A Peek Inside the Pink House from “13 Going On 30”

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As I mentioned in Monday’s post, this past weekend, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I actually got to GO INSIDE the pink house featured at the end of fave romantic comedy 13 Going On 30.  Those of you who read my blog regularly know that I absolutely LOVE 13 Going On 30 and that Jenna’s pink Craftsman style home is one of my very favorite filming locations of all time!   Mike actually found this location for me back in May of 2008, after what seemed like MONTHS of me begging him to track it down.  LOL  But even though Mike was the one who actually located the house, he had yet to stalk it himself.  So, I just HAD to take him there on Saturday while the two of us were in the area. 

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 As fate would have it, when I first blogged about Jenna’s pink house back in May of 2008, the real life homeowner, an AMAZINGLY NICE woman named Mimi, happened to stumble upon my site and was amazed to see a post dedicated to her residence.  LOL  Mimi ended up leaving me a comment where she mentioned that after the filming of 13 Going On 30  had been completed, she and her husband asked the production crew who were repainting the house back to its original color to leave one brick pink in memory of the movie.  HOW COOL IS THAT????  So, when I took Mike to stalk the place on Saturday, the two of us stood there on the sidewalk for quite some time, scrutinizing every square inch of the house looking for that brick.  LOL  Well, Mimi happened to see us through her front window and came outside to say hello.  She recognized me from my site and said “Do you want to see the pink brick?”  Well, as you can imagine, I just about DIED.  I had been itching to see that brick ever since I first read her comment over a year ago!   🙂

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The brick is actually located on the rear side of a post in the driveway area of the home and I could NOT have been more excited to be seeing it in person!!!!!  I can’t tell you how cool it is that Mimi and her husband left that one brick pink!  I SO SO SO LOVE IT!  Mimi is truly a woman after my own heart!  🙂  Except, knowing me, I probably would have left the whole house pink!  LOL  🙂

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Then, just as I was about to die of excitement over seeing that brick, Mimi asked us if we wanted to come inside to see the living room area where they had also filmed!!!!  DID WE WANT TO COME INSIDE?????  DID WE WANT TO COME INSIDE??????  LOL  OF COURSE WE DID!  Well, it turns out that the mantle area shown in the movie was a fake that was built solely for the filming in what is really Mimi’s dining room.  The production crew covered over the large window pictured above with a fake wall, a fake fireplace, and a fake mantle.  Mimi said that the crew spent about a week building one fireplace, only to have the producers not like it.  So, they ended up having to rip it out and build a new one entirely from scratch.  She said it was an amazingly intricate fireplace made out of tile, but, ironically enough, after what amounted to two weeks of construction on two different fireplaces, neither one was ever seen in the movie. LOL LOL LOL  In the scene when Jenna is unpacking photographs, the camera never shows anything below the top right corner of the mantle area.   So, all of that fireplace construction was pretty much for naught.  Only in Hollywood, I swear!     

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Adding to the irony is the fact that there is already a fireplace and a mantle in the house that  could have been used in the scene!  LOL   Too funny! 

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I can’t tell you how exciting it was to be able to see the interiors of the home in person and to hear all of the behind-the-scenes info!  Truly a once in a lifetime!   All in all,  filming at the house took two weeks to complete, including the painting and construction time.  The actual filming of the scene between Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo took less than one day to shoot.  LOL  And, amazingly enough, the pink house scene wasn’t the movie’s original ending, but a re-shoot that was filmed after the first ending didn’t fare well with test audiences.

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Mimi’s house has also been featured in a commercial and the Season 2 episode of Cold Case entitled “Who’s Your Daddy”.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: The pink house from 13 Going On 30  is located at 1965 Fletcher Avenue in South Pasadena, just a few doors down from the Step by Step  house, which is located at 2011 Fletcher.  The house from Kelly Clarkson’s Because Of You video is located across the street at 2006 Fletcher Ave.  Please respect the owner’s privacy and don’t trepass, knock on the door, or ask to be let inside.   Mike and I were extremely lucky to be invited inside the house, but as this is not common practice, please don’t bother the owner about doing it yourself.   

The Pink House from “13 Going On 30”

I must bow down right now to Mike over at MovieShotsLA as yesterday he found a house that I have spent many unsuccessful hours over the past two years looking for – Jenna’s pink dream house from the last scene of my fave movie 13 Going On 30. Mike said he had a hunch about the area the home was in and found it by looking at aerial shots of streets in that neighborhood. I am forever grateful! Literally, as SOON as he gave me the address yesterday, I rushed out of my house and headed over to South Pasadena to stalk the home. For this particular stalking trip I had to drag my dad along as my boyfriend was at work.

Jenna’s pink house is, of course, no longer pink – it was only painted pink for the movie. It is A LOT bigger in person than it seemed on screen, but otherwise is completely recognizable from the movie. Jenna and Matt move into this house at the very end of 13 Going On 30, and the final scene is them sitting on their couch in the front yard of the home with a moving van in the driveway. I cannot tell you how excited I was to finally be there as this was one location I honestly thought I’d never find. Thank you, Mike!!

While my dad and I were stalking the house, a super nice neighbor came home and filled us in on all sorts of filming information about his street. He told us that Jennifer Garner wasn’t as friendly as one would expect and that she had a big bodyguard who kept fans away the entire time they were filming. He also told us that the Kelly Clarkson video for Because Of You was filmed just across the street from the 13 Going On 30 house. That home is pictured on the left. He said that Kelly Clarkson could not have been nicer and that even after a really long day of filming, she stuck around for about 40 minutes to sign autographs for all of the neighborhood kids. He said she literally stayed until every last autograph was signed. You can watch the Because Of You video here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The 13 Going On 30 house is located at 1965 Fletcher Avenue in South Pasadena. The Because Of You house is across the street at 2006 Fletcher. These houses are very close to the other houses used in 13 Going On 30.

The “13 Going On 30” Houses

If someone asked me what movie most closely resembles my life, I would have to say 13 Going On 30. I am definitely a child of the 80s, I still dress like a 13 year old most of the time, and I’ve been known to do the Thriller Dance at a few parties, so it’s only natural that I would be slightly obsessed with the movie 13 Going On 30.  While most of the filming locations for the movie are located in Manhattan, a few of them can be found right here in LA.

Jenna and Matt’s houses

If you are as obsessed with 13 Going On 30 as I am, you’ll remember the scene in the movie when adult Jenna first shows up at Matt’s apartment and says “I don’t know if you’re him, but if you lived on Spruce Street and your favorite shirt is the grey velour one .  .  .”  Well, Jenna and Matt’s houses really can be found on Spruce Street – only they are in South Pasadena, not New Jersey.  Jenna’s house has been painted and looks a bit different, but you will recognize them immediately when you see them.

Jenna’s house

This location was extremely easy to find.  I just happened to be getting my nails done one day in South Pasadena and the woman next to me was talking about how her home had been used in a Jennifer Garner movie.  I almost flipped out when I heard it was 13 Going On 30 and I begged her to tell me all of the scoop about the filming.  She told me that the producers also used the inside of her home – and they even used her real bed and bedding in the scene where Jenna crawls into bed with her parents.  She was even nice enough to tell me where her house was and I went to find it just as soon as my nails were dry!

Intersection of Mission and Meridian

Another 13 Going On 30 location is located just a few blocks away at the intersection of Mission and Meridian at the train tracks.  This is the spot where adult Jenna jumps out of Chris Grandy’s taxi cab and rushes to stop Matt’s wedding.  This location was easy to figure out – I recognized it the first time I saw the movie.

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Me hoping over the center divide like Jenna does in the movie!  🙂

Halloween House

If you turn directly around from this location and look behind you, you will see another filming location – Michael Meyer’s house from the original Halloween movie.  The home has definitely been given a face lift and is not nearly as run down as it was back in Michael Meyer’s day, but it is still definitely recognizable.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It:  Jenna’s and Matt’s houses are located at 1837 and 1839 Spruce Street, respectively.  Spruce Street is just one street north of Huntington Drive in South Pasadena.  Once you’ve stalked those houses, just drive north to Mission Street, turn left and drive to Meridian to see the intersection where Jenna ditches Chris Grandy.  The Halloween house is located at 1000 Mission Street.  After you’re done stalking, grab a coffee or a Fosselman’s ice cream at Buster’s Ice Cream Shop at 1006 Mission St. – all that stalking does work up an appetite!