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Image Credit: Zillow Rives lived at the sprawling property until his death in 1940. Six years later it was acquired by the Sisters of Social Service religious group, which had occupied the Rosenheim Mansion next door since 1932. The group utilized both residences as convents and eventually built a chapel in between the two in 1954.
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Image Credit: Realtor.com The Rives Mansion, which sits on a 0.55-acre corner lot, remained a convent until 1994. It was eventually transitioned back into a single-family home and today retains many of its original details. A Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument, the pad last sold in 1999, but has been listed for rent a couple of times in the years since – at upwards of $11,000 a month!
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Image Credit: Zillow Each room of the spectacular dwelling is prettier than the last!
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Image Credit: Zillow Even the second-floor staircase landing is incredible!
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Image Credit: Zillow And the butler’s pantry looks straight out of a magazine!
So it is no wonder the place wound up onscreen.
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Image Credit: Lindsay Blake In “Booksmart,” Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut, the Rives Mansion portrays the home of Crockett High School drama club director George (Noah Galvin), who hosts the elaborate murder mystery party (he’s been planning it for months!) that Amy and Molly accidentally find themselves attending instead of the “A+” bash at Molly’s secret crush Nick’s (Mason Gooding) house.
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Image Credit: Realtor.com One look at the grand staircase as Amy and Molly enter the party and I was smitten!
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Image Credit: Realtor.com The rest of the elaborate home was showcased beautifully, as well, especially the formal living room which was transformed into a dining room for the shoot.
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Image Credit: Realtor.com The circular breakfast enclave, which today serves as a sitting room, also shows up in the movie. Though producers really buried the lede with the stunning space as very little of it can be seen!
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Image Credit: United Artists The pink bedroom, where Amy and Molly hallucinate that they are Barbie-like dolls thanks to some “unbelievably potent drug”-laced strawberries they consumed earlier in the evening, was just a set. Director Olivia Wilde told Entertainment Weekly that the memorable scene was inspired by the “Busby Berkeley tripping sequence, that amazing bowling-viking sequence” in “The Big Lebowski.” It took a team of 30 animators from ShadowMachine animation studio to create the segment, which was done via stop-motion with real dolls. Because of the slow nature of the technique, filming of the brief bit (which only made up two minutes and two seconds of screen time!) took a whopping five months to complete and therefore had to be shot on set instead of in an actual room at the Rives Mansion.
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Image Credit: Warner Bros. Television Studios “Booksmart” is not the only production to make use of the abode. Officers John Cooper (Michael Cudlitz) and Hank Lucero (Anthony Ruivivar) also discover a dead body there while assisting a woman with Alzheimer’s in the season five episode of “Southland” titled “Off Duty,” which aired in 2013.
Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂
Stalk It: The Judson C. Rives Mansion, aka George’s house from “Booksmart,” is located at 1130 Westchester Pl. in Los Angeles’ Country Club Park neighborhood. Disclaimer: Please remember this is a private home. Do not trespass or bother the residents or the property in any way.
For more Dirt on the Judson C. Rives Mansion from “Booksmart,” click over to the main page.