Halloween: A Trip to Haddonfield... California?

Driving around Los Angeles a couple weeks ago, I told my brother, "Not this trip, but sometime when I'm here I want to go to South Pasadena to see where Halloween was filmed." This led to some quick internet searching, which in turn led to us actually doing it on this trip!

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It all started when I learned that the house where Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) babysat Tommy Doyle (Brian Andrews) stands one block off of Hollywood's Sunset Boulevard... less than two miles from where we were staying!

1537 N. Orange Grove Ave.

And, of course, across the street stands the house where Laurie's friend, Annie (Nancy Loomis) babysat Lindsey Wallace (Kyle Richards.)

1530 N. Orange Grove Ave.

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As coincidence (or fate) would have it, South Pasadena was "sort of" on our way to our true destination, Palm Springs. I mapped some other locations and my brother was kind enough to drive us through town... with some stops for photo ops.

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The film opens with six-year old Michael Myers brutally murdering his sister while their parents are out on Halloween night in 1963.

The Myers house does not stand in the same location where it was used for filming, and it looks nothing like the dilapidated house we see when the movie jumps forward to 1978.

1000 Mission St. (originally 709 Meridian)

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When adult Michel Myers escapes from Smith's Grove Sanitarium, he returns to his home town of Haddonfiled, Illinois to return to wreak havoc.

Intersection of Montrose and Oxley

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Halloween morning, Laurie leaves her house to go to school.

1115 Oxley St.

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She meets Tommy on the way and continues walking with him.

Intersection of Meridian and Magnolia

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Tracking Michael, Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasance) arrives in Haddonfield. Notice the station wagon on the left side of the picture. Loomis will turn and miss seeing Michael drive right by him.

Downtown South Pasadena

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Loomis stops downtown where the hardware store has been burglarized. Here, he meets Sheriff Brackett (Charles Cyphers), Annie's father.

966 Mission (the hardware store is now an Indian restaurant)

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Walking home from school, Laurie is startled when she sees Michael emerge from behind a hedge.

Montrose between Oxley and Mission

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Later, Laurie waits to be picked up for her babysitting gig.

1115 Oxley St.

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The rest is history. Scroll back to the top where the terror begins at the Wallace and Doyle homes, and ends with Michael tumbling out the second story window.

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We had dinner reservations in Palm Springs, so didn't get to finish our tour (there are more locations nearby.) That's perfectly all right because it give me reason to return... just like Michel Myers. But not to Haddonfield, IL... to South Pasadena, or... Haddonfield, CA.