Recently I’ve had to face the fact that my friend Owen, a Connecticut native, possibly knows more than I do about Pasadena, the city that I called home and regularly explored for almost 15 years! Last December, he tipped me off to Oaklawn, a gorgeous South Pasadena enclave full of cinematically famous houses I had not previously heard of. Then, a few weeks ago, he sent me this Entertainment Weekly article about locations from Booksmart. I had yet to see the 2019 comedy at the time, but the photo of the gloriously pink mid-century modern apartment complex where Molly (Beanie Feldstein) lived immediately caught my eye. I was shocked to learn while diving into the article that the retro property, made up of condos in real life, is in Pasadena! How I had missed it in all my years residing in Crown City is beyond me! So I made it a point to amend that and headed on over there soon after.
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Villa San Pasqual, as Molly’s complex is known in real life, was designed in 1953 by architect Lionel V. Mayell.
The property, a designated Pasadena landmark, features striking mid-century detailing, including a bright stucco exterior, hipped roofs, and arresting floating staircases with uniquely-patterned railings.
Oh, and front doors with centered knobs. Why do we not do that anymore??
The complex’s pink and turquoise color combo is perfection!
The sprawling property, comprised of 15 separate buildings surrounding landscaped courtyards, is absolutely huge! You could get lost wandering the grounds.
To say Villa San Pasqual is cinematic is an understatement! The interiors are even more so!
The complex is incredibly versatile, too. It could just as easily portray Las Vegas as it could Los Angeles or Miami onscreen. In fact, according to The Movieland Directory website, it appeared in a 2010 episode of CSI: Miami, but I have been unable to figure out which one.
Per Entertainment Weekly, Booksmart’s director Olivia Wilde and production designer Katie Byron zeroed in on the locale because “they fell in love with the retro peach color.” As did I, ladies! As did I (though I consider it more pink than peach). The site also fit in with their desire to film at a “quintessentially Angeleno complex.”
Wilde furthers, “I also love that [Molly’s complex] is designed to make you commune with your neighbors, yet it’s something Molly would want nothing to do with.”
The only thing missing according to the duo? “One of the cheesy, vaguely European monikers that evoke a vacation rental.” So they added the Le Capris sign – “intentionally misspelled so that it wouldn’t be confused with a real building,” per EW.
In the movie, Molly lives in Unit T of Villa San Pasqual’s southeastern-most building, which is situated on Catalina Avenue.
It is denoted with yellow arrows in the photos below.
Interiors appear to have been filmed on a set. You can check out the real inside of Unit T here.
Villa San Pasqual boasts a couple of other roles on its resume.
Along with the aforementioned appearance on CSI: Miami, I also learned via The Movieland Directory that David Sinclair (Alimi Ballard) and Colby Granger (Dylan Bruno) chased down a suspect there in the Season 4 episode of Numb3rs titled “Graphic,” which aired in 2007.
Villa San Pasqual also popped up a couple of times as the complex where Levi Callow (Luke Wilson) lived on the television series Enlightened, which aired from 2011 to 2013.
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Until next time, Happy Stalking! 
Stalk It: Villa San Pasqual, aka Molly’s apartment complex from Booksmart, is located at 1000 San Pasqual Street in Pasadena. Molly lived in unit T of the complex’s southeastern-most building (denoted with a yellow arrow below), which is situated on South Catalina Avenue.
