Goodbye for Now L.A.
November 16, 2008 by Kath Skerry
In a few hours I will be boarding a plane and heading back to Boston. I can’t say I’m excited to end my vacation, but I guess I don’t have much choice in the matter. It was a fantastic trip and one you will be hearing about more over time.
In the few days that I was here I feel like I got the full L.A. experience. In terms of TV, I got to hang out on the sets of PRIVILEGED and CHUCK as well as attend a taping of THE BIG BANG THEORY. Not too shabby. I’ll be posting some pics and my experience behind-the-scenes soon.
Being on set wasn’t my only chance to geek out on all things TV. We got a private tour of the WB lot where we got to see a few sets from some of our favorite shows. While I was way more excited than I should be to see the Seaver’s house from GROWING PAINS (check out the latest TV Talk Podcast to hear more about my love of all things Mike Seaver), I was sad to see an empty piece of land where the gazebo of GILMORE GIRLS Star Hollow once stood.
The great thing about being on the studio lot is that stars are just out and about everywhere. At lunch we sat next to the Notorious B.A.G – Brian Austin Green of T:SCC and the original 90210 fame. I’ve seen him before and he is still damn hot. Also spotted in the commissary were Owain Yeoman and Amanda Righetti of the MENTALIST. And just a few minutes after checking out the sets of ER on our private tour we run into the star of ER, Angela Bassett and her husband, Courtney B. Vance. Fun, right?
If you ever go to the WB lot, I think you should definitely take the tour. On Friday, we had two tours drive by us while I was outside talking with Zachary Levi of CHUCK. You should have seen the smiles on the tourists faces as Zach gave them him signature smile and a good ol wave.
On the lot weren’t are only L.A. celeb sightings. Thursday night while strolling around The Grove we saw the gorgeous Rodrigo Santoro of “Love Actually” and LOST. Back at The Grove on Saturday we spied Nia Vardalos (“My Big Fat Greek Wedding”) and her husband Ian Gomez (“Felicity”). And I can’t forget the money celeb spotting – Weird Al Yankovic. Saturday we also saw Anthony LaPaglia of WITHOUT A TRACE with his family at the Century Plaza Mall. Score!
On Friday my friend Steph and I grabbed a glass of wine at Chateau Marmont only to have Cameron Diaz come in and sit a few tables over from us. Tall, skinny…yeah I hated her. Ha!
Friday night we had dinner at Nobu along with Ryan Seacrest. Ok, maybe we weren’t eating with Seacrest but two tables over is close enough, right? Had we gone to Nobu on Thursday night we would have been “dining” with Madonna and the Beckhams. I use the word “dining” loosely because (a) of course we wouldn’t have been eatng with them, and (b) there is no way I would have been able to eat in the presence of David Beckham.
So for a couple of girls from Boston who still geeks out over the celebrity sightings and all things quentisential L.A., we had a fabulous time. Personally, I’m counting the minutes until I’m able to return.
Keep checking back to GMMR for more pics and tales from my week in L.A.
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Kath, how do you manage to see so many celebs out and about? You see more in one visit than I have living here for 6 months (not including on set). I NEVER run into people, but then again I don’t really frequent The Grove or Nobu.
You’re right about that tour at Warner Bros! I take the deluxe VIP (all-day) tour every time I go to L.A. It’s not a cheesy tour at all – each one is different because you’re visiting real sets and working departments, and it changes every time based on what’s going on at the studio on that day. I’ve been on the tour when the guide will get a call over the radio telling him/her to head over to Stage 16 or the scoring stage or whatever because they’ve just gotten permission to go on a certain set. I’ve probably done the tour about a dozen times over the past 10 years and have never been disappointed. Best money you’ll ever spend in L.A.!!
I’m so jealous that you got to see the Seaver’s house! Mike Seaver was definitely my first TV crush!
Of course I’m pretty jealous about your whole trip in general! It sounds like you had a great time, and I can’t wait to see the pictures!
Sounds like so much fun! I never have that kind of celeb-sighting luck when I’m in LA. I love the WB tour too! I haven’t been back since Gilmore Girls ended, though…it just makes me too sad. 🙁 But I do love that the Growing Pains house is across the street from Kim’s Antiques and Sookie’s house…it just warms my heart. 🙂 And wasn’t that house used as Jill’s sorority house in Chuck last week? Maybe that’s already been mentioned. Or maybe I’m just dreaming. 🙂
Okay, embarrassing admission alert: I totally had a framed autographed 8×10 photo of Kirk Cameron on my desk at school for a week in grade five. I think I sent a letter to his fanclub or something and received it in return. I acted like he was my bff because I had that picture. I must have taken it home at some point (probably because I didn’t want to make everyone too jealous, lol). The point of my post? I’m extremely excited to learn that the Seaver house is still alive and standing!!
Do we all have embarrassing Kirk Cameron admissions? In 8th grade I stood in line outside in the snow and cold for 4 hours so I could be in the audience of the taping of a Marie Osmond Christmas special because Kirk was in it too. I got seated on the floor right up front! It was glorious. 🙂 I found the Christmas special on DVD a few years ago and watch it and relive the magic every year. Oh, and I still have my Kirk Cameron poster collection. haha
Oh, and Sally Struthers was in the Christmas show too. I didn’t think that was too cool then, but I do now!
[…] it’s especially appropriate given all of the Mike Seaver/Growing Pains talk in the comments of Kath’s trip to Cali post. Does anyone remember the episode where Mike spent the night before his history test copying all of […]