One of my biggest filming location pet peeves is when an unfound spot from an old movie or television show is explained away as having been demolished without any evidence to support that allegation. Like Whitney Houston, I wanna see the receipts! So when I recently came across an Eight Is Enough message board in which several commenters mentioned that the home where the Bradford family lived on the popular ABC series had been torn down years back, I was not quick to believe the claims and decided to look into the matter myself. As I eventually learned, the EIE house was indeed razed long ago, sadly. Because questions about the residence linger online, though, I figured it was worthy of a blog post – especially since my friend Michael (you may remember him from his many guest posts) was able to dig up some proof of its demolition.
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For those not familiar with Eight Is Enough, the show, which ran from 1977 to 1981, was based upon the 1975 memoir of Tom Braden, a Washington, D.C.-area political columnist who, with wife Joan, had eight children. For the series, the family’s last name was changed to Bradford and the setting shifted to Sacramento, where Tom (Dick Van Patten) and second wife, Abby (Betty Buckley), lived with their large brood – David (Grant Goodeve), Mary (Lani O’Grady), Joannie (Laurie Walters), Susan (Susan Richardson), Nancy (Dianne Kay), Elizabeth (Connie Needham), Tommy (Willie Aames) and Nicholas (Adam Rich) – in a charming two-story Colonial-style dwelling. (Diana Hyland, the actress who played Joan, Tom’s first wife and mother of the Bradford clan, sadly passed away in the middle of the series’ inaugural season and only appeared in the first four episodes. Tom then married Abby at the beginning of Season 2.)
A commenter on the Eight Is Enough message board had stated that the Bradford pad formerly stood right off Lankershim Boulevard at 10703 Chiquita Street in North Hollywood. Early on in my research, though, I unearthed a The Sacramento Bee article from 2015 in which associate producer Sandra Bice said that the property used on the show was located in Burbank. She explained that EIE location managers likely did some scouting of Sactown neighborhoods and then found a house in the vicinity of Warner Bros. Studio, where the series was lensed, that had a similar look and feel. I was not sure which source to believe, but felt an associate producer was likely more credible. To fulfill my due diligence, I did look into the Chiquita Street address, though. Number 10703 is no longer in existence, but, as Google showed me, that address falls at the end of a small cul-de-sac in Studio City, not North Hollywood. While there are several newly built homes situated in the cul-de-sac today, aside from a mid-90s construction date, I could find no other information on them or what stood there prior anywhere.
Seemingly stuck, without any sort of idea where to turn next, I brought Michael in on the hunt. Thankfully, he was able to work his usual magic, showing me the receipts via a 1984 Press Democrat article in which the home’s location was spelled out in literal black and white. As it turns out, the message board commenter was correct – almost. The Eight Is Enough house was once located at 10733 Chiquita Street (not 10703).
Running a search on that address, Michael then came across a building permit which showed that the residence was torn down in 1996.
The permit also provided a diagram revealing how the property was formerly laid out.
Armed with that information, I headed over to the Historic Aerials website to see if I could figure out exactly where the house and its detached garage used to be situated. Though a bit hard to see, the Bradford residence and garage are marked with pink and blue arrows, respectively, in the images below.
Using that imagery, along with the building permit, I was able to discern that the Eight Is Enough house and garage formerly stood in the areas denoted with pink boxes below.
That spot is pictured below in its current state.
The home, said to be at 1436 Oak Street in Sacramento on the series, was used extensively throughout Eight Is Enough’s 5-season run. Not only did the dwelling pop up regularly in establishing shots . . .
. . . but it also appeared in each episode’s opening credits . . .
. . . as well as in countless on location scenes. The residence was also featured in the 1987 made-for-television movie Eight Is Enough: A Family Reunion and in 1989’s An Eight Is Enough Wedding, but, unfortunately, I could not find a copy of either production with which to make screen captures for this post.
Only the exterior of the dwelling appeared on Eight Is Enough. Interiors were filmed inside of a soundstage at Warner Bros. Studio.
Though the Bradford house is long gone, the road leading up to it still looks relatively the same.
Thanks to IMDB and the Eight Is Enough message board, I learned that the residence was an onscreen regular in its day, most likely due to its charming aesthetic, proximity to several studios, and Anywhere, U.S.A. feel. In the Season 2 episode of The Rockford Files titled “Where’s Houston?,” which aired in 1976, the Bradford pad portrayed the home of Houston Preli (Lane Bradbury).
I believe the property’s actual interior was also utilized in the episode.
The pad popped up on The Rockford Files once again two years later, this time as the supposed Sherman Oaks home belonging to Jay Rockfelt’s (John Pleshette) parents in Season 4’s “Dwarf in a Helium Hat.”
From the way the episode was shot, I can say with certainty that the real life interior was also featured.
The Eight Is Enough house was used in an establishing shot of the residence belonging to Rebecca Steck (Paula Hoffman) in the Season 2 episode of Valerie – or The Hogan Family, if you’re watching in syndication – titled “Caught on a Hot Tin Roof,” which aired in 1986.
Interestingly, the shot was actually borrowed from the pilot episode of Eight Is Enough, which makes sense being that both series were produced by Lorimar. Though the quality of The Hogan Family cap is terrible (I could not find a hi-res version of “Caught on a Hot Tin Roof” to stream), as you can see, the images above and below are one and the same.
In 1987, it popped up as the supposed Eden, Oregon-area Sitwell Mortuary where Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) met with some blackmail victims in the Season 4 episode of Murder, She Wrote titled “Trouble in Eden.” (Thanks to fellow stalker Dennis for the tip!)
The property’s interior also briefly appeared in the episode, though the main mortuary room featured was, I believe, just a set.
The Bradford home also portrayed the Conventry Presbyterian Halloween Spook House in the Season 3 episode of Quantum Leap titled “The Boogieman: October 31st, 1964,” which aired in 1990.
Thanks to fellow stalker AJM, I learned that the Bradford residence was used extensively as the home of Cus D’Amato (George C. Scott) and Camille Ewald (Lilyan Chauvin), where Mike Tyson (Michael Jai White) lived while training to become a boxer, in the 1995 biopic Tyson.
The interior of the pad also appeared in the movie.
Update – While perusing photographs of the 1938 Lankershim Bridge collapse, a fellow stalker named Paul spotted the Bradford home! He was kind enough to share the photos with me to post here. The image below is from the USC Libraries Digital Collection. The Bradford pad is denoted with a blue circle. Though not perfectly clear, it is a much better shot of the property than the ones provided by Historic Aerials. I love that, despite the somewhat fuzzy imagery, the home is still definitely recognizable from Eight Is Enough.
The second photo Paul shared comes from the Water and Power Associates website and, once again, the Bradford residence, which is pictured from the rear, is circled in blue. Though I have not been able to discern when precisely the property was originally built, at least we now know, thanks to Paul, that it was constructed at some point prior to 1938.
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Big THANK YOU to my friend Michael (you can read his many guest posts here) for helping to confirm this location! 
Until next time, Happy Stalking!
Stalk It: The Bradford home from Eight Is Enough was formerly located at 10733 Chiquita Street in Studio City. The residence was torn down in 1996 and a new house now stands in its place.
Thank you for this. I have been following your site for the better part of 10 years. I used to recreate TV homes in CAD and put the tours on YouTube. Those are long-gone now, but I really appreciate that your site has still endured. When I was researching the Bradford house back around 2010, I remember reading an article that said that back in the late 70’s the house existed on a dead-end road, and it was the only house on the block. Your arial photos confirm that. Just now, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the Bradford house is only a hop, skip and a jump from the Brady Bunch house, located on the other side of Aqua Vista. Been to the Bradys house many a time, but never had any idea I was so close to the former Bradford property. Again, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!
Great detective work! Very interesting history of the house. As most, I used to love this show as a kid and I actually went to school with Adam Rich during the latter part of the shows run. Lincoln Jr. High School in Canoga Park. Funny thing was when I started going to the school, he wasn’t there. As a new kid at the school, I’d made friends with a group of guys, we were all starting 7th grade. Well, at some point mid year, one day Adam popped up and was “hanging” with the guys I’d befriended. He’d been filming the first half of the year and then started at our school. He’d gone to 6th grade with 2 of the guys in the group I was hanging with but they’d never mentioned it because they didn’t know if he would be coming to our school or going to school on the lot. I have to admit, as an 11 year old kid it kind of blew my mind arriving at our lunch table one day and BLAM, there was “Nicholas” sitting with my friends! Lol! He was a regular kid and mischievous like the rest of us. For the rest of the year, I remember where ever our little group went on the campus, the kids would always follow us. I remember some of the group would ditch school with him some times, but I was always too afraid to go. Lol. I moved out of state the following year but kept in touch with a few of the gang for a little while. Fun “preteen” times. Lol.
I was thinking this house looked very similar to the Eight is Enough house. It’s Carmichael an incorporated area of Sacramento. It’s also on Grant Ave which I thought how appropriate since Grant Goodeve started in that show! Apparently according to this it was in Studio City. Shame they tore down such a classic beautiful house. The house in Carmichael I drove by (and took photos). It’s not as far back off the road in person the yard is in fact about the same size as the house on the show, it’s just got very tall bushes blocking the view from the road which also made me suspicious they don’t want drive by’s! But why if it’s not a famous house? LOL! A girl smiled a waived likely not old enough to remember Eight is Enough anyway! Street also looked like a good fit….around the corner from Oak Ave, Carmichael (Sacramento).
Thanks for putting all the work into researching the house.
So great to see.. and so sad it’s gone. Makes you wonder if they new what they were actually tearing down. Good article! I still watch episodes occasionally.. would be great if they could be purchased online.. looks like Amazon just has the 1st season.. 2-5 aren’t available anywhere but dvd at least that I can tell. Thanks again!
I remember seeing a pre 1930’s skeleton key lock on a back door of the Eight Is Enough house in a scene when the Bradford’s were having a garage sale. If my memory serves me correctly Dianne Kay and Lori Walters were standing near that door in a outdoor scene. So judging by the old fashioned lock on the door I’m guessing the home was built in late 19th century to approximately mid 1920’s.
Sad to see such a beautiful, stately home discarded in favor of a bunch of cookie cutter tract houses all sandwiched together.
OMG! Amazing follow through! It was very picturesque. Sad to see it’s gone.
Hi Lindsay,
I remember watching this TV movie about Mike Tyson’s life and seeing that they used the EIE house. I’m not sure you’ll ever be able to get a screen grab but here’s the link anyway.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114759/
Great work!
Oh wow, this is awesome! Thank you so much! I found the movie online and added the info to the post!
The house was built prior to the 1938 LA River flood. If you google “Lankershim Bridge Collapse 1938” you will see some aerial shots of the area documenting the bridge’s collapse during the flood. If you look hard, you can see the house and garage in a couple of the shots. It escaped the flood waters but just barely. I wonder when it was built?
Which exact pictures? i googled it and saw a few pictures of the flood but i didn’t spot the house in any : (
Ian— I have found two pictures online from two different angles. I have even circled the house so you can see them. I am just not sure how to paste them into these comments. I am working off an iPad and the photos are now in my photo section. Am I able to paste photos into the comments section?
i think you can just copy and paste it right here in the comments. yeah i looked at every single picture of the 1938 flood and i just couldn’t find the house, i did spot the golf course which is a couple of blocks away but that’s about it
I’ll try to figure it out. Copying it isn’t a problem, but this comments box doesn’t allow me to paste it. Keep in mind, I am on a tablet so that may have something to do with it. If this doesn’t work, I can always email you the two pictures.
I don’t think my site is set up to have photos in the comments. 🙁 I tried to figure it out, but I am so not tech savvy. If you want, you can email the photos to me, Paul, at Lindsay@iamnotastalker.com and I can add them to the actual post.
Thanks Lindsay. I will email them to. By the way— this is an amazing site and has become one of my favourites. Well done!
Thank you so much! That is so sweet of you to say. 🙂 Adding the photos to the post now.
Wow! I am amazed, at your great investigative work. Thank you for so many great pictures of a house, that if I ever get to California, I would love to have seen. Now, if I ever get out there, I will know where to look. Thank you, thank you, thank you for this wonderful post. “Eight is Enough” is, and will forever be, my “All Time” favorite television show. Thanks again.
Lindsey, this is a great post! That is some excellent investigative work! Thank you for your passion. I always enjoying reading and then scouting locations out myself.
My favorite show growing up! Thank you!
How old was the house ?
It reminds me a bit of the “Father of the Bride,” house!!
Great post!!! Sad that the house is gone. Growing up I always wanted to see the house in person to bad.. On youtube you can find video’s of the reunion show and the wedding show.
I agree. So sad they tore down an entire neighborhood to build smaller lots and more houses.
For years I thought Father of the Bride was the same house. I know it’s not (partly thanks to your blog), but the pictures of the staircase and entryway of this house’s interior are also incredibly similar to Father of the Bride.
I was excited and then sad to read this. I loved that show when I was a kid – and the house was so fancy! I thought it would be just perfect for my brothers & sisters and me. There were six of us and I was convinced that we should have a show named after us called Six is Satisfactory or some such thing.
We had cousins who lived in Sacramento and I just assumed the house must be near them since the show was set there. We went on a tour of the old California Governor’s Mansion during a visit out there when I was about 15 (mid-80’s) and the tour guide mistakenly announced that the Eight is Enough house was in the Fabulous Forties Neighborhood. She said it was near the house where Ronald and Nancy Reagan lived when he was governor. I made my Dad drive us up and down every block there looking for it with no luck. I did the same thing on another visit when I was about 35 too!
So I’m happy to finally have this mystery solved, but disappointed that such a pretty and noteworthy house got torn down.
This might be stating the obvious, but based on the sketch in the demolition permit and the dirt road in the old screen shots, I wonder if the old house didn’t pre-date the cul-de-sac. Perhaps it was an old estate or farmhouse that got subdivided and sold off? Do you know if the area was agricultural or rural at one time? On Google Streetview all the houses around the cul-de-sac look to be of the same style and age, while those a little further east look older. You can kind of “read” the old property boundaries from the aerial photos too. I love stuff like that.
I’m a long time reader but this is the first time I’ve commented – thank you for featuring this house! And thanks for running a really fun, thoroughly-researched and entertaining site.
Interesting. How do you find out how many shows this house has been in? Do you watch every episode of The Rockford Files, Quantam Leap, Valerie’s Family, etc…??
In this case, the specific The Rockford Files episodes were mentioned on IMDB, and on the EIE message board, a commenter said the Quantum Leap episode involved a haunted house, so that one was easy to find. With Valerie, yes, I did have to just scan through episodes, hoping I’d find the right one, which is typically what I have to do. It’s time consuming. 🙁
Loved that show, too bad the house was torn down.
Good stalking!
Alas, when I stalked the house about a year ago, I found the same info. Driving by to see those new homes made me sad. While the new ones are handsome, they certainly lack the charm of tHe Bradford residence! I can still see Nicholas riding his bike and Tommy riding his skateboard on the sidewalk. Also, the human pyramid that the actors built in the opening credits show the fun they had doing the show.
If memory serves, the Bradford house was also used in a scary movie — maybe one of the Freddie Kruger iterations?
Oh no way! Thanks for the tip. I’ll see if I can figure out which movie.
Was it ever in any COMMERCIALS? Who actually lived in the house?