The Family House

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My good friend and fellow stalker Kerry is a huge fan of the 1976 television show Family and I just found out that while she has stalked the home used in the series several times, she doesn’t have any photographs of it. So I just had to go out and stalk the house for her this past weekend. Kerry, this one’s for you! πŸ™‚

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Sadly, I have never seen an episode of Family, so when I set out to stalk the house this weekend, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I was floored to see that in person the house is absolutely adorable and very picturesque. It’s not very hard to see why producers chose to use this home for a television series about a typical American family, as it looks like a house everyone would want to live in. In fact, the entire street is so cute that it looks like it belongs on a postcard or in a movie. The street is pretty much the real life equivalent of Wisteria Lane from Desperate Housewives. Many homes on the Family street have actually been used in various televison and movie productions, but I’ll blog about those later. πŸ™‚

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When I got home from stalking the Family house, I found the opening credits of the show on YouTube and was extremely excited to see that the house looks pretty much the same today as it did back in 1976. You can watch the opening credits of the show, in which the house is featured prominently, here.

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In an ironic side note, one of my fave stalking books states that the home used in Family is the very same home used as the Walsh’s house in Beverly Hills, 90210. I really had to laugh when I saw that, as aside from the arched front doorways, the two homes could really not look more different. LOL

Until next time, Happy Stalking! πŸ™‚

Stalk It: The Family house is located at 1230 Milan Avenue in South Pasadena.

25 Replies to “The Family House”

  1. How cool is that? I realize the post is old but perhaps you could post any pics you have. Even though it’s just a lovely house , it was a setting for a very important tv series too, so I’m not surprised there is still interest.

  2. The link you give in the story to the pics of the so called same house used in Beverly Hills 90210 was an entirely different house!

  3. In Italiy the name of the series was “In casa Lowrence “, I loved to watch that house, the big 70’s car and the mother ,Sada Thomson, reassuring as a tre mother.
    Ciro (Rome)

  4. This house was also the exterior for the Szalinski residence in the 1997 movie “Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves”.

  5. I grew up in Venice Beach and this series was a “family” favorite! Today I was binge watching Family on the “Decades” channel 2-2, I cried in several episodes remembering the 70’s. I wondered about the house and gratefully found this. πŸ‘πŸ’–

    1. Interior shots were a set. Although the layout was similar. It was my Aunts home and I recall going over sometimes while they were filming
      !

      1. Kerry, would you please tell me more about when your aunt owned the house? When did she buy it? How long did she live there? You said the layout in the series was pretty similar to the actual floor plan? I’d like to hear more of your memories. I’m intrigued by this house. I’ve only recently discovered this show. When it was out, originally, I was a teen and was rarely ever home, so I’ve never seen it. I’ve been watching it on Decades for the past several weeks.

  6. I just saw that this house is being used for the new show “The Whispers” airing June 1st on ABC. The commercial came on and was all “Is that the “Family” house? So I googled it, and yep.

    1. Thanks for this info. I just watched the first episode of “The Whispers” from 2015 to see the house used in “Family”. It looks like the kitchen has been added on to in the back since they filmed Family back in the late 1970’s.

  7. I thought you might find it interesting to know that this very same house is used in the movie “Jurassic Park III.” It’s the house of Ellie Satler (Laura Dern). It is seen in two scenes, both of which are in the first 10 minutes of the film. In the first, Ellie is seen talking with Alan Grant (Sam Neill) in the backyard, and I’m 99% sure the real backyard was used. A few minutes later, Ellie and Alan are in the front yard. Alan is in his car, backing out of the driveway. I’ve never seen a single episode of “Family,” but I have seen “Jurassic Park III.” πŸ™‚

    1. OMG that is so cool!!!!! It was also used in “Bringing Down the House” – as Jean Smart’s residence – which I just saw for the first time last month! πŸ™‚

  8. Thank you so much for finding the Lawrence house! “Family” was one of my favourite TV shows growing up…I have been watching Seasons 1 & 2 on DVD and have always been obsessed with this house! Thanks to Jenny’s tip, I watched “Honey We Shrunk Ourselves” on You Tube and they have some outdoor shots of the house and backyard. I am wondering if they used the interior for shooting as well, as it has some similarities to the Lawrence interior (although the Lawrence interior would have been filmed on a set). Thanks for the info! I also found the house in “street view” on Google Earth!

  9. THANK YOU!!! I have been looking for this house for years! I loved the TV show and always said that I would live in a house like that when I grew up. This ia a wonderful treat!

  10. I’m an old house fan (I write about them too) and touring Pasadena is on my wish list. Thanks so much for the sneak preview … Next, I’m checking to see if you got anything on the “Halloween” neighborhoods on this blog.

    1. I lived across the street from the Halloween house . Walking home from school we’d dare each other to walk through it. Creepy even before the movie was made !

  11. I’ve never seen Family either but that house is really, really cute.

    @Trina: I just had a quick peek at the Pilot and I don’t think it is the same house πŸ™‚

  12. Thank you for the great website! I do believe that this was the house used in the pilot episodes of 90210 for the Walsh house. I will pull out the dvds and check, but that was the first home that came to mind when I saw the first pic of it on your blog.

  13. Linds……you are SO the BEST! You rock! Thanks for the photos girl…….you made my day! Im even feeling a little misty eyed here!

    Many, many thanks,

    Kerry:)

    PS….Season 1 is available on rental…..you should check it out!

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