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Seeing Stars: Where the Movies Were
Shot (on Location)
We all remember the "house with
the glowing jack-o-lantern on the porch" from the 1978 horror classic
Halloween, but if you keep count, there are actually four separate houses
shown in the movie: 
The original Myers' house and Laurie's
house are both located in South Pasadena,
California. But the two babysitting houses are actually located in Hollywood,
right across the street from each other.
Both residential neighborhoods look
similar (with large street trees and wood-frame homes) even though they
are 15 miles apart - and thus were able to pass for the same town.
[Click
on the small photos below to see larger images.]
| Jamie Lee
Curtis made her movie debut in the thriller , "HALLOWEEN."
The movie was supposed to be set in the little Midwestern town of Haddonfield,
Illinois. But those tree-lined residential streets were really right here
in sunny California.
One of those streets was Orange Grove
Avenue in suburban Hollywood,
just north of Sunset Blvd., where two of the film's familiar houses
are still to be found.
Warning: these
are private homes. Do not trespass on their property,
knock on their doors, or do anything else that might disturb the residents!
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However, many of the other scenes from
"Halloween" were filmed a good 15 miles to the east of
Hollywood, in the city of South Pasadena,
where they found a residential neighborhood which somewhat resembles Orange
Grove Avenue.
It is here, in South Pasadena, that
you will find the original Myers' home where
young Michael Myers commits his first murder (his sister), Laurie's (Jamie
Lee Curtis) own home, and the familiar residential streets where Laurie
and her friends walked during the film - you'll even find even that somewhat
sinister hedge behind which "The Shape" lurked.
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The following
photographs were shot in 2002 by Director & Filmmaker David Winning
(who is also a big "Halloween"
fan)
and are used with his permission. (Thank you,
David!)
You can find David's own website
at http://www.davidwinning.com.
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The most
recognizable site in South Pasadena is the Myers' house.
You'll remember it from the opening scene of the movie, where a young Michael
Myers murders his sister after she makes love to her boyfriend.
The house was empty & abandoned at the time the producers used it in
the film. Since then, it has been moved to the other side of the street,
and now serves as a chiropractor's office (the Alegria Chiropractic Center). |
'Laurie' and 'Tommy' walking up to
the Myers' House,
as seen in the 1978 movie "Halloween." On the west side
of the block, just north of Mission Street in Pasadena.
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Originally located at 707 Meredian
Avenue, you'll find the house today on the east side
of Meredian, just north of Mission Street, at 1000 Mission Street,
next to the railroad tracks.
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The Myers' house as it looks today (Feb. 2000).
(now the Alegria Chiropractic Center)
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The Myers' house today, in its new
location.
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Here is a
more distant shot of the same Myers' house in its current location.
All of the other homes that originally
lined the west side of Meridian were torn down, and only an empty
lot remains there today.
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An interesting coincidence: the other
two Halloween homes were shot on Orange Grove Avenue in Hollywood,
so it is somewhat ironic that Pasadena's own Orange Grove
Avenue (where the annual Rose Parade begins) is located just three
streets west of Meridian Ave.
South Pasadena's Meridian Avenue
was also the location of other scenes in the movie where Laurie and her
friends walk down the street |
Tommy leaves and Laurie continues walking
south on Meridian
as the Shape steps into frame. She's actually heading right
toward the hardware store and Mission St.
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| Here is that
same street today. In this photo, we are looking south down Meridian
Avenue, towards Mission Street (and the hardware store that is also
seen in the movie.) |
That same street - 22 years later.
Only a fenced vacant lot remains where the homes were.
Sidewalk remains about the same.
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| The entire block on the
west side of Meridian Avenue has been leveled,
and the Myers House was moved across the street. It is now a Chiropractors
Office.
All that remains of this block is a
fenced-in field. The parked car marks front of what was originally the
house site. The great old tree is gone too, only two trees to the north
and a wooden pole remain. [ Update: the empty
field has now been built in with condos. ]
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Photo taken from across Meridian Ave.
(just north of Mission Street) looking
west at the area where the Myers' House
used to stand.
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From the Halloween opening. Jamie Lee
Curtis crosses right-to-left, leaving Magnolia
and moving South down the West side of Meridian towards 707 - the Myers'
House.
(The camera is looking North.)
The picture above is taken
from the same camera angle on February 2000,
(looking north on Meridian, from south of the Magnolia jog,
half a block north of the Hardware Store.)
Jamie Lee Curtis proceeding south on west side of Meridian
Ave.,
(about to cross Magnolia again and meet up with Tommy
Wallace.)
Same location - February 2000.
637 Meridian Ave, South Pasadena
And for real fans who are real curious,
the opening shot of Haddonfield
(with the camera right on the road) was photographed at the intersection
of Montrose Avenue and Oxley Street; looking West down Oxley.
If you continue 13
blocks in the direction we're looking (West),
you'd find...
Laurie Strode's (Jamie Lee
Curtis) house at Oxley and Fairview.
Later in the movie, the trio of girls pass the house with
the red roof
(pictured at the right in the opening shot of Haddonfield) –
just before Laurie and Annie encounter the Shape
behind the hedge.
 
This is on Montrose Avenue, North of Oxley St.;
this is the street where Annie
and Laurie encounter the shape behind the hedge (a bit trimmed 22 years
later).
One of
the most eerie moments in the original Halloween occurs on this block.
The girls are walking home from school past
this stone fence, and cross the street --
just as Micheal Myers rounds the corner in the stolen station wagon.
Racing up past them he screeches to a halt -- brakelights glowing for a
moment
as the girls freeze -- The car then drives off.
The block can be found in Pasadena
on Highland Street between
Meridian Avenue and Fairview Avenue (north
of the freeway).
some four blocks North of the intersection of Mission and Meridian
(the site of the Myers house). The stone fence pictured is at the
south east corner of this block.
The girls are walking west toward Meridian
and cross the street to the
north side of the block as the car passes them; also heading west.
Director David Winning near the stone
pillar fence.
The trio of girls pass by here and cross the
street in this block --
before the station wagon screeches to a halt in front of them.
OTHER HALLOWEEN LOCATIONS
- The GRAVEYARD
scenes were filmed at Pioneer Cemetery,
located at 553 E. Sierra Madre Blvd, in the small town of
Sierra Madre, CA - northeast of Pasadena. (Sierra
Madre holds another place in movie history - it was where the original
"Invasion of the Body Snatchers" was filmed.) Map
- The ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (where
Laurie picks up young Tommy after school) was actually Garfield Elementary
School, located at 110 W. McLean Street (at 2nd St.), in Alhambra,
CA (just south of South Pasadena). The
same school was used for the inside of the high school classroom, when
Laurie looks out the window and sees "the Shape". Map
- The HIGH SCHOOL
(which Laurie and her friends attended) was actually South Pasadena
High School, at 1401 Fremont Ave., in South Pasadena, CA.
(The school was renovated in the late '90s,
so it doesn't look exactly the same.) Map
- The HARDWARE STORE
(where Michael Meyers got his famous mask - and his knife) was located
at 966 Mission Street, in South Pasadena, CA.
(As of 2008, the space currently houses now a wine restaurant called "750
ml". ) Map
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Movie Locations
1980's
- 1970's - 1960's
- 1950's - 1940's
- 1930's - 1920's
1990 -
1991
- 1992 - 1993
- 1994 - 1995
- 1996 - 1997
- 1998 -
1999
  
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