Phone Booth (2003)

Slimy NY publicist Stuart Shepard finds himself in a claustrophobic nightmare after a madman calls him at The Big Apple's last remaining phone booth.  Stuart must right his wrongs, which includes confessing to his wife about an affair.  If he fails to comply or leaves the booth, he will be shot.  Stuart is interrupted by some hookers and a pimp, whom the sniper shoots dead.  The police and media soon arrive, as well as Stuart's wife Kelly and sidepiece Pam.  Stuart manages to call Kelly on his cell phone, who hears the exchange with the sniper.  She informs NYPD Captain Ed Ramey.  After his confession of a string of lies, Stuart leaves the phone booth is apparently shot dead by the police while a SWAT team breaks into the apartment of the sniper to find a body.  Stuart identifies it as a pizza delivery guy from earlier but while being treated, is visited by the real caller, who warns him his to remain honest to avoid further repercussions.

Screenwriter Larry Cohen originally pitched an a idea for a real time movie in the confines of a phone booth to Alfred Hitchcock, but it was shelved since he was unable to come up with a plot for an enclosed setting.  A few decades later, Cohen devised a plot that was supposed to star Jim Carrey.  Colin Farrell stepped into the role and did a great job as the unscrupulous Stuart Shepard and the always reliable Kiefer Sutherland provides the creepy voice of the caller.  The film was originally slated for release in the fall of 2002, but due to the Beltway sniper attacks, was pushed to the following spring.  The film had a modest box office performance among mixed reviews.  While phone booths have gone the way of the dinosaur, the message of the movie remains relevant to this day - don't answer the phone from an unknown caller.

Phone Booth was filmed in New York, NY and Los Angeles, CA

Location: The Phone Booth

Address: 453 S Spring Street, Los Angeles, CA

The phone booth is located outside The Last Bookstore, also seen in Gone Girl (2014)...

Location Visited: July 2023

Locations Master List

Jurassic Park III (2001)

Dr. Alan Grant is led to Isla Sorna under false pretenses by Paul and Amanda Kirby.  Thinking he's there to give them a tour in exchange for funding, it turns out the Kirbys are ex-husband and wife searching for their son Eric, who went missing while parasailing.  They quickly encounter a Spinosaurus and Tyrannosaurus.  Soon after that, Velociraptors are on their tail after Alan's assistant steals some eggs.  The group finds Eric but the happy reunion is short-lived when a group of Pteranodons.  The eggs are returned to the Velociraptors and the group is saved with the help of Ellie Sattler.

Jurassic Park III began filming without a completed script and it sure shows.  Not that much was expected from a Jurassic Park movie aside from people being chased by dinosaurs.  It was nice to get a few new ones like the Spinosaurus and Pteranodons.  The characters and plot were not quite as dull as the The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997).  The film had a decent box office intake though the franchise headed for extinction 14 years in the making.

Location: Ellie Sattler's House

Address: 1230 Milan Avenue, Pasadena, CA

This was also The Lawrence House on Family (1976-1980).

Location Visited: July 2021

Related Locations:

Jurassic Park (1993), The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), Jurassic World (2015), Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom (2018)

Locations Master List

The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)

After the debacle of events on Isla Nublar, Ian Malcolm and his team head for another dinosaur island, Isla Sorna, to document the cloned reptiles who were abandoned after a hurrican.  There, he butts heads with John Hammond's nephew, Peter, who plans to bring the dinosaurs back to the US to open another dinosaur park.  Shockingly, chaos ensues and the human population starts to become extinct.  If that wasn't enough, a T. Rex gets loose in San Diego.

How do you follow up a really awesome dinosaur movie?  You don't.  Or at least you shouldn't.  But that's not Hollywood's jam.  Especially when it made 357 million dollars.  Based on the pressured novel by Michael Crichton, Steven Spielberg hops in the director's chair to try and recreate the magic of Jurassic Park (1993).  The bloated cast of uninteresting characters and a plot as predictable as Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), leaves The Lost World: Jurassic Park a chore to get through.  And it certainly won't be the last chore for this franchise.

Location: The Swimming Pool House

Address: 17917 Mayerling Street, Granada Hills, CA 

Location: Downtown San Diego

Address: San Fernando Boulevard & Palm Avenue, Burbank, CA

This area was very recognizable as it is two blocks from my old apartment.  They put a fake street sign as there is no Cedar Avenue in downtown Burbank...

Location: The Gas Station

Address: 17000 Rinaldi Street, Granada Hills, CA

Not sure what's scarier, the T. Rex or the 2023 gas prices.  The gas station was been renovated a bit since filming took place...

Locations Visited: June 2023

Related Locations:

Jurassic Park (1993), Jurassic World (2015), Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)

Locations Master List

Maude (1972-1978)

 

Maude Findlay is an outspoken liberal residing in Tuckahoe, NY with her husband Walter, divorced daughter Carol and her grandson Phillip.  Maude was spun off from the highly successful All In The Family (1971-1979) as Maude was Edith Bunker's cousin.  The character was loosely based on creator Norman Lear's then-wife Frances.  Like its predecessor, the series dealt with serious subject matter such as alcoholism, suicide and abortion.  Rounding out the cast was Conrad Bain, who would go on to star in Diff'rent Strokes (1978-1986), and Rue McClanahan, who would co-star with Bea Arthur on The Golden Girls (1985-1992).  The series was a ratings success for the first four seasons, with Bea Arthur winning an Emmy after the fifth.  Maude itself spun off Good Times, exploring the family life of Maude's housekeeper, Florida Evans.  

Location: Maude's House

Address: 1011 Harvard Avenue, Claremont, CA

Location Visited: July 2023

Locations Master List

Eurythmics - You Have Placed A Chill In My Heart (1988)

It's hard to think about 80's music without thinking of Eurythmics.  The British duo came strong out of the gate with their massive international hit Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This), which can still be heard on the radio daily.  Musical geniuses Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart achieved some success in the US, but fared better across the pond, especially by the time their Savage album was released.  It was more experimental than their previous efforts but nonetheless delivered some incredible songs.  Unfortunately, none of their singles from the album cracked the Top 40, one being You Have Placed A Chill In My Heart.  Annie sings about a relationship in ruins and her desire to leave.  For a segment of the music video, Annie is seen at a Ralph's supermarket.  With the hills in the background, my initial thought was it was located in the San Fernando Valley.  After combing through dozens of them, I came up empty and felt a chill in my heart.  But luckily Robert Patterson at Set-Jetter.com was able to find it even though it has gone through a major renovation and is unrecognizable today, but big thanks to Robert. 

Location: Ralph's Supermarket

Address: 14049 Moorpark Street, Sherman Oaks, CA

The large parking lot is no longer but the billboard toward the right appears to be the same, though now it has a palm tree in front of it...

The one area that does still look somewhat the same is the apartment complex across the street...

Location Visited: May 2023

Locations Master List

L.A. Law (1986-1994)

 

Attorneys and staff at McKenzie, Brackman, Chaney and Kuzak were at the center of this legal drama set in the City of Angels.  Cases ranged from sexual harassment to the death penalty. Four-time Emmy winner for Outstanding Drama Series, L.A. Law, or La Law if you’re from St. Olaf, consistently placed in the top 30 for most of it's run.  Perhaps one of the greatest exit-stage-left moments of television had Rosalind Shays falling down an elevator shaft toward the end of the fifth season.  In addition to L.A. Law, Steven Bochco created several hit series during the 1980s and 1990s including Hill Street Blues, Doogie Howser, M.D. (1989-1993) and NYPD Blue.

Location: McKenzie, Brackman, Chaney & Kuzak Law Firm

Address: 444 Flower Street, Los Angeles, CA

The interior of this building was Clark's Office in Christmas Vacation (1989)

Location Visited: March 2023

Location Master List

Doogie Howser, M.D. (1989-1993)

 

Child prodigy Douglas "Doogie" Howser earned a perfect SAT score at the age of six.  He completed high school in just nine weeks.  He graduated Princeton at the age of ten.  He completed medical school at the age of fourteen.  He can prescribe drugs, but he can't buy beer.  Now in his second year residency at Eastman Medical Center, Doogie saves lives in between studying for his road test, hanging with his best friend Vinnie and his girlfriend Wanda.  

Doogie Howser, M.D. was the brainchild of Steven Bochco and David E. Kelly.  The series was not particularly loved by critics nor a Nielsen favorite, but premiered during the television dramedy craze and entertained audiences for four seasons.  Neil Patrick Harris was not the ABC executives first choice for the role but their temperature eventually warmed up after successful test screenings.  The series had a memorable theme song for the opening credits, which told the series' premise through newspaper headlines.  Ratings eventually flatlined and the show was canceled, with Doogie resigning from Eastman Medical and heading for Europe.

Location: Eastman Medical Center

Address: 18350 Roscoe Boulevard, Northridge, CA  Northridge Hospital

Location: The Howser Residence

Address: 796 Amalfi Drive, Pacific Palisades, CA

The house seen on the show was torn down after the series went off the air...

Locations Visited: April 2023

Locations Master List