Category

Filming Locations

I love it when I can find a place Roddy McDowell stood. Whether it’s on a beach or on a studio backlot.

A rounded front building faces the street, atop it a tall spire stretches toward a bright blue sky. Near the bottom red letters spell out "Crossroads of the World." Atop the spire a globe.

The Violent History of LA’s Iconic Crossroads of the World

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Sunset Boulevard is synonymous with Hollywood. It’s home to a plethora of iconic buildings and linked to many legendary people. One such building is Crossroads of the World, a bizarre little 1930s shopping center turned office complex that looks like something out of a Disney theme park, with a steamship style building “sailing” past storefronts…

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Me, standing in front of Pasadena City Hall, a tall, domed, Mediterranean style building, wearing a long pale green dress with small white flowers.

Stumbling Upon Pasadena’s Beautiful City Hall

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Last Sunday, Patrick and myself met up with some friends for tea at a tea room in Pasadena. Wanting to get out and wear my vintage Gunne Sax dresses more, I opted for one, and in walking from the parking structure to the tea room we stumbled upon the gorgeousness that is Pasadena’s City Hall,…

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Myself standing in front of the Pioneertown Motel sign, wearing a butter yellow leather jacket with dark brown fringe, a t-shirt featuring the cover of the Eagles' album "Hotel California," jeans, and a cream colored flat top cowboy hat.

Sleep like Gene Autry at the Pioneertown Motel

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After Patrick wrapped up his conference in Palm Springs, we headed to the high desert to spend a couple of nights at the Pioneertown Motel. Long time readers may be familiar with previous visits to Pioneertown, a real town originally built as a live-in backlot of sorts made exclusively for westerns back in 1946. But…

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A red stone building with arches in the middle stands tall with text overlay reading "American Horror Story Filming Location: Old Orange County Courthouse"

American Horror Story’s Creepy Briarcliff Manor is Actually a Courthouse

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Like many, I’ve been sucked into the anthology series that is American Horror Story. If you’re unfamiliar with the series, it is a horror inspired show, where each season season has its own individual story to tell while also loosely linking the seasons together. And while the show has taken place across the United States, many…

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Me riding the carousel.

Exploring the Historic Santa Monica Pier

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Nothing quite says summer like a day at the beach, especially if that beach is lucky enough to have a pier filled with rides such as a carousel, roller coaster, and more. Around the turn-of-the-century California’s coast was dotted with what was known at the time as “pleasure piers” a wooden boardwalk that jutted over…

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Me standing outside of the Gamble House.

The Gamble House – Pasadena’s Craftsman Masterpiece

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California is renowned for its Craftsman architecture. But, if I’m totally honest, I’m really not the biggest fan of the American Craftsman Movement of the late 19th and early 20th century. That isn’t to say I can’t appreciate it, as it proved to be innovative, and even influential on Mid-Century Modern, but still, I really…

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Me sitting at one of the gorgeous turquoise and white booths.

Grand Re-Opening of George’s 50s Diner in Long Beach

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On December 16, 2016, one of Long Beach’s historic landmarks was in trouble. A fire tore through George’s 50s Diner, leaving the interior of this Googie masterpiece completely gutted. Miraculously the exterior was virtually untouched. But it was still a long road to rebuild, and a year and a half later, this icon is open…

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Vasquez Rocks: Outlaw Hideout Turned Hollywood Filming Location

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What do Westworld, The Wild Wild West, Star Trek, Army of Darkness, and Zorro all have in common? Well, aside from being awesome, they all, at one point or another, filmed at Vasquez Rocks. For me, Vasquez Rocks is a gorgeous natural landscape that is a perfect meld of my favorite things – it is…

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