TV stars – IAMNOTASTALKER

April 16, 2012April 15, 2012

Shooters Bar & Grill from “Melrose Place”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

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

April 4, 2012April 3, 2012

The Coffee Pot from “90210”

As I mentioned back in March in my post about Bar Keeper in Silver Lake, the whimsical little barware store that stood in for Upon Galley in the 2005 movie A Lot Like Love, one locale that I had been absolutely itching to stalk in recent weeks was the Coffee Pot, an Echo Park-area café that appeared in the Season 4 episode of fave show 90210 titled “Babes in Toyland”. And while tracking down this location required minimal effort on my part, stalking it would be a different story altogether.

The GC and I actually tried to stalk the Coffee Pot not once, but twice, and both endeavors proved futile. Our first attempt took place on a Sunday when we just happened to be in the neighborhood and decided to drop by, only to discover that the shop is closed on Sundays. Then, last weekend, we made a special trip out there, on a Saturday this time, only to be met with a sign on the front door announcing that the small café was closed because “I’m the mom and I said so!” Um, OK. And while it is said that “the third time’s the charm”, I think we will just cut our losses at two unsuccessful stalks for this location. It is unfortunate, too, because the place looked absolutely adorable and I had a major hankering for some coffee at the time.

I was so flummoxed over the shop being closed yet again that I completely forgot to have the GC take my picture out front. I was able to snap two photographs of the Coffee Pot’s interior through the café’s front windows, though, and being that there was also a Starbucks located right across the street and I did manage to score myself a latte, I guess the trip was not a total loss. Winking smile

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In the “Babes in Toyland” episode of 90210, troublemaker Vanessa (Arielle Kebbel) tries to sabotage Adrianna Tate-Duncan (Jessica Lowndes) and Dixon Wilson (Tristan Wilds) by sending them to the fictional “Echo Park Grill” for a fake meeting with the VP of A&R for Def Jam Records. Oddly enough, three different locations were used to stand in for the restaurant in the episode. The first establishing shot shown in the scene was of the 3900 block of West Sunset Boulevard in the Sunset Junction area of Silver Lake, where Bar Keeper is located.

The second establishing shot was of Figaro Bistro in Los Feliz, which I I blogged about back in August 2011. The exterior of Figaro also appeared in the Season 3 episode of 90210 titled “How Much is that Liam in the Window”.

And, finally, the Coffee Pot was used for all of the “Echo Park Grill’s” interior scenes, where Adrianna and Dixon waited futilely for the record executive. As you can see above, the café is a pretty cute spot.

Despite the conflicting establishing shots, this location was actually a snap to track down as I had noticed the words “Coffee Pot” on the door of the café while watching the episode. A simple input of the terms “Coffee Pot” and “Los Angeles” into a Google search spit back a result of the Coffee Pot in Echo Park. Yay! Too bad it wasn’t quite as easy to stalk.

Fellow stalker Mike, from MovieShotsLA, also let me know that the Coffee Pot had appeared as “Spark Plug Coffee” where Officer Ben Sherman (cutie Ben McKenzie – sigh!) and Detective Sammy Bryant (Shawn Hatosy) arrested a man for having placed a hidden camera in a women’s bathroom in the Season 4 episode of Southland titled “Risk”.

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for informing me of the Coffee Pot’s Southland appearance.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Coffee Pot, from the “Babes in Toyland” episode of 90210 and the “Risk” episode of Southland, is located at 2201 West Sunset Boulevard in Echo Park.

March 27, 2012March 26, 2012

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That area is denoted with a pink circle above.

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

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

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

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

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

March 20, 2012March 19, 2012

Erin’s Florida House from “The Office”

I would like to start off today’s post by wishing my good friend and fellow stalker Lavonna a VERY HAPPY 50TH BIRTHDAY! In honor of her big day, I decided that I just had to write about an Office-related locale, because not only it is Lavonna’s very favorite show, but she is actually the person who is responsible for getting me hooked on the series in the first place – for which I will always be grateful. And while I do have a few Office locations in my back pocket, so to speak, as fate would have it, this past Sunday morning I received a timely email from fellow stalker Geoff, of the 90210Locations website, who wanted to let me know that he had just tracked down the supposed Tallahassee, Florida house where Erin Hannon (Ellie Kemper) lived in the Season 8 episodes of the series titled “Last Day in Florida” and “Get the Girl”. So I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out to stalk the place that very afternoon.

The eagle-eyed Geoff tracked this location down thanks to a sign reading “Stagg Street” which he spotted in the background of the scene in which star-crossed lovers Erin and Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) finally kissed in the “Get the Girl” episode. A quick Google search informed Geoff that Stagg Street was located in Panorama City, so he started looking through aerial views of the area and thankfully it was not long before he found the right abode.

As Geoff later pointed out to this directionally-challenged stalker, Erin’s Florida house is actually located directly behind Chandler Valley Center Studios, where The Office is lensed!

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In the “Last Day in Florida” episode of The Office, broken-hearted Erin decides that she will not be returning to Scranton, Pennsylvania once the Sabre “Special Project” has been completed. She winds up being hired as a personal assistant/house cleaner to an “old lady” named Irene (Georgia Engel) and moves into her Tallahassee home. In the following episode, “Get the Girl”, Andy drives out to Florida in order to profess his love to Erin in the hopes that she will quit her new job and return to Scranton with him.

In person, Erin’s Tallahassee house looks much the same as it did onscreen in The Office, minus some Florida-themed foliage and the dolphin water fountain that Andy tried to fix in the “Get the Girl” episode. In real life, the tiny dwelling, which was originally built in 1951, measures 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, and 1,040 square feet. I have only been to Florida once, when I was about three years old, and do not remember much about it, but the GC spent quite a few of his childhood years in the Sunshine State, so I asked him if the abode looked like one that would be found there. His answer, “No, not at all.” LOL (The building that is visible behind the house in the above photographs is Chandler Valley Center Studios. Oh, what I wouldn’t give to live that close to where The Office is filmed!)

I am fairly certain that the real life interior of the property was also used in the episodes.

The intersection where Andy and Erin kissed is located a block and a half north of the house, but, unfortunately, I did not realize that at the time, so I did not take any photographs of it.

On an Office side-note – I was beyond floored when I recognized that the supposed Tallahassee, Florida hotel where the gang stayed during the “Special Project” episodes (“Tallahassee”, “After Hours”, “Test the Store”, “Last Day in Florida”, and “Get the Girl”) was actually the Hyatt Regency Valencia, the very same hotel which appeared in the first Twilight movie and which I stalked way back in November of 2009. Quite a bit of the property was used in the five episodes, including the front exterior;

several rooms;

the main lobby;

and Vines Restaurant and Bar.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, for finding this location and a very big HAPPY 50TH BIRTHDAY to my good friend Lavonna! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Erin’s “Florida” house from the “Last Day in Florida” and “Get the Girl” episodes of The Office is located at 7777 Cherrystone Avenue in Panorama City. The home backs up to Chandler Valley Center Studios, where The Office is filmed, which is located at 13927 Saticoy Street in Van Nuys. Erin and Andy kissed in the “Get the Girl” episode just up the street from the house at the intersection of Stagg Street and Cherrystone Avenue. The “Tallahassee, Florida” hotel where the gang stayed during the “Special Project” episodes is the Hyatt Regency Valencia, which is located at 24500 Town Center Drive in Valencia. You can visit the hotel’s official website here.

February 6, 2012February 3, 2012

Café-Club Fais Do-Do from “Crossroads”

One location that I blogged about way back in March of 2009 and had been dying to re-stalk ever since – in order to snap some interior pictures – was Café-Club Fais Do-Do, the supposed New-Orleans-area karaoke bar that appeared in the 2002 movie Crossroads. (For those who did not catch my original post on the place, in the Spring of 2001 I was an extra in Crossroads and spent a full three days filming at the Fais Do-Do – a magical experience that I will never forget.) Because the club is typically only open at night for concerts and events, though, and because the Grim Cheaper has a major aversion to paying any sort of a cover charge, since the filming I had never been able to get back inside. Until last Wednesday afternoon, that is, when I tagged along with fellow stalker Mike, from MovieShotsLA, on a scouting expedition. A couple of months back, Mike actually joined the Location Managers Guild of America under the title of Apprentice and, when I heard that he was in the process of building his portfolio, I immediately (and a bit selfishly) suggested that he visit Café-Club Fais Do-Do – with me accompanying him, of course. Don’t get me wrong – the place is incredibly unique and visually stimulating and I knew that he would not only shoot some incredible photographs of it, but that it would also be a highly useful locale to have in his scouting arsenal. But mostly, I just really wanted to stalk it myself. Winking smile

The Art Deco building which currently houses Café-Club Fais Do-Do was originally constructed in 1930 and is actually comprised of two separate sections – The Club (pictured above) and The Ballroom. In its original incarnation, The Club was a branch of the First Citizens Savings Bank and Trust, which explains the structure’s uniquely rich and ornate interior. Sometime in the 1960s, the bank was converted into a jazz bar/underground club, but thankfully most of its architecturally and historically significant detailing was kept intact. During its years as a jazz club, such musicians as Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, BB King, Pearl Bailey, John Coltrane, and Billy Preston were all said to have hung out there.

The Ballroom (pictured above) was originally constructed as the single-screen Variety Movie Theatre and was where the filming of Crossroads took place. I am unsure of when exactly the Variety ceased showing movies, but in 1990 the entire building was purchased by a new owner who, while still keeping the two distinct areas separate, decided to turn the venues into a nightclub and bar which collectively would be known as Café-Club Fais Do-Do – “Fais Do-Do” meaning “nighty-night” in French. And while this post on the Lon’s Place blog states that The Club area was sold to a new owner in 2010, according the film liaison that we spoke with, the same person who bought the building back in 1990 still owns it to this day.

While we were stalking the Fais Do-Do, I was extremely sad to discover that the huge two-story bar that used to be located in the center of The Ballroom and on which I had sat in Crossroads had since been removed. To me, that bar, which had a dance floor on top of it, was the coolest, most unique aspect of the entire club and I cannot believe the owner did away with it! So incredibly sad.

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In Crossroads, Café-Club Fais Do-Do’s Ballroom was used for the interior of Club Bayou, where Lucy Wagner (Britney Spears), Kit (Zoe Saldana) and Mimi (Taryn Manning) competed in a karaoke contest in order to win money to fix their car which had just broken down.

That’s me in the blue pants standing next to Ben (Anson Mount) in the above screen capture. Smile

The Fais Do-Do dressing room, which you can see a photograph of here, was featured in the scene in which Kit, Mimi and Lucy get ready to go onstage. Sadly, a film crew was using that area at the time that we were stalking the club so we were unable to take any pictures of it.

The GC and I recently started watching fave show The O.C. again from the beginning and, let me tell you, I just about fell off my chair when I spotted Café-Club Fais Do-Do pop up in a Season 1 episode. In “The Escape”, the Fais Do-Do’s Ballroom stood in for “Boom Boom”, the supposed-Tijuana-area club where Marissa Cooper (Mischa Barton) caught Luke Ward (Chris Carmack) cheating on her.

And, while scanning through “The Escape” to make screen captures for this post, I was shocked to discover that the little bar where Marissa almost overdosed on pain pills later in the episode was none other than the Fais Do-Do’s Club! The Club was remodeled in 2010 (as you can see in these photograph on the Lon’s Place blog) and looks a bit different now, but, amazingly enough, the actual bar where Marissa sat still looks exactly the same today as it did when the episode was filmed back in 2003!

After reading my original post on the Fais Do-Do back in 2009, fellow stalker Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, figured out that The Ballroom also stood in for Delloser Hall, the reggae club where Josie Geller (Drew Barrymore) got stoned after inadvertently eating a pot-laced cake, in fave movie Never Been Kissed.

In the extremely odd 2006 film The Gymnast, the Fais Do-Do’s Ballroom was used extensively as the place where Jane Hawkins (Dreya Weber) and Serena (Addie Yungmee) learned aerial fabric acrobatics.

In the flick, you can clearly see the club’s former bar . . .

. . . as well as the dance floor above it.

Café-Club Fais Do-Do’s dressing room also appeared in The Gymnast.

And in one scene, a business card featuring the club’s actual address, fax number, and website was even shown. So incredibly cool!

Fellow stalker Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, also let me know that the Fais Do-Do had appeared in the Season 2 episode of Arrested Development titled “Queen for a Day”. In the episode, the exterior . . .

. . . as well as The Ballroom stood in for The Queen Mary, the bar that Tobias Funke (David Cross) purchased.

The Club was also used in that episode as the restaurant where Byron “Buster” Bluth (Tony Hale) took his new girlfriend, Starla (Mo Collins), out for a milkshake.

And the dressing room stood in for the Hot Cop stripper club, from which Lindsay Bluth Funke (Portia de Rossi) hired strippers to scare her husband into selling The Queen Mary.

Back in February of 2011, while doing research for my post on The Little Door restaurant, I discovered that Café-Club Fais Do-Do’s Club room was used in the Season 2 episode of Entourage titled “The Abyss”, in the scene in which the boys – Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier), Eric Murphy (Kevin Connolly), Johnny ‘Drama’ Chase (Kevin Dillon), and Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) – gather together to watch Saigon perform.

I was shocked to discover (thanks to the Ron’s Place blog) that in 1994’s Reality Bites, The Club stood in for the bar where “Hey, That’s My Bike!”, Troy Dyer’s (Ethan Hawke’s) band, regularly played. The room was heavily dressed for the filming, though, and is almost unrecognizable in the movie.

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The Fais Do-Do Club was also featured in the Jane’s Addiction video for “Underground”.

As was the dressing room area.

Jane’s Addiction “Underground” Music Video–Filmed at Café-Club Fais Do-Do in Los Angeles

You can watch the “Underground” video by clicking above.

The Club also appeared in the Destiny’s Child “No, No No, Part 1” music video.

Destiny’s Child–”No, No, No Part 1” Music Video Filmed at Café-Club Fais Do-Do in Los Angeles

You can watch the “No, No, No, Part 1” video by clicking above.

This Is 40, the yet-to-be released sequel to 2007’s Knocked Up, also did some filming in Café-Club Fais Do-Do’s Ballroom in 2011. And while the Ron’s Place blog stated that The Big Lebowski and American Gangster were also filmed at the Fais Do-Do, I scanned through both movies while doing research for this post and did not spot the place anywhere.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Café-Club Fais Do-Do, from Crossroads, is located at 5253 and 5257 West Adams Boulevard in Los Angeles. You can visit the club’s official website here.

February 2, 2012February 1, 2012

La Villa Consolata – The Day Spa from the “Driven” Episode of “CSI: Miami”

Back in January, a fellow stalker named Brandi left a comment on my post about the mansion from The Beverly Hillbillies movie informing me that the property’s indoor spa had not actually been used in the Season 4 episode of CSI: Miami titled “Driven”, as I had originally presumed, but that that spa could actually be found at a different ostentatious estate, this one on Mapleton Drive in Beverly Hills. One quick online search and I discovered that Brandi was, indeed, correct and I immediately added the residence to my “To-Stalk” list. As fate would have it, just a few days later, the Grim Cheaper and I happened to be watching the 2001 romantic comedy Good Advice (for about the hundredth time, mind you – it is one of our favorite movies EVER!) and I just about fell off the couch when I spotted the very same spa from CSI: Miami! So I decided that I just HAD to stalk the estate as soon as possible and dragged the GC right on out there this past Saturday afternoon.

As you can see above, in real life, the “Driven” mansion is absolutely GINORMOUS and actually looks more like a palace than a private residence. In fact, according to the Wikinfo website, the property is one of the largest single family homes in all of the United States! Ironically enough, while we were stalking the dwelling, a Hollywood tour van happened to pull up and the guide announced that the estate had once been leased by Donatella Versace, to which the GC yelled out, “It was also featured in an episode of CSI: Miami!” Thanks for having my back, honey! Smile And while I cannot find any information online to back up the Donatella Versace claim, it does look like exactly the sort of place that I would imagine her living. There are also a few internet reports floating around that the home was lived in (at different times, of course) by both Janet Jackson and Tommy Hilfiger, but I believe that information is incorrect. According to CurbedLA, the residence was originally built in 1993 by Pacific-Brokerage-Services-founder Steven Wallace and was awarded to his ex-wife, Jo-Anne, in their divorce shortly thereafter. Current property records show that Jo-Anne still owns the mansion to this day, although it is possible she rented it out to various celebrities over the years.

As you can see in the above photographs from the home’s MLS listing, the 6-bedroom, 7-bath, 27,816-square-foot abode, which sits on 1.15 well-manicured acres of land, is nothing short of unbelievable! The property, dubbed “La Villa Consolata”, features a whopping eight fireplaces!, a domed entryway, a gourmet kitchen, formal gardens, a gym, an indoor and an outdoor pool, a massage room, a game room, a two-level library (which I would give anything to have in my own home!), a master bedroom wing, three elevators!, staff quarters, three family rooms, a detached theater, a guard house, a wine cellar, and a three-level underground disco named “Atlantis”! Who knew that those kinds of amenities were even available in homes?!?! And while the residence has been on and off the market for a couple of years now, it seems to currently be back on again at the bargain price of $27.5 million. You can check out the dwelling’s real estate website and see more photographs of it in all of its ornate grandeur here.

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In the “Driven” episode of CSI: Miami, La Villa Consolata stood in for a supposed Dade-County-area day spa where a group of wealthy women are robbed at gunpoint.

The mansion’s indoor lap pool was used extensively in the episode.

That pool area is pictured above and I have to say that it is pretty darn magnificent!

The interior of La Villa Consolata also masqueraded as a second location in “Driven”. Towards the end of the episode, the mansion stood in for the residence belonging to Cynthia Gilmore (Jacqueline Pinol), where a home-invasion robbery took place.

In Good Advice, La Villa Consolata’s indoor pool is where Cathy Sherman (Rosanna Arquette) attends a yoga class and gets interrupted by a phone call from her husband, Barry Sherman (Jon Lovitz). I SO love that Cathy has a coffee with her while practicing yoga, by the way! SO something I would do! Smile

In the Season 1 episode of Charmed titled “The Wedding from Hell”, La Villa Consolata’s front exterior;

interior;

and backyard stood in for the mansion where Mrs. Grace Spencer (Barbara Stock) lived.

Oddly enough, though, the mansion grounds shown in the beginning of the episode are unmistakably those of The Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, which I blogged about way back in October of 2008. I have no idea why two different locations would be used to stand in for the same backyard, but I am guessing that it was some sort of a timing issue in which La Villa Consolata was not available for the entire stretch of time that was needed to film “The Wedding from Hell”, so producers found a similar-looking spot to double for it in certain scenes.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: La Villa Consolata, aka the mansion from Good Advice, the “Driven” episode of CSI: Miami and “The Wedding from Hell” episode of Charmed, is located at 330 South Mapleton Drive in the Holmby Hills section of Los Angeles. The home used for all of the backyard scenes in Mommie Dearest is located across the street at 355 South Mapleton Drive.

January 31, 2012January 31, 2012

The “Nanny and the Professor” House

Last week, fellow stalker James posted a comment on my site challenging me to find the residence where the Everett family – widowed Professor Harold Everett (Richard Long) and his three children, Hal (David Doremus), Butch (Trent Lehman), and Prudence (The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ Kim Richards), and their nanny, Nanny Phoebe Figalilly (Hayley Mills’ sister, Juliet Mills) – lived in the 1970s television series Nanny and the Professor. And while I had never before even heard of the Mary-Poppins-like comedy, I was immediately intrigued and added the location to my “To-Find” list. Fellow stalker Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, beat me to the punch, though, and sent me an email in which he informed me of the address to the home less than 24 hours after James had posted the challenge! Nice! Thank you, Geoff! So this past weekend, I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out there to stalk the place.

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In the short-lived Nanny and the Professor, which only lasted two seasons and ran from January 1970 to December 1971, the Everett family lived in an idyllic white clapboard residence supposedly located at 10327 Oak Street in what, I believe, was Los Angeles.

You can see the “10327” address placard pictured in the background of the above screen captures.

Thankfully, the house is also numbered 10327 in real life, which is how Geoff was able to track it down. The Colonial-style residence, which was originally built in 1935, measures 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, and 2,128 square feet. And, amazingly enough, it still looks EXACTLY the same today as it did in 1970 when the series was taped, despite the fact that a whopping forty-two years have since passed.

Even the decorative light post which appeared in the show is still there in real life! So incredibly cool!

As you can see above, the Nanny and the Professor house truly is idyllic in real life.

So much so that the homeowners even posted a sign in the front yard which reads, “Please . . . Do Not Disturb! This House is Not For sale.” LOL I guess they had quite a few people stopping by wanting the buy the place.

Kim Richards was only five years old – and absolutely adorable – when the series began filming and, although she had already acted in over 20 commercials by that time, “Prudence Everett” was the future child star’s first major role.

Big THANK YOU to Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, for finding this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Nanny and the Professor house is located at 10327 Glenbarr Avenue in the Cheviot Hills section of Los Angeles. Claire and Phil’s house from Modern Family is located just a few blocks away at 10336 Dunleer Drive.

January 30, 2012January 27, 2012

Offshore – Liam’s Bar from “90210”

One of the many locations that Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I stalked last week while hanging out in the Redondo Beach area – and the one that I was most excited about – was Offshore, the bar owned by Liam Court (cutie Matt Lanter – sigh!) on fave show 90210. I had been absolutely itching to stalk the fictitious watering hole ever since it first appeared in the series’ Season 4 premiere episode back in September of last year. Thankfully, fellow stalker Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, had quickly tracked the place down and, as soon as he posted the address, I immediately added it to my “To-Stalk” list. Because the Grim Cheaper and I do not get down to the South Bay very often, though, the bar had, sadly, remained unstalked until last Wednesday afternoon. And, let me tell you, when I finally saw it in person, I could not have been more excited! I was practically busting at the seams!

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Offshore first showed up in the Season 4 episode of 90210 titled “Up In Smoke”, as the spot where Liam and his friends, Navid Shirazi (Michael Steger), Dixon Wilson (Tristan Wilds) and Teddy Montgomery (Trevor Donovan), lamented over their various end-of-the-summer blues. In the episode, the beachside watering hole was named “Salty’s Place” and it included an on-the-sand hut. And while that hut seems to have subsequently disappeared, I am sure it will be brought back during the summer months.

After Liam purchased the bar at the very end of the “Up In Smoke” episode, he renamed it “Offshore” and the place now shows up weekly as the gang’s regular hangout.

As you can see above, the Offshore building looks much the same in person as it does on TV.

Don’t go looking for the interior of Liam’s bar there, though, as it is, sadly, just a set that exists inside of a soundstage at Manhattan Beach Studios where the series is lensed.

The ground floor space that supposedly houses Offshore is, in reality, the rear entrance to a storefront that is, I believe, currently vacant. As you can see from above photograph of the back of the building, the place is currently undergoing some major construction, so I was, unfortunately, unable to venture any closer to the see what the Offshore space actually looks like in real life.

Big THANK YOU to Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, for finding this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Offshore, Liam’s bar from 90210, is located at 100 Fisherman’s Wharf, at the end of the Redondo Beach Pier, in Redondo Beach. Its exact location is marked with a pink arrow in the above aerial view. You can catch a good view of the place from the spot where North Harbor Drive meets West Torrance Boulevard.

January 10, 2012January 9, 2012

Westfield Fashion Square Mall from “The Office”

One location that my good friend, fellow stalker Lavonna, asked me to track down eons ago was the shopping center that was featured in the Season 3 episode of fave show The Office titled “Women’s Appreciation”. Because the series is taped in Van Nuys, I figured that the mall was located somewhere in the San Fernando Valley, so whenever the Grim Cheaper and I found ourselves in a shopping center in that area, I would wander around looking for the large circular water fountain that Michael Scott (aka Steve Carell) had tried to climb into in order to retrieve a one-dollar bill. Try as I might, though, I could not seem to find that fountain anywhere. I had almost given up hope when, two weekends ago, the GC and I were doing a little shopping at the Westfield Fashion Square Mall in Sherman Oaks and I spotted a water fountain just outside of Macy’s department store. I snapped a quick photo of it on my phone so that I could compare it to the fountain that had appeared in the episode once I got home. Ironically, as it turned out, the fountain I had taken a picture of did not, in fact, match, but, thinking that there might be more than one located inside of the mall, I did a quick search of “fountains” and “Westfield Fashion Square Mall” on Google and, sure enough, a photo of the correct fountain popped up. I am ashamed to admit that not only was The Office fountain located about ten feet away from the one that I had taken a picture of, but we had actually walked right by it while shopping that day and somehow did not notice. Doh! So this past weekend I dragged the GC right on back out there (much to his chagrin – he HATES malls) so that I could finally stalk it.

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In the “Women’s Appreciation” episode of The Office, Michael Scott takes the women of Dunder Mifflin – Pam Beesly (aka Jenna Fischer), Phyllis Vance (aka Phyllis Smith), Meredith Palmer (aka Kate Flannery), Kelly Kapoor (aka Mindy Kaling), Angela Martin (aka Angela Kinsey), and Karen Filippelli (aka Rashida Jones) – shopping at the supposed Steamtown Mall in order to show them that they are “appreciated” by the men in the office. And while the exterior of the actual The Mall at Steamtown in Scranton, Pennsylvania was used for the establishing shot of the shopping center in the episode, the interior of Westfield Fashion Square Mall was used for all of the actual filming.

Many areas of Westfield Fashion Square Mall were used in the episode, including the food court, where Michael and the ladies ate lunch and where Michael confessed that he wanted to break up with longtime girlfriend Jan Levenson (aka Melora Hardin).

In the scene, the gang sat just outside of The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf café;

in the area pictured above.

After lunch, Michael announces (however inappropriately) that he would like to buy each of the women a present of their choosing at Victoria’s Secret.

Some filming did take place inside of the actual Victoria’s Secret store and I very much wanted to venture inside to snap a few pics, but shops tend to get very antsy about photographs for some reason, so I did not even attempt it. Back in October, when I was stalking the Macy’s at the Burbank Town Center Mall, which appeared in the “Redemption” episode of The Mentalist, a store employee actually tried to confiscate my camera! Not kidding. Because I was taking pictures inside of a store – pictures of an area that had been immortalized on a hit TV show for all of the world to see, mind you – she told me she was going to call security and attempted to take my camera out of my hands! Um, OK. Doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. If you do not want photographs to be taken of your store, fine, no problem, but then do not put said store on national television! Sigh. I just really do not get people sometimes, but I digress. Winking smile

At the very end of the episode, Michael throws a coin into the mall’s fountain and makes a wish “for every woman in the world”. Of his wishes, he says, “I wished for Jan to get over me. I wished for Phyllis a plasma TV. I wished for Pam to gain courage. I wished for Angela a heart. And for Kelly, a brain.” LOL LOL LOL Ah, Michael Scott, how we miss you!

And, let me tell you, seeing that fountain in person after so many hours of searching for it was the absolute highlight of the stalk for me! Whoo hoo!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Westfield Fashion Square Mall, aka Steamtown Mall from the “Women’s Appreciation” episode of The Office, is located at 14006 Riverside Drive in Sherman Oaks. The water fountain that Michael Scott tried to climb into can be found just outside of The Disney Store on the mall’s first level. The Victoria’s Secret store where the women shopped in the episode is located just a few doors down from The Disney Store, also on the mall’s first level. The Food Court, where the women ate lunch, is located on the mall’s second level. The gang sat just outside of The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf café and Stone Oven restaurant.

December 9, 2011December 8, 2011

The Infamous Solar Drive Mansion

Shortly before Halloween, my good friend Nat sent me a link to an article on the TopTenRealEstateDeals website (an article that I now maddeningly cannot find anywhere online) about the top ten haunted houses then for sale in the U.S. My interest was immediately piqued at one of the properties featured when I read that it had not only been the inspiration for and appeared in an episode of Law & Order: Los Angeles, but that it also had a long and sordid history, the stuff of which movies are made. I quickly added the never-occupied, long-ago-abandoned Runyon-Canyon-area manse to my To-Stalk list and even though my Haunted Hollywood postings had already come to a close, I dragged the GC right on out there to visit the place a few weeks later.

The “Wedding Cake House”, as neighbors are prone to call it, has been clouded in mystery and innuendo since its inception. Just a few of the rumors floating around include that it was built on an Indian burial ground, was once the site of an alien spaceship landing, and that a woman was murdered on a pool table inside of the billiard room. Needless to say, not many concrete facts are known about its history, but from what I was able to dig up it seems that construction on the ginormous pink Mediterranean manse began around the year 1993. Plans for the home were originally drawn up in 1989 by architect Gregg Madeo for a man named Tom Ego. Of the mansion’s early days fave website CurbedLA states, “It’s believed that Ego built the home as a spec house for an Argentinean couple, or sold it to them during the process of building it for himself. Either way, the Argentinean couple divorced while the house was under construction, so the residence was essentially abandoned, and architect Maedo left the project. (Subsequent contractors and architects would come along and “butcher” the original design, according to a rep for Maedo.)”

Due to the property’s on-going vacancy, it long ago became a den for all manner of illegal enterprise, including drug use, teenage raves, gang activity, and satanic rituals. The unauthorized activity got so bad that a private security guard had to be hired to keep watch over the residence, which is often referred to by trespassing partiers as the “Runyon Canyon Clubhouse”. The guard now lives onsite in a Winnebago parked in front of the home’s six-car garage – yes, six-car garage!!

In 2004, music executive Timothy Devine partnered up with former Miss Palm Springs Shauna Giliberti and purchased the unfinished residence as tenants in common for a cool $3.7 million. Things did not go according to plan, though, because Giliberti ended up getting sued by several investors and subsequently filed for bankruptcy. Devine then took over full ownership of the home and, in January of this year, put it on the market for $12.5 million. A few weeks later, the selling price was inexplicably raised to $15.2 million. According to a February 2011 Daily Mail Online article, the home exceeds the city’s zoning limits in both its height and lot coverage, and was built larger than what the original permits (which are now expired) allotted for, so it will have to be torn down, at least in part, by whoever purchases it. The residence also lacks a certificate of occupancy, so it is currently uninhabitable. “Fixer-upper” doesn’t even begin to describe this place! Winking smile

The unfinished dwelling boasts 5 bedrooms, 7 baths, 9,800 square feet, a 200-bottle wine cellar, a pool, a Jacuzzi, stone flooring, 22 acres of “mostly useable” hilltop land, and, as you can see above, sweeping views that reach all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

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The Solar Drive mansion played itself – an abandoned house where ne’er-do-well activity frequently takes place – in the fabulous Season 1 episode of Law & Order: Los Angeles titled “Runyon Canyon”.

The home’s real life interior, which you can see photographs of here, also appeared in the episode. According to several newspaper reports, many rooms in the mansion are covered with graffiti, so I am fairly certain that the “wall art” pictured above is real and not set dressing.

On a stalking side-note – I would like to alert all of my fellow stalkers to a celebrity event that is taking place this Saturday. Planet Green will be hosting The Recycle, Reuse, Rejoice Celebrity Celebration at the Sportsman’s Lodge Hotel, which is located at 12825 Venture Boulevard in Studio City. Such stars as Anthony Denison, Kevin Sorbo, Taylor Gray, Anson Williams, and Kate Linder are scheduled to attend. Entry is free, but Planet Green asks you to bring electronic waste items such as used inkjet and toner cartridges and old cell phones. You can find out more information here.

Big THANK YOU to Nat for sending me the article in which this location was featured! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The infamous Solar Drive mansion is located at 2450 Solar Drive in the Hollywood Hills. You can visit the home’s real estate website here.