Where Am I?

This past March, I went to Los Angeles to refresh my memory (hadn't been here in a couple of years) and to scout out a certain location for book five. Quite a lot of the action of Sweet Karoline takes place in L.A., but the first scene rolls out in a certain apartment complex.

I'm not going to tell you where the building is located - but LA County is a HUGE hint. If you can guess where I am, you could win a free ebook copy of one of my books - your choice of 5!!

Anyway, a friend of ours chose an Italian restaurant in which to meet in the very town in which I'd placed my main protagonists.

I hadn't much time in between tours, meetings and dressing for dinner, so I was a little flustered. This had nothing to do with the wine consumed at lunch, I am sure, but I forgot the address of the location in my suitcase at the hotel.

Luckily, one of the waiters lived in town. He immediately recognized said spot from my description. As serendipity would have it, the place was about two minutes down the same street as the restaurant! Now that's when you believe there's a guiding hand above.


As soon as I saw the park that spreads out next to the building, I recognized it. Why? Because my hubby and I had been there on Google Earth!

However, there was nothing like actually standing in front of the place that I'd imagined, manipulated and dreamed about for months. My characters had lived here. Despite the fact that I'd changed a few things to suit my purposes, the apartment complex was alive and spooky and perfect in the California dusk.

 Surrounded by wrought iron, gothic, its lights mesmerizing in the darkness, it looked just right for filming a psychological suspense.

Here's how I describe it in the book:
 

"Our apartment is part of a Moorish-Spanish designed collection of buildings that boast a beautiful stone façade, light brown stucco walls and rounded bay windows. Every balcony is bounded by gorgeous wrought iron, except for ours, which has rather high stone walls instead. The only drawback is that we have to stand up to see any view.

 "I used to shiver with delight and pride every time I entered the stone archway that graces the front entrance. Now I shiver for a wholly different reason."

That night, I was beside myself with excitement. Turns out this building has been the site of films before; most recently, an episode of True Blood, Season 5. I couldn't believe I had randomly picked this building to be Karoline and Anne's apartment! Again, there was serendipity at work.

Once my amazing producer/casting director Rep gets a certain Hollywood actress to read the book, we can start filming right away.

Where Am I?

 This is what they say on the location's website:  
"It has been used as a site for many motion pictures, music videos, reality shows, TV shows, and commercials for the past 40-odd years."

Holy coincidence, Bat Girl!

Have you figured out where I am? What town I'm standing in? What the building's called?

Leave me a message at cathy@catherinastolfo.com with your guess and you just might be chosen to receive a free book.

But you only have until July 14 to guess.

That's when Sweet Karoline comes to a book site near you!