As difficult as it may be to believe, even though I absolutely love Christmas and even though I am a huge film buff, up until this past weekend I had never in my life watched the 1946 holiday classic It’s A Wonderful Life. I know, I know, for a person like me, not having seen that movie borders on sacrilege! But when fellow stalker David contacted me a few months back and let me know that he had tracked down a location used in the film, I just HAD to stalk the place – and, of course, include it in my Christmas posts. I also just HAD to sit down and finally watch It’s A Wonderful Life, which my fiancé and I did this past Saturday night. I have to admit that I didn’t actually have high hopes for the flick, as I pretty much expected it to be right on par with Citizen Kane, a movie I could hardly sit through despite the fact that it is generally regarded as the greatest film of all time. So, I was absolutely shocked when I ended up LOVING It’s A Wonderful Life. The movie was funny, heart-warming, and poignant. Most shocking of all, though, was how prevalent and timeless it actually was, despite the fact that it was filmed over 63 years ago. I literally almost fell off the couch laughing in the scene in which the Bailey’s housekeeper, Annie, eavesdrops on George and his father’s dinner conversation, causing George to say, “Well, Annie, why don’t you draw up a chair, then you’d be more comfortable and you could hear everything that’s going on.” LOL LOL LOL For those of you hold-outs out there who have yet to watch It’s A Wonderful Life, the movie truly is a must-see – especially in these days leading up to Christmas. 🙂
Unlike me, fellow stalker David has long been a fan of It’s A Wonderful Life. In the late ‘80s, he even got to stalk the inside of the Beverly Hills High School gym, where the infamous Charleston dance contest scene took place. And, yes, the floor of the BHHS gym really does open up to reveal a 25-yard swimming pool which is housed beneath. You can see a photograph of the pool here. So cool! Anyway, flash forward to about twenty years later when David’s wife bought him a book about the making of It’s A Wonderful Life for Christmas. The book stated that the house belonging to the Martini Family in the movie was located somewhere in La Canada Flintridge, a small city situated just outside of Pasadena. So, of course, David got to cyber-stalking, but, sadly, couldn’t seem to locate the residence. A short while later, though, he discovered a little website called Zillow, which he used to search the La Canada Flintridge area, and voila, it wasn’t long before he stumbled upon the correct house! YAY! David immediately posted the newfound address on Wikipedia’s It’s A Wonderful Life page, but – surprise, surprise – that information was quickly removed due to the fact that no source had been cited. Why legitimate information on Wikipedia is continuously removed while incongruous information is allowed to stay posted is BEYOND me. Not that I am bitter about it or anything. 😉 Anyway, David got into a bit of a Wiki-war with the administrators of the encyclopedia website, re-posting the information each and every time it was taken down LOL, which finally resulted in his posting about the house being deleted from the site for good. But, ironically enough, in the midst of the Wikipedia battle, numerous filming location websites and It’s A Wonderful Life fansites picked up David’s information and posted it online, ultimately resulting in Wikipedia re-posting the address and deeming it “reliable” years later. LOVE IT! 🙂
The Martini House is featured very briefly in It’s A Wonderful Life, in the scene in which George (aka James Stewart) welcomes the Martini Family to their new home in Bailey Park and his wife Mary (aka Donna Reed) presents them with bread, so “that this house will never known hunger”, salt, so “that life will always have flavor”, and wine, so “that joy and prosperity may reign forever”. 🙂 I am very happy to report that the house looks EXACTLY the same today – over 63 years later!!!!!! – as it did when the movie was filmed! 🙂 Even the position of the address number, the doorbell, and the mail slot are EXACTLY the same! LOVE IT! LOVE IT! LOVE IT! 🙂
The Martini’s neighbor’s home, which flashes by quickly in the scene, also looks very much the same as it did back in 1946.
A few of the other homes on the street were also featured briefly in the Martini house scene, but as you can see in the above screen captures and photographs, those residences look much different today.
And try as I might, I have not been able to determine the exact house in front of which Sam Wainwright was parked during that scene, but I am pretty sure it is the property pictured above, which as you can see, has also changed significantly. Don’t quote me on that one, though. 🙂
The shot showing the Bailey Park entrance sign was filmed just down the street from the Martini House, at the corner of Viro Road and Lamour Drive, but as you can see in the above screen capture and photograph, that corner looks much different today. The curved tree where the sign once hung is now gone and new foliage has popped up all along Viro Road blocking the view of most of the houses.
In real life, the Martini neighborhood was completed in 1946, just prior to the filming of It’s A Wonderful Life. With the picturesque mountains in the background and the obviously new construction, it’s not hard to see why producers chose the community to stand in for the newly built Bailey Park neighborhood in the flick. As you can see, though, the area has grown quite significantly since the ‘40s.
I highly recommend stalking the Martini house to all fans of It’s A Wonderful Life. It truly is remarkable to see a location look exactly the same in person as it did in a movie which was filmed over six decades ago!
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Big THANK YOU to David for finding this location.
Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂
Stalk It: The Martini house from It’s A Wonderful Life is located at 4587 Viro Road in La Canada Flintridge. The neighbor’s house is located at 4581 Viro Road. The entrance to the Bailey Park community can be found at the Southwest corner of Viro Road and Lamour Drive. In the shot showing the Bailey Park sign, the camera was looking north. In the scene, George’s car turns west off of Viro Road onto East Lamour Drive, but, in reality, he should have just continued straight on Viro Road to head to the Martini House. The houses George and Mary walk in front of at the end of the scene are located at 4588 and 4592 Viro Road. And, finally, I believe that the house where Sam’s car was parked is located at 4582 Viro Road.
There is one film scene that has to exist somewhere and that is the iron bridge scenes…On the film there is a fast moving river under it that location has to be somewhere with a bridge…They say there are only 2 film locations left but there has to be that bridge somewhere right
I have been studying the bridge scene for a long time and have tried to locate it but I think I have located the background hills that were used for the scene and they are right here in the local LA area (not saying yet where).
I believe this bridge scene was shot in a studio and the hills were modeled or projected in the background.
Even the sky and fog/clouds look fake like it was shot it the studio.
If you watch the DVD version you can see much more detail and there are little model houses near the bridge and the house lights in the background are too large and look like they are from little models.
I think the water scenes are from somewhere else, a model, or patched in somehow.
Does anyone else think the picture of Mr. Gower’s son (while sitting in the drugstore after sending young George out with the poison) looks like a younger picture of the actor playing “Clarence?”
Thank you for these articles!
I’m a lifelong “IAWL” lover!
This is phenomenal new information!
I have been trying to find these houses for years, I thought they were in Encino.
And here they are in La Canada and I work at JPL about 150 ft away.
Thanks
Thanks for all this “Wonderful” info! I think that the house that Sam Wainwright was parked in front of may actually have been 4592 Viro, based on the placement of the chimney and its row of vertical bricks at the roof line, although it looks like the left side of the house has been removed, as seen here:
https://www.google.com/maps/@34.1980377,-118.1788813,3a,90y,95.45h,64.25t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1siq5TUuQ6xyAocV1hoZEBwA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
Very cool.
I love it…going out to Cali Next year I WILL stop by!!
Every Christmas season I come back and read this blog while watching the move…a new tradition. Its so much fun!
I just stumbled on your site today for first time. Very cool!
I didn’t know there were dry barren mountains in Central New York!
Thanks, for the awesome pics and story.
I have just watched this movie today and did not realy want to watch it becouse of how old it was ,,Wow !! Jimmy stewart what an actor did not even no who he was ,,
I grew up at 4588 Viro Road, around 1950’s. The backyard was adjacent to a stable and with cattle rooming in the open area. The “Red Bark” oak trees were everywhere, I even made a tree house in one ! The house was two bedrooms and one bath, with a floor heater. It had a detached garage in the back. Great memories !
My parents purchased this house across the street from the “Martini House” around 1945, when it was first built. Down the street I walked to Oak Grove Elementary School being in 1st grade. What a wonderful time I had, cycling down to “Devils Gate Dam” were we cautioned to stay out of the “Quick Sand”. Jet Proportion Laboratory’s now know as “Cal Tech” was located there. Here Von Braun perfected missile propulsion.
I lived at 4593 (next door to the Martini House) from 1961 to 1972 and also walked to Oak Grove until 6th grade. Sounds like I just missed Michael. Great times and a great place to grow up. I see Jenna’s post below, 2 houses from mine – I think I missed her too. Everyone knew each other. I had heard the Martini house was in a movie but didn’t know which movie until a few years ago. “It’s a Wonderful Life” is also my favorite movie, made even better with the knowledge that in a small way my life crossed paths with it. Thanks for the work on the website.
Just watching it(for the millionth time) tonight and got curious about the Martini neighborhood and found this site. Thanks for the info! Love seeing the houses in their current setting. IaWL is my fav movie and looking at these pics and reading what you have posted was cool. Merry Christmas!
I loved reading both articles on “It’s A Wonderful Life”. I am leaving next week for Seneca Falls NY, said to be the inspiration for the town. Every year they have a “It’s A Wonderful Life” festival and it’s next weekend. I dearly love this movie and never knew this existed. The actress that played Zuzu and Janie will be there for the festivities. Thank you so much for this great article….very much enjoyed it.
Thank you for sharing this bit of nostalgia with us. Very interesting and who knew! “It’s a Wonderful Life” is my all-time favorite movie and while in college I had the opportunity to meet both Jimmy Stewart and Frank Capra. Thanks again!
I grew up at 4581 Viro Rd.!! We knew about the history of our little neighborhood but it gets even cooler as I get older. Thanks so much for sharing this info!
My wife and I watched the movie last night (though not for the first time) and wondered about “The Martini” House. A quick websearch found your story! How timely! Thanks much! And how heartening that the house is still there and so recognizable. I wonder what it’s like to watch “It’s a Wondeful Life” there in the house, and glance on to the stoop as the Martini homecoming scene plays. Thanks for the info!
This is one of my all time favorite movies..just about anything with Jimmy Stewart is sure to be good. Hopefully we’ll get back out to stalk this house…I just watched the movie the other night. I’ve been watching it for years..there used to be an all day marathon, but they stopped that a few years back. I like Burt & Ernie , the cop and cabbie (funny just like sesame street). Thanks for finding this location…great great movie!
Isnt that amazing that the house still looks the same! VERY cool!!! I need to watch that movie too……Im ashamed to say Ive never seen it.