This past Tuesday afternoon, while I was in the hospital awaiting my dad’s surgery, I received an email from fellow stalker Owen, from the When Write Is Wrong blog, and I just about jumped out of my chair with excitement. The opening sentences of his email stated, “I’m actually trembling a bit as I type this. I think – think! – I may have found the elusive Three’s Company apartment!” Well, let me tell you, as I read those words I literally began to tremble myself! Owen had been on the hunt for the Three’s Company apartment building for over two years and the place had long been one of his top five most-wanted-to-find locations. So to receive that email and read those words was BEYOND thrilling. And I took the news as a positive sign that my dad’s surgery would go well. Which it did. 
Thank you to all of my fellow stalkers for their many well wishes and kind words over the past couple of days, by the way. Anyway, had I not been in Palm Springs at the time, I would have rushed right out to Santa Monica to stalk the place and confirm that it was, in fact, the Three’s Company building that very day. But, alas, I had to wait until yesterday afternoon, after I had returned home.
Because the building is such an iconic television location, I decided that I just had to dress up like Chrissy Snow (Suzanne Somers) for the occasion of stalking it, which the GC was none too happy about! And, yes, I know that I am a complete and total dork, but this stalker never, EVER passes up an opportunity to dress in costume. Sadly though, my pictures ended up pretty washed out, but, let me tell you, I had Chrissy’s above outfit down to a T!
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The story of the search for the Three’s Company apartment building is a long one. A while back Owen had found a blurb in Come and Knock on Our Door: A Hers and Hers and His Guide to Three’s Company written by Chris Mann which stated, “The only exterior shot of the apartment building – a brief glimpse of the Ropers’ apartment – hardly matched the studio version of the apartment exterior. Still, [associate producer Mimi] Seawell had to get clearance to use it from the building’s owner in Santa Monica.” And while Owen could not find contact information for Mimi Seawell, he did manage to track down Chris Mann last May. Sadly though, when asked if he was aware of the building’s address, Chris had this to say, “I wish I knew!!! Nobody I interviewed seemed to remember the exact location of this footage. Such a bummer, because I lived in Venice for three years (just a half mile or so from Santa Monica) and tried to find it on occasion. I really wish I could help here. My best guess is that it’s not too far from Rose Avenue, where they took the aerial shots of the boardwalk.”
Owen had surmised that the address number barely visible on the Three’s Company building was “2314” (the actual number would turn out to be 2912) and immediately set about searching aerial views of all of the 2000 blocks near Rose Avenue in Santa Monica. This proved to be a time-consuming and taxing hunt. As I asked Owen shortly after he had sent me the email saying that he had found the place, how he had done so, he replied, “I found it ‘cause I treat searches for a handful of locales I want to find as a challenge and – and this will be a shocker, I know – I hate losing, at anything. I search on and off for the sites on my list. When I saw the reference on your “Challenge Lindsay” page, it inspired me to put the search “on” again today. Found it after about a half hour of Street View searching. What gets me is that you know the apartment dwellers have no clue they live in a place with big-time television history.”
Amazingly enough, in real life, the property, which was built in 1928, is not an apartment building at all, but a single-family home that measures 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, and 3,204 square feet. Pretty crazy that one of the most famous apartment buildings in television history is actually a house! As you can see above, the residence is surrounded by a large hedge and gate, which I am sure is why it remained unfound for so long.
And even more amazing still, despite said hedge, the place still looks almost exactly the same today as it did onscreen in Three’s Company, over 36 years later! Love it, love it, love it! Gone is Chrissy, Jack, and Janet’s round brown door, but otherwise the place has remained mostly untouched.
The Three’s Company apartment building showed up briefly each week in the show’s opening credits during Seasons 1 through 3. Interestingly enough, according to a Three’s Company message board on the SitcomsOnline website, in the unaired pilot episode of the show, a different apartment building, one named “Hacienda Palms”, was used. Oh, Owen, I think you have another search on your hands! 😉
A big, HUGE THANK YOU to fellow stalker Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, for finding this location!
Until next time, Happy Stalking!
Stalk It: The Three’s Company apartment building is located at 2912 4th Street in Santa Monica.
How much fun must this have been??? I’m not a little envious LOL and it’s sacrilege if the people living there now don’t know what it was!!! I have also been chatting with Chris Mann and he did a fantastic interview on my blog. Would be so interesting to interview you as well so please get in touch if you’d like to: http://www.popspeaking.blogspot.com/2013/12/this-post-is-very-very-special-to-me.html
I have always been under the assumption the house pictured here was where the Roper’s lived and the apartment building pictured here last was where the Roper’s tenants the Threes Company trio lived.
This is a dream come true! I visited Santa Monica in 2005, stayed at the Holiday Inn across from the Pier because of the Three’s company credits. I also visited John Ritter’s grave. I couldn’t find Norman Fell’s plot (Which was in the cemetery next to Ritter’s. Audra Lindley is buried somewhere in Santa Monica but I couldn’t locate hers. I do need to make a trip to SM again just to see the apartment (house). It sucks the owners have hedges growing to block the view. But oh well.
Really love this post and the following thread, awesome stuff. Every time I go to the Santa Monica Pier, I think of Three’s Company. (And whenever I’m involved in a comic misunderstanding.) What got me to find this site was that I just saw the “Good Old Reliable Janet” episode from Season Three, when the female nude beach goer goes into the Ropers’ apartment to use the phone (with Stanley’s nervous acquiescence, naturally), and she tells the guy on the other end of the line to pick her up and that she’ll be at the corner of Ocean and Demora (sp?). She doesn’t leave the apartment, rather staying to wait at the apartment, so that is the fictitious location of the apartment building. I got to wondering and searching on the internet. Ocean Ave. exists of course – and is right off the beach – but I could not find Demora or De Mora or anything similar to it on mapquest. Anybody know if that street (or avenue or court or whatnot) was made up or if it actually existed/exists? Perhaps it was a good idea to make it up since otherwise there might have been throngs of people visiting that intersection and rioting when they saw the apartment was not there, at least back when it was the big hit show on the air.
The hacienda palms looks like the building on Fountain Avenue / North Sycamore Avenue,
Los Angeles, CA 90028
You look so awesome Linds! You’re so much fun 😀 Owen is a stalking master, he’s always amazing me with his dedication and skills!
I totally would’ve stalked this with you! We could’ve called Jason (Ritter) to come with us! 🙂 You should post my pics with Chrissy and Larry! 🙂 LOL.
Ammmmmmmmazing!! wow, I forgot that they (Jack and the girls) used to say they lived on Santa Monica, or at least I remember something like that… Incredible! By the way, does it exist an unaired pilot for the series? is it any way for watching it? were the same actors on it?
Thanks Lindsay!
OMG! Linds that is hysterical! It makes the Facts of Life rack suit look tame by comparison!
😉
Awesome find! I love it.
So, since you found this one, what is your Top 5 Most Wanted Locations?
I don’t know if you were addressing this to me or Owen, but Owen actually just emailed me his latest Top 5. They are:
– “Miracle on 34th Street” retirement home
– “Twins” house where Vincent sneaks out in beginning
– “The Good Girl” church for bible studies
– “Crossroads” “Alabama Star Motel”
– “Dutch” “center for displaced families”
I am going to have to think about my Top 5. I feel like I have more of a Top 50. 😉
Damn. You kind of look just like Chrissy. Should have done a close up though. : /
Great Post !!!!! John Ritter will always be in our hearts as The Funny Jack Tripper!!!!
Glad to hear your Dad is doing so much better and also that you had a safe trip there an back .
Your title made me gasp. THIS IS GREAT. Thanks! How is your Dad doing?
I appreciate people that actually take the time to search & find locations instead of calling Location Managers (and bugging them) which in that case an LM should get the credit not the person saying “I found it”
Good job Owen, you def belong in the Elite category.
Great job, Owen. I wonder if that little 3 foot palm tree in the opening credits is same fully grown tree in the current photos. If I owned that house, I would have kept the iconic door. The tall hedges and gate make it seem like they don’t want the house noticed.
Anyway, I’m glad to hear your Dad’s surgery went well, Lindsay.
This great find plus the many locations he has found in the past should all but put Owen into the filming location HALL OF FAME!!! All of that while searching via computer from the east coast. Great job Owen as that is all about winning and never giving up!! 🙂
Your picture is so cute!
Thank YOU, Lindsay. Great job. I’m disappointed only in that I couldn’t be there to stalk the place with you … not that I would have dressed up like Mr. Furley! Today’s post should be in honor of John Ritter. I never was fortunate enough to meet the late actor, but from what I can tell, he was one of the warmest, kindest people to ever inhabit this planet. He was genuinely kind and just oozed love and compassion. Thank you for the laughs you brought to us as Jack Tripper, John. Thank you more so for being the type of person we should all emulate. You left us too soon. How about we all head down to the Regal Beagle and drink a toast to John Ritter?
Glad to hear your dad is doing ok. LOVE LOVE Three’s Company..but who didn’t!! John Ritter was amazing!