Things to do in Vancouver – IAMNOTASTALKER

June 30, 2010June 29, 2010

The Michael J. Fox Theatre

A few months back, while fellow stalker Owen and I were doing research on Michael J. Fox’s childhood home which I blogged about yesterday, I came across some information about a place called “the Michael J. Fox Theatre” which is located on the campus of Burnaby South Secondary School and, let me tell you, I just about passed out from excitement. I absolutely could NOT WAIT to tell Owen about the location, as he just so happens to be MJF’s biggest fan. Apparently, in November of 1995 Burnaby South renamed their 613-seat professional theatre, which originally opened in 1993, in recognition of the Canadian-born actor and his many achievements in the entertainment industry and contributions to the community that he once called home. Owen was extremely excited to hear about the theatre and I immediately added it to my list of Must-Stalk locations in Vancouver. So, Owen, this one’s for you! 🙂

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As I mentioned above, the Michael J. Fox Theatre is located on the campus of Burnaby South Secondary School, which is not actually the high school that Michael J. Fox attended as a teen. The actor was actually enrolled at the similarly-named Burnaby Central Secondary School, which is located about three miles north of Burnaby South. I’m not entirely sure why city officials did not dedicate a theatre in his honor at his actual alma mater, but I believe the reasoning behind the decision had to do with the fact that Burnaby South is a very technologically advanced institution that offers several communications and broadcasting courses to its 1,700-member student body. The school also televises its morning announcements via a daily news program each morning and offers a broadcasting class in which theatrically-inclined students can create and film short movies and television series which are then broadcast over the school’s airwaves during each lunch hour. Add to that the fact that the British Columbia School for the Deaf was moved to the Burnaby South campus in 1995 and that the theatre which now bears MJF’s name was designed with the hearing-impaired, and other special needs students, in mind, and it’s obvious why they chose the campus as the location of the Michael J. Fox Theatre.

And, let me tell you, I just about died when we pulled up to the Burnaby South campus and spotted the above sign. So darn cool! 🙂

Because the theatre is located on a high school campus and because we were stalking the place on a Saturday, I didn’t have high hopes that we would actually be able to see the inside of it. So, imagine my surprise when we pulled up and found the front doors standing wide open, thanks to a dance recital that was taking place inside. YAY!

The Michael J. Fox Theatre is truly beautiful inside, but my favorite part had to be the huge tile wall mosaic made up of brightly-colored musicians and dancers which greets patrons as they enter (pictured above).

And while the theatre’s logo, which consists of MJF’s initials written in his own handwriting – which I think is just about the coolest thing ever! – appears in numerous spots throughout the theatre, sadly there are no photographs of the actor displayed anywhere on the premises. Nor could I find any information about him or about the history of the theatre. I had expected there to be, at the very least, some sort of plaque honoring the theatre’s namesake along with a photograph of him at the theatre’s dedication ceremony, but all we could find was the above display which lists the names of those who have donated to the property at one time or another. Such a bummer!

Due to the dance recital which was taking place while we were there, the interior of the actual auditorium was far too dark for us to be able to snap any photographs. 🙁 Which is such a bummer as I had so wanted to see the Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan honorary chair! You can see what the auditorium looks like on the official Michael J. Fox Theatre website here, which is where I got the two photographs pictured above.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Michael J. Fox Theatre is located on the campus of Burnaby South Secondary School at 7373 Macpherson Avenue in Burnaby, British Columbia. You can visit the office Michael J. Fox Theatre website here.

June 21, 2010June 21, 2010

Brockton Point Lighthouse from “The Crush”

The third and final filming location that I stalked from the 1993 thriller The Crush while I was visiting Vancouver two weeks ago was the Brockton Point Lighthouse – the spot where 14-year old Adrian Forrester (aka Alicia Silverstone) tried to seduce Nick Eliot (aka Cary Elwes), the much older man who was leasing her parents’ guest house in the flick. I found this location, once again, thanks to fellow stalker Owen, who in turn tracked it down via one of the movie’s crew members. Thank you, Owen! Brockton Point Lighthouse is one of three lighthouses that currently serve the Port of Vancouver and is located in British Columbia’s extremely popular, 1,000-acre Stanley Park. The original Brockton Point Lighthouse tower was built in 1890, but it was replaced in 1914 with the tower that is currently standing today. The lighthouse was designed by Canadian Colonel William P. Anderson, a civil engineer who over his lifetime designed more than 500 lighthouses situated along the Canadian waterfront.

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Brockton Point Lighthouse only pops up in one scene in The Crush, but it is a rather pivotal scene which provides the movie’s turning point. In the scene, the seemingly innocent Adrian begs Nick to take her for a ride in his Valiant, claiming that there is a place she really wants to show him. That place is the Brockton Point Lighthouse and it is there that Adrian first confides in Nick, telling him that she has no friends and that most people treat her like a freak due to her abnormally high intelligence. When Nick promises to be a friend to her, Adrian immediately kisses him and the story takes off from there.

As I mentioned in last Thursday’s post about the Forrester mansion, while The Crush was set in Seattle, the entire movie was actually filmed on location in Vancouver, British Columbia. Ironically enough, though, when Nick and Adrian first pull up to the lighthouse, you can clearly see the word “Brockton” painted on the ground. I am very surprised that producers didn’t have the lettering digitally removed in post-production, being that the Brockton Point Lighthouse is a fairly well-known Canadian landmark. In fact, Stanley Park, where the lighthouse is located, is pretty much known as Vancouver’s number one tourist attraction and is visited by over eight million people per year.

Sadly, though, when we got there, we discovered that the lighthouse is currently fenced in and closed to the public while it undergoes an extensive, $2 million federal restoration project. And, while the lighthouse tower is still visible, the area where Adrian kissed Nick is, unfortunately, not. Such a bummer!!

Brockton Point Lighthouse features unparalleled views of Burrard Inlet and the Lions Gate Bridge and is a truly beautiful place. I so wish I could have seen it at night as the view of the lights of the North Vancouver skyline is supposed to be spectacular. In fact, I’m fairly certain that the lighthouse’s spectacular views are the main reason that it was chosen as the site of Adrian and Nick’s first kiss.

Big THANK YOU to Owen for finding this location! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Brockton Point Lighthouse is located on Brockton Point at the far east end of Stanley Park, off of Stanley Park Drive, in Vancouver, British Columbia. Its exact location is denoted with the blue arrow in the above aerial map.

June 7, 2010June 15, 2010

The Former BaBalu Lounge – Where Michael Buble Got His Start

Another Michael Buble location that I found thanks to the book Michael Buble: The Biography, by Juliet Peel was BaBalu Lounge, the Downtown Vancouver nightclub where the cutie crooner performed regularly for two years before becoming famous. And, let me tell you, once I heard about it, I became pretty hell-bent on the idea of grabbing a drink at the very spot where MB had honed his craft all those years ago. As I quickly found out, though, the BaBalu Lounge is sadly no longer. Apparently, the now-defunct club used to be located on the bottom floor of the Nelson-at-Granville Comfort Inn Hotel, but in 2001, a fire broke out on the top floor of the building and completely gutted the entire property, including Michael’s former singing spot. The building was eventually purchased by a real estate development company who renovated the entire property and a new restaurant named Doolin’s Irish Pub subsequently opened in the former BaBalu space. Such a bummer! But even though BaBalu is no longer, I just had to stalk the hallowed ground where it once stood.

Especially since the club had played such an important role on Michael’s road to fame. In 2001, the singer even named his second independently produced album “BaBalu” (pictured above) in honor of the lounge where he had sung every Sunday and Monday night for over two years beginning in 1997. Of MB’s premiere album, titled “First Dance”, biographer Juliet Peel states, “It made no impact whatsoever on the world at the time, but this, and the other two independent albums Michael brought out before he hit the big time, are now collectors’ items. Whole internet chains have been established trying to track them down (for a Buble fan, finding one of these records is equivalent to stumbling across a signed first edition of an early J.K. Rowling.)” You’re telling me, Juliet! What I wouldn’t give to own one of those albums!

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Michael’s love of music was originally cultivated thanks to his beloved maternal grandfather, Mitch Santaga. Mitch, who made his living as a plumber, not only first introduced Michael to the Standards, the songs that he would one day become famous for singing, but he also traded free plumbing services to local band-leaders in exchange for them allowing MB a chance to sing during their shows. After he became famous, Michael, whom Mitch had long-before dubbed “Sunshine”, said, “Isn’t that hilarious? He’d put in, like, a hot-water dispenser or something so that they would let me get up and sing.” Love it! In 1997, Michael landed his first regular paying gig at BaBalu Lounge, where he performed along with the Smokin’ Section band, for over two years. He credits his years there as a major learning experience, saying of the patrons, “They came to meet a woman or get wasted, but I learned my craft. It taught me how not to reek of desperation, how to step back and try to be charismatic and let them fall in love with me.” And fall in love with him they did. Michael quickly garnered a very loyal local fan base of mostly women :), who would come to watch him sing every single time he set foot onstage. After two shorts years at BaBalu, MB moved to Toronto with then-girlfriend Debbie Timuss. In a fortuitous twist of fate, shortly after that move, Michael performed at a corporate event where a man named Michael Sweeney was sitting in the audience. After the show, Sweeney introduced himself to Michael, who in turn gave him one of his self-produced albums. Sweeney passed along that CD to his close friend, Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, who immediately hired the singer to perform at his daughter’s upcoming wedding. One of the guests at that wedding turned out to be none other than music-producing legend David Foster, who is perhaps better known by his nickname – “the hit-maker”. Foster was immediately taken with the with the Canadian crooner and had him move out to L.A. so that they could work together the very next week. And, the rest, as they say, is history.

Unfortunately, because it was raining when we arrived at Doolin’s Irish Pub, I opted to stay in the car and take pictures through the window instead of getting out to stalk the inside of the place. From what I’ve read, though, it seems like a very cool place to hang out.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Doolin’s Irish Pub, the site of the former BaBalu Nightclub, is located at 654 Nelson Street in Vancouver, British Columbia. You can visit the Doolin’s website here.

June 4, 2010June 6, 2010

Michael Buble’s British Columbia Entertainment Hall of Fame Plaque on the Vancouver Starwalk

One of the other items on my must-stalk-while-in-Canada list was Michael Buble’s British Columbia Entertainment Hall of Fame plaque which is located on Canada’s version of the Hollywood Walk of Fame – the Granville Street Starwalk in Downtown Vancouver. I guess you could say that my trip up to the Pacific Northwest was a full-on Michael Buble Stalking Vacation. 🙂 Ironically enough, when fellow stalker Kerry, her husband Jim, the Grim Cheaper, and I first crossed over into British Columbia this past Friday night, we were given a bit of a hard time by the border guards. Actually, “hard time” is the wrong choice of words here. Let’s just say that we were definitely questioned. Upon finding out that I had never before visited the Pacific Province, our entire group was asked to get out of the car to answer some additional queries in the Border Services Agency’s main office. It was at that point that I realized that there was no way in heck I could give a truthful answer to their question of why I was visiting Canada. Can you imagine if I had stood there and said that I had traveled to their country for the sole purpose of stalking Michael Buble locations??? They probably would have had me arrested on the spot! 😉 But I digress. Anyway, before my trip up north, I purchased Michael Buble: The Biography by Juliet Peel and, while I can’t say that the book was a particularly great read, it did alert me to some fabulous stalking sites, including Michael’s star on Vancouver’s Granville Street Starwalk.

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The British Columbia Entertainment Hall of Fame was founded on July 4, 1994 in order to recognize those British Columbians who had made significant contributions in six different disciplines in the entertainment industry, including music, television, theatre, film, radio, and variety. Over 180 different artists are currently honored with brass plaques embedded in the sidewalk along Canada’s so-called “Starwalk” – a two block section of Granville Street in Downtown Vancouver’s Theatre District. About twenty new plaques, which are each the size and shape of a 12-inch phonograph record, are added each year. Michael Buble, who originally hails from the Canadian city of Burnaby, was inducted into the BC Hall of Fame on April 19th, 2009, along with nine other honorees including theatre actress Wendy Gorling, radio personality Fanny Kiefer, and music producer Terry McBride. Past inductees include jazz musician Diane Krall, “King of Swing” Dal Richards, and singers Sarah McLachlan and Bryan Adams. Each Hall of Fame member also has a photograph of themselves on display in the Starwall area of the nearby Orpheum Theatre’s main lobby. Unfortunately, though, I did not know about the Orpheum gallery until doing research for today’s post, so I was not able to stalk MB’s picture. Such a bummer! 🙁

Although the Hollywood Walk of Fame provides tourist maps which denote each particular star’s exact location, the BC Entertainment Hall of Fame, sadly, does not. And, oddly enough, I could not find much information about the place online before I left on my trip, so I had no idea where exactly on Granville Street Michael Buble’s plaque was located. Since the Starwalk only stretches for two short blocks, though, I figured we could just walk the entire thing and track down his star once we got there, which is exactly what we set out to do. But being that there were almost two hundred plaques to search, that got old rather quickly, so I popped into a Granville Street bookstore and asked the man at the counter if he could point me in the direction of Michael Buble’s star. His answer – “I didn’t even know he had one.” LOL Thankfully, though, while I was in the bookstore, Kerry and my fiancé managed to find MB’s star and I have to say that I was rather giddy with excitement upon seeing it. It was definitely worth the trouble it took to find it! Note to the British Columbia Hall of Fame – you really ought to provide maps which pinpoint the exact location of each honoree’s plaque. I mean, honestly, do I have to think of everything? Sheesh! 😉

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Michael Buble’s British Columbia Entertainment Hall of Fame plaque can be found just outside of the Mavi Jeans store, which is located at 850 Granville Street in Vancouver, Canada. You can read more about the Starwalk on the official British Columbia Entertainment Hall of Fame website here.