Dr. Mott’s House From “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle”

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Another The Hand That Rocks the Cradle location that I stalked while vacationing in the Pacific Northwest this past May was the ultra-modern abode which belonged to Dr. Victor Mott (aka John de Lancie) and his wife, Peyton Flanders (aka Rebecca De Mornay), in the 1992 thriller.  Amazingly enough, I didn’t actually remember the Mott home from the one time I viewed the movie almost two decades ago, but my good friend and fellow stalker Kerry, who lives in Washington State, insisted I stalk the place while we were up there and drove me and the Grim Cheaper by it on our final day in Seattle.  And thank goodness she did, too, because the dwelling is nothing short of spectacular!  In fact, how it is possible that I didn’t remember it from the film is absolutely beyond me!

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In real life, the Mott residence, which seems to have been constructed almost entirely out of windows, boasts 4 bedrooms, a whopping 6 bathrooms, and 3,750-square feet of living space.  The home was actually built in 1991, the same year that The Hand That Rocks the Cradle was lensed, so my guess is that it was vacant at the time of filming which is how producers came to use it in the movie.

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The Mott house is featured in quite a few scenes in The Hand That Rocks the Cradle and, as you can see in the above screen captures, looks very much the same today as it did nineteen years ago when the movie was filmed.  There have been a few subtle changes made to the residence over the years, of course, including the addition of a substantial amount of foliage around the front perimeter of the property, which wasn’t there at the time of the filming.

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The residence’s front porch area has also been altered since The Hand That Rocks the Cradle was filmed and now features a blue-shingled overhang and brown wooden front doors, neither of which, in my never-to-be-humble-opinion, seem to fit in well with the rest of the abode.  I much prefer the movie version of the front porch as to how it is currently designed.

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It appears as if a window has also since been added to the rear portion of the home’s second story, as well.  Other than those few changes, though, the property looks almost exactly the same in person as it appeared onscreen in The Hand That Rocks the Cradle.  Love it!  And, although you can’t quite tell in the above photograph due to the crappy weather we were experiencing that day, the breathtaking views of Downtown Seattle and Puget Sound that were shown in the movie are the real life views that can be seen from the actual home.  Sigh!

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The real life interior of the property was also used for a few scenes in the movie as well.

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As you can see in the above screen capture, and as was the case with the Bartel home which I blogged about yesterday, the property’s real life address was referred to in the movie in the scene in which Marlene Craven (aka Julianne Moore) looks at the real estate flyer for Dr. Mott’s former house.

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Big THANK YOU to my good friend and fellow stalker Kerry for bringing me to this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: Dr. Mott’s house from The Hand That Rocks the Cradle is located at 2502 37th Avenue West in the Magnolia neighborhood of Seattle, Washington.

The “Hand That Rocks The Cradle” House

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Another location that I stalked while visiting the Pacific Northwest this past May was the gorgeous Victorian-style residence where the Bartel family – Claire (aka Annabella Sciorra), Michael (aka Matt McCoy), Emma (aka an absolutely adorable pre-Californication Madeline Zima), and baby Joey (aka Eric, Jennifer, and Ashley Melander)  – and their nanny, Peyton Flanders (aka Rebecca De Mornay), lived in the 1992 thriller The Hand That Rocks the Cradle.  Even though I had actually only seen the movie once – almost two decades ago when it was first released in theatres – the Bartel home made such an impression on me that an image of it has been imprinted on my mind ever since.  It is absolutely amazing to me how iconic the dwelling still is all these years later.  Even more amazing to me is the fact that the home pictured above wasn’t actually the producer’s first choice for the filming of The Hand That Rocks the Cradle.  They originally approached the owners of a different Tacoma-area Victorian residence – one that was chosen seven years later to stand in for the Stratford family home in the 1999 teen comedy 10 Things I Hate About You.  But because The Hand filmmakers wanted to paint over some interior woodwork, cut holes in several walls, and temporarily remove all of the real life furnishings and decor, the 10 Things homeowners turned down the offer and a different property located just over a mile to the west was chosen instead.  And the rest, as they say, is history.  There’s a quote from the now-defunct Movieline Magazine that I’ve had pinned up on my bulletin board for over twenty years now which reads, “It is always fascinating to learn how an actress came to play a role in which she is so perfect for the part that you can’t imagine anyone else ever having been considered.”  Well, the same can be said for houses, and it especially holds true for The Hand That Rocks the Cradle house – I honestly can’t imagine any other residence ever having been considered for the Bartel home.

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I am very happy to report that The Hand That Rocks the Cradle house looks remarkably the same today as it did eighteen years ago when it appeared in the movie.  The residence has been painted a different color since that time and there is a quite a bit more foliage surrounding the property now, but otherwise it is still completely recognizable.

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Even the light post/address marker located near the front porch is still there in real life, although the top of it is shaped a bit differently now.

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The backside of the house and the garage area also appeared in the flick . . .

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. . . although both have been remodeled quite a bit since filming took place.

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The real life interior of the home was also used extensively in the filming.

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Amazingly enough, the owners of the house decided to leave the famous Hand That Rocks the Cradle greenhouse, which played a pivotal role in the movie and which was built solely for the filming, intact after the flick had wrapped, which I think is just about the coolest thing ever!  Even cooler still is the fact that there is a scene in the movie in which Michael calls 911 and says to the police, “We live at 808 Yakima”, which is the home’s actual address.  I love it when real life details like that are included in a script!

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In real life, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle house, which was originally built in 1891, boasts 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and a whopping 6,105 square feet of living space.  And while the residence is absolutely beautiful in person, I prefer the white color it was painted in the movie, as opposed to the yellow color it is currently painted today.

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On a celebrity-sighting side-note – While doing some grocery shopping this past Sunday afternoon, I happened to run into actress Kimmy Robertson, who played Cathy in fave movie Don’t Tell Mom The Babysitter’s Dead.  I just about died when I realized who she was and, despite the Grim Cheaper’s objections, followed her outside to ask if she wouldn’t mind taking a photograph with me.  Kimmy was SUPER, SUPER nice and even chatted with us about Don’t Tell Mom for a bit.  I think she found me a bit odd when I told her how upset I was that the All American Burger on Sunset Boulevard – which stood in for Clown Dog restaurant in the movie – had recently been torn down, but she and her dog Cleo happily posed for a pic with me nonetheless.  So incredibly cool!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: The Hand That Rocks the Cradle house is located at 808 North Yakima Avenue in Tacoma, Washington.

George’s 50’s Diner from “A Cinderella Story”

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Another location at the very top of my Long Beach “To Stalk” list was the restaurant where Hilary Duff worked in fave teeny-bopper movie A Cinderella Story.  In real life, that restaurant is known as George’s 50’s Diner and it is one of the last remaining diners of its kind in all of California.  George’s Diner, which was originally named Grissinger’s Drive-In, first opened up in 1952.  It was designed by architect Wayne McAllister, who also designed the famous Sands Casino in Las  Vegas.   In 1963, the Grissingers sold the drive-in to new owners who expanded and remodeled the place and dubbed it Lyman’s Coffee Shop.  Shortly thereafter it was purchased by a woman named Terry, who re-named it Terry’s Coffee Shop and in 1974 made the fortuitous decision to hire as a chef a young man named George Alvarez.  George worked at the restaurant for over two decades and then in 1996, decided to buy the place for himself, upon which he restored it back to its original 1952 design.  He named the place George’s 50’s Diner, in honor of both himself and the restaurant’s original opening date.

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In A Cinderella Story, George’s 50’s Diner stood in for the restaurant first owned by Hilary Duff’s father and then later by her evil step-mother, who was played by Jennifer Coolidge.   Both the interior and the exterior of the restaurant were used extensively in the filming.   

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As you can see in the above photograph and screen captures, though, the place looks very, very different in person than how it appeared onscreen in the movie.  In fact, it almost doesn’t even look like the same place.  According to George and Helen, the diner’s INCREDIBLY nice owners, the restaurant was COMPELTELY remodeled for the filming. 

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A few of the changes made for the filming include: the interior walls being removed to make the diner appear much larger than it actually was, the real life counter being replaced with a new, much higher counter, all of the booths being covered over in fake pink and black leather, a false ceiling being installed, the ceiling fans being removed and new light fixtures hung, fake doors being added in numerous places, the entire kitchen being re-painted in a fake stainless steel color, and linoleum being laid over the restaurant’s real life carpet. 

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According to George and Helen, the interior and the exterior of the diner were actually remodeled  TWICE during the filming – first for the scenes in which the restaurant was owned by Hil D’s dad . . . 

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. . . and then again for the scenes in which it was later owned by her evil step-mother. 

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Producers also brought in the big pink “Fiona’s” sign that ends up falling on Carter’s dad’s Mercedes towards the end of the movie.  Phew!  Sure seems like a whole lot of remodeling work to do.  You’d think it would have been much easier to built a diner set on a soundstage somewhere in Hollywood for the filming.  Which, according to IMDB’s A Cinderella Story trivia page, is exactly what they did.   That information, however, is not accurate.  According to George and Helen, all of the interior filming of the diner scenes – which took just about two weeks to complete – did indeed take place on location at George’s Diner.  I’ll never understand Hollywood, I swear.  😉  Helen even has a scrapbook full of photographs of the filming, but unfortunately she didn’t have it on hand the day I stalked the place.  🙁  Oh well, I guess that just means I’ll have to go back to re-stalk it sometime!  🙂  

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And a little Cinderella Story trivia for you – not only did the movie star Madeline Zima, who now has a recurring role on Californication . . .

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. . . but it also starred Dan Byrd who is currently playing Courteney Cox’s son Travis on Cougartown

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A Cinderella Story is not the only production to have filmed at George’s, though.  Back when the restaurant was known as Terry’s Coffee Shop, the 1994 movie Corrina, Corrina  filmed on the premises.   It is at the drive-in diner that Whoopi Goldberg gets Tina Majorino to communicate with her for the very first time. 

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George’s also appeared briefly at the very beginning of the 2007 movie Zodiac, in the scene in which Mike Mageau and his girlfriend Darlene Ferrin drive by a diner, decide it is too crowded to stay, and leave, only to be attacked by the Zodiac killer minutes later.

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George’s 50’s Diner has also been featured in the movie The Real McCoy and in several episodes of the television series Cold Case.  And I honestly can’t recommend stalking the place enough!!!!  The food was A-MA-ZING – especially the French fries – the retro atmosphere was truly unique, and George and Helen honestly could NOT have been nicer.  I absolutely LOVED the place and will DEFINITELY be back!

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: George’s 50’s Diner is located at 4390 Atlantic Avenue in Long Beach.  You can visit their MySpace page here.