to make another pop culture pilgrimage to a home featured in one of the best TV shows of all time...
"The Wonder Years", a TV show that spanned six seasons from Jan 1988 to May 1993. This is a show that Bert and I loved to watch. Although the teens depicted in the show were "baby boomers" while we were "Gen X", we could still relate to what the characters were going through on the show and the music....wow, the music was just awesome (mid to late 60's oldies). The DVD boxed set was finally made available early last year. From what I read, it took years for the producers to secure the rights to the songs (they got most of them, except for a few key songs by The Doors and a couple of other groups).
On a quiet suburban neighborhood in Burbank is this street which featured two homes features in "The Wonder Years". This view of the street with the mountains in the background is featured many times in the tv show.
The Arnold House, home of main character Kevin Arnold and his parents Jack and Norma, brother Wayne, and for a few seasons, his sister Karen. It looks exactly the same as it does on the tv show's intro. Impeccably manicured lawn and shrubbery. Same exterior paint color.
And across the street (not directly) was Winnie Cooper's house! Winnie was Kevin Arnold's crush and eventual girlfriend.
We didn't go to Paul Pfeiffer's home which wasn't on the same street (he played Kevin Arnold's best friend).
It was really cool just seeing the house - it was like going back in time and I half expected to see the characters emerge or roll down the street in their cars...
Here's the intro of the TV show which features the short version from Season one and the extended version from the later seasons.
Awww...someone made a Winnie and Kevin reel:
For those of you who haven't seen the show (OMG, get crackin' and do a binge watching session courtesy of Netflix why don'tcha!), I won't say what happens at the season finale...
Articles and links:
"The Wonder Years Filming Locations! Visiting Kevin Arnold and Winnie Cooper's House" MiketheFanBoy, Feb, 9, 2014
"Kevin's House from the Wonder Years" Iamnotastalker.com, Feb 21, 2014
"The Wonder Years - DVD fun facts" Biography.com, Oct. 9, 2014
"28 fun facts about Wonder Years" Mental Floss, November 2015
The Wonder Years House
516 University Ave
Burbank, CA 91504
Reviews from foursquare
Since this is an actual residential neighborhood, as common sense would dictate, do not make a lot of noise, bother the neighbors and most importantly do not trespass on their property, like people did to the Goonies House in Astoria, Oregon (Sadly, that house is now closed to the public due to people trashing their property; I'm glad we were able to check it out during our visit in 2012).
Boring to you? Exciting to us! Now we can cross this off our pop culture bucket list!
It was onwards to Pasadena now...
2 comments:
Awesome, the Wonder Years houses!! I didn't realize they were so closeby, we'll have to add it to our bucket list as well. I LOVED this show and I love the Joe Cocker version of the song playing at the beginning. Really great show and so cool you guys stopped to see it. I'm also glad we got to see the Goonies house before it was closed to the public. People are so rude sometimes.
I knew this is something you would appreciate. You can look up the address on certain fan sites but I believe it is on a street called University Ave (516, address is on curb) in Burbank.
That sucks that rude and jerky people have caused the Goonies house owners to tarp up their house and close off their street.
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