Katie’s House from “The Ring”

The Ring house (4 of 7)

While doing research on the Malibou Lake residence that stood in for the office of Doctor Grasnik (Jane Alexander) in the thriller The Ring, I came across a page on fave website Washington State Film Locations which stated that the supposed Seattle-area house where Katie (Amber Tamblyn) lived – and died – in the 2002 flick was actually located in Hancock Park.  Well, believe you me, I just about fell off my chair upon learning the information as I had always thought that particular abode was located in the Pacific Northwest, where the majority of The Ring was lensed.  So I immediately added the residence to my Haunted-Hollywood-To-Stalk list and dragged the Grim Cheaper right on over there just a few days later.

[ad]

Sadly, thanks to some very dense foliage, not much of Katie’s house is visible from the street, as you can see below.  In real life, the Tudor-style abode, which was originally built in 1924, boasts 5 bedrooms, 3 baths, 3,610 square feet of living space, and a 0.28-acre plot of land.

The Ring house (7 of 7)

The Ring house (2 of 7)

The exterior of the stately residence was featured several times in The Ring.   It first popped up in the movie’s opening scene in which Katie was tormented and then killed by Samara (Daveigh Chase), seven days after viewing a cursed video tape.  As you can see below, while recognizable, the house looks quite a bit different today than it did in 2002 when The Ring was filmed, mostly due to the addition of a front gate, walkway and massive amounts of foliage.

ScreenShot6077

The Ring house (1 of 7)

The property next popped up in the scene in which Katie’s friends and family gather for her memorial.  In that scene, the driveway area of the home is visible and, as you can see below, at the time of the filming, the hedges surrounding the front yard were much lower than they are now.  Boo!

ScreenShot6085

The Ring house (5 of 7)

The house lastly shows up – through a rainy windshield – in the scene in which Rachel (Naomi Watts) drops her son, Aidan (David Dorfman), off at her sister’s place for the week.

ScreenShot6088

I am fairly certain that the real life interior of the home was also used in the flick, but I was unable to find any interior photographs of the residence with which to verify that hunch.

ScreenShot6078

ScreenShot6079

ScreenShot6081

ScreenShot6086

Thanks to Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, I learned that the very same residence was also used as the home where Buster (Bernie Mac) lived, with his cheating wife, Robin (Beverly Johnson), in 1997’s How to Be a Player, although very little of the house can actually be seen in the flick.

ScreenShot6093

ScreenShot6090

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.

Big THANK YOU to Charles, from the In Twin Peaks website, for finding this location and to Marc, from the Washington State Film Locations website, for posting it!  Smile

The Ring house (6 of 7)

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: Katie’s house from The Ring is located at 413 South McCadden Place in Hancock Park.

The Sierra Bonita Apartments from “Mulholland Dr.”

P1010636

Another Haunted-Hollywood-type location that I found thanks to fellow stalker/David Lynch aficionado Brad, from the Brad D Studios website, was the fictionally-named “Sierra Bonita” apartment complex –  the fairy-tale-style property that was featured in one of the more intense and terrifying scenes from the surrealist director’s incredibly odd 2001 thriller Mulholland Dr. Brad had posted a brief write-up of the unique Silverlake-area site just last week and, because I had stalked and blogged about Le Borghese, the other apartment building featured in the flick, way back in February of 2009, I immediately added the place to my “To-Stalk” list and dragged the Grim Cheaper out there to see it just a few days later.

P1010638 P1010639

P1010617 P1010618

The complex, which consists of eight small, wood-shingled bungalows built around a central courtyard, was originally designed by Ben Sherwood in 1931.  Ironically enough, as you can see above, in real life there is nothing whatsoever spooky or macabre about the location.  On the contrary, the bungalow court is actually quite charming and idyllic in person and seems far more Disney-esque than “Lynchian”, as David Lynch’s movies have come to be described.

ScreenShot2046

Legend has it, in fact, that the bungalows were once occupied by Walt Disney Studios animators and that the storybook-like architecture served as the inspiration for the Seven Dwarf’s cottage in the very first full-length animated feature film, 1937’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. According to the “Ask Chris” column which appeared in the December 2006 issue of Los Angeles Magazine, Walt Disney Archive founder Dave Smith confirmed that director Hamilton Luske and animators Dick Lundy, Lee Morehouse, and Fred Moore all did occupy the complex once upon a time, which makes sense being that the original Walt Disney Studios was located a stone’s throw away on Hyperion Boulevard, where Gelson’s Market now stands.  Because the apartments do bear a strong resemblance to the Seven Dwarf’s cottage, Chris suggests that the animators “might have taken their home to work with them”. Winking smile Thanks to the Snow White lore, the bungalows have come to be known as the “Snow White Cottages” or the “Disney Cottages”, although they have no official name.

P1010620 P1010623

P1010633 P1010634

The fact that David Lynch even thought to transform such a picturesque spot into a place so sinister and foreboding – solely using camera angles, a few set pieces, and some carefully timed bars of music, mind you – speaks volumes about the director’s massive creative genius.  He also somehow managed to make the property look huge on film, when, in reality, it is incredibly small and sits on a plot of land that measures less than two-tenths of an acre.

[ad]

ScreenShot1992 ScreenShot1993

ScreenShot1995 ScreenShot1996

In Mulholland Dr., the Sierra Bonita Apartments are where budding actress Betty Elms (aka Naomi Watts) and her amnesiac new friend Rita (aka Laura Harring) search for a mysterious stranger named Diane Selwyn.  When Betty and Rita first arrive at Sierra Bonita, their taxi drives past the front of the complex, down a side alley located just north of the complex, and then drops them off in the rear of the property where the carports are located.

P1010630 P1010629

The carport area is pictured above and, as you can see, even it is picturesque!  I can honestly say that was the first time in history I have ever seen a cute carport!

ScreenShot1997 ScreenShot1998

Betty and Rita then walk through the Disney-esque tower located at the back of the complex.  A fake wall and apartment directory were set up in that area for the filming, which blocked the rest of the property from view.

P1010628

That tower is pictured above.

ScreenShot1999

According to the directory, Diane Selwyn lives in Apartment Number 12 in the complex’s West Courtyard.  In reality, though, the property only has one courtyard.

ScreenShot2001 ScreenShot2002

ScreenShot2003 ScreenShot2004

Betty and Rita then make their way along meandering pathways and through maze-like foliage to Apartment 12.  It was here that David Lynch employed tricky camera work and the magic of Hollywood to make the complex appear to be much larger than it actually is.  To borrow a phrase from the British, I was absolutely gobsmacked when I arrived at the property and saw how miniscule it was.

ScreenShot2009

Lynch also had a fake wall and gate installed at the front of the property, along Griffith Park Boulevard, which you can see in the background of the above screen capture.

Mulholland drive gate 2 Mulholland Drive gate 3

The fake gate was built behind the complex’s real life gate, which can also be seen in the movie.

ScreenShot2005 ScreenShot2006

ScreenShot2007 ScreenShot2008

When Betty knocks on the door to Apartment 12, she is told that Diane Selwyn has recently moved into Apartment 17.

P1010619 P1010621

The bungalow used as Apartment 12 is actually numbered 2912 1/2 in real life and is the complex’s northwestern-most unit.  It is located right on Griffith Park Boulevard and can be easily viewed from the street.

ScreenShot2010 ScreenShot2011

ScreenShot2012 ScreenShot2013

When Betty and Rita arrive at Apartment 17, they discover that no one is home and wind up breaking into the unit through a side window.

P1010624 P1010625

P1010626 P1010627

In real life, Apartment 17 is the bungalow numbered 2910 and it is located at the northeastern-most edge of the complex.

ScreenShot2014 P1010631

The window that Betty breaks into is pictured above.

ScreenShot2016 ScreenShot2017

ScreenShot2019 ScreenShot2020

I am fairly certain that the interior that was shown in the movie was just a set as the spacing of the windows in the kitchen area does not match up to the spacing of the windows on the exterior of the actual bungalow.  You can check out some photographs of one of the actual apartment interiors on fave website CurbedLA here.

ScreenShot2031 ScreenShot2036

ScreenShot2038 ScreenShot2039

In the Season 2 episode of My Name Is Earl titled “Sticks & Stones”, the “Snow White Cottages” were used extensively as “Shady Grove”, where Maggie Lester, aka The Bearded Lady (aka Judy Greer), and her carnival friends lived.

ScreenShot2034 ScreenShot2023

ScreenShot2024 ScreenShot2025

Maggie lived in the bungalow numbered 2906 1/2 in the episode.

P1010622

That bungalow is pictured above.

ScreenShot2026 ScreenShot2029

ScreenShot2041 ScreenShot2040

I am fairly certain that the real life interior of the unit was also used in the filming.  How incredibly cute is Maggie’s place, by the way?!?!  Oh, what I wouldn’t give to live there!

ScreenShot1994

On a Mulholland Dr. side-note – Justin Theroux, my girl Jen Aniston’s current boyfriend, played the lead role of director Adam Kesher in the film.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Brad, from the Brad D Studios website, for finding this location!  Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Snow White Cottages - Los Feliz

Stalk It: The “Sierra Bonita Apartments” from Mulholland Dr. are located at 2900 Griffith Park Boulevard in Silverlake.  The units which were used in Mulholland Dr. are denoted with pink arrows in the above aerial view – Apartment #12 is actually the bungalow numbered 2912 1/2 and Apartment #17 is the bungalow numbered 2910.  Maggie’s apartment from My Name Is Earl is denoted with a blue arrow in the above aerial view and is numbered 2906 1/2 in real life.