Despite what most gamblers will tell you, the house always wins. There’s definitely money to be had in running a casino. Such is the premise of the 2017 comedy “The House” in which suburban parents Scott (Will Ferrell) and Kate Johansen (Amy Poehler) find themselves in desperate need of funds for their daughter’s college tuition and decide to turn a quick profit by opening an underground casino with their quirky BFF Frank Theodorakis (Jason Mantzoukas), who is having some money problems of his own.
Frank’s rambling contemporary home, which has just been foreclosed upon, sits adjacent to a forest abutting a market with a large parking lot and is therefore pegged as the perfect spot to house the illegal gambling operation. Not to mention, his estranged wife, Raina (Michaela Watkins), “took a lot of the furniture, so we’ve got plenty of room for tables.”
Said to be located in the town of Fox Meadow somewhere in the tri-state area, in reality, Frank’s residence can be found at 2413 Midlothian Dr. in Altadena. The split-level pad was custom-built in 1976 for its original owners, who held onto it until August 2015 (almost 40 years!), when they sold it for $1.58 million. Realtor.com estimates its current worth at a whopping $2,615,000. With five bedrooms and six baths in 4,295 square feet, that number is, ahem, flush with the prices of similar residences in the area.
Though in definite need of updates, the property has an authentically unique retro charm that would be lost in any sort of major renovation, which is I’m sure how it caught the eyes of “The House” production team.