The Lost Horizon Apartment Complex from “Major Crimes”

I have long been a fan of the television series Major Crimes (as well as its parent show The Closer) and though I love pretty much every single episode that airs, I do have a definitive favorite – Season 2’s “There’s No Place Like Home.”  For those who have not seen the episode (and you really should!), it centers around a group of retirees who live together in an apartment complex known as Lost Horizon.  The complex was so integral to the storyline that it almost served as a character, so I, of course, was dying to stalk it.  While I made an attempt at tracking it down back when the episode first aired in 2013, there was virtually nothing to go on (no street signs visible in the background, no evident address numbers, etc.), which caused me to grow frustrated rather quickly and give up.  Then in November, I got inspired to begin the search once again after tracking down the Econo Inn & Suites from CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (another locale I had long been on the hunt for) and, thanks to a helpful crew member, was successful this time around.

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In “There’s No Place Like Home,” the LAPD Major Crimes squad investigates the murder of the landlord of the Lost Horizon apartment complex, or as the residents like to call it “Shangri-La.”  The complex’s tenants are a close group of former crew members of a long-running 1970s television series named Prognosis: Homicide.  As the story goes, the Prognosis: Homicide location manager, a man named Norman, purchased the Shangri-La so that the friends could live out their golden years together.  Sadly, Norman passed away soon after the former co-workers moved in, leaving the building to his hateful nephew, Ed, who immediately began allowing the complex to deteriorate.  In a case of life imitating art, Ed winds up dead and the friends find themselves at the center of a murder investigation.  In addition to the engaging, rather tongue-in-cheek storyline, the episode flourished thanks to a stellar guest cast that included such show biz legends as Tim Conway, Paul Dooley, Ron Glass, Doris Roberts, and Marion Ross.  You can read an article that series creator James Duff wrote about the filming of it here.

In the episode, it is said that Lost Horizon is located at 1066 North Hastings Boulevard in Los Angeles, but it can actually be found at 2400 South Shenandoah Street in Mid-City.

The complex turned out to be nothing like I had expected.  It is actually part of a little 3-acre compound that sits completely hidden from the street.  One could easily drive right past it without realizing it was there.

The compound, known as Casa Rocha, is made up of several tiny bungalows, homes, and an apartment building, all of which can be reached via a small roadway off of Shenandoah Street.

Provenza (G.W. Bailey) and the gang were shown walking down that roadway in Major Crimes.

An aerial view of the complex, in which the areas that lie within it are denoted with a pink overlay, is pictured below.  The entrance roadway is also marked.  As you can see, the property is situated in a sort of upside-down L-shape.

I became very disappointed upon arriving when I realized that the area of the complex that appeared in Major Crimes (the apartment building portion of the property) was located at the very end of the roadway, in the eastern corner of the compound, and did not appear to be at all accessible.  A nice resident happened to see us taking photographs out on the sidewalk, though, and was kind enough to invite us onto the premises for a closer look.  I so love it when that happens!

I just about came out of my skin with excitement when I spotted the “Lost Horizon” signage that had appeared in Major Crimes posted at the apartment complex’s entrance.

I am guessing that the signage was not original to the property, but something brought in for the filming of “There’s No Place Like Home” and that the residents ended up liking it and asked for it to be left in place.  (Being that the building has such a tropical feel, I find it only fitting that sun beams are visible in my photographs above and below.)

The complex was made to appear run down for the beginning scenes of “There’s No Place Like Home.”

By the end of the episode, though, the Prognosis: Homicide group has fixed the place up and bought it back to its pre-Ed former glory.

The ending scenes provide a much more realistic view of what the complex actually looks like.

The compound’s rear parking area also appeared in “There’s No Place Like Home.”

I am 99.9% certain that Ed’s apartment was just a set, though.

As I later learned, Casa Rocha is actually a historic property.  The land where it now stands was originally part of the Rancho Rincon de los Bueyes Mexican land grant that was allocated to Bernardo Higuera and Camilo Lopez on December 7th, 1824.  In 1865, a man named Antonio Jose Rocha constructed an adobe home named Casa de la Rocha on the property.  Amazingly, that residence still stands to this day and is Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #13.  It is pictured below.  You can read a more in-depth history on the house here and on the Rancho Rincon de los Bueyes land grant here.

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Until next time, Happy Stalking! 

Stalk It: Casa Rocha, aka the Shangri-La/Lost Horizon apartment complex from the Season 2 episode of Major Crimes titled “There’s No Place Like Home,” is located at 2400 South Shenandoah Street in Mid-City.