This and That – Page 16 – IAMNOTASTALKER

September 30, 2016February 17, 2017

The House from “The Brady Brides”

I’m sad to say that we’ve arrived at the final day of my friend Michael’s guest post week. I have thoroughly enjoyed all of his fabulous articles (you check them out here, here, here and here – as well as his prior The Brady Bunch-related guest articles here, here, here and here.). Today we are coming full circle with a return to The Brady Bunch franchise. So without further ado, here’s the story of a lovely location . . .

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Now that I’ve done a few non-Brady Bunch guest-posts, it doesn’t mean that I’ve abandoned the grooviest of sitcom families. In 1981, a Brady Bunch spin-off, The Brady Brides, was launched with a multi-part television movie, The Brady Girls Get Married. The telefilm, in which Marcia and Jan are married to Wally Logan and Phillip Covington, is also notable in that it’s the last Brady enterprise to feature the entire original cast.

In the first episode of the The Brady Brides, Carol, now a realtor, shows Marcia and Wally a home that she’s trying to sell. Jan loves it, too…and well, the opening theme song (sung to the tune of the The Brady Bunch theme) explains it best.

A house was too expensive for each couple,
The only way to buy would they decide,
Is to share the cost by moving in together,
That’s the way that they became the Brady brides,
The Brady brides,
The Brady brides,
That’s the way they became the Brady brides.

By the end of the first episode, the four had purchased the house and moved in together. Add one nosey neighbor, an occasional cameo by Carol or Alice, and the comedic hijinks write themselves. Or maybe not; the sitcom was canceled after only ten episodes.

Establishing shots of a home were sprinkled through the series and the program’s opening titles show Marcia, Wally, Jan, and Phillip standing, on location, in its yard.

I stayed at The Garland last winter and took a number of walks around Studio City, North Hollywood, and Valley Village. From those walks I had a hunch that the Brady Brides house might be located in Valley Village where I’d seen many similarly styled homes. As luck would have it, I happened upon the house pretty quickly while looking through aerial maps of the area. And when I was last in Los Angeles, I Ubered out to Valley Village to have a look for myself.

I was excited to see that the house looks nearly identical to when it was filmed 35 years ago. Even the decorative iron columns are still standing in the same spot. And although the tree near the driveway has grown, you can still recognize it.

My apologies for the poor quality screen grabs. The Brady Brides hasn’t cornered the syndication market like its progenitor and is one of the few Brady-related properties not currently available on DVD.

Editor’s Note – Poor-quality screen grabs or not, this post was exceptional, per usual! I honestly cannot thank you enough, Michael, for sharing these locations – and your locations expertise – over the past week with us. I’m already eagerly awaiting your return!

Stalk It: The Brady Brides house is located at 11813 Hartsook Street in Valley Village.

September 29, 2016February 17, 2017

“Too Close for Comfort” Final Season Filming Locations

It’s Day 4 of my friend Michael’s fabulous guest post week here at IAMNOTASTALKER! (You check out his other columns from this week here, here and here, and his previous guest articles here, here, here and here.). Today’s locale is a longtime unknown site from a show I loved as a kid! Enjoy!

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Although I’m a Ted Knight fan, I never watched much of his final television show, Too Close for Comfort. I remember reruns of the show airing in the 90s, but I could never get into it for one very superficial reason—I hated the set design. Specifically, I didn’t like the daughters’ apartment with its rusty maroon walls and and zigzag rainbow zipping around the room. It felt like every color clashed with the next and the color timing that resulted from the show being shot on tape rather than film didn’t help make the decor any more palatable for me.

The first five seasons of the show were set in San Francisco, where a house at 171-173 Buena Vista Avenue East was shown in establishing shots. But in 1986, for the sixth and final season, the program was renamed The Ted Knight Show, and the plot moved the characters across the bay to Mill Valley where Henry (Ted Knight) had purchased a minority share in a local newspaper, the Marin Bugler. In real life, Ted Knight passed away at the end of the season, concluding the series. Subsequently, the sixth season was renamed “Too Close for Comfort,” and is included along with the rest of the series in syndication packages.

With the fictional move to Mill Valley came new establishing shots and an updated opening title. The real-life location of the primary characters’ main residence—a grand Victorian, complete with a turret and perched on a hill—seemed to go unidentified for years. While planning a trip to California this summer, I made a point to see if I could finally track it down.

A Mill Valley newspaper wrote a piece three years ago contemplating the home’s true location. According to the article, Mill Valley Library’s history exports didn’t recognize the house and suspected it was located elsewhere in the county. With this in mind, I started looking at nearby towns where the production crew could have filmed the establishing shots. I first ruled out Sausalito, thinking that since it’s such a popular destination, if the house were there, it surely would have been discovered and linked to the show by now. Instead, I concentrated on the towns of Almonte, Tiburon, Larkspur and Greenbrae. After a lot of dead ends, I decided to circle back and see if it had been hiding in plain site all this time. I started searching for houses with turrets in Sausalito aerial maps and remarkably, it was the second house I zeroed-in on.

Last month while I was in San Francisco, I hoped on the Sausalito ferry and went to see the house for myself.

Thanks to poor cell phone data reception, it took me awhile to find the house on foot without my trusty Google Maps. But, once you know where it is, it’s actually very easy to get to (How’s that for a truism?). If you’re in downtown Sausalito, you’ll notice a staircase at the corner of Bridgeway and El Monte Lane (next to Casa Madrona Hotel & Spa). Take that staircase up 100-or-so steps, and while possibly out of breath (I was), you’ll be right in front of the Victorian on Bulkley Avenue.

Although plant growth conceals more of the structure than in the 1980s, I’m happy to report that the house looks like it’s been taken very good care of.

I had slightly bad timing with my visit. The sun had started to set behind the house (never a good situation for photography) and a neighbor’s gardener had just cut down a tree and was blowing the detritus off the street. He didn’t seem too concerned with my presence as he, with great velocity, blanketed me with sawdust.

In addition to the house, producers filmed an assortment of establishing shots in downtown Sausalito.

Footage filmed on Bridgeway near Bay and Anchor Streets and next to Vina Del Mar Park were often used to establish scenes set at the newspaper.

An elevated view of Sausalito closed out the opening titles. You can see a similar vista today on Ebbtide Avenue and Stanford Way.

Although the Victorian was located in Sausalito, Mill Valley wasn’t completely left out of Too Close for Comfort. The town, six miles north of Sausalito, with a population hovering around 14,0000, was seen via establishing shot in nearly each episode of the sixth season. A shot of The Depot (currently a bookstore and cafe, and previously a train station) was frequently shown before scenes set at home.

And in the opening titles, the camera pans across the intersection of Throckmorton Avenue and Bernard Street (panning north starting at The Depot). The town looks just as quaint today.

I’m also happy to report that Mill Valley is a charming town. I’d never been before and had a wonderful time visiting for the afternoon. Delicious lunch, nice shops, friendly people, plus I’ve never seen so many well-groomed dogs in one place.

Editor’s Note – Thank you, once again, Michael for another entertaining and illuminating post! Being that I grew up just outside of San Francisco and watched Too Close for Comfort regularly, this one was particularly close to my heart.

Stalk Them: The Too Close for Comfort “Mill Valley” house is located at 141 Bulkley Avenue in Sausalito. The Too Close for Comfort Sausalito aerial view was shot near Ebbtide Avenue & Stanford Way in Sausalito. The Too Close for Comfort Sausalito Establishing Shot Number 1 was taken at Bridgeway between Bay and Anchor Streets in Sausalito. The Too Close for Comfort Sausalito Establishing Shot Number 2 was taken at Bridgeway near Vina Del Mar Park in Sausalito. The Too Close for Comfort Mill Valley Establishing Shots were taken at 87 Throckmorton Avenue in Mill Valley.

September 28, 2016February 17, 2017

Royal Dale Townhouses from “The Ropers”

Michael, our resident The Brady Bunch filming locations expert, is back once again with a non-Brady locale. (You can check out his TBB columns here, here, here and here, and his non-TBB columns here and here). Today’s location is one from way back when, so enjoy!

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One summer when I was in middle school, I vividly recall watching a daily programing block of Three’s Company reruns. Those familiar with the show know that in the final episode of the third season, Jack, Janet, and Chrissy’s landlords, the Ropers, sell their rental building. But, in real life, ABC executives were hoping to capitalize on the popularity of Stanley and Helen Roper and create a new sitcom centered around those characters.

During the fourth season of Three’s Company, The Ropers premiered and lasted a 6-episode first season and a 22-episode second season before cancelation. The series’ first episode, “Moving On,” begins with the Ropers in their old apartment while Helen dreams of a move to Cheviot Hills. After Stanley capitulates, we’re treated to a location shot of the Ropers pulling up to their prospective townhouse in the fictional condominium complex, Royal Dale Townhouses, “for the discriminating homeowner.”

Stanley quickly makes a bad impression by driving up in his jalopy while potential new neighbor and real estate agent Jeffrey P. Brookes III (Jeffrey Tambor) watches on. Brookes tries to keep the Ropers from buying the unit, but by the end of the episode, they’ve purchased the townhouse.

Location-filming with the actors was limited to the pilot, but additional footage of the townhouse can be seen throughout the series in establishing shots and the closing credits.

Many of the Three’s Company opening title filming locations have been known for years. Even the rare exterior apartment footage location was more recently uncovered by Lindsay’s friend Owen, however the townhouse from The Ropers has remained a mystery.

In researching the location, I came across a comment online from someone purporting to have frequently driven by the complex in Cheviot Hills, but no specifics were given. And others centered their searches around Cheviot Hills, but had come up dry. Adding to the confusion, even the Cheviot Hills Homeowners Association lists The Ropers as one of the many television productions filmed in the area. I wasn’t so trusting—just because the fictional townhouse was located in Cheviot Hills, I wasn’t ready to believe that the footage was also filmed in that neighborhood.

I decided to try a different method and looked up where The Ropers was produced. Once I found out that the sitcom was taped at CBS Television City, in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles, I started looking at townhouse complexes relatively near the studio. My thinking was that since it was rather uncommon for a 1970s sitcom to do any location filming, perhaps the scene was filmed close to the studio. Using this search criteria, I quickly zeroed in on the right spot, Wilshire Country Manor, located only 2.5 miles from the studio. And when I was in Los Angeles last month, I ventured out to see it for myself.

Remarkably, not much has changed since the series was taped nearly 40 years ago, even the distinctively gnarled tree near the curb is still recognizable. The planter near the entrance however, now contains a large tree that obscures a pair of windows and some of the mansard roof, while larger shrubs have absorbed most of the iron fence. The fire hydrant and red curb seen in the screen grab below were only props used in a first-episode gag.

Wilshire Country Manor was constructed in 1973 and as its name hints, it’s located in Hancock Park—a neighborhood which surrounds the Wilshire Country Club. Early ads mention you could buy an “elegant townhouse condominium” starting at $62,500. “A home, in the place, amidst a cultural happening.” I think Mrs. Roper would approve.

Editor’s Note – Big THANK YOU, once again, to Michael for this fabulous – and fabulously retro! – post!

Stalk it: Wilshire Country Manor, aka Royal Dale Townhouses from The Ropers, is located at 646 Wilcox Avenue in Los Angeles’ Hancock Park neighborhood.

September 27, 2016February 17, 2017

Houses from “Life in Pieces”

Today’s post is once again brought to you by my friend, fellow stalker Michael (you can read his other fabulous guest columns here, here, here and here). As was the case yesterday, this article is, surprisingly, not about a The Brady Bunch location. Take it away, Michael!

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Each fall I’m always excited as the newest television season starts to air, but I’m often dissuaded from watching the networks’ latest offerings because it seems as soon as I get into a new show, it’s canceled. However, last year I thought I’d give CBS’s new sitcom, Life in Pieces, a shot. I’m a long-time Dianne Wiest fan, and I thought the concept of the show sounded interesting. Every episode of the 30-minute program consists of four individual stories—each separated by a commercial break. Fittingly, episodes are named with four words—one to describe each story.

Not uncommon for pilots, the first episode of Life in Pieces used a different residence to represent Joan (Dianne Wiest) and John’s (James Brolin) house (the Wilson home from 90210, as Lindsay pointed out to me), while the second episode provides us with the main residences used for the rest of the season.

Joan and John live in a large white traditional-style home, along with their son Matt (Thomas Sadoski) who has moved into the garage. Joan and John’s daughter Heather (Betsy Brandt), son-in-law Tim (Dan Bakkedahl), and grandchildren Tyler (Niall Cunningham), Samantha (Holly J. Barrett) and Sophia (Giselle Eisenberg) move into a Cape Cod just down the street in the second episode (“Interruptus Date Breast Movin’”). And Joan and John’s youngest son Greg (Colin Hanks) lives with his wife Jen (Zoe Lister-Jones) and their daughter in a mid-century modern home.

When I couldn’t find any mention of the show’s filming locations online I started looking into them myself. Thankfully the producers and owners of the homes didn’t try to disguise the locations, leaving the house numbers affixed and painted curb addresses unobscured.

Then it was just a matter of finding the right neighborhoods. I had an inkling that the two traditional-style homes might be located in Cheviot Hills. I’d spent some time in the area last year looking at filming locations from The Goldbergs and Modern Family, and it was easy to picture the residences from Life in Pieces in that neighborhood. Using the addresses that I could glean from the show, I started checking like-numbered blocks until I hit pay dirt.

Like the show would have you believe, Joan and John’s house is located just a couple homes away from Heather and Tim’s. When in Los Angeles last month, I headed right out to Cheviot Hills to have a look.

Since I’m used to tracking down locations that were filmed 30-40 years ago, it’s always a delight and a little jarring to find a contemporary location and have it look exactly the same as it does on television.

Even the neighbors’ homes along Patricia Avenue can be seen in many episodes.

Having found two of the homes for the price of one, I just needed to track down Greg and Jen’s mid-century modern. Since that style would be out of place in Cheviot Hills, I started looking into other neighborhoods. After investigating a few suspected possibilities with no luck, I tuned into the then-latest episode (“Tattoo Valentine Guitar Pregnant”) and the dialog referred to Greg and Jen’s Mar Vista home. Since it’s not unusual for the fictional location of a television show to not mesh with the actual location used for filming, I didn’t get my hopes up, but still figured it was worth checking out.

And once again the show itself helped me zero-in on the proper location. Greg and Jen’s house is indeed located in Mar Vista, a neighborhood on the Westside of Los Angeles, nestled between Venice, Santa Monica, and Culver City.

The house used on Life in Pieces isn’t the only mid-century modern home in the area. In fact it’s one of 52 residences built on the Mar Vista tract on Meier and Moore Streets, originally marketed as “Modernique Homes” and designed by architect Gregory Ain, a student of renown California Modern architect Richard Neutra. Thankfully these homes are now part of a Los Angeles Historical Preservation Overlay Zone which limits alternations to architecturally important structures.

Until recently, I’d never visited Mar Vista, but in addition to checking out the Life in Pieces house, I’d certainly recommend a stroll around the block to check out the unique architecture. [Editor’s Note – the fabulous mid-century modern home where Roy Waller (Nicolas Cage) lived in Matchstick Men is located on the same block!)

Editor’s Note – A big THANK YOU to Michael once again for yet another fabulous post! I have yet to watch Life in Pieces, but I think it’s time I start. And I need to get myself out to Mar Vista pronto to peruse the Modernique Homes – they sound right up my alley!

Stalk Them: Joan and John’s house (and Matt’s garage) from Life in Pieces is located at 3321 Patricia Avenue in Cheviot Hills. Heather and Tim’s house is located at 3308 Patricia Avenue in Cheviot Hills. Jen and Greg’s house can be found at 3531 Meier Street in Mar Vista. (Editor’s Note – Roy’s house from Matchstick Men is located just down the block at 3508 Meier Street.)

September 26, 2016February 17, 2017

Harmon Pet Care from “Fuller House”

Well, my fellow stalkers, I am finally home from my trip back east. Over the course of twelve days, the Grim Cheaper and I hit up Washington D.C., Baltimore and Philadelphia and stalked a myriad of locations in the process (I took close to 3,000 pictures! I’m shocked my computer didn’t crash when I uploaded them all!). Those posts will be coming soon. In the meantime, though, we had to scoot off on another quick trip (I swear I think I have traveled more this year than any year prior), so my friend, fellow stalker Michael, of countless The Brady Bunch posts fame (you can read them here, here, here and here) has graciously stepped in yet again with a slew of fabulous guest columns that I will be publishing over the course of this week. Thank you, Michael! So without further ado . . .

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I’m back for my fifth guest post. And brace yourself, it’s not about The Brady Bunch—what ever happened to predictability? I’ve flipped the calendar from the 70s to 2016 to cover a contemporary comedy, Fuller House, created and produced by the same folks that brought us Full House and starring most of the cast from the 90s classic.

I had anxiously awaited the release of the new series since it was first announced, even visiting Warner Bros. last winter (and again this summer, but that’s a story for another day) to get a better look at a backlot facade they’d built to stand in for the San Francisco-located home used on the original sitcom. I was looking forward to seeing how they’d incorporate the new facade into the program and how they’d redo the iconic opening titles.

Although I was pleased enough with the new show, I’ll admit I was a little disappointed that Fuller House didn’t go all out and create a multi-location opening title a la Full House, and instead went with a more modern opening without any on-site filming. The tenth episode, “A Giant Leap,” was filmed partly on location at AT&T Park in San Francisco, but even those scenes were limited to the ball park. The new series didn’t offer many new establishing shots to track down, and even the facade that had been built on the Warner Bros. backlot went mysteriously unused, while vintage footage of the San Francisco home was dusted off to establish scenes set in the iconic house.

Something new did catch my eye, though—an establishing shot used throughout the first season. D.J. Tanner—not to be confused with her sister Stephanie who’s now a D.J. spinning under the name D.J. Tanner—is a veterinarian working at Harmon Pet Care. And while all of the interior scenes were shot at Warner Bros. in Burbank, the establishing shot of the clinic was filmed in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Admittedly, it wasn’t much work to pin down this location. Paper lanterns, ornamental street lights, and a sign that reads “Welcome to Chinatown” left little doubt.

On my last visit to San Francisco, I headed to the Dragon’s Gate—the formal entrance to Chinatown, and the beginning of a major shopping artery. The Dragon’s Gate actually appeared in the unaired original pilot episode of Full House. Rather than send the cast to Northern California, production had body doubles for the actors filmed at quintessential San Francisco landmarks. These clips were then used extensively in the closing titles of the pilot, and some also reappeared in the first season opening and closing titles.

Continuing my walk, I quickly came upon the intersection shown in Fuller House—Grant Avenue and Sacramento Street, looking south.

As I started to line up the shot, I noticed something that I hadn’t at home. The Harmon Pet Care sign is mounted to an entirely different building than the building with the Harmon Pet Care awning. Because of the angle of the shot used on Fuller House, you can’t see much of the facade behind the sign. I imagined that the pet clinic signs were digitally added to to a piece of stock footage in post-production. My suspicions about the digital manipulation were confirmed when I noticed that among other changes, an awning at the end of the street in the clip is brown in the Fuller House clip, but is currently red, and has been for at least a couple of years before the production of the new show.

The Harmon Pet Care sign is superimposed over Old Shanghai, a home decor and fashion retailer.

And the awning is that of the Far East Café.

I didn’t dine at the Far East Café, so I can’t attest to their menu offerings, however I’ve read that it’s a particularly vintage restaurant and has some unique architecture. The building dates back to the early 1900s, while the restaurant opened in the 20s and some of the original decoration is even older having been imported from China.

The rest of the block and signage looks very similar to the Fuller House establishing shot.

The eighth episode, “Secrets, Lies and Firetrucks,” contains the only evening establishing shot of the pet clinic. For this footage, the camera was moved to the opposite end of the block.

It wasn’t until I was writing this post that I noticed an entirely different building was shown in an establishing shot for the season’s last episode, “Love Is in the Air.” Nearly all of the business names were digitally removed, but thankfully they left a visible address that allowed me to home in on the alternate location. For this clip, B & C Laundromat on Waverly Place stands in for Harmon Pet Care. The awning from the Far East Café footage was digitally reversed and placed above its entrance.

Editor’s Note – A big THANK YOU to Michael for sharing this fabulous post with us (especially the uh-ma-zing graphic below, which I’m enthralled with)! I’m already looking forward to the rest of this week’s offerings!

Stalk Them: Far East Café and Old Shanghai, aka Harmon Pet Care from Fuller House, are located at 631 and 645 Grant Avenue in San Francisco, respectively. B&C Laundromat, aka Harmon Pet Care from the “Love Is in the Air” episode, is located at 115 Waverly Place in San Francisco.

September 12, 2016September 10, 2016

Heading Back East

The Grim Cheaper and I are currently back east for the next week and a half, which, unfortunately, means I will not have any new posts until (most likely) September 23rd. Our trip is not under the best of circumstances (we are attending a funeral), but we have planned a couple of side trips and stalking stops while on the East Coast, so there will hopefully be some light times, as well. (One of the places we’re planning to see is pictured above. Can anyone guess what location it is?) I hope all of my fellow stalkers have a great couple of weeks and I’ll see you back here soon.

September 5, 2016September 2, 2016

Happy Labor Day!

I would like to wish a very happy Labor Day to all of my fellow stalkers. I am taking today off, but will be back on Wednesday with a whole new post. Sorry to have been a bit MIA lately, but the Grim Cheaper and I have been traveling a lot and I have also been working on a huge Halloween-themed post for Discover L.A. that I am super excited about. The GC and I have two more upcoming trips planned for the near future, as well, so my blog will, unfortunately, be a bit light on posts over the next couple of months. I apologize in advance. I hope all of my fellow stalkers are having a great three-day weekend. (What’s the image above, you ask? It is a photograph of the Hammering Man sculpture in Seattle, which, according to the City of Seattle’s official website, “celebrates the worker’s contribution to society.” I thought it would be a fitting image to post today. You can read more about the statue here.)

August 8, 2016August 7, 2016

New Discover L.A. Post – About Michael Jackson Locations in Los Angeles

Be sure to check out my latest Discover Los Angeles post about Michael Jackson’s L.A. – just in time for the pop star’s birthday. Special THANK YOU to my friend David from Spain who provided the image of MJ’s Walk of Fame star that appears in the article.

August 5, 2016August 4, 2016

Latest Discover L.A. Article – About Famous Sports Venues

Be sure to check out my latest Discover L.A. article about area sports venues that have appeared onscreen. You can read it here.

August 3, 2016August 2, 2016

New Discover L.A. Post – About “Star Trek” Locations

Be sure to check out my latest Discover Los Angeles post. It’s a round-up of Star Trek locations in the L.A. area that I’ve put together in honor of the franchise’s upcoming 50th anniversary. You can read it here.

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And on a side-note, I’d like to wish a very happy anniversary to my parents who are celebrating year number 42 today! Love you guys!