Q. What is it supposed to be on the show?

A. A small residential house.

Q. Where is it supposed to be on the show?

A. In a bad residential neighborhood in Chino.

Q. When did we see it on the show?

A. The very first episode of "The O.C." ("The Pilot"). It is the Chino home where Ryan and his mother are living. We see it (briefly) after Ryan is arrested for car theft, and she kicks him out of the house. He tells her he doesn't have anywhere to go, but the mother's burley lover, A.J., punches Ryan and throws him out, leaving him to fend for himself on the street (until Sandy comes along and rescues him).

Q. What is it actually in real life?

A. A private home - but not in Chino.

Q. Where can I find it in real life?

A. The small house is located in Sun Valley, CA, the same town where they shot the other "Chino" scenes in the pilot (such as the car theft and the phone call scenes). The house is about a third of a mile northwest of the car theft location, and three blocks southwest of The Pink Motel.

It's at 9320 Telfair Avenue, in Sun Valley, on the east side of the street, between Jerome Street (on the south) and Truesdale Street (on the north).

To find it, from the corner of Telfair Ave & Jerome Street (and heading north) it is the second or third house on the right (a driveway leading to two smaller homes in the back separates the first house on that corner from the "Atwood" house). See this aerial photo to get a better idea of the location. And here is a map link.

I wouldn't suggest this Sun Valley neighborhood to tourists, but if you must go there, take along a print-out of these photos so you'll recognize the house when you see it.  (Exercise reasonable caution.)

[Warning: This is a private home. Do not trespass on their property, knock on their door,
or do anything else that might disturb the residents.]

Q. How the heck did you figure out where it was?

A. This was the very last location I found (from the first two seasons). I had searched for it, but had previously been unable to find it. Then, in August of 2006, I stumbled across a photo of the Atwood house on the website of Jaymes Hinkle, the production designer for the pilot episode. I emailed him and asked if he knew the address. He didn't remember the house number, of course, but he told me it was on Telfair in Sun Valley. Next, I turned to aerial photos from LiveLocal to check out the territory. Unfortunately, Telfair Ave. is a long street, and the aerial photos of that area are relatively distant and lack detail, but I finally managed to pinpoint it. I double-checked by also matching the house across the street with the photo above, (the scene where Ryan rides his bike away from the house), and every detail matched on both homes.