I turned 50 recently (thanks for your sympathy) and when I decided to plan a special trip for the event, I decided to go to L.A., where I've never been, and to track down the "Nightmare On Elm Street" and "Halloween" filming sites that are out there.
So between days at Disneyland I drug my friends around greater L.A. and found the places I wanted to see.
(I couldn't have done this AT ALL without https://www.thennowmovielocations.com. They did all the work and provide a ton of locations with addresses.)
Our first stop was the area where Tina dies in the original "Elm Street." Her house is down in Ventura in a cool neighborhood.
The exterior of Tina's house in the movie:
And the house today ... (with me out front.)
The alley where Tina meets her demise is genuinely right behind the house.
And, again, me in the alley, pretty close to where Freddy stood. There's a blue arrow spray painted on the ground, my assumption is it's telling people where to stand but I can't prove that. It seemed to be the right place.
Not far from where Tina died is the area where Nancy walks to school while Rod Lane is on the run, and also where Rod gets caught.
The house Nancy walks past is fairly non-descript, but it mostly looks the same (you can even see where the owners removed the mailbox from next to the door.)
It's a block or so up where Nancy sees the cop who's following her.
And me, doing my best cop impression.
That's everything we saw in that neighborhood and I did get that tingle when I saw these places, knowing I was where it all happened so many years ago.
But my friend and I had more locations to scout!
From the Part 1 sites we next found ourselves in "The Dream Master," where the movie's Crave Inn still sits today as a cool, working coffee shop.
The girl at the counter who was forced to be my photographer didn't know the movie was filmed there. The manager did though and seemed more concerned that his employee didn't know!
(My friend Cassandra is the generally unwilling other person in the pictures here.)
The movie's Crave Inn:
The real cafe today:
Freddy and Alice:
Me and Cass:
Good news: the building is easy to find.
Bad news: the shot they use for the exteriors was on the opposite side of the building from where we parked and were initially looking.
This wouldn't have been a big deal except for the fact that in order to get to the side where the shot came from we kind of had to crash UCLA's graduation ceremony!
I was surprised how small the neighborhood is - the cameras certainly make things seem more sprawling than they really are. The house isn't so big either.
I was also surprised to see that the suburban neighborhood is right off Sunset. Blvd, fairly close to the infamous Sunset Strip.
As I understand it the current owners don't especially welcome the attention their house gathers but we were very harmless and respectful, as I would hope everyone is.
There may have been tears in my eyes being at the iconic house from the franchise that means the world to me!
Glen's house is legitimately across the street as well.
So we tried a couple different ones ...
That may wrap up the Elm Street portion of my tour but, luckily, "Halloween"s Haddonfield is not far from the area and you can find some of those locations as well.
The Meyers house:
There were a couple other people checking out the house as well, which was fun. I was like "we're all here for the same reason" as we got out of each other's ways.
The shrub Michael watches the girls from is instantly recognizable!
Fun fact about the stoop where Laurie sits, the owners set out a basket with a fake pumpkin and a laminated sheet that has some screencaps of the house, as well as a note confirming it's the right place and welcoming you to take pictures.
I like to think they can do that because horror fans are respectful of their privacy. Still, a cool gesture that made the visit that much more fun.
What a neighborhood!
