TV filming locations – Page 10

January 7, 2011January 6, 2011

The Hollywood Towne House Motel – Lumen’s Motel from “Dexter”

This past weekend, the Grim Cheaper and I were doing some stalking in Hollywood when we happened upon the Hollywood Towne House Motel – aka the supposed Miami-area hotel where Lumen Ann Pierce (aka Julia Stiles) lived during this past season of fave series Dexter – which in my never-to-be humble opinion was the very best season the show has yet produced. Is it just me or does the series keep getting better and better with each passing year? Julia Stiles was absolutely PHENOMENAL in her role this past season. I honestly think it was the best acting she has done thus far in her career. Loved her, loved her, loved her! Anyway, while I usually rely on Seeing Stars’ extensively detailed Dexter filming locations page to find locales from the series, I recognized Lumen’s motel immediately upon driving by it, thanks to the place’s unique (and very bright) color scheme. What was even more amazing, though, was the fact that the Grim Cheaper also recognized the place immediately upon driving by, as well! He’s learning, folks! Smile

Even had we not recognized the place, this one most likely would have been an easy find as the real life name of the motel was used on the show. So incredibly cool!

The Hollywood Towne House Motel first showed up in the Season 5 episode of Dexter titled “Beauty and the Beast”, in the scene in which Dexter Morgan (aka Michael C. Hall) tracks down the motel Lumen was living in before she was kidnapped. The motel looks exactly the same in person as it did on the series and it is not at all hard to see why producers chose to use it as the place definitely has a Miami vibe to it.

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The motel’s real life main office also appeared in the episode.

And it, too, looks much the same in person as it did onscreen, except that in real life there is a pane of security glass which surrounds the front counter. I so desperately wanted to get a picture of myself standing in the spot where Dexter was standing in the episode, but unfortunately the office was closed when we showed up to stalk the place.

The motel was also used in the next episode of Dexter, which was titled “First Blood”, in the scene in which Dexter breaks into Lumen’s motel room and discovers that she is planning to seek revenge against her kidnappers.

In that episode Lumen was living in room number 110.

And while I originally had thought that the real interior of Room 110 was used in the filming of “First Blood”, after looking at the photographs of the motel’s actual rooms on TripAdvisor, I no longer believe that to be the case. I am guessing that the interior of Lumen’s room was a set that was built on a soundstage. (The TripAdvisor reviews of the motel are not too kind, by the way. One is titled “Should be condemned! It’s a Dump and Unsafe!!!!” LOL LOL LOL And one group of particularly enterprising guests even went so far as to make a YouTube video review/tour of the motel which is pretty incredible to watch! If you are at all grossed out by dirty hotel rooms, however, I suggest you do NOT watch it.)

Ironically enough, “Beauty and the Beast” was not the first time that Dexter was filmed on location at the Hollywood Towne House Motel. The very same spot was used in the Season 3 episode of the series titled “Turning Biminese”, in the scene in which Sergeant Angel Batista (aka David Zayas) seeks out Detective Barbara Gianna (aka Kristin Dattilo), who is working undercover as a prostitute, to ask her out on a date. Real romantic setting to ask someone out on a date, I know. Smile

While we were stalking the place, I was floored to discover that Sunset Gower Studios, the lot where Dexter is filmed, is located directly across the street from the Hollywood Towne House Motel, which explains how producers came to use it on the series.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Hollywood Town House Motel, aka Lumen’s motel from Dexter, is located at 6055 West Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Lumen stayed in room number 110 on the show.

January 6, 2011January 6, 2011

The “My So-Called Life” House

Since I blogged about the house which stood in for the Chase residence in the pilot episode of My So-Called Life yesterday, I thought I would write today about the house which was used in the remaining 18 episodes of the series. I have actually blogged about this location once before, over three years ago when I first started this site (and I absolutely CANNOT believe that it has already been THREE years!), but because it has been so long I figured the property was worthy of a more in-depth re-post. So, here goes! I became obsessed with finding the Chase residence back in 2007, but unfortunately, at that time the location was not posted anywhere online and the only information I had to go on was an address number of “1110” that was visible in the background of a few episodes. I had a hunch, though, that the dwelling was most likely located in South Pasadena, as the producers of My So-Called Life had filmed another one of their series, thirtysomething, primarily in that area. So, one weekend the Grim Cheaper and I ventured up and down all of the 1100 blocks located in South Pasadena until we found the house. And, amazingly enough, it didn’t take us long at all.

As it turns out, the property is located just a few blocks south of Mission Street at 1110 Glendon Way. And I am very happy to report that even though over one and a half decades have passed since filming took place, the Chase house still looks very much the same today as it did onscreen.

The only real differences I noticed were that the exterior has since been painted a dark green color, while it was light blue on the series, and the French doors located just to the left of the front door have since been replaced by a large picture window. Otherwise though, the property is completely recognizable from the show.

The house is actually owned by the City of South Pasadena and is currently vacant, so I was able to snap some pics of the interior of the property through the front windows. As you can see, it doesn’t bear much of a resemblance to the interior of the Chase house that was shown on the series, which was, of course, a set that was modeled after the residence used in the pilot episode.

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The Chase house was also used as the childhood home of Michael Myers (aka Daeq Faerch) in Rob Zombie’s 2007 remake of the horror film Halloween.

According to this website, the home’s real life living room and foyer appeared in Halloween, but the basement, bathroom, hallway, and bedroom scenes were filmed inside of a residence located at 2218 South Harvard Boulevard in Los Angeles.

The house where Brian Krakow (aka Devon Gummersall) lived on My So-Called Life is located just across the street and two properties south of the Chase home.

Amazingly enough, it still looks very much the same today as it did when filming took place over 16 years ago.

In the episode titled “Dancing in the Dark”, Angela and Jordan Catalano’s (aka Jared Leto’s) very unromantic first kiss took place in Jordan’s car which was parked just outside of Brian’s home.

And I am fairly certain that the real life interior of Brian’s house was also used in the filming of that episode.

The home located just across the street from Angela’s, which was pictured in the background of quite a few episodes, still looks pretty much exactly the same today, as well.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Chase house from all of the episodes of My So-Called Life excluding the pilot is located at 1110 Glendon Way in South Pasadena. Brian Krakow’s home is located across the street and two houses south of the Chase residence at 1115 Glendon Way.

January 5, 2011January 6, 2011

The Chase House from the Pilot Episode of “My So-Called Life”

Ever since fellow stalker Andrew tracked down the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles from the “So-Called Angels” episode of fave show My So-Called Life, I have been itching to re-watch the entire series from beginning to end as I have not seen it in years. So, I immediately went out and purchased the most recently-released boxed set of the show and finally sat down to start watching it last night. While doing so, I became a bit obsessed with locating the house where the Chase family – Graham (aka Tom Irwin), Patty (aka Bess Armstrong), Angela (aka Claire Danes), and Danielle (aka Lisa Wilhoit) – lived, because, as an astute fellow stalker named Somerset pointed out to me a while back, it was not the same property that was used for the other 18 episodes of the show.

Unfortunately though, there was virtually nothing for me to go on for this particular stalk – no house number, no visible street signs, not even a full view of the exterior of the property. But then, all of a sudden, like a lightning bolt from the sky, I spotted a clue – a very important clue. In the scene in which Angela waits for Rickie Vasquez (aka Wilson Cruz) to pick her up to go to Let’s Bolt nightclub, I noticed that the streetlights on Angela’s street were round. And while I had seen those streetlights (pictured above) before, I had only ever seen them in one place – in one very small section of Pasadena. The trees that lined Angela’s street also looked very familiar to me and I had an inkling that they might be the very trees that are located along Pasadena’s oft-filmed Madison Avenue.

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So, I began my search for the Chase home on Madison Avenue and, using Google Street View, found the property almost immediately! YAY! And I ran right out to stalk the place first thing yesterday morning.

And while the full exterior of the house is never actually shown in the pilot episode of My So-Called Life, as you can see in the above screen captures and photographs, the location of the window to the right of the front door and the roof lines of the front porch match up perfectly to what appeared onscreen.

The house across the street matches up perfectly, as well.

As does the house that is located at the end of Angela’s street.

The tree that is visible in the background of the scene in which Brian Krakow (aka Devon Gummersall) and Angela are shown arguing also looks exactly the same today as it did onscreen.

And amazingly enough, the tree that Brian sits in at the end of the episode is actually there in real life and still looks EXACTLY the same today as it did in March of 1993 when the pilot was filmed! SO INCREDIBLY COOL!

When Angela gets dropped off by the police at the end of the episode, instead of going directly home, she and Brian walk north on Madison Avenue to the corner of Madison and Alpine Street, where Angela spots her father talking to a woman who is not her mother. That area also looks much the same today as it did during the filming.

And, according to the DVD commentary by series creator Winnie Holzman, director Scott Winant, and executive producer Marshall Hershkovitz, the interior of the property was also used in the filming of the episode. Oh, what I wouldn’t give to see the inside of that house!

After the Grim Cheaper got off work yesterday evening, I dragged him back out to the house so that he could snap a picture of me reenacting that famous shot of Angela and Brian standing in the middle of the street. Oh, I cannot tell you how long I have wanted to take that picture! I was literally skipping to the car on the way there. Sigh!

On a side note – the creators of My So-Called Life, whose production company is named “The Bedford Falls Company”, threw in quite a few references to their favorite film It’s A Wonderful Life in the pilot episode of the series – including the scene in which Angela changes her clothes behind a bush a la Mary Hatch (aka Donna Reed) and a scene in which Brian wears a shirt with the number “3” on it, a la George Bailey (aka James Stewart). Love it, love it, love it!

It’s A Wonderful Life is also playing in the background of the scene in which Angela apologizes to her mother.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Chase house from the pilot episode of My So-Called Life is located at 1025 South Madison Avenue in Pasadena. The tree Brian sat in at the end of the episode is located in front of the house at 1014 South Madison Avenue. Angela spots her father talking to the mysterious woman at the southeast corner of South Madison Avenue and Alpine Street. And, finally, the famous shot of Angela and Brian standing in the middle of the street was filmed in front of 1014 and 1025 South Madison Avenue with the camera looking north on Madison towards Alpine Street. The Mr. Deeds house is located just three doors down from the MSCL pilot house at 989 South Madison Avenue. The house that was used as the Chase home in the other 18 episodes of the series is located at 1110 Glendon Way in South Pasadena.

January 4, 2011January 4, 2011

Lake Arrowhead Resort and Spa from “House, M.D.”

The third and final location that I stalked while vacationing in Lake Arrowhead this past Thanksgiving with my family and the Grim Cheaper was the Lake Arrowhead Resort and Spa, which was featured prominently in the Season 6 episode of House, M.D. titled “Known Unknowns”. The property, which was originally named the Arlington Lodge, was first built in 1923 by A.L. Richmond, the owner of the Arlington Hotel in Santa Barbara, and was designed by architect McNeal Swasey at a cost of $500,000. The upscale Lodge boasted numerous luxuries, including ornate drawing rooms, outdoor terraces, guest quarters with private bathrooms, and a main lobby, dubbed the “Great Hall”, which featured a 45-foot tall vaulted ceiling, a large fireplace, and a grand staircase. The resort was opened to the public on June 23, 1923 and became an immediate success. According to legend, such Hollywood luminaries as Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Roy Rogers, Carole Lombard, and Gary Cooper were all frequent guests. The hotel also attracted movie crews and such films as 1952’s Just For You, which starred Jane Wyman, Natalie Wood, Bing Crosby, and Ethel Barrymore – Drew’s great-aunt, 1965’s I’ll Take Sweden, which starred Bob Hope, Tuesday Weld, and Frankie Avalon, and 1973’s made-for-TV movie A Summer Without Boys, which starred Barbara Bain and Michael Moriarty, were all filmed on location there. Sadly though, the Arlington Lodge burned to the ground in October of 1938. And while it was rebuilt shortly thereafter, the entire resort was razed in December of 1976 in order to make room for a new hotel, the Arrowhead Hilton Lodge, which opened to the public in 1982. And while Bob Hope, Gerald Ford, and Baron Hilton – Paris’ grandfather – were all in attendance for the resort’s grand opening, it doesn’t seem as if many celebrities frequent the hotel today. Currently the property, which is now known as Lake Arrowhead Resort, boasts 162 guest rooms and 11 suites, a full-service spa, a fitness room, a coffee bar, an upscale restaurant named BIN189, and a 40-foot pool.

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Sadly though, I have to say that the Lake Arrowhead Resort and Spa is truly nothing special. Don’t get me wrong, the place is O.K., but after the website had touted its “idyllic” and “majestic” ambiance, I had expected a heck of a lot more than what was actually there. The setting is absolutely gorgeous, but truth be told, ALL of Lake Arrowhead is that beautiful.

And while the BIN189 restaurant is absolutely GORGEOUS, I cannot in any way, shape, or form recommend eating there. While we were stalking the hotel, we popped into the restaurant and were enticed by its roaring, oversized fireplace and decided to grab a drink there, but as soon as we sat down, a woman came into the eatery with her large dog (which one would think would be a health code violation, but I guess not) and the dog proceeded to bark hysterically at the top of its lungs. The dog was so terribly loud that we had to get up and leave. All of the patrons in the restaurant at the time were quite upset over the barking dog and three groups besides ours ended up walking out in the middle of their meal. You’d think at an average cost of $35 a plate, the management would have done something -like kick the freaking woman and her dog out -but because the hotel is “pet friendly”, the servers all said that there was absolutely nothing they could do. So, that was pretty much it for that place! My family literally could not get out of there fast enough and I therefore did not get to stalk very much of the resort! 🙁

In the “Known Unknowns” episode of House, M.D., in which doctors Gregory House (aka Hugh Laurie), James Wilson (aka Robert Sean Leonard), and Lisa Cuddy (aka Lisa Edelstein) attend a pharmacology and public policy conference in the Adirondacks, extensive use was made of the Lake Arrowhead Resort and Spa. According to a review that I read on Travelocity, the vast majority of the hotel – including the restaurant and pool – was closed off during the filming, yet the hotel management failed to inform guests of that fact when they made their reservations – which sounds pretty much right on par as to the level of customer service that we experienced while there. Anyway, filming of the episode took place in the lobby area;

down by the lake;

on the outdoor terraces;

in one of the meeting rooms;

and in BIN189, which was both the site where the big 80’s party scene was filmed;

and where the doctors ate breakfast on the last morning of their conference.

I am fairly certain that the two guest rooms shown in the episode were not actually Lake Arrowhead Resort hotel rooms, but were sets that were built on a studio soundstage, as they just don’t seem to match up to the rooms that are pictured on the hotel’s website.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Even though I REALLY wouldn’t recommend stalking this particular location, Lake Arrowhead Resort and Spa is located at 27984 California 189 in Lake Arrowhead. You can visit the hotel’s official website here.

December 23, 2010December 23, 2010

The First Congregational Church of Los Angeles from “My So-Called Life”

Fellow stalker/My So-Called Life aficionado Andrew recently went on a mission to try to track down the church that was used in the Season 1 Christmas-themed episode of fave show My So-Called Life titled “So-Called Angels”. He had just picked up the most-recently released boxed set of the series, which came out in 2007, and was floored to discover that actor Wilson Cruz, who played Ricky Vasquez on the show, had recorded a commentary for the “So-Called Angels” episode and had described the location of the church as being on 6th Street close to Downtown Los Angeles. Even with that detailed information, though, this locale proved to be a tough one to track down. Thankfully, Andrew hit a stroke of luck, though, when he noticed that the doors of the church in the episode featured very intricate carvings. He figured those doors had to be unique and, sure enough, they were! Just type the words “carved doors”, “church”, and “Los Angeles” into Google and the very first entry that appears is for the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles, located on the corner of South Commonwealth Avenue and West 6th Street, about a mile from Downtown Los Angeles, right where Wilson Cruz had said it would be. Yay! So, once Andrew told me the good news, I immediately dragged my dad right on out to stalk the place – just in time for Christmas, too!

The Gothic revival-style First Congregational Church of Los Angeles was constructed in 1932 by brothers James Edward Allison and David Clark Allison, the same architecture team that designed the Beverly Hills Post Office and UCLA’s Royce Hall. Both the exterior . . .

. . . and the interior of the property are absolutely gorgeous in person. In fact, I think it is safe to say that I have never seen a more beautiful place of worship in my entire life! The church is literally breathtaking – especially decked out in all of its Christmas glory!

The First Congregational Church of Los Angeles’ main sanctuary, which stretches 198 feet in length and reaches 76 feet in height, is home to the world’s largest pipe organ, features carved oak pews, and is dotted with countless stained glass windows which were designed by Judson Studios in Pasadena.

The bronze doors that Andrew noticed in the “So-Called Angels” episode were designed in 1946 by artist Albert Gilles and, unbelievably, they measure three inches thick and weigh in at a whopping one thousand pounds apiece! The doors were so heavy, in fact, that I could hardly open them when we went to leave!

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In the “So-Called Angels” episode of My So-Called Life, the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles was the spot where Angela Chase (aka Claire Danes), along with the rest of the Chase family, and her friends Brian Krakow (aka Devon Gummersall) and Ricky wind up on Christmas Eve night after a heartbreaking course of events during which Ricky gets beaten up by his father and ends up first living on the streets and then in an abandoned warehouse. I had actually forgotten how very heartbreaking the episode was until I re-watched it last week. So incredibly sad!

The area where Patty Chase (aka Bess Armstrong) found Ricky lighting candles is located just to the left of the church’s main altar, although that area looks a bit different today. There are no candles located in that particular alcove (which I was seriously bummed about as I had planned on lighting one), nor is there a visible stained glass window. The red carpet has also since been removed.

The pew where Patty and Ricky sat in the scene is located just to the left of the alcove.

The exterior of the church looks a bit different today than it did during the filming, as well. The large potted plants which flanked the front of the church in the episode are no longer there, but I have a hunch that those trees were actually props brought in specifically for the filming and were never actually there in real life.

The street lamp that was pictured at the very end of the episode is actually there in real life, though, which I thought was just about the coolest thing ever! Smile

My So-Called Life is not the only production to have filmed at First Congregational. The church also stood in for New York’s St. Thomas Episcopal where Wilhelmina Slater (aka Vanessa Williams) almost married Bradford Meade (aka Alan Dale’s) in the Season 2 episode of Ugly Betty titled “A Nice Day for a Posh Wedding”.

First Congregational was also where the funeral for Preston Blake (aka Harve Presnell) was held in the 2002 Adam Sandler comedy Mr. Deeds.

It was also used as the church where Mary Jane Watson (aka Kristen Dunst) almost married John Jameson (aka Daniel Gillies) in Spiderman 2.

And it stood in for New York’s Trinity Church where the climactic final scene of 2004’s National Treasure took place.

Both the opening and one of the closing scenes from 2003’s Daredevil were also filmed at the church.

The First Congregational Church of Los Angeles has also appeared in episodes of Californication, The Riches, The West Wing, Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Shark, The Closer, Bones, The Practice, Cold Case, Joan of Arcadia, Six Feet Under, Jag, and The X-Files and in the movies Nancy Drew and Into the Wild. The church even has a page on its website which chronicles the many productions that have been filmed on the premises over the years (although My So-Called Life is ostensibly missing from the list). So love it!

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The First Congregational Church of Los Angeles, from the “So-Called Angels” episode of My So-Called Life, is located at 540 South Commonwealth Avenue in Los Angeles. You can visit the church’s official website here and you can check out its extensive filming resume here.

December 22, 2010December 21, 2010

The Smoke House Restaurant – Where Jim and Pam Held Their Rehearsal Dinner on “The Office”

This past weekend, while out doing some Christmas shopping with the Grim Cheaper, the two of us found ourselves in the Burbank area absolutely ravenous. For whatever reason, though, I could not think of a good place to eat, so the GC suggested we grab a bite at that “old Burbank restaurant across from Warner Brothers Studios”. Because my blondness was in full force that day, I had no idea what on earth he was talking about and just about died when he pulled into the parking lot of the Smoke House Restaurant – the very spot where Jim Halpert (aka John Krasinski) and Pam Beesly (aka Jenna Fischer) hosted the rehearsal dinner for their wedding in the Season 6 episode of fave show The Office titled “Niagara”. And although I have actually stalked this location once before and have even blogged about it, because it was long before The Office had shot there and long before I was even a fan of the show, I decided the restaurant was worthy of a repost.

The original 46-seat Smoke House restaurant first opened in 1946 at the corner of Pass and Riverside Avenues in Burbank. The eatery was a hit with the Hollywood set from the very start, with such stars as Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra (who even has a steak named after him on the Smoke House menu), Judy Garland, Milton Berle, Jack Parr, James Dean, Burl Ives, Walt Disney, and Errol Flynn stopping in regularly to grab a bite to eat. Due to its promise of serving up “fine food at fair prices”, the restaurant became such a Burbank staple that its owners were quickly forced to expand. They started looking for a larger building to move into and, as fate would have it, found one in actor Danny Kaye’s recently constructed Red Coach Inn. Due to city regulations and the Up In Arms actor’s busy filming schedule, Kaye was unable to open the restaurant/night club and in 1949 he sold the never-been-used property to the owners of the Smoke House. The establishment is still located in that very building to this day. And, six decades later, the place is still going strong. In more recent years, such stars as Robert Redford, Kevin Costner, Megan Fox, Andy Garcia, Miley Cyrus, Tish Cyrus, and the entire cast of Friends (who used to stop by regularly after filming) have all been spotted dining there.

George Clooney is such a fan of the place that he named his production company “Smokehouse Pictures” in honor of the legendary restaurant. The actor also did a photo shoot at the eatery in the booth pictured above.

One look at the Smoke House interior and it’s not very hard to see why it has succeeded for over sixty years. With it’s dim lights, dark red booths, and wood-paneled walls, stepping inside the eatery definitely brings one back to a forgotten era. It’s exactly the type of place I’d imagine Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. hanging out at back in the heyday of Hollywood.

Oh, and did I mention the food? During this particular visit I ordered the restaurant’s Cobb Salad and it was easily the biggest salad I’ve ever seen in my entire life! I didn’t even get through one third of it and I was literally STARVING when we showed up at the restaurant. On our previous visit, the GC and I ordered up the eatery’s famous “World’s Greatest Garlic Bread” and I can honestly say that the restaurant wasn’t being arrogant when they conceived that name. It literally was the best garlic bread I’ve ever had in my life! Smile Truth be told, though, all of the Smoke House food is FABULOUS, but be forewarned, their portions are ABSOLUTELY ENORMOUS! The restaurant’s staff is also INCREDIBLY nice and, even though the place was pretty packed at the time, everyone I spoke with took the time to answer all of my silly questions about the filming that has taken place there over the years.

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In the “Niagara” episode of The Office, the Smoke House stood in for the supposed Niagara Falls-area restaurant where Jim and Pam held the rehearsal dinner for their wedding. The majority of that scene was filmed in the restaurant’s back room, which, luckily enough, was being set up for a private party while we were there, so I was able to snap a bunch of photographs while the room was empty!

Some filming also took place in the restaurant’s bar area.

The Smoke House’s side room was used in the scene in which Michael Scott (aka Steve Carell) and Dwight Schrute (aka Rainn Wilson) are shown eating breakfast the morning following the rehearsal dinner.

The Smoke House was also featured in the Season 1 episode of Desperate Housewives titled “Move On”, in the scene in which Susan Mayer (aka Teri Hatcher) sings a deeply personal rendition of the song “New York, New York” to her ex-husband Karl (aka Richard Burgi) while at a local karaoke bar.

The Desperate Housewives scene was filmed on the stage located in the restaurant’s bar area.

You can watch Susan’s karaoke scene by clicking above.

The eatery has also appeared in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Cold Case, and in a Season 2 episode of the reality series The Two Coreys, but I cannot for the life of me figure out which episode and it is driving me absolutely crazy! Does anyone out there know?

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Smoke House Restaurant, where Jim and Pam hosted their rehearsal dinner in the “Niagara” episode of The Office, is located at 4420 West Lakeside Drive in Burbank. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.

December 17, 2010December 16, 2010

The “Six Feet Under” Flower Shop – One of the Last Places James Dean Was Seen Alive

I promise to get back to my wedding blogging in the near future, but for today I thought I’d do a post about a location that I stalked this past weekend – the Blossom d’Amour flower shop where Ruth Fisher (aka Frances Conroy) worked on the hit HBO television series Six Feet Under. While doing some research on the Fisher & Sons Funeral Home from the series, which I blogged about back in October, I came across the IMDB trivia page for the show which stated that Ruth’s floral shop was actually a former gas station – but not just any gas station. As it turns out, it is the station where James Dean stopped to fill up the tank of his Porsche 550 Spyder on the afternoon of September 30, 1955 while on his way to Salinas where he was scheduled to participate in a car race. The twenty-four year old actor was tragically killed just a few hours later, at approximately 5:45 p.m., when his Porsche collided with a Ford Tudor driven by a man named Donald Turnupseed at the intersection of Highways 46 and 41 in Cholame, California. For whatever reason, that gas station was later transformed into a floral shop/car wash named A Touch of Romance and it was that floral shop that was eventually featured on Six Feet Under. Quite a bit of history for a tiny, non-descript florist located on a sleepy corner of L.A.’s San Fernando Valley!

I was hoping that there would be some sort of plaque or photograph on display commemorating the shop’s unique and storied history, but, sadly, I couldn’t find anything of the sort while I was stalking the place. It is absolutely mind-boggling to me that a person could very well get their car washed at this location or purchase some flowers for a loved one without ever realizing that they were standing on hallowed ground!

It became even more mind-boggling to me when I found out that a picture of Dean had actually been taken on that fateful day while he was gassing up his car! As fate would have it, photographer Sanford Roth was traveling with the actor to Salinas to document his race and he happened to snap a photograph of Dean while at the service station. I think it goes without saying that if I owned that shop, I would have a HUMONGOUS copy of that photograph on display so that my customers would know the significance and the history of the property. Geez, why do I always have to think of everything?? Smile

In the Season 1 episode of Six Feet Under titled “Brotherhood”, Ruth gets a job working at the Blossom d’Amour floral shop and she continues to work there throughout much of the show’s second season. She also ends up becoming romantically involved with the shop’s Russian owner, Nikolai, for a time. And I am very happy to report that the shop still looks pretty much exactly the same today as it did when Six Feet Under was being filmed.

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For those who are interested in locations of this sort, I HIGHLY recommend picking up a copy of Chris Epting’s two books James Dean Died Here: The Locations of America’s Pop Culture Landmarks and Marilyn Monroe Dyed Here: More Locations of America’s Pop Culture Landmarks (I LOVE that last title, by the way!), both of which were gifted to me by fellow stalker Lavonna a few months back. They are FABULOUS books which feature hundreds of famous – and infamous – locations. I just discovered that Epting also recently released a third book in the series, Elvis Presley Passed Here: Even More Locations of America’s Pop Culture Landmarks, so guess which item has just been added to this stalker’s Christmas list! Winking smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: A Touch of Romance, aka the Six Feet Under flower shop, aka the gas station where James Dean filled his Porsche with gas on his fated last day, is located at 14325 Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks.

December 15, 2010December 14, 2010

Mike and Carol Brady’s Homes from the Pilot Episode of “The Brady Bunch”

Earlier this week while perusing through fellow stalker Chas’ website, ItsFilmedThere, I came across his Brady Bunch page which details numerous filming locations from the beloved 1970s series and, let me tell you, I almost fell off my chair! Especially when I saw that he not only had listed the location of the house where Mike Brady (aka Robert Reed) lived in the pilot episode of the series, which was titled “The Honeymoon”, but also the address of the home where Mike and Carol (aka Florence Henderson) tied the knot in that very same episode! How I had never noticed those locations on his site before is beyond me, especially since I am absolutely obsessed with the series! I immediately texted Chas to find out how he managed to track the two locations down and as it turns out he had, in typical Chas fashion, contacted the show’s creator Sherwood Schwartz! Chas always somehow manages to go straight to the source, so to speak, when seeking out locations. I recently enlisted his help in finding Chez Quis restaurant where Ferris Bueller (aka Matthew Broderick) pretended to be Abe Froman in fave movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and what did Chas do? You guessed it – he somehow managed to track down actor Jonathan Schmock who played the restaurant’s snooty maître d’ in the scene. As it turns out, Chez Quis restaurant was actually the now-defunct L’Orangerie restaurant in West Hollywood, but that’s a whole other story for a whole other post that I promise to write very soon. Anyway, Chas got a message delivered to Sherwood Schwartz asking him for information about the Brady houses and who should call him back but writer/producer Lloyd Schwartz – aka Sherwood’s son! So incredibly cool! So, once I had the addresses I immediately ran out to stalk both of the locations. YAY! Thank you, Chas! Smile

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The mid-century modern-style house pictured above is where architect Mike Brady lived with his three sons, Greg (aka Barry Williams), Peter (aka Christopher Knight), and Bobby (aka Mike Lookinland), in the “Honeymoon” episode of the series. For whatever reason, when the second episode, titled “Dear Libby”, aired, Mike and the rest of the Brady clan were shown living in a different house – the Studio City abode that was featured on every episode of the series thereafter.

Amazingly enough, the “Honeymoon” episode house still looks almost EXACTLY the same today as it did when the episode was filmed over 42 years ago!

Even the three plants on the front porch are still strikingly similar to how they appeared in the episode! Love it, love it, love it!

Located just about three miles west of Mike’s house is the residence belonging to Carol Brady’s parents, which is the spot where Mike and Carol tied the knot in the pilot episode.

Sadly though, while the house still looks very much the same as it did onscreen, there is now a large wall which surrounds the property and substantially obstructs the view of it from the road. UGH!

Mike and Carol’s wedding took place in the home’s backyard, which is, of course, also not visible from the street.

But you can catch a glimpse of it in the above aerial view.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Chas, from ItsFilmedThere, for finding these locations! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Mike Brady’s house from the pilot episode of The Brady Bunch is located at 12049 Iredell Street in Studio City. Carol Brady’s parents’ house, where the Brady wedding took place, is located at 4101 Longridge Avenue in Sherman Oaks.

December 13, 2010March 3, 2011

Our Movie Locations-Themed Scavenger Hunt

My good friend/party planner extraordinaire Natalie Drees has become famous in our circle over the past few years for creating absolutely amazing customized scavenger hunts. She plans one for pretty much every event she hosts and not only are they insanely fun, but they also provide a fabulous way for people to get to know each other. So, once it was decided that our rehearsal dinner would take place at POP Champagne & Dessert Bar in Old Town Pasadena and that all of our family and friends would be invited, I asked Nat if she wouldn’t mind creating a movie locations-themed hunt to cap off our evening. And, thankfully, she said yes! Because Nat lives in San Francisco and therefore does not know the Pasadena area all that well, though – nor is she particularly into this thing that we call stalking – she enlisted the help of fellow stalker Owen to carry out the endeavor. And I have to say that the two pulled it off beautifully!

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Natalie figured that most of our guests wouldn’t be quite as into filming locations as I am, so she based the scavenger hunt not around finding where a specific production was filmed, but around finding particular restaurants and bars in Pasadena that also happened to be filming locations. If teams could subsequently figure out what was filmed at each particular restaurant or bar – by talking to their servers or using their iPhones – extra points would be awarded, but filming location knowledge was not in any way required to participate. Besides figuring out which location each clue referred to, teams would also be required to obtain specific items from each location in order to complete the hunt. As always, each team was given a set of pens, a bag to collect all of our scavenger hunt items, and a book detailing our assignment, the rules of the game, and the clues.

The booklets were handed out at the end of the rehearsal dinner at POP Champagne Bar and my best friend Kylee, who was managing the hunt, gave all of the teams five minutes to read them over, before yelling out “On your mark . . . get set . . . go!”. At that point our entire group of fifty literally RAN out of the restaurant! It was like a mass exodus and I can only imagine what our fellow diners were thinking! LOL The scavenger hunt clues read as follows:

Clue Number 1 –

It’s been said “men want

a lady on the street . . .”

Perhaps women want

An “uomo” who can take the heat.

Once they find him,

They’ll take some “pane”.

Bring it back to the judge

And you’ll “vincere”.

The solution to Clue Number 1 was the restaurant Il Fornaio, which was featured in the 2000 movie What Women Want and was actually the very first movie I ever saw being filmed upon moving to Los Angeles. Before purchasing a house, my parents and I lived in an apartment in Old Town Pasadena and we would walk down to Il Fornaio to grab a bite to eat at least once a week. We got to know quite a few people who worked at the eatery and one night one of the servers let us know that Mel Gibson was going to be filming a movie at the restaurant the very next day. So, my mom and I, of course, headed back there bright and early the following morning to watch! It was an extremely cool experience for both of us and while we did not get to meet Mel Gibson, he did wave to us and say ‘hi’ several times while on his various cigarette breaks. Anyway, Nat came up with the brilliant idea of using foreign words in each clue which correlated to the type of food served at the restaurants we were supposed to visit. In the case of Il Fornaio, which is Italian, she used several Italian words – “uomo” translates to “man”, “pane” to “bread”, and “vincere” to “win”. Well, once I read the words “women want”, I knew exactly which restaurant the clue was referring to and my team (which consisted of me and the GC, my best friend Robin and his girlfriend Steffi, and Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and his fiancé Ame) immediately headed on over there. Unfortunately though, my mom, of course, also immediately figured out the answer to the clue and was right on our heels! In the movie, Il Fornaio appeared in the scene in which Nick Marshall (aka Mel Gibson) has lunch with his daughter Alex Marshall (aka Ashley Johnson) after buying her a prom dress.

One of the rules of the game was that all teams would have to purchase a round of drinks at each and every bar, so as not to anger the various managements by having large groups of people running in and out of the restaurants, causing a disruption. When we arrived at Il Fornaio, Mike suggested that we each get a shot as we could drink them quickly and then be on to our next location. Well, I am a complete and total lightweight and typically do not drink anything other than champagne and I really did not want to be doing shots at each and every bar we went into the night before my wedding, so I quickly ixnayed that idea. But the next thing I knew, my friend Steffi had six full shot glasses lined up in front of her. I immediately said, “No, I can’t drink a shot!” to which she replied, “These are champagne shots!” I had no idea what on earth a champagne shot was, but she informed me that she had asked the bartender to pour a bit of champagne into six shot glasses. The bartender at first balked at the idea, but when Steffi explained that I was a soon-to-be bride who only drank champagne, she agreed and poured us our “champagne shots”. We are holding them in the above photograph and I can honestly say that that particular moment was one of my favorites of the entire wedding. So incredibly cute!!!!!!

Clue Number 2 –

Don may ride a white horse

To get to this filmed bar.

If he were in gay Paris

This would be more on par.

Once he arrived

A “serviette” he’d obtain.

In Pasadena it’s this,

Hopefully without a stain.

The solution to Clue Number 2 was Cheval Blanc Bistro, which I blogged about back in December of last year and which was used in the original Father of the Bride movie as the spot where George Banks (aka Steve Martin) takes Bryan MacKenzie (aka George Newbern) for a drink. Because there are not many French restaurants in Old Town Pasadena, this was an easy one. Also tipping me off to the clue’s answer was the fact that Don is my dad’s name, aka the name of the “father of the bride”. Amazingly enough, my mom and her team were hot on our tail upon arriving at this particular bar, as well! My aunt Lea, who was on my mom’s team, had asked the bartender at Il Fornaio if she knew of any French restaurants in the area and the bartender told her that the only place she could think of was Cheval Blanc. My mom’s best friend, who speaks fluent French, immediately said “Cheval Blanc means white horse! That’s the place!” and they took off for the restaurant. At Cheval Blanc we were required to obtain a “serviette”, aka a “napkin”.

Both my team and my mom’s team spent quite a bit of time at this restaurant and ordered a round of drinks and relaxed since we were so far ahead of all of the other groups. And amazingly enough, my mom’s team happened to meet an actor while at Cheval Blanc and they got his autograph for an extra 50 points! He wasn’t anyone famous, but he did have his own IMDB page, so he counted as a “star”.

Clue Number 3 –

You can get a roll

In California’s 91105.

This filming location

You may not recognize.

You won’t need a fork,

But two pieces of wood

To experience

Lindsay’s favorite hood.

The answer to Clue Number 3 was, of course, Maikobe Japanese Restaurant – aka the former Ruby’s Diner which stood in for the Peach Pit on my favorite show of all time Beverly Hills, 90210. For anyone who knew anything about me or anything about the city of Pasadena for that matter, this clue was a no-brainer. In an unfortunate twist of bad luck, though, Maikobe had unexpectedly closed its doors just a few days before our rehearsal dinner, so when we showed up there for the scavenger hunt, we could not go inside to obtain our “two pieces of wood”, aka a set of chop sticks. Mike immediately started looking around for other sushi restaurants in the area and noticed one directly across the street from Maikobe (perhaps this is why the place went out of business! Winking smile ) and ran right on over to grab some chopsticks. BUT, amazingly enough, my mom’s team had happened to grab a set of chop sticks at Sushi Roku near Il Fornaio earlier during the hunt (they had gone in to collect matchbooks for extra points and the hostess had, for whatever reason, also given them chopsticks!), so as soon as her team realized Maikobe was closed, they immediately started running to the last stop on the hunt and ended up coming in first place! So, yes, even though Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I were on the same team, we LOST the scavenger hunt!!!!! Unbelievable!!!! But at least now you can see where I get my stalking skills from! In our family, the apple definitely does not fall far from the tree! On a side note – you can see a great picture of what Maikobe looked like back when it was Ruby’s Diner here.

Clue Number 4 –

At this Latin lounge with a fitting name

Their life together they can star living

Before their honeymoon, as husband and dame.

Ask for this in your drink-o.

Tie it in a knot with your tongue

To get an extra cinco.

The solution to Clue Number 4 was Vive Lounge, where fave movie A Lot Like Love was filmed. At the time the movie was filmed, the place was a Chinese-Malaysian fusion restaurant named Nonya, but that eatery closed down back in 2006 whereupon Vive moved in. Amazingly enough, very little of the décor was changed upon the transition and the restaurant still looked almost exactly the same as it did in the movie. Because there is only one Latin-themed lounge in Pasadena, my mom and her team were easily able to figure out what location the final clue was referring to. Especially once they realized that “vive” translates to “live” in Spanish. For winning the hunt, each member of my mom’s team was awarded with a bag of microwave popcorn and a pass for a free movie at any AMC Theatre. So incredibly cool! All in the all, the scavenger hunt turned out FABULOUS and all of our guests, even those who seriously lagged behind, absolutely LOVED it. It was the perfect end to a perfect evening. On a sad side note, though – the GC and I walked by Vive this past Friday night and discovered that it had closed it doors! I can only hope that the new owners also choose to keep the original Nonya’s décor so that all of us stalkers can still appreciate it.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Natalie Drees can create customized scavenger hunts for parties and corporate events based upon any and all sorts of themes. You can contact her via her event planning website Pop Planning. Il Fornaio, from What Women Want, is located at 24 West Union Street in Old Town Pasadena. You can visit Il Fornaio’s website here. Cheval Blanc Bistro, from Father of the Bride, is located at 41 South De Lacey Avenue, also in Old Town Pasadena. You can visit the Cheval Blanc website here. The former Maikobe restaurant, aka the Peach Pit from Beverly Hills, 90210, is located at 45 South Fair Oaks Avenue in Pasadena, but is currently vacant. Vive Lounge, the former Nonya restaurant from A Lot Like Love, is located at 61 North Raymond Avenue in Pasadena, but is also currently vacant. You can visit the former Vive Lounge website here.

December 3, 2010December 3, 2010

Brenda Leigh Johnson’s House from “The Closer”

I thought I’d take a little break from writing about my nuptials today as I figure there are more than a few stalkers out there who are not at all interested in reading about wedding planning, even when there is a filming location element tied in to it. Anyway, a few days ago I was going through some old photographs on my computer when I came across a location that I stalked way back in November of 2008, but for whatever reason had completely forgotten to blog about – the adorable Craftsman-style house where Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson (aka Kyra Sedgwick) lived during the first three seasons of the TNT drama The Closer. When my dad and I saw the series being filmed in Pasadena back in October of 2008, I happened to ask one of the crew members if he knew where Brenda’s house was located. And while he couldn’t remember the exact address, he did tell me that the property could be found on Gramercy Place in Hollywood, not too far from Raleigh Studios where the series is lensed. Even with that detailed information, though, it took me quite a while to track down the house.

Gramercy Place actually begins at Marathon Street, just one block north of Melrose Avenue where Raleigh Studios is located, so I decided to begin my search there. Because I happened to be in the area at the time, this particular stalking venture took place in person in my car, rather than via Google Street View. Armed with a screen capture of the house, I drove south on Gramercy Place keeping my eyes peeled for the brown bungalow and was quite shocked to discover that, after only three blocks, the street ended – and, sadly, the property was nowhere to be found. I immediately called up Mike, from MovieShotsLA, to ask if there happened to be two streets in Hollywood with the name Gramercy, but he said there were not. He also informed me that Gramercy was a long street, which only added to my confusion, as I was ON Gramercy at the time and could only drive three blocks. So, a bit deterred, I returned home and set about doing some cyber-stalking on my computer. What I soon discovered was that Gramercy WAS, in fact a fairly long street, as after it stops at Maplewood Avenue it picks up again four blocks later at Beverly Boulevard. Because I am absolutely TERRIBLE with directions (my mom says I couldn’t find my way out of a paper bag), that thought had never even occurred to me! And, yes, I really am that blonde! Anyway, once I figured out that bit of information, it didn’t take me long to locate Brenda’s house and I dragged the Grim Cheaper right out to stalk the place just a few days later.

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Brenda moved into the Craftsman-style home pictured above in the Season 1 episode of The Closer titled “The Big Picture”, after the previous owner was found dead inside of it. After deciding that she and her fiance, Fritz Howard (aka Jon Tenney), need a larger abode a few seasons later, she moved out of this location and into a duplex located two miles away.

While we were stalking Brenda’s house, some people happened to be standing outside and I asked them if they were the owners. They weren’t, but, as it turns out, they knew the owner quite well. I, of course, immediately started asking them all sorts of questions about The Closer being filmed on the property and, amazingly enough, not a one of them had any idea what on earth I was talking about. Then, one of the guys said, “Oh wait, a couple of years ago a TV show did film here, but I have no idea what it was.” Then as the group walked away I heard one of the ladies say to the other, “What in the heck is The Closer ?” LOL Some people, I swear!!!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Closer house is located at 133 S. Gramercy Place in Hollywood.