The “Blossom” House

The Blossom house has been found!  I can’t tell you how long I’ve been wanting to write that sentence!  Fans of the show are likely looking at the photo above, though, thinking ‘That doesn’t look anything like the Blossom house.’  And they’re right.  Sadly, the pad has been remodeled past recognition.  So how the heck did I identify it as the home where spunky teen Blossom Russo (Mayim Bialik) lived with her father, Nick (Ted Wass), and brothers, Joey (Joey Lawrence) and Anthony (Michael Stoyanov), on the popular NBC series, which ran from 1991 to 1995?  I have fellow stalker Chris (whom you may remember from the posts here, here and here) to thank for that.  Somehow, with no address number or background clues to guide him, he was able to pinpoint the property above, located at 3941 Ethel Avenue in Studio City, as the Russo residence with about 99% certainty!  I then enlisted my friend Michael (guest-poster extraordinaire) to join the endeavor and we were able to eradicate the remaining 1% doubt.  Read on for the story behind our hunt.

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I began my search for the Russo residence a good three years ago.  Along the way, I brought some fellow stalkers in on the quest, but none of us were successful.  Our failure wasn’t all that surprising considering Blossom aired almost three decades prior and the only clue we really had to go on was the fact that the home was situated on a street with no sidewalk or curb.  Then in mid-May, after Chris identified the Victorian from Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper, I asked if he might help in the pursuit and he was all too happy to do so!  It was not long after that he wrote back with the 3941 Ethel address!  Flabbergasted, I inquired how in the heck he had IDed it so quickly.  He explained, “I found the Blossom house just by browsing around Studio City on Street View and making a list of potential streets/houses, with the intention of then looking at them in more depth later on using the historic aerials on Google Earth.  I found a lot of roads in Studio City seemed to have no sidewalks, so I always thought it was the most likely place.  Eventually, I came to Ethel Avenue and spotted this house, however initially it was more the background, lack of sidewalk and white fence that looked similar rather than the house itself, so I made a note of it and carried on.  I then went into the next street, Mary Ellen Avenue, and it was this street that made me convinced I was in the right area as many of the houses had similar features – in particular, 3942 Mary Ellen Avenue, which had the same style fence, same shaped pathway and lantern as the Blossom house.  For a while, I was convinced that it was somewhere on this road, but after being unable to match any of the houses, I went back to Ethel Avenue.  Immediately after doing so, I noticed the roof of the house next door to 3941 had a similar shape to the one next door to the Blossom house and from that point on, started to notice more and more features that matched.”  The neighboring roofline Chris mentioned is denoted with fuchsia arrows below.  As you can see, its unique shape, as well as the placement and style of the chimney are direct matches to what appeared on Blossom.

Chris went on to explain, “I then learned that 3941 had been renovated in 1996 and after looking at building permits for the property, I found a sketch of the original house that also matched the shape of the Blossom house.”  Chris was kind enough to outline the shape of the original dwelling in red on the drawing, which paints a pretty clear matching picture.  As you’ll notice, the placement of the bay window, wings that jut out on either side, and indented front door outlined in the sketch all mirror those of the Russo residence.

He also noted that 3941 boasts a hedgerow and spider plants along the right side of the driveway, both of which were evident in Blossom establishing shots.

  I was in awe at Chris’ findings!  Talk about some elite-level detective work! Everything I saw gave me a strong feeling that he had correctly identified the right place.  But you know me – I like to be 100% certain in my reporting.  So I brought in Michael, who uncovered a slew of additional matching details.  His email to me included the aerial below.  As he noted, “The clincher for me is in looking at the blurry Historic Aerial from 1980 you can make out some important features that all match up with Blossom: uniquely angled front walk, bay window sticking out, two tiny dormers, and left roofline that stops short where it turns into a hipped roof.”  It was all compelling evidence, but seeing that angled walkway gave me chills!  I knew we most likely had the right spot!  But still, we pressed on.

Michael furthered, “Also, on the Blossom cap there are crawlspace vents along the foundation of the house.  You can more easily make out one of them on the right corner, and there’s another one slightly visible behind the shrubs centered with the window.  The Blossom siding stopped even with the landing of the front entry.  The current siding goes one slat lower (overlapping the vents).  If you draw a line across them from the front landing, the vents are located in the right spots and at the right level.” Michael even provided the fabulous graphic below to illustrate the point.

As if that wasn’t enough, Michael zeroed in on the front yard, as well.  He said, “The yard seems to slope down to the right.  In the Blossom cap, taller plantings seem to be covering higher foundation on the right side of the house, compared to the left side.  This is also true for the Ethel Ave location.”  And he noted, “On the Blossom cap taken from the left of the house, you can see the corner of something boxy to the right of the gable on the right side of the house.  I think this might be the brick chimney of the right-side neighbor.”  Though that chimney is blocked from view a bit by 3941’s new roofline and portico, it is still partially visible looking much like what appeared onscreen.

Here’s a closer view.

I also spotted a trench running along the street in front of the Russo residence, an element that exists in front of 3941 Ethel, as well.

That 1% doubt still lingered in my mind, though.  I know, I know.  I can be relentless!  But, thankfully, certainty soon hit.  A couple of weeks later, a fellow stalker posted some screen captures of the Russo house from a Blossom DVD in a Facebook group.  The imagery was much clearer than what was being streamed on Amazon Prime, so I promptly ordered a DVD set for myself and waited not-so-patiently for it to arrive.  As soon as it did, I got my clarity!  In the commentary featured on the pilot episode, Blossom creator Don Reo announced that the Russo residence was located in Studio City in real life.  And in the shot below, the house number is pretty clear (even more so when watching on a TV).  It definitely looks like “3941” to me!

The clearer caps also led Michael to notice the double-hung window situated on the right side of the Blossom house.  He said, “There’s a window in that exact spot in your present-day photos.  Also behind the trees past the gate on the caps you can sort of make out a straight vertical line.  I think that’s a second window—which is also still in that location.”

But what really clinched things for me was the establishing shot below in which I spotted a stacked stone fence post attached to the property to the left of the Russo pad.  Google Street View imagery shows that very post next to 3941 (denoted with fuchsia arrows in both pictures below), though it is not visible in any of my photos due to foliage that now stands in front of it.  Not only that, but I saw that the edge of the neighboring house in the Blossom cap was covered in the same stacked stone.  That is also true of the property next to 3941 (denoted with blue arrows below)!  And there’s more!  I also noticed a white fence attached to the left side of the Blossom house.  3941 has that same white fence (marked by purple arrows below)!  All of this adds up to tell me that 3941 Ethel Avenue is, indeed, the Russo residence from Blossom!  Eureka!  Thank you, Chris and Michael!

The timing of the 1996 remodel also adds up being that Blossom went off the air in ‘95.  Seems like the owners, who purchased the place in 1987, waited until the series ended before altering the house, which makes sense.  They likely didn’t want to risk losing out on any possible filming revenue.  Per the building permits, the remodel included a “2,130-square-foot addition” that added on a second level, expanded the first story, and included a new “irregular-shaped porte-cochère.”  All of that gibes with the differences we see of the house as it appeared on Blossom compared to how it looks now.  Post remodel, the dwelling, which was originally built in 1948, boasts 5 bedrooms, 5 baths, and 5,057 square feet.   The decades-old renovation, completed so shortly after the show went off the air and long before internet-sleuthing was a thing, explains why the Russo home has not been identified until now.

Only the exterior of 3941 Ethel Avenue appeared on the series.  The interior of the Russo pad was just a set built on a soundstage, first at Ren-Mar Studios Hollywood (now Red Studios Hollywood), then Sunset Gower Studios, then Fox Television Center (now Helen Bernstein High School).  The production moved around quite a bit during its five-year tenure on the air.

As Michael pointed out, the Russos’ kitchen has a very Golden Girls feel.  He said, “After looking through a few episodes trying to find establishing shots, it was funny how obvious it was that they used the same production designer as The Golden Girls.  A cheesecake certainly wouldn’t have seemed out of place in that kitchen.”  Certainly not, Michael!

The property in its original state was utterly charming – in my “opinionation,” at least!  It really is sad, not just for us stalkers but in general, that it has been altered so.

So there you have it, the sad saga of the Blossom house and the long quest to track it down!

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Chris for finding this location and to fellow stalker Michael for helping with the verification process. 

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Until next time, Happy Stalking! 

Stalk It: The Russo residence from Blossom is located at 3941 Ethel Avenue in Studio City.  It has, sadly, been remodeled beyond recognition.  Drew Barrymore’s childhood home is across the street at 4002 Ethel.