Van Nuys filming locations

July 30, 2012July 27, 2012

Floodlights Nightclub from “Beverly Hills, 90210”

Located directly across the street from Calvert Studios – the studio where fave show Beverly Hills, 90210 was lensed and the location that currently stands in for the exterior of The Rub massage parlor on the Lifetime television series The Client List – is the office building that masqueraded as Floodlights nightclub in the Season 1 episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 titled “Slumber Party”. And while I had known about this locale for what seems like ages, for some reason, I had never stalked it during any of my prior visits to Calvert Studios. Thankfully though, when I was there with Mike, from MovieShotsLA, a couple of months back, he reminded me about the place and suggested that I stalk and blog about it. So here goes!

[ad]

In the “Slumber Party” episode of Beverly Hills, 90210, Steve Sanders (Ian Ziering) takes Brandon Walsh (Jason Priestley) to a nightclub named Floodlights. After the teens are denied entry at the door, due to the fact that they are both obviously underage, they walk back to the club’s parking lot area where they meet Trina (Growing Pains’ Julie McCullough) and Shelly (Judie Aronson), two scam artists who end up stealing Steve’s Corvette. And while the police do catch and arrest the women later on in the evening, Trina begs Steve to bail them out of jail, promising to “make it up to” him, and Steve being Steve, he, of course, does – after which Trina gives him a coupon for a free manicure. Ah, the good old days!

In real life, the Floodlights building is not a nightclub at all, but a simple office space that currently serves as the headquarters for ProAction Products, which, according to its website, is a custom plastic injection molding, assembly and tool manufacturing firm – whatever that means. And while I am not sure what the structure housed back in 1991 when the “Slumber Party” episode was filmed, judging by the industrial nature of the area, I am guessing it was a similar type of company. I cannot express how incredibly weird it is to see the small, quiet and normal street where Calvert Studios is situated and picture the Beverly Hills, 90210-gang arriving there each and every morning to tape what was then the most popular television series on the planet. Most movie studios are surrounded by huge gates, fences and guard shacks, and, barring a tour, are largely off-limits to the public. But Calvert Studios is, in essence, just a warehouse and, while it is slightly more inaccessible now, back in the 90210 days, it was completely visible from the street. I cannot even imagine working in one of the nearby offices at the time and getting to see Shannen Doherty and Luke Perry arrive on set everyday. How incredibly cool would that have been?!? Sigh!

Oddly enough, thanks to its unique façade, producers did not have to do much to transform the 1972-office building into Floodlights nightclub. They simply covered over the glass entrance doors to make the structure appear less “officey”, added a neon sign and a fake cactus plant, and, voila, they had themselves what looked exactly like an early ‘90s-era club.

Ironically enough, while scanning through the pilot episode of The Client List, which was titled “The Rub of Sugar Land”, to make screen captures for last Friday’s post, I spotted the Floodlights office building in the background of the scene in which Riley Parks (Jennifer Love Hewitt) discovered that the word “whore” had been spray-painted on her car.

Be sure to “Like” IAMNOTASTALKER on Facebook here and “Friend” me on my personal page here. You can also check out the IAMNOTASTALKER About Me page here and you can follow me on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And you can take a look my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for reminding me about this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Floodlights Nightclub, from the “Slumber Party” episode of Beverly Hills, 90210, is located at 14940 Calvert Street in Van Nuys. The Rub from The Client List is located across the street at 15001 Calvert Street. The back of the Peach Pit and the door to the After Dark from Beverly Hills, 90210 is actually the east side of the warehouse located right next door to The Rub at 15041 Calvert Street. Steve Sander’s bus stop from the “Chuckie’s Back” episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 was built on the west side of that same warehouse. You can read my post on those locations here and here.

June 8, 2012June 7, 2012

Ann’s House from “Parks and Recreation”

As I mentioned in Wednesday’s post about the Sullivan Street Pit from fave new show Parks and Recreation, during our whirlwind stalking adventure last Friday, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I also hit up the house where Ann Perkins (Rashida Jones) lives on the show. Just as it is made to appear on P&R, Ann’s supposed Pawnee, Indiana-area residence is actually located directly behind the undeveloped plot of land in Van Nuys that stands in for the Pit on the series. So, after snapping some pictures of Lot 48, Mike and I walked one block east to do some stalking of the abode. I, of course, found this location thanks to Owen, from the When Write Is Wrong blog – the very same fellow stalker who also informed me of countless other Parks and Recreation locations, including Leslie Knope’s house and the Sullivan Street Pit.

[ad]

Ann’s house first popped up in the pilot of Parks and Recreation and has subsequently been featured in pretty much every episode since. During the first season, Ann lived in the one-story residence with her slacker boyfriend, musician Andy Dwyer (Chris Pratt), but she ends up kicking him out in the episode titled “Rock Show” after discovering that he had asked his doctor to keep his leg casts on for an extra two weeks because, as he explained to Ann, “I really, really like it when you serve me food.” LOL

In real life, Ann’s house, which was originally built in 1948, boasts two bedrooms, one bath and 1,407 square feet and, thankfully, looks pretty much exactly the same in person as it does onscreen in Parks and Recreation. Even the yellow fire hydrant located at the edge of the front lawn is there in real life, which was absolutely shocking to me as I had always assumed that the hydrant was a prop put in place for the show. I mean, has anyone ever seen a fire hydrant situated inside of someone’s front yard before? Will wonders never cease? Winking smile

The property’s back gate area also appears quite frequently on the show.

And the home’s backyard was featured in the Season 1 episode of Parks and Recreation titled “Boys’ Club”, in what was hands down one of my very favorites scenes in the entire series – the scene in which Andy takes a bath in a kiddie pool before chasing his neighbor down the street, while naked and on crutches.

And while I would have bet money on the fact that the real life interior of the home had been used in the filming of the pilot episode before later being recreated on a soundstage (which is a fairly typical scenario), I came across some interior photographs of the residence on fave website Zillow and, as you can see below, it looks NOTHING AT ALL like Ann’s house. So incredibly odd!

While doing research for today’s post, I happened to discover that the apartment complex that formerly stood on the site of the Sullivan Street Pit is actually still visible on Bing aerial maps. LOVE IT!

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Owen, from the When Write Is Wrong blog, for finding this location! Smile

Be sure to “Like” IAMNOTASTALKER on Facebook here and “Friend” me on my personal page here. You can also check out the IAMNOTASTALKER About Me page here. And you can follow me on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Ann Perkins’ house from Parks and Recreation is located at 5655 Murietta Avenue in Van Nuys. The Sullivan Street Pit from the series is located directly behind Ann’s house at at the southeast corner of Hazeltine Avenue and Collins Street in Van Nuys.

June 6, 2012June 6, 2012

The Pit from “Parks and Recreation”

As I mentioned in Monday’s post, this past weekend was an absolute whirlwind! It all started bright and early Friday morning when Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I embarked upon what turned out to be a nine-hour stalking adventure across the greater part of Los Angeles. One of the stops on our trip – and the most exciting for me – was the Sullivan Street Pit, aka the Pit, aka Lot 48, from my new favorite show, Parks and Recreation. Fellow stalker Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, had given me the address to the Pit, along with the addresses of about twenty other P&R locations, a few years back, and when I finally started watching the series last month, I became just a wee-bit obsessed with stalking it. So I added the locale to Friday’s To-Stalk list and dragged Mike right on over there after the two of us grabbed some lunch.

[ad]

The story of the Sullivan Street Pit is as follows: Once upon a time in Pawnee, Indiana, a real estate developer purchased a plot of land, into which he dug a huge hole before subsequently going bankrupt and abandoning the property, leaving behind a giant pit. At some point afterward, a musician named Andy Dwyer (Chris Pratt) fell into the Pit, breaking both of his legs, causing his girlfriend, Ann Perkins (Rashida Jones), to complain about the abandoned site at a public forum. When overly ambitious Parks and Recreation Deputy Director Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) learns of the situation in the series’ pilot episode, she makes it her mission to turn the property into a beautiful public park, and the storylines of Seasons 1 and 2 focus entirely on that (misguided) venture. The Pawnee Pit, which, in actuality, was a giant hole dug by the Parks and Recreation crew at an undeveloped lot in Van Nuys, was featured regularly during the series’ first two seasons.

In the Season 2 episode of Parks and Recreation titled “Kaboom”, the Pit gets filled in, thanks to the efforts of Leslie, Andy, and Ann, and that filled-in lot is then also featured in numerous subsequent episodes.

I cannot tell you how absolutely incredible it was to see the Parks and Recreation Pit in person! The site is, hands down, one of the coolest locations that I have ever stalked in all my years of stalking. In fact, I think I am going to have to add it to my Los Angeles Must-Stalk List. And yes, I do realize that the place is basically just an overgrown, vacant lot, but, for some inexplicable and intangible reason, it seems to have a certain hold on people, including me. I think it has to do with the fact that the site played such an important role on P&R. As Owen said, the Pit is almost a character in and of itself. Add that to the fact that the the Pit was once an actual hole in an actual neighborhood and not some manufactured set piece and you have one must-see locale. Mike had never actually watched an episode of Parks and Recreation before Friday, but after stalking the Pit he went right out and bought Season 1 on DVD. And when I mentioned the place to my girl Miss Pinky Lovejoy, of the Thinking Pink blog (who could normally care less about locations), she said, “Now that’s one site I would really like to stalk.” See what I mean? The Pit just has a certain allure.

As you can see below, the lot, which is absolutely HUGE in person (much larger than I had expected it to be), is currently completely overgrown and it does not appear as if Parks and Recreation has done any filming there in quite some time. Oh, how I would have loved to have seen the place back when it was still in pit form! You can see some fabulous aerial views of what the location looked like during the filming of Season 1 on fave website Virtual Globetrotting.

According to the sign pictured below, the 1.16-acre lot is currently for sale for a whopping $4,999,999. The site has apparently already been permitted for the building of 26 townhomes, with expenses and fees paid, so I am guessing that the story told on P&R (that a developer purchased the land in order to build condos and then went bankrupt) is pretty much exactly what happened in real life, too. I am hoping against all hope that the property does not sell anytime soon. How fabulous would it be if it was indefinitely left its current state for all of us stalkers to enjoy?

And while Ann’s house is, of course, located directly behind the Pit, I am actually saving that location for a separate post.

On a side-note – I would like to send out a huge CONGRATULATIONS to the love of my life, Matt Lanter, who recently proposed to his longtime girlfriend, Angela Stacy. And while it really should have been me you proposed to, Matt, I guess I am just going to have to be the bigger person here! All kidding aside, here’s wishing you all the happiness in the world! Winking smile

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Owen, from the When Write Is Wrong blog, for finding this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Sullivan Street Pit from Parks and Recreation is located at the southeast corner of Hazeltine Avenue and Collins Street in Van Nuys. Ann Perkins’ house is located directly behind the Pit at 5655 Murietta Avenue in Van Nuys.

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!

[ad]

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.

June 14, 2011June 15, 2011

Barone’s Famous Italian Restaurant from “The Office”

One location that I have been on the lookout for for quite a few weeks now is the Italian restaurant where the Dunder Mifflin gang hosted the annual Dundies Awards ceremony in the Season 7 episode of fave show The Office titled “Michael’s Last Dundies”. I had an inkling that the eatery was most likely located somewhere in the Van Nuys area, near Chandler Valley Center Studios where the series is lensed, so one of my first lines of attack was to do a Google search for the terms “Italian restaurant”, “Van Nuys”, and “filming”. My query kicked back numerous results, most of which pointed to an eatery in Valley Glen named “Barone’s Famous Italian Restaurant” and when I looked at an exterior image of the place on fave website LA Time Machines, I saw that it indeed matched up perfectly to what had appeared on The Office. So I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out to stalk the place and grab some lunch two Sundays ago.

Barone’s Famous Italian restaurant was originally founded way back in 1945 by brothers Tony, Frank, and Mike Arpaia, all of whom had just returned home after finishing a stint in the Air Force during World War II, and their sister, Josephine Barone. The siblings purchased a defunct eatery named Barto’s at the corner of Beverly Glen and Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks and, in order to to save a bit of money, simply dropped the “T” and added an “N” and an “E” to the former restaurant’s exterior signage, thus creating “Barone’s Famous Italian Restaurant”. The establishment became so popular that just four years later the family was forced to move it to a larger space located at 14151 Ventura Boulevard, where it remained until 2006, at which time it was moved to its current home on the corner of Oxnard Street and Mammoth Avenue in Valley Glen. It was that Valley Glen location that I set out to stalk two weekends ago.

Barone’s Famous Italian restaurant, which has served such luminaries as Huntz Hall, Leo Gorcey, Lucille Ball, John Wayne, and Jane Russell, is still family-owned and operated to this day, 66 years after its inception. The eatery has long been known for its rectangular-shaped pizzas, an idea which was born out of a need to fit more pies into the restaurant’s tiny oven, but because I am diabetic and have to stay away from carbs, the GC and I were unfortunately not able to sample any. I instead opted for the Chicken Marsala entree, while the GC sampled Barone’s “Famous Stuffed Mushrooms” and a Caesar salad, and, sadly, I have to say that none of it was especially tasty. Sad smile I had such high hopes for the place, too! Being that we saw no less than thirty pies make their way out the door for delivery in the short time that we were dining there, though, I am guessing that it is the pizzas that have kept people coming back to this place time and time again for over six decades.

[ad]

In the “Michael’s Last Dundies” episode of The Office, Michael Scott (aka Steve Carell), Deangelo Vickers (aka Will Ferrell), Pam Beesly (aka Jenna Fischer), Jim Halpert (aka John Krasinksi) and the rest of the Dunder Mifflin Scranton Branch employees gather at the supposed Scranton, Pennsylvania-area Louis Volpe’s Italian Restaurant to celebrate the 2011 Dundie Awards. Chaos, of course, ensues and they all end up getting kicked out of the establishment by the restaurant’s manager after Deangelo screams out the word “vomit” numerous times during his acceptance speech.

Upon entering the restaurant, though, I was shocked to discover that it looked NOTHING at all like what had appeared on the show. From what I was able to discern after talking to the restaurant’s super-nice hostess, while the “Michael’s Last Dundies” episode did use the exterior of Barone’s for some filming, all of the interior scenes were filmed elsewhere – at a location that I am unfortunately still on the hunt for. UPDATE – fellow stalker Owen recently tracked down one of the series’ crew members, who informed him that the interior of Louis Volpe’s was in actuality just a set that was built at Chandler Valley Center Studios.

Some filming has taken place inside of the Barone’s space over the years, though. The eatery was the spot where Mark “Rat” Ratner (aka Brian Backer) took Stacey Hamilton (aka Jennifer Jason Leigh) out on a date, for which he forgot his wallet, in the 1982 movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High. At the time, the restaurant was a German establishment named Hoppe’s Old Heidelberg, which was originally founded in 1958.

Thankfully, as you can see in the above screen capture and photograph, even though the establishment has gone through several ownership changes throughout the years, very little of the interior has been altered since Fast Times at Ridgemont High was filmed almost three decades ago. So incredibly cool!

In 1995, Hoppe’s Old Heidelberg was sold to a new owner, Switzerland native and Chef-of-the-Year-awardee Ueli Huegli, who renamed the place Matterhorn Chef and gave the menu a Swiss flair. In 2005, the restaurant was featured in the Billy Bob Thornton movie Bad News Bears.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Barone’s Famous Italian Restaurant, which served as the exterior of Louie Volpe’s restaurant from the “Michael’s Last Dundies” episode of The Office, is located at 13726 Oxnard Street in Valley Glen. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.

June 9, 2011June 8, 2011

Darryl’s House from “The Office”

This past weekend I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to the San Fernando Valley to do some stalking of the home belonging to Darryl Philbin (aka Craig Robinson) on fave show The Office. Fellow stalker Owen had actually tracked this location down well over a year ago and it is, ironically enough, located directly next-door to the abode where Meredith Palmer (aka Kate Flannery) lives on the series, which I blogged about a few weeks back. And even though I had the address written down in my trusty stalking notebook and even though Owen had reminded me that the two dwellings were located right next door to each other, for some reason I completely forgot that fact when I went to stalk Meredith’s house in early May. Yes, I am most definitely a blonde. 😉 As soon as I realized my mistake, Darryl’s house was moved to the very top of my To-Stalk list and I dragged the poor GC right on back over there this past Sunday afternoon to finally snap some pics of the place.

[ad]

Darryl’s house was actually only featured in one episode of The Office – the Season 6 episode titled “The Meeting”, in which Dunder Mifflin paper salesman Dwight Schrute (aka Rainn Wilson) convinces human resources director Toby Flenderson (aka Paul Lieberstein) that warehouse manager Darryl is lying about his claim that he injured himself while standing on a ladder at work. In order to prove his case, Dwight persuades Toby to conduct a stakeout of Darryl’s home. While on the stakeout – during which Dwight invites Toby to someday visit his “run-of-the-mill-slaughterhouse” where he is currently restoring a life-size train LOL – the two are parked in front of the residence located next door and to the west of Darryl’s.

The two then spot a rather large individual wearing a sports jersey and carrying a humongous bag of dog food whom they assume is Darryl. Dwight immediately pulls his car up to the front of Darryl’s house in order to confront him, while Toby yells out, “Hey you, a**hole! You gonna eat all that dog food yourself?” As it turns out, the person whom they thought was Darryl is actually his younger sister, who was played by actress Jahmilla Jackson.

Once they realize their mistake, Dwight and Toby panic and Dwight tries to drive away quickly, but ends up plowing his car into Darryl’s garbage cans. Interestingly enough, Meredith’s house can be spotted in the background of that part of the scene.

I am very happy to report that Darryl’s house looks pretty much exactly the same in person as it did onscreen.

Even the two blue Adirondack chairs which were situated on the front porch during the episode are there in real life!

Interestingly enough, in the Season 7 episode of The Office titled “Search Committee”, Darryl is shown typing up his resume, on which his home address is visible. It reads “14152 Emelita Ave, Scranton, PA 18505”. In real life, the address of the house used as Darryl’s is 14152 Emelita Street in Van Nuys. SO INCREDIBLY COOL!

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Darryl’s house, from “The Meeting” episode of The Office, is located at 14152 Emelita Street in Van Nuys. During their stakeout, Darryl and Toby are parked in front the residence located at 14156 Emelita Street. Meredith’s house, from the “Michael’s Last Dundies” episode of The Office, is located next-door to Darryl’s at 14142 Emelita Street in Van Nuys. Toby’s house from that same episode of The Office is located just around the corner at 5752 Calhoun Avenue, also in Van Nuys. And Jim and Pam’s house is located just a few blocks northeast at 13831 Calvert Street in Van Nuys.

May 18, 2011May 17, 2011

Meredith’s House from “The Office”

Another location from the Season 7 episode of The Office titled “Michael’s Last Dundies” that fellow stalker Owen tracked down recently was the supposed Scranton, Pennsylvania-area dwelling belonging to the series’ resident alcoholic/hussy/all-around slob Meredith Palmer (aka Kate Flannery), which just so happened to be the locale that I was most interested in stalking! Owen had spotted an address number of “14142” on the roof above Meredith’s porch while watching the episode and figured that the property had to be located in close proximity to Toby’s house, which I blogged about yesterday. And he was right! He ended up finding the place just two and a half blocks west of Toby’s abode. So, I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on over to stalk the place, just a few minutes after visiting Toby’s house, two weekends ago.

[ad]

In the “Michael’s Last Dundies” episode of The Office, Michael Scott (aka Steve Carell) and new manager-in-training Deangelo Vickers (aka Will Ferrell) drop by Meredith’s house at six o’clock in the morning while out delivering the Dundie Award nomination certificates. Upon first approaching the dilapidated property, Michael says, “I’ve never seen this place in the daylight!”, to which Deangelo replies, “This reminds me of Katrina!” LOL LOL LOL

When they arrive at Meredith’s front door, they find it not only unlocked, but ajar.

A few seconds later, Meredith comes meandering up the driveway, shoes in hand, and exclaims, “I’m so busted! Walk of shame!” She then invites Michael and Deangelo inside for breakfast, saying, “I have Vienna sausages and I have . . . napkins.” LOL When Deangelo announces, “I’m not going in there!”, Michael shuts the door quietly and the two sneak off the property. It should come as no surprise to regular viewers of the series that Meredith goes on to win the “Best Mom” Dundie award later that night. LOL

Before arriving at Meredith’s house, I had no idea what on earth to expect as I was not sure if the property had been dressed to appear run-down onscreen or if it actually looked that way in real life. Well, as you can see in the above photographs, amazingly enough, the house looks just as bad in person as it did onscreen, if not worse! When I emailed the above-pictured photographs to fellow stalker/Office aficionado Lavonna, she immediately wrote back asking, “So the house just looks like that????? I thought it had been decorated for the filming!!!!” LOL The Office location scouts must have been beyond ELATED upon discovering the residence and realizing that they would not have to change ANYTHING prior to filming. As Chelsea Handler would say, “Nailed it!”

While there, I, of course, just had to reenact Meredith’s walk of shame by posing with my shoes in my hand. Winking smile

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Meredith’s house, from the “Michael’s Last Dundies” episode of The Office, is located at 14142 Emelita Street in Van Nuys. Here is a map link to the location. Toby’s house from that same episode of The Office is located just around the corner at 5752 Calhoun Avenue, also in Van Nuys. Here is a map link to that location. Jim and Pam’s house is located just a few blocks northeast at 13831 Calvert Street in Van Nuys. Here is a map link to that location.

May 17, 2011May 16, 2011

Toby’s House from “The Office”

The night of April 28th, 2011 was one of the saddest nights I have experienced as of late due to the fact that it marked Steve Carell’s final appearance on fave show The Office. In the days leading up to the airing of his last episode, which was titled “Goodbye, Michael”, I had a fairly large pit in my stomach as I felt like I was gearing up to say goodbye to a good friend, which, in a way, I guess I was. Michael Scott is one of my all-time favorite characters in television history and the fact that he will no longer be visiting my living room each and every Thursday night is seriously depressing. I felt the exact same way when Sex and the City went off the air in February of 2004, but I digress. Anyway, even though I was absolutely dreading it, I was hoping that Michael’s last episode would be a spectacular one, but I have to say that I wound up being sorely disappointed. I felt that both Michael Scott and Steve Carell deserved a much bigger, much more sentimental send-off than what they actually received. I did, however, absolutely LOVE the episode titled “Michael’s Last Dundies”, which aired the week prior to “Goodbye, Michael”, in which the Dunder Mifflin team gathered together to attend the annual Dundie Awards. I thought the episode was a much more appropriate farewell for a man who meant so much to so many people during the past seven years that The Office has been on the air. So when fellow stalker Owen told me that he had tracked down almost all of the locations featured in it – including the house belonging to Michael’s nemesis, Toby Flenderson (aka Paul Lieberstein) – I just about died of excitement and ran right out to stalk them all that very weekend.

[ad]

In the “Michael’s Last Dundies” episode of The Office, Michael Scott and Deangelo Vickers (aka Will Ferrell), Dunder Mifflin’s new Scranton Branch manager-in-training, venture out to all of the Dunder Mifflin employees’ houses – at six in the morning, no less! – to deliver the much-coveted Dundie Award Nominations. After waking up Jim Halpert (aka cutie John Krasinski) and Pam Beesly (aka Jenna Fischer), and seriously angering the series’ resident grouch Stanley Hudson (aka Leslie David Baker), Michael and Deangelo head to Toby’s house. When they arrive, instead of ringing the doorbell and presenting the human resources director with a nomination certificate, Michael yells out, “Toby, you suck!” and then proceeds to throw eggs at his front porch, which causes Deangelo to ask, “Is this an employee of ours?” LOL LOL LOL

During the episode, Owen had spotted an address number of “5752” on the wall of Toby’s house and figured the property had to be located somewhere in close proximity to Jim and Pam’s residence in Van Nuys. And, sure enough, he was right! He ended up finding Toby’s house just a few blocks southwest of Jim and Pam’s.

Sadly, the real life owner of Toby’s house recently installed a rather large fence around the perimeter of the property, which not only completely changed the look of the place, but also made it quite difficult to take pictures. So I must say that this was one stalk that ended up being quite disappointing. I did get to talk to the owner of the property while I was there, though, and he truly could NOT have been nicer and answered all of my silly little questions about the filming of the episode. He informed me that it took about two hours to film the segment, which ended up lasting about ten seconds onscreen.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Toby Flenderson’s house, from the “Michael’s Last Dundies” episode of The Office, is located at 5752 Calhoun Avenue in Van Nuys. Here is a map link to that location. Jim and Pam’s house is located just a few blocks northeast at 13831 Calvert Street in Van Nuys. Here is a map link to that location.

September 1, 2010August 7, 2010

Oscar’s House from “The Office”

Another filming location from The Office that I stalked recently was the ranch-style abode where accounting executive Oscar Martinez (aka Oscar Nunez) lives on the show. I found this location, as always, thanks to fellow stalker Owen who, along with a bit of assistance from fellow stalker Chas, of ItsFilmedThere, has somehow managed to track down pretty much every single locale that ever appeared on the show. Thank you, Owen!

While watching the Season 2 episode of the series titled “The Secret” a few years back, Owen spotted an address number of 5232 in the background of a scene. He immediately set about searching aerial views of neighborhoods near Chandler Valley Center Studios in Van Nuys, where the series is lensed, for homes with a 5232 address number, and, sure enough, it wasn’t long before he had found the right place. YAY! So, while I was in the area with my fiancé – ahem, my husband 🙂 – a few weeks ago, I dragged him right out to stalk Oscar’s abode!

Oscar’s house actually only appeared in “The Secret” episode and has yet to show up again on the series. In the episode, Oscar calls in sick to work on a Friday and his co-worker and part-time volunteer sheriff’s deputy Dwight Schrute (aka Rainn Wilson) becomes convinced that Oscar is not truly ill. Dwight decides to investigate the matter further and, after first conducting interviews with everyone in the office to get their take on whether Oscar is faking or not, he heads over to “the perp’s” house to see if he is actually ill. When he catches the not-yet-out-of-the-closet Oscar with another man in his driveway, he becomes ecstatic, drives up to the couple and proclaims, “Man, you are so busted! Ice skates, shopping bags! I think I know what’s going on here . . . you weren’t sick at all!” Not realizing that he has stumbled upon a much larger secret, Dwight blackmails Oscar into owing him “one great, big, giant favor redeemable by me at a time and place of my choosing.” Have I mentioned how much I love this show? 😉

I am very happy to report that, minus a few trees in the front yard, Oscar’s house looks exactly the same in person as it did on the show. Love it!

[ad]

Located less than a block away from Oscar’s house is the residence where Pam bought a lamp during “Michael Scott’s Dunder Mifflin Scranton Meredith Palmer Memorial Celebrity Rabies Awareness Pro-Am Fun Run Race For the Cure” (and yes, that was the race’s actual name) in the Season 4 episode of the series titled “Fun Run”. During the race, Jim and Pam happen upon an estate sale at a local residence and instead of continuing on with the run in order to “prevent a disease that’s already been cured” (LOL), they decide to do some shopping. I know this probably goes without saying, but I also found this location thanks to fellow stalker Owen. And even though it only appeared very briefly in one episode of the series, because I was already in the area, I just had to stalk it!

And it, too, looks much the same in person as it did on the series, even though very little of it was ever actually seen in the episode.

Ironically enough, the “Fun Run” house looks like it could almost be a twin to Oscar’s house! Many homes in the area actually have that extra little roof gable above the garage and, therefore look quite a bit alike, so it is truly a feat that Owen was able to track down the houses which were used on the show.

Big THANK YOU to Owen for finding both of these locations!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Oscar’s house from The Office is located at 5232 Longridge Avenue in Van Nuys. The house where Pam buys the lamp in the “Fun Run” episode is located a few blocks north of Oscar’s house at 5306 Longridge Avenue.

July 7, 2010July 22, 2010

Jim and Pam’s House from “The Office”

One location that I stalked back in April while fellow stalker Lavonna and her daughter Melissa were in town was the house that Jim Halpert (aka John Krasinksi) purchased for his fiancé Pam Beesly (aka Jenna Fischer) in the Season 5 episode of The Office titled “Frame Toby”. At the time I had never actually seen an episode of the series despite the fact that pretty much everyone in my life (from fellow stalker Owen to my best friend Kylee) had been telling me how fabulous it was. But then, a few weeks ago, I finally took the plunge and rented the show’s entire first season on DVD, and, let me tell you, once I sat down to watch it I simply COULD NOT STOP! It practically became an addiction! They say that laughter is the best medicine and from what I’ve experienced watching The Office that sentiment is absolutely true. I started viewing the series during a particularly stressful time in my life and it brought me so many much-needed laughs that I was lifted right out of my funk. In fact, I can honestly say that never IN MY LIFE have I laughed out loud at a show as much as I have these past few weeks while watching The Office. It’s absolutely hilarious! For those of you holdouts who have never watched the show, you simply must start! But I digress. Anyway, last night I finally saw the “Frame Toby” episode in which Jim and Pam’s house is first shown, which meant that I could finally, finally blog about the place!

On The Office, Jim and Pam’s house actually first belonged to Jim’s parents. He buys it from them as a gift for Pam because, as he says, he wants to help his parents out and because he was able to “save on closing costs”. So darn cute! 🙂 I have to give major props to Owen on finding this location as producers actually changed the property’s address number in the episode in order to throw us stalkers off track!

As you can see in the above photograph, in real life the house is numbered 13831.

But, as you can see in the above screen capture, producers had the second “1” digitally removed from the scene. UGH! I SO hate it when they do that! Changing address numbers has to be my biggest stalking pet peeve! Thankfully though, Owen, acting on a tip from a fellow stalker, started searching the neighborhood surrounding the studio where The Office is filmed and found the house a mere two miles away. YAY!

And I am very happy to report that, aside from the address number, the property looks very similar in person as to how it appeared in the “Frame Toby” episode. Producers very obviously roughed the house up a bit for the filming (i.e. the broken roof gutter, the leaves on the front lawn, and the overgrown foliage), but I am guessing that in the episodes to come, Jim will be shown fixing up the place for Pam. I can’t say that for certain, though, as I am currently only halfway through Season 5, so I’ve still got some viewing to do before I catch up with the current episodes. I’ve actually had to considerably slow down my Office-watching habit this past week, though, because I am absolutely DREADING having no more new episodes to watch. I honestly don’t know what I’ll do with myself when that happens!

The home’s garage area, which on the show Jim converted into an art studio for Pam . . .

. . . is sadly not visible from the street.

Big THANK YOU to Owen for finding this location! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Jim and Pam’s house from The Office is located at 13831 Calvert Street in Van Nuys.