As Jackie DeShannon’s hit 1965 song says, “What the world needs now is love, sweet love.” Another remedy for troubling times? Feel-good movies. And there’s no shortage of offerings on Netflix right now, including “Set It Up,” “Always Be My Maybe,” “The Kissing Booth” and “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.” The latter, released to much fanfare in 2018, is adapted from Jenny Han’s bestselling 2014 young adult novel of the same name and tells the story of lovelorn highschooler Lara Jean Covey (Lana Condor), who fakes a relationship with fellow student/lacrosse king Peter Kavinsky (Noah Centineo) in order to take the attention off a series of secret love letters she once wrote that accidentally got sent to five of her former crushes. Over the course of the faux affair, the two, of course, fall in love IRL.
Though the set-up is nothing original, audiences ate the flick up with a spoon! Of the 11 romantic comedies released by Netflix as part of its Summer of Love promotion that year, “To All the Boys” ranked as “one of the most viewed original films ever with strong repeat viewing,” according to Variety. That is largely thanks to the production’s stellar ensemble cast, the undeniable chemistry between Lara Jean and Peter, the heartwarmingly funny script and the utterly charming backdrop. Set in the fictional town of Greenpoint, Oregon, said to be situated somewhere outside of Portland, filming actually took place in Vancouver, British Columbia and its environs.
Lara Jean and Peter’s neighborhood hangout Corner Café, which played itself in the movie, could formerly be found at 1490 Pemberton Ave. in North Vancouver, but it shuttered in 2019 and the redesigned Douce Diner subsequently opened in its place. “Adler High,” the school at the center of the story, is actually Point Grey Secondary, an oft-filmed spot that also appeared in the 2006 comedy “She’s the Man” and the CW series “Riverdale.” Fun fact – both Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg attended the school and not only wrote their hit 2007 comedy “Superbad” based on their time there but named their production company Point Grey Pictures in honor of the place.
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Image Credit: Dean Hooseman The film’s most picturesque and memorable location, though, is the charming cedar-shingled abode where Lara lives with her obstetrician father, Dr. Dan Covey (John Corbett), and two sisters, Margot (Janel Parrish) and Kitty (Anna Cathcart).
Said to be located at 9147 Jefferson St., the pad can actually be found about 30 miles east of Vancouver in Fort Langley at 9147 Gay St. (Please remember this is a private home. Do not trespass or bother the residents or the property in any way.)
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Image Credit: Dean Hooseman Thoroughly charming both inside and out, the two-story pad was newly built in 2013. It replaced a much smaller single-level ranch house that originally stood on the premises, which was torn down after being sold to new owners in 2012 for $535,000 CAD.
Boasting a modern farmhouse aesthetic, the custom-designed property features three bedrooms and three baths spread throughout a spacious 3,068 square feet. And according to Redfin, it just changed hands this past November for a much elevated $2.75 million CAD, though additional information about the sale is seemingly – and surprisingly – nil across the interwebs.
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Image Credit: Dean Hooseman The listing describes the pad as “the prettiest house in Fort Langley” and based on MLS imagery that does not appear to be hyperbole.
The open lower level features large living spaces that flow into each other, each flush with white oak flooring, fir beams, built-ins and handsome framing.
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Image Credit: Dean Hooseman Amenities include a formal dining room, a living room complete with a fireplace, a laundry room, a recreation room, an office, a mudroom and a large chef’s kitchen with glass-fronted cabinetry, designer finishes, honed granite counters and a central marble island.
Situated on a leafy 0.24-acre corner lot, the “professionally landscaped” grounds are embellished with mature trees, a terraced lawn, a swimming pool, a hot tub and a covered rear porch with a limestone patio.
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Image Credit: Dean Hooseman The dwelling appears prominently in “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before,” as well as throughout its two sequels, 2020’s “To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You” and 2021’s “To All the Boys: Always and Forever,” both of which are also based on Jenny Han novels.
Few changes were made to the property’s attractive exterior for the shoots, aside from draping it with holiday lights for a scene in the first film and covering the front door’s glass paneling in order to block reflections and outdoor activity from appearing onscreen.
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Image Credit: Dean Hooseman In a rather atypical move, instead of a set, the production team made use of the home’s interior in all three films, as well. Of the residence’s warm design, Han told Curbed, “This story is very much a story about a girl next door—an ‘American girl’ type of story. The house fits with that. It’s a nice house, but it’s not like so over the top. It’s pretty standard. You go to West Elm and see a lot of the same designs. It feels very familiar to people and that familiarity makes it feel comfortable and cozy—like a place you recognize.”
The pad certainly exudes a special kind of warmth with or without the added set design. Supremely inviting, it is exactly the type of place you can imagine your high school best friend calling home, with sleepovers happily taking place in the plush living room and birthday candles being blown out annually in the sun-dappled backyard.
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Image Credit: Dean Hooseman Production designer Paul Joyal let the teal hue of the high school track used in the film inform the coloring of the interior décor. This is especially true in Lara Jean’s bedroom. To create the vibrant space, which Joyal says is a “reflection of her fantasy world,” the filmmakers took over the home’s owners’ suite, a sprawling vaulted-ceilinged space featuring French doors, inlaid carpet and shiplap walls, and transformed it from a sophisticated spa-like retreat to a true teenage dream. To complete the look, the rear wall was covered over with a mural hand painted by one of the crew members.
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Image Credit: Dean Hooseman The French doors leading to the spacious second-floor deck were also covered over with a blue wall and built-in shelving added below the windows that flank it.
The colorful enclave is one of the franchise’s pivotal locations. As Han explained to Curbed, “Lara Jean is an introverted character who lives a lot in her head. But through her fashion and through her bedroom design, that’s where she really expresses herself.”
Incredibly, when filming wrapped on the first movie, all of the set decoration was discarded, which left the production team scrambling once the sequel was announced. Chris August, who served as production designer on films two and three, told Refinery 29, “In terms of the bedroom and all the furnishings, one of the problems was that we had to reproduce what had been done because nothing was saved from the first film. We had to have the bedspread made. We even had to build some of the furniture from scratch so that it was close enough to match. A lot of the furniture for the film, especially the first one, were found pieces that were painted so once they disappear, it was hard to match them, but we did basically match everything.”
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Image Credit: Dean Hooseman Interestingly, the wedding sequence from the third installment, said to take place in the Coveys’ backyard, was not shot at the Fort Langley property. As evidenced above, the home’s real yard does not match the scenery shown in “To All the Boys: Always and Forever” in the slightest.
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Image Credit: Hallmark Channel The Fort Langley pad also portrays the Taylor residence in the 2021 Hallmark movie “A Very Merry Bridesmaid.”