Robert Reed’s Former Home

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I (along with cutie Matt Lanter – sigh!) would like to start out today by wishing all of my fellow stalkers a very happy Valentine’s Day!  Smile And now, on with the post!

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A couple of weeks ago, while doing research on the Nanny and the Professor house, I happened to stumble upon an article on my friend Scott Michaels’ FindADeath website about Robert Reed, the Shakespearian-trained actor who is most famous for having portrayed architect/patriarch Mike Brady on the 1970s television sitcom The Brady Bunch. And, let me tell you, I almost fell right out of my chair when I read the portion of the article which stated that the star had lived the majority of his later years right here in Pasadena.  Come again, now?  How in the world had I not previously known this information??  Especially considering that The Brady Bunch is one of my favorite shows of all time!  I mean, why on earth is this data not posted right there on the homepage of the official City of Pasadena website, or on a plaque on the walls of City Hall itself??  It is a pretty major claim to fame – in my eyes at least!  Sheesh!  Do I have to think of everything?  Anyway, I was so excited about the news that I ran right out to stalk the place later that same week.

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According to Zillow, Robert Reed’s former home, which was originally built in 1947 and sits on almost half an acre of land, boasts 3 bedrooms, 4 baths, and 4,400 square feet of living space.  There seems to be a bit of a discrepancy somewhere, though, because the Property Shark website has a differing set of statistics which state that the abode measures 4 bedrooms, 5 baths, and 4,010 square feet of living space.  And, unfortunately, I am unsure of which information is correct.  Either way, I cannot express how incredibly cool I think it is that Robert Reed, who was a household name and an instantly recognizable star at the time, lived in a dwelling that was largely visible from the street.  Love it!

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According to his death certificate, which can be viewed on the FindADeath website, Robert Reed passed away at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena on Tuesday, May 12th, 1992, and not at his home as several websites have stated.  The actor was 59 years old at the time.  His funeral was held at All Saints Church in Pasadena, an oft-filmed-at location that I have yet to blog about, and he is buried at Memorial Park Cemetery in Skokie, Illinois.  According to a commenter named Rita on the FindADeath site, the home pictured above was not Robert Reed’s first Pasadena-area residence.  The star, who was born John Robert Rietz, originally purchased a property located at 1210 South Arroyo Boulevard sometime during the mid-sixties.  That gargantuan abode, which boasts 3 bedrooms, 5 baths, a whopping 9,218 square feet, and 0.84 acres of land, is, sadly, not at all visible from the street, though, so I did not attempt to stalk it.  Reed sold his original Pasadena residence sometime around 1985, at which point he moved about a half a mile east, into the sprawling Spanish-style home where he would live out the remainder of his years.

Big THANK YOU to Scott Michaels, from the FindADeath website, for finding this location!  Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: Robert Reed’s former house is located at 980 Stoneridge Drive in PasadenaThe Cravens Estate, from Commander in Chief and JAG, is located right around the corner at 430 Madeline Drive in Pasadena.

Mike and Carol Brady’s Homes from the Pilot Episode of “The Brady Bunch”

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Earlier this week while perusing through fellow stalker Chas’ website, ItsFilmedThere, I came across his Brady Bunch page which details numerous filming locations from the beloved 1970s series and, let me tell you, I almost fell off my chair!  Especially when I saw that he not only had listed the location of the house where Mike Brady (aka Robert Reed) lived in the pilot episode of the series, which was titled “The Honeymoon”, but also the address of the home where Mike and Carol (aka Florence Henderson) tied the knot in that very same episode!  How I had never noticed those locations on his site before is beyond me, especially since I am absolutely obsessed with the series!  I immediately texted Chas to find out how he managed to track the two locations down and as it turns out he had, in typical Chas fashion, contacted the show’s creator Sherwood Schwartz!  Chas always somehow manages to go straight to the source, so to speak, when seeking out locations.  I recently enlisted his help in finding Chez Quis restaurant where Ferris Bueller (aka Matthew Broderick) pretended to be Abe Froman in fave movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and what did Chas do?  You guessed it – he somehow managed to track down actor Jonathan Schmock who played the restaurant’s snooty maître d’ in the scene.  As it turns out, Chez Quis restaurant was actually the now-defunct L’Orangerie restaurant in West Hollywood, but that’s a whole other story for a whole other post that I promise to write very soon.  Anyway, Chas got a message delivered to Sherwood Schwartz asking him for information about the Brady houses and who should call him back but writer/producer Lloyd Schwartz – aka Sherwood’s son!  So incredibly cool!  So, once I had the addresses I immediately ran out to stalk both of the locations.  YAY!  Thank you, Chas!  Smile

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The mid-century modern-style house pictured above is where architect Mike Brady lived with his three sons, Greg (aka Barry Williams), Peter (aka Christopher Knight), and Bobby (aka Mike Lookinland), in the “Honeymoon” episode of the series.  For whatever reason, when the second episode, titled “Dear Libby”, aired, Mike and the rest of the Brady clan were shown living in a different house – the Studio City abode that was featured on every episode of the series thereafter.

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Amazingly enough, the “Honeymoon” episode house still looks almost EXACTLY the same today as it did when the episode was filmed over 42 years ago!

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Even the three plants on the front porch are still strikingly similar to how they appeared in the episode!  Love it, love it, love it!

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Located just about three miles west of Mike’s house is the residence belonging to Carol Brady’s parents, which is the spot where Mike and Carol tied the knot in the pilot episode.

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Sadly though, while the house still looks very much the same as it did onscreen, there is now a large wall which surrounds the property and substantially obstructs the view of it from the road.  UGH! 

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Mike and Carol’s wedding took place in the home’s backyard, which is, of course, also not visible from the street.

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But you can catch a glimpse of it in the above aerial view.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Chas, from ItsFilmedThere, for finding these locations!  Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: Mike Brady’s house from the pilot episode of The Brady Bunch is located at 12049 Iredell Street in Studio City.  Carol Brady’s parents’ house, where the Brady wedding took place, is located at 4101 Longridge Avenue in Sherman Oaks.