David Santiago’s House from “Post Grad”

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Unfortunately, this stalker is currently suffering from a bad cold (which, for some reason, always seems to happen to me right before the holidays) and thanks to the fact that I cannot breath out of my nose and have taken copious amounts of NyQuil, I am feeling just a wee bit out of it today.  So I have to apologize if this particular post is somewhat off, but, regrettably, my head is somewhere in the clouds right now, instead of sitting on top of my shoulders in front of the computer screen where it should be.  I will do my best to be coherent, though, so here goes.  Located directly across the street from the house where Ryden Malby (aka Alexis Bledel) lived in Post Grad, which I blogged about yesterday, is the residence that belonged to her mysterious neighbor – zany, Brazilian infomercial director David Santiago (aka Love Actually’s/Lost’s Rodrigo Santoro).  So I, of course, dropped by to stalk it while in the neighborhood last weekend.

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David’s one-story, stone-and-wood, ranch-style abode shows up numerous times throughout Post Grad. And oddly enough, while I actually think the exterior is quite similar in appearance to the Malby house, according to the Post Grad production notes David’s pad was supposed to represent a more “cosmopolitan” lifestyle, the very type of lifestyle that Ryden was seeking.  In the notes, production designer Mark Hutman states, “The house we found for the Malbys is a single story, ranch-style house, which is very common in the Valley.  It’s not new, but it’s not old either, it’s just somewhat non-descript.  For David’s environment, we went very stylish and masculine. His house is more modern, with dark leather couches and a minimalist color palette.  And he has a pool.”

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As luck would have it, the real life owners of David’s house walked outside just as we showed up to stalk the place and they literally could not have been nicer!  They spoke with us for quite a while and answered all of my silly little questions about the filming.  Just a few of the tidbits they shared with us were that the shoot lasted just over three weeks and that a lot of filming did take place inside of their actual home.

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As well as in their backyard and pool.

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They also informed us that the production team replaced their entire back and side fence for the filming.  And they mentioned that the experience was the most fun they had ever had in their entire lives.  Um, you’re telling me!  I think I would just about die if a movie set up shop in my apartment for over three weeks!

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In real life, David’s house, which was built in 1960, measures 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, and 2,767 square feet.  And I am very happy to report that it looks exactly the same in person as it did onscreen.

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I was actually struck by how much it resembles the party house from fave movie Clueless, a location that has been the bane of my existence for years now as I just cannot seem to find it anywhere!!!!  UGH!  But I digress!

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On a random side-note – while getting my hair blown out the other day, I was lucky enough to run into Summer Bishil, who plays Navid Shirazi’s (aka Michael Steger’s) sister Leila Shirazi on fave show 90210!  Summer could NOT have been nicer and readily agreed to pose for a pic with me even though she had no make-up on and her hair had yet to be done.  Love it!  And when I told her that Matt Lanter was the love of my life, she said, “I think he’s pretty much the love of everyone’s life!”  Love it even more!

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On another side-note – I would like to wish my wonderful father a VERY happy 65th birthday today!!  I love you so much, Dad!

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Chas, from the It’sFilmedThere website, for finding this location!  Smile You can check out Chas’ extensive Post Grad filming locations page here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: David Santiago’s house from Post Grad is located at 5901 Farralone Avenue in Woodland Hills.  Ryden’s house from Post Grad is located directly across the street at at 22200 Tiara Street, also in Woodland Hills.

Ryden’s House from “Post Grad”

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Another location that I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to stalk while in the San Fernando Valley area this past weekend was the ranch-style house where Ryden Malby (aka Alexis Bledel) and her extremely odd, but extremely loveable family – dad Walter (aka Michael Keaton), mom Carmella (aka Jane Lynch), brother Hunter (aka Bobby Coleman), and crazy Grandma Maureen (aka the always fabulous Carol Burnett) – lived in Post Grad.  I saw the 2009 romantic comedy back when it first came out on DVD early last year and absolutely fell in love with it.  So I, of course, immediately started attempting to track down all of its featured locations, especially the Malby residence, but I am sad to say that I was a complete and total failure at the endeavor.  In my defense, though, it was not entirely my fault as the movie did somewhat lead me astray.

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As you can see above, in one of Post Grad’s early scenes, Ryden is shown being dropped off by a taxi, on the door of which is written “North Hollywood Cab Co.”, so I made the incorrect assumption that the Malby residence was located in that area.  And while I really should have known better, being that movies “cheat” that sort of thing all the time, the home just looked like a North-Hollywood-type residence to me.  So I spent more than a few fruitless hours searching NoHo (as Angelinos are now referring to it) before calling off the hunt.  Enter fellow stalker Chas, of the It’sFilmedThere website, who is pretty much the biggest Gilmore Girls/Alexis Bledel/Lauren Graham fan on the planet and who a few months later had begun his own trek to find the home.  And find it, he did, thanks to a very helpful crew member.  Once Chas told me of the location, I immediately added it to my “To-Stalk” list, but because I rarely get out to Woodland Hills, it took me quite a long time to actually visit the place.

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In Post Grad, after losing out on her book-publishing dream job, recent college graduate Ryden Malby is forced to return home to live with her parents in their quirky-looking abode.

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I am very happy to report that the Post Grad house, which in real life measures 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, and 2,500 square feet, and was originally built in 1960, looks exactly the same in person as it did onscreen.

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I was especially excited to see that the wooden wishing well that was situated in the home’s front yard in the movie was actually there in real life, as well.  Love it!

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Sadly, the little white fence that flanked the property’s front steps was not there, though.

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I am fairly certain that the real life interior of the residence was also used in the filming, but I, unfortunately, could not find any photographs of the interior online with which to verify that hunch.

Big THANK YOU to Chas, from the It’sFilmedThere website, for finding this location.  You can check out Chas’ extensive Post Grad filming locations page here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: Ryden’s house from Post Grad is located at 22200 Tiara Street in Woodland Hills.