Horror's Hallowed Grounds: Halloween 1 &2 Part 1 By: Sean Clark
Halloween 1 & 2 (Part 1 of 2)
By: Sean Clark
In 1978 John Carpenter directed what has become his definitive film, Halloween. The film was written by Carpenter and his then girlfriend Debra Hill, who also produced the film. For two decades it stood as the highest grossing independent film ever made having taken in over 200 times its original budget of $300,000. After the film’s release the next several years were littered by a wave of copy-cat slasher films and have spawned a total of seven sequels to date. The latest edition of Horror's Hallowed Grounds returns to the locations on which both the original and sequel were filmed...
The first three Halloween films were shot in California, the next three in Utah. They then returned to California for the seventh installment Halloween H20 and most recently ventured to Canada for Halloween: Resurrection.
In this article we will not only take a look back at the original Halloween but also its first sequel, Halloween II directed by Rick Rosenthal. Written by John Carpenter and Debra Hill, it was a film they didn’t want to make, but felt obligated to those who had taken a chance on them. Like the film’s tagline, "More of the night HE came home", Halloween II picked up right where the first film left off and was also a box office success.
There were quite a few locations used in Halloween that could easily fill up a two part article by itself. However, several locations used in Halloween were subsequentially used in Halloween II, so I felt it best to just cover them both within the same piece rather than repeat myself later.
Halloween was the first filming location I ever went out in search of. Sometime around 1994 I had read a retrospective article on Halloween, and in the article John Carpenter mentioned filming on a street called Orange Grove. He also mentioned most of the filming had taken place in South Pasadena. Now remember, this was before the rise of the internet and everything being at your fingertips, so I had to do it old school. I pulled out my Thomas Brothers Map and looked up an Orange Grove in South Pasadena. Little did I know at the time that the Orange Grove Carpenter referred to was actually in Hollywood and not in South Pasadena. This mistake and a little luck lead me to my first location find.
I found an exit for an Orange Grove Avenue off of the 110 freeway in South Pasadena so that is where I started. There are no Halloween locations on this street, however less than a mile from this exit beats the heart of the fictitious town of Haddonfield, Illinois.
We drove up and down Orange Grove looking for anything that resembled a house used in the film, but there was nothing. We followed Orange Grove to El Centro and took a left and then a left on Meridian just to make a loop to get back on the freeway and head home. Suddenly it was like I could hear BOC jamming out "Don’t Fear the Reaper" as both my friend and I immediately recognized the stone formation in the middle of the street. Just like Annie and Laurie had we were headed right towards the hardware store.
Since I first discovered several of these locations in 1994 many of them have gone through major changes in the subsequent years. So for certain locations I will show you how they have changed over the years in three stages.
Our first location is the stone formation and Nichol’s Hardware store.
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You can see that the original awning was still present in 1994. They have also added a railing to the sidewalk area. The hardware store is located at 966 Mission Street at the corner of Mission and Meridian Avenue. In 1994 it was a clothing store until the Frame Shop next door took it over. Currently it's an Information Office.
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My friend and I were both really excited that we had actually found something from the film. While he was taking more photos I glanced across the street to the opposite corner and couldn’t believe my eyes...it was the Myers house!
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I had heard the house had been moved from its original spot but had no idea it was moved right across the street from the hardware store. As we stood outside in awe a man walked out and asked us if we were Halloween fans. He introduced himself as the owner. He told us that he was also the owner during the filming of the film. Across and down the street he pointed to where the Myers house originally stood telling us how they had to remove about ten feet off of the back of the home.
In Halloween, when you see the point of view of young Michael go from the front of the house to enter in the rear, you may notice he passes three windows. If you look at either side of the Myers house today you will see that instead of three windows across the bottom there are now two. This is because of the section that was removed during the move. The current address of the Myers house is 1000 Mission Street at the corner of Mission and Meridian.
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The man was also kind enough to give us a tour of the inside of the house. We snapped some pictures and thanked him for his hospitality. In 2003 I was saddened to hear that he had passed away.
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Currently the house is being rented out for office space. The downstairs is a Chiropractor Office and the three upstairs bedrooms, including the one where Judith Myers was murdered, are now three offices which include Zorn Design Studio & Lumen Financial. There is currently an office available if there are any takers.
For years fans believed that the original address fof the Myers house was 707 Meridian Street. However, during my research for this article I uncovered that the actual address was 709 Meridian. If you take a close look at the address on the curb in front of the first house Laurie and Tommy pass after crossing Magnolia Street it reads 701.
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Then the very next house reads 705 on the front left hand side of the house.
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The addresses went in increments of fours. This would make the Myers house 709. This was confirmed when I noticed that you can actually see the address on the Myers house above the door in a scene in Halloween II.
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So it is confirmed, the actual address is 709 Meridian Street in South Pasadena.
In the scene where Laurie is walking to the Myers house to drop off the key she is coming from Magnolia Street and crossing Meridian Street.
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Magnolia continues on the other side of the street a couple of houses down. This is where Tommy is running up to meet Laurie. This is the opposite corner of Magnolia and Meridian.
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They then head toward Mission Street to the Myers house. The entire block on this side of the street from Magnolia Street to Mission Street was leveled and remained vacant until just recently where new condos are now under construction.
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When Laurie leaves the Myers house she is headed right towards the rear of the hardware store at the corner of Mission and Meridian.
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Next we head over to where Laurie learned about important things like fate; Haddonfield High School, which is actually South Pasadena High School. The area where Laurie and Lynda leave school is near the corner of Fremont Avenue and Bank Street in South Pasadena. Recently the high school has undergone a complete make over. You can see from my photos how it has changed over the years.
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Now on to the Strode house. This residence actually has two addresses, as it appears to be a two unit home. Both entrances were used in the film; Laurie exits the unit at 1115 Oxley Street when leaving to drop the key off at the Myers house.
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She also heads for the entrance at 1013 Fairview Avenue when returning from school. The house is located on the corner of Fairview Avenue and Oxley Street in South Pasadena.
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The school where Tommy is harassed by the other boys and drops his pumpkin is Garfield Elementary located at 110 W. McLean Street in Alhambra.
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Most of the action takes place near the corner of McLean Street and Second Street. You can see that they have added a portable classroom next to the playground area.
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On the commentary track for Halloween John Carpenter says that the interior of Laurie’s classroom was shot at South Pasadena High. In actuality it was a classroom at Garfield Elementary, which was also the classroom that was broken into in Halloween II. Sorry John.
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When Tommy walks around to the front of the school and Myers is watching him from the station wagon you can see the classroom windows to the right of the front door where Laurie was sitting starring out as Myers watched her.
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The interior hallway of Garfield Elementary was also used for when Marion Chambers has a private word with Loomis in Halloween II.
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Marion & Loomis also exit the front of Garfield Elementary School in Halloween II.
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In Halloween II when Loomis and Marion get in the Marshall's squad car, it is parked just on the other side of the street from where Myers parked the station wagon while watching Laurie in class in Halloween.
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One of the more elusive Halloween locations has been Smith's Grove Sanitarium. This is the building where we see Dr. Wynn and Loomis leave from.
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This location was La Vina Hospital located at 3900 Lincoln, Altadena, CA. 91001. The facility included an office building, hospital and sanitarium. In 1986 the hospital closed and was sold to Cantwell/Anderson Inc., a residential homebuilder. Today it is the location of La Vina Estates, a high-end gated community and former residence of basketball star Shaquille O'Neal.
Another location that had remained a mystery until now is where Loomis is talking in the phone booth on the side of the road.
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The area has been greatly developed since 1978 but is still recognizable. You can see the hills still match up in the far background.
Loomis then discovers the abandoned truck, patient gown, and Rabbit in Red matchbook next to the railroad track.
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This is located at the corner of Valley Boulevard and Brea Canyon Road in the City of Industry, CA. I was lucky enough to snap a picture of a train going by while I was there. You can also see the same building on the far left. Believe it or not it is a shoe store.
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I hope you enjoyed Part One of Horror's Hallowed Grounds' look back at Halloween and Halloween II. If you want more, you can see the very first episode of Horror's Hallowed Grounds on the Halloween: 25 Years of Terror DVD available in stores now!
