The “Pretty Little Liars” Church

Before we get started, I have a couple of announcements.  Some changes will be coming to the blog in 2016.  The biggest change will be a major site redesign, which the Grim Cheaper is currently working on and which I could NOT be more excited about.  You'”‘”‘ll notice I'”‘”‘ve altered my screen captures a bit in today'”‘”‘s post, which is part of the revamp.  My editor at Los Angeles magazine also recently started a new position and until someone is hired to replace her full time, things are a bit up in the air with my Scene it Before column.  Regardless of what happens with that, I will be scaling my IAMNOTASTALKER postings down to three days a week (most of the time, anyway), so that I can free up some time to write for other websites (and for my own sanity – throughout most of 2015, I found myself working every weekday plus Sundays, which is no way to operate).  One of my new ventures is a monthly column for one of my good friend'”‘”‘s blogs (more info on that to come), which I am thrilled about.  So yeah, changes are a-coming.  But hopefully my fellow stalkers will embrace them.  I have a feeling big things are on the horizon for 2016.  And now, on with the post!  The winter premiere of Pretty Little Liars, titled “Of Late I Think of Rosewood,” aired last Tuesday night and I have to say it was surprisingly enjoyable.  I am really digging the five-year time jump and all of the mysteries that come with it.  Well done, PLL!  You’ve sucked me right back in, which I wasn’t sure was possible considering the debacle of the whole Big A reveal in August.  In honor of the show’s promising return, I am here yet again with yet another Vancouver locale from the pilot episode – Ryerson United Church, which my good friend/fellow stalker Kerry was nice enough to stalk for me during a recent weekend trip to Canada.

Ryerson United Church was featured at the very end of the Pretty Little Liars pilot.  In the episode, it stood in for the Rosewood, Pennsylvania parish where Alison DiLaurentis’ (Sasha Pieterse) funeral was held.

Most notably, it was while standing outside of the church after the funeral that the Liars received their first ever ominous group text message, which read,  “I’m still here, bitches.  And I know everything.  -A”

Being that I had nothing to go on with this one – no visible street signs or address numbers – I thought the church would be tough to track down, but it was a surprisingly easy find.  I simply did a Google Images search using the terms “church” and “Vancouver” and, voila, in the fourth row of results, there was a photo of the place I was looking for!  Clicking on said photo led me to a page about Ryerson United Church on the Wedding Mappers website.

The actual inside of Ryerson United also appeared in the Pretty Little Liars pilot.  You can check out some photographs of the interior here.

Though, as I mentioned in this post, the supposed church stairs shown in the funeral scene are not located at Ryerson United, but in the Vancouver home that masked as Ali’s in the episode.

It is interesting to be blogging about this particular location now, after having watched “Of Late I Think of Rosewood,” being that the episode so closely paralleled the pilot, especially the funeral scene.

Side note – I absolutely loved the line in the premiere in which Caleb Rivers (Tyler Blackburn), when talking about Radley Sanitarium’s transformation into the boutique hotel “The Radley,” said, “Well, people get do-overs, why shouldn’t buildings?”  I couldn’t agree more, Caleb!  Oh, how I wish people would stop tearing down old and historic structures!  I’m looking at you, owners of the Clueless party house!

When Pretty Little Liars got picked up, production moved from Vancouver to Warner Bros. Studio in Burbank and the series began to make use of a structure located on the Midwest Street backlot as Rosewood’s local church.  The façade has gone on to appear in countless episodes, including the funeral scene in “Of Late I Think of Rosewood.”

The Midwest Street church is a practical set and its interior also regularly appears on the show, as was the case with “Of Late I Think of Rosewood.”

Back to Ryerson United Church in Vancouver.  Pretty Little Liars is hardly the first production to make use of the site.  Most notably, the church was the main location featured in the 1983 TV movie The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.

The interior of Ryerson United was also utilized in the production.

In the Season 2 episode of The Flash titled “Legends of Today,” Ryerson United Church masked as St. Marks in Central City, where Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) and Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) went to track down a consecrated staff.

The exterior shown in the episode was that of a different church, though.

Big THANK YOU to Kerry for stalking this location for me! 

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Ryerson United Church, aka the church from the pilot episode of Pretty Little Liars, is located at 2195 West 45th Avenue in Vancouver.

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