The Mentalist’s CBI Headquarters

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My location obsession as of late has been the CBI Headquarters building where Patrick Jane and the gang report to work each week on my new fave show The Mentalist. I do love me some Simon Baker!  He’s such a cutie!  🙂   Being that it is quite unique in appearance, I had an inkling that Mike, from MovieShotsLA, might recognize the building used on the show, but since he had never watched The Mentalist I was out of luck there – until this past Tuesday night when the episode entitled “Bloodshot” aired.  For the first time ever, the cast and crew actually filmed on location at the Headquarters building (in the past it had only been used for set-up shots) and I was able to make quite a few screen captures to send to Mike.  And, sure enough, he recognized the building immediately!  He’s so my hero!

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In actuality, CBI Headquarters is the rear entrance of the Pico House, a former luxury hotel and a National Historic Landmark located in Downtown Los Angeles.  I am ashamed to admit that I have actually visited the Pico House several times, but never recognized it as the CBI Building, most likely because the front of the former hotel looks strikingly different from the back.  The front of the Pico House is pictured above.  The Pico House was built from 1869 to 1870 by Pio Pico, a former governor of Alta California.  The building was designed by architect Ezra F. Kysor and at the time of its opening was considered the most upscale hotel in the L.A. area.  It was also the first three story building located in Los Angeles.  The luxurious hotel boasted 82 rooms, 21 ballrooms, a French restaurant, and bathrooms for “both sexes” on every floor.  LOL  Pio Pico lost the hotel due to financial difficulties just ten years after its grand opening.  For the next thirty years, beginning in 1892, the hotel was known as The National and was a cheap boarding house.  In 1953, the hotel was taken over by the City of Los Angeles who has managed it ever since.  The Pico House was restored in the 60s and again in the 80s and 90s.  Today it is no longer a hotel, but remains vacant and is used as an event location and for filming.  You can see great interior photographs of the Pico House here.

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Once Mike told me that CBI Headquarters was really the Pico House, I dragged my dad right out to stalk it.   He actually didn’t mind being dragged to this location, as The Mentalist is one of the few shows on television that he actually likes.  My dad was especially excited to see the CBI building in person since he had just watched the “Bloodshot” episode, in which the Pico House is featured prominently, the night before.  He kept saying “This is so cool – I just saw this place on TV last night!”

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I am happy to report that the CBI building looks exactly the same in person as it does onscreen.   The “Bloodshot” episode featured several parts of the Pico House, including the exterior stairwell area where the team exited the building after being evacuated due to a bomb threat;

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the alleyway where Van Pelt met her boyfriend for an early morning cup of coffee and also where Jane’s team got evacuated;

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the parking lot area where the car bomb exploded and later where a temporarily blind Jane drove Van Pelt’s car;

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and Hype Nightclub, which in actuality is not a nightclub at all, but the entrance to the Pico House’s central courtyard.

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I highly recommend stalking the CBI Headquarters building to all Mentalist fans.  Who knows, you might even catch them filming an episode while you’re there!  Even though no filming was going on while I was stalking the Pico House, I can’t tell you how excited I was to finally be seeing CBI Headquarters in person!  🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Mentalist’s CBI Headquarters, aka the Pico House, is located at 430 North Main Street in Downtown Los Angeles.  The back side of the Pico House, which is the area shown on The Mentalist, can be viewed on West Arcadia Street in between North Main and North Spring Streets.  The area surrounding the Pico House is open to the public, so I would suggest parking your car and taking a walk around the historic building.  The parking lot where the “Bloodshot” episode was filmed is really the El Pueblo De Los Angeles parking lot located on the corner of West Arcadia and North Spring Street.  And the fake Hype Nightclub’s entrance is located on the Pico House’s South facing wall.

Flash Forward!

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This past weekend, while out doing some stalking, my boyfriend and I happened upon a rather large film shoot that shut down an entire block in Downtown Los Angeles.  So, of course, we just had to pull the car over to find out what was being filmed.  🙂  Turns out it was the pilot episode of a new Lost-esque television series entitled Flash Forward  that is set to premiere on ABC this Spring.  The series is based on a science fiction novel of the same name written by Robert J. Sawyer.  While the crew members were pretty tight-lipped about plot details and the show’s cast, they did let me snap some pics of the production.  🙂 

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And what a production it was!!  I’ve don’t think I’ve ever seen a movie set that was quite so large or quite so involved.  And what amazed me the most was how realistic everything seemed.  It truly felt as if we were viewing a real life disaster area.  The scene being filmed centered around a major accident involving several overturned cars and two totalled buses.  If you look closely at the above pics, you’ll notice that both buses used in the filming feature advertising for ABC shows (Lost  and Desperate Housewives) on their sides.  LOL   Gee, I wonder what network this show will be airing on.  😉  

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When I got home from stalking the Flash Forward  set, I did some cyber-research on the show and this is the info I was able to gather. The script for the pilot episode, which is entitled “No More Good Days”, was written by David S. Goyer (author of The Dark Knight  and Batman Begins  movies among many others) and Brannon Braga (co-executive producer of the series 24).  The show’s premise is this: at the exact same time all across the globe all of humanity loses consciousness for approximately two minutes.  During that brief period of time people everywhere “flash forward” to a moment exactly five months into their future to witness an unexpected event in their lives.  Sort of like what happened when the Ghost of Christmas Future visited Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol.   🙂    Adding to the drama is that fact that during the worldwide black-out, chaos takes over the earth – there are plane crashes, car accidents, deadly falls, etc. – and 40 million people lose their lives.   Even though I am not a fan of the science fiction genre (I’ve never watched even one episode of Lost), I have to admit that Flash Forward’s  already got me hooked and I am for sure going to tune in!  The show stars Joseph Fiennes, John Cho, and Courtney B. Vance.  You can read a great article about the new series here.

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And although I didn’t see any stars while stalking the Flash Forward  filming, I did spot an actor walking around in his tighty-whities (pictured above).  LOL   

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Flash Forward  was filmed on South Broadway in between 8th and 9th Streets in Downtown Los Angeles.  Look for Flash Forward  to premiere on ABC sometime this Spring in the time slot before Lost.

The Sex and the City Honeymoon House

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Ever since Sex and the City: The Movie premiered last May, I have been absolutely dying to stalk the hotel where the girls stayed during Carrie’s non-honeymoon.  In the movie, Carrie, Samantha, Miranda, and Charlotte spend a week at what is supposedly a private villa located on the grounds of a Mexican resort.   In actuality, though, not only were the Mexican hotel scenes not filmed in Mexico, but they weren’t even filmed at an actual hotel.  LOL  In reality, two different locales situated over forty miles apart from each other stood in for Carrie’s honeymoon hotel.  The villa the girls stayed in is actually a private home located right off the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu.  And the hotel restaurant where Carrie and the girls drank margaritas is actually a ballroom located at an equestrian compound in Simi Valley named Hummingbird Nest Ranch.  And while I have yet to stalk the Ranch – something which I am planning to do in the near future – I did drag my boyfriend out to stalk Carrie’s villa this past weekend.

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My first clue in locating the villa came from fave book  Sex and the City: The Movie, in which  Sarah Jessica Parker mentioned that the honeymoon scenes were filmed in Malibu.  Knowing that there is no hotel anywhere near Malibu that looks at all like the one Carrie and the girls stayed at, I started searching the internet for a private home near the coast that had an infinity pool flanked by two huge built-in planters holding palm trees.  And I located the home almost immediately.  Then when I came across these close up photos of the house, I knew for certain that it was the place where Carrie spent her honeymoon.

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At first I couldn’t figure out why producers didn’t use a real Mexican resort to shoot the honeymoon scenes. But then I remembered that Kim Cattrall and Jason Lewis were already shooting on location in Malibu, so it would have made sense to shoot the honeymoon sequence there, as well.  Apparently, the producers were even given the opportunity to film for free at a Caribbean resort (in exchange for a pretty prominent plug of the hotel, I’m sure), but they loved Carrie’s “Mexicoma” joke so much that they decided to keep the honeymoon in Mexico.  I actually thought that joke was pretty lame and I can’t even believe they gave up a free five-star filming location to keep it in the script!  LOL

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Carrie’s honeymoon house is absolutely stunning in person and I was pleasantly surprised to see that there was quite a lot of it visible from the street. 

Even the pool area, which was the part of the house featured most prominently in SATC, can be seen from the road!  Love it!  Quite a bit of the property can be seen from the Pacific Coast Highway, as well.

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There is even what appears to be a chapel located on the property, so I am guessing that the owners must rent out their house quite often for weddings.  Even though the place didn’t prove to be good luck for Carrie, it still looks like a pretty amazing place to get married.  🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

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Stalk It: The Sex and the City: The Movie honeymoon house, aka Villa Lizton,  is located at 4440 Encinal Canyon Road in Malibu.  To see the house’s pool area, you have to drive a bit south of the property.

“It Never Rains In Southern California . . . “

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As the old Albert Hammond song says “It never rains in Southern California, but girl, don’t they warn ya, it pours man, it pours!”  And pour it did almost all last week all over the normally sun drenched landscape of Los Angeles.  While on my way to stalk Burbank’s Handy Grocery Store in the pouring rain this past weekend, I happened to pass right by Walt Disney Studios on Buena Vista Street and was reminded about a story I once heard that seemed quite fitting of the day’s weather.

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According to The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book, journalist Peter J. Boyer stated in a Vanity Fair article that Disney is “a place so reviled that even its architecture inspires nasty rumors, such as the apocryphal story that architect Michael Graves arranged the drainage system in the Disney headquarters building [aka the Team Disney building]  in such a way that the huge sculpted Seven Dwarfs atop the edifice would seem to be peeing on Disney executives whenever it rained.”  LOL  So, since it just happened to be raining at the time, I pulled over to see if Boyer’s story had any merit.  🙂  After seeing the Dwarfs in person in the pouring rain, I have to admit that I think the anecdote is somewhat of an urban legend, but it still makes for a great story and hopefully a great blog post.  🙂

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Walt Disney built his Burbank studio in 1940 after the enormous financial success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs – the world’s first full length animated feature film.  At the time it was built the 41 acre lot was comprised of four full size soundstages (there are now six), a backlot that included a Western town, a town square, a residential street, and a small pueblo (the entire backlot has since been demolished), and recreation areas for employees which included ping pong tables and a volleyball court.  Over the years many productions have been filmed on the historic Disney lot, including That Darn Cat, Something Wicked This Way Comes, The Absent Minded Professor, The Swamp Fox, The Princess Diaries, Eight Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter, Boy Meets World, Home Improvement, Lizzie Maguire, Less Than Perfect, and Mary Poppins.  Ironically enough, Mary Poppins was filmed solely indoors, using up all four of the Disney Studio soundstages.  Even the Cherry Tree Lane set where the Banks Family lived was built inside of a soundstage. Being a huge Mary Poppins fan myself, I was highly disappointed when I found this out as I had always hoped to one day see Cherry Tree Lane in person.  🙁  On an interesting side note, even though he passed away in 1966, Walt Disney still holds the record for most Academy Awards won by a single person.  In his lifetime, he won a incredible TWENTY-SIX Oscars!

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Unfortunately, Disney does not currently offer tours of its studio.  : (   But the good news is that the Team Disney building can be viewed from the street outside the studio gates.   If you are a big Disney fan, I highly recommend stalking the exterior of the building as it is very cool to see in person.  The Seven Dwarf statues are absolutely HUGE.  I was shocked at their size when I saw them in person as pictures simply do not do them justice!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: Disney Studios is located at 500 S. Buena Vista Street in Burbank.  The Team Disney building, with its Seven Dwarfs facade, can be viewed through the main gate located just around the corner on Alameda Avenue.  Unfortunately the studio does not offer tours of its property. 🙁  But for $2,169 (per person!!!!!) you can purchase a 6 day/5 night “Hollywood and the Disneyland Resort” vacation from the Adventures by Disney Vacations company.  One of the days consists of a behind the scenes tour of Walt Disney Studios.

The 90210 Pilot Church

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A few days ago I sent Mike, from MovieShotsLA, a screen capture of the church featured in the pilot episode of Beverly Hills, 90210. I had a hunch he might know where it was located – and, sure enough, he did! He immediately called me and said “That’s the Spiderman church!” as it was also used in the filming of Spiderman 3. 🙂 God, he’s good! St. Brendan Church – or as Mike and I like to call it, the “pilot church” – was built in 1927 by Los Angeles area architect Emmett Martin.

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In the pilot episode of 90210, Brenda, not wanting her new twenty-something boyfriend Jason to know that she is only sixteen years old and still living at home with her parents, lies and says that she is attending UCLA and living in a sorority house named Sigma Rho Tau. After their first date, Jason drops Brenda off in front of her fake sorority house, which just happens to be located next door to a church. That church is St. Brendan and that sorority house is not really a sorority house at all, but the church rectory. As you can see in the above screen captures, all the producers had to do was add a sign with the sorority’s name to the outside of the rectory and cover up the stained glass window with a bulletin board – and voila, they had themselves a sorority house!

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While researching St. Brendan Church earlier today I remembered something very ironic from my past. I can’t even believe I’m admitting to this – in a public forum no less – but you only live once, so here goes! When I was in high school I receieved the Sacrament of Confirmation. At the time I was fifteen years old and deep in the throws of my 90210 obsession. So much so in fact, that I chose Brendan, after St. Brendan, as my confirmation name. In the Catholic faith, when ones receives the Sacrament of Confirmation, they are to adopt the name of a patron saint who is said to then guide and protect them. Confirmation candidates are supposed to study the history of the saints and find one that represents the type of Christian they want to become. But for me the choice was easy. Once I found out there was a saint named Brendan, that was it for me! Of course, the female version of the name Brendan is Brenda. 🙂 Yes, I was THAT obsessed. LOL Being that my mother wanted to kill me when she found out the saint name I chose, this little episode of my life has been a long running joke in my family. LOL So earlier today when I found out that St. Brendan was the name of the 90210 church, I just about fell out of my chair.

St. Brendan actually has quite a rich filming history. Besides the pilot episode of Beverly Hills, 90210, the church was also featured in Armageddon as the location of Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler’s wedding.

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You can watch the wedding scene below:

It was the location of Stephanie Seymor and Axl Rose’s wedding in the Guns N’ Roses music video for the song “November Rain”.

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On a side note – I must say that I absolutely LOVE Stephanie Seymour’s wedding dress from the video (pictured above). I am gonna have to get me one of those for my wedding! LOL As if!! 🙂 You can watch the “November Rain” music video below:

In the Season Four episode of CSI: Miami entitled “From the Grave”, my fave Horatio Caine confessed his sins at Saint Brendan.

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The church was also featured in the 1953 version of War of the Worlds (as the location where the residents of L.A. gather during the final scenes of the movie), Spiderman 3 (the interior is where Topher Grace prayed for God to kill Peter Parker), Fight Club (Edward Norton’s cancer support group was held there), and an episode of Unsolved Mysteries. You can see interior pics of the church on the Saint Brendan website.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Beverly Hills, 90210 pilot church, aka St. Brendan, is located at 310 South Van Ness Avenue in the Hancock Park area of Los Angeles.

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A few weeks back while I was out stalking the Californication house, Mike (from MovieShotsLA) and I set out on a mission to find Kelly Taylor’s house from the new 90210 series.

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I had been searching for the house for quite some time and on this particular day I called Mike at work (poor guy!) and said “We are going to find that house today!” I’m nothing if not determined! Mike and I knew the house was located in Venice from an article that appeared in Entertainment Weekly this past summer, and since I was already in the area, I realized it was now or never! I was not leaving Venice without finding that house. 🙂

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Kelly’s house has appeared on 90210 quite a few times, beginning with the pilot episode. And each time it appears, a plaque with the numbers “2229” is clearly visible in the background. But neither Mike nor I could seem to find any area in Venice with house numbers in the 2200 range. We found blocks with addresses of 2100, 2300, and 2400, but for some reason 2200 was nowhere to be found. Mike had become convinced that the “2229” sign was just a prop added to the house for filming, but I held out hope. Something told me that sign was really there.

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Since Google Street View does not cover the Venice area, I acted as Mike’s eyes and ears driving around Venice while he sat in front of his computer at work looking at aerial maps. LOL My boyfriend always says how amazing it is that Mike and I managed to find each other. I mean who else in their right mind would do this stuff with me?? LOL Anyway, after driving around for a while I was just about ready to give up hope. Then all of sudden, an idea struck Mike and he told me to head to Glyndon Avenue. He had remembered working once in a quaint little section of Venice and thought it might be the area where Kelly’s house was located. So, using my trusty GPS, I drove over to Glyndon Avenue and sure enough, there was the house – “2229” sign and all. See, you should always trust a woman’s intuition! 🙂

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Many episodes of 90210 were filmed at the actual Venice Beach house and I also believe that some interior filming took place there, as well. This is apparent in both the pilot episode, in which fellow teacher Ryan stops by Kelly’s house, flowers in hand . . .

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. . . and the episode entitled “Secrets and Lies” in which Silver’s house party gets slightly out of hand.

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Kelly’s house is very cute and very picturesque in person. In fact, it is just the type of house I would expect to find a grown-up Kelly Taylor living in. Especially since she is so obviously still carrying a torch for Dylan and this house is so reminiscent of Dylan’s Craftsman style home from the original series. 🙂 I absolutely loved stalking Kelly’s house. In fact, driving around Venice that day while talking to Mike on the phone will always be one of my fondest stalking memories!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Kelly Taylor’s house is located at 2229 Glyndon Avenue in Venice.

CSI: Pasadena

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My dad is not a big fan of Hollywood. And by Hollywood I mean the industry, not the town. He can’t stand all of the overindulged, self-absorbed actors, even though his own daughter is one (minus the overindulged, self-absorbed part, of course). 🙂 He just barely tolerates my stalking and often asks me why I care so much about celebrities. But there is one actor and one show that my dad absolutely loves – and that’s loves with a capital L-O-V-E-S. That show is CSI: Miami and that actor is David Caruso. My dad often walks around the house randomly quoting characters from the show saying “H is on it!”, he nicknamed his Harley Davidson “H”, and he has so many CSI: Miami reruns saved up on TiVo that he often burns through all of the memory causing my mom’s shows not to record. Yes, my dad loves himself some Horatio Caine. When we were in New York this past December, my boyfriend and I just had to snap the above photo of Horatio Street for my dad. 🙂

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So when I found out that CSI: Miami would be filming in Pasadena last Wednesday, I just had to drag my dad out to stalk it. Except truth be told, there really wasn’t much dragging involved. My dad, who normally hates stalking with me, was more than a willing participant this time around. He was absolutely floored at the possibility of meeting his TV idol. And so was I. CSI: Miami has always been my favorite CSI and I, too, love me some Horatio Caine. I also love me some Emily Procter. I am absolutely obsessed with her cute little Southern accent – I want one just like it. 🙂 So on Wednesday morning, bright and early, we showed up at the Pasadena location where where they were filming. And I have to say that it was an absolute dream day!

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The crew truly could NOT have been nicer to us. When we arrived and told them we were big fans of the show, they welcomed us with open arms and invited us to take a seat to watch the crew setting up the scene. One of the A.D.’s told us that David Caruso would arrive on the set within 45 minutes and that he was very fan friendly and would most likely take a photograph with us. Let me tell you we were floored! And I have to say that watching the crew set up for the scene was almost as exciting as watching the actual filming. It was amazing to compare the real life overcast grey sky that was above our heads with the orange and pink sky that appeared on the filming monitors. It turns out that a special filter is placed on top of the cameras during filming to make the sky look more bright, sunny, and “Miami-like”. It was eerie to see.

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Just before actual filming was to begin, a large water truck came by and sprayed water all over the street. I had known from watching a director’s commentary on DVD a while back that streets are often wetted down prior to a film shoot – for some reason, wet streets look better on camera than dry streets – but I had no idea how it was done. So that was very cool to see. If you’ve never noticed this phenomenon before, you will now. 🙂 Start looking at streets in the background of your favorite television shows and movies – nine times out of ten they will be soaking wet. One of the crew members was joking that while you never see it rain on CSI: Miami, miraculously somehow the streets are always wet. LOL

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After the street was sprayed, a white van pulled up and out stepped David Caruso. And I just about died. There he was, Horatio Caine, in the flesh, aviator sunglasses and all. He immediately waved to us and said “Hi guys!” while a make-up artist put the finishing touches on his face and hair. Then he called us over and introduced himself. It was unbelievable! Last October, when my dad and I got to watch The Closer be filmed, not one cast member came over to talk to us. So this was quite a surprise! And when my dad handed over his CSI: Miami Season One DVDs to be signed, David seemed genuinely touched and told us how appreciative he was to meet fans of the show. He also gave us little autographed pictures of himself. Then the A.D. called him over to begin filming and David gave both my dad and me a hug! 🙂 A few minutes later while they were setting something up for the shot, David walked over to us once again and asked if we wanted to take a picture with him. He really could not have been sweeter and I can honestly say that out of all the actors I’ve met in my eight years living in L.A., David Caruso was by far the nicest. A crew member told us that on one occasion when they were filming in Long Beach, a large tour bus filled with 75 German tourists pulled up, and got very excited that David Caruso was there. David stopped filming and proceeded to sign autographs and take pictures with each and every person on that bus!!! My dad kept saying “I just knew he’d be nice!” 🙂 I hope that when I become a successful, famous actress that I will be that nice! 🙂

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After our pics, we got to watch David film a scene with Elizabeth Berkley (of Saved by the Bell and Showgirls fame), who play’s H’s ex-wife Julia on CSI: Miami. I cannot even tell you how amazing it was to be standing less than five feet away from David Caruso as he filmed a scene. And I just about died when he did his trademark putting-on-sunglasses-and-staring-off-into-the-distance move. It was the coolest thing ever! I was very impressed with how quickly filming moved, too. I’d say David filmed his scene in less than forty minutes, which in Hollywood time is almost unheard of! What I was most impressed with, though, was how happy the cast and crew seemed to be. There was a lot of joking around between takes and A LOT of laughter in the air. Everyone seemed to be really enjoying their jobs and like they were just happy to be there.

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When David was wrapped for the day he had a crew member ask for my address as he had some CSI memorabilia in his trailer that he wanted to give us. How nice is that! Then, as we were leaving the set, one of the crew members told us to stop back by later in the afternoon when the rest of the cast would be there filming a different scene. So, of course, a few hours later my dad and I headed back to the set. 🙂 As soon as we arrived, one of the A.D.’s ran over to us and handed me a large envelope from David Caruso. Inside was the memorabilia he had planned to send me, including several photographs autographed to both me and my dad, a Horatio Caine bobble head, and some CSI: Miami postcards and buttons. That was just such a nice thing to do, we couldn’t even believe it!!! My dad was especially excited about the bobble head which is now sitting on his desk. 🙂

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As if all that wasn’t enough, a few minutes later the same A.D. walked over with Rex Linn who plays Detective Frank Tripp on the show. Rex introduced himself and, like David, seemed genuinely happy to be speaking with fans of CSI:Miami. Rex signed my dad’s DVD’s, posed for pictures with us, and even let me hold his prop gun. 🙂 Like David, Rex could NOT have been nicer or more outgoingly friendly to us.

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While we were speaking with Rex, Eva La Rue came out of the house where they were filming and Rex took us over to meet her! Eva was also completely friendly and super down to earth. And gorgeous in person – much prettier than she even appears on television.

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Then the most amazing thing happened. Are you sitting down for this?? Rex asked if we wanted to go inside the house to watch a few scenes be filmed. Did we want to go inside and watch filming with Detective Frank Tripp as our personal tourguide????? Is he crazy? Of course we did! Rex then took us through the backyard of the house where a scene was being filmed, introduced us to virtually every crew member on set, explained what all sorts of equipment was, and what was happening during the filming. Rex is an amazing man and I could not believe he was taking time out of his busy day to give us a tour of the set. I mean stuff like this just doesn’t happen in real life!

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Once filming began, Rex led us over to the monitors and pulled out Emily Procter’s directors chair for me to sit in. I was like WHAT? I can’t sit in her chair!!!! LOL

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After we watched a bit of the filming that was taking place in the backyard, Rex was called inside to finish up a scene he was filming in the house with Eva La Rue. He told us we could come inside to watch, so we, of course, followed him. That scene was especially exciting for us because we got to watch firsthand as Eva administered one of the flashlight tests that the CSI shows are so famous for. SO COOL! After that scene, Rex was wrapped for the day, but he told us we could go back outside to watch more of the filming in the backyard.

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Which we, of course, did. 🙂 And that is when we got to meet both Megalyn Echikunwoke, who plays the new medical examiner on the show and who was very sweet . . .

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. . . and my fave, Emily Procter. Emily was a total sweetheart and she really does have Calleigh Duquesne’s cute little Southern accent in real life. I love it! Emily was wrapped for lunch at that time and we ended up walking out of the house behind her. On her way outside she made it a point to stop to thank the L.A. County policemen who were on duty and she gave both of them autographed pictures of herself. I was completely amazed at this. Not just Emily, but the entire cast seemed to be just so appreciative, thankful, and friendly. It was so heartening to see. And it just made me love the show even more than I already did. What a truly amazing group of people!

Sitting back and looking at these pictures of me on the set of my favorite TV show makes me think about how much I love L.A. As much as I say I want to move to New York, it’s days like this one when I realize I am right where I am supposed to be. 🙂 More importantly, though, being on the set was a truly extraordinary experience for my dad. Especially since he just recently got out of the hospital and has been sick on and off for the past few years. I believe having such a memorable encounter with the cast of his favorite television show brought him some much needed healing in a form he never would have found in a hospital or a doctor’s office. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: CSI: Miami was filmed at 887 El Campo Drive in Pasadena, right around the corner from the Brothers and Sisters House. Look for the episode to air sometime in March.