Lillian and Sam’s House from “People Like Us”

After I tracked down Frankie (Elizabeth Banks) and Josh’s (Michael Hall D’Addario’s) house from 2012’s People Like Us (which I blogged about on Friday), the next item on my To-Search-For list was the gorgeous Craftsman-style abode where Lillian Harper (Michelle Pfeiffer) and her son, Sam Harper (Chris Pine), lived in the flick.  Thankfully, this locale proved to be an easy find, despite the fact that very little of the exterior was ever shown.

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Towards the end of People Like Us, there is a scene in which a phone book listing of Lillian and Sam’s address is shown.  And while the residence is said to be located at 2523 Wonderland Avenue in the Laurel Canyon area, I knew from this June 2012 Los Angeles Times article that the place could actually be found in L.A.’s West Adams District.  Because the real life address of Frankie’s home had been used in the movie, I had an inkling that the address number of Lillian’s house was most likely real, as well.  So I started looking at aerial views of all residences numbered 2523 in the West Adams area and, sure enough, found the place after just a few minutes.  Whoo hoo!  And I, of course, dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out there to stalk it just a few days later.

As luck would have it, the SUPER-nice owner of the People Like Us house happened to come outside while we were stalking the place and filled us in on all sorts of filming information about the neighborhood.  Ironically enough, the Eppes family’s home from the 2005 television series Numb3rs (pictured below), which I stalked and blogged about way back in March of 2008, is located right next door.

The owner answered all of my silly little questions about the filming of People Like Us and even said that if she was not running to appointment at the time, she would have invited us inside to see the interior of the house, which was used extensively in the film!  OMG!  That would have been amazing!  Sigh!  She also told me that I was welcome to go up onto the front porch to pose for a pic in the spot where Josh knocked on the door in the movie.  Yay!

Lillian and Sam’s house popped up numerous times in People Like Us, although, as I mentioned above, not much of the exterior was shown.

The 6-bedroom, 5-bath, 4,030-square-foot abode, which was originally built in 1922 and sits on 0.16 acres, is quite spectacular in real life, as you can see below.  Despite its large size, it does very much look like a Laurel Canyon-area home.  I am guessing that the reason producers opted not to use an actual LC residence is that the streets there are extremely narrow and twisty and not very conducive to the transportation and parking needs of large production trucks.

As I mentioned above, the to-die-for interior of the home was used extensively in the flick.  Of the fact that actual places and not sets were used in People Like Us, producer Bobby Cohen said, “There is something special about shooting in real locations.  There is a texture to them that you can’t rebuild.  It makes a difference.”  I definitely agree.  While some sets are absolutely spectacular (the bar from Burlesque comes to mind), I much prefer the look of real life locations.  And the look of the interior of the People Like Us home is pretty darn spectacular.  It would have been pretty foolish to use a set when an interior like that was available.

The home’s real life garage, which you can barely see in the background of the photograph below, was also used in the movie.

As was the majestic backyard.  What I wouldn’t give to see that backyard in person!

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER.  And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 

Stalk It: Lillian’s house from People Like Us is located at 2523 4th Avenue in Los Angeles’ West Adams District.  The Numb3rs house is located right next door at 2515 4th Avenue.  The Fisher & Sons Funeral Home from Six Feet Under (which I blogged about here) is located around the corner at 2302 West 25th Street.