altadenablog

"Criminal Minds" at large on Mendocino

 

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by Chris Considine

Well, at least those trying to CATCH characters with "Criminal Minds." In the late afternoon Thursday, Mendocino from Allen to Lake was  the scene of "Criminal Minds" camera car and stars with a hefty escort of four sheriff’s cruisers. With the sheriffs leading the way and bringing up the rear, these camera scenes inside the typical black SUV of a law enforcement agency have been going back and forth filming a new episode. Inside the car are the stars Mathew Gubler and Jeanne Tripplehorn from the current series season. The "parade" did head down Allen and past Washington and then turned in an unknown direction.

 

 

Hollywoodena: Hi, we're big fans

Some of the evidence of a film crew on New York Dr. near Michigan Ave, captured by reader Nick Marshall.

Outlaws on Boston

Actually, the cast of the upcoming show "Outlaw," which filmed some scenes on Boston on Aug. 17.  Lars Momsen shares some of his pictures with us.

Actress Carly Pope getting primped in the makeup chair.

Pope (who plays an investigator) with actor Jesse Bradford (who plays a law clerk in the series).

It takes a lot of people to make a TV show come together.

"Outlaw" stars Jimmy Smits as a former Supreme Court justice.  In his last TV series, he was the President. And in his last movie, he was the prince of the planet Alderaan! (Geek warning, shoulda let you know earlier).

CSI: Altadena at Mountain View Cemetery this week

By Chris Considine
Special to Altadenablog

Altadena continues to host productions of the most popular TV show episodes in the world.

The long-running original CSI (Las Vegas) has been shooting at our famed Mountain View Cemetery this week. A massive union production team of over 120 people transformed a big section of this historic cemetery into a crime scene Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday this week.

A huge grid was constructed in an archeological fashion, while on Monday the pyro-crew went to work on some vehicles on the scene. I wish I had been there for that part of the show, but did wander around in amazement at the number of people that it takes for a production of this magnitude on Wednesday.

It’s great to see Los Angeles people working steadily right here in Altadena, and not being undercut by runaway production to other states or our nemesis location of British Columbia, Canada. Amazing to watch all the vehicles, lighting crews, set designers, writers, PA’s, generators, aircraft handlers, camera operators, sound people, caterers, and the like, working hard to make the deadlines and to keep the show on budget. And it’s easy to see that CSI has a BIG BUDGET for production.

 
 

I don’t want to give away what I witnessed, because after all, it is a police drama with great writing that relies on surprise endings and twists to get those high ratings year after year. I learned also that the Mountain View Cemetery and Mausoleum are used for filming and TV production about 150 days a year! That’s a lot of shooting and a lot of jobs and income for both the location and the County, so let’s hope that continues.

"Conan the Governor" and other tales from the trenches by Paul M. Sammon

Ed note: we are proud to welcome our new correspondent, community journalist Erika McCarden.

by Erika McCarden
for Altadenablog

Friends of the Altadena Library welcomed local author Paul M. Sammon as a guest speaker at its monthly Board Meeting on Monday, June 7.

Sammon stopped by the Library’s Community Room to discuss his work in the film industry, and sign his latest books: Conan the Phenomenon – a collection of the many stages and developments of the Conan character, with the cover illustrated by the late Frank Frazetta; and the updated Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner - a view of the inner workings of modern Hollywood and difficulties faced on-set.

“I’m a local, and I’m so thrilled and honored to be here,” Sammon said.

A science fiction and fantasy enthusiast, Sammon was nine years old when he read his first Conan story written by Robert E. Howard. He credits his parents for his love of film and writing.

Hooray for Holly-Dena!

We're not immune to celebrity stalking -- so we were real excited to get this story and picture this afternoon from Scott and Lori Webster at (Altadenablog sponsor) Webster's Fine Stationers:

We were all flabbergasted when none other than Tom Hanks & his entourage strolled into WFS just about an hour ago! He asked about the history of our store and told us how much he loved family-owned stationery stores! Also made disparaging remarks about [ ohh ... let's call it a "big box retailer" -- Ed.] He was such a nice guy and told us how much he enjoyed working in Altadena. They're shooting down by that white vacant building on the corner across from Eliot Jr. High.

Pretty cool....and he bought lots of stuff!

It's trailer season ...

... that's what we call this time of year, because the streets (mostly on the east side) are full of Star Waggons and other accouterments of Hollywood, our neighbor to the west.  And why not?  Altadena isn't palm-tree heavy and thus doesn't immediately scream "California."  We've had Altadenablog World Headquarters scouted by film crews a few times to represent houses from Boston to Seattle (no takers so far, tho'!)

(We thought some kind of record was sent recently by a burned house on Braeburn that was supposed to be in Miami!  And remind us to tell you about the time we ran into some South American tourists taking pictures of Dylan's 90210 house on Altadena Drive!)

That said, we've gotten reports of a couple of McDonald's commercials being filmed recently (filmed one this week at Altadena Hardware).  About three weeks ago we were walking the New Dog and saw some film crew guy (was it on Tanoble?) walking a miniature horse -- who apparently has a starring role in an upcoming iPad commercial.

So this is a plea to let us know if you have anyone filming in your neighborhood!

Princess Amidala filming in Altadena (tweet it now!)

Yes, we have major geek credentials -- but thought you'd find this fascinating: this gossip website has a picture of Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher filming a funeral scene at Mountain View Cemetery yesterday.

The end of an era: another icon falls.

Yep, fans -- the garage that held Brandon Walsh's basketball hoop on Beverly HIlls 90210 is no more.  Stalkerrific Lindsay gives us the whole story.

"Criminal Minds" at work

Reader Susan H. sent us this notice this morning:

Sorry for late notice, but "Criminal Minds" fans might want to hop over to Palm between Olive and Glenrose.   Must be big scene as took over lots of street parking.  One day only shoot, scheduled to end11 pm.

We heard they were doing some shooting around Chaney Trail today.  Criminal Minds must love Altadena -- their 100th episode is schedule to broadcast this month, and they shot some interiors last month at Webster's Pharmacy.

BTW, let us know if you ever spot film/TV shooting in your neighborhood -- we just love this kind of thing!

The Step Brothers House

Lindsay, that stalker gal, has a piece on the home on Midwick that served as the house of the Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly comedy, Step Brothers.  Reilly, of course, is an Altadena resident, and we've been stalking him for years!

Other 'Denas: Altadena Films

Just discovered this UK film company, which has nothing to do with Altadena but apparently like the name!

Country club goes Hollywood

Stalkeriffic Lindsay Blake, looking for a place for her wedding, looks at the Altadena Town & Country Club thru a location scout's eyes.

The Stalker stalks Farnsworth

Lindsay Blake, that Iamnotastalker gal who finds where everything is filmed, tackles Farnsworth Park today.  She easily demonstrates that the Davies building was NOT the scene of the finale of "Dirty Dancing," but does show it was a location for other films (notably the American Pie franchise). 

Lindsay also has a great December feature on Ronnie's Automotive, scene of over 200 productions.

Altadena-adjacent celebrity wedding

If you were driving down Lake Ave. Saturday, you know traffic was bollixed up around Westminister Presbyterian Church -- we saw a film crew and a lot of booth-tanned, skinny women, so we figured it was some kind of film shoot.  Turns out it was a real wedding ...

The inestimable mighty blogger Susan C sent us a note:

Hi Timothy,
When I was in Pasadena this afternoon, I saw "Spencer Loves Heidi" written in the sky. Then, on the way up north on Lake, I saw the papps out in full force in front of Westminster Pres. It turns out that Heidi and Spencer are Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt from "The Hills."

And it's all over the gossip sites today.  All we remember is, when we got married, we hired a photographer, but did NOT hire a crane that blocked the street ...

“Jackie is to Dena as Barack is to Chi Town. Peace up “A” town down.”

Okay, we're a middle-aged white guy, but we think we understood that.  A paen to Jackie Long of Altadena, who has made movies we've never seen.  But we like callin' our 'hood "A-town."

Shout out to Steve Buscemi ...

one of our favorites -- he Twittered that he would be in the 'dena this morning to film "Pete Smalls is Dead" with Sam Rockwell.  If you see him, say hi!

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas ...

... just like the ones I used to know -- with artificial snow.

Westminster Presbyterian Church is hosting an HBO filming crew for "The Pacific," a companion piece to "Band of Brothers" of a few years ago.  Here, Westminster is flocked up to play the role of a New Jersey Catholic church.

As you can see, the Nativity scene is very convincing

Even from across the street, the illusion is maintained -- just ignore the crew in shorts and T-shirts!

More 90210 in 91001

Lindsay, Lindsay, Lindsay!  Lindsay Blake is out stalking Altadena houses/film sets again, and comes across the house at 1690 Altadena Dr., which was featured on her apparent favorite 1990's show and several other films and television series.

(Again, the Google street view vehicle was around when Altadena Dr. was torn up, so it didn't get a shot of the house that we could embed!)

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

If you drive by Westminster Presbyterian today, you'll see a snowy holiday scene -- entirely artificial, of course.  A spokesman for Westminster Pres tells us that they're filming an HBO movie, and the church is supposed to be a Catholic church in New Jersey in the winter.  It's very festive!  We'll try to get some pictures up later.

"The Rubio House"

Lindsay Blake, whose very fun Iamnotastalker blog looks at Hollywood shooting locations, turns her attention to Altadena again.  The home at 1090 Rubio St. has been featured in many films and television shows as Lindsay explains with her inimitable verve.

Google Street view thru Street Cities - Free Mapping and Street View Tools

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Bass on Bass

Altadenan Saul Bass was renowned for his arresting, blocky, almost-brutal film titles (many of his title sequences were better than the actual films!)  Today's Smashing Telly blog features a documentary of Bass, with the master talking about his work.

(Also note the piece below it -- Werner Von Braun in Nazi footage, launching a V2, and some years later explaining rocketry on a Disney show.  Rockets go up, who knows where they come down?)

KeKe Palmer on the move

Singer/actress/Altadenan KeKe Palmer (star of Akeelah and the Bee) is off promoting her new film, The Longshots, in this Miami Herald feature.

8/25 update: KeKe does Q&A at Sly Fox Film Reviews.

Cruise, meet Calvin

It takes four cranes to block the stained glass at Westminster Presbyterian Church for the Tom Cruise movie they're filming today.  No idea if they're discussing engrams vs. double predestination, or MEST vs. TULIP ...

Beyonce! Cruise! Branagh! Travolta still tracking Xenu in his plane ...

Chris Considine, who alerted us to the mystery low-flying passenger jet, is not only our source of aviation news, but inside Hollywood scoop ....

[Beyonce] was at my friend's house all day yesterday filming a thriller!...and no I can't tell you where it is. I don't know if they are still there today, been too busy.

BUT what I can tell you is that Tom [personal but altogether justified opinion deleted] Cruise is at the big church at Lake and Woodbury [that would be Westminister Presbyterian] filming new sequences for his Nazi movie where he is the officer who tries to kill Hitler...Kenneth Branagh is there as well. I got an inside tour of the 'church set' last evening and it's quite spectacular.

They have redone the floors for the church, made it into a Catholic German church. They created amazing bigger than life statues of saints and pedestals from styrofoam (they look amazingly like ancient marble ones) a whole new set of the stations of the cross, and copied the design of the stained glass windows and put that all around on the walls...It wasn't finished, but the filming is today.

To infinity and Beyonce

JFX Online has some shots of a thriller being filmed in the High 'Dena featuring Beyonce (whom Altadenablog has actually heard of).  Anyone know where this shoot is going on?  Altadenablog may feel like stalking.

A Cinder-Dena Story

Lindsay Blake's fun Iamnotastalker blog looks at the house on Calavaras that served as Hillary Duff's Cinderalla Story home.  Since it's kinda-sorta near the campus of Altadenablog World Headquarters, we've seen it tricked out several times for shoots -- once covered with faux snow (snaux?) and a red sleigh parked out front.

The architecture buff in us once read about a style of structure called "storybook" -- this certainly qualifies!