Don’t forget to read today’s Los Angeles magazine post – it’s about The Wonder Years neighborhood. My articles typically get published in the early afternoon hours.
Paul Pfeiffer’s House(s) from “The Wonder Years”
It’s official, folks! The Wonder Years is coming to DVD for the first time ever in October! The 26-disc boxed set includes all six seasons of the show, plus a cast reunion segment, over 15 hours of bonus footage, a collectible metal locker, two production booklets packed with behind-the-scenes information, a replica yearbook, and Wonder Years magnets. Sets can be pre-ordered here and there is even an option to purchase a special edition signed by Fred Savage and Danica McKellar! Um, sign me up! To celebrate the good news, I thought it would only be fitting to write about a Wonder Years location today – the house (or I should say “houses”) where Paul Pfeiffer (Josh Saviano) lived on the hit coming-of-age series.
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I found the address of the Pfeiffer residence on the My TWY Yearbook website and stalked it back in February. It was not until doing research for this post, though, that I realized two different properties had actually been used to portray the family’s home on the series. But more on that later. The house mentioned on My TWY Yearbook was featured in the Season 5 episode of The Wonder Years titled “Pfeiffer’s Choice.” In the episode, Paul’s family comes into some money thanks to a lucrative investment and when a jealous Jack Arnold (Dan Lauria) drives by the Pfeiffer home, with his son, Kevin Arnold (Fred Savage), he is irked to see Paul’s father, Alvin (John C. Moskoff), driving a brand new humongous John Deere tractor.
The residence shows up a second time in the episode, in the scene in which Kevin comforts Paul after learning that Alvin has lost all of the money he recently made.
The house used in “Pfeiffer’s Choice” can be found at 536 Tufts Avenue in Burbank, just up the street from Winnie Cooper’s (Danica McKellar) second home from the series (which I blogged about here). The 1950-property, which boasts three bedrooms, two baths, 1,651 square feet of living space and a 0.17-acre yard, looks much the same today as it did when The Wonder Years was filmed.
While I was scanning through various episodes making screen captures for this post, I came across Season 6’s “Poker” and was shocked to see a different dwelling featured as Paul’s. An address number of 537 was visible in the episode and, because most of The Wonder Years houses are situated in very close proximity to each other, I figured I would most likely find the place on University Avenue, near Kevin Arnold’s pad, which is located at 516 University. (I blogged about it here). Sure enough, a quick Google search of “537 University Avenue” proved my hunch correct. Thankfully, fellow stalker Chas, of the ItsFilmedThere site, had recently taken some photographs of the residence (on account of its appearance in an episode of ER) and loaned them to me for this post.
Why two different properties were used is anybody’s guess. Even odder is the fact that the two Pfeiffer residences are located directly next door to each other! (Truth be told, there might have been more properties masquerading as the Pfeiffer home over the years. I am still only on Season 2 of my binge-watch of the series, though, so I cannot say for certain either way.)
In real life, Paul’s house from “Poker” was built in 1949 and features two bedrooms, two baths, 1,742 square feet and a 0.17-acre lot.
As I mentioned earlier, the same residence was also featured in an episode of ER. It popped up in Season 4’s “Fathers and Sons” as the home of Dr. Mark Greene’s (Anthony Edwards) parents.
The real life interior of the property also appeared in the episode and, while fairly non-descript, my head just about exploded upon seeing the kitchen.
The kitchen from ER is an almost exact match to the Arnold’s kitchen from the pilot episode of The Wonder Years! (The Wonder Years pilot made use of the actual interior of the 516 University Avenue home and, after the series got picked up, a set based on it was constructed for all subsequent filming.)
I guess the resemblance should not have come as such a surprise to me being that the two homes are located on the same street, share similar exteriors and were most likely constructed by the same builder. I was still shocked (and delighted!) when I noticed it nonetheless.
For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.
Big THANK YOU to Chas, from the ItsFilmedThere website, for providing the photographs of Paul’s second house that appear in this post.
Until next time, Happy Stalking! 
Stalk It: A map of The Wonder Years neighborhood is pictured above. Paul Pfeiffer’s first house is located at 536 Tufts Avenue in Burbank. Paul’s second house can be found next door at 537 University Avenue. Winnie Cooper’s first home is located at 525 University Avenue. Winnie’s second home can be found at 501 Tufts Avenue. And Kevin Arnold’s residence is located at 516 University Avenue.
Winnie Cooper’s Second House from “The Wonder Years”
UPDATE – The Wonder Years is coming to DVD for the first time ever in October! The 26-disc boxed set includes all six seasons of the show, plus a cast reunion segment, over 15 hours of bonus footage, a collectible metal locker, two production booklets packed with behind-the-scenes information, a replica yearbook, and Wonder Years magnets. Sets can be pre-ordered here.
I am still currently in the process of binge-watching The Wonder Years on Netflix. The Season 3 finale, titled “Moving,” in which Winnie Cooper (Danica McKellar – who is completely ROCKING IT on Dancing With the Stars! LOVE her!) relocates to a new home located four miles away from longtime love Kevin Arnold (Fred Savage), absolutely broke my heart. Come to think of it, every episode breaks my heart. Prior to this recent re-watching, I didn’t remember the series being so sad, but yikes! I bawl during pretty much every episode. I am a nostalgic person by nature and the sentimentality of the show tugs at all of my heartstrings – but in a good way. So when I found the address of Winnie’s new house on this website, I ran right out to stalk it.
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During the first three seasons of The Wonder Years, Winnie and her family lived in a home (which I blogged about here) located right across the street from the Arnold residence (which I blogged about here). While the Cooper family sold that abode in “Moving,” their new dwelling did not actually appear onscreen until the Season 4 opener, which was titled “Growing Up.” It is said in the episode that the Cooper’s new pad is located four miles away from their previous one, but in reality it is located right around the corner.
The property continued to be utilized throughout the remaining three seasons of the The Wonder Years.
I actually find the residence to be an odd choice for use on the series for two reasons – it is substantially larger than the Cooper’s first home and it doesn’t really have a 1960s-feel to it.
Thankfully though, the property has not changed much since its Wonder Years days.
According to Redfin, the 1950 home boasts two bedrooms, two baths, and 1,896 square feet. It actually looks to be much larger than that, though, so I am not sure if the listed measurements are correct.
Whenever I think of the Cooper’s second residence, I am reminded of the Season 4 episode titled “The Accident,” in which Kevin climbed onto Winnie’s roof, peeked through her window and mouthed “I love you” to her. Ironically enough, though, after re-watching the scene, I do not believe it was actually shot at the house. As you can see below, the roof that Kevin climbs in the episode has two side-by-side dormer windows. Winnie’s residence does not have any such windows, so I am guessing that producers either filmed the scene at a different property or, in a more likely scenario, had a prop roof built on a soundstage for the shoot.
For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.
Until next time, Happy Stalking! 
Stalk It: Winnie Cooper’s second house from The Wonder Years is located at 501 Tufts Avenue in Burbank. Winnie’s first home from the series can be found right around the corner at 525 University Avenue. Kevin Arnold’s residence is located diagonally across the street from Winnie’s first home at 516 University Avenue.
Winnie Cooper’s House from “The Wonder Years”
UPDATE – The Wonder Years is coming to DVD for the first time ever in October! The 26-disc boxed set includes all six seasons of the show, plus a cast reunion segment, over 15 hours of bonus footage, a collectible metal locker, two production booklets packed with behind-the-scenes information, a replica yearbook, and Wonder Years magnets. Sets can be pre-ordered here.
It was quite a Wonder Years weekend for me. Not only did the Grim Cheaper and I indulge in some more binge-watching of the show, but I also got to meet Dan Lauria, aka Jack Arnold himself! As fate would have it, the actor happened to be participating in a celebrity golf tournament in the desert this weekend. When I saw his name on the list of players, I just about died being that I have been on such a Wonder Years kick as of late. So bright and early Saturday morning I dragged the GC right on out to the course – Starbucks in hand, natch! Dan really could not have been nicer. When I asked him for a photo, he said, “Sure! That’s what we’re here for this weekend!” Um, love! Then, when we went to take the picture, the GC had some trouble getting my camera to work and Dan joked, “He doesn’t know how to use a camera – he must be a director.” 
Such a sweet guy! And I absolutely love that he was wearing a ‘50s-style hat. So apropos! And now, on with the post!
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As was depicted on The Wonder Years, diagonally across the street from Kevin Arnold’s (Fred Savage) house (which I blogged about on Friday) is the home where his perennial love interest, Winnie Cooper (Danica McKellar), lived.
Like the Arnold residence, Winnie’s house was built in 1949 and also boasts three bedrooms and three baths.
Sadly though, while still recognizable, the property is not nearly as frozen in time as Kevin’s house is. As you can see below, the wood paneling that used to cover the front left portion of the residence has since been removed.
Alterations have also been made to the front porch area and a walkway has been added. The main front window has been changed, as well. LOVE that there is a bench in the exact same spot that the Coopers had one, though!
The one-story residence, which was shown considerably less often than the Arnold home, was only utilized in the first three seasons of The Wonder Years. Winnie and her family sold the house (breaking Kevin’s heart in the process) in the Season 3 finale, which was titled “Moving.” Their new abode, said to be located four miles away on the series, can actually be found just around the corner at 501 Tufts Avenue. And yes, I will be stalking that location soon!
Because it was so rarely shown, I would venture a guess that the inside of the real life home was used as the interior of the Cooper house.
For all of my fellow Wonder Years aficionados, in 2002 the Biography series aired a fabulous episode titled “The Wonder Years: Comedy Coming of Age” that featured a lot of behind-the-scenes information about the show. You can watch it by clicking below.
For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.
Big THANK YOU to Mikey, of the Mike the Fanboy website, for suggesting this stalk! You can read his write-up of the day here.
Until next time, Happy Stalking! 
Stalk It: Winnie Cooper’s house from The Wonder Years is located at 525 University Avenue in Burbank. Kevin Arnold’s house from the series is located diagonally across the street at 516 University Avenue.
Kevin’s House from “The Wonder Years”
UPDATE – The Wonder Years is coming to DVD for the first time ever in October! The 26-disc boxed set includes all six seasons of the show, plus a cast reunion segment, over 15 hours of bonus footage, a collectible metal locker, two production booklets packed with behind-the-scenes information, a replica yearbook, and Wonder Years magnets. Sets can be pre-ordered here.
My good friend Mikey, from the Mike the Fanboy website, recently asked if I wanted to do some stalking of The Wonder Years house with him. The 1968-set coming-of-age series finally made its way to Netflix in October 2011 (due to music licensing issues, it has never been released on DVD) and Mikey had been indulging in some binge-watching. He had never stalked the Burbank-area residence where Kevin Arnold (Fred Savage) and his family – Jack (Dan Lauria), Norma (Alley Mills), Karen (Olivia d’Abo) and Wayne (Jason Hervey) – lived on the show, though, and while I had stalked and blogged about the location before, because it was eons ago (in March 2008), I figured it was most-definitely time for a redux. So one rainy day (I had literally just had my hair blown out, too!) a couple of weeks ago, the two of us met up to do some Wonder Years stalking. As soon as I returned home, the Grim Cheaper and I started binge-watching the series, as well (thanks, Mikey! 
), and I was shocked at how oddly sad it is – much more so than I remembered. While still enjoyable, I find myself tearing up at least once during every episode.
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Visiting the Arnold abode was like stepping back in time. As you can see below, virtually no part of the property has been changed in the 25-plus years since the series first debuted.
The one-story, three-bedroom, three-bath, 1,839-square-foot home, which was originally built in 1949, was featured regularly throughout the series six-season run.
Amazingly, the residence was last sold in 1987, which means that the same family who owned it during The Wonder Years years still owns it today! Love that!
The dwelling was also featured weekly in The Wonder Years opening credits.
For some reason, Mikey and I were both under the mistaken impression that Winnie Cooper (Danica McKellar) waved to the camera in the opening credits and we each sat down on the curb to reenact the moment while we were there. It was actually Paul Pfeiffer (Josh Saviano) who waved in the opening, though. Whoops!
You can watch The Wonder Years opening credits by clicking below. (Bet you can’t not sing along!)
Time also appears to have stood still on the Arnolds’ street. It was never specifically stated where the series was supposed to have been set, producers instead choosing to keep things vague so that the narrative would be relatable to anyone who grew up in a suburban American town in the late 1960s. The formula worked, too. Even though I came of age in the ‘80s, my childhood wasn’t all that different from Kevin’s. I cannot express how incredibly nostalgic stalking the neighborhood was – due both to the fact that it still looks like a community from a bygone era and because it brought back so many memories of my early years.
I am 99.9% certain that the real life interior of the home appeared in the pilot episode and that a set resembling it was subsequently built for all future filming once the series got picked up. As you can see below, the kitchen in the pilot episode looks quite a bit different than than the one that appeared in the Season 1 episode titled “The Phone Call.”
Another view of the kitchen from the pilot as compared to a view of the kitchen from the Season 1 episode titled “Swingers” is pictured below.
Stay tuned for Winnie Cooper’s house (pictured below) on Monday! And I recently stumbled across this amazeballs site, so you know what that means! There will definitely be more Wonder Years stalking in my future!
For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.
Big THANK YOU to Mikey, of the Mike the Fanboy website, for suggesting this stalk! You can read his write-up of the day here.
Until next time, Happy Stalking! 
Stalk It: Kevin Arnold’s house from The Wonder Years is located at 516 University Avenue in Burbank.