ORIGINAL

Every town has a haunted house .....and that's exactly what they found when searching for filming locations for John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN ...a simple, old dilapidated Victorian house standing in stark contrast to the tidy homes of suburban South Pasadena, California. When they found it the house appeared exactly as it does in the scene where little Tommy Doyle and Laurie Strode are taking a different route to school to put the key underneath the mat of the old Spookhouse. What a lot of people don't know is that the crew had to fix up the house and whitewash the entire front and bottom right hand side to capture the opening sequence of the film when little Mikey Myers murders his older sister Judith in the upstairs bedroom.






Unlike many of today's horror films, John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN was filmed in an actual house instead of a movie set. This simple fact adds another layer of authenticity to the movie for its legion of dedicated fans - the fact that, somewhere, Michael Myers' house really exists.

That somewhere turns out to be 1000 Mission Street in South Pasadena, California. And luckily for HALLOWEEN fans, South Pasadena realized the historical importance of "The Century House" and has named it as landmark #34 in their list of local landmarks, forever preserving it as a piece of history. Aside from its significance as a famous movie landmark, South Pas also recognized the house, built in 1888, as most likely being the oldest surviving frame residence in the city. Historians also believe the house to be the city's first duplex, marking the arrival of settlers from Indiana and their Midwestern influence on local architecture. The house itself merges several architectural styles, showing Midwestern Greek revival and salt box characteristics as well as Eastlake elements such as the gable ornaments.

Without intervention, the house would have been destroyed, as it was set to be bulldozed in 1987 to make way for a hospital. Fortunately it was salvaged and moved from its original location at 709 Meridian Avenue to its current one on Mission St. The house's current owner David Margrave actually saved the house from imminent destruction on a whim. Dave recalled that there were six houses side by side on Meridian Avenue, and during the course of about a 3 week period, there were houses removed each day one at a time. The Century House was the last house standing in that area. When he went by the demolition site one day and saw the house about to be demolished, Dave impulsively asked the bulldozer driver to stop just as he was giving the walls of the rickety old house the first push. After saving the house from its most immediate danger, he went to owner Dr. Joseph Kohn's office and offered him a silver dollar for the home. Dr. Kohn accepted the deal along with Dave's promise to move the house within one week. Unfortunately he had no property on which to put the house, so in a brash move one night he paid movers to transport the old structure onto some nearby railroad property. Even though Dave did not have permission to relocate the house to this area, the house remains there to this day because the city of South Pasadena recognized the house's significance as a piece of history and allowed it to stay.






As a result of the relocation, the small addition that had been added on to the back of the house for the filming of HALLOWEEN had to be removed, but other than that, the house appears today as it did in the classic 1978 film. Of course, today it is no longer a private residence - currently several local businesses have offices set up in the different rooms of the house. Along with some interior modifications to convert the rooms into office space, the exterior of the house was given a facelift and painted light blue with red trim. Fans wanting to visit the original house will have no problem seeing the famous landmark from the outside - all you have to do is get off of the train at "Mission Station" and you are a stone's throw away from the original Spookhouse. Exploring the interior of Michael's old haunts proves a little more difficult, as the businesses inside the house are not as crazy about HALLOWEEN as the random groups of fans that periodically drop by to pay homage. Visiting fans can also catch a glimpse of another Halloween landmark in the immediate area, because when the house was moved from its original location, it was relocated directly across the street from Nichol's Hardware store, where Laurie and Anne were rocking the BOC and smoking pot in the classic film. Even though the now famous HALLOWEEN house is not a typical tourist destination in the least, it is frequently visited by dedicated fans from all over the world. For many fans, just knowing that the house still exists can give them the chills. Who knows, maybe Michael is still lurking behind one of those gaping windows...

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The Century House
1000 Mission Street
South Pasadena, CA 91030




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THE CENTURY HOUSE - FAN PHOTOS









THE CENTURY HOUSE - FILMOGRAPHY

• HALLOWEEN (1978)
• HALLOWEEN II (1981)
• Prom Night (2008)