The White House Gates from “Scandal”

My life as of late seems to be absorbed by Scandal.  As I mentioned last week, the Grim Cheaper and I have recently become addicted to the ABC series.  Besides watching it during pretty much every free waking moment, I have also been furiously researching the show’s filming locations.  While set in Washington, D.C., Scandal is lensed in Los Angeles.  The crew does some seriously amazing work to hide that fact, though.  Gary, from the Seeing Stars website, uncovered a few key Season 1 locales a while back, including the White House gates, which I was beyond floored to learn were located at Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens (one of my very favorite spots in all of L.A.).  The explanation as to the gate’s precise location was a bit hazy, though, so I set out to remedy that this past week while I was in Pasadena.

The White House gates from Scandal are located just beyond Huntington Library’s main entrance, which is on Orlando Road.

Upon entering the property and driving past the guard shack, head south on Palm Drive towards Huntington’s massive parking lot.

About 700 feet south of the main entrance, there is a sign that directs visitors to turn left into the parking area.  That sign is pictured below.

Just beyond the sign, Palm Drive intersects with a small tree-lined road named Mausoleum Drive.  The eastern entrance to Mausoleum Drive is denoted with a pink arrow below.

The White House gates can be found just beyond that eastern entrance.

I was just a little excited upon finding them!

The gates’ exact location is denoted below.  Because they are situated near the parking area, you can actually see them without having to purchase a ticket to enter the Huntington Library grounds.  Though why anyone would not want to enter the grounds is beyond me.  It’s honestly one of the most beautiful places on earth and a spot I’ve long considered a Must-Stalk location for visitors to L.A.

The gates have appeared twice on Scandal.  They first popped up in the Season 1 episode titled “Dirty Little Secrets.”

On the series, the gates are manned by White House security guard Morris Elcott (Troy Winbush).  Though minor, Morris is a fabulous character who, for some odd reason, stopped appearing after Season 3.  I really wish they’d bring him back.

The gates were next featured in the Season 1 finale titled “Grant for the People.”

A green screen is used, rather convincingly I might add, to make it appear as if the White House is located just beyond the gates in the series.

What is actually located beyond the gates is a single lane tree-lined road that leads to Huntington Library’s Mausoleum.  Ah, the magic of television!

The same gates were also used as the entrance to Helen’s (Rose Byrne) mansion in Bridesmaids.

For reasons that most likely had to do with convenience, a different set of gates was used as the White House gates in the Season 3 episode of Scandal titled “Mama Said Knock You Out.”

It took me for-ever to track those gates down, but I finally did so while writing this post.  They are actually Hollywood Forever Cemetery’s Gower Street gates.  Though dressed a bit for filming, they are definitely recognizable from their onscreen stint.

Several areas of Huntington were used in Scandal’s “Dirty Little Secrets” episode, including the Mausoleum, which masked as a Washington, D.C.-area park . . .

. . . and the American Art gallery, which masked as the exterior of the White House.

And in “Grant for the People,” the property’s Boone Gallery masqueraded as the exterior of the White House.

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens are located at 1151 Oxford Road in San Marino.  The White House gates from Scandal can be found just beyond the property’s main entrance, at the intersection of Palm and Mausoleum Drives.  The gates used in the Season 3 episode titled “Mama Said Knock You Out” are Hollywood Forever Cemetery’s Gower Street gates and can be found at approximately 900 North Gower Street in Hollywood.

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