TV shows – Page 7 – IAMNOTASTALKER

March 18, 2011March 17, 2011

Alicia Silverstone’s “The Kind Diet” Book Signing

This past Wednesday night I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to my favorite local bookstore, Vroman’s (which coincidentally just appeared in the most recent episode of Modern Family, but more on that later), to attend the book signing and discussion for Alicia Silverstone’s new lifestyle tome The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight, and Saving the Planet. Even though I am not in any way, shape, or form a vegan, I was absolutely DYING to attend the book signing because, as I have mentioned a few times before on this blog, not only is Clueless one of my all-time favorite movies, but Alicia and I happened to grow up in the same hometown – San Mateo, California – so I have always had a very special place in my heart for the actress. Because I am a diabetic and on a very strict, virtually no-carbohydrate diet, though, and because most vegan diets that I have read about tend to favor carbs, I was not actually interested in purchasing a copy of Alicia’s book for myself. But my good friend Nat, who actually attended San Mateo High School – Alicia’s alma mater – is a vegan and she absolutely LOVES Alicia’s book – and her lifestyle blog, The Kind Life – so I decided I would purchase a copy for her as a little “just because” present. Which is how the GC and I found ourselves heading over to Vroman’s at about 5 p.m. this past Wednesday night. And, as always, before the event got started, I sent him outside to snap some photographs of Alicia when she arrived. Winking smile

The signing began right on time, at 7 p.m., but for some reason it was VERY strictly monitored. No photographs WHATSOEVER were allowed during the event – not when Alicia walked into the room, not during the discussion session, and not while standing in line waiting to have our books signed. We were told shortly before her arrival that each guest would be allowed one – and only one – posed photograph with Alicia (which I could NOT have been more excited about as most celebs will not actually pose for pictures during a signing), but otherwise photographs of any kind would not be allowed. To enforce this, two quite burly Pasadena policemen were on site and they threatened to remove anyone who was even spotted with a camera in their hands during the event! So I was extremely thankful that the GC had managed to snap some photographs of Alicia outside of the store.

Alicia, who is currently pregnant, was ABSOLUTELY adorable in person and much taller than I had expected her to be, although she was wearing some fairly tall heels. She walked directly to the podium upon arrival, introduced herself, and started speaking about why she decided to write The Kind Diet, which was an extremely surreal moment for me as it was like watching the Haitian immigrant debate scene from Clueless (pictured above) come alive before my very eyes. I kept having to pinch myself to make sure that it was all really happening and that I wasn’t actually at home sitting in front of my television set. I have to say that in person, Alicia reminded me A LOT of Cher, her Clueless alter-ego. In real life, Alicia has the same mannerisms, facial expressions, and vocal tendencies that I had grown so familiar with from watching the movie over and over again. And I can honestly say that I love Alicia even more now than I did before. The actress came off as extremely charming, warm, genuine, and sweet. She was also poised, well-read, and wildly knowledgeable about veganism, holistic medicine, and healthy nutrition. I was riveted listening to her and, while not a vegan, found myself agreeing whole-heartedly with the vast majority of what she had to say. She also handled herself incredibly well when one of the audience members asked her an asinine question about veganism and pregnancy, in which he tried to make Alicia look bad. (Honestly, if you don’t agree with her lifestyle and are not a fan of hers, then why come to the event????) Alicia responded to him, though, with honesty, wit, and a bit of snarkiness and ended up making him look like a complete and total moron. As we left the event, I found myself wondering how she managed to do that! I cannot tell you how much I would love to be able to tell a rude person off without breaking my cool and all the while seeming poised and charming. But I digress. I was most surprised to hear Alicia speak about diabetes and veganism. As it turns out, her diet does not favor carbohydrates at all and is actually very similar to the diet I am currently on, so it looks like I am now going to have to buy a copy of the book for myself!

After Alicia’s speech, which lasted about thirty minutes, we all lined up to meet the actress. Alicia really took her time with all of her fans and seemed to have an incredibly warm and open personality. And, as promised, every guest got to pose for a photograph with her, which I was absolutely floored about!

Nat’s signed book is pictured above.

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Alicia’s inscription reads, “Dear Natalie, Thank you for loving the book! <3, Alicia Silverstone”.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, fave show Modern Family recently did some filming on location at Vroman’s Bookstore. The final scene of the Season 2 episode titled “Two Monkeys and a Panda”, in which Mitchell Pritchett (aka Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and Cameron Tucker (aka Eric Stonestreet) peruse various books on parenting, took place near the store’s Current Event’s section.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Vroman’s Bookstore is located at 695 East Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena. You can check out the store’s upcoming signings here. You can purchase Alicia Silverstone’s book The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight, and Saving the Planet here. You can visit Alicia’s lifestyle blog, The Kind Life, here. And you can check out future L.A.-area book signings and other celebrity events on my Upcoming Celebrity Events page here.

March 17, 2011April 4, 2020

The Barclay Hotel from “As Good As It Gets”

This past weekend, the Grim Cheaper and I re-watched the movie As Good As It Gets, which I had not seen since it first came out in theatres almost 15 years ago. I am ashamed to admit that I had somehow forgotten what a great flick it is! While watching, I, of course, became a bit obsessed with tracking down some of the Southern California locations featured in it and just about had a heart attack when I read on IMDB’s As Good As It Gets filming locations page that the interior of the Barclay Hotel in downtown Los Angeles stood in for the movie’s fictional Café 24 Heures, where Carol Connelly (Helen Hunt) worked and where Melvin Udall (Jack Nicholson) dined each morning. So I dragged the GC right on out to stalk the place this past Sunday afternoon. As it turns out, this location proved to be one VERY LUCKY find as it has been used in countless productions over the years.

First built in 1897 and commissioned by L.A. businessman Isaac Newton Van Nuys, the Barclay Hotel was originally known as the Van Nuys Hotel The Beaux-Arts-style building was designed by the architecture firm Morgan + Walls and, with its sprawling lobby, detailed stained glass windows, and phone service in each room, was considered one of the finest hotels of its day. In 1929, the property’s name was changed to the Barclay Hotel and there is supposedly a sign still visible on one of the building’s exterior walls which reads “Van Nuys Hotel, Rooms $1 and Up.” It would have been so incredibly cool to see, but, sadly, I could not find it anywhere. The Barclay has the distinction of being known as downtown L.A.’s oldest continuously operating hotel and is a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument. It currently serves as a residential hotel which offers affordable housing to its residents, many of whom have lived there for years.

The GC and I were lucky enough to speak with the Barclay’s manager as well as one of the hotel’s longtime residents while we were stalking the place, both of whom could NOT have been nicer! They filled us in on all of the filming that has taken place on the premises over the years and allowed me to take all of the photographs of the interior that I wanted. Yay! The resident that we spoke with was literally like a walking encyclopedia of the hotel’s vast filming history and in some instances was able to tell me not only when filming of certain productions had taken place, but how long the crew was onsite, AND he also knew the names of particular episodes of shows that had filmed on the premises and the exact dates on which those episodes had aired! Speaking with him was like . . . well, it was like speaking with myself, actually. Winking smile

The Barclay Hotel’s actual, working lobby was transformed into the supposed Manhattan-area Café 24 Heures for the filming of As Good As It Gets.

According to the hotel manager, producers not only brought in several booths for the filming;

but they also built a fake waitress station;

and swapped out the lobby’s front windows with French doors, which were then swapped back after filming had wrapped.

The hotel’s real life check-in desk, which is now caged, was used as the Café’s bar in the movie.

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The entire opening scene of the 1998 disaster movie Armageddon takes place in front of the Barclay Hotel and the neighboring Farmers & Merchants National Bank, which were both made to look like they were located in New York City.

In 2002’s Catch Me If You Can, the Barclay was the apartment building/residential hotel from which a young Frank Abagnale Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio) was evicted after having written a series of bad checks to the landlord.

Leo returned to the Barclay for the filming of last year’s Inception, in which the hotel was featured twice. It first showed up towards the very beginning of the movie in the scene in which Cobb (DiCaprio) is dunked into a bathtub. According to the manager, that scene was filmed in one of the Barclay’s second floor hotel rooms.

The Barclay’s lobby was later used as the African casino where Cobb meets up with Eames (Tom Hardy). The hotel’s check-in desk is where Eames cashed in his casino chips in the scene.

The Barclay also stood in for the Columbian hotel where John Smith (Brad Pitt) and Jane Smith (Angelina Jolie) met at the very beginning of 2005’s Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

A fake bar was set up in the Barclay’s lobby for the filming of that scene.

In 2009’s (500) Days of Summer, the Barclay’s lobby was transformed into the coffee shop where Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) regularly hung out with his friends McKenzie (Geoffrey Arend) and Paul (Matthew Gray Gubler).

The Barclay’s former coffee shop, which is located on the southeast corner of West 4th and South Main Streets, is not currently a working restaurant, but was kept intact in order to be used for filming, which I think is so incredibly cool! Unfortunately, that area is closed to the public so I could only take photographs of it through its front windows.

The cafe was featured in the Season 5 episode of The Closer titled “Tapped Out”, in the scene in which Lieutenants Flynn (Anthony John Denison) and Provenza (G.W. Bailey) are shown eating breakfast and discussing Provenza’s new girlfriend all the while ignoring a crime taking place directly outside.

There is another vacant room located on the eastern side of the hotel that is also often used for filming.

That room was recently dressed to look like a New York bakery in the Season 7 episode of CSI: New York titled “To What End”.

The exterior of the Barclay also appeared a few times throughout the episode.

Most amazing of all, though – to me, at least – is the fact that the Barclay appeared in the pilot episode of the television series Starsky & Hutch way back in 1975, looking almost exactly the same as it does today! As I mentioned above, the check-in desk has since been caged in, but other than that minor detail, the Barclay has remained unchanged in the more than 36 years since filming took place. Love it, love it, love it!

Ironically enough, the Starsky and Hutch movie, which premiered in 2004, was also filmed at the Barclay. The flick’s opening scene took place on the hotel’s roof.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Barclay Hotel, aka Café 24 Heures from As Good As It Gets, is located at 103 West 4th Street in Downtown Los Angeles.

March 7, 2011March 7, 2011

Buckland Auction House from “Charmed”

I am taking a break from my wedding blogging once again today in order to write about a locale that I stalked this past Thursday evening while on my way to dinner in Downtown Los Angeles – the fictional Buckland Auction House where Prue Halliwell (aka my girl Shannen Doherty) worked during the first two seasons of the television series Charmed. Fellow stalker Chas, from the It’sFilmedThere website, tracked this location down – along with pretty much every other locale that ever appeared on the series – a good two years ago and how he did so is a complete and total mystery to me!

In reality, the exterior of the Buckland Auction House is the back side of a Downtown Los Angeles apartment building known as the Renaissance Tower. The portion of the building which appeared on Charmed is not at all visible from the street nor via Google Street View and can only be reached from the inside of Downtown’s Grand Hope Park, so how Chas managed to find the place while sitting in front of his computer screen all the way across the country in Warsaw, Indiana is absolutely BEYOND me! All I can say is that my hat is definitely off to him on this one! Especially being that I had actually stalked Grand Hope Park once before – and had even blogged about it – yet did not recognize the Renaissance Tower as the Buckland Auction House!

Renaissance Tower Apartments first showed up in the Season 1 episode of Charmed titled “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” in the scene in which Prue interviews for a job as an exhibition curator at the supposed San-Francisco-area Buckland Auction House. Prue lands the job and continues to work at Buckland through all of Season 1 and most of Season 2, until the episode titled “Awakening”, in which she quits her job in order to go back to school to study photography.

As I mentioned above, Renaissance Tower is situated along the south end of Downtown’s Grand Hope Park. Because the park also borders FIDM, aka the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising where Lauren Conrad and Stephanie Pratt attended fashion school on The Hills, the area popped up on regularly on the reality series during its six-season run. In the Season 3 episode titled “A Date with the Past”, the two girls are shown discussing Lauren’s recent house-warming party while sitting on a planter box located on the southern end of the park, just outside of FIDM’s entrance.

In the Season 4 episode titled “Don’t Act Innocent . . .”, Lauren confronts Stephanie about going out with Doug Reinhardt behind her back while the two are sitting on a planter box located on the park’s northern end.

This past Saturday afternoon, I dragged the GC back out to FIDM to stalk the 19th Annual Art of Motion Picture Costume Design currently on exhibit at FIDM’s Museum & Galleries (which I will be blogging about soon) and while there, I, of course, just had to pose like Lauren in the “Don’t Act Innocent . . .” episode. Smile

Grand Hope Park also appeared in the opening scene of the 2009 movie All About Steve, in which Mary Horowitz (aka Sandra Bullock) walks to the supposed Sacramento-area newspaper office where she works as a crossword puzzle editor.

In that scene, Mary walks through the water fountain located in the southeast portion of the park.

Big THANK YOU to Chas, from It’sFilmedThere, for finding this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Buckland Auction House, from Charmed, is actually the back side of the Renaissance Tower Apartments building, which is located at 501 West Olympic Boulevard in Downtown Los Angeles. The area which appeared on Charmed (which is denoted with the pink circle in the above aerial view) can best be reached from Grand Hope Park, which is located at the southeast corner of South Hope Street and West 9th Street in Downtown Los Angeles. The planter box where Lauren and Stephanie sat in the “Don’t Act Innocent” episode of The Hills is denoted with a blue arrow in the above aerial view and the planter box where they sat in the “A Date With the Past” episode is denoted with a pink arrow. The fountain Sandra Bullock walked across in All About Steve is denoted with a purple circle.

February 28, 2011February 25, 2011

Yamashiro Restaurant

Last Monday night, the Grim Cheaper and I headed out to fave restaurant Yamashiro in Hollywood to grab some drinks to celebrate the six month anniversary of our wedding. I can hardly believe that it has already been six months, by the way. While in some ways it feels as if my wedding took place a lifetime ago, in many ways it seems as if it all occurred just yesterday. Anyway, while I have blogged about Yamashiro once before, back in February of 2008, my post was not very thorough and at the time I was unsure of how to make screen captures. So, I decided that the restaurant was definitely worthy of a re-post. Here goes!

Yamashiro was built in 1914 on a seven acre parcel of land situated 250 feet above the famed Hollywood Boulevard. The structure, which took three years to construct and was modeled after a palace located in the Yamashiro Mountains in Kyoto, Japan, was originally the private home of two German brothers who were dealers and collectors of Asian antiques. In 1922, one of the brothers passed away and the property was sold and transformed into the private clubhouse of the exclusive Hollywood 400 Club, where the Hollywood elite would socialize. During World War II, the building fell into serious disrepair and in 1948 it was purchased by a developer named Thomas O. Glover who intended to demolish the property to make way for a hotel. While readying the property for tear-down, Thomas discovered antique silk wallpaper hidden behind layers of thick black paint and realized he had a treasure on his hands. He immediately set about restoring the property to its former glory, whereupon he opened it as an upscale Cal-Asian restaurant named Yamashiro. Over six decades later, the place is still going strong and is a favorite of both celebrities and location scouts alike. Just a few of the stars who have been spotted at Yamashiro over the years include Matthew Perry, Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz, Melissa Joan Hart, Nicole Eggert, LeAnn Rimes, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Affleck, Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, Luke Perry, Danny Glover, Rene Russo, Chris Rock, George Clooney, Claire Danes, Neve Campbell, Chris O’Donnell, and Halle Berry.

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And it is not very hard to see what attracts them. Besides serving up EXCELLENT food (the Butter Lettuce Wraps and Crispy Chicken dishes are my favorites!), the ambiance is to die for. Walking through Yamashiro’s front doors is like stepping back in time to ancient Japan.

The restaurant’s Inner Courtyard, with its retractable roof, sparkling waterfalls, and central koi pond, literally looks like a set taken straight out of a movie.

And the sprawling exterior gardens, which boast koi ponds, Japanese flowers, and a 600-year-old pagoda that is said to be the oldest structure currently standing in California, are absolutely breathtaking to walk through.

The restaurant’s most incredible feature, though, has to be its striking 360-degree views of Hollywood, Downtown Los Angeles, Century City, and the Pacific Ocean –

views which only get more spectacular at night!

And in an intriguing bit of trivia, each night the light on the spire located at the top of the Capital Records building (pictured above) intermittently spells out “H-O-L-L-Y-W-O-O-D” in old Morse Code. So incredibly cool!

Yamashiro has a long and varied filming history. Way back in 1957, the restaurant appeared in the movie Sayonara as the American Officer’s Club where Major Lloyd ‘Ace’ Gruver (aka Marlon Brando), Eileen Webster (aka Patricia Owens), Mrs. Webster (aka Martha Scott), and Lieutenant General Mark Webster (aka Kent Smith) spent time while in Japan.

In the “A Fistful of Yen” segment from 1977’s The Kentucky Fried Movie, Yamashiro stood in for a Japanese palace.

In 1997’s Playing God, Yamashiro was used as the residence where Raymond Blossom (aka Timothy Hutton) lived.

In 2000’s Gone in Sixty Seconds, Yamashiro is where Mirror Man (aka TJ Cross) posed as a valet to steal a car.

In 2005’s Memoirs of a Geisha, Yamashiro showed up twice. It was first used as the spot where Chiyo (aka Suzuka Ohgo) took dancing lessons as a young girl.

And it also appeared later as the place where the large party was held in honor of Sayuri’s (aka Ziyi Zhang’s) debut.

In the Season 6 episode of The Hills titled “Loves Me Not”, Lo Bosworth and boyfriend Scott Hochstadt celebrated their one-year anniversary at Yamashiro. The restaurant was also supposedly used in 1987’s Blind Date, but I scanned through the movie earlier today while writing this post and did not see it anywhere.

On a stalking side note – my good friend Nat, who lives in San Francisco, just sent me a package this past Friday. In it was the book pictured above. Cutest. Present. Ever. Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Yamashiro Hollywood is located at 1999 Sycamore Avenue in Hollywood. The restaurant is open nightly, starting at 5 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday and at 5:30 p.m. each Monday through Thursday. You can visit Yamashiro’s official website here.

February 24, 2011February 24, 2011

Paramount Studios – The Fifth Time Around

This past Tuesday, my good friend and fellow stalker Kerry and her daughter Jen and I embarked on a tour of Paramount Studios in Hollywood. While it was Kerry and Jen’s very first time visiting the historic lot, it was actually my fifth – I had previously been on three paid tours and one wedding venue tour. Yes, yes, I know – I just can’t seem to get enough of the place! Sadly though, this tour was easily my least favorite of the bunch and if it had been my first visit to the lot, I doubt I would have ever returned. Our tour guide was painfully, painfully slow and quite boring to listen to and she, sadly, made the tour boring, which is quite a feat being that the lot is so extremely fascinating and has such a vast filming history. Worst of all, while she spent the majority of our tour showing us the exterior of various soundstages and telling us what had been filmed inside of them over the years, we only got to spend about ten minutes in the New York backlot area (my favorite part of the lot) and were only shown the perimeter of it. But we still managed to have fun and, even though I feel like I know the lot like the back of my hand now and could probably host my own tours of the place Winking smile , I still learned a few new things that I thought I’d share with my fellow stalkers.

When arriving on the lot for a Paramount Studios tour, groups are always first led to the Studio Store to purchase their tickets.

I was EXTREMELY excited about stalking the Store, which also doubles as a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, because I had recognized it pop up as the Lima Bean Café in a few recent episodes of Glee! (I love that producers dubbed their faux café Lima Bean, by the way, being that the show is set in Lima, Ohio! LOL LOL LOL)

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The Studio Store first appeared in the Season 2 episode of Glee titled “The Sue Sylvester Shuffle”, in the scene in which Blaine Anderson (aka Darren Criss – who I just found out graduated from the very same high school I did!!!!), Kurt Hummel (aka Chris Colfer), Rachel Berry (aka Lea Michele), and Mercedes Jones (aka Amber Riley) discuss the recent problems with the McKinley High football team.

The store also appeared multiple times in the Season 2 Valentine’s Day-themed episode of Glee titled “Silly Love Songs”, as the regular hangout of Kurt and Blaine.

And it was featured twice in this week’s episode of the show which was titled “Blame It on the Alcohol”. It was first used as the spot where Blaine and Kurt discuss the fact that Blaine might actually have a crush on Rachel.

And it next appeared in the scene in which Rachel kisses Blaine to see if the two have any chemistry.

After purchasing our tickets, our tour guide spent over 25 minutes (not kidding!) hosting a getting-to-know-you session, which seemed just slightly excessive being that the entire tour is only scheduled to last two hours. Sad smile Because that ate up such a significant portion of our time, the rest of the tour was quite harried and rushed and we did not get to see a whole lot. We were first driven by the site of the studio’s former film vaults, which, as you can see in the above photographs, have sadly just recently been demolished.

You can see what the vaults used to look like in the above photographs.

My dad was quite obsessed with the vaults when we took our wedding venue tour of Paramount back in July of 2009 and he managed to snap the above picture of the inside of one. Even though the vaults had not been used in years, due to the fact that because they lacked air conditioning films were apt to melt while inside, it is incredibly sad to me that they are no longer standing.

We were then taken to the Lucy Park area, where we were shown a cement block that Woody Harrelson and Ted Danson had christened with their hand and footprints – a la the famous hand and footprint forecourt outside of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood – in 1989 while they were filming Cheers. And while Ted Danson just signed his name on the block, Woody’s inscription reads, “Woody Harrelson was here (naked)”. Apparently Ted had dared Woody to run around the lot naked one day and while he was doing so, the two happened upon a block of wet cement and decided to make their mark on it. LOL

Lucy Park is also the site of the famous tree where Grey Brady (aka Barry Williams) smoked his first cigarette in the Season 2 episode of fave show The Brady Bunch titled “Where There’s Smoke”. So I, of course, just had to get my pic taken in front of the tree. Winking smile

Our tour guide informed us that the very same tree and surrounding area were also used in the Season 2 episode of The Brady Bunch titled “A Fistful of Reasons”, in the scene in which Buddy Hinton (aka Russell Schulman) teases Cindy Brady (aka Susan Olsen) about her lisp.

The tree was also where Peter Brady (aka Christopher Knight) beat up Buddy later in that same episode, knocking out his tooth and causing him to then lisp. Ah, if only things worked out in the real world as they did in Brady world!

Lucy Park also appeared in the Season 1 episode of Community titled “The Science of Illusion”, in which Shirley Bennett (aka Yvette Nicole Brown) and Annie Edison (aka Alison Brie) chase Jeff Winger (aka Joel McHale) after catching him with frog-sized mariachi band costumes (yeah, I don’t really get it either Winking smile ).

Lucy Park was also used regularly as Jefferson High School on the television series Happy Days, although that area looks quite a bit different today than it did back in the 1970’s when the series was filmed.

You can see Greg’s tree from The Brady Bunch in the screen captures pictured above, though.

Next, we headed over to the exteriors of Stage 27 and 30, where the hit series Community is filmed. The interior and exterior of both soundstages are used in the filming of the show. As you can see above, the exterior of Stage 30 is used as the Greendale Community College Library (the sign of which is missing the letter “Y” – love it!);

while the exterior of Stage 27 stands in for the campus’ Borchert Hall.

We were then taken inside of the two soundstages to tour a few of the sets used in Community and, even though I have never seen an episode of the show, the sets were extremely cool to see. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take any photographs while inside, but we were shown the Greendale Community College Library;

the Dean’s Office;

and the cafeteria/game room – which was quite possibly one of the biggest sets that I have ever seen in my entire life!

By this time we were already an hour and forty minutes into the tour and only had twenty minutes left. So we spent a brief ten minutes driving around the New York Street backlot area. While there, we were shown the practical set pictured above, which has appeared in several productions, including Spiderman 3 which I blogged about in one of my previous Paramount Studios posts.

On this tour I found out that the same spot was also the café where Indiana Jones (aka Harrison Ford) and Mutt Williams (aka Shia LaBeouf) met for the first time in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

I also finally got to stalk the stoop where Naomi Clark (aka AnnaLynne McCord) and Liam Court (aka Matt Lanter –sigh!) sat during their Junior Prom in the Season 1 episode of 90210 titled “Zero Tolerance”.

The last time I embarked on the tour, I snapped a photo while sitting on what I thought was Liam and Naomi’s stoop, but as it turns out I was sitting a few stoops too far to the right. So, this time I made sure to get a pic in the right spot, which I could NOT have been more excited about! Smile For those who would also like to take a picture where Liam and Naomi sat, their stoop is located on the Lower East Side portion of New York Street and is the stoop located closest to Washington Square.

After that, we drove by Stage 15 where NCIS: Los Angeles is filmed and I was able to get some great shots of the façade used as the exterior of the NCIS headquarters.

The last stop on our tour was the Paramount Theatre, the inside of which, our guide informed us, was used as Jeff’s former law office in the Season 2 episode of Community titled “Accounting for Lawyers.

And while we did not get to view the inside of the theatre on this particular tour, I snapped the above photographs on one of my previous tours.

The interior of the theatre was also used as an opera house in the Season 7 episode of Frasier titled “Out With Dad”, although it was heavily decorated in that episode and is largely unrecognizable.

The exterior of the theatre was also used as Brooks Memorial Hospital, where Pierce Hawthorne (aka Chevy Chase) was admitted, in the Season 2 episode of Community titled “Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking”.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Paramount Studios is located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Tours are given daily, Monday through Friday, at 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 2 p.m. and cost $40 per person. Reservations can be made by calling (323)956-1777. Parking for the tour costs $7 per car and the tour lot is located on Bronson Avenue, directly across the street from the studio’s main entrance. I recommend booking your tour at least a week in advance, as they tend to sell out quickly. You can find out more information about the Paramount Studios Tour here.

February 22, 2011February 22, 2011

The “Our House” House

Two weeks ago, fellow stalker Cait posted a comment on my site challenging me to find the home where the Witherspoon family – Gus (aka Wilford Brimley), Jessie (aka Deidre Hall), David (aka Chad Allen), Molly (aka Keri Houlihan), and Kris (aka my girl Shannen Doherty) – lived in the 1980’s television series Our House. Surprisingly enough, despite the fact that I am such a humongous Shannen Doherty fan, I had never actually seen an episode of Our House and was unsure of where the property might be located. Thankfully though, I had a couple of clues to help me out in the hunt. In her comment, Cait had informed me that she had spotted a “159” address number on the dwelling located across the street from the Witherspoon house and she also included a link to the Season 1 episode of the show titled “First Impressions”, in which quite a bit of the property was shown. So, I immediately started scanning through it.

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While watching the episode, I noticed that there were large sidewalks on the street in front of the Witherspoon residence and my first instinct was that the property was located somewhere in or around the Hancock Park area.

That instinct was only strengthened when I saw the ginormous house (pictured behind Wilford Brimley in the screen capture above) located next door to the Witherspoon residence. So, I immediately started searching through all of the blocks in Hancock Park that were in the 100 range, but I could just not seem to find the Our House residence anywhere.

As it ended up, my hunch was off by quite a bit. Not that it mattered, though. 😉 Just three days after posting her challenge to me, Cait published another comment on my site saying that she had found the Our House house! Apparently, while looking for an unrelated location, Cait came across an address on Cahuenga Boulevard that was in the 100 range. So, she started searching through online maps for all streets parallel to Cahuenga that also had 100 blocks. She had a hunch that the house had to be east of Western Avenue and, after scouring online maps to find what she believed was the right area, got in her car and proceeded to drive up and down each and every street in that neighborhood. She eventually found the property exactly where she thought it would be – at 158 South Kingsley Drive! YAY! After finding the house, Cait said, “I can understand now why you enjoy ‘stalking’ so much – it’s like a treasure hunt in a great big city and it’s fun to succeed at it!” That is SO very true, Cait! I honestly could not have said it better myself! Smile So, after Cait gave me the address, I dragged the GC right on out to stalk the place. Unfortunately though, as you can see above, because the sun was directly in front of the house when I showed up to stalk it, my photographs did not come out very well.

You can see a much better view of the house on Google Street View (pictured above) by clicking here.

While there have been quite a few changes made to the property during the past twenty-three years that the show has been off the air, it is, thankfully, still very recognizable as the Witherspoon residence.

Before writing today’s post, I sat down to watch the “First Impressions” episode in full and was shocked to see a fake address number of “14” posted on the front of the Witherspoon home. Being that a two-digit house number is very rare – in fact, I don’t think I have ever seen one in my entire life – it seems strange to me that set decorators would choose to use one on the show, rather than a vastly more common three-, four-, or five-digit address number. It is times like these that I so wish I could get inside a producer’s head to figure out what their reasoning behind such an odd decision was!

On an Our House side note – As you can see above, Shannen Doherty was absolutely ADORABLE on the series! So darn cute!

You can watch the Our House opening credits, in which the Witherspoon residence is shown, by clicking above.

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

Stalk It: The Our House house is located at 158 South Kingsley Drive, just north of Koreatown, in Los Angeles.

February 18, 2011December 5, 2018

Boardner’s of Hollywood from “Beverly Hills, 90210”

Another destination included on the Grim Cheaper’s Valentine’s Day scavenger hunt was Boardner’s of Hollywood, a historic bar which was recommended to me by fellow stalker John who lives in the Bay Area. John had emailed me quite a few months back to let me know that the legendary watering hole had been featured in countless productions over the years, including my fave show Beverly Hills, 90210, and that it was a very cool place to hang out. So, because the GC loves anyplace with a history, I decided to add the bar to his hunt and we headed out there to grab a cocktail this past Saturday evening.

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The space which now houses Boardner’s was first opened in the 1930’s by legendary singer Gene Austin in a Moorish-style, L-shaped building designed by architect Norman Alpaugh and was known at the time as the “My Blue Heaven” night club. After Austin sold the watering hole, it went through several different incarnations, including a restaurant named Padres and a gay bar named Cherokee House, until January of 1944 when a young man named Steve Boardner purchased the place and renamed it Boardner’s. Boardner’s became an immediate success with the Hollywood crowd and such luminaries as Errol Flynn, W.C. Fields, Walter E. Scott (aka “Death Valley Scotty”), Elizabeth Short (aka “The Black Dahlia”), Robert Mitchum, Mickey Cohen, Jack Dragna, Andy Griffith, Donald Sutherland, Ed Wood, Jimmy Stewart, George Burns, Mickey Mantle, and Joe DiMaggio all hung out there. Steve remained the proprietor of Boardner’s for just over three decades, until 1980, when he retired to Palm Springs and sold his beloved bar to a man named Dave Hadley. Sadly, the place was completely remodeled with an Art Deco-theme in March of 2006 and, despite being known as “one of the oldest bars in Hollywood”, does not look anything like it did back in the heyday of Tinseltown.

Don’t get me wrong – Boardner’s is still a VERY cool place to hang out and the food is absolutely FABULOUS (especially the crab cakes!), but it would be an even cooler place to hang out if it had retained its historic interior. As I have mentioned a few times before on this blog, I am not big on change, especially when said change involves altering a filming location in some way! Sigh! Boardner’s has remained popular with the Hollywood set despite the remodel, though, and just a few of the celebs who have been spotted there in more recent years include Drew Barrymore, Holly Madison, Hugh Hefner, Bridget Marquardt, Kendra Wilkinson, Nicole Kidman, Slash, Axl Rose, Courtney Love, Scott Wolfe, Piper Perabo, Rose McGowan, Fran Dresher, Jason Patric, Tommy Lee, John Lennon, Ben Affleck, Paul Bettany, Jake Gyllenhaal, Vince Vaughn, Keifer Sutherland, Heath Ledger, Bela Lugosi Jr., Jared Leto, Tim McGraw, Lee Majors, Miley Cyrus, and Pete Wentz.

The back of the bar boasts a super-cute little hearth area, complete with a plush couch, a coffee table, and board games. So adorable!

And, each Saturday night, Boardner’s Moroccan-tiled back patio area . . .

. . . and its private events space, which is named the Casablanca Room, are transformed into an extremely popular gothic-themed nightclub known as Bar Sinister. The Casablanca Room has also become a popular wrap party venue over the years.

While stalking Boardner’s, I asked the bartender if she happened to know which episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 had been filmed on the premises, but, unfortunately, because she did not work there at the time, she was not sure. And because I only watched the first four seasons of the series, before the characters were of drinking age, I was absolutely stumped on this one. So, I called on Geoff, from the 90210locations website, who pretty much immediately figured out that Boardner’s had been used in the Season 9 episode of the series titled “That’s the Guy”, as the spot where Dylan McKay (aka Luke Perry) sought out information about the man who raped Kelly Taylor (aka Jennie Garth).

The establishing shot of the bar which appeared in that episode was filmed at another location altogether, though, and looks nothing like the actual exterior of Boardner’s.

Boardner’s also popped up in 1994’s Ed Wood, as the spot where fledgling film director Ed Wood (aka Johnny Depp) grabbed a drink just before meeting Bela Lugosi (aka Martin Landau) for the first time. Interestingly enough, the real Ed Wood had been a regular at Boardner’s throughout most of his lifetime, which is most likely how the bar ended up being chosen as a filming location for the flick.

Boardner’s was also the spot where Dudley Smith (aka James Cromwell) met up with Bud White (aka Russell Crowe) in order to return his badge and his gun towards the beginning of 1997’s L.A. Confidential.

The exterior of Boardner’s was also used very briefly as the exterior of a cowboy-themed gay bar that Mick Dundee (aka Paul Hogan) and Jacko (aka Alec Wilson) attempt to visit in 2001’s Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles.

In the 2003 movie Hollywood Homicide, Boardner’s was the regular hangout of Sergeant Joe Gavilan (aka Harrison Ford) and Detective K.C. Calden (aka Josh Harnett). Boardner’s has also appeared in the movie Up Close & Personal and in episodes of the television series Alias, Numb3rs, and Cold Case. Supposedly, Boardner’s was also featured in 1995’s Leaving Las Vegas and in 1997’s Wag the Dog, but I scanned through both of those movies earlier today while writing this post and did not spot the bar in either one.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker John for recommending this location to me and to Geoff, from the 90210locations website, for figuring out which episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 it appeared in! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Boardner’s of Hollywood, from Beverly Hills, 90210, is located at 1652 North Cherokee Avenue in Hollywood. You can visit the bar’s official website here.

February 17, 2011February 17, 2011

Los Angeles County Museum of Art from “My So-Called Life”

Since I spend the majority of my weekends dragging the Grim Cheaper out on various stalking adventures, this past Saturday, in honor of our first Valentine’s Day together as a married couple, I decided to create a scavenger hunt for him based on his many likes and hobbies. I do have to admit that while most of our destinations were places that I had little to no interest in visiting, the hunt was not entirely an un-selfish endeavor on my part. A few of our stops were, in fact, stalking locations – most notably the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, aka LACMA, which was featured in an episode of fave show My So-Called Life. As I mentioned a few weeks back, I just recently started re-watching My So-Called Life from the beginning and I became just a bit obsessed with tracking down the museum where Angela Chase (aka Claire Danes) and the gang go on a field trip in the episode titled “Why Jordan Can’t Read”. Because the series was filmed so prominently in the Pasadena area, I had a hunch that the museum used was the Huntington Library – a place where I just so happen to have a filming contact. So, I emailed a few screen captures from the episode over to Dinah, my contact, to see if she could confirm or deny my suspicion. As it turns out, though, my hunch was wrong – hey, it does happen! Winking smile – Huntington was not the museum which appeared in the episode. Thankfully though, Dinah knows her museums! She informed me that she was 99.9% certain that filming had taken place at LACMA. So, because the GC absolutely LOVES visiting museums, while I typically do not, I immediately added the place to his Valentine’s Day scavenger hunt and we headed out there this past Saturday morning. And, let me tell you, once he found out that we would spending the day at a museum, he could NOT have been more excited.

In the “Why Jordan Can’t Read” episode of My So-Called Life, Angela and her classmates, Jordan Catalano (aka Jared Leto), Rayanne Graff (aka A.J. Langer), Rickie Vasquez (aka Wilson Cruz), and Brian Krakow (aka Devon Gummersall), spend the morning on a field trip at a supposed Three Rivers, Pennsylvania-area museum, during which Jordan is nice to Angela, as she says, “like out of nowhere!”

Because the museum has been remodeled in recent years and various artworks relocated to different galleries, it was quite difficult to pinpoint the exact spot where filming had taken place. I had a few clues to help me out on my quest, though, most notably a set of numbers that was visible in the background of several scenes. As you can see in the above screen captures, those numbers were all in the 200 range.

Oddly enough, though, I could only find numbers like that in one area of the museum – on the third floor of the Hammer Building in the Art of the Ancient World section – yet those numbers were all in the 300 range, which left me completely puzzled. As fate would have it, though, I happened to run into an EXTREMELY helpful and EXTREMELY friendly museum docent who became determined to assist me with my quest. I had downloaded twenty or so screen captures from the “Why Jordan Can’t Read” episode onto the GC’s iPad – which he was gifted for Christmas from his boss and which is an absolutely AMAZING stalking tool – which I proceeded to show to my new friend. After seeing those 200 numbers, he informed me that the third level of the Hammer building was actually known as the second level back in the ‘90s when My So-Called Life was filmed, and had only be re-numbered in recent years during the remodel. Which meant that I was in the right spot! Yay!

By looking at the screen captures, the docent and I were able to determine that all of the filming of the episode had taken place on the now third floor (former second floor) of the museum’s Hammer Building in the Charles E. and Flora L. Thornton Gallery and a few of the smaller galleries which surround it.

As you can see in the above screen capture and photograph, the wainscoting on the gallery walls and the molding on the gallery entrances match up perfectly to what appeared onscreen.

Once I figured out that I was in the right place, I then proceeded to go on a scavenger hunt of my very own to track down a few of the specific works of art that had appeared in the episode. And, let me tell you, I had an absolute blast doing so! In fact, it was quite possibly the most fun that I have had at a museum in my entire life! A few of the works that I was able to locate include a Rembrandt portrait;

a painting titled “Portrait of Cardinal Roberto Ubaldino” by Guido Reni;

the sculptures that Angela, Jordan, and Brian looked at;

the portrait that Angela and Jordan were standing in front of when he invited her to watch his band, the Frozen Embryos, rehearse;

and the scary-looking sculpture that the camera panned in on towards the end of the museum scene.

I was most excited, though, to spot the statute where Jordan and Angela first started talking in the episode.

And I, of course, just had to re-create Jordan’s pensive stare after I found it, which the GC was NOT at all happy about. Winking smile The statue is currently displayed on a much shorter base than it was when My So-Called Life was filmed, which is why it appears to be so much lower to the ground in my photograph than it appeared onscreen.

Sadly, the sculpture room where Sharon Cherski (aka Devon Odessa) and her boyfriend Kyle Vinnovich (aka Johnny Green) spent the majority of the field trip has since been dismantled. Although I did manage to locate one of the sculptures which appeared in that scene.

Even sadder still was the fact that I could not for the life of me track down the display case where Rayanne inadvertently left Angela’s love letter to Jordan.

The very same area of LACMA also appears briefly in the 1991 comedy L.A. Story, in the scene in which Harris K. Telemacher (aka Steve Martin) roller-skates through a museum while his friend Ariel (aka Susan Forristal) video-tapes his exploits.

The “Portrait of Cardinal Roberto Ubaldino”, which appeared in My So-Called Life, was also featured in L.A. Story.

As was Jordan and Angela’s statue. Love it!

LACMA was also the site of the black-and-white ball, to which superstar Cher wore red, in 1992’s The Player.

In the Season 4 episode of Melrose Place titled “Drawing Henry”, Brooke Armstrong (aka Kristin Davis) and Jack Parezi (aka Antonio Sabato Jr.) meet up at LACMA to discuss their burgeoning affair and wind up being spotted by Billy Campbell (aka Andrew Shue).

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Located in front of LACMA’s main entrance is the famous Urban Light display, which I blogged about back in April of last year after its appearance in a Vanity Fair photo shoot featuring the male members of the cast of Glee. That very same light instillation was also used in the recently-released No Strings Attached, in the scene in which Adam (aka Ashton Kutcher) takes Emma (aka Natalie Portman) out on a Valentine’s Day date. LACMA was also featured in Breaking All The Rules, Strong Medicine, Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles, Born Yesterday, The Rockford Files, From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and Now You See It, Now You Don’t.

LACMA also has a few celebrity connections, as well. There is a statue titled “Michael Jackson and Bubbles”, which was designed by artist Jeff Koons in 1988, on display in the Broad Contemporary Art Museum building.

I so love that Mr. Koons captured MJ’s ever-present loafer-and-white-sock-combination so perfectly!

And there is also a Tiffany lamp from Barbra Streisand’s personal collection on display in the Ahmanson Building.

Also in the Ahmanson Building is an extremely ornate rosewood mirror which boasts an intriguing history. The massive mirror, which was designed by New York’s Herter Brothers interior design firm in 1873, originally belonged to Milton Slocum Latham, a former U.S. senator and governor of California, and was on display in his 50-room Menlo Park mansion, Thurlow Lodge. Slocum went bankrupt shortly after construction on his mansion was completed and then passed away in 1882. His former home was demolished in 1942 and the mirror was subsequently transferred to none other than the prop department of a Hollywood movie studio – although I am unsure of which one – where it remained until 1991, at which time it became the property of LACMA. So incredibly interesting! I am going to have to keep my eyes peeled from now on to see if that mirror pops up in any movies that were made between 1942 and 1991!

For those fellow stalkers who are also interested in seeing works of art as well as filming locations Winking smile , the museum features some amazing pieces, including paintings by both Monet and Picasso.

There is also a great view of the Hollywood sign which can be seen from the top of the Broad Contemporary Art Museum building.

Big THANK YOU to Dinah, from the Huntington Library, for finding this location for me! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, from My So-Called Life and L.A. Story, is located at 5905 Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. You can visit the museum’s official website here. Both My So-Called Life and L.A. Story were filmed in the museum’s Art of the Ancient World section, which can be found on the third floor of the Hammer Building, in the Charles E. and Flora L. Thornton Gallery. The works of art that appeared in MSCL are spread out among the different galleries located on the third floor of the Hammer Building.

February 15, 2011February 15, 2011

Crossroads of the World from “Dexter”

Before I get started, I’d like to give a big birthday shout-out to my beloved Grandma, who turns 86 today. Happy Birthday, Grandma! I love you! And now, on with the post! One location that I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to stalk while in the Hollywood area a few weeks back was Crossroads of the World, a historic Hollywood landmark which was featured in the Season 5 episode of Dexter titled “Practically Perfect”, among numerous other productions, including L.A. Confidential and Indecent Proposal. I had actually driven by Crossroads of the World countless times over the past ten-plus years that I have lived in Los Angeles and had even known of the place’s legendary filming history, but for whatever reason had never stalked it. So, after I noticed the historic property pop up on Dexter last October, I added the place to my extensive and ever-growing To-Stalk list and finally made it out there a couple of weeks ago.

Crossroads of the World was first opened in 1936 and is often credited as the U.S.’ first outdoor shopping center. It was built in the Streamline Moderne-style – a type of Art Deco design which features nautical elements – by architect Robert V. Derrah, who also designed the the Coca-Cola Building and the Southern California Gas Company Building, both in Downtown Los Angeles. The theme of the two and a half acre property, which opened to the public on October 29th, 1936, was envisioned by Ella Crawford, the widow of real estate mogul and racketeer Charlie Crawford, as a port-of-call, a “cultural and business center offering an experience like taking a trip around the world”. The marketplace was built to look like a large ocean liner docked at an international village and incorporated Spanish, Mediterranean, Moorish, Cape Cod, and Old English design elements.

The village section of Crossroads of the World, which can be found at the rear of the property on Selma Avenue, very closely resembles Fantasy Land at Disneyland.

There is even a wishing well, a la Snow White’s wishing well at Disneyland, situated in the village area! Which is highly ironic being that Crossroad’s of the World ship building was recreated in part at the Disney Hollywood Studios section of Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, which you can see a photograph of here.

Crossroad’s most prominent and recognizable feature is its sixty-foot-tall tower which is capped off with a revolving eight-foot-tall neon globe. The property, which is no longer a shopping center but currently serves as an office park, became a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1974 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. Such luminaries as Alfred Hitchcock, Walter Heider, Randolph Duke, Tim Burton, and Rob Lowe have all had offices there at one time or another.

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In the “Practically Perfect” episode of Dexter, Crossroads of the World stood in for the supposed Miami-area Hungry Dog Diner at which Dexter Morgan (aka Michael C. Hall) spies on, and then has lunch with, serial killer Boyd Fowler (aka Shawn Hatosy).

The Dexter episode was filmed in the northwest corner of Crossroads of the World. Dexter was sitting just outside of Suite 1521 at a prop table that was brought in just for the filming.

The Hungry Dog Diner was set up in a vacant storefront just across from where Dexter was sitting in the scene.

The Hush-Hush Magazine office where gossip reporter Sid Hudgens (aka Danny DeVito) worked in the 1997 movie L.A. Confidential is located just around the corner from where Dexter was filmed.

His corner office is numbered 1523 and is located next to the center’s parking lot area.

The real estate office where Diana Murphy (aka Demi Moore) worked in 1993’s Indecent Proposal is also located at Crossroads of the World.

Diana worked in Suite 1500, which can be found in the rounded portion of the center’s ship building in the southern-most section of the property.

The water fountain that was visible behind John Gage (aka Robert Redford) in the scene in which he visits Diana at her office can be found at the southern-most tip of the property near the center’s main entrance on Sunset Boulevard.

The office where Ford Fairlane (aka Andrew Dice Clay) worked in The Adventures of Ford Fairlane was also located at Crossroads of the World, on the second floor of the property’s ship building.

The center’s front office area, which was the same area used in Indecent Proposal, was even made to look like a gym for the movie.

You can see a complete list of productions that have been filmed at Crossroads of the World on the property’s official website here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Crossroads of the World is located at 6671 West Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. You can visit the property’s official website here. The Hungry Dog Diner from Dexter was located in the vacant storefront across from the office numbered 1521 and is denoted with a blue arrow in the above aerial view. The area where Dexter was sitting in the episode is denoted with a pink “X”. Suite number 1523 was used as Sid Hudgens’ office in L.A. Confidential and is marked with a purple arrow in the above aerial view. And finally, Diana’s office in Indecent Proposal was Suite 1500, which comprises the entire circular area located under the center’s tower and globe. The door she used to enter and exit her office is marked with a light pink arrow in the above aerial view.

February 10, 2011February 9, 2011

Kung Pao China Bistro from “The Office”

Last Thursday night’s episode of The Office which was titled “The Search” was hands-down one of my all-time favorite episodes of the series ever! I absolutely LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it! So, when fellow stalker Owen sent me an email the following day which listed all of the locations featured in it, I just about died of excitement! As it turns out, Owen loved the episode just about as much as I did and spent a few hours tracking down each and every locale where filming had taken place. The one I was most excited about stalking was Mr. Choo’s Chinese Food restaurant, which in reality is Kung Pao China Bistro located in Studio City. So I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on over there after stalking the nearby Aroma Coffee & Tea Company which I blogged about yesterday. Well, amazingly enough, when we pulled up to the restaurant, the GC informed me that he had not only eaten there before, but that he had eaten there regularly while living in the Sherman Oaks area a little over a decade ago! As it turns out, Kung Pao China Bistro was one of his mom’s very favorite Los Angeles restaurants and every time she came to visit she would insist on dining there. Well, believe you me, as soon as I heard that I gave him quite a lashing being that he had watched “The Search” episode of The Office with me! How he did not recognize a place that he used to visit regularly is absolutely beyond me! I mean, have I not taught him anything??? Winking smile

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In “The Search”, Michael Scott (aka Steve Carell) and Jim Halpert (aka John Krasinski) goes on a sales call in Scranton, Pennsylvania. While stopping at a local gas station (which in reality is the Civic Center Gas Station and Mini Mart located at 6171 Van Nuys Boulevard in Van Nuys), so that Michael can use the restroom, Jim gets an emergency phone call and winds up leaving Michael stranded, without a wallet or a cell phone. Instead of panicking, Michael decides to take the opportunity to go on a “walkabout” and one of his stops is Mr. Choo’s Chinese Food where he eats a large meal even though he has no money to pay for it. Well, Mr. Choo is none too happy with Michael’s “dine and dash” plan and decides to punish him in the best way he knows how.

In the meantime, Erin Hannon (aka Ellie Kemper), Holly Flax (aka Amy Ryan), and Dwight Schrute (aka Rainn Wilson) go on a “manhunt/rescue mission” to track Michael down and bring him safely back to the Dunder Mifflin office.

They end up wandering into Mr. Choo’s, only to they discover that Michael has been placed on the restaurant’s “Thief Wall”.

And in a genius bit of writing, after Dwight, Erin, and Holly leave Mr. Choo’s, the camera closes in on a photograph of fellow Dunder Mifflin-ite Creed Bratton (aka Creed Bratton) on the “Thief Wall”, a moment which had me literally LOL-ing. Smile

The owners of Kung Pao China Bistro literally could NOT have been nicer and allowed me to take all the photographs of the place that I wanted, even though I was not actually dining there. They also answered all of my silly little questions about the filming and told me that everyone involved was extremely nice.

The owner also let me know that the reason her property was ultimately chosen for the episode was because of the large parking lot situated directly adjacent to the restaurant. The location manager was apparently very excited that there was a parking area where all of the production trucks could be held that was in such close proximity to where filming would be taking place.

I could not remember exactly where the “Thief Wall” was located in the episode (which is why I really need to start carrying screen captures with me when I go on these stalking ventures!), so I unfortunately did not get a good photograph of the right spot. It is just to the right of the restaurant’s front door, though.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Kung Pao China Bistro, aka Mr. Choo’s Chinese Food restaurant from the “The Search” episode of The Office, is located at 11838 Ventura Boulevard in Studio City. The Civic Center Gas Station and Mini Mart which was also featured in the episode is located at 6171 Van Nuys Boulevard in Van Nuys