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.”