Belvedere Hotel
/Condominiums) and the Owl Bar, 1 E. Chase St.,
Belvedere Hotel, Mount Vernon, Baltimore, MD 21202 (410) 347-0888 (since
1902)
The Owl Bar in the Belvedere. |
In Season 3 Episode One, Don and Salvatore travel to
Baltimore and stay in the Belvedere Hotel (at least in the story). The
Belvedere is still there but is now a condominium. Inside of the
Belvedere you still find the incredible Owl Bar, which is one of
Baltimore's most incredible "time machines" and is a must see on any
trip there. I grew up in Baltimore but my folks were never one's for
fancy places, so I don't remember ever going to the Belvedere. The
restaurant shown in Season 3 Episode One is supposed to be the extinct
restaurant "Hausner's" at 3236
Eastern Avenue, Baltimore, MD. This is the scene where Don and Salvatore
pretend they are "G Men" to impress the stewardesses.
Matthew
Weiner created the set from his memory of Hausner's and apparently used
Clifton's as the backdrop (see below). I drove up and down Eastern Ave.
a million times as a kid driving with my mother from Ellicott City to
downtown Baltimore where she taught at the Maryland Institute of Art for
35 years. As a little kid, I was never sure how to react to the nude
models people were painting at Maryland Institute. One of many rather
strange aspects of my childhood. I don't remember Hausner's but I do
remember a German place called
the "Peabody Beer Stube
" that seemed rather ancient to me as a kid.
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| Biltmore Hotel, 506 S.
Grand Ave. Los Angeles, CA 213-624-1011 (Italian-Spanish Churriguereque
Renaissance theme and Beaux Arts - Shultze and Weaver- since 1923)
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Season Two - Episode 1 - "For Those Who Think Young"
and other episodes as well. The Millennium Biltmore Hotel has to be one
of the world's most beautiful Hotels. In the basement is an incredibly
well preserved indoor pool right out of the Great Gatsby era. The pool
was used for a scene in the movie Bugsy where he is arguing with Mickey
Cohen about an unapproved heist. Room rates are surprisingly reasonable
for a hotel of this quality and with this much history. One of the best
places to stay in Los Angeles! Why stay in a generic place when
you can experience history like this (and pretend your Don Draper or
Betty Draper).
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Casey's Irish Pub
(Casey's Bar and Grille) - 613 S. Grand Ave.
Los Angeles, CA (213) 629-2353
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Casey's Irish Pub is used as the filming location for
Mad Men when they are supposed to be in New York at
someplace like "P.J. Clarke's" if I'm not mistaken. See it Season Two
Episode One of Mad Men when Donald Draper is eating a steak and eggs
breakfast. It was also used in the scene (I forget the episode) where
everyone is dancing the twist. Casey's was established in the early 70's
but looks perfectly like an Irish Pub from the 20's. I think much of
the interior was brought over from Ireland from a much older pub. One
of the best downtown Los Angeles bars. It is owned by the very
progressive and successful "213" Corporation that also owns "Cole's PE
Buffet".
The following other shows and movies have also been filmed at Casey's:
“16
Blocks” with Bruce Willis
“Fallen” with Denzel Washington, John Goodman, and Donald Sutherland
“Charlie Wilson's War” with Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts
“Good Night and Good Luck” with George Clooney and Robert Downey Jr.
“Mr. Deeds” with Adam Sandler
Rick Pointer who was Assistant Location Manager
“Mrs. Congeniality II” with Sandra Bullock
“X-Files The Movie” with David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson
“Eagle Eye” with Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan
“Date Night” with Tina Fey, Steve Carrell and Ray Liotta
“Good Advice’ (2001) with Charlie
Sheen, Denise Richards, and Angie Harmon
“CSI NY” (TV Series)
See my bar page
for more information |
| Cicada Restaurant - 617
S. Olive St., Los Angeles (downtown) 213-488-9488 Dinner 5:30pm -
9:00pm, closed for Lunch and on Sunday
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Cicada is used frequently as a filming location for
Mad Men. They use this place perhaps more than
any other restaurant location, such as in Season one, episode four ("New
Amsterdam" - well I'm pretty sure). Also Season Two Episode 4 "Three
Sundays". The place is so large that they use different corners or
floors to double for many different places. Cicada has
one of the world's greatest Art Deco interiors for a restaurant. Highly
rated food of course. Seen in countless movies and commercials. If
you love Art Deco, you will be in heaven here. If you ever get a
chance to see the penthouse in the Oviatt Building where Cicada was
located, jump on it (people rent it out for various functions). It
may well be the best preserved art deco interior in the world.
See my restaurant
page for more history of this place. |
Clifton’s Brookdale Cafeteria,
648 So. Broadway, Los Angeles (downtown), 213 627 1673, daily 6:30am to
7pm, since 1935
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Season 3, Episode One "Out of Town" - I'm about 95%
sure that what is supposed to be Hausner's in Baltimore (my childhood
home) is the third floor of Clifton's. As much as I still go to
Clifton's, it has been years since I've been on the third floor. I
never really liked the interior design there and of course I love the
bottom floor. So I'm guessing but pretty sure. Clifton's is
one of Los Angeles' most historic restaurants - I hope you'll read up on
it's wonderful history on my restaurant pages. The founder of
Clifton's, Clifford Clinton was one of Los Angeles's truly great
heroes of the past. It's amazing that they have not made a movie
based on this incredible figure of LA's past.
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Cole’s PE Buffet, 118
E. 6th St. Los Angeles (downtown) 213-622-4090
since 1908.
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Season 3, Episode 2 (when Peggy meets a "younger" or
more immature guy
in a bar). Cole's if I have my calculations right is the oldest
restaurant in Los Angeles in the same location (Phillipe's moved in the
50's). Phillipe's and Cole's have an historic battle over who
invented the French Dipped Sandwich. I'll be a conscientious
objector in that war! Cole's is now under the very progressive and
successful ownership of the 213 Corporation. They recently
completely restored the place and they were careful to stick to it's
original character. Mad Men does a ton of filming in another 213
bar and restaurant - Casey's. |
| HMS Bounty Restaurant and Bar,
3357 Wilshire Blvd , Los Angeles (Korea town) 323-385-7275. Mon-Sat
11am-1am; Sun 2pm-12am (under this name since March 26, 1962 but
interior is older). Open 365 days a year.
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In the scene, Peggy is sitting right in front of the above table.
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The HMS Bounty bar was used in "MAD MEN" Season
1, Episode 11 - it looks a little different because they went crazy
adding nautical pictures and statutes for the scene. Hmm... Let's see
Musso's, the Prince, the Biltmore Hotel, Cicada, Casey's bar and the HMS
Bounty Restaurant - six of my favorite places used in Mad Men! I keep
asking myself if they used my site as a reference source - but alas I
think that's just a fantasy. Their location scouts should be getting a
Golden Globe if I had my way! This is the scene where Peggy goes on a
date with a guy from her old neighborhood. Being a more humble date,
they chose a great "down home" restaurant like the Bounty - one of the
friendliest places in Los Angeles!
See my restaurant
page for more history of this place
. |
The Los Angeles Athletic Club,
431 West Seventh St. Los Angeles, CA 90014, 213-625-2211 (1912
Beaux Arts - John Parkinson and Edwin Bergstrom)
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This one is a guess but I think the scene
with Donald Draper and the Menken heiress is in the dining room of the
Los Angeles Athletic Club. Episode 6 "Babylon" Season One. If I am
wrong, they should be filming at LAAC - an incredible old school
place. Many do not realize it but the LAAC is also a very nice hotel
with very friendly and warm service and at prices that are a real
bargain. I've stayed there many times. If you like staying in places
that are warm and friendly - you can't go wrong here. If I'm wrong about
the above scene taking place here, could
someone please correct me? Maybe it was the Jonathan club???
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Los Angeles (1931
S. Charles Lee - French Renaissance) - 615 S. Broadway, Los Angeles
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Season one, episode 9 ("Shoot"). This is used in the
scene where Donald Draper is being courted for a bigger firm and his
wife agrees to do some modeling for Coke. They are supposed to be at an
opera house I believe. The Los Angeles Theater is one of the
world's greatest existing movie palaces and one of the most lavish.
It is seen in countless movies and commercials.
See my movie
palace page for more history of this place.
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Musso and Frank Grill ( Musso
and Frank's ), 6667 Hollywood Blvd. 323-467-7788. Tuesday through
Thursday, 11 am to 11 pm . Friday and Saturday 11 to 2:00AM
(since 1919)
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Musso's is prominently featured (both the bar and old
room and rather properly the Martini's in Season One, Episode 7. Here it
is supposed to be a place something like the "Grand Central Oyster Bar"
in New York. It also substitutes for a place like Sardi's in New
York in Season 2, Episode 5 ("The New Girl"). You have to love the
best TV show ever combined with the best Restaurant (Musso's) ever
(though I wish they would use the real waiters and bartenders rather
than actors)! Incidentally, Hollywood Boulevard had it's own
branch of Sardi's in the 1930s. It burnt down and then was briefly
reborn as Zardi's for some strange reason. While there is no smoking at
Musso's, the ambiance could not be more appropriate (otherwise) to Mad
Men (and who wants cigarette smoke now that we've read the "Reader's
Digest"!).
Click here to
see my extensive history of this Landmark Restaurant |
| The Prince (formerly The
Windsor) Restaurant, 3198 W. 7th St., Los Angeles (Koreatown)
(213) 389-1586, (interior since 1949 or so)
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HISTORY OF
THE PRINCE/WINDSOR
This is the "Chinatown" booth above.
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Season one, episode two of "Mad Men" ("Ladies Room") doubling as
"Toots Shor's" Restaurant in Manhattan. You may not recognize the
place at first because the room is much brighter in the Mad Men
scene. See latimemachines.com for more info. The episode is named
after what occurs in the Prince's Ladies room. You've got to love a
TV show that knows about "The Prince"! This was also a filming
location for "Chinatown" where Jack Nicholson meets Faye Dunaway in
a restaurant. The Prince is one of my favorite places in Los
Angeles! It is one of the few places where using the word "hidden"
is not just a cliché. Recent changes in ownership has made
this place much more gringo friendly (although I loved it even when
it was almost exclusively a Korean locale).
In Episode 2 I believe they are sitting in the middle back booth.
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The
Quality Coffee Shop, 1238 West 7th Street, Los
Angeles, CA -
(213) 622-3608
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Season One Episode 5 "SG" and other shots - whenever
they are in the coffee shop, such as the scene when Donald Draper meets
his half-brother. They call it the "Delight" Coffee Shop on the show.
This place is closed except for filming, but you can get a peek inside
when something is filming here. |
THREE CLUBS, 1123 Vine St.. Hollywood CA. 90038. (323) 462 - 6441
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This is the bar used in the last episode of Season
Two, when Betty cheats on Don with a stranger in a bar. I could
not recognize this place until James B. wrote me about it. I've
never been to the Three Clubs but will soon rectify that error. I
must have driven by this place a 1000 times and not noticed it. It
has an extremely non-descript exterior (that is the current fashion for
hip places) with an incredible interior. There was another scene
filmed here (no it's not the burlesque scene in Season one, Episode One
- that's in New York). According to Laura L. it was another
burlesque scene during the Maidenform episode.
UPDATE: I went to check the place out.
Between 6:00PM and 8:00PM you have to knock on the door to get in. They
peek at you through an opening in the door (that opens and shuts) - just
like the speakeasy's in the 1940's movies - great touch! As I said
the outside is totally mundane except for a classic "cocktails" sign.
The interior is very time machines classic. Lot's of great dark wood and
thankfully not remodeled. I'll have to research what this place
was originally - it looks 40's to 50's in origin. Very nice
bartender from England. Maybe I'm still a bit on the innocent
side, but it just seems like so much fun to be able to go and sit in the
same seats my favorite actors sat in when filming my favorite TV (for
all of the places listed here). Sorry folks who don't live in Los
Angeles (or at least visit) - only us lucky folks is So Cal get to do
that! Like a dummy, I brought my camera but didn't notice there was no
memory card inside - hence - no picture yet! I often wonder how
many incredible interiors like this are hidden in bars all over Los
Angeles country that I don't have the cojones to go into! |
UPDATE: I just finished the recently released Season
3 DVD's. The show is still the best show ever made, although for my extremely
esoteric interests, I was hoping to see more classic Los Angeles bars and
restaurants (obviously not what the show is intended to be - but a nice subtle
unintended "side effect" if you will). Either they are using more constructed sites (extremely well
done I might add) or there are a lot of places used that I'm not aware of (a
blow to my rather large ego). If anyone can help me identify places used
in Season three (as well as places I missed or am wrong about in previous
seasons) please (i.e. PLEASE! let me know - see the "contact me" hyperlink
below). So
far I've only identified Cole's and Clifton's (and apparently the Red Cross in
Pasadena of all places!). I'm thinking the wedding scene may be the
Blossom Room in the Roosevelt Hotel (but not sure). That's about it. I've
discovered I have a lot in common with Matthew Weiner (if one ignores the fact
that I am unknown, unsuccessful and not at all brilliant!). We both
grew up in Baltimore as kids, we both left Baltimore at age 10, he is exactly
two months' younger than my sister, and we both have a Jewish heritage (although
I'm half Catholic). We are both fans of Ernest Hemmingway and Edward
Hopper (I think). Maybe that's why I feel an affinity for the show. I
have a bit in common with Jon Hamm as well - like him, much of my family
originates in St. Louis, we're both named Jonathan (although I'm Jonathon), and
we are almost twin look-alikes (yeah right!). My
other great identification with the show (ignoring the wonderful usage of
classic Los Angeles places) is that my grandfather was a corporate executive in
Manhattan in the early sixties. My grandfather looked quite a bit like the
Harry Crane character and used the exact same glasses. He was quite a
drinker, hung out on occasion in fancy places (and on rare occasions took me
with him!), had a home in Bergen County, New Jersey much like the Drapers (down
to the rustic wooden kitchen and built-in oven) and of course, bought a new
Cadillac every year. As a kid in the early sixties, I would always love to
sit in the Cadillac's and play with the gadgets. Strangely my grandfather
also had a lot in common with Donald Draper. He worked his way up from
door to door sales of Collier's Encyclopedia to being the CEO of the company. So
he came from somewhat humble origins. He did not have a college education.
He was a very mysterious man who didn't talk about his past or childhood. We
recently found out his father had a second "secret" family. My
grandmother (the executive's wife) also had quite a bit of the Betty
Draper in her. She was beautiful, smoked (at least in the early
60's), was a great cook, elegant when she wanted to be, and would even
vacuum the floors wearing high heals! She had her share of dealing
with the emotionally "distant" corporate executive, though you could
tell she loved his charisma and style. Her main hobby was not horses
(although my grandfather loved to bet on horses) but piano playing. She
could play from memory for hours all the great songs of the 30's, 40's
and 50's - which probably played a big part in my obsession with all
things retro. So I
have personal knowledge that the series is extremely authentic.
UPDATE II: Some miscellaneous locations
generously provided by latimemachines.com reader and fellow Mad Men
fanatic Laura L. "They film the Sterling Cooper office at
L.A. Center Studios downtown and have used the lobby (the old Unocal
bldg there) for the scene where Duck lets his dog go, etc.. This also
doubled for the car showroom where Don first met his Cadillac and
chatted w/the English salesman." Roger Sterling's daughter's
wedding was filmed at Wilshire Ebell Theater. When Don and Pete travel
to L.A. they stay at the Altadena Country club.
UPDATE III: Season 4 - Well the first episode had
plenty of eating and drinking going on but no place I could
identify. I hope they don't give up on filming in real places
because, despite the expense, it's part of what makes the series so
realistic. If anyone can identify a place in season 4, or any I've
missed in prior seasons - please write!!! Very surprised they skipped
over the Kennedy assassination. That is the precise date I mark as
the beginning of the decline of American culture. By 1970 - forget it -
we are only a shadow of what we once were. While I hope "Mad Men" goes
on forever, I'm not sure I could survive seeing Don Draper in Disco
clothes!
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