A Glassell Park Star Is Born

Let's talk about that surprise cameo early in "A Star Is Born."

Of course, I'm referring to the Super-A Foods grocery store on Division in Glassell Park. (Quite a few gasps of recognition at the Highland Theatre last night when this scene began!)

L.A. Cameo: Two Videos About Los Angeles History You Must Watch This Weekend

Some great L.A.-centric videos for you to watch this weekend:

First up, the debut episode of KCET's "Lost LA," which is completely up my alley. Here's the info:

Much of L.A.’s past is lost to history -- but we can rediscover it in the region’s archives. This new series, a co-production of KCETLink and the USC Libraries, in collaboration with L.A. as Subject, brings Southern California history to life by marrying archival materials with innovative forms of documentary storytelling. Hosted by L.A. historian Nathan Masters, this original series of three episodes showcases nine emerging filmmakers. From rotoscoping to cinema verité, the range of the filmmakers’ techniques mirrors the diversity of their backgrounds. But a common thread runs through their films: each brings the primary sources of L.A. history to the screen in surprising new ways. What previously hidden stories will the next generation of filmmakers unearth in the collections of L.A. As Subject members? Tune in to find out.

Watch the first episode below:



Journalist Colin Marshall's "The City in Cinema" series next tackles downtown's famed Bonaventure Hotel. Curbed LA has the details:

The Bonaventure Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles is supposedly one of the most photographed buildings in the world, but for all its appearances, it's a pretty inscrutable place: giant, reflective tubes on the outside and spiraling concrete walkways inside. [Marshall] starts to unravel the allure of the Bonaventure, which is both futuristic (see it in Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and Interstellar) and dystopian (car chases, falling deaths, shootouts, Batman, the climactic rave in Strange Days, and so many disaster movies—Marshall narrates that it "must appeal strongly to disaster filmmakers looking for structures to destroy with digital effects, given that it looks computer generated even in real life.")

The Bonaventure opened in 1976, designed by John C. Portman, and has since appeared in dozens of movies and TV shows, from the opening of the 1980 series It's a Living to This is Spinal Tap, Escape From LA, Heat, True Lies, and, naturally, Swordfish. Marshall shows in his video how filmmakers employ its iconic exterior, its Brutalist base, and its famously transcendent elevators; use it as a shorthand for Los Angeles or move it to Shanghai or Atlanta; give it new features as needed, like balconies on "the most obviously balconyless hotel in Los Angeles"; and completely and bafflingly ignore the rotating rooftop lounge.

Watch below!

Hipster Zombies: Here's Where That "Fear the Walking Dead" Church Is

Photo: Eastsider LA
The zombie apocalypse begins in Silver Lake.

That's the home to the former Bethany Presbyterian Church, which plays a large role in the first episode of AMC's "Fear the Walking Dead." We first see the effects of the zombies in Los Angeles there, and one of the show's main characters witnesses a zombie bloodbath.

In real life, the empty church sits in a fairly pricey and desirable neighborhood, and indeed, there has been talk for some time of turning the Bethany (located at Griffith Park Blvd. and Lucile St.) into a boutique hotel.

Coincidentally, we were just there last night, eating dinner at nearby Pine & Crane restaurant, at Sunset Triangle Plaza. Yep, the chruch is still there, boarded up and creepy. It's not always abandoned, though: It's been used as the home of the Silver Lake Chorus. But as Eastsider LA wrote way back in 2011, plans are afoot to completely renovate the Bethany:

The imposing front doors to the former Bethany Presbyterian Church in Silver Lake are locked shut, the entryway is strewn with trash and shards of broken terracotta roof tiles litter an overgrown garden. A man sleeps alongside of the building, which is topped by a rusting white cross. The church, which neighbors say has not been used on a regular basis for several years, has definitely seen better days since parishioners gathered 80 years ago to lay the cornerstone for the $75,000 Romanesque-style church and Sunday school at the corner of Griffith Park Boulevard and Lucile Street. The church, however, may once again serve as a sanctuary – not for the faithful but for tourists and travelers wanting to bed down in Silver Lake style. The leader of this church revival is Silver Lake resident Dana Hollister, who has renovated many other neglected neighborhood buildings and helped open popular restaurants and bars, including Cliff’s Edge and the 4100 Bar.

Hollister is now taking on perhaps her most ambitious project, turning Bethany Presbyterian into a boutique hotel with 20 rooms and a “food component” or restaurant. “I want to do something that is conservative and appropriate,” she said.

The church is spooky enough that last year it was the site of the scary play "Delusion: Masque of Mortality."



1629 Griffith Park Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 9002

L.A. Cameo: Max's Glendale as "Fresh Off the Boat's" Cattleman's Ranch

On ABC's new comedy "Fresh of the Boat," young Eddie Huang's family moves to 1994 Orlando in order to open a steak restaurant called "Cattleman's Ranch."



In real life, the establishing shot is actually the Glendale location of fried chicken chain Max's of Manila. Here's our 2006 Rate-A-Restaurant review of Max's, which is a staple for big family gatherings.

Filmmaker Jay Duplass on Eagle Rock, "Where Hipsters Go To Die or Have Children"

"Togetherness," the new HBO comedy from brothers Mark and Jay Duplass, takes place in a neighborhood I know very well: Eagle Rock. Speaking at the recent TV Critics Association press tour, the Duplass brothers wanted to make it clear that, despite the usual cliche of calling a setting a "character" on a show, Eagle Rock is not a character on "Togetherness." It just happens to be where these characters live.

Nonetheless, Eagle Rock serves a major symbol for explaining where these couples currently stand in life:

“Eagle Rock is on the fringe of Los Angeles,” Jay Duplass said. “It’s often said that it’s a place where hipsters go to die or go to have children. It’s like a weigh station and our characters have one foot in Los Angeles and one foot out. They’re not sure if they fit in, not sure what they’re doing. It was important to set the show in that particular neighborhood.”

Added Mark Duplass, “The location is representative of how we see the world. How we strive to be closer to our family, kids and friends. But as soon as we get that, we want to eject and be on a trip by ourselves. It’s sad and funny. When we started cooking up the show, that’s the core of what we wanted to make.”

After the session, I asked Jay Duplass to expand on why he lives in Eagle Rock -- and where he tends to hang out.

"I'll just say this, Eagle Rock is perfect," he told me. "I walk a lot. I just listen to music and try to think about my stories, so I walk three or four miles a day. It is the best walking neighborhood ever. Ther are hills, there's flatland, it's urban, there are beautiful houses, it's got everything. It's maintained a little bit of a sense of a small town.

"It was a town, it was eaten up by Los Angeles, but it's maintained its character. It's in its own little valley and pocket, and that's what makes it special. I actually just moved Saturday, and I just moved four blocks from my old house. And I know five or six other families who, same as me, when their kids got bigger and they couldn't fit in their tiny little 2-bedroom Craftsman anymore, moved into a bigger house because they loved the neighborhood."

Fans of "Togetherness" from Eagle Rock will notice several familiar spots, including Peekaboo Playland and Cafe Beaujolais.

"Cafe Beaujolais is a French restaurant that is extremely reasonably priced," he says. "It is just unbelievable French food, and it's where a lot of French ex-pats actually come, drive out to Eagle Rock for French food. It's right next to Casa Bianca, the Italian place that everybody knows and half of LA think it has the best pizza."

Uh-oh, now things are getting real. I love Casa Bianca. I asked Duplass for his opinion. He was careful not to criticize.

"I don't want to diss a wonderful restaurant in my neighborhood but I actually like Brownstone down the street. It's more New York traditional street pizza. That's just my preference.

"It's all going to be about food. Spitz is Lebanese, Middle Eastern mix. And The Oinkster is an obvious one, where you get your pastrami and your half-pound burger and you're never going to beat it."

And what about famed coffee shop Swork?

"I'll write at Swork, sometimes I will drive up to the Eagle Rock and write in my car. I used to write at Le Petit Beaujolais but that closed down. I spend all my time there."

Sounds like a man after my own heart. "Togetherness," which was recently renewed for a second season, airs Sunday nights at 10 p.m. on HBO.

L.A. Cameo: Commercial Shoot Places New York Taxis in Downtown

Spotted outside the Last Bookstore at Spring and 5th: A bunch of New York taxi cabs. Yep, a typical sight in L.A., particularly downtown, as it once again plays New York. This time for a commercial.

L.A. CAMEO: Here's Where "Mad Men" Shot Those Burger Chef Scenes

My pal Pat over at Eating LA asked me the other day where "Mad Men" shot Sunday's Burger Chef scenes -- including the moment where Don, Peggy and Pete dig into some greasy burgers. I checked with the "Mad Men" folks, and they could only tell me that it was shot at an empty restaurant in Rialto, Calif.

A quick bit of Google searches later, I finally found Roadside Peak's 2005 mention of Rialto's Jim's Burgers. A bit more Googling, and I got the address and then a Google Images snapshot from 2012 (above).



Yep, this is it, spruced up quite nice. Here's the cool part: This actually once was a Burger Chef location. Just about as authentic as you can get! Here's an illustration of what the Burger Chef restaurants once looked like:



The former Jim's Burgers location can be found at 765 East Foothill Boulevard -- that's Route 66, adding even more classic flair -- in Rialto. (Here's the Yelp entry.) It looks a lot nicer now than this photo of the interior uploaded in 2011. Hell, someone ought to take advantage of the newly restored joint and actually revive Burger Chef there!



Franklin Avenue was last in Rialto to visit the famed Wigwam Motel (the one with the teepee hotel rooms) on Route 66, for Chris Nichols' birthday. Read all about it here. Also, check out more of our "Mad Men" location scouting here.

And now, a montage of classic Burger Chef spots. Maybe Peggy and Don came up with a few of these?



Photo credits: Justina Mintz/AMC

L.A Cameo: Here's Where "Mad Men" Went In Episode 2

Not a lot of location shooting on this week's episode of Mad Men, "A Day's Work." But in one early scene, Don Draper (Jon Hamm) meets with Dave Wooster (David James Elliott) at a restaurant/bar -- and in real life, it was easy to tell where the scene was actually shot: Downtown's P.E. Cole's, one of the oldest still-operating restaurants (along with rival Philippe the Original) in town.



Mad Men loves Cole's. Here's a 2010 post I did on Cole's and other L.A. eateries that have appeared on the show.

OK, now, I have to admit, I couldn't place the diner where Don and Sally eat and have their big father/daughter breakthrough:



I know I'm going to kick myself when one of you tells me. So do share!

UPDATE: Michael Pop ‏sent me a Tweet to let me know that the diner was Colonial Kitchen in San Marino! And so it is:

L.A. Cameo: Slate on "Modern Family' And Its Accurate Los Angeles Geography

Over the years "Modern Family" has gone from barely acknowledging its setting to taking full advantage of its Los Angeles locale. The comedy's characters shop at the Grove, regularly show up at the Century Plaza Hotel (above, which doubles for many locations) and plenty of other West L.A. locales.

In a column for Slate, writer Andy Bowers sees even more similarities between the show and his life on the westside:

Mitchell Pritchett has taken over my office. I mean that literally, or as literally as possible when one is discussing a fictional character. If you watch last week’s episode of ABC’s Modern Family, you’ll see Mitch start a new job at the Center for Justice. They give him an office with an exposed brick wall, the office in which he finds several intriguing notes left in the desk drawer by the previous occupant. But in real life, the previous occupant of that room was me. (I recently moved to another office that also appears briefly in these scenes; it’s the one to the right of the vending machine, a machine that, sadly, they only brought in for the shoot.

If you live or work in West L.A., you’ve probably had a few Modern Family encounters of your own. And if you live around here and watch the show, it’s easy to forget these people are fictional. They feel like real neighbors who inhabit the same world we do, much more so than any other TV show I’ve ever seen. They’ve filmed at my daughter’s middle school, and Luke and Manny currently attend the public high school (Pali) that they’d probably attend if they were, you know, real people. The Pritchett and Dunphy kids use the playground and sports facilities at the same park we do. Claire’s firing range is in a strip mall that is walking distance from my house (although that particular business does not exist), and the intersection where she tried to get a stop sign installed is one I pass through every day on my bike ride to work (thankfully, it already has a four-way stop). We also regularly see the MF crew as they shoot driving scenes—which involve complicated rigs in front of the characters’ car—all over the local streets.

That's nothing new in Los Angeles, even in this age of runaway production. Film shoots are a regular way of life here, of course. And we regularly chronicle how "Mad Men," "Parks and Recreation" and some of our other favorite shows use Los Angeles spots to double as out-of-town settings. But Bowers points out a rare opportunity: "Modern Family's" Dunphy house is actually on the market right now, and for sale at $2.3 million.

OK, the fantasy of living in pricey Los Angeles real estate. That is the stuff that Hollywood dreams are made of.

L.A. Cameo: Here Are the Actual Sites From "Mad Men's" Season 7 Premiere

On AMC's "Mad Men," not only does Los Angeles play New York, but it sometimes gets to play itself too. We've chronicled quite a few "Mad Men" shooting locations over the years, including the Victorian home in last season's finale that doubled for Don Draper's childhood whorehouse. Now "Mad Men" is back for its seventh and final season, and it looks like the show will rely even more on Los Angeles locales (now that some of the show's characters actually reside in the 1969 version of our city). Above, you can see Don Draper (Jon Hamm) in front of one of the 1960s-era tile mosaics found at LAX. Here are more sites from episode 1:



(Sorry for the bad coloring here... for some reason I had a difficult time taking screen shots last night.) Above and below, Megan Draper (Jessica Pare) picks up her hubby Don at the Trans World Airlines terminal at LAX.

Here's a pull back shot of LAX from the episode. BUT wait a sec... that's not LAX at all! It's actually the old terminal at Ontario International Airport. Yep, although the shot of Don on the people mover was indeed filmed at LAX, the outdoor scene between Megan and Don was filmed many miles away in Ontario.



Above and below, here's Terminal One now, which is used for offices and storage.



Film shoots at the Ontario airport are also a regular sight -- "Argo" filmed its airport scenes here.



Above and below, Don and Megan meet Megan's new Los Angeles agent at a fancy restaurant. It's never revealed where they're supposed to be. Maybe Scandia? Chasen's?



In real life, the scene was shot at the infamous Dresden Room on Los Feliz, made famous by "Swingers" and still the home of Marty and Elayne!



The Dresden has been around since 1954, so maybe that indeed is where Megan and Don were dining.



Above and below, Joan (Christina Hendricks) meets Wayne Barnes (Dan Byrd) for drinks at a New York restaurant.



Of course, most Angelenos could spot that it actually was the Biltmore Hotel's Gallery Bar (below).



"Few bars in Los Angeles enjoy the fame of the Biltmore's Gallery Bar," the hotel proudly states.



California Pete hits the famous Canter's on Fairfax.



Not much needed to be changed on this Canter's shoot; as seen below, the restaurant still looks like it's from a bygone era.



I'm bummed a young Rodney Bingenheimer didn't walk by. But other than that, a stellar week one for L.A. cameos in "Mad Men."

L.A. CAMEO: Pharrell Williams' "Happy" Hits Some of Our Favorite Los Angeles Spots (VIDEO)

It's not a new video, but worth checking out once again, now that Pharrell Williams' "Happy" has been nominated for best song at this year's Academy Awards. Check out 24 Hours of Happy to get the full 24-hour experience of the music video... but here's a more manageable 4-minute version. It's fun trying to identify as many L.A. spots as you can; I especially love seeing the Los Angeles River bike path and Los Feliz Blvd. bike bridge.

L.A. CAMEO: The Early Los Angeles of TNT's "Mob City"

You may remember last summer I posted some pics from the set of Frank Darabont's new Los Angeles noir-themed TNT drama "Mob City" (back then it was still being called "Lost Angels"), including the meticulously constructed re-creation of 1940s-era City Hall. At the time, I chatted with location manager Scott Poole (who also works on "Mad Men"), who lamented all of the renovation and gentrification taking place downtown. It's great for the city, but alas, not good for productions looking to re-create old L.A.

"The surge of money being put in downtown (is a problem for us)," he told me. "The places we've filmed over the part 20 years that had still been intact, they're all being renovated."

Still, Poole and his team did a good job utilizing the spots that can still double for 1940s L.A. And the show also managed to balance a mix of real and faux locations. See below for images from the second episode of "Mob City."


This is 1947 Los Angeles, so here's a Red Car from the Sunset line.


Alexa Davalos (as Jasmine Fontaine) steps off the Red Car.


The Hollywood outpost of Miceli's (where interiors were also filmed for a scene).


This may be my favorite detail of the whole episode: A newspaper stand with the "Los Angeles Examiner" logo on it. (The Examiner, of course, was famous for emphasizing its Black Dahlia coverage during the year that "Mob City" is set.)


Here's some creative license. Obviously the seedy Bunker Hill of that era is long gone, so it's all up to the producers to create something. "Bunker Hill Bill's" never existed, but for the purpose of "Mob City" it did.


You can't do a period Los Angeles drama without a Union Station scene! And it looks great here.


Davalos, as Jasmine, strolls inside. Luckily, there's still plenty of Union Station that looks authentically straight out of the 1940s.


A flashback in the episode takes us back to a re-creation of how 1920s downtown L.A. must have felt like.


My other favorite shot from this episode: In the 1927 flashback, you catch a glimpse of City Hall (completed in 1928) under construction.

Glendale Plays Chicago: The "Shake It Up" Hospital

So I was watching the series finale of Disney Channel's "Shake It Up" (yes, I was watching the series finale of Disney Channel's "Shake It Up" -- DON'T JUDGE ME I HAVE KIDS) when one of the girls on the show is rushed to the hospital -- the rather generically named "Chicago Hospital," to be exact.

"Hmm," I think to myself. "That hospital sure looks familiar. And hey, that bus looks like the Glendale Beeline bus, with the wording digitally painted out." Oh yeah, it's Glendale Memorial Hospital, which I drive past every single day of my life:

We Found It, The Actual L.A. Location of Don Draper's Childhood Whorehouse

Pity young Dick Whitman/Don Draper. The childhood orphan wound up growing up in a Pennsylvania brothel with a stepmother who didn't love him. (At least he had the occasional Hershey's bar.) Season six of "Mad Men" featured several flashbacks to Don's teenage years in the whorehouse, leading to the final scene of the season finale -- in which Don (Jon Hamm) takes his kids to the home (now, years later, in complete disrepair, see above).

In real life, Don's childhood whorehouse is actually in the historic Los Angeles neighborhood of Angelino Heights, a popular spot for film shoots (particuarly period pieces like "Mad Men"). The neighborhood, located just south of Dodger Stadium/Chavez Ravine, is known for its collection of still-standing Victorian homes.



Don Draper's childhood whorehouse, located at the corner of Douglas and Carroll (that's the Google Maps photo above), was built in 1887; is six bedrooms/one bath; 3,160 square feet -- and valued at just under $600,000, according to Zillow. (That sounds remarkably low, given the size and the historic value.)

Here's the Zillow entry:



Note a few important differences: "Mad Men" added *a lot* of CGI to make the house look more rundown than it really is. Plus it's surrounded by apartment buildings in that digitally altered scene from the show, but in real life it's just more homes. (At least the power lines on the left appear to be authentic.) Interestingly, this publicity shot for the show, found on Richard Rushfield's Tumblr, appears to also be without those digital alterations:



How popular is this house as a film location? The Google Maps photo of the house happens to catch a shooting trailer and "No Parking" signs all around the house:



Meanwhile, Nicole Verhamme, who lives across the street from Don Draper's childhood whorehouse and goes by the handle @slowdowncoletrane, has chronicled the "Mad Men" shoots. Check out this pic she snapped from her window:



"Once again, woke up on the set of a Mad Men shooting, & yes, that IS Jon Hamm right in front of me...!!!!" she writes. (Pic by @slowdowncoletrane)

Obviously they did add some junk to the front yard, it's not nearly as nice as the yard in the Google Maps pic. But the house sure doesn't look this shabby:



And by the way, it goes without saying, but there are no smokestacks on the other side of the street, despite this shot:



We've marveled for years about how "Mad Men" has expertly managed to turn Los Angeles locations into mid-century New York (as well as Rome and other locales). Check out some of our past posts here.

How amazing was that Season 6 finale, by the way? It really sets the stage for perhaps a new, introspective Don Draper. And it also gives us plenty to think about as we wait for the show's final season next year. I spoke to creator Matt Weiner about the season ender; read that TV Guide Q&A here.