The TV gods have blessed audiences the past few months with a plethora of stellar new shows! Hollywood, Home Before Dark, Upload, Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector – the list goes on and on. The timing has been rather fortuitous considering the quarantine. Several sophomore series have also come back strong, namely Dirty John and Dead to Me. I was thrilled to recognize a few locations from the latter that I already stalked and blogged about, including Cindy’s Restaurant, where Jen Harding (Christina Applegate) and Judy Hale (Linda Cardellini) made a pit stop on the way home from Angeles National Forest in “Between You and Me,” and the Marriott Burbank Airport Hotel, which portrayed the Antelope Valley lodging the ladies checked into in the same episode. One spot that I wasn’t familiar with, but promptly set out to find was the house where Judy’s new girlfriend, Michelle Gutierrez (Natalie Morales), lived with her ex, Detective Ana Perez (Diana Maria Riva).
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Though Michelle’s residence pops up several times on Dead to Me, the first – and only – full shot of the exterior shown is in episode 8, “It Had to Be You.” Thankfully, an address number of “13113” was also visible in the scene. (Aren’t the number placards gorgeous? I love the Art Deco-themed font!) The unique cupola pitched atop Michelle’s roof, a common decorative feature of San Fernando Valley homes, told me that it could most likely be found in the Sherman Oaks or Van Nuys area. I hit up Sherman Oaks first, doing a Google search for properties with 13113 address numbers, and the top result kicked back was for 13113 Weddington Street. I was thrilled when I headed over to Street View and saw that it was, indeed, the right spot!
In real life, the dwelling, which was built in 1951 and is located in Sherman Oaks’ North Hidden Woods neighborhood, boasts 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1,900 square feet, an open floor plan, a living room with vaulted ceilings, crown moldings and hardwood flooring throughout, a barn door, a laundry room, a 0.15-acre lot, a large deck, a pool, a spa, and a carport.
Oh, and a swing in the front yard, which I found absolutely idyllic!
Completely remodeled in 2016, the abode is stunning inside, as these MLS images attest to. You can check out what the home looked like pre-remodel here. Quite a difference! Though the place was put on the market in August 2018, it did not sell and was delisted three months later.
As I learned from the real estate listing, Michelle’s house is Mellenthin Traditional, a style I’d never heard of before. It denotes what Antonio Pacheco in The Architect’s Newspaper describes as the “birdhouse ranch” properties built by William Mellenthin throughout the San Fernando Valley in the mid-20th Century, many featuring dovecotes or cupolas atop their peaked roofs. Though I may not have been familiar with Mellenthin’s name, nor did I know what a dovecote was (turns out it’s a structure that houses doves), I was highly familiar with his homes and their most prominent decorative element. I’ve even blogged about a couple of Mellenthin-style residences, including the pad where Oscar Martinez (Oscar Nunez) lived on The Office. In my 2010 post on that locale, I characterized the cupola feature as an “extra little roof gable above the garage.”
Though Mellenthin was responsible for over 3,000 homes in the SFV, the roof adornments can be found on countless more area properties thanks to the many architects who copied his style.
Calling the dovecotes in the region “ubiquitous,” Pacheco states, “Today there are hundreds of ‘Birdhouse’ homes throughout the Valley—many by builders who borrowed the cupola style. But there is only one original, and that is William Mellenthin.” Upon reading those words, I headed over to the City of Los Angeles Building and Safety website to look up the building permits for Michelle’s house. It turns out it is no imitator – the pad was, indeed, designed by Mellenthin!
As I mentioned earlier, we only get one full view of the outside of the residence on Dead to Me, though we do see the front door/carport in a scene that continues over from “It’s Not You, It’s Me” to “Where Do We Go From Here” in which Jen confesses to Detective Perez that she killed Steve Wood (James Marsden).
While the exterior shots are limited, the inside of Michelle’s home pops up several times. As you can see in the screen capture below as compared to the 2018 MLS image, the actual interior of 13113 Weddington was utilized on the series.
I am not sure if the tilework in the kitchen was redone after the MLS photos were taken or if the swap from white to blue was a change made specifically for the Dead to Me shoot. Otherwise though, the house looks much the same in the images as it did onscreen.
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Until next time, Happy Stalking! 
Stalk It: Michelle’s house from Dead to Me is located at 13113 Weddington Street in Sherman Oaks.
