The Griswold House in “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation”

by HOOKEDONHOUSES on DECEMBER 20, 2009

“All my life I’ve wanted to have a big family Christmas.” –Clark Griswold

In National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) gets his wish for a big family Christmas. When his wife Ellen (Beverly D’Angelo) worries that it might not be quite as perfect as he imagines, he says, “Christmas is about resolving differences and seeing through the petty problems of family life.” He spends the rest of the movie trying to do just that!

Christmas Vacation was based on a short story written by John Hughes called “Christmas ’59.” It was the second Vacation story to be published in National Lampoon’s Magazine (the first was “Vacation ’58,” the basis for the first Vacation movie).

The movie premiered in 1989, and it shows in all of the wallpaper and fabric choices in the house.

The movie was called National Lampoon’s Winter Holiday in the U.K.

The Living Room:

When a squirrel gets loose in the house, Clark’s mother faints in the living room and we get a good look at that green carpet:

Dining Room:

The interiors were filmed at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California.

The Kitchen:

When daughter Audrey (Juliette Lewis) complains about having to give up her room to the visiting relatives, Ellen says:

“I don’t know what to say except it’s Christmas and we’re all in misery.”

Makes me laugh every time.

I love this bank of windows in the kitchen. We really loved plaid in the ’80s, didn’t we?

TV Room:

Upstairs Landing:

Bathroom:

Audrey’s Room:

The exteriors were shot on the Warner Bros. back lot in Burbank.

Remember The Amazing Eric, who sent me rare interior photos and floor plans of the real Home Alone house? He helped me with the research for this house, too. He says:

The Griswold house is actually an exterior set on “Blondie Street” on a Warner Brothers back lot in Burbank, CA, as is Todd and Margo’s house (the neighbors next door). The house has been altered a lot to serve other movies, especially the interiors, which are also only a set, not a real house. You can take a virtual tour of Blondie Street here.

In one of the virtual tours on that site, you can see what appears to be the Griswold foyer set as it looks today. I took a snapshot to compare the two. The staircase as seen in the movie:

And the staircase on the virtual tour, without the wallpaper and furnishings:

You can see a photo of the exterior of the house as it looks today here. Eric says you can tell it’s the Christmas Vacation house by the two chimneys and the attached garage. Windows and colors and a few other things have been changed, however.

According to the Warner Bros. website, Blondie Street was built to look like a suburban neighborhood. It has also been home to many movies and TV series, including American Beauty, Pleasantville, Gidget, Bewitched, The Partridge Family, and Eight is Enough. There are 12 residential homes on the street in a variety of styles (some with practical interiors).

In this long shot looking down the street, you can see the house that was used for Sergeant Murtaugh’s (Danny Glover’s) family in the Lethal Weapon movies:

Here’s a close-up of Danny Glover’s house that I took from the first Lethal Weapon movie. To the right of it, you can see a house that looks like Samantha and Darrin’s in Bewitched.

When Clark watches old family movies in the attic, which are supposedly from the 1950s, they used the exterior of the old Bewitched house for his childhood home:

The Bewitched house as it appeared during the 2nd season of the show (you can see my post about it here):

The Griswolds’ house before…

…and after the lights (finally) come on:

Bet you can spot the Griswold house from the sky:

E! Online reports that a sequel may be in the works. It would feature Clark and Ellen’s son Rusty as he takes his own children on a vacation. (Johnny Galecki, who played Rusty in this movie, is now all grown up and stars in the popular sitcom The Big Bang Theory.) No word on whether Chevy Chase or Beverly D’Angelo would make an appearance.

Read my post about another Chevy Chase comedy: Funny Farm.

Visit my TV/Movie Houses page for links to all of the others I’ve featured, from A Christmas Story to Alvin and the Chipmunks.

You might also like:

Do You Fake It at Christmas or Keep It Real?

“Funny Farm:” Chevy Chase’s Cape Cod in the Country

Ugly Christmas Lights

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“Mr. Mom:” Michael Keaton’s Cape Cod in Michigan

by HOOKEDONHOUSES on JANUARY 24, 2010

Who could forget the classic 1983 comedy Mr. Mom–or that famous poster? Not me. But something I had forgotten was the house that the family lived in. You can always count on a John Hughes movie to feature a good one. This was one of the first that he wrote, and it doesn’t disappoint. Despite the early ’80s decorating, it’s easy to imagine how beautiful this traditional Cape Cod could be with a few updates.

This is one Hughes movie that doesn’t take place in Chicago. Instead, they’re in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan. Michael Keaton plays Jack Butler, an engineer at a car manufacturer who is laid off. Teri Garr is his wife Caroline, who gets a job in advertising and becomes the breadwinner. She has to adjust to working at a high-stress ad agency, and he has to figure out how to take care of the house and kids.

The movie was called Mr. Mum in the U.K. Mister Mama in Greece. And Perfect Daddy in the Philippines.

Martin Mull was hilarious as Caroline’s smarmy boss Ron. I love the scene where he comes to pick her up in a limo, and Jack (Keaton) walks into the house revving a chain saw.

When Jack, holding the chainsaw, tells Ron he’s planning to work on some home improvement projects, Ron asks, “Are you gonna make it all 220?” Jack shrugs. “220, 221, whatever it takes.”

The living room is the scene of Jack’s soap-opera fantasy sequence, in which divorcee Joan (Ann Gillian) shows up at his house wearing little more than a raincoat. Caroline comes home early to discover them together and pulls out a gun. After she shoots Jack, Ron (Martin Mull) asks her, “Did you use a .38?” To which she replies, “A .38, .39, whatever it took!”

The dining room, where Jack eats alone while Caroline works late. Again:

I always wanted a swinging door that led from the dining room to the kitchen. You don’t see those much anymore, do you?

The kitchen is an homage to the ’80s. Remember those country oak chairs so many people had then? And the pale wood cabinets–classic!

Those tile countertops were really popular for awhile. Then I guess we all realized what a pain it was to keep them clean.

It was hard to believe that Jack could be so helpless around the house. What grown man has never done a load of laundry before?

David Worford, who writes about stay-at-home dads, says that the movie reinforced stereotypes about them–primarily that they’re doing a woman’s job, and that they’re clueless when it comes to taking care of the house and kids. But he admits that the movie holds up well after all these years in some ways:

It touches on some important stay-at-home dad issues – burnout, isolation and serious stereotypes are all there. Even the economic basis of the film is eerily similar to what is going on today. You throw out the absolutely ridiculous (although sometimes humorous) early scenes where Jack Butler doesn’t seem to know a diaper from a bowling ball, and those themes, along with the importance of family, carry the movie.

The “housewives” get together each week to play poker with coupons instead of money. Did you notice how there’s a light fixture over the table in this scene that was conspicuously absent in others? (Scroll back up to see other photos of the eat-in area.)

The family room has an entire wall of windows. Today they wouldn’t be quite so covered up:

And a big brick fireplace:

I think the movie on the TV in this scene was Cary Grant’s I Was a Male War Bride.

The boys’ bedroom has a poster for Rocky III–the movie Jack pretends to have seen when talking to his coworkers:

Remember when those race car beds were the new, exciting thing for kids’ rooms?

The master bedroom and bath:

If you had these light fixtures in your bathroom when you were growing up, raise your hand:

Whenever I watch movies from the ’80s, it reminds me how things weren’t as staged and styled then as they are now. Decor was more casual and things were kind of thrown together over time. I don’t think people agonized over decorating their coffee tables and mantels and dressers like they do now. These sets reflect that with rooms that look lived in.

I couldn’t find any information about the sets for this movie, and there aren’t any special features on the DVD to help. However, I’m pretty sure the interiors were sets and not a real house.

Whenever they show Jack or Caroline walking out the front door to go to work, they walk down to the street, which is below the house. It’s like the house is up on a hill. But in the exterior shots, the front yard is fairly level. Several things like that just don’t match up. If anyone knows more about it, let me know!

In the end, Jack gets his job back–with a raise–and all is right with the world again. I always wonder who will take care of the kids now?

What’s your favorite John Hughes movie? He died in August ’09 but left behind some wonderful comedies that are like time capsules of the ’80s and ’90s. I’ve written about a few others that have memorable houses in them, too:

• Home Alone
• National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
• Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

To see a list of all of the posts I’ve done, visit my TV/Movie Houses page, or check out Teri Garr’s California Cottage.

You might also like:

Movie Monday: The House in “Father of the Bride Part II”

Meg Ryan’s Spanish-Style House in “Hanging Up”

Julia Roberts’ House from “Sleeping with the Enemy” For Sale

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