Rebecca’s House from “The Roommate”

One location that I have been on the lookout for for over a year now is the mansion where Rebecca Evans (Leighton Meester) lived in the 2011 flick The Roommate.  And I should mention here that while I did not particularly like the Single White Female-esque thriller, because my main man, cutie Matt Lanter, had a role in it (albeit an extremely small one), I purchased it as soon as it came out on DVD and became just a wee bit obsessed with tracking down its locales.  The location I was most interested in finding, of course, was the ginormous mansion where Rebecca grew up.  Because Kaldi Coffee & Tea in South Pasadena (which I blogged about way back in February 2012) was featured in the flick, I figured that Rebecca’s residence would most likely be located in the same vicinity.  Try as I might, though, I just could not seem to find it.  Then, last week, while driving to the Rose Bowl Flea Market, the Grim Cheaper and I passed by a house that I thought might be the right one (as it turns out, it wasn’t).  It was not until I popped in my The Roommate DVD later that afternoon to check, though, that I realized what a complete and total blonde I am!

Somehow, the first time I watched The Roommate, I missed the glaringly obvious address placard reading “1234 S Oak Knoll Ave” that was visible on the front gate of Rebecca’s house.  So, upon noticing it while watching the flick last weekend (and after a few minutes of feeling like an absolute dolt!), I did a Google search for “1234 South Oak Knoll Avenue” and “Pasadena” and, lo and behold, it was the right spot!  How in the heck I missed that sign the first time around, I will never know!  Anyway, once I had the address, I dragged the GC right on out to stalk the place.

In real life, the property is known as Le Petit Trianon, after Marie Antoinette’s onetime Palace of Versailles residence of the same name, on which the design was based.  The estate was originally constructed in 1916 by architect Louis du Puget Millar.  It boasts 6 bedrooms, 7 baths, a whopping 13,000 square feet of living space, a recording studio (with its own pub!), a gym, a guest house, a gardener/tool room, a 0.98-acre plot of land, a carport, and a five-car garage.  One of the residence’s early owners was Robert Woolsey, of the Wheeler & Woolsey comedy team, who reportedly threw lavish Hollywood parties on the premises.  Sadly though, as you can see below, not much of the mansion is visible from the street.

The abode appears a few times in The Roommate, during the portion of the movie in which Rebecca takes her new college roommate, Sara Matthews (Minka Kelly), to her childhood home for Thanksgiving weekend.  The film’s production notes state, “One of the most striking locations used in the film is a historic house in Pasadena, which served as Rebecca’s parents’ home.  Built in 1916, the house is an exact replica of Marie Antoinette’s Versailles getaway, Le Petit Trianon.  Everything in the house is original from the doorknobs to the chandeliers.  Its ballroom, a popular setting for fundraisers, is decked out with moldings of 14- and 17-karat gold.  Over the decades, guests have ranged from silent film legend Charlie Chaplin to the Cardinal Roger Mahony, Archbishop of Los Angeles.  Now owned by Letty Isberra, the house has become a local landmark.  The Isberra family is so proud of their home’s unusual provenance, they travelled to Versailles to visit its inspiration and had themselves photographed in front of the original.  ‘Then we came home and took a picture in front of our house with the same clothes,’ says Isberra.  ‘We had both pictures framed and we display them side by side.  You can’t tell the difference.’”  SO INCREDIBLY COOL!

And while I was bummed at the fact that virtually none of the residence was visible from the street, I was pretty floored to see that address placard in person.

The real life interior of the mansion, which you can check out some pictures of here, was also used in the filming.  The areas of the house which appeared in the flick include the entryway (which you can see an actual photograph of here);

a bedroom (which you can see a photograph of here)

the stairway (which you can see a photograph of here);

the living room (which you can see a photograph of here and which stood in for a dining room in the flick);

and the kitchen (which you can see a photograph of here).

Thanks to fave website OnLocationVacations, I learned that the same mansion was also featured in the Season 1 episode of GCB titled “Sex is Divine” as the residence that Burl Lourd (Bruce Boxleitner) considered buying for Gigi Stopper (Annie Potts).

Only the interior was used though.  As you can see below, for the exterior of the house, a different property was featured.

Also thanks to OnLocationVacations, I learned that the pilot episode of Devious Maids, which is not set to air until 2013, was filmed at the residence.  (I got the screen captures below from a promo for the show.)

And, fellow stalker Ashley, of The Drewseum website, informed me that the interior of the property was used as the wedding venue in the Season 6 episode of CSI titled “Rashomama”.  Interestingly enough, the exterior of the mansion that appeared in that episode was the mansion from The Beverly Hillbillies movie, which I blogged about back in January.

Ironically enough, just two doors down from The Roommate mansion is a house that I am very familiar with.  In fact, I make a point of stalking the place each and every October.

As you can see below, the house is an absolute Halloween masterpiece!  I so wish I was still young enough to go trick-or-treating as I would love to knock on that door on Halloween!  Anyone have a couple of kids I can borrow on the 31st?

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER.  And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Rebecca’s house from The Roommate is located at 1234 South Oak Knoll Avenue in Pasadena.  The mansion with the fabulous Halloween decorations is located just two doors south at 1254 South Oak Knoll Avenue.