The Meredith Vieira Show recently used my photograph of The Golden Girls house as part of their “Name That Hollywood Home” segment. It is a really fun bit, which you can watch by clicking above.
The “Life Goes On” House
Some locations I spend ages upon ages trying to track down only to discover that, when finally found, they had been listed on another website all along. D’oh! Such was the case with today’s locale. I’ve mentioned before that Life Goes On is one of my all-time favorite television shows. It is pretty common knowledge amongst stalkers that the Cape Code-style home belonging to the Thatcher family – Drew (Bill Smitrovich), Libby (Patti LuPone), Corky (Chris Burke), Becca (Kellie Martin) and Paige (who was played by both Monique Lanier and Tracey Needham) – on the series is a façade located at Warner Bros. Ranch in Burbank. What is less common knowledge is that the Ranch residence was actually modeled upon a real life house that appeared in Life Goes On’s pilot episode. I spent countless hours over numerous years attempting to track down that house, but could never manage to do so, mainly due to the fact that the clips of the show available on YouTube were of extremely poor quality. Then, last month while writing my post on Warner Bros. Ranch for Mike the Fanboy, I decided to see if the series was available on DVD and, to my surprise, Season 1 was! Figuring the quality of the episodes would be leagues better than their YouTube counterparts, I promptly ordered it.
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As soon as the DVDs arrived, I popped the one featuring the pilot into my computer and was floored to see a street sign reading “12100 W Banff Ln” visible near the house during the opening credits. I did a quick Google search for “12100 West Banff Lane, Los Angeles” and pretty much immediately found the Thatcher home at 305 North Bowling Green Way in Brentwood. I started doing research on the place right away, as I always do upon finding a locale, and was shocked to come across this page on my buddy E.J.’s The Movieland Directory website, which listed the home’s address and mentioned its appearance on Life Goes On. #facepalm All those hours spent looking for the place could have been avoided had I just stumbled upon that listing years ago. Fail!
In real life, the Thatcher home, which was originally built in 1941, boasts 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, 2,000 square feet of living space, a pool, a detached garage, and a 0.16-acre plot of land.
Amazingly, the residence still looks pretty much exactly the same today as it did when the pilot first aired on September 21st, 1989, almost thirty years ago!
Not only was the exterior of the home featured in the opening credits of the pilot, but in the opening credits of every single episode throughout the series’ four-season run. You can watch (a very poor quality clip of) those credits below. Try not to sing along! “Ob-la-di, ob-la-da, life goes on, brah, la la how the life goes on!”
A scene from the pilot in which Corky, Becca and Drew painted the home’s white picket fence was also lensed in the Brentwood residence’s front yard.
The real life interior of the home was used extensively throughout the pilot. Then, once the series was picked up, that interior was re-created on a soundstage at Warner Bros. Studio in Burbank, where the show was lensed. Several changes were made to the set re-creation, though. Most notably, the kitchen was widened significantly, as you can see below.
The family’s eating area was also moved from a dining nook located just off the kitchen to the actual kitchen.
In a rather unprecedented move, the exterior of the Brentwood home was also re-created, not at Warner Bros. Studio, but at its sister facility, Warner Bros. Ranch. To accomplish the feat, producers modified the façade of one of the lot’s existing houses, known as the Partridge House. As the name implies, the structure was featured as the Partridge residence on the 1970 television series The Partridge Family. After filming of that show wrapped, the façade was altered for its use on the 1983 series Scarecrow and Mrs. King and then again for its role on Life Goes On.
Comparison images of the Brentwood residence and its set re-creation are pictured below. As you can see, the roofline of the real house is much taller than that of the re-creation, which makes the Brentwood home appear to be much larger than its set counterpart.
I have been lucky enough to visit the set re-creation on several occasions over the years and each time was honestly like a dream come true. So you can imagine how exciting it was for me to finally be able to stalk the real house, as well.
And let me just say here that I think it would be about the coolest thing ever to have my house re-created on a studio backlot! I mean, can you even imagine?!?
The Warner Bros. Ranch house did not make an appearance on Life Goes On until the fourth episode, which was titled, “Break a Leg, Mom.” Only the garage area was featured, though.
The structure went on to appear regularly throughout the series, though typically only tight, close-up shots of it were shown.
On a side-note – Calling all Glee fans! GLEE: The Official Show Auction Part II, hosted by Invaluable and Profiles in History, will be taking place today at 11 a.m. PST. You can find out more information about the auction and bid on the over 600 items up for sale here.
For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.
Until next time, Happy Stalking! 
Stalk It: The Thatcher family home from the pilot episode of Life Goes On is located at 305 North Bowling Green Way in Brentwood. The façade used in later episodes of the series is the Partridge House at Warner Bros. Ranch, which is located at 411 North Hollywood Way in Burbank.
New “L.A.” Mag Post – About the “Fuller House” House
My latest Scene It Before post, about the mystery of the Fuller House house, is up on LAmag.com. You can read it here!
New “L.A.” Mag Post – About “The Wonder Years” Neighborhood
Don’t forget to read today’s Los Angeles magazine post – it’s about The Wonder Years neighborhood. My articles typically get published in the early afternoon hours.
Kent’s House from “Wicked City”
I cannot express how disappointed I am that ABC cancelled Wicked City. I’ll admit that I was not very impressed with the series’ pilot episode, but I think that was mainly due to the fact that it was rather jarring to see Ed Westwick (one of my absolute faves!) portraying a serial killer. The second episode had me hooked, though, and by episode three I was full-blown obsessed. So it was quite a blow when the show was cancelled just three days after that episode aired. And while ABC has said that the remaining five episodes that have yet to be broadcast will soon be available via streaming, so far that has yet to happen, which has me heartbroken that there might not be any sort of resolution to the show’s core mystery. The cancellation did not stop me from hunting down locations from the series, though. A couple of weeks ago on LAmag.com, I blogged about the Whisky a Go Go, which made several appearances on Wicked City. In the article, I mentioned some other locales featured on the show, but at the time I had yet to track down a few key spots, one of which was the Spanish-style home belonging to Kent Galloway (Westwick).
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I spent a ridiculous amount of time scouring film location databases looking for Kent’s home and, just as I was reaching my wits’ end, decided to call in the Grim Cheaper to ask for his thoughts. I happened to show him a scene from the second episode, which is titled “Runnin’ with the Devil,” and he noticed that a large wall was located across the street from Kent’s residence. He presumed it to be part of a studio and told me to search the neighborhoods surrounding The Walt Disney Studios.
Sure enough, I found the house within seconds, exactly where he said it would be! Sometimes I think he’s better at this stalking stuff than I am! Thank you, GC!
I was so intent on finding the locale not only because I am such a huge fan of Ed Westwick and Wicked City, but also because I just love the look of the place. The residence is picturesque, homey and a perfect representation of the Los Angeles bungalow.
In person it did not disappoint.
Though Zillow states that the property, which was built in 1940, measures one bedroom, one bath, and 1,551 square feet, it looks to be much larger from the outside.
The setting is also quite beautiful. The residence is situated on a 0.21-acre corner plot of land that almost looks like a park.
The house appeared in the first two episodes of Wicked City. I’m sure it was also utilized in the five unaired episodes that were shot prior to the cancellation, as well.
As you can see below, it looks much the same in person as it did onscreen, though it appears that a lot of foliage was brought in for the shoot.
I fell in love with the iron adornment on the front door while watching the pilot and was floored to see that it is an actual feature of the house.
I am fairly certain that the real life interior of the home was used in the filming of the pilot episode.
Unfortunately, I could not find any interior photographs of the place with which to verify that hunch.
The inside of Kent’s residence also made a brief appearance in the third episode of Wicked City, which is titled “Should I Stay or Should I Go,” but I am pretty certain that a set was used for that scene.
Interestingly, in the Google Street View imagery of the house, a film crew is visible shooting some sort of production in one of the neighboring residences.
For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.
Until next time, Happy Stalking! 
Stalk It: Kent’s house from Wicked City is located at 2023 West Parkside Avenue in Burbank.
New “L.A.” Mag Post – About “The Grinder” House
Be sure to check out my latest Los Angeles magazine article about the Sanderson house from The Grinder, my new favorite TV show. My articles typically get published in the early afternoon hours.
The “Black-ish” House
My good friend/fellow stalker Lavonna is obsessed with the show Black-ish. Von was supposed to fly out to L.A. for a visit along with our friends Kim and Katie this past June, but ended up not being able to. So in honor of her, during our trip we all went to stalk the home where the Johnson family – Dre (Anthony Anderson), Rainbow (Tracee Ellis Ross), Zoey (Yara Shahidi), Andre (Marcus Scribner), Jack (Miles Brown) and Diane (Marsai Martin) – lives on the ABC series.
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I found the Johnson residence thanks to Geoff from the 90210Locations website. He has a whole page dedicated to Black-ish locales on his site.
In real life, the two-story home, which was originally built in 1946, boasts 4 bedrooms, 4 baths, 4,820 square feet, and a 0.39-acre plot of land.
As you can see below, the dwelling looks much the same in person as it does on Black-ish.
The home is very picturesque and it is not at all hard to see how it came to be chosen for the series.
I have only seen a couple of episodes of Black-ish, but the few times I have watched I have been struck by its many similarities to Modern Family. More specifically, I have been struck by the Johnson family’s similarity to the Dunphy family. Both families have ditzy teenage daughters who pen popular fashion websites – on Black-ish, that daughter is Zoey; on MF it’s Haley (Sarah Hyland). (Well, truth be told, Haley pens a fashion blog, while Zoey runs her own YouTube channel about makeup, but similar enough.) Each family also has a no-so-bright son – on Black-ish it’s Andre; on Modern Family it’s Luke (Nolan Gould). The Dunphys and Johnsons also each have a smart daughter – Alex (Ariel Winter) on MF, Diane on Black-ish. Both series also have a parent obsessed with Halloween – on Black-ish, it’s Dre; on Modern Family, it’s Claire (Julie Bowen). Most striking of all, though, to me at least, are the aesthetic similarities of the two families’ homes. While the residences certainly have their differences, their overall look is very much the same.
Even the two families’ stairwells look extremely similar.
Interestingly, a different residence was used as the Johnson family’s home in Black-ish’s pilot episode – a residence that should look familiar to my fellow stalkers.
It is the same house that was used as the home of Nora Walker (Sally Field) on Brothers & Sisters.
One thing that I am not sure about is the inside of the Johnson home. While interiors are currently lensed on a set at ABC Studios in Burbank, I am unsure if that set was used for the pilot episode or if the pilot was filmed inside of the Brothers & Sisters house or another house altogether. Typically, when a pilot is shot, interiors are filmed at real life locations. Then if a series gets picked up, a set based on those real life interiors is built on a soundstage. In the case of Black-ish, though, very little of the inside of the Johnson home changed from the pilot episode (pictured below) to the second episode, which leads me to believe that a set was used from the very beginning.
On a side-note – The GC and I just became obsessed with Scandal. And I do mean obsessed. Our DVR is over 40% full right now due to the fact that our currently-airing nightly watches are being left untouched. Since viewing the Scandal pilot two weeks ago, we haven’t been able to watch anything else. We are mid-way through Season 3 right now and are still loving every minute of it. I’ve, of course, been researching the show’s filming locations like mad and, while doing so, came across this amazing blog about Scandal’s sets written by a member of the set department. If you are a fan of the series, it is definitely worth checking out.
For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.
Big THANK YOU to Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, for finding this location.
Until next time, Happy Stalking! 
Stalk It: The Johnson house from Black-ish is located at 4175 Stansbury Avenue in Sherman Oaks. The home used in the pilot episode can be found at 1640 Lombardy Road in Pasadena.
The “Even Stevens” House
Though I am a tween at heart, for some reason the 1999 television series Even Stevens, which focused on the life of seventh grader Louis Stevens (Shia LaBeouf), was never on my radar. In fact, I don’t think I had ever even heard of it until a fellow stalker named Britt posted a comment on my site in early March challenging me to find Louis’ supposed Sacramento home from the show. Britt had included screen captures with her query, but, being that I was not even sure if the series had been shot in California at the time, I had no idea where to begin looking for the residence. Thankfully, both Chas, from It’sFilmedThere, and a reader named Melissa found the place for me. (Chas and Melissa found the house independently, but on the same day and within minutes of each other! Literally, at almost the exact same time that I received a text from Chas alerting to me to the home’s address, I also received an email notification that Melissa had posted the house’s address as a comment on my site. Talk about synchronicity!)
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In her challenge, Britt had given us a big clue. She mentioned – and provided a screen capture showing – that an address number of “10321” was visible on the curb in front of the Stevens’ house in an episode. Melissa and Chas each took that info and successfully ran with it. Thank you, both! And even though I still have yet to watch an episode of the series, because I thought the dwelling might be a location my fellow stalkers were interested in, I ran right out to stalk it.
In real life, the 1938 home has 4 bedrooms, 4 baths, and 3,135 square feet of living space.
As you can see below, the residence looks much the same in person as it did onscreen.
Although the surrounding foliage has grown significantly since filming originally took place 16 years ago.
Besides being shown weekly in establishing shots, a digitized version of the property was also featured in the Even Stevens opening credits.
You can watch those credits by clicking below.
The real life interior of the residence was not used on the series. The inside of the Stevens’ home was just a set.
For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.
Big THANK YOU to fellow stalkers Chas, from It’s Filmed There, and Melissa for finding this location! 
Until next time, Happy Stalking!
Stalk It: The Even Stevens house is located at 10321 Cresta Drive in Cheviot Hills.
The “Yes, Dear” House
One show that I never really understood the appeal of is Yes, Dear. My dad loved the sitcom, which ran from 2000 to 2006, and watched it regularly, but I always found the characters slightly unlikable and the storylines a bit ridiculous. Nevertheless, when I received an email from a fellow stalker named Jeremy recently asking for some help in tracking down the main house featured on the series, my interest was immediately piqued.
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Jeremy had sent some screen captures along with his query and, maddeningly, while a four-digit address number was visible on the front of the house in one of them, none of the digits were clear enough to read.
While looking at one of the images more closely, I spotted a trash can on the side of the Yes, Dear house with an address number painted on it, the last three numbers of which were somewhat legible. My guess was that they read 326. Due to its Spanish architecture, I figured the home was most likely located in Pasadena and started searching 4-digit address blocks in the 300 range in the area, but came up empty-handed. At that point, I decided to get fellow stalkers Owen, from the When Write Is Wrong blog, and Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, involved. Miraculously, Geoff emailed me with an address just a few hours after I initially contacted him. As it turns out, the Yes, Dear house is not located in Pasadena at all, but at 2316 Greenfield Avenue in West L.A.’s Rancho Park neighborhood.
The charming dwelling looks exactly the same in person as it did onscreen.
In real life, the residence, which was built in 1925, measures five bedrooms, three baths, and 2,854 square feet.
On Yes, Dear, the pad belonged to movie executive Greg Warner (Anthony Clark) and his wife, Kim (Jean Louisa Kelly, who I can’t even believe is the same woman who played Tia in Uncle Buck). Kim’s sister, Christine Hughes (Liza Snyder), her husband, Jimmy (Glee’s Mike O’Malley), and their two children also lived on the property, in the Warner’s guest house.
While writing this post, I got to thinking that the residence was an odd choice for use in the series as, while not small by any means, it in no way seems big enough to have on its premises a guest house large enough to accommodate a family of four.
Only the exterior of the Rancho Park property was used in the filming. The interior of the Warner home was a set built on a soundstage at CBS Studio Center in Studio City, where the series was lensed.
While searching for the residence, I came across countless message boards on which commenters stated that the Yes, Dear house had been featured on several other television shows, namely Dave’s World, Happily Divorced, and – this one I don’t even understand – Beverly Hills, 90210. I know my readers do not need any sort of explanation or photograph comparison to illustrate that the Yes, Dear house most definitely is NOT the same place as Casa Walsh, so I’ll move on from that one right now. I did manage to track down an episode of Dave’s World, which ran from 1993 to 1997, on YouTube and the house where Dave Barry (Harry Anderson) lived in it is pictured below. As you can see, it is also most definitely not the same place featured on Yes, Dear.
Several commenters also surmised that the Dave’s World interior sets had been reused for Yes, Dear. But as you can see, while the two interiors are similarly laid out, they are not the same.
Both interiors did feature centrally located staircases, but the one on Dave’s World was curved, while the one on Yes, Dear was split-level.
The residence where Fran Lovett (Fran Drescher) and Peter Lovett (John Michael Higgins) lived in Happily Divorced, which ran from 2011 to 2013, does bear a resemblance to the Yes, Dear house, but again, they are definitely not one and the same. (For those who are interested, Owen managed to track down the Happily Divorced house – it’s at 1242 South Masselin Avenue in the Mid-Wilshire area of L.A.)
The interior of the Lovett’s house (pictured below) looked nothing like the interior of the Warner home, though.
For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.
Big THANK YOU to Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, for finding this location! 
Until next time, Happy Stalking!
Stalk It: The Yes, Dear house is located at 2316 Greenfield Avenue in the Rancho Park area of West L.A.
Winnie Cooper’s Second House from “The Wonder Years”
UPDATE – The Wonder Years is coming to DVD for the first time ever in October! The 26-disc boxed set includes all six seasons of the show, plus a cast reunion segment, over 15 hours of bonus footage, a collectible metal locker, two production booklets packed with behind-the-scenes information, a replica yearbook, and Wonder Years magnets. Sets can be pre-ordered here.
I am still currently in the process of binge-watching The Wonder Years on Netflix. The Season 3 finale, titled “Moving,” in which Winnie Cooper (Danica McKellar – who is completely ROCKING IT on Dancing With the Stars! LOVE her!) relocates to a new home located four miles away from longtime love Kevin Arnold (Fred Savage), absolutely broke my heart. Come to think of it, every episode breaks my heart. Prior to this recent re-watching, I didn’t remember the series being so sad, but yikes! I bawl during pretty much every episode. I am a nostalgic person by nature and the sentimentality of the show tugs at all of my heartstrings – but in a good way. So when I found the address of Winnie’s new house on this website, I ran right out to stalk it.
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During the first three seasons of The Wonder Years, Winnie and her family lived in a home (which I blogged about here) located right across the street from the Arnold residence (which I blogged about here). While the Cooper family sold that abode in “Moving,” their new dwelling did not actually appear onscreen until the Season 4 opener, which was titled “Growing Up.” It is said in the episode that the Cooper’s new pad is located four miles away from their previous one, but in reality it is located right around the corner.
The property continued to be utilized throughout the remaining three seasons of the The Wonder Years.
I actually find the residence to be an odd choice for use on the series for two reasons – it is substantially larger than the Cooper’s first home and it doesn’t really have a 1960s-feel to it.
Thankfully though, the property has not changed much since its Wonder Years days.
According to Redfin, the 1950 home boasts two bedrooms, two baths, and 1,896 square feet. It actually looks to be much larger than that, though, so I am not sure if the listed measurements are correct.
Whenever I think of the Cooper’s second residence, I am reminded of the Season 4 episode titled “The Accident,” in which Kevin climbed onto Winnie’s roof, peeked through her window and mouthed “I love you” to her. Ironically enough, though, after re-watching the scene, I do not believe it was actually shot at the house. As you can see below, the roof that Kevin climbs in the episode has two side-by-side dormer windows. Winnie’s residence does not have any such windows, so I am guessing that producers either filmed the scene at a different property or, in a more likely scenario, had a prop roof built on a soundstage for the shoot.
For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.
Until next time, Happy Stalking! 
Stalk It: Winnie Cooper’s second house from The Wonder Years is located at 501 Tufts Avenue in Burbank. Winnie’s first home from the series can be found right around the corner at 525 University Avenue. Kevin Arnold’s residence is located diagonally across the street from Winnie’s first home at 516 University Avenue.