1946: Blondie Knows Best

Here are some good shots from the 1164 driveway.  The garage originally belonged to the house next-door (1162), which explains why it has a door on the left (east) side.  That door (seen in the lower-right image) led to 1162 via a brick-lined walkway covered with columns and a trellis.  In this Blondie movie, Dagwood blunders and causes the car in the pictures below to roll backwards and crash through the overhead door.  (It almost seems to roll TOO FAR back into the garage!)

1950: The Fuller Brush Girl

For a time in the 1950s, the 1164's garage actually was a DOUBLE garage, with a section built onto the northwest corner of the existing structure.  The two garage doors faced each other at a 90-degree angle.  The images below are some of the clearest ever of the familiar roof parapet with the "X" designs.  In the top-right image, also note the presence of what would later become 1164's kitchen door.

Mid 1950s: Father Knows Best

Here's a neat view looking south toward the double garage.  In each half, there were always three wide X's above the overhead door, four shorter X's on the sides, and one X above the "kitchen door" on the main garage.

Late 1950s: The Donna Reed Show

Here's another glimpse of the garages (repainted here) from the front lawn of 1162.  Late-season episodes of the Donna Reed Show include some views of 1164 all completed.  Donna Reed's on-screen family lived in a house up the street to the north of 1164.  In one episode, Dennis the Menace comes to visit the Stones.  But Dennis's house is the same as Donna's!!

1959-1960: Dennis the Menace

This series from 1959 to 1963 contained many outdoor shots at the Ranch, including these views down the street toward the 1164 garage.  George Wilson lived in the Blondie/Father Knows Best/Jeannie house with the white picket fence, and Dennis Mitchell lived next-door to the north, in Donna Reed's house.  Mrs. Elkins lived in the Kravitz/Partridge house south of Mr. Wilson, and the old church stood next to that, across the street from the 1164 lot.

1961-1962: Hazel

Here are some nice images of the garage from Hazel, a series that ran from 1961 to 1966.  The structure was still being used as 1162's garage, but eventually the white fence (often seen in Bewitched) was moved to the other side of the driveway.  These are the only color images of the detached 1164 garage that I know of.

1964: Bewitched

Well look what popped up in 1963!  The famous Bewitched house was added onto the garage not long before production began on the series.  The Stephens moved into 1164 on the show's second episode.  The façade was actually modeled after a real house seen in the 1959 movie Gidget, or at least a mirror-image of it.

1988-1989: National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

You may have spotted 1164 taking center stage in the old movie Clark Griswald watches up in the attic in Christmas Vacation.  Despite its title, this film was NOT from 1955, which may have led you to believe the house existed before 1963.  The "old movie" was actually filmed with the rest of the picture in 1988-1989!  I guess nobody had any old Christmas movie reels which had the right "flavor".

Back