The “Gimme a Break!” House

Though I definitely consider myself a child of the ‘80s, somehow I never watched Gimme a Break!, which aired on NBC from 1981 to 1987.  So when my friend Owen emailed in April asking if I had any intel on the supposed Glenlawn, California residence where widowed police chief Carl Kanisky (Dolph Sweet) lived with his three daughters, Katie (Kari Michaelsen), Sam (Lara Jill Miller) and Julie (Lauri Hendler), and their housekeeper, Nell Harper (Nell Carter), on the series, I was at a loss.  Owen isn’t actually a huge Gimme a Break! fan either, but bored during quarantine, caught an episode on YouTube and quickly zeroed in on the traditional-style pad shown in the opening credits.  As he wrote to me, “I’m guessing this is one of the few remaining popular ’80s sitcom houses that has yet to be found.”  I was, of course, intrigued.  One look at its stately architecture told me the property was likely in Hancock Park.  I did some digging in the area, but came up empty.  It was not until the end of May that the home was finally identified thanks to fellow stalker Chas, of the It’s Filmed There website.  As it turns out, my hunch about Hancock Park was right on the money!  The Kanisky residence can be found at 515 South Norton Avenue in Windsor Square, looking pretty much exactly as it did during the Gimme a Break! days almost four decades ago!

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In real life, the 1910 home boasts 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, 3,022 square feet, a fireplace, a 0.16-acre lot, and a detached 2-car garage with what appears to be an in-law unit upstairs.

It really is a handsome property, with plenty of Anywhere, U.S.A. appeal.  So it’s no surprise it found its way to the screen.

Said to be at 2938 Wells Drive in the fictional town of Glenlawn, the pad popped up in Gimme a Break!’s Season 1 and 2 opening credits, which you can watch here.  Like me, Chas had a feeling the property was most likely located in Hancock Park and its environs.  He began his search at Beverly Boulevard and Manhattan Place at the very eastern edge of Windsor Square and, using Street View, worked his way south on Manhattan until he hit Wilshire Boulevard.  He then ventured back toward Beverly on North St. Andrews Place and continued on that way in a grid-like fashion, moving west.  And there, on the sixth street he searched, was the Kanisky house.  Thank you, Chas!

It truly is a feat that so little of the property has been changed considering 39 years have passed since Gimme a Break! first hit the screen, not to mention how prevalent remodels are in L.A.

Only the exterior of 515 South Norton appeared on the series.  The interior of the Kanisky house was just a set located on a soundstage at the now-defunct Metromedia Square in Hollywood, where Helen Bernstein High School now stands.

Gimme a Break! is not the pad’s only claim to fame!

Thanks to On Location Vacations, I learned that Jack Pearson (Milo Ventimiglia) took Rebecca (Mandy Moore) to an open house there in the Season 3 episode of This Is Us titled “A Philadelphia Story,” which aired in 2018.  Only the interior of the property was shown in the episode.

On Location Vacations also tipped me off to the residence’s stint as the home of Marisol (Veronica Osorio) and Richard Onsted (Peter Mark Kendall) on the television series Strange Angel, which aired from 2018 to 2019.

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Big THANK YOU to Chas, from the It’s Filmed There website, for finding this location and to Owen for initiating the hunt! 

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 

Stalk It: The Kanisky house from Gimme a Break! is located at 515 South Norton Avenue in Windsor Square.