The “Whatever It Takes” Houses

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I am all about teen comedies, even admittedly bad ones.  Drive Me Crazy is one of my favorite movies ever, I loved all of the Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen destination flicks, and Get Over It cracks me up every time I watch, even though I’ve seen it repeatedly.  So I was shocked when I received an email from a fellow stalker named David who was writing to let me know that he had found the two main houses from Whatever It Takes, a 2000 teen comedy that I had never previously heard of.  I ran right out to stalk the two properties, which are located next door to each other in South Pasadena, while I was in L.A. this past week and then watched the movie with the Grim Cheaper shortly thereafter.  I have to say that I was not very impressed.  There are bad teen comedies and then there are bad teen comedies.  This was a bad one.  Regardless, I figured the two houses were charming enough to be blog-worthy.

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Whatever It Takes is a Cyrano de Bergerac adaptation centered around two longtime best friends, Ryan (Shane West) and Maggie (Marla Sokoloff), who live next door to each other.  Ryan is in love with the most popular girl in school, Ashley (Jodi Lyn O’Keefe).  He eventually manages to strike up a friendship with Ashley’s cousin Chris (James Franco), who has a crush on Maggie.  The two make a deal with each other – Chris will help Ryan out with Ashley, if Ryan helps Chris out with Maggie.  Such a unique plotline.  Winking smile  I’ll give y’all one guess as to the outcome of the story.

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David managed to track down Ryan and Maggie’s houses thanks to a 2016 address number that was visible above Ryan’s front door in a scene.

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Oddly, while the two dwellings are shown together in wide establishing shots numerous times throughout Whatever It Takes, they are never shown individually – not a full-view of them, anyway.

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Both properties are extremely charming in person.  In real life, Ryan’s house was built in 1924 and boasts four bedrooms, two baths, 1,844 square feet and a 0.17-acre plot of land.

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Maggie’s English-style residence was originally constructed in 1932 and features five bedrooms, four baths, 3,096 square feet and a 0.17-acre plot of land.  The pad sold this past March for a whopping $1,830,000.  You can check out some interior photographs of it here.

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Only the exterior of the two homes appeared in Whatever It Takes.  Maggie and Ryan’s bedrooms were just sets constructed on a soundstage, as were their two facing balconies, where countless scenes took place.

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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 fellow stalker David for telling me about this location!  Smile

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: Ryan’s house from Whatever It Takes is located at 2016 Le Droit Drive in South Pasadena.  Maggie’s house is right next door at 2012 Le Droit Drive.

The “Dude, Where’s My Car?” Houses

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About six or seven years ago, my best friend Robin came to visit me from Switzerland for a few weeks and one night we found ourselves renting the 2000 cult comedy Dude, Where’s My Car? Being that the entire premise of the flick centers around two guys who lose their car, I honestly didn’t have very high expectations for the movie, but, let me tell you, Robin and I were pretty much dying laughing throughout the entire thing.  And if I’m not mistaken, I believe we even re-watched it again the following evening.  🙂  What can I say – I’m a big fan of lowbrow humor.  🙂  Robin and my catch phrase for a good year or two after that was “And then?  And then?  And then?”  LOL  I should admit here that I’ve also always had a special place in my heart for Ashton Kutcher (even though it’s truly difficult to like anyone who Twitters as much as he does) thanks to a story told to me by an acquaintance who spent an evening with him about a decade ago.  According to my friend, who worked in PR at the time, back in the late 90s before Ashton had become a household name, she attended some sort of showbiz party with the rising star and a group of his friends.  After the party, the entire group ended up crashing at Ashton’s house.  The following morning, my friend awoke when Ashton Kutcher entered the room she had been sleeping in, pounced on her bed, grabbed her pillow out from under her head and proceeded to smack her in the face with it while screaming “PILLOW FIGHT!”  Well, let me tell you, my friend was NOT happy about her unexpected wake-up call.  Of the incident, she later said to me – and I quote – “All I could think was, did Ashton Kutcher honestly just pillow fight me????”  LOL LOL LOL  Needless to say, she and Ashton didn’t speak much after that, but once I heard the story I couldn’t help but love the guy.  If someone had woken me up with a pillow to the face like that, I can honestly say that they would have become my new best friend!  🙂  What can I say, I love childish antics!  Anyway, every time I see Ashton Kutcher onscreen now, I can’t help but think of my friend’s story and smile.  So, when fellow stalker Chas texted me to let me know that Robert Patterson – not to be confused with actor Robert Pattinson 🙂 – from the website Movie Locations and More had tracked down two of the main houses used in Dude, Where’s My Car?, I just about died of excitement and immediately ran right out to stalk both of them.  Thank you, Robert!   🙂

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The first Dude, Where’s My Car? location Robert tracked down was the house belonging to Chester and Jesse (aka Seann William Scott and Ashton Kutcher) in the flick. And as you can see in the above screen captures and photographs, the residence has been cleaned up quite a bit since filming took place there ten years ago.  I am not sure if the house was in a state of disarray prior to the filming and that’s why it was chosen or if producers had the place dressed down for the production, but either way it looks quite different today than it did when Dude, Where’s My Car? was filmed.   And while I would normally be upset over someone altering a movie house, being that the dudes’ home was pretty much in shambles in the movie, this is one case where I really can’t fault the owner for changing things around.   I am pretty sure I would do the very same thing.  😉  But even with a new walkway, new windows, a new paintjob, and new landscaping, I am happy to report that the Dude, Where’s My Car? house is still recognizable from the movie.  The porch steps, porch light, porch awning, and address plaque all still look exactly the same today as they did in the flick.  🙂   YAY!  (On a side note – I really have to apologize for the photos that appear in this post – they were taken right at dusk after a long day of stalking and unfortunately, due to the poor lighting, did not come out very well.)

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The second house that Robert located was the residence belonging to the Twins (aka Marla Sokoloff and a very young Jennifer Garner) in the flick. The Twin’s house also looks quite a bit different today than how it appeared in the movie.  And I have to say that I actually prefer the home’s movie appearance to the way it looks in real life, because, like all girls, I am a fan of Tiffany Blue and I just love that it was used as the house’s trim color in Dude, Where’s My Car? So darn cute!  Also missing in real life is the circular popped out window that is located above the home’s front porch in the movie – a feature that I am assuming was added solely for the filming and then later removed.  I am happy to report, though, that the white picket fence that got destroyed in Dude, Where’s My Car? is in fact a real feature of the house.  In real life, though, it’s in a bit better shape than how it was portrayed in the movie.  😉

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And a little bit of movie trivia for you – a pre-Bachelor Charlie O’Connell, brother of actor Jerry O’Connell, had a fairly large role in Dude, Where’s My Car? playing Kristy Swanson’s jerk boyfriend, Tommy.

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On a side note – For some odd reason, for the past few months I have been having a hard time responding to the comments on my blog and neither my fiancé nor I can figure out what the problem is.  So, if you’ve been wondering why I haven’t responded to comments lately, that’s why.  Hopefully we can get the problem worked out soon, but in the meantime keep commenting and I will try to respond when I can.  Thanks for your patience with this and thank you to everyone who has been responding to the comments for me.  I really appreciate it.  🙂

Big THANK YOU to Robert from Movie Locations and More for finding these locations!  🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: Jesse and Chester’s house from Dude, Where’s My Car? is located at 4177 Bakman Drive in North Hollywood.  Wanda and Wilma’s house from the movie is located just around the corner at 4160 Klump Avenue, also in North Hollywood.