While the Covid-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on just about every industry and commercial endeavor over the past year and a half, one that it somehow hasn’t hindered? Television production. Countless binge-worthy series have made their way to the airwaves throughout – and despite – the Covid crisis, including “Hacks,” “Rebel,” “Cruel Summer,” “Mare of Easttown,” “Made for Love” and “The Equalizer,” just to name a few. Many notable senior shows also managed to return to the small screen amid the pandemic, like “For All Mankind,” “The Goldbergs,” “Lucifer” and “The Kominsky Method.”
The latter, the third and final season of which hit Netflix May 28, highlights the lives of septuagenarian actor-turned-acting-coach Sandy Kominsky (Michael Douglas) and his agent/best friend, widower Norman Newlander (Alan Arkin). Set and filmed in Los Angeles, the series showcases some of the city’s best real estate! Norm’s handsome Georgian Traditional-style home can be found at 433 S. Lucerne Blvd. in Windsor Square. Sandy and Norm’s regular dining spot is Hollywood’s oldest restaurant, Musso & Frank Grill, which just reopened to much fanfare after a 14-month closure due to the pandemic. The Sandy Kominsky Studio of Acting, where Sandy coaches a ragtag group of actors, is actually Hollywood’s Liberate Yourself healing center located at 6365 Selma Ave. Norm’s daughter, Phoebe (Lisa Edelstein), works just around the corner at Frog Frozen Yogurt Bar at 1550 N. Cahuenga Blvd. And the grocery store where Norm and Sandy are often seen shopping is Fresco Community Market at 5914 Monterey Rd. in Montecito Heights (which was also seen in the movie “Moxie”).
The one spot that really steals the show, though, is the unique dwelling where Sandy lives. The onscreen pad is actually an amalgamation of two different spots, both of which are Hollywood Hills boat houses, a series of extraordinary residences on extremely narrow plots that architect Harry Gesner was employed to design back in 1959.
As Historic Places LA explains it, “The project began when landowner Ronald Buck contacted Gesner to ask for advice on how to develop a group of hillside lots he had purchased. Although these lots were originally subdivided in 1911, the challenge posed by their size and hillside topography appears to have discouraged development for several decades. Ultimately, Gesner hired a team of Norwegian shipbuilders to assist in the construction. The use of hand-axes rather than saws for cutting wood helped achieve a handcrafted look. A combination of complex engineering and Gesner’s creative design solution has resulted in this collection of unique hillside residences which respond to the challenging circumstances of their sites while taking advantage of the picturesque canyon setting.”
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Image Credit: Lindsay Blake Gesner wound up designing 12 nearly identical properties above the Cahuenga Pass, seven on Woodrow Wilson Dr. and five on Point View Dr., all measuring approximately 1,000 to 1,200 square feet.
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Image Credit: Lindsay Blake From the front, the boat houses are decidedly nondescript, save for their trapezoidal carports which look tailor-made to house the Starspeeder spacecraft from Disney’s Star Tours ride.
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Image Credit: Lindsay Blake But the rear and sides of the homes are nothing if not extraordinary! Cantilevered over steep hillsides on lots measuring 0.06 to 0.08 acres (some as narrow as 25 feet!), the residences stand on beams that jut down more than two stories into the ravine below.
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Image Credit: Redfin Buttressed by towering pier supports, the dwellings are true architectural feats.
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Image Credit: The Agency Along with exposed wood galore and dynamic rooflines, the properties feature walls of glass, beamed ceilings and stunning views of the surrounding landscape. Some of the most architecturally celebrated homes in the city, it is no wonder they wound up onscreen, especially on a series that serves as a sort of comedic love letter to Hollywood.
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Image Credit: Zillow Even though the boat houses are highly singular properties, two were somehow needed to portray Sandy’s residence on “The Kominsky Method.” It is 6894 Pacific View Dr. that appears in front exterior shots of the acting coach’s pad.
That structure was last sold in 2018 for $1,187,000 and, per the listing, is the largest of all the boat houses with three bedrooms, plus a bonus room, and three baths in 2,290 square feet. The listing also notes that “Gesner designed the expansion of the additional square footage.”
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Image Credit: Apartments.com The property used in rear establishing shots of Kominsky’s residence can be found up the road about 0.3 miles at 7149 Woodrow Wilson Dr. That site is the latest in the group of 12 boat houses to come up for sale. Listed in February 2021 for $920,000, it sold just over a month later for $1,050,000 – $130K over asking, for those counting! Not bad for a pad that consists of two bedrooms and one bath in a moderate 1,136 square feet!
The angle of the property shown on “The Kominsky Method” strategically utilizes foliage to block the neighboring boat house just to the south of it from view, making it stand out more dramatically than it does in real life.
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Image Credit: Compass Only the exteriors of the two dwellings are featured on the series. The interior of Sandy’s house is nothing more than a studio-built set created by production designer Denny Dugally on a soundstage at Warner Bros. Studio in Burbank. While the set does feature copious wood detailing and a plethora of windows, it does not much resemble an actual boat house interior, as evidenced by the MLS image of 7149 Woodrow Wilson Dr. as compared to the screen capture above.
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Image Credit: Zillow Interestingly, while the inside of Sandy’s house is shown several times in season one, audiences do not get a glimpse of the outside until the fifth episode of season two, titled “Chapter 13. A Shenkman Equivocates.” The absence of any exterior imagery makes Sandy’s residence almost seem like an afterthought, which is rather strange considering the fabulous architecture of the place!
Disclaimer: Please remember these are private homes. Do not trespass or bother the residents or the properties in any way.