Wintry isn’t typically a word one associates with Los Angeles. Sunny, glamorous, trafficky – sure. But wintry? Not so much. So it is no surprise that holiday-themed productions lensed in their entirety in the City of Angels, without any sort of complementary footage captured in a snowier climate, are something of a rarity – “Die Hard” notwithstanding. One noteworthy outlier? The Hallmark Channel’s 2012 original “Naughty or Nice,” which stars Hilarie Burton as Krissy Kringle, an unfortunately-named holiday-hating ad exec, who not only loses her job right before Christmas and is forced to work as a mall elf but also comes into possession of Santa’s misplaced Naughty or Nice list and proceeds to use it to call those who have wronged her to task.
Funny, heartwarming and full of endearing performances, the flick, which is experiencing a well-deserved resurgence as of late thanks to its current streaming availability on Amazon Prime, shows the goodwill that can result from looking past someone’s faults to their true inner self. Directed by David Mackay with a screenplay penned by Rickie Castaneda, the movie is also notable for bringing together actors Meredith Baxter and Michael Gross as Krissy’s holiday-obsessed parents, Carol and Walter. The appearance marks the duo’s first time sharing the small screen since starring as Steve and Elyse Keaton on the beloved sitcom “Family Ties” over two decades prior. Rounding out the cast is Matt Dallas, of “Kyle XY” fame, as Krissy’s longtime boyfriend, Lance Leigh, and Gabriel Tigerman in a spotlight-stealing performance as Marco Webb, her lovably sarcastic elf co-worker.
A bit of forewarning – don’t go in thinking that Krissy and Marco might wind up together, like this writer, who spent the entire duration shipping the two only to be left heartbroken by the time the final credits rolled. This isn’t a will-they or won’t-they holiday tale in the vein of so many other Hallmark films – it’s simply a sweet story about making amends at Christmas.
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Image Credit: The Promenade (2022, September 21) Downtowngal, Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0) The set-apart Los Angeles setting serves the film well, though the city’s temperate weather did have the actors comically sweating through their winter wear costuming, according to location manager Dan Eason. Most of the movie’s action takes place at the Westfield Promenade in Canoga Park/Woodland Hills, which stands in for the fictional West Center Mall, where Krissy works alongside Marco as a seasonal elf, manning Santa’s Photo Gallery and wrapping gifts for busy shoppers.
Deemed a “dead mall” by Wikipedia, the 34-acre complex was built in 1973 as the Woodland Hills Promenade and was once a bustling hub of commerce. But following the 2015 expansion of the Westfield Topanga mall, which sits just a few blocks away, and the loss of anchor tenants Macy’s and Barnes and Noble, the locale suffered a steep decline in patronage and, in turn, growing vacancies. Yossi Kviatkovsky, owner of The Rack, one of the mall’s former onsite eateries, wound up suing the Westfield Corp. for neglect, telling ABC 7 in 2015, “On Black Friday, you could have shot a cannon through the mall and you would have hit nobody!” That same year, the Los Angeles Times declared the place “a drag on the neighborhood.”
As such, plans to redevelop it into a massive mixed-use complex were announced in 2016. Dubbed Promenade 2035, the project was slated to include two hotels, an office park, a sports center and apartment units. While the city approved the enterprise in late 2020, the mall subsequently sold to Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke in a $150 million deal and its future is currently up in the air, with talks of it possibly being repurposed as a team training facility. Recently, only three businesses have remained in operation on the premises, Maggiano’s Little Italy, Ruth’s Chris Steak House and Corner Bakery, though the latter appears to have closed earlier this month, as its listing on the corporate website has disappeared.
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Image Credit: Hallmark Channel The Promenade wasn’t yet a dead mall when “Naughty or Nice” was filmed, as convenient as that would have been for the cast and crew. But as Eason explained to Dirt, one of the complex’s anchor spaces was shuttered and undergoing a transition at the time, providing an easy area for the production team to close off for the duration of the shoot.
Interestingly, “Naughty or Nice” is not the only holiday movie to be lensed onsite. Lifetime’s 2013 film “Christmas in the City” primarily took place inside The Promenade’s Macy’s outpost.
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Image Credit: Hallmark Channel Candy Cane Lane, the cul-de-sac where Krissy has the perceived misfortune of living amongst a slew of Christmas-loving neighbors, is actually Belmont Court, located in the heart of Valencia (just around the corner from the main house used in “Santa Clarita Diet”). It is there that Krissy not only finds herself on the receiving end of hundreds of misaddressed letters to Santa each December but is also forced to engage in friendly annual holiday decorating competitions with her fellow residents. In a fun case of art imitating life, the quaint block is known for its seasonal décor in real life, too, which actually led to its cameo in the movie! As Eason tells Dirt, the production team sought a festive neighborhood whose collective arm wouldn’t have to be twisted much to participate in some early holiday embellishment. (The film was shot in late summer/early fall 2012.)
Fashioning the street with its bevy of twinkle lights, plastic candy canes and light-up snowmen was a group effort carried out by both the crew and community. A Christmas lighting consult was even brought in to oversee the extensive holiday set dressing. And it certainly paid off. Belmont Court was transformed into a gorgeous winter wonderland for the shoot, complete with a massive display of lights canopying the block.
Ironically enough, the house where Krissy lives, which starts out devoid of décor at the beginning of the film, is typically the best-dressed of all the cul-de-sac dwellings in real life. In fact, an image of it all decked out for Christmas is even posted on Zillow! (Please remember these are private homes. Do not trespass or bother the residents or the properties in any way.)
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Image Credit: Hallmark Channel A handful of Los Angeles eateries also make an appearance in “Naughty or Nice,” including Gelato Bar & Espresso Caffe at 4342 Tujunga Ave. (across the street from the infamous Vitello’s Italian Restaurant) in Studio City, where Krissy grabs a coffee and falls into a Christmas tree in the movie’s opening scene. Sadly, while the colorful bakery was a neighborhood staple for over a decade, boasting myriad five-star reviews on Yelp, it closed earlier this year. Google Street View shows the storefront currently outfitted with signage for “Giorla’s Coffee,” though the space does not appear to have opened as of yet.
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Image Credit: Hallmark Channel Krissy throws a bowl of pasta at her boyfriend, embarrassing him in front of his entire law firm, at Firenze Osteria (translation – Florence Tavern), formerly located at 4212 Lankershim Blvd. in Toluca Lake. The now-defunct eatery was originally established in 2009 by Fabio Viviani, the Florence-born culinary master who made a name for himself during season five of Bravo’s “Top Chef.” Los Angeles Times restaurant critic Irene Virbila had some harsh words for the place upon its opening, deeming the fare “so conventional it reads like a tourist trap — mostly generic dishes from no particular region. Italian Food for Dummies.” Ouch! The scathing review didn’t phase Viviani, though, nor his patronage for that matter, with Firenze Osteria serving as a popular neighborhood haunt for half a decade before eventually shuttering in 2014, just two years after the “Naughty or Nice” shoot. While it was set to reopen under new ownership with Viviani still at the helm, those plans never came to fruition and today, the space houses Verse, a supper club/live music venue owned by 10-time Grammy-award-winning mixing engineer Manny Marroquin which has hosted such acts as Robin Thicke, Lil Wayne and Charlie Puth.
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Image Credit: Hallmark Channel Just down the street at 4386 Lankershim Blvd. is Angelino Trattoria and Pizzeria, where Krissy first shows Marco Santa’s Naughty or Nice list (spoiler – it’s actually a large, magical leather-bound book) and schools two women who try to cut in front of them in line. The quaint Italian eatery was originally established by Roman chef Angelo Di Santo in 2006 and is still going strong today – the only restaurant from the film that currently remains in operation. Offering traditional Tuscan entrees based on Old World family recipes, the eatery is open on Christmas Eve for those looking for a full “Naughty or Nice” experience this holiday season.