Matilda – IAMNOTASTALKER

Movies have a way of making locations appear more majestic than they truly are, thanks largely to photogenic set dressing, perfect camera angles, and expert production design (anyone who has ever seen a Nancy Meyers film knows exactly what I am talking about). Amazingly, that is not the case with Doheny Memorial Library, which, though featured to spectacular effect as young Matilda’s (Sara Magdalin) sublime sanctuary in 1996’s Matilda, is just as magnificent in person as it was made out to be onscreen. I became transfixed by the site upon first catching a glimpse of it while making screen captures for my August post on the Wormwood home from the flick and immediately set about tracking it down. All of the information I found online seemed to point to filming taking place at Pasadena Central Library (which I blogged about in October), but having lived in Crown City for 15 years and frequenting its book repository regularly, I knew that was incorrect. Pasadena Central Library, though gorgeous, is much less grand than the one featured in Matilda. So I headed over to Google and inputted the words “beautiful,” “library,” and “Los Angeles,” which led me to a 2016 TimeOut post conveniently titled “The Most Beautiful Libraries in Los Angeles.” Third on the article’s list was Doheny Memorial Library on the University of Southern California campus. One look at the photos running with the column and I knew it was the right spot. So I added it to my To-Stalk List, ran right over there shortly thereafter, and was elated to see that it is just as magical in person as Matilda made it out to be.

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Doheny Memorial Library was commissioned by oil tycoon Edward L. Doheny in honor of his son, Ned, a USC alumnus who was shot in February 1929 at Greystone Mansion in what remains one of Los Angeles’ most famous unsolved murder cases.

Construction on the grand space began on June 6th, 1931 and was finished the following year. The library, USC’s first freestanding athenaeum, opened to the public on September 12th, 1932.

Designed by Ralph Adams Cram and Samuel E. Lundon in the Italian Romanesque and Gothic styles, the building cost $1.1 million to complete. Landscape architect A. E. Hanson was responsible for creating the gorgeous gardens surrounding the property.

The result of their efforts is striking . . .

. . . even more so on the inside. Upon stepping through the hand-chased bronze front doors, visitors to the sprawling four-story site are greeted by a massive rotunda boasting intricate chandeliers, travertine flooring, and six towering stained glass windows designed by artist Wilbur Herbert Burnham.

I challenge anyone not to drop their jaw upon entering!

The ceiling alone is enough to render one speechless!

The crown jewel of Doheny Memorial Library, though, is the Los Angeles Times Reference Room, a 131 by 46-foot space featuring shelving for 6,000 tomes, seating for 400 students, and a blue and gold coffered ceiling that rises 27 feet above the floor.

The gorgeous canopy was designed by muralist Giovanni Smeraldi whose work also hangs in the Millennium Biltmore Hotel, the Vatican, and the White House.

The site, which underwent a $17-million restoration and retrofitting from December 1999 to October 2001, is easily one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen – both inside . . .

. . . and out.

There are countless rooms and floors to explore . . .

. . . with every nook and cranny seemingly prettier than the last.

Even the stairs are cinematic!

So it is no surprise that the place has popped up onscreen.

Doheny Memorial Library appears at the beginning of Matilda as the spot where the titular youngster finds refuge from her horrible family.

The movie made great use of the grand building, showcasing the entrance steps . . .

. . . the Los Angeles Times Reference Room (which was altered a bit for the filming) . . .

. . . and the rotunda . . .

. . . which was also altered via the addition of a rounded circulation desk.

The only part of Matilda’s haven that I could not find on the premises was the children’s reading room. I am unsure if that room was a set or a real space located at a different library. If anyone happens to know, please fill me in.

Matilda is hardly the only production to have been lensed at Doheny Memorial Library. In fact, the building is such a popular filming spot, there is no way I can chronicle all of its appearances here. What follows is a semi-comprehensive list.

Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) waits outside of Doheny Memorial Library, which is posing as Berkeley, in the hopes of seeing Elaine Robinson (Katharine Ross) in 1967’s The Graduate.

And he later confronts Elaine about her new fiancé inside the Reference Room.

Dustin Hoffman returned to Doheny Memorial Library in 1971 to film scenes for the thriller Marathon Man. It is there that his character, Babe, first meets Elsa (Marthe Keller) at what is supposed to be Columbia University.

Doheny’s lower level masked as the lobby of Brain’s (Harry Dean Stanton) lair in 1981’s Escape from New York. Very little of the building appeared in the film, though – the majority of the scenes involving Brain’s hideout were shot at Hoose Library of Philosophy, also on the USC campus.

Thanks to my friend Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, I learned that Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks) was recruited to join the army following his graduation outside of Doheny Memorial Library, which was posing as the University of Alabama, in 1994’s Forrest Gump.

That same year, Mitch Robbins (Billy Crystal) and Phil Berquist (Daniel Stern) researched train robberies at Doheny Memorial Library in City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly’s Gold.

Daniella (Elisha Cuthbert) waits for Matthew Kidman (Emile Hirsch) outside of the building, which is masking as Georgetown, at the end of the 2004 comedy The Girl Next Door.

And in the 2000 film Bread and Roses, Ruben (Alonso Chavez) and Maya (Pilar Padilla) meet up at the front of Doheny Memorial Library.

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: Doheny Memorial Library, from Matilda, is located at 3550 Trousdale Parkway in University Park.

Every time I open up Instagram lately I’m inundated with videos of the so-called “Matilda Challenge.” For those whose feeds haven’t been flooded by the clips, in the challenge fans of the 1996 film re-create this scene in which Matilda Wormwood (Mara Wilson) perfects her magic powers. Though I’ve never seen the movie (or read the 1988 Roald Dahl novel on which it was based), I did stalk the home where Matilda lived with her parents, Harry (Danny DeVito) and Zinnia (Rhea Perlman), and her brother, Michael (Brian Levinson), in it a few years back. The challenge served as a reminder that I somehow never blogged about the place and, being that there’s no time like the present, here goes!

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I first learned about the Wormwoods’ zany ranch-style residence via this image posted by fellow stalker Tony Hoffarth on his fabulous Flickr filming locations page. I immediately became fixated on the unique property, especially its cantilevered front steps, rock detailing, and double-peaked roof. Though I knew from Tony’s photo comparison that the actual home barely resembles its onscreen self, I ran right out to stalk it nonetheless.

In person, the dwelling is much more ordinary and non-descript than it appeared in Matilda, with a muted color palate and an abundance of foliage. Missing are the Wormwoods’ tanbark and rock front yard and odd decorative paneling, as well as many of the other elements that made it so eccentric onscreen.

The most glaring difference between the real house and its movie counterpart, though, is the front porch area. As you can see in my photos, while the Wormwood home has a flush front with a central window, the actual pad boasts a recessed entrance.

Several palm trees are planted in the space and the roof above it has an opening through which said palm trees grow.

There are also two dormer windows which sit behind the roof cutout, as well as a wrought iron gate enclosing it all. None of these elements are present in the film.

The property looks so different from the Wormwood pad that when I first sat down to make screen captures for this post, I thought Tony may have pinpointed the wrong locale. The dormer windows (which have to be fake being that the house is one-story) especially threw me for a loop – though, truth be told, it wasn’t the first time faux dormers figured into a filming locations hunt. Thanks to street signs visible in the background of a few scenes, though, as well as landmarks such as neighboring homes that were easily identifiable, I was able to verify his information. 15811 Youngwood Drive in Whittier did indeed portray the Wormwood residence. I am unsure if the many differences we are seeing today are the result of renovations done by the homeowners in the 22+ years since Matilda was lensed or if the dwelling was altered significantly by the production team for the shoot and then restored to its original state after filming wrapped, but I am guessing the latter.

In real life, the 1965 pad features 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, 2,366 square feet of living space, and a 0.46-acre plot of land.

The property does boast one fantastical, Matilda-esque element – an ornate leaf-covered wrought iron mailbox. I am unsure if it is original to the home or a left-over set piece, though.

The first time I scanned through the movie, I did not see the mailbox pop up at all, so I assumed it was an element authentic to the house. But during a second viewing I noticed the piece – painted red – in the very background of the scene in which Matilda confronts some FBI agents searching her parents’ garage. If the mailbox was just a set piece added for the shoot, I’d think it would have been made more visible and prominent throughout the flick, which leads me to believe it is actually genuine to the home.

Either way, the mailbox is one of the most fabulous I’ve ever encountered.

I am 99.9% certain that only the home’s exterior was utilized in the filming and that the interior of the Wormwood pad was a studio-built set.

And what a magical set it was! Production designer Bill Brzerski truly created a masterpiece with the Wormwoods’ congested, over-the-top, gaudy décor. Amazingly, Matilda was Brzerski’s inaugural feature film job! Talk about hitting it out of the park your first time up! You can read an interesting article about how he got started in the business here.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Tony Hoffarth for finding this location. Smile You can check out his Flickr page 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: The Wormwood home from Matilda is located at 15811 Youngwood Drive in Whittier.

Tag: Matilda

Doheny Memorial Library from “Matilda”

The Wormwood Home from “Matilda”