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[TV Party] What Happened to Classic TV Houses?
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Ubiquitous
Jan 23, 2016, 6:46:37 PM1/23/16
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by Ben Glenn II
As a child, I always dreamed of magically entering TV Land and visiting the
homes of my favorite sitcom families. This would be familiar territory --
after all, having watched rerun upon endless rerun, I knew my way around their
houses as well as they did.
Nothing would have given me more pleasure than to lounge in the Brady's sunken
livingroom, enter The Munsters' trap-door staircase by pulling the
griffin-shaped newelpost, or park my blue Chevrolet convertible in the
driveway of Samantha and Darrin's Cape Cod on Morning Glory Circle. Indeed, in
many cases, the houses that TV sitcom families lived in are as distinctive as
the shows themselves. This makes sense, given that a comedy centered on home
life should, by definition, establish a strong sense of place for the viewer.
Today, as an adult, I am constantly struck by the fact that many people I talk
to still believe that these houses were real, and that the shows were actually
filmed inside them. And so, in true TVparty fashion, I thought I would
"demystify" our television heritage a bit by leading us through a "where are
they now?" of classic TV sitcom homes.
Most of the famous TV sitcom houses we know and love were located on movie
studio backlots. Beginning in the mid-1950s, when television proved itself to
be a profitable venture, movie studios established television production units
and began generating series. Columbia and Universal appear to have been the
most active in this arena, largely because they could use their existing
facilities, rather than build new ones, to handle the production load. Among
these facilities were outdoor sets on the backlot, built years earlier for
motion pictures and still sitting there, ready to use.
Therefore, unlike earlier sitcoms such as The Honeymooners and I Love Lucy
which were filmed before a studio audience in a theater-like setting with the
action taking place largely indoors, movie studio-produced shows such as Leave
It To Beaver were free to use backlot exteriors, allowing the action to take
place out-of-doors and within a town or neighborhood. The studio audience was
replaced with a laugh track, and interior scenes were filmed on nearby studio
soundstages.
Outdoor sets such as the Bewitched home are known in the industry as "shells":
that is, they generally are constructed of three sides and a roof, and often
are missing the back wall and/or one of the side walls.
Inside, the interior is one big raw, unfinished space (no rooms!), and the
structure's matrix of scaffolding, pipes, electrical wires and beams is fully
exposed. Usually ladders are built into the structure, allowing actors to
climb to the second floor to do a scene from an upper-story window or the
roof.
When in use, the homes are "dressed" by adding front doors, window treatments
and landscaping, and an L-shaped temporary wall is placed inside the front
door to give the illusion of an interior. When not in use, however, the shells
are usually stripped of their doors, curtains, and landscaping, and in many
cases appear neglected and poorly maintained.
Not all studio backlot houses are facades. For example, several newer homes on
the Warner Bros. lot are complete, with four sides and a roof. During inactive
periods these structures are used to store lighting and other production
equipment. It can be disheartening to see these old sets in person. They
always seem surprisingly small and, as I mentioned, poorly maintained -
studios fix them up only when they're about to be used.
A number of classic houses have been structurally altered over the years for
use in other productions. Remember, Hollywood studios are not museums. In
general, they maintain very little regard for history, and often have no
qualms about altering or even destroying vintage sets for a project as
fleeting as a network pilot.
One need only watch the upsetting 60 Minutes segment documenting the
demolition of the legendary MGM backlot - to make way for a housing
development -- to understand. Therefore, you will be disappointed if, for
example, you expect The Partridge Family house to look now just as it did in
when the series was in production in the early 1970s.
Universal Studios (California): The Munsters, the Cleavers, and more Universal
Studios boasts what is today the largest backlot in Hollywood. It consists of
hundreds of outdoor sets, and Universal's famous backlot tour (and now theme
park), attracts an astonishing 35,000 visitors each day. The tour was begun in
1964, and at that time visitors could view moviemaking in action and visit the
sets of Universal's popular TV series produced by its television production
company, Revue.
The heart of Universal's TV Land is Colonial Street, situated on the Upper Lot
at Universal City. Here can be found the house facades used on Leave It To
Beaver, The Munsters, and the TV series adaptations of Harper Valley PTA, and
Animal House. Colonial Street's mix of homes and other buildings is an
intentional mishmash, giving the studio a wide range of architectural styles to
draw upon.
The Munster house has a particularly interesting history. It was probably
constructed in the early as a pleasant Victorian home. Originally, the right
side of the house was surmounted by a hexagonal, flat-topped turret, rather
than the pointed tower that stands today. (In fact, the hexagonal turret can be
seen in the color pilot of The Munsters.) When the house was featured in the
1962 film, The Second Time Around, the hexagonal turret was burned as part of
the storyline; concurrently, the house must have been selected for The Munsters
and then rebuilt with the eerie tower portion that TVparty-ers know well.
When The Munsters entered pre-production, Universal spent a reported $1 million
to transform the nostalgic Victorian facade into a creepy mansion. Features
such as a dilapidated stovepipe and weathervane were installed on the roof, and
the home's grounds were "dressed" with groupings of arthritic prop trees (real
trees that had been "embalmed" for repeated use), hanging moss, tumbleweeds,
dead bushes, and strewn leaves. Finally, an imposing stone gate was added, and
the finished set was photographed with a wide-angle lens, often from slightly
below or above, making it appear massive.
Despite this expense, the majority of scenes were filmed indoors: "We used the
house very little," recalled Al Lewis in a recent interview. Universal featured
the Munster house on its early studio tours, often allowing children to visit
the set and have their photos taken with the cast. When The Munsters finished
production in 1966, Universal continued to use the house. In keeping with
studio practice, the structure was "undressed" -- stripped of its gate,
landscaping, and architectural adornments -- and by the late 1970s was painted
a cheery yellow and featured in the short-lived NBC series Shirley starring
Shirley Jones.
Universal later attempted to convert the house into a Cape Cod-style home for
use on Murder, She Wrote by removing the center window peak and the gothic-
arched porch, replacing it with a homey, wraparound veranda. The house stands
as such today, although it has been painted a weatherworn gray to remind
visitors of its spooky past.
Not far from the Munster house on Colonial Street is the Cleaver home from
Leave It To Beaver. Actually, the Cleavers had two houses, both of which are
here. The more famous of the two, a stone and wood rambler, remained intact and
in use throughout the 1980s, and was restored somewhat for the short-lived
revival series, The New Leave It To Beaver.
By the mid-1990s, however, the original facade had fallen into such disrepair
that a replica had to be built for the 1997 film version of the series. This
replica is located on Colonial Street, too, but appears to be a scaled-down
version of the gracious original. The genuine Cleaver rambler can be seen - in
color - as it appeared during the making of Leave It To Beaver in the 1956
Universal film Never Say Goodbye starring Rock Hudson (shown regularly on AMC).
The Warner Bros. (formerly Columbia) Ranch: A TV Land Goldmine! Along with
Universal, Columbia was the other major Hollywood studio that devoted a hefty
portion of its production schedule to television series. The studio never grew
to the grand scale of MGM, Universal or Warner Bros.; in fact, its facilities
consisted mostly of a series of offices and soundstages on Gower Street in
downtown Hollywood, and a small backlot located in southern Burbank.
By the mid-1950s, Columbia's motion picture output was flagging (largely
churning out low-budget William Castle films and the like), and so the studio
turned to television, thus creating its Screen Gems production unit.
When we TVparty-ers think "Screen Gems", visions of Bewitched, I Dream of
Jeannie, and The Partridge Family are immediately called to mind.
Indeed, Screen Gems produced all of these shows and more, and these families'
famous addresses can still be found (for the most part) on the old Columbia
backlot in Burbank.
<Looking down the street from the Bewitched house.
Long referred to as "The Ranch", this property is located between Oak Street
and Verdugo Avenue at Hollywood Way, just a short drive from the Warner Bros.
main lot.
Like Universal's Colonial Street, The Ranch comprises an assortment of
architectural styles - suburban homes, two gas stations, a church, and 19th
century-style townhouses - encircling a central park with trees, a fountain,
and a swimming pool.
Bewitched houseAt one end is the famous Stephens house at 1164 Morning Glory
Circle from Bewitched. This charming Cape Cod must be one of the most appealing
of TV homes, for it was used extensively throughout the series and - unlike
other TV homes - the interior spaces appeared to match those of the exterior.
In reality, the Stephens house is a shell: the structure has no back or right-
side wall, and only a partial left wall. (Pedestrians can see the rear of the
shell at the corner of North Kenwood and West Oak Streets in Burbank). Other
than that, the structure is satisfying to see because it looks much as it did
in the 1960s.
Even after staging a real fire in the house for an episode of Home Improvement,
studio carpenters repaired the structure and made only minor repairs, such as
replacing the original paned windows with casement ones. The main things which
dramatically alter the facade's appearance are the two Burbank skyscrapers that
now rise up behind it.
Partridge family houseUnfortunately, the fate of The Partridge Family house is
not as happy. While the original Mondrian-inspired bus is long destroyed , the
Partridge home - which often doubled as Abner and Gladys Kravitz's house in
Bewitched -- remained untouched until something called Lethal Weapon came
along. That film's script called for a suburban house to be firebombed, and
unfortunately the studio - Warner Bros. - chose the Partridge house.
Today, the charming triangular entryway is gone, and the structure has been
rebuilt to resemble a barn-like, contemporary home. Fortunately, the adjacent
garage where Shirley, Keith, Laurie and the gang rehearsed those groovy numbers
still stands. The Partridge house is a not a facade but a fully enclosed
structure which is used to store lighting and other equipment when it's not
being blown up.
Directly next door to the Partridge house is Maj. Anthony Nelson's Cocoa Beach
home from I Dream of Jeannie. This house, with its recognizable ivy-covered
porch trellace, also served as the Anderson family's residence on the benchmark
sitcom Father Knows Best. Today the house is, happily, still intact, with only
minor changes to the front porch area.
As with the Partridge house, this structure is fully enclosed (the back
exterior wall is simply white concrete) and is used for equipment storage.
The Ranch is full of more familiar TV Land sites: the houses from Dennis the
Menace and Hazel; a red-brick church, hilariously chopped-off on the back and
sides where the camera doesn't reach; and the widely used central park, which
can still be seen today on the opening credits of Friends.
Paramount Studios: Nobody's Home! Paramount boasts itself as the "oldest movie
studio in Hollywood". Technically, this is true, because Paramount is located
in Hollywood proper, while the other studios have long relocated to the Los
Angeles suburbs of Burbank, Century City, Culver City, and so forth.
However, with its in-town location, Paramount has a relatively small backlot -
nothing near the sprawl Universal or Warner Bros. In fact, it has minimal
residential street sets, and therefore the studio used exteriors of real homes
around Los Angeles as the homes of several of its TV families. We'll locate two
for you here - the Bradys' and the Cunninghams'.
Brady Bunch HouseRecognizing the limitations of the Paramount backlot, and
perhaps in an effort to imbue their production with a bit more realism,
Sherwood Schwartz's team sought out an actual suburban Los Angeles home for The
Brady Bunch. Of course, the house would be used only for stock exterior shots,
with the action filmed almost entirely on Paramount's Stage 5. The house they
selected is perhaps the most famous in American television.
In spring 1969, Schwartz's team identified the now-immortal house. Located at
11222 Dilling Street in North Hollywood (also referred to as Studio City) in
the San Fernando Valley, the split-level house was built in 1959 by Luther B.
Carson; Carson's widow, Louise Weddington Carson, was living in the house alone
when the house was selected for The Brady Bunch.
The Brady Bunch houseIn 1973, Mrs. Carson sold the house to Violet and George
McAllister. Mrs. McAllister lives in the house to this day, although it looks
quite different now with its landscaping and surrounding white iron fence.
As many TVparty-ers know, the window on the home's A-frame section was a prop,
and has long been removed. Given the house's changed appearance, a three-sided
facade replicating its 1969 look was built for the two Brady Bunch movies.
Garry Marshall encountered a similar problem when his Love, American Style
segment, "Love in the Happy Days", was picked up as a series by Paramount
Television.
real Happy Days houseAgain, with little to choose from on the backlot, the
production team went into Los Angeles in search of a traditional-style house
which would likely be found in 1950s mid-America. They found it at 565 North
Cahuenga Boulevard, just a few blocks from Paramount's lot on Melrose Avenue.
The Cunningham house is still there - but without Fonzie's motorcycle in the
driveway or the swing on the front porch.
Clampett MansionQuick hits: The Clampetts' mansion; Mary's boarding house; and
the Addams Family mystery The exterior of the Clampett mansion seen on The
Beverly Hillbillies was a real house. The show's producing studio, Filmways,
had no backlot from which to draw upon. So, they selected a home in the
grandest section of Bel-Air.
For many years, the property was hidden by a high hedge that deterred
sightseers. In the 1980s, however, the mansion was torn down and another
residence was built on the site.
Mary Richards' charming bachelorette pad in The Mary Tyler Moore Show (before
she moved to her highrise apartment) supposedly was located on the upper floor
of Phyllis Lindstrom's house. The series was filmed at CBS's Studio Center
facility in Los Angeles, but the house used for exterior shots can be found at
2104 Kenwood Parkway in Minneapolis, MN.
Finally, The Addams Family house remains an industry mystery. While the house
shown in the familiar opening credits was certainly a matte painting, there are
several episodes which use an actual house. Did one exist? Even the most
knowledgeable Addams Family fans don't know, although one authority swears that
the Addams house can be seen in the movie Willard.
There you have it, TVparty-ers - a directory to many beloved sitcom houses.
So next time you're in Los Angeles (or Minneapolis!), take map in hand and set
out to see these landmarks of popular culture. You may be slightly dismayed by
the way a favorite old set looks today, but at least you can say that you were
right there, where all the laughs started.
--
Pres Obama officially endorses Hillary Clinton, because he doesn't
want to be known forever as the worst president.
As a child, I always dreamed of magically entering TV Land and visiting the
homes of my favorite sitcom families. This would be familiar territory --
after all, having watched rerun upon endless rerun, I knew my way around their
houses as well as they did.
Nothing would have given me more pleasure than to lounge in the Brady's sunken
livingroom, enter The Munsters' trap-door staircase by pulling the
griffin-shaped newelpost, or park my blue Chevrolet convertible in the
driveway of Samantha and Darrin's Cape Cod on Morning Glory Circle. Indeed, in
many cases, the houses that TV sitcom families lived in are as distinctive as
the shows themselves. This makes sense, given that a comedy centered on home
life should, by definition, establish a strong sense of place for the viewer.
Today, as an adult, I am constantly struck by the fact that many people I talk
to still believe that these houses were real, and that the shows were actually
filmed inside them. And so, in true TVparty fashion, I thought I would
"demystify" our television heritage a bit by leading us through a "where are
they now?" of classic TV sitcom homes.
Most of the famous TV sitcom houses we know and love were located on movie
studio backlots. Beginning in the mid-1950s, when television proved itself to
be a profitable venture, movie studios established television production units
and began generating series. Columbia and Universal appear to have been the
most active in this arena, largely because they could use their existing
facilities, rather than build new ones, to handle the production load. Among
these facilities were outdoor sets on the backlot, built years earlier for
motion pictures and still sitting there, ready to use.
Therefore, unlike earlier sitcoms such as The Honeymooners and I Love Lucy
which were filmed before a studio audience in a theater-like setting with the
action taking place largely indoors, movie studio-produced shows such as Leave
It To Beaver were free to use backlot exteriors, allowing the action to take
place out-of-doors and within a town or neighborhood. The studio audience was
replaced with a laugh track, and interior scenes were filmed on nearby studio
soundstages.
Outdoor sets such as the Bewitched home are known in the industry as "shells":
that is, they generally are constructed of three sides and a roof, and often
are missing the back wall and/or one of the side walls.
Inside, the interior is one big raw, unfinished space (no rooms!), and the
structure's matrix of scaffolding, pipes, electrical wires and beams is fully
exposed. Usually ladders are built into the structure, allowing actors to
climb to the second floor to do a scene from an upper-story window or the
roof.
When in use, the homes are "dressed" by adding front doors, window treatments
and landscaping, and an L-shaped temporary wall is placed inside the front
door to give the illusion of an interior. When not in use, however, the shells
are usually stripped of their doors, curtains, and landscaping, and in many
cases appear neglected and poorly maintained.
Not all studio backlot houses are facades. For example, several newer homes on
the Warner Bros. lot are complete, with four sides and a roof. During inactive
periods these structures are used to store lighting and other production
equipment. It can be disheartening to see these old sets in person. They
always seem surprisingly small and, as I mentioned, poorly maintained -
studios fix them up only when they're about to be used.
A number of classic houses have been structurally altered over the years for
use in other productions. Remember, Hollywood studios are not museums. In
general, they maintain very little regard for history, and often have no
qualms about altering or even destroying vintage sets for a project as
fleeting as a network pilot.
One need only watch the upsetting 60 Minutes segment documenting the
demolition of the legendary MGM backlot - to make way for a housing
development -- to understand. Therefore, you will be disappointed if, for
example, you expect The Partridge Family house to look now just as it did in
when the series was in production in the early 1970s.
Universal Studios (California): The Munsters, the Cleavers, and more Universal
Studios boasts what is today the largest backlot in Hollywood. It consists of
hundreds of outdoor sets, and Universal's famous backlot tour (and now theme
park), attracts an astonishing 35,000 visitors each day. The tour was begun in
1964, and at that time visitors could view moviemaking in action and visit the
sets of Universal's popular TV series produced by its television production
company, Revue.
The heart of Universal's TV Land is Colonial Street, situated on the Upper Lot
at Universal City. Here can be found the house facades used on Leave It To
Beaver, The Munsters, and the TV series adaptations of Harper Valley PTA, and
Animal House. Colonial Street's mix of homes and other buildings is an
intentional mishmash, giving the studio a wide range of architectural styles to
draw upon.
The Munster house has a particularly interesting history. It was probably
constructed in the early as a pleasant Victorian home. Originally, the right
side of the house was surmounted by a hexagonal, flat-topped turret, rather
than the pointed tower that stands today. (In fact, the hexagonal turret can be
seen in the color pilot of The Munsters.) When the house was featured in the
1962 film, The Second Time Around, the hexagonal turret was burned as part of
the storyline; concurrently, the house must have been selected for The Munsters
and then rebuilt with the eerie tower portion that TVparty-ers know well.
When The Munsters entered pre-production, Universal spent a reported $1 million
to transform the nostalgic Victorian facade into a creepy mansion. Features
such as a dilapidated stovepipe and weathervane were installed on the roof, and
the home's grounds were "dressed" with groupings of arthritic prop trees (real
trees that had been "embalmed" for repeated use), hanging moss, tumbleweeds,
dead bushes, and strewn leaves. Finally, an imposing stone gate was added, and
the finished set was photographed with a wide-angle lens, often from slightly
below or above, making it appear massive.
Despite this expense, the majority of scenes were filmed indoors: "We used the
house very little," recalled Al Lewis in a recent interview. Universal featured
the Munster house on its early studio tours, often allowing children to visit
the set and have their photos taken with the cast. When The Munsters finished
production in 1966, Universal continued to use the house. In keeping with
studio practice, the structure was "undressed" -- stripped of its gate,
landscaping, and architectural adornments -- and by the late 1970s was painted
a cheery yellow and featured in the short-lived NBC series Shirley starring
Shirley Jones.
Universal later attempted to convert the house into a Cape Cod-style home for
use on Murder, She Wrote by removing the center window peak and the gothic-
arched porch, replacing it with a homey, wraparound veranda. The house stands
as such today, although it has been painted a weatherworn gray to remind
visitors of its spooky past.
Not far from the Munster house on Colonial Street is the Cleaver home from
Leave It To Beaver. Actually, the Cleavers had two houses, both of which are
here. The more famous of the two, a stone and wood rambler, remained intact and
in use throughout the 1980s, and was restored somewhat for the short-lived
revival series, The New Leave It To Beaver.
By the mid-1990s, however, the original facade had fallen into such disrepair
that a replica had to be built for the 1997 film version of the series. This
replica is located on Colonial Street, too, but appears to be a scaled-down
version of the gracious original. The genuine Cleaver rambler can be seen - in
color - as it appeared during the making of Leave It To Beaver in the 1956
Universal film Never Say Goodbye starring Rock Hudson (shown regularly on AMC).
The Warner Bros. (formerly Columbia) Ranch: A TV Land Goldmine! Along with
Universal, Columbia was the other major Hollywood studio that devoted a hefty
portion of its production schedule to television series. The studio never grew
to the grand scale of MGM, Universal or Warner Bros.; in fact, its facilities
consisted mostly of a series of offices and soundstages on Gower Street in
downtown Hollywood, and a small backlot located in southern Burbank.
By the mid-1950s, Columbia's motion picture output was flagging (largely
churning out low-budget William Castle films and the like), and so the studio
turned to television, thus creating its Screen Gems production unit.
When we TVparty-ers think "Screen Gems", visions of Bewitched, I Dream of
Jeannie, and The Partridge Family are immediately called to mind.
Indeed, Screen Gems produced all of these shows and more, and these families'
famous addresses can still be found (for the most part) on the old Columbia
backlot in Burbank.
<Looking down the street from the Bewitched house.
Long referred to as "The Ranch", this property is located between Oak Street
and Verdugo Avenue at Hollywood Way, just a short drive from the Warner Bros.
main lot.
Like Universal's Colonial Street, The Ranch comprises an assortment of
architectural styles - suburban homes, two gas stations, a church, and 19th
century-style townhouses - encircling a central park with trees, a fountain,
and a swimming pool.
Bewitched houseAt one end is the famous Stephens house at 1164 Morning Glory
Circle from Bewitched. This charming Cape Cod must be one of the most appealing
of TV homes, for it was used extensively throughout the series and - unlike
other TV homes - the interior spaces appeared to match those of the exterior.
In reality, the Stephens house is a shell: the structure has no back or right-
side wall, and only a partial left wall. (Pedestrians can see the rear of the
shell at the corner of North Kenwood and West Oak Streets in Burbank). Other
than that, the structure is satisfying to see because it looks much as it did
in the 1960s.
Even after staging a real fire in the house for an episode of Home Improvement,
studio carpenters repaired the structure and made only minor repairs, such as
replacing the original paned windows with casement ones. The main things which
dramatically alter the facade's appearance are the two Burbank skyscrapers that
now rise up behind it.
Partridge family houseUnfortunately, the fate of The Partridge Family house is
not as happy. While the original Mondrian-inspired bus is long destroyed , the
Partridge home - which often doubled as Abner and Gladys Kravitz's house in
Bewitched -- remained untouched until something called Lethal Weapon came
along. That film's script called for a suburban house to be firebombed, and
unfortunately the studio - Warner Bros. - chose the Partridge house.
Today, the charming triangular entryway is gone, and the structure has been
rebuilt to resemble a barn-like, contemporary home. Fortunately, the adjacent
garage where Shirley, Keith, Laurie and the gang rehearsed those groovy numbers
still stands. The Partridge house is a not a facade but a fully enclosed
structure which is used to store lighting and other equipment when it's not
being blown up.
Directly next door to the Partridge house is Maj. Anthony Nelson's Cocoa Beach
home from I Dream of Jeannie. This house, with its recognizable ivy-covered
porch trellace, also served as the Anderson family's residence on the benchmark
sitcom Father Knows Best. Today the house is, happily, still intact, with only
minor changes to the front porch area.
As with the Partridge house, this structure is fully enclosed (the back
exterior wall is simply white concrete) and is used for equipment storage.
The Ranch is full of more familiar TV Land sites: the houses from Dennis the
Menace and Hazel; a red-brick church, hilariously chopped-off on the back and
sides where the camera doesn't reach; and the widely used central park, which
can still be seen today on the opening credits of Friends.
Paramount Studios: Nobody's Home! Paramount boasts itself as the "oldest movie
studio in Hollywood". Technically, this is true, because Paramount is located
in Hollywood proper, while the other studios have long relocated to the Los
Angeles suburbs of Burbank, Century City, Culver City, and so forth.
However, with its in-town location, Paramount has a relatively small backlot -
nothing near the sprawl Universal or Warner Bros. In fact, it has minimal
residential street sets, and therefore the studio used exteriors of real homes
around Los Angeles as the homes of several of its TV families. We'll locate two
for you here - the Bradys' and the Cunninghams'.
Brady Bunch HouseRecognizing the limitations of the Paramount backlot, and
perhaps in an effort to imbue their production with a bit more realism,
Sherwood Schwartz's team sought out an actual suburban Los Angeles home for The
Brady Bunch. Of course, the house would be used only for stock exterior shots,
with the action filmed almost entirely on Paramount's Stage 5. The house they
selected is perhaps the most famous in American television.
In spring 1969, Schwartz's team identified the now-immortal house. Located at
11222 Dilling Street in North Hollywood (also referred to as Studio City) in
the San Fernando Valley, the split-level house was built in 1959 by Luther B.
Carson; Carson's widow, Louise Weddington Carson, was living in the house alone
when the house was selected for The Brady Bunch.
The Brady Bunch houseIn 1973, Mrs. Carson sold the house to Violet and George
McAllister. Mrs. McAllister lives in the house to this day, although it looks
quite different now with its landscaping and surrounding white iron fence.
As many TVparty-ers know, the window on the home's A-frame section was a prop,
and has long been removed. Given the house's changed appearance, a three-sided
facade replicating its 1969 look was built for the two Brady Bunch movies.
Garry Marshall encountered a similar problem when his Love, American Style
segment, "Love in the Happy Days", was picked up as a series by Paramount
Television.
real Happy Days houseAgain, with little to choose from on the backlot, the
production team went into Los Angeles in search of a traditional-style house
which would likely be found in 1950s mid-America. They found it at 565 North
Cahuenga Boulevard, just a few blocks from Paramount's lot on Melrose Avenue.
The Cunningham house is still there - but without Fonzie's motorcycle in the
driveway or the swing on the front porch.
Clampett MansionQuick hits: The Clampetts' mansion; Mary's boarding house; and
the Addams Family mystery The exterior of the Clampett mansion seen on The
Beverly Hillbillies was a real house. The show's producing studio, Filmways,
had no backlot from which to draw upon. So, they selected a home in the
grandest section of Bel-Air.
For many years, the property was hidden by a high hedge that deterred
sightseers. In the 1980s, however, the mansion was torn down and another
residence was built on the site.
Mary Richards' charming bachelorette pad in The Mary Tyler Moore Show (before
she moved to her highrise apartment) supposedly was located on the upper floor
of Phyllis Lindstrom's house. The series was filmed at CBS's Studio Center
facility in Los Angeles, but the house used for exterior shots can be found at
2104 Kenwood Parkway in Minneapolis, MN.
Finally, The Addams Family house remains an industry mystery. While the house
shown in the familiar opening credits was certainly a matte painting, there are
several episodes which use an actual house. Did one exist? Even the most
knowledgeable Addams Family fans don't know, although one authority swears that
the Addams house can be seen in the movie Willard.
There you have it, TVparty-ers - a directory to many beloved sitcom houses.
So next time you're in Los Angeles (or Minneapolis!), take map in hand and set
out to see these landmarks of popular culture. You may be slightly dismayed by
the way a favorite old set looks today, but at least you can say that you were
right there, where all the laughs started.
--
Pres Obama officially endorses Hillary Clinton, because he doesn't
want to be known forever as the worst president.
anim8rfsk
Jan 23, 2016, 9:07:21 PM1/23/16
to
In article <n00rz0$bf9$2...@dont-email.me>,
lots of mistakes, but still interesting
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BTR1701
Jan 24, 2016, 10:01:59 AM1/24/16
to
Strange that with all the discussion of the "Colonial Street" part of the
Universal backlot, they didn't mention that it is most recognizable to
modern audiences as Wisteria Lane from DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES.
Also, they made no mention of the MODERN FAMILY houses, which are real
(non-backlot) homes. I have a friend who lives a block or so away from the
Dunphy house on Dunleer Drive in Cheviot Hills.
Universal backlot, they didn't mention that it is most recognizable to
modern audiences as Wisteria Lane from DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES.
Also, they made no mention of the MODERN FAMILY houses, which are real
(non-backlot) homes. I have a friend who lives a block or so away from the
Dunphy house on Dunleer Drive in Cheviot Hills.
Tony Calguire
Jan 24, 2016, 10:30:59 AM1/24/16
to
It's 11:59 and 59 seconds. BTR1701 happened in rec.arts.tv today:
>
> Also, they made no mention of the MODERN FAMILY houses, which are real
> (non-backlot) homes. I have a friend who lives a block or so away from the
> Dunphy house on Dunleer Drive in Cheviot Hills.
>
Interesting... there's no Google Street View for that stretch of Dunleer
Drive.
>
> Also, they made no mention of the MODERN FAMILY houses, which are real
> (non-backlot) homes. I have a friend who lives a block or so away from the
> Dunphy house on Dunleer Drive in Cheviot Hills.
>
Drive.
SoHillsGuy
Jan 24, 2016, 10:58:38 AM1/24/16
to
>
> Strange that with all the discussion of the "Colonial Street" part of the
> Universal backlot, they didn't mention that it is most recognizable to
> modern audiences as Wisteria Lane from DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES.
>
anim8rfsk
Jan 24, 2016, 11:03:11 AM1/24/16
to
In article
<689110169475339616.135989...@news.giganews.com>,
discussion of The Munsters house.
<689110169475339616.135989...@news.giganews.com>,
BTR1701 <addre...@invalid.invalid> wrote:
> anim8rfsk <anim...@cox.net> wrote:
>
> > lots of mistakes, but still interesting
>
> Strange that with all the discussion of the "Colonial Street" part of the
> Universal backlot, they didn't mention that it is most recognizable to
> modern audiences as Wisteria Lane from DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES.
Yeah, that was the first one to jump out at me, especially with all the
> anim8rfsk <anim...@cox.net> wrote:
>
> > lots of mistakes, but still interesting
>
> Strange that with all the discussion of the "Colonial Street" part of the
> Universal backlot, they didn't mention that it is most recognizable to
> modern audiences as Wisteria Lane from DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES.
discussion of The Munsters house.
Michael Black
Jan 24, 2016, 12:28:12 PM1/24/16
to
someone saying here that the route to the Hollywoodland sign is not
clearly marked, because the mayor or someone wanted it kept quiet.
Michael
anim8rfsk
Jan 24, 2016, 12:40:44 PM1/24/16
to
BTR1701
Jan 24, 2016, 1:04:03 PM1/24/16
to
programmed to send you to Griffith Park Observatory if you tell it take you
to Hollywood sign, instead of up Deronda Drive, which provides the best
up-close views and photo ops. Griffith Park is miles away from the sign,
across a valley on a separate mountain. It wasn't done at the request of
the mayor, but rather the residents of the neighborhood who are sick of the
traffic. I don't have much sympathy for them. They decided to move right
next to one of the most iconic tourist attractions in the world. To then
whine about those very tourists seems a bit ridiculous.
anim8rfsk
Jan 24, 2016, 1:32:00 PM1/24/16
to
In article
<1295896322475350527.316738...@news.giganews.com>
,
I read in one place that they were putting up their own "no through
traffic" and "one way street" signs to deter tourists, and the city got
mad as Hell because, you know, what if an emergency vehicle is trying to
find it's way up there?
<1295896322475350527.316738...@news.giganews.com>
,
traffic" and "one way street" signs to deter tourists, and the city got
mad as Hell because, you know, what if an emergency vehicle is trying to
find it's way up there?
Ubiquitous
Jan 24, 2016, 1:50:22 PM1/24/16
to
Michael Black
Jan 24, 2016, 2:43:17 PM1/24/16
to
On Sun, 24 Jan 2016, Ubiquitous wrote:
> In article <5184e25b-d925-4fd5...@googlegroups.com>, eeo...@gmail.com wrote:
>
>>> Strange that with all the discussion of the "Colonial Street" part of the
>>> Universal backlot, they didn't mention that it is most recognizable
>>> to modern audiences as Wisteria Lane from DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES.
>>
>> Also, no mention that the "Bewitched" house is used as one of the close
>> neighbors to the Hecks on "The Middle" and is fairly recognizable in
>> any episode with exterior scenes on that series.
>
> I suspect it's because this is about classic TV show houses.
>
WIthout having given it any thought, I am surprised that the houses on a
> In article <5184e25b-d925-4fd5...@googlegroups.com>, eeo...@gmail.com wrote:
>
>>> Strange that with all the discussion of the "Colonial Street" part of the
>>> Universal backlot, they didn't mention that it is most recognizable
>>> to modern audiences as Wisteria Lane from DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES.
>>
>> Also, no mention that the "Bewitched" house is used as one of the close
>> neighbors to the Hecks on "The Middle" and is fairly recognizable in
>> any episode with exterior scenes on that series.
>
> I suspect it's because this is about classic TV show houses.
>
given show aren't necessarily adjacent. It makes sense from the studio
point of view, build as they need, so there may not be a vacant lot next
to the "Eight is Enough" house, but I guess I figured it was easier if
they had the sets that worked together close together.
Now it's a different matter, since they reuse what's already there.
Michael
BTR1701
Jan 24, 2016, 3:01:00 PM1/24/16
to
anim8rfsk <anim...@cox.net> wrote:
> In article
> <1295896322475350527.316738...@news.giganews.com>
> ,
> BTR1701 <addre...@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>
>> Michael Black <et...@ncf.ca> wrote:
>>
>>> On Sun, 24 Jan 2016, Tony Calguire wrote:
>>>
>>>> It's 11:59 and 59 seconds. BTR1701 happened in rec.arts.tv today:
>>>>
>>>>> Also, they made no mention of the MODERN FAMILY houses, which are real
>>>>> (non-backlot) homes. I have a friend who lives a block or so away from
>>>>> the
>>>>> Dunphy house on Dunleer Drive in Cheviot Hills.
>>>>
>>>> Interesting... there's no Google Street View for that stretch of Dunleer
>>>> Drive.
>>>>
>>> Maybe they got one of those Hollywood exemptions. I seem to recall
>>> someone saying here that the route to the Hollywoodland sign is not
>>> clearly marked, because the mayor or someone wanted it kept quiet.
>>
>> It's not just vaguely marked. Both Apple Maps and Google Maps are
>> programmed to send you to Griffith Park Observatory if you tell it take you
>> to the Hollywood sign, instead of up Deronda Drive, which provides the best
> In article
> <1295896322475350527.316738...@news.giganews.com>
> ,
> BTR1701 <addre...@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>
>> Michael Black <et...@ncf.ca> wrote:
>>
>>> On Sun, 24 Jan 2016, Tony Calguire wrote:
>>>
>>>> It's 11:59 and 59 seconds. BTR1701 happened in rec.arts.tv today:
>>>>
>>>>> Also, they made no mention of the MODERN FAMILY houses, which are real
>>>>> (non-backlot) homes. I have a friend who lives a block or so away from
>>>>> the
>>>>> Dunphy house on Dunleer Drive in Cheviot Hills.
>>>>
>>>> Interesting... there's no Google Street View for that stretch of Dunleer
>>>> Drive.
>>>>
>>> Maybe they got one of those Hollywood exemptions. I seem to recall
>>> someone saying here that the route to the Hollywoodland sign is not
>>> clearly marked, because the mayor or someone wanted it kept quiet.
>>
>> It's not just vaguely marked. Both Apple Maps and Google Maps are
>> programmed to send you to Griffith Park Observatory if you tell it take you
>> up-close views and photo ops. Griffith Park is miles away from the sign,
>> across a valley on a separate mountain. It wasn't done at the request of
>> the mayor, but rather the residents of the neighborhood who are sick of the
>> traffic. I don't have much sympathy for them. They decided to move right
>> next to one of the most iconic tourist attractions in the world. To then
>> whine about those very tourists seems a bit ridiculous.
>
> I read in one place that they were putting up their own "no through
> traffic" and "one way street" signs to deter tourists, and the city got
> mad as Hell because, you know, what if an emergency vehicle is trying to
> find it's way up there?
Yep, I've personally seen those resident-erected signs. They put them on
>> across a valley on a separate mountain. It wasn't done at the request of
>> the mayor, but rather the residents of the neighborhood who are sick of the
>> traffic. I don't have much sympathy for them. They decided to move right
>> next to one of the most iconic tourist attractions in the world. To then
>> whine about those very tourists seems a bit ridiculous.
>
> I read in one place that they were putting up their own "no through
> traffic" and "one way street" signs to deter tourists, and the city got
> mad as Hell because, you know, what if an emergency vehicle is trying to
> find it's way up there?
sawhorses and block the street with them.
When I took my brother and his family up last summer to get their pictures,
we rounded a corner to find one of those barriers with a standard Do Not
Enter traffic sign bolted to it. I just got out, moved the sawhorse into
the gutter and kept going. I'm sure it PO'd someone when they found it, but
it's not like that nonsense is in any way enforceable.
Tony Calguire
Jan 24, 2016, 3:52:31 PM1/24/16
to
It's 11:59 and 59 seconds. anim8rfsk happened in rec.arts.tv today:
>> >
>> > Interesting... there's no Google Street View for that stretch of
>> > Dunleer Drive.
>> >
>> Maybe they got one of those Hollywood exemptions. I seem to recall
>> someone saying here that the route to the Hollywoodland sign is not
>> clearly marked, because the mayor or someone wanted it kept quiet.
>>
>> Michael
>
> The neighborhood.
>
Seems a little silly to me. I like to use Google Earth as a vicarious means
of travel. If I can't look at the house in street view, that would just make
me more curious to see it in person.
Besides, the discontinuity in street view is so short and so obviously
centered around that house's address, it's like a bullseye.
>> >
>> > Interesting... there's no Google Street View for that stretch of
>> > Dunleer Drive.
>> >
>> Maybe they got one of those Hollywood exemptions. I seem to recall
>> someone saying here that the route to the Hollywoodland sign is not
>> clearly marked, because the mayor or someone wanted it kept quiet.
>>
>> Michael
>
> The neighborhood.
>
of travel. If I can't look at the house in street view, that would just make
me more curious to see it in person.
Besides, the discontinuity in street view is so short and so obviously
centered around that house's address, it's like a bullseye.
anim8rfsk
Jan 24, 2016, 9:34:49 PM1/24/16
to
Here's a great site I found some time ago, shows aerials of the
Bewitched house, their neighbors the Kravitzes (the Partridge Family
lived in the same house!), Jeannie, and lots more.
http://www.bewitched.net/1164mg.htm
Michael Black
Jan 24, 2016, 9:38:55 PM1/24/16
to
been The Stevens and the Kravitzes homes.
I wonder if any show has "broken the fourth wall" so Shirley Partridge
would mention in passing the previous owners of their house, and maybe
even the trouble they had negotiating the purchase. Of course, I think
in "reality" they lived in that house since the kids were born, so the
Kravtizes couldn't have lived there during Bewitched.
Michael
hanc...@bbs.cpcn.com
Jan 24, 2016, 11:03:39 PM1/24/16
to
On Sunday, January 24, 2016 at 10:01:59 AM UTC-5, BTR1701 wrote:
> Also, they made no mention of the MODERN FAMILY houses, which are real
> (non-backlot) homes. I have a friend who lives a block or so away from the
> Dunphy house on Dunleer Drive in Cheviot Hills.
No mention of the real houses of Queens used for Bunker facade and the
> Also, they made no mention of the MODERN FAMILY houses, which are real
> (non-backlot) homes. I have a friend who lives a block or so away from the
> Dunphy house on Dunleer Drive in Cheviot Hills.
Constanza facade. Or the restaurant used for the Seinfeld meeting
place facade.
The "deluxe apartment in the sky" building in NYC still frequently gets
tourist visitors. Funny, by today's standards, the Jefferson's apt looks
nice, but not super deluxe. But then again, today's super deluxe apts
in NYC are probably out of George Jefferson's price range.
The picture of the My Three Sons house seemed awfully real, but I
guess it could've been a set.
In Hill Street Blues, they used exterior shots of buildings in
various cities.
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