Al Pacino’s ‘Dead Tech, Post-Modernistic Bullshit House’ From ‘Heat’ Is an Architectural Marvel in Real Life

The Los Angeles Conservancy describes Mayne and his business partner, Michael Rotondi, as “deconstructionists” who are “inspired by everything from chain link fencing to hot-rod cars to watch mechanisms” and see “all objects as potential building materials.” So it is not hard to see how the Sixth Street Residence’s unique aesthetic came to be.

Considered a “threshold project in every respect,” the Morphosis website states that Mayne incorporated “ten fabricated steel pieces, made up of found parts of machinery” into the property’s design. The result is a highly unique structure that looks more like a work of art than a residence. Metal beams pop up out of the floor to hold floating walls in place. A staircase is sided by a hulk of metal situated at a diagonal. And a large circular opening “cuts through the main floor, illuminated from above by a giant skylight and inhabited at the ground level by a glass cube enclosing the shower.”

The highly atypical shower, which is positioned open-ended in the middle of the living room, is meant to be “the focal point and centerpiece of the living space.” The exposed location “subverts a kind of taken-for-granted domestic prudery, placing functions of hygiene and the body at the center of the home rather than banishing them to its margins.” While I can’t imagine the public bathing site being everyone’s cup of tea, there’s no denying its capacity as a conversation starter.

Though the contraption did make a brief appearance in “Heat,” at the time it looked considerably different. Almost fully enclosed by frosted glass blocks (which were all the rage in the ‘80s!), when Hanna walks by it toward the end of the movie it is not even recognizable as a shower.

For all of the dramatic lines and features that exist inside, the outside of the home is rather prosaic and subdued, which is by design. As the Morphosis website explains, “The exterior of the house is contextual and traditional, and thus protects the private world of the interior with a facade of formality.” As such, it should come as no surprise that only the inside of the property was chosen to appear in “Heat.”

Interestingly, the oft-repeated “dead tech, post-modernistic bullshit” line cannot actually be found in early drafts of the “Heat” script. Instead, the Hanna residence, said to have been designed by Justine’s architect ex-husband, is described simply as “an expensive condominium” worth “1.7 million.” But, as “Heat” location manager Lori Balton explains, “Visually it has to be off-putting in some way to Pacino because it represents the other guy. So even though he says it’s ‘a dead tech, post-modernistic bullshit house’ you know it has to be a visually intriguing ‘bullshit’ house regardless!” The Sixth Street Residence is nothing if not visually intriguing! (Fun fact – according to CurbedLA, Thom Mayne came up with Hanna’s architectural slight himself.)

Though the Sixth Street Residence fit the bill of what both Lori and “Heat” writer/director Michael Mann envisioned for the hardened detective’s home, it was not an easy location to secure. Filming is not allowed past dark in residential areas of “The People’s Republic of Santa Monica,” as Balton cheekily refers to the city. To sidestep the ban, she had to plead her case twice before the City Council at meetings that were broadcast live to local TV stations. The first time, she was unceremoniously rebuffed. But she later returned with a stack of signatures from neighboring homeowners all sanctioning the shoot and asked the group how they could deny her when not a single household was objecting. “Needless to say, we got the permit,” she says. And the rest is cinematic history.

Balton is still unsure how the “Heat” team managed to fit a large crew and profusion of camera equipment inside the barely 2,000-square-foot home. She says, “We traded a family of four for a fairly large-sized crew . . . I  don’t know how we did it.”

One way the production team circumvented the property’s limited size was by utilizing an open area on the second level adjacent to the stairs as Justine and Vincent’s bedroom.

The choice opened up the feel of the residence, as the actual bedrooms are on the smaller side.

Interestingly, the Sixth Street Residence is not the only Mayne creation to appear in “Heat.” The now-shuttered Kate Mantilini restaurant, where Hanna and McCauley’s tense tête-à-tête took place, was also designed by the architect in 1987. Balton says, “Clearly Thom Mayne’s vision spoke to the sense of interplay between lives lived and the architecture in which they take place – graphic and precise in the case of this narrative.”

Sadly, a fire broke out at the Sixth Street Residence in January 2020. A crew of 31 subdued the blaze in 17 minutes, but according to the Santa Monica Observer, the home suffered “significant damage” and was “deemed uninhabitable.”

But repairs are currently underway. The slatted siding that envelopes the property has already been replaced and, per permits filed with the City of Santa Monica Community Development Department, interior work includes removing fire-damaged materials and replacing them “all as before.” So the residence should be back to its dead tech, post-modernistic bullshit state soon.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Vincent Hanna’s house from “Heat” is located at 2634 6th St. in Santa Monica. Disclaimer: Please remember this is a private home. Do not trespass or bother the residents or the property in any way.