to visit, we would definitely hit the place up. Which is how, bright and early a few Sundays ago, the Grim Cheaper, Nat and I found ourselves in Hollywood about to embark upon a morning hike at Runyon Canyon Park. I even bought some new workout pants for the occasion! (Now, shopping – that is definitely a type of exercise that I can get behind!) Unfortunately for Nat, though, because there did not seem to be any restrooms on the trail and because I had downed a Venti iced latte shortly before arriving there, our trek was pretty short-lived. See what I mean? I was just not made for the outdoors. The GC made fun of me relentlessly while we were hiking, by the way, due to the fact that I was carrying my Louis Vuitton purse. Men! I mean, what the heck else was I supposed to do with it? Leave it in the car? As if!

The 160-acre parcel of land that now makes up Runyon Canyon Park was originally named “No Man’s Canyon”. It came to be known by its current moniker thanks to one of its early owners, coal baron Carman Runyon, who used the sprawling site as a hunting and riding venue. In 1929, the grounds were purchased by Irish tenor John McCormack, who had a large mansion built on the premises which he dubbed “San Patrizio”, in honor of St. Patrick. When A&P Supermarket heir Huntington Hartford bought the estate in 1942, he renamed it “The Pines” and commissioned architect Frank Lloyd Wright to build a pool house on the site. Hartford’s friend Errol Flynn was a frequent guest at the pool house and is rumored to have thrown some wild parties there. Sadly, when Jules Berman, a wealthy liquor importer, purchased the property in the late 1960s, he demolished “The Pines”. The Lloyd Wright-designed pool house was subsequently destroyed by a fire in 1972. All that remains of the two historic structures are some ruins located near the Fuller Avenue entrance to the park. So incredibly sad! In 1984, the City of Los Angeles stepped in and acquired the vacant acreage, subsequently turning it into a public park, as it remains to this day.

Thanks to Runyon Canyon Park’s proximity to Hollywood and the stunning views that it boasts (which you can see above), the place has long been a stomping ground of the rich and famous. Just a few of the stars who have been spotted working out there include Gilles Marini, Famke Janssen, Eriq La Salle, Josh Hartnett, Hayden Panettiere, Justin Timberlake, Jessica Biel, Matthew McConaughey, Jake Gyllenhaal, Kathy Griffin, Scarlett Johansson, Josh Duhamel, Kellan Lutz, Ryan Gosling, Dane Cook, Orlando Bloom, Sheryl Crow, Ashley Tisdale, Haylie Duff, Anne Hathaway, Ali Fedotowsky, Amanda Bynes, Matthew Perry, Ali Larter, Joe Jonas, Amanda Seyfried, Adrian Grenier, Natalie Portman, and Chris Pine. And while we did not see any celebs during our hike, when fellow stalker Lavonna was in town this past November, she spotted B.J.Novak, aka Ryan Howard from The Office, walking the trails.

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In the Season 3 episode of The Hills titled “With This Ring . . .”, Whitney Port had a one-on-one training session/date with her personal trainer, Jarett Del Bene, at Runyon Canyon Park.

And in the Season 4 episode of The Hills titled “Who To Choose?”, Lauren Conrad and Audrina Patridge discussed Audrina’s love life while on a hike at Runyon Canyon. And I could swear that the park showed up in yet another episode of the series in which Lauren and Whitney were shown working out, but I cannot seem to find it anywhere.

In the Season 4 episode of Seinfeld titled “The Trip, Part 2”, Jerry Seinfeld (who played himself), George Costanza (Jason Alexander), and Kramer (Michael Richards) visited Runyon Canyon Park immediately after Kramer was released from jail, where he was being held as the supposed “The Fog Strangler” serial killer.

In the 2009 flick Funny People, Runyon Canyon Park was where Ira Wright (Seth Rogan), Leo Koenig (Jonah Hill) and Mark Taylor Jackson (Jason Schwartzman) discussed the illness of fellow comedian George Simmons (Adam Sandler).

Thanks to fave book Hollywood Escapes: The Moviegoer’s Guide to Exploring Southern California’s Great Outdoors (and I just figured out how to write in color on my blog, by the way! In heaven!!!!), I also learned that in the ultra-weird 2001 flick The Anniversary Party, Runyon Canyon was where Joe Therrian (Alan Cumming) and his wife Sally (Jennifer Jason Leigh), along with their friends Skye Davidson (Gwyneth Paltrow) and Levi Panes (Michael Panes), searched for their missing dog, Otis.

Hollywood Escapes also states that 1983’s Breathless and 2005’s Undiscovered were filmed at Runyon Canyon Park, but, unfortunately, I could not find copies of either movie with which to make screen captures for this post.

Some filming locations are also visible from the various Runyon Canyon trails, including the abandoned Solar Drive mansion from Law & Order: Los Angeles that I blogged about last December;

and the John Lautner-designed Garcia House from Lethal Weapon 2, which I blogged about way back in February of 2008. And there is a also private home known as Runyon Ranch located inside of the park that has been featured in countless movies and television shows over the years, including my fave, Beverly Hills, 90210, but I am saving that location for a different post.

Big THANK YOU to my good friend Nat for forcing me to suggesting that I stalk this location. Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Runyon Canyon Park from The Hills is located at 2001 North Fuller Avenue in Hollywood. You can visit the park’s official website here.

February 17, 2012February 16, 2012

The Alleyway and The Blue Banana Club from “Pretty Woman”

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago in my post about the Pretty Woman party house, fellow stalker Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I have recently been on the hunt for a few of the flick’s more elusive locations – the two most important of which being the alleyway where the body of “Skinny Marie” was found and, across the street from it, The Blue Banana Club where Vivian Ward (Julia Roberts) and Kit De Luca (Laura San Giacomo) hung out in the film. And, amazingly enough, Mike was able to track down both locales in a relatively short period of time – as were fellow stalkers E.J., from The Movieland Directory website, and Scott Michaels, from the Findadeath website, whom I also enlisted in the hunt. So, while out doing some stalking in the Hollywood area three weekends ago, I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on over to stalk both spots.

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In one of Pretty Woman’s opening scenes, Vivian is shown walking through an alleyway where the dead body of a fellow prostitute named Skinny Marie has just been pulled out of a garbage dumpster.

While watching the scene, Mike happened to recognize the unique roofline of the historic Miceli’s Restaurant in the background behind a very young Hank Azaria, who played the role of a nameless homicide detective who laments about tourists taking photographs of Skinny Marie’s body in the flick. From there, Mike simply used Google Street View to look for an alley in the area half a block west and on the opposite side of the street from Miceli’s. And voila, it was not long before he found the right spot! Yay!

As it turns out, though, the Pretty Woman alleyway is not actually an alleyway at all, as we had originally thought, but the main lobby of The Outpost Building – a Spanish-Colonial-style structure that was commissioned by a Mr. and Mrs. B.C. Donnelly and designed by architect B.B. Horner in 1927. The historic property, which was fashioned after stores in Madrid, Spain, was originally comprised of apartment units that became home to countless aspiring starlets during the Hollywood heyday, but today is made up solely of offices and retail space.

Sadly, the building was closed when we showed up to stalk it, but I did manage to snap the above photographs through the glass front doors. As you can see, the “alley” still looks exactly the same today as it did in Pretty Woman, despite the fact that over twenty-two years have since passed! Even the shoe shine stand that Vivian walked by is still there! LOVE IT!

Amazingly enough, when I showed Mike the photographs I had taken of the lobby of The Outpost Building, he immediately recognized the place as the “Celebrity Apartments” where Tom Turner (Greg Kinnear) lived in the 1996 comedy Dear God. Both the exterior of the property . . .

. . . and the lobby area were used in the flick. In an interesting twist, Dear God was directed by none other than Garry Marshall, the very same man who also directed Pretty Woman. I guess the guy just has a thing for The Outpost Building!

Thanks to the Lenrek website, I also discovered that in the 1984 cult classic Angel, high school student/prostitute Molly “Angel” Stewart (Donna Wilkes) walked from the rear entrance of The Outpost Building, through the lobby and out the front door while on the search for a serial killer.

Interestingly enough, according to the GPSMyCity website, The Outpost Building also has a connection to novelist Raymond Chandler. In his 1939 mystery The Big Sleep, Chandler describes Geiger’s Rare Books and Deluxe Editions as follows: “A. G. Geiger’s place was a store frontage on the north side of the boulevard near Las Palmas. The entrance door was set far back in the middle and there was a copper trim on the windows, which were backed with Chinese screens, so I couldn’t see into the store. There was a lot of oriental junk in the windows. I don’t know whether it was any good, not being a collector of antiques, except unpaid bills. The entrance door was plate glass, but I couldn’t see much through that either, because the store was very dim. A building entrance adjoined it on one side and on the other was a glittering credit jewelry establishment.” Apparently, numerous Chandler aficionados believe that that description was inspired by none other than The Outpost Building. So incredibly cool!

Once Mike had located The Outpost Building, tracking down The Blue Banana Club was a snap, since in the movie it was shown to be situated directly across the street from the alleyway where Skinny Marie’s body was found.

Shockingly enough, The Blue Banana Club was actually a part of the historic Egyptian Theatre! At the time that the movie was filmed, the property belonged to the United Artists Corporation and it looked considerably different than it does today, but you can see pictures of the place in its Pretty Woman state on The Bruce Torrence Hollywood Photograph Collection website here and here, and on the Gorillas Don’t Blog website here. Ironically enough, a few minutes after Mike had texted me to let me know that The Blue Banana was actually the Egyptian Theatre, I received an email from both E.J. and Scott telling me the exact same thing. Great minds . . .

Today, the storefront that stood in for The Blue Banana houses the newly-opened Maui and Sons Bar & Grill. I am, unfortunately, unsure of what was in that location at the time of the filming, but back in the 1930s through the 1950s it housed the Larry Dine men’s clothing store and, in more recent years, it was the site of a Lickity Split ice cream shop.

In his commentary on the Pretty Woman 15th Anniversary Special Edition DVD, Garry Marshall states that, while set dressers had created a fake exterior for the outside of The Blue Banana Club, the interior scenes were filmed at an actual club located somewhere in Hollywood. Sadly though, as of yet, we have been unable to track down that location.

The interior looks like it might have been some sort of historic building, though, as it features some fairly ornate detailing, as you can see in the above screen capture.

On a side-note – My good friend Katie, from the Matthew Lillard Online website, is hosting a contest today to win two tickets to the Hollywood Rush show, in which the cutie actor will be directing a ten-minute play, taking place this Sunday night at 7 p.m. at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in L.A. You can enter the contest on Matthew Lillard Online or on twitter at @mattlillardfans.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalkers Mike, from MovieShotsLA, E.J., from The Movieland Directory, and Scott, from Findadeath, for finding these locations!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Pretty Woman alleyway is actually the lobby of The Outpost Building, which is located at 6715 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood. You can visit the property’s official website here. Maui and Sons Bar & Grill, aka the exterior of The Blue Banana Club from Pretty Woman, is located across the street at 6708 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.

February 16, 2012February 16, 2012

The Redbury Hotel from “Entourage”

Last July, while doing some cyber-stalking, I came across an article on the USA TODAY Travel website about the numerous Southern California hotels and restaurants featured in the eighth and final season of the hit television series Entourage. One of the spots mentioned in the blurb was Tinseltown’s newly-opened The Redbury Hotel, which appeared in the episode titled “The Big Bang”, and, thanks to its dark crimson walls, unique architecture and old Hollywood vibe, I immediately became enamored of the place. I, of course, added the locale to my “To-Stalk” list right then and there, but, for whatever reason, did not make it out there to actually do so until three weekends ago.

And I am very happy to report that the place did not disappoint! To say that I am in love with The Redbury would be a gross understatement. The 57-room boutique hotel, which first opened in November of 2010, was the brainchild of sbe Entertainment Group founder/CEO Sam Nazarian and photographer/music video director Matthew Rolston. The 5-story structure was originally conceived as a high-end, $50 million condominium project by the Palisades Development company, but that venture was forced to be scrapped during the real estate downturn. In February of 2010, at which time the building was about 80-percent complete, it was purchased by the CIM Group, who re-envisioned the locale as an upscale hotel and hired Nazarian and Rolston to manage and design it, respectively.

The name Redbury comes from a combination of “red”, the hue that Palisades Development had already painted the building, and “bury”, in honor of San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district. According to an August 2010 Los Angeles Times article, the hotel’s eclectic style is a mix of “bohemian, 1960s flower power and old Hollywood”. Apparently, Rolston wanted the locale to feel “’theatrical’, a little bit like actually being in one of my photographs or music videos”. And, as you can see above, he succeeded with that vision – in spades! The Redbury is honestly like nothing I have ever seen before and absolutely does feel like a movie set come to life. I so loved it that I was even tempted to book a room while we were there for a spontaneous little stay-cation, but the Grim Cheaper was, of course, having none of that.

The Redbury staff was BEYOND friendly and, even though none of the hotel’s restaurants were open while we were stalking the place, I was allowed to go inside to take a peek at each of them and told that I could snap “all of the photographs you want” – six little words that I absolutely LOVE to hear. The areas of the hotel that we visited included the Library Bar – which honestly feels more like the ultra-cozy living room of a very stylish friend’s house than a public bar;

The Glade courtyard lounge – a huge terrace garden complete with teak decking, Moorish-style lanterns and outdoor couches and daybeds;

and Cleo – an ultra-hip Middle-Eastern-style restaurant that is dominated by a large 1917 movie poster of actress Theda Bara dressed as Cleopatra. The Library Bar, Glade and Cleo are all major celebrity hotspots. Just a few of the stars who have been spotted at the one of the three watering holes include my girl Kristin Cavallari, my man Matt Lanter (sigh!), Drew Barrymore, Matthew Lillard, Jamie Foxx, Hilary Duff, Joe Jonas, Ashley Greene, Audrina Patridge, Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere, Sam Trammell, the entire Kardashian/Jenner family, Courteney Cox, Josh Hopkins, Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, Adam Brody, Neve Campbell, Carla Gugino, Nia Vardalos, Jesse Williams, Lauren Conrad, Lo Bosworth, Whitney Port, Busy Phillips, Stacey Keibler, David Beckham, Kirstie Alley, Cheryl Burke, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Jessica Lowndes, Gillian Zinser, Sarah Hyland, Salma Hayek, Mila Kunis, and Ali Fedotowsky.

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In “The Big Bang” episode of Entourage, Cleo restaurant was where Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) ambushed Vanity Fair reporter Sophia Lear (Alice Eve) and tried to convince her that he was not a womanizer. And while the USA TODAY Travel article stated that the series had filmed scenes “throughout the hotel, including its Library lounge”, I did not spot any other areas of the property in “The Big Bang” or in other episodes from Season 8, so I believe that information is incorrect.

The yet-to-be released movie Between Us, which stars Julia Stiles, Melissa George and Taye Diggs, also did some filming at The Redbury.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Redbury Hotel, from “The Big Bang” episode of Entourage, is located at 1717 Vine Street in Hollywood. You can visit the hotel’s official website here.

January 24, 2012January 23, 2012

The “Sylvester Stallone” House from “Pretty Woman”

A couple of weeks ago, while trying to figure out in what movie I had spotted L’Orangerie, aka Chez Quis restaurant from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (which, maddeningly, I still have yet to determine, by the way!), I started scanning through the 1990 romantic comedy Pretty Woman and found myself wondering why I had never stalked the house jokingly referred to as being Sylvester Stallone’s in the flick. Fellow stalker Chas, of the It’sFilmedThere website, had tracked down the Hollywood-area residence quite some time ago and, while the address had been on my “To Stalk” list ever since, for whatever reason, I had never made it out there. So I quickly decided to remedy the situation and dragged the Grim Cheaper right on over there just a few days later.

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At the very beginning of Pretty Woman, Edward Lewis (Richard Gere), while lost in Hollywood, spots a hobo on the sidewalk digging through some trash and pulls over to ask him the way to Beverly Hills. The hobo replies, “You’re here! That’s Sylvester Stallone’s house right there!” LOL LOL LOL I swear, I have seen Pretty Woman about one hundred times and that scene never fails to make me laugh!

To find “Sylvester Stallone’s house”, Chas tracked down a helpful crew member who told him the general vicinity in which it was located. From there, he simply scanned aerial views and it was not long until he found the right place. And, amazingly enough, despite the fact that over two decades have since passed, the property still looks almost exactly the same today as it did when Pretty Woman was filmed! The small front door/front porch area was at some point enclosed, but otherwise the place appears to have been untouched by time. So incredibly cool! In real life, the tiny home, which was originally built in 1902, measures 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, and 1,201 square feet.

On a Pretty Woman side-note – While scanning through the flick a couple of weeks back, I was knock-me-over-with-a-feather-shocked to discover that the lobby scenes were not filmed inside of the Regent Beverly Wilshire hotel in Beverly Hills (pictured above) or on a soundstage at Disney Studios, as countless websites and books have suggested over the years.

Amazingly enough, the lobby scenes from Pretty Woman were actually shot at the since-demolished Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.

What tipped me off to this fact was the famous Ambassador lobby fountain, the base of which is visible in the background of almost all of the hotel scenes. You can see a photograph of that fountain here.

Upon closer inspection, I spotted several other elements of the interior of the Ambassador lobby that matched perfectly with what appeared in Pretty Woman, including the curved, check-in desk, which you can see a photograph of here (credit).

and the gold-detailed ceilings and wood-paneled columns, which you can see a photograph of here (credit).

I also realized that the lobby lounge where Vivian Ward (Julia Roberts) waited for Edward was actually the Ambassador’s famed The Palm Bar, which you can see photographs of here, here, and here.

And it has long been known that the ballroom where Vivian (aka Julia Roberts) learned the proper use of flatware and where Edward played the piano was the Ambassador’s Embassy ballroom, which you can see a photograph of here. So it now seems as if the vast majority of Pretty Woman was actually filmed inside of the Ambassador Hotel, which makes the fact that the structure no longer stands even more heartbreaking than it already was. Oh, how I wish I had seen that place in person! Sigh.

Big THANK YOU to Chas, from the It’sFilmedThere website, for finding this location. You can check out Chas’ extensive Pretty Woman filming locations page here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The “Sylvester Stallone” house from Pretty Woman is located at 1735 North Hudson Avenue in Hollywood.

January 20, 2012January 20, 2012

The “L.A. Story” Gas Station

Last week, while doing research for my post on L’Orangerie, aka Chez Quis restaurant from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, I came across some information on The Worldwide Guide to Movie Locations website about the Gilmore Gasoline Service Station on Highland Avenue in Hollywood – a very cool-looking, old-time gas station that appeared in the 1991 movie L.A. Story. Thanks to the place’s unique, Art Deco architecture and historic feel, I became just a wee-bit obsessed with it and immediately added the address to my ever-growing “To-Stalk” list.

I think part of the reason that I became so enamored with the Gilmore Gasoline Service Station is that it reminded me of the circular, 50s-style drive-in restaurant that was used in Britney Spears’ “For Those Who Think Young” Pepsi commercial – which was sadly just a set that was built inside of a soundstage. For reasons that are beyond my comprehension, I have long been obsessed with all of the Pepsi ads featuring Britney. I honestly cannot get enough of ‘em. In fact, I just watched about twelve different versions of both “The Joy of Pepsi” and “For Those Who Thing Young” videos. But I digress. Anyway, because he has an affinity for all things historic, I figured that the Gilmore Gasoline Service Station was one location that the Grim Cheaper would actually not mind being dragged to. Sadly though, when we arrived, we found the structure to be in a pretty pitiful state. Such a shame!

The Gilmore Gasoline Service Station has an absolutely fascinating backstory. The structure was originally built for the Gilmore Oil Company, which was founded by one of the most influential and prominent families in Los Angeles history. Arthur Freemont “A.F.” Gilmore, a dairy business owner from Illinois who migrated to Southern California during the 1880s, found fortune in 1903 when he accidentally struck oil while drilling a water well on some property that he owned in the Rancho La Brea area. In 1919, after A.F. had passed away, his son, Earl, founded the Gilmore Petroleum Company, which later became the Gilmore Oil Company. Their Red Line service stations, which bore the motto “Someday you will own a horseless carriage. Our gasoline will run it.”, soon became common fixtures across all of Los Angeles. The Gilmore family is most famous, though, for founding the Gilmore Bank and the world-famous Farmers Market at 3rd & Fairfax, and for building Gilmore Field – the now-defunct minor league baseball park that was once home to the Hollywood Stars baseball team.

The double-canopied Gilmore Gasoline Service Station was designed in 1935 by an engineer named R.J. Kadow. It was one of the first Gilmore stations to be constructed and is now, sadly, one of the last remaining of its kind. After the Gilmore Oil Company was sold in 1945, the station went through a succession of different owners and, in early 1990, after the then-tenant decided not to renew his lease, there was talk of possibly tearing the structure down. Thankfully, the Melrose Neighborhood Association stepped in and, on March 23rd, 1992, the building was declared a Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monument. Despite the station’s historic status, though, it has somehow been allowed to fall into disarray in recent years. According to a November 1990 Los Angeles Times article, there were once plans to restore the building and open a snack shop/gas station/classic car rental on the site, but I am not sure if those plans ever came to fruition and, as you can see above, the place is currently in dire straights. You can check out some photographs of the station taken during better days here.

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In L.A. Story, Harris K. Telemacher (Steve Martin) and Sara McDowel (Victoria Tennant) stop at the Gilmore Gasoline Service Station, where they ask for a “full service” treatment – their tank filled, car washed, and all four tires removed and exchanged LOL – before heading to a fund-raising dinner. As you can see in the screen captures pictured above, at the time that the movie was filmed in 1991, the gas station was an incredibly cool little place. I cannot express how disheartening it was to discover that a unique piece of Southern California’s history – one with historic cultural status, no less – has been allowed to deteriorate in such a way. As I said earlier, what a shame!

Fellow stalker Chas, of the It’sFilmedThere website, also let me know that the station was featured in the 1982 movie 48 Hours as the supposed San-Francisco-area gas station where parolee Reggie Hammond (Eddie Murphy) told detective Jack Cates (Nick Nolte) where he had hidden the stolen money.

On an L.A. Story side-note – I would so love to find the supposed-Santa-Barbara-area El Pollo del Mar (the Chicken of the Sea – LOL) motel that appeared in the flick. I know that the interior scenes were filmed at the since-demolished Ambassador Hotel, but I am interested in tracking down the exterior. Does anyone happen to know where it is?

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The former Gilmore Gasoline Service Station, from L.A. Story, is located at 859 North Highland Avenue in Hollywood.

December 8, 2011December 8, 2011

The Chaplin Court Apartment Complex

While doing research on the Sierra Bonita apartments from the 2001 thriller Mulholland Drive, which I blogged about back in October, I came across a mention of an absolutely adorable courtyard apartment complex in Hollywood about which legends abound. The complex is known by quite a few different monikers across the web, including Chaplin Court, the Hansel and Gretel Cottages, and the Charlie Chaplin Apartments, but for the purposes of this post I will refer to the cluster of tiny dwellings as Chaplin Court. While not a filming location, the four-bungalow complex is rumored to have been lived in by countless stars over the years, but it was actually the charmingly unique storybook architecture that lured me, Grim Cheaper in tow, out to go stalk the place back in mid-November.

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The main rumor which persists about Chaplin Court is that the property was commissioned by the Little Tramp himself to be used as everything from dressing rooms during filming to studio housing for his stars to a movie set for his film A Woman of Paris. But Allan R. Ellenberger, of the Hollywoodland blog, watched the 1923 flick for an April 2009 post he wrote about the complex and did not notice anything resembling it popping up onscreen. So I think it is safe to put the A Woman of Paris rumor to rest. And after conducting much online research myself yesterday, I think it is also safe to say that Chaplin likely never had any sort of connection to the place. But because the property is located a scant two and a half blocks from the former Charlie Chaplin Studios/now Jim Henson Company Lot and bears a striking resemblance to it, it is not very hard to see why there has been some confusion over the years. And the legends do not stop there. According to a September 2009 write-up on fave website CurbedLA, an old real-estate listing for the property purported that Douglas Fairbanks Sr., Rudolph Valentino, John Barrymore Sr., Judy Garland, and Patrick Dempsy all lived at Chaplin Court at one time or another. The listing even goes so far as to claim that Drew Barrymore was born on the premises!! As does the John Robert Marlow website, which further speculates that Drew’s father, John Drew Barrymore, also once lived onsite. But thanks to my friend/Drew Barrymore aficionado Ashley, of The Drewseum website, I can at least put part of that rumor to rest. Drew was, in fact, born at Brotman Memorial Hospital in Culver City and not at Chaplin Court. Whether or not she ever spent any time at the complex during her early years is anyone’s guess.

In actuality, Chaplin Court was built in 1923 by Arthur and Nina Zwebell, the husband-and-wife architecture team who designed Villa Primavera (the In a Lonely Place apartment building) and El Cabrillo (the ‘Til There Was You apartment building). According to a commenter named “MHP”’ on he CurbedLA article, the complex was only the second multi-unit project that the Zwebell’s attempted and is currently the oldest surviving of their designs.

As luck would have it, when we showed up to stalk Chaplin Court the front gate was standing open, so the GC and I ventured a few feet inside. One of the residents happened to be standing in the courtyard area and said that the two of us were free to poke around. YAY! I so love homeowners who recognize that they live in a unique, photo-worthy spot and do not mind the occasional stalker dropping by. As you can see above, the architecture of Chaplin Court is nothing short of incredible! With its miniscule sizing, rounded turrets, swayback roofs, and beveled glass windows, it is not very hard to see why the place is rumored to have once been a movie set. The property looks like it came straight out of the pages of a Grimm Brothers Fairytale or the streets of Disney’s Fantasyland! Love it! You can see some great photographs of the interior one of the bungalows here. And while the interior is, for the most part, also adorable, I have to say that the bathroom gives this stalker the heebie-jeebies.

A Chaplin Court resident named Sean who commented on the Hollywoodland blog post mentioned that he does the complex up each year for both Halloween and Christmas. Thankfully, even though it was mid-November at the time, some of the Halloween decorations were still up when we stalked the place. I fell in love with the little “Enter at your Own Risk” sign pictured above. So cute! And I am SO going to have to re-stalk the property later this month to see it decked out in all of its Christmas glory. Pictures to follow, of course.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The so-called Chaplin Court apartment complex is located at 1330 North Formosa Avenue in Hollywood.

July 13, 2011July 12, 2011

Lucky Strike Lanes in Hollywood

Two weekends ago, while doing some stalking in the Hollywood area, I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to the Hollywood & Highland Shopping Center to grab a quick drink at Lucky Strike Lanes, an oft-used filming location and celebrity hot-spot. While I had first heard about the bowling alley/lounge when it originally opened eight years ago and knew of its appearance on numerous reality series, for whatever reason I did not have much interest in stalking the place. Then, a couple of months ago, fellow stalker Lavonna happened to tell me a little bit of trivia about the alley that had me absolutely chomping at the bit to go see it.

Lavonna informed me that when the iconic Hollywood Star Lanes, which first opened in 1960 and was where the majority of the movie The Big Lebowski was filmed, was torn down back in 2003 to make way for a new elementary school, the owners of the soon-to-be opened Lucky Strike decided to purchase all of the wood that comprised Hollywood Star’s Lane #7. They then proceeded to use that wood to construct the bar at their new establishment. How incredibly cool is that?

They also purchased the exterior neon signage from Hollywood Star Lanes to use as a wall hanging. Love, love, love it!

As you can see above, Lucky Strike Lanes is a VERY cool little spot. Unfortunately, I have to say that I was not all that crazy about the food. And sadly, the GC and I did not have time to do any bowling while we were there, but fellow stalker Lavonna has plans to hit the place up when she comes to visit L.A. in November, so you know what that means – I will definitely be doing a re-stalk!

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As I mentioned above, Lucky Strike Lanes in Hollywood is an oft-used filming location. In the Season 6 episode of The Hills titled “The Elephant in the Room”, Kristin Cavallari, Brodie Jenner, Frankie Delgado, Stacie Hall (aka Stacie the Bartender), and Audrina Patridge and her new boyfriend, singer Ryan Cabrera, spent the evening bowling and flirting at Lucky Strike.

Ryan Cabrera returned to the bowling alley to film the Season 1 episode of the ULTRA-stupid reality show Pretty Wild titled ”The Hearing”, in which he angers series star Tess Taylor by inviting a friend to accompany them on their date.

Vinnie Chase (aka Adrian Grenier), Eric Murphy (aka Kevin Connolly), Johnny ‘Drama’ Chase (aka Kevin Dillon), and Turtle (aka Jerry Ferrara) took their girlfriends, one of whom was Gossip Girl’s Leighton Meester, to Lucky Strike for an evening of bowling in the Season 1 episode of Entourage titled “Date Night”.

In the Season 11 episode of America’s Next Top Model titled “Fierce Eyes”, J Alexander hosted a runway challenge at Lucky Strike in which the models had to practice walking down the super-slippery bowling lanes while wearing high heels.

In the Season 1 episode of No Ordinary Family titled “No Ordinary Sidekick”, Jim Powell (aka Michael Chiklis), along with his family, Stephanie (aka Dexter’s Julie Benz), Daphne (aka Kay Panabaker), and J.J. (aka Jimmy Bennett), and their friends Katie Andrews (aka The O.C.’s Autumn Reeser) and George St. Cloud (aka Romany Malco), spend the evening using their super-powers to bowl at Lucky Strike.

And while I had originally believed that the Season 1 episode of fave show 90210 titled “Lucky Strike” was filmed at the Lucky Strike Lanes in Hollywood, as it turns out filming actually took place at the chain’s Torrance location, inside of the Del Amo Shopping Center.

And the Season 2 episode of Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County titled “Since You Been Gone” was filmed at the chain’s Block at Orange location.

As I mentioned above, Lucky Strike Lanes is also a veritable celebrity magnet. Just a few of the stars who have been spotted there include Drew Barrymore, Liv Tyler, John Mayer, Glee’s Cory Monteith, The Bachelorette’s Ali Fedotowsky and Roberto Martinez, Demi Moore, Bruce Willis, Rumor Willis, Geena Davis, Robin Williams, Paris Hilton, Nick Carter, Matthew Lillard, Fergie and Taboo from the Black Eyed Peas, Mandy Moore, Judy Greer, Vanessa Hudgens, Courteney Cox, Nicole Richie, Trevor Donovan, Jessica Simpson, and even my girl Jen Aniston. I once spotted David Arquette walking into the bowling alley for some sort of celebrity event back in December of 2008 and while I tried to take the above photograph of him, as you can see, it did not turn out very well due to the bright lights on the red carpet. You can definitely tell it is him, though.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Lucky Strike Lanes is located at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard, inside of the Hollywood & Highland Shopping Center, in Hollywood. You can visit the bowling alley’s official website here.