Georgetown – IAMNOTASTALKER

May 1, 2019April 29, 2019

Dale’s Party House from “St. Elmo’s Fire”

If stalking is my number one love, organizing ranks a close second. This weekend, I went full-on Monica Geller with all of my filming location spreadsheets and it. was. glorious. Not only did the process give me hours upon hours of enjoyment, but it made me realize how many sites remain sitting in my backlog waiting to be blogged about, the vast majority from my 2016 trips to New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. In the interest of purging, so to speak, I thought I’d dedicate today’s post to one of them – the Georgetown residence where Kirby Keger (Emilio Estevez) follows his crush, Dale Biberman (Andie MacDowell), to a party in the 1985 classic St. Elmo’s Fire.

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Very little of the home is actually shown in the movie, though the scene shot there is pretty darn memorable (“I’m obsessed, thank you very much!”). In fact, the view below is the only real glimpse we get of the place.

I learned about the pad (along with Third Edition bar, another St. Elmo’s Fire locale that I blogged about on Friday) thanks to my friend Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, who emailed me a long list of D.C.-area stalking sites just prior to my trip. At the time, I had yet to see the film and, when I finally sat down to do so recently, I was left wondering how on earth Owen had managed to find the place when so little of it was visible – not to mention how on earth I was going to verify its cameo in a post. It was not until re-watching the segment while simultaneously poking around Street View that I was able to corroborate things thanks to the unusual property situated across the street, which can be seen behind Kirby at one point.

In real life, Dale’s party house, which is largely hidden from view thanks to the surrounding foliage, boasts 9 bedrooms, 8 full baths, 3 half baths, 6,372 square feet, 3 stories, a formal living room, a banquet-sized dining room, a breakfast room, a library, a gym, a parlor, hardwood flooring throughout, an elevator (!), a fully-finished basement with a wine cellar, a 2-bedroom staff apartment, a walled garden, terraces, a veranda, a pool, and parking for 6 cars.

The 1875 property last sold in January 2018 for a whopping $7.37 million.

Thanks to the real estate listing photos posted online – which you can see here and here (and you can take a virtual tour here) – I was able to ascertain that the interior of the home was also used in St. Elmo’s Fire. Though very little of it can actually be seen and what is seen is blurred due to Kirby’s movements, the party house’s general layout matches what is shown in the MLS images.

Certain architectural details match, as well, namely the large pocket doors leading from the living room to the dining room.

I so love that there is a piano on display in the same exact spot as in the movie!

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, for telling me about this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The house where Kirby follows Dale to a party in St. Elmo’s Fire is located at 3053 P Street NW in Georgetown.

April 26, 2019April 25, 2019

Third Edition from “St. Elmo’s Fire”

A couple of weeks ago, Rob Lowe posted an Instagram selfie taken in Georgetown with the caption “Return to the scene of the crime. #StElmosFire,” and I was instantly reminded that I had stalked some locations from the seminal 1985 drama while back east in April 2016. I learned about the locales thanks to my buddy Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, who emailed me a virtual catalog of D.C.-area filming sites prior to my trip. One of the spots listed was Georgetown’s former Third Edition restaurant (now El Centro D.F.) at 1218 Wisconsin Avenue Northwest, the exterior of which he noted had appeared in the flick. I had yet to see St. Elmo’s Fire at the time, but was familiar enough with it to know that much of the action takes place at a bar. I assumed that bar was Third Edition – and many online sources backed up that notion. When I finally sat down to view the film last week, though, I was shocked to see that Third Edition was only briefly featured and that St. Elmo’s Bar, where Billy Hicks (Lowe) and his fellow Brat Packers regularly hung out, was nothing more than a backlot façade. Reports of which backlot in particular varied and I figured, since there was so much confusion surrounding the subject, it was high time to step in and settle the matter of the St. Elmo’s Fire bar once and for all.

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Just to be clear – Owen never stated that Third Edition was the main bar from the movie – that assumption fell on me and was then verified – incorrectly – by a few sources online. The list Owen sent me prior to my trip contained numerous addresses of sites and corresponding descriptions of their onscreen roles, and his notation about Third Edition was entirely correct – while not the gang’s main hangout, its exterior did appear in St. Elmo’s Fire. Twice, in fact. The restaurant first pops up in the film’s opening montage in which shots of Georgetown are splashed across the screen. That’s it on the very left of the still below. (My corresponding photo is a bit off from the angle shown in the movie.)

Third Edition is then featured again in a later segment in which Jules (Demi Moore) picks up Billy and Alec Newbary (Judd Nelson) to go for a ride in her Jeep with the rest of the gang.

I find it amazing that despite the fact that the brick is now painted over and there has been a change of occupant, the place is still recognizable from its cameo 35 years ago! Even the menu display case, albeit a different one, is still affixed to the exterior of the restaurant in the exact same spot!

Third Edition was a Georgetown staple for more than four decades, running from 1969 through 2013. You can see what it looked like when it was still in operation here.

The three-story casual eatery/bar served comfort food and libations and was popular among locals and tourists alike. Much like St. Elmo’s Bar in the movie, it was also a haven for college students and featured multiple drink stations, a dance floor, DJs spinning music nightly, and an outdoor tiki lounge. As one Yelper reported, “It reminded me of a college fraternity party with random girls dancing on top of a platform and guys trying to dance with them,” which might as well be a description of Billy and Jules’ regular hangout.

When Third Edition moved out in January 2013, Mexican restaurant El Centro D.F. (the D.F. stands for “Distrito Federal,” meaning “federal district”) moved in. It remains in operation today.

St. Elmo’s Bar, on the other hand, was entirely movie magic. Both the interior and exterior were nothing more than studio-built sets – the former constructed inside of a soundstage at (I believe) Warner Bros. Studio, which was then The Burbank Studios, in Burbank . . .

. . . and the latter, as I came to discover, on the backlot of Universal Studios Hollywood.

An entire half-block section of Universal’s New York Street area, in fact, was made over to resemble Georgetown for the shoot and, when production wrapped, was left intact for future filmings, becoming known as “Georgetown Avenue.”

The St. Elmo’s Bar façade, as well as the rest of the block, popped up several times throughout the movie . . .

. . . and was also featured on the poster.

Image result for st. elmo's fire poster

Sadly, Georgetown Avenue was severely damaged in the fire that ravaged Universal’s backlot in November 1990. Though it was subsequently restored, it was again destroyed in the studio’s 2008 blaze and was not rebuilt. You can check out a map of where it used to be situated, in the upper left portion of New York Street, here. Because it no longer exists, and hasn’t existed in its St. Elmo’s Fire-state since the 1990 fire, figuring out if filming took place there, as several online sources claimed, proved difficult. Thanks to The Studio Tour website and its catalog of historic photos of the lot, though, as well as a 1989 episode of Quantum Leap that filmed near Georgetown Avenue, I was able to do so by pinpointing a few identifiers. As you can see in the still from the movie below, St. Elmo’s Bar sat on a small street that dead-ended at the façade of a large brick townhome. I found that same very façade pictured in this 1984 aerial of New York Street featured on The Studio Tour! Visible in the mid/lower left section of the aerial, the structure boasts three stories, a porticoed front door, and sculpted lips in between levels – all of which match what appeared in St. Elmo’s Fire. The window layout is also identical.

Next to the façade in the 1984 aerial is a stretch of brownstones. Such was the case with the movie façade, as well. You can see those brownstones and a portion of the brick townhome (it’s on the extreme left) in this 1984 photograph, also featured on The Studio Tour.

I was thrilled to discover that the brick townhouse is also partially visible in the Season 1 episode of Quantum Leap titled “Double Identity,” which was filmed at Universal in 1989.

Though shown from the opposite angle and dressed quite differently, the corner store situated across from the brownstones in St. Elmo’s Fire can be seen in Quantum Leap, as well.

When Georgetown Avenue was rebuilt after the 1990 fire, it looked significantly different, as you can see in this image which matches the angle of the screen capture below. Though the townhouse façade was re-created as well as the brownstones next to it, numerous changes were made.

Here’s another shot showing the rebuilt Georgetown Avenue along with a corresponding screen capture below. Why the street was not once again re-created after the 2008 fire, I am unsure, but I am guessing it is because not many productions are set in Georgetown. The studio likely figured it could get a lot more mileage out of a New York scape and, as such, did away with the D.C. set.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, for telling me about this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: El Centro D.F., aka Third Edition from St. Elmo’s Fire, is located at 1218 Wisconsin Avenue Northwest in Georgetown. St. Elmo’s Bar from the movie was a façade that once stood on Georgetown Avenue in the New York Street portion of the Universal Studios Hollywood backlot at 100 Universal City Plaza in Universal City. Unfortunately, that area of the lot was damaged in both the 1990 and 2008 fires and no longer stands.

April 10, 2019April 10, 2019

JFK and Jackie’s Former Georgetown Homes

Considering how much I love history, I know shockingly little about former President John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline. So I was thrilled when the Grim Cheaper gifted me with Jackie, Janet & Lee: The Secret Lives of Janet Auchincloss and Her Daughters Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Lee Radziwill last Christmas. The 2018 biography and its depiction of the women’s intensely complicated relationships with each other as well as with their significant others was fascinating all the way through. And it even reminded me of two residences related to the former First Lady that I stalked during my visit to Washington, D.C. in September 2016. I learned about the homes thanks to my friend Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, who just prior to my trip emailed me a list of area attractions he had compiled. Even though I was not well-versed in anything pertaining to Jackie O at the time, I decided to add the addresses to my stalking itinerary which turned out to be quite foresightful.

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Upon returning home from World War II, John Fitzgerald “Jack” Kennedy worked for a brief time as a foreign correspondent for Hearst Newspapers prior to embarking on his political career which brought him to Washington D.C. After landing a seat in the House of Representatives in 1946, he moved around to a couple of different Georgetown properties until ultimately leasing a picturesque pad at 3260 N Street NW in 1951.

He would remain there for the next two years.

It proved an eventful time in young Jack’s life. During his tenure at the 5-bedroom, 2.5-bath, 2,220-square-foot dwelling, not only did he meet his future wife, Jacqueline Bouvier, who was then working at the Washington Times-Herald, but he also won his 1952 Senate seat.

Jack proposed to Jackie in June 1953 (supposedly at neighborhood favorite Martin’s Tavern, which I blogged about here) and vacated the N Street house that same year. After dotting around to different residences, the newlyweds settled into an estate in McLean Virginia known as Hickory Hill. The sprawling property soon proved too large for the fledgling couple, though, and they sold it to Robert F. Kennedy in 1956 before heading back to Georgetown, eventually moving into a mansion at 3307 N Street NW, just one block over from their old house.

Standing at four stories, the handsome Federal-style residence, built in 1811, boasts 4 bedrooms, 4 baths, and over 4,000 square feet of living space. Along with JFK and Jackie lived the couple’s daughter, Caroline, and their nurse, cook, butler, and maid.

The family’s time at 3307 also proved eventful. While there, JFK announced his candidacy for president, ran a successful campaign, was elected to office, and, on November 25th, 1960, celebrated the birth of son John F. Kennedy Jr.

It was also from the stately pad that Jack and Jackie left for the inauguration on the snowy morning of January 20th, 1961, at which time they moved into their most famous home, the White House.

Countless pictures were taken of the Kennedys outside of 3307 N Street during their years there, including this one snapped by JFK’s official campaign photographer Jacques Lowe. Jack was also often documented addressing the press right from the front door. As Thomas Wolfe wrote in a 1960 Washington Post article, “Our next president doesn’t take the old, easy way of making his announcements about new cabinet ministers, the fate of the new frontier, etc., from his office on Capitol Hill — where, if one need edit, the corridors have steam heat. He just steps right out on the old front porch at 3307 N St. NW and starts talking. And disappears back into the manse.” Seeing the brief happy moments captured at the residence is jarring considering the tragedy that will befall the family in such a short time and the eerie realization they bring that the man standing front and center is gone while the house remains virtually untouched.

After the assassination in 1963, Jackie returned to Georgetown, first moving into the home of a friend and then, in February 1964, to a Colonial dwelling just a few blocks east of her previous residence at 3017 N Street NW with her sister, Lee. (I failed to stalk that particular location while in D.C., but an MLS photo featured on Zillow is pictured below.) The 12-room manse was selected by Radziwill and, per Jackie, Janet & Lee, of the choice, designer Billy Baldwin said, “It had been chosen for Jackie with the greatest possible bad decision by her sister. I think the home was designed by someone for purposes of publicity. There was no hope for privacy, it was out in the open, high atop a mountain of steps. When I saw it, it looked like a monument. I thought, ‘Why, Lee, why? Why?’” As predicted, the place did quickly become an attraction for lookie-loos, with tour buses stopping by throughout the day and people camping out on the sidewalk in front hoping for a glimpse of the resplendent Jackie. Needless to say, she didn’t last long there. In July 1964, she took her two children and moved to a spacious apartment at 1040 Fifth Avenue in New York.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Big THANK YOU to my friend Owen, from the When Write Is Wrong blog, for telling me about these locations!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: From 1951 to 1953, while serving in Congress, John F. Kennedy lived at 3260 N Street NW in Georgetown. In 1958, JFK and Jackie settled into a pad one block over at 3307 N Street NW where they remained until moving into the White House in January 1961. The property Jackie briefly called home following the president’s assassination is about four blocks east at 3017 N Street NW. Martin’s Tavern, where JFK is said to have proposed to Jackie, is located nearby at 1264 Wisconsin Avenue.

May 31, 2017June 2, 2017

Danny’s Apartment from “A Few Good Men”

It is rare when a movie comes along and changes the course of your life. For me, one such movie was A Few Good Men. I walked out of the theatre after first seeing it in 1992 proclaiming that I was going to become a lawyer. I was 15 at the time – a sophomore in high school. I spent the next few years convinced that law was my calling, regularly and passionately professing my love of the film and its climatic “I want the truth!” moment to anyone who would listen. One day, a neighbor who happened to be on the listening end of my diatribe said something very profound to me. He said, “You don’t want to be a lawyer. You want to be a lawyer in a movie.” It was a valid assessment (I guess I did want the truth!) – one that got me thinking about acting. It wasn’t long before I tried out for – and landed a role in – my first play. My love of acting led to my move to L.A. shortly thereafter, which in turn led to the start of this blog. And the rest is history. Needless to say, A Few Good Men has always had a very special place in my heart. So when I learned that we were heading to Washington, D.C. last September, I informed the Grim Cheaper that I wasn’t leaving town without stalking Lt. Daniel Kaffee’s (Tom Cruise) apartment from the film.

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Daniel’s brownstone pops up regularly throughout A Few Good Men.

While blue at the time of the filming, the exterior of his Georgetown-area walk-up has since been painted yellow. Aside from the coloring, though, the place looks much the same today as it did when A Few Good Men was filmed 25 years ago.

According to Zillow, the property, which was originally built in 1900, houses condos in real life.

Because so many scenes took place there, I am 99.9% certain that the inside of Danny’s apartment was a set built on a soundstage at The Culver Studios in Culver City (where many of the movie’s interior scenes were lensed) and that the building’s actual interior was not used.

Cementing my belief is this November 1992 Los Angeles Times article which states that A Few Good Men “was shot almost entirely on a sound stage at Culver Studios in Culver City, with the exception of two weeks of location shooting exteriors in Washington.” Now we know that many scenes were, in fact, lensed on location in the L.A. area, so the article’s information isn’t exactly ironclad. (The column also asserts that because the Defense Department did not sanction AFGM, no filming was allowed to take place on any military bases – another falsehood. The flick utilized several military sites, including the US Coast Guard base in San Pedro, the Naval Air Station Point Mugu – which a later LA Times article does acknowledge – and Fort MacArthur.) Regardless of the erroneous reporting, I do believe that most of the movie’s interiors, including Danny’s apartment and his fridge full of Yoo-hoo, were sets. There’s just no way Tom Cruise was hanging out inside of someone’s actual apartment for the amount of time it would have taken to shoot the many segments. Nor would a studio utilize a real life interior – with no insulation to block out exterior noise and no control of the outside world – to such an extent.

What is interesting, though, and what had me doubting my hunch for a bit is the fact that countless scenes were shot from the outside of Danny’s apartment window looking in.

As unbelievable as it may seem (and it seems pretty unbelievable to me), I think that the production team built an exact replica of the building’s façade, as well as replicas of the neighboring façades, on a soundstage to shoot the window scenes.

While I initially thought that the segments were likely created using special effects, with footage of the actors superimposed behind actual shots of the building’s window, in scrutinizing the scenes further, I noticed that a line was visible in the brickwork running along both sides of the window fame that appeared the movie. As you can see in the photo below, that line is not there in real life, which led to my conclusion about the façades.

It is really too bad that the interior of Danny’s pad was not real. His place was so warm and inviting, though I have to admit I am a sucker for a fireplace and any sort of built-in bookcase.

On an A Few Good Men side-note – while researching this post, I was shocked to discover that the movie was based on a true story! In 1986, ten Marines stationed in Guantanamo Bay performed a code red on Pfc. William Alvarado, a fellow soldier who had been writing letters to his senator about the illegal discharge of another platoon member’s weapon. (Sounds familiar, right?) Though Alvarado did not die during the code red, his face turned blue and he passed out. The ten men informed the higher-ups and Alvarado was taken to Miami for treatment and survived. While seven of the Marines wound up being dishonorably discharged for the act, three decided to fight the charges in court. One of the lawyers assigned to the case was a man named Don Marcari, who defended Lance Corporal David Cox. It was Marcari’s very first trial. (Again, sound familiar? “So this is what a courtroom looks like!”) Another lawyer who worked on the case was A Few Good Men screenwriter’s Aaron Sorkin’s sister. She told Aaron about the proceedings via telephone one day. Sorkin was working as a bartender at the Palace Theatre in New York at the time and, inspired by what his sister told him, began writing a script based on the story on cocktail napkins during his downtime. That script went on to become a hit play and then a hit movie. But the tale doesn’t end there. Five of the marines involved in the real life case wound up suing Castle Rock Entertainment in 1994. And David Cox, who was planning to join the lawsuit, was murdered under extremely mysterious circumstances that same year. His killing has never been solved. You can read more about the story and Cox’s death here, here, here, and here.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Lt. Daniel Kaffee’s apartment from A Few Good Men is located at 3017 Dent Place Northwest in Georgetown.

November 30, 2016November 29, 2016

Martin’s Tavern – Where JFK Proposed to Jackie

I consider myself to be a pretty good stalker, but my good friend Lavonna puts me to shame. Prior to my recent trip to Washington, D.C. with the Grim Cheaper, I painstakingly researched filming locations and area landmarks to check out while we were in town and compiled an extensive list of must-see places. So imagine my surprise when, while strolling around Georgetown, I received a text from Lavonna asking if we were planning to dine at Martin’s Tavern, the spot where, as legend has it, then Senator John F. Kennedy proposed to Jacqueline Bouvier in 1953. Amazingly, I had not come across any information about the historic restaurant during any of my research. So I made an impromptu addition to my D.C. Must-Stalk List and headed right on over to Martin’s to grab lunch.

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Originally established in 1933, Martin’s Tavern is D.C.’s oldest family-owned restaurant. The eatery was founded by William S. Martin, an Irish immigrant who came to American in the late 1890s, and his son William G. Martin, a Georgetown graduate who played professional football, baseball and basketball.

Though the Great Depression was in full swing at the time of Martin’s inception, the tavern managed to succeed.

In 1949, William G.’s son, William A. Martin, a Georgetown University Medical School graduate who was known for being a Golden Gloves boxer and Pro-Am golfer, came onboard. Today, his son, Billy Martin, runs the restaurant. And it is still going strong.

Martin’s Tavern has long been a celebrity and politico hotspot. In fact, aside from Obama, every president from Harry Truman on has dined on the premises.

Martin’s main claim to fame, though, is the JFK/Jackie proposal. As the story goes (and there are some that dispute it), on the evening of June 24th, 1953, while sitting in Booth 3, John F. Kennedy asked for his girlfriend Jackie’s hand in marriage. She said yes, of course, and the rest is very well-publicized history.

Today, there is a plaque displayed on the side of the wooden booth denoting it as the “Proposal Booth.”

Whether the story is true or not (and Martin’s recently found a witness who backs up the claim), what cannot be disputed is the fact that JFK was a frequent patron of the restaurant during his time as a senator, popping in for breakfast every Sunday morning after church.

It is not hard to see why he was such a fan of the place. I fell in love with Martin’s Tavern, and its cozy low-lit, wood-paneled, Tiffany-lamp-strewn interior, pretty much on site.

Though the restaurant’s history alone was enough to have me drooling, the food was pretty incredible, as well. I can honestly say that Martin’s crab cakes (made from a 60-year-old family recipe) were some of the best I’ve ever had in my life. And the staff could not have been more friendly or welcoming. When I expressed an interest in the eatery’s background, our server took me on a little tour of the place and told me all sorts of stories about its vibrant past.

While doing research for this post, I came across several mentions of Martin’s Tavern’s appearance in The Exorcist III. I scanned through the 1990 horror flick, though, and did not see the establishment pop up anywhere. Upon digging further, I stumbled upon the DC Ladies blog, which states that the restaurant was featured in the first twenty minutes of the 1979 original The Exorcist as the spot where Father Merrin (Martin von Sydow) ordered a beer. Well, there is no such scene in the movie, but there is an early segment in which Father Karras (Jason Miller) asks Tom (Thomas Bermingham) for a transfer over a couple of brewskies at a busy bar. Very little of the watering hole can be seen in the scene, though, and while what is shown looks very much like Martin’s, I cannot say with any certainty that filming took place there.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Big THANK YOU to Lavonna for telling me about this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Martin’s Tavern is located at 1264 Wisconsin Avenue in Georgetown. You can visit the eatery’s official website here. JFK is said to have proposed to Jackie in Booth 3.

October 5, 2016September 29, 2017

“The Exorcist” House and Stairs

I’ve ventured down a deep, dark rabbit hole today, friends. I should back up and explain from the beginning. Last night, the Grim Cheaper and I watched The Exorcist for the first time. I had come across images of the stately brick house and adjacent towering staircase featured in the iconic 1973 horror flick while researching filming locations in the D.C.-area prior to our September trip and found them to be particularly haunting. Despite the fact that I had never seen The Exorcist and knew little about it other than it was considered one of the scariest movies of its day (with theatregoers purportedly fainting during viewings), I jotted down the addresses and moved them to the very top of my D.C. To-Stalk List. Both sites proved fabulously creepy in person. I felt I couldn’t very well write about them without a screening of the flick, though, so last night the GC and I sat down to watch. I was shocked at how much the movie withstood the test of time. I was scared throughout (though I did find the demonic ramblings hysterical and I’m pretty sure they were meant to be obscene and shocking in their day). When I sat down to write this post, I discovered that the film was actually based upon a real life case and starting doing research. And wow, did I get sucked in! I highly suggest you do not open that Pandora’s box unless you have a lot of time on your hands because it. is. fascinating.

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I’ll give you the Reader’s Digest version here. The Exorcist was originally a book – a best-seller, actually, written by William Peter Blatty. William was initially inspired to pen the novel while attending Georgetown University in 1949, when a professor mentioned the supposed real life exorcism of a 14-year-old Maryland boy that had recently taken place. The case of the possessed youngster, which was chronicled in countless newspapers, was shrouded in mystery and the story largely twisted by various reporters. The tale, which detailed violently shaking beds, rashes that spelled out demonic messages, and outbursts of profanity laced with Latin, stuck with Blatty for two decades and he finally began to put pen to paper in 1969. The book became an immediate sensation when it hit shelves in 1971 and drew renewed attention to the real life exorcism. The movie that followed two years later, which Blatty wrote the screenplay to, only exacerbated the public’s fascination with the case and rumor and gossip about it spread. The actual story, which was thoroughly investigated by historian Mark Opsasnick and finally revealed in a five-part article in 1999, is much less paranormal. You can read it here. Though Opsasnick does not mention the boy’s real name in his piece, instead using the alias Roland Doe, today that name is widely published all over the internet. The “real” Exorcist child is Ronald Edwin Hunkeler, who lived at 3807 40th Avenue in Cottage City (that’s his childhood home pictured below). You can see a photograph of a teen Hunkeler here. And you can read another in-depth recap of the case, which further debunks many of the rumors, here.

While writing his novel, Blatty made contact with Father Bowdern, the priest who performed Hunkeler’s exorcism. Bowdern told him of a diary that was written by Father Bishop, an attending priest, which chronicled the entire process. The novelist, of course, asked to see the diary, but Bowdern refused to hand it over. To assure the confidentiality of those involved, Blatty decided to change his story’s lead character from a teen boy to a teen girl. He did eventually get his hands on the diary and much of what he read figured into the book. The movie closely follows the story of the book and centers around famous actress Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) and her 12-year-old daughter, Regan (Linda Blair), who are temporarily living in a handsome brick-clad pad in Georgetown while Chris shoots a movie nearby. Though their surroundings are gorgeous, it is not long before things take a sinister turn and Regan begins to show signs of demonic possession.

The MacNeil’s Georgetown dwelling is featured extensively throughout The Exorcist.

Looking below, you may notice that the actual residence differs quite a bit from what appeared onscreen. For the shoot, an entire fake wing was built on the eastern side of the house. This was done so that Regan’s bedroom window would be close to the stairs situated next to the property, which accommodated for several scenes that were pertinent to the film (I don’t want to give away any spoilers, so I won’t say more). A fake mansard roof was also added to the structure to give the appearance that the home had an attic – something else that was necessary to the plotline.

A fence has also since been added to the perimeter of the property, obscuring most of the ground floor from view. This was apparently done to ward off stalkers, who still rampantly visit the residence, more than four decades after the film was made!

Said fence was closed when I stalked The Exorcist home, but I did find some Google Street View imagery in which it was open. As you can see below, despite the missing wing and mansard roof, the house is still very recognizable from its time onscreen.

Only the exterior of the property appeared in The Exorcist. Interiors were part of a vast set constructed at New York’s now defunct Camera Mart studios.

In real life, the dwelling, which was built in 1950, consists of 3 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms, and 2,808 square feet living space. The pad sits on a 0.11-acre plot of land that overlooks the Potomac River and the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

I find it fascinating that virtually all of the photos I took of the place have some sort of an orb reflection in them!

I mean, come on! Can things get any more creepy?

The infamous stairs, which figured so prominently in the story, are located just east of and adjacent to the house.

And let me tell you, they are harrowingly steep!

According to a 2013 USA Today article, the stairs are technically known as the “Hitchcock Steps,” named in honor of the prolific suspense director, but ever since the movie’s 1973 premiere have largely been called the “Exorcist Steps.”

Though the southern portion of the stairs was also featured in The Exorcist, we did not venture down to see it. It was over 90 degrees and insanely humid the day we stalked Georgetown and ambling all the way down those steps – and then back up – in that heat did not seem appealing in the slightest.

In 2013, Blatty and Exorcist director William Friedkin revisited several of the movie’s locations, including the stairs. You can watch a video clip of their stalk here.

On an Exorcist side-note – I was shocked to see how much Linda Blair resembles Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) from Stranger Things (which the GC and I are obsessed with, BTW – if you have not yet watched, I cannot more highly recommend doing so!).

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The MacNeil house from The Exorcist is located at 3600 Prospect Street NW in Georgetown. The stairs that appeared in the movie are located just east of the house and run between Prospect Street NW and M Street NW.