Clueless (1995)

Before there was Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, there was Cher Horowitz in Clueless.

Cher, portrayed by the smoking hot Alicia Silverstone, is a rich and pampered teenager who lives at the top of the heap in Beverly Hills. Even though she spends her days at school, she has more important things on her mind; fashion, spending time at the mall and hanging out with her best friend, Dionne.

But Cher suddenly finds she has a purpose when two of her teachers need a love connection. She makes the match and with one success under her designer belt, she set her sights on another clueless and lonely soul, Tai Fraisier (played by the recently deceased Brittany Murphy). Cher has a harder time with Tai because she wants to set Tai up with Elton, a popular senior and Elton has the hots for Cher.

After one of those good ol' high school parties when the house gets trashed and someone pukes in the pool, Elton drives Cher home. On the way, Elton makes a pass at Cher who becomes increasingly frustrated that he is not interested in Tai. When Elton won't stop groping her, she gets out of the car in the parking lot of Circus Liquor and Elton drives off.

This isn't a good idea. After being left alone in the dark, Cher gets mugged and is totally forced to kiss the pavement. This is like, really bad for her and she has to suck it up and call her ex-stepbrother whom she hates at the time.

The party was supposed to be in Sun Valley but Circus Liquor is actually in North Hollywood which really isn't on the way from Sun Valley to Beverly Hills. Oh well, movies aren't supposed to be geography lessons.

You wanted me to take the pictures at night and make them more like the movie ??

As if!

I didn't want the same fate as Cher. The daytime pics will have to do.

This is not an exciting picture but it does indicate the area where Cher was forced down on the ground by her attacker.

In one of those blink-or-you'll-miss-it shots, Cher walks past the Witch's House which is located in Beverly Hills. She walks by it as she pouts about her disastrous driving test.

When I took these photos, the house was in the middle of a reconstruction. There was a green fence around it and the front yard was a little torn up. It has been around since 1921 so I guess it was time for a little tune-up.

HOW TO GET THERE: Circus Liquor is located at the intersection of Vineland and Burbank in North Hollywood. The Witch's House is at 516 N. Walden Drive in Beverly Hills.

WORTH THE TREK? 4/10 for Circus Liquor. Although it is a really cool looking neon sign, it is just that and the store sells liquor which can be purchased elsewhere. 7/10 for the Witch's House because it is such a unique property sitting among the snobby 90210 estates. Unfortunately it cannot be toured and I have no idea when the renovations will be completed.

Charmed (1998 to 2006)

Not all witches are green, wrinkled, warty and evil.

In the television series Charmed, the witches were young, hot and kicked demonic ass. No wonder it was a guilty pleasure for eight seasons on the now defunct WB channel.

If you're not familiar with the show, there were originally three witchy sisters; Prue, Piper and Phoebe played by Shannen Doherty, Holly Marie Combs and Alyssa Milano respectively. When Shannen Doherty was fired (well, maybe she wasn't fired but something happened and it wasn't good), her character was killed off and the sacred trio was reformed with a half-sister, Paige who was played by Rose McGowan. These sisters lived in the Halliwell Manor which (in the series) was located at 1329 Prescott Street in San Francisco.

In actuality, the Manor is located at 1329 Carroll Street in the Echo Park area of Los Angeles.

This is a small but very beautiful neighborhood of Victorian houses. It isn't difficult to spot the "Charmed house" because it is so distinctive. The camera-toting tourists also gave it away.

In the series, the ground on which the Manor was located was the center of the five essential life elements and was therefore considered a "spiritual nexus." If you're a trio of witches looking to conquer the forces of evil, this is a good thing.

If you're a Charmed fan, then you can't buy the actual house (it's a privately owned residence) but you can come pretty close. The house right next door is up for sale.

Judging by its looks, I'm thinking it's a "fixer-upper."

After checking on http://www.zillow.com/, you can buy this bad baby for less than $700,000! And it comes with seven bedrooms!

Of course, you might get tired of the Charmed fans asking if you've seen any of the Halliwell sisters.

It doesn't take long to walk down Carroll street and admire the other houses. It really doesn't feel like you're in Los Angeles.

And now we come to another famous house. Do you recognize it? Especially with all the MJ stuff going on?

This house was used in Michael Jackson's Thriller video. After her boyfriend turned a little freaky, this is where our heroine ran for safety.

This would not be my first choice for a hiding location if zombies were chasing me.

It still looks a little worn down but maybe they keep it that way for Halloween.



WORTH THE TREK? 9/10. Absolutely. Even if you're not a Charmed fan, this area is worth a visit for the architecture alone.

HOW TO GET THERE: It's easy to find. Echo Park is located in the northeastern part of L.A. and accessible by the 101 or the 110.

Earth Girls Are Easy (1988)

If you have never heard of this movie, I urge you to drop everything that you're doing and rent or download it right now. I suggest that you get drunk before the movie starts--a few shots of tequila will do--and then sit back, relax and enjoy one of the most underrated comedies of the 80s.

Earth Girls Are Easy tells the tale of three aliens (Wiploc, Zeebo and Mac) who crash land their spaceship in the San Fernando valley. Thankfully they land in a pool which is owned by Valerie, a typical valley girl. Instead of calling the authorities, she does what any quick thinking girl would do; she takes them to her best friend (a hilarious Julie Brown) and gives them all makeovers. Eh Voila! They all turn out to be hunky alien studs who want to paaaaaaarty!

Of course, the aliens get into lots of trouble and Valerie has a hard time keeping them on the down low. At one point, Zeebo and Wiploc take off in a stolen car and get chased by the police. At the end of the chase, the car becomes airborne and crashes into a donut sign which is (strangely enough) in the shape of a large donut.

Randy's Donuts is an actual donut shop located at 805 West Manchester Boulevard located in Inglewood near the L.A. airport. The huge donut is a well known local landmark and was built in 1953.


You can't miss the big freakin' donut. I'm not sure what the sign is made of but the roof must be sturdy enough to support it.

Weirdly enough, I did have a difficult time finding the shop. My GPS sent me in the wrong direction and I ended up in a very scary neighborhood. I was afraid that I was going to get shot and killed all because I wanted to take pictures of a big ass donut.

Thankfully I had my iphone with me and it told me the correct directions. Phew!

After all that work, I had to buy some donuts. I got a selection of cinnamon buns, jelly filled and old fashioned chocolate. They were most excellent and I devoured three of them on my journey back home.

(While I don't advocate eating and driving, the traffic on the 405 was so slow I could have read the entire Wall Street Journal and still got home safely.)

Earth Girls Are Easy isn't the only movie to feature Randy's Donuts. If you've seen the disaster flick 2012, you might have witnessed the big donut rolling down the freeway.

HOW TO GET THERE:  If you have a Nuvi GPS, I don't recommend using it. At least, don't use mine because it took me to Compton and nearly got me killed. A better idea is to take the 405 and get off at Manchester Boulevard.

WORTH THE TREK?  9/10. The Donut sign is a great landmark and worth seeing. The awesome donuts are a sweet bonus.

Rebel Without a Cause (1955)

No blog about movie locations would be complete without a visit to the Griffith Observatory.

On these grounds, James Dean, Nathalie Wood and Sal Mineo were filmed in all their "teenage" angst for the classic tragedy, Rebel Without a Cause. (Mr. Dean wasn't actually a teenager, he was 24 at the time.)

The Observatory plays a central part to the movie. Early on, the high school class takes a field trip there. After the presentation in the planetarium, everyone goes outside for a good old fashioned knife fight. Nobody gets killed until later when Buzz, the leader of the bullies, drives over a cliff.

But that's not it for the Observatory. Jim, Plato (Sal Mineo) and Judy (Nathalie Wood) run back to the park because the bullies are chasing them. Plato falls asleep so Jim and Judy take the opportunity to wander off by themselves. Judy proclaims her love for Jim even though her ex-boyfriend is not even dead by 12 hours. When Plato is woken up by the bullies and finds out that Jim and Judy have deserted him, he goes batshit crazy and runs to the Observatory. Since this is a tragedy it doesn't end well; Plato is gunned down by the police on the front steps.

If none of this makes sense, go see the movie. It is well worth it. Sorry for the spoilers.

The Observatory is a beautiful building, both inside and out. It is high on the list for must-see L.A. attractions for Korean tourists.

Here are the steps where poor Plato was gunned down. It was probably not a good idea to come out waving a gun when the police have you surrounded.

If you remember the film, this is the area where the knife fight occurred. Nothing much has changed since 1955 except for the skyscrapers in the distance.

It doesn't take long to walk around the grounds. They are very well maintained. And there is free parking!!

Every time I see this part of the Observatory, I think of R2D2. Hmmm, I wonder if George Lucas came here and found some inspiration.

Overlooking the Hollywood sign, there is a statue dedicated to James Dean and Rebel Without a Cause. As the plaque points out, there have been many other films made here but Rebel is the most famous.

James Dean didn't even live long enough to see his classic come to the big screen. The film opened on October 27, 1955 almost one month after his fatal car crash.

HOW TO GET THERE: The Griffith Observatory is part of the large Griffith Park located in the northern part of L.A. county. It is easily accessible by the 5 freeway.

WORTH THE TREK? 9/10 for the beautiful grounds and the amazing views. Although I personally find that the planetarium is a good place to fall asleep, it might be entertaining for the kids. And did I mention that there is FREE PARKING??

Poltergeist (1982)

Since Halloween is fast approaching, I thought I would go stalk a house from one of my favorite movies from the 1980s.

Poltergeist was The Exorcist for my generation. When I saw it for the first time, I felt like I was strapped into a roller coaster and there was no way I was getting off until I had one hell of a ride. This movie preyed on our fears with killer trees, strangling clowns and spirits that made you rip off your own face. Wasn't it a relief when the medium played by Zelda Rubinstein proclaimed that the house was clean?

Except it wasn't.

The house where the film was shot is located in Simi Valley, a community to the northwest of L.A. The address is 4267 Roxbury Street.

I recognized the house as soon as I saw it. Over the past 25 years, there have been some changes (and apparently it was damaged during the 1994 Northridge earthquake) but it is still very recognizable.

At the end of the movie, the Beast threw a complete temper tantrum. Because he couldn't have the little girl, he imploded the entire house and sucked it into another dimension.

At that point, the developer realized that building on top of a burial ground was just not worth it.

HOW TO GET THERE: Take the 405 north and the 118 west and you'll run right into Simi Valley. It's a beautiful area and I wanted to go on two hikes but I couldn't find the trailheads.

WORTH THE TREK? 6/10 The house does have a big role in the movie considering its implosion at the climax. However it is a personal property and sadly I wasn't able to tell if there was the skeletal swimming pool in the backyard.

Arrested Development (2003 to 2006)

Arrested Development was a television show that I discovered two years after it had been cancelled. I think a lot of people would agree that this was a show that got the axe way too soon. Yes, it was in quirky overdrive but the humor was consistently good and all the characters were lovable in their own dysfunctional way.

The show revolves around the Bluths, a very wealthy family who suddenly become very poor because of Daddy's financial indiscretions. The only honorable sibling, Michael Bluth, tries to hold the family together and is more or less successful. The pilot, which I saw on Netflix, is one of the funniest I have ever seen.

If you've watched the show, the family supposedly had a frozen banana stand in Newport Beach. Most people remember the stand because there was a large lighthouse sitting right next to it.

But the real location isn't in Newport Beach. It is actually in Marina del Rey in a place called Fisherman's Village.

The location of the stand was right in front of the stone wall which is about midway between the bell and the lighthouse.

Here is another view of where the stand was.

The lighthouse is the home of a small take-out restaurant. I love the messy hamburgers which are served by a scowling Chinese woman.

I also had a chance celebrity enounter while I was there. Harrison Ford darted out of a door just while I was passing by. He must have a great make-up artist because he looked years younger than what he normally does.

HOW TO GET THERE: The best way is to park at the Santa Monica pier and rent a bike. Bicycle all the way along the bike path, passing through Santa Monica, Venice and eventually arriving in Marina del Rey. If you don't stop along the way, it should only take about 45 minutes.

WORTH THE TREK? 8/10 but only if you ride a bicycle and enjoy the scenery. Alas, the famous banana stand, as well as the show, is no longer standing.
But there is good news! I have heard that an Arrested Development movie is in the works. Stay tuned.