The Tire House from “Pee-wee’s Big Holiday”

Today’s locale is becoming quite the prolific film star!  I’ve blogged about the residence at 800 Adelaine Avenue in South Pasadena previously – twice, in fact.  It first came on my radar thanks to its appearance in the 2008 comedy Bedtime Stories, as I chronicled here.  Then, in 2015, I noticed it pop up in the pilot episode of the short-lived Fox series Grandfathered and dedicated another post to the place.  Pretty thorough coverage, I know.  But when I learned that it also cameoed in not one, but two Christmas-themed productions recently, I decided that yet another write-up was in order!

The picturesque English Revival holds a pretty special place in my heart.  I have it to thank for meeting and becoming friends with fellow stalker Owen.  Way back on May 20th, 2009, I received an email from him asking for some assistance in tracking down the home belonging to Wendy (Courteney Cox) in Bedtime Stories.  That email kicked off the first of many location hunts the two of us have embarked upon.  Owen’s comment on my initial post about the place was quite prophetic.  He wrote, “Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.  Did I say ‘Louis’?  I mean ‘Lindsay.’”  Oh, how right he was!  The two of us became fast friends and remain so today, more than a decade later!  The house has fared pretty well, too, cameo-wise.

As mentioned above, it was also featured in the Grandfathered pilot in which it portrayed the home of Jimmy Martino’s (John Stamos) ex, Sara (Paget Brewster).  It only appeared in the one episode, though.  Once the series got picked up, filming of Sara’s house scenes shifted to a different pad at 12660 Kling Street in Studio City.

Then, last week, while writing my post on the residence where Pee-wee Herman (Paul Reubens) lived in Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, I scanned through the 1988 sequel Big Top Pee-wee and the 2016 Netflix film Pee-wee’s Big Holiday to see if the same property was utilized in either.  It wasn’t, but I was thrilled to see the Bedtime Stories house in the latter!  Though it only popped up briefly, I recognized it immediately as the spot where Pee-wee released a tire from a trailer as part of his extensive morning routine at the beginning of the flick.

Coming full circle, a few days before that discovery, I received a text from Owen informing me that he had attempted to write a comment on my original Bedtime Stories house post, but that my site wasn’t allowing it.  (That’s an ongoing issue with old posts that the Grim Cheaper is trying to fix.)  Because I knew he had been binging Christmas movies, I figured he was likely wanting to apprise me of the home’s Pee-wee’s Big Holiday cameo.  But once the GC finally got comments on the post up and running, I was shocked that Owen was actually clueing me in on a different Yuletide-themed appearance!  He wrote, “When I think of this house, I think of you, because our friendship had its genesis in the search for this location.  For that reason, I thought I’d let you know that the house recently updated its filming location curriculum vitae, if you will.  I saw it pop up again on the “Christmas Spirit” episode of 9-1-1, which aired on Dec. 2.  They give the address as 2749 Elmer Ave. in North Hollywood in the episode . . . and then proceed to allow the ‘800’ house number near the front door to be visible five minutes later.  You have to do better than that to fool a stalker!”  Yeah, especially when it comes to such a well-known locale!  In the “Christmas Spirit” episode, the pad is where a mom (Chrystee Pharris) collapses and 9-1-1 operator Maddie Kendall (Jennifer Love Hewitt) talks her young son, Leo (Seth Carr), through performing CPR until the paramedics arrive.

The residence is so idyllic and charming, it is not at all hard to see how it wound up onscreen in so many productions.  Built in 1925, the pad has 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, 2,165 square feet, a 0.23-acre lot, and a detached garage.  It last sold in January 2004 for $652,500, but Zillow puts its worth at $1,555,821 today!  So not only does the property have the ability to foster friendships, but it’s lucrative to boot!

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Big THANK YOU to Owen for asking me to find this house back in 2009, informing me of its recent 9-1-1 appearance, and, most of all, ten years of friendship.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The “tire house” from Pee-wee’s Big Holiday is located at 800 Adelaine Avenue in South Pasadena.

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