The Navy’s list of grievances against Lieutenant Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) can easily be characterized as “long but distinguished.” As Commander Tom “Stinger” Jardian (James Tolkan) admonishes the rebellious naval aviator at the beginning of “Top Gun,” “You’ve been busted, you’ve lost your qualifications as section leader three times, put in hack twice by me, with a history of high-speed passes over five air control towers and one admiral’s daughter!” To which Lieutenant Nick “Goose” Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards) clarifies, “Penny Benjamin?” It’s a throwaway line, to be sure, but one that winds up serving as a significant callback in “Top Gun: Maverick,” the film’s long-awaited sequel, which hit theatres to extreme fanfare this past May and has been breaking box office records (to the tune of $1.4 billion!) ever since.
An incredible 36 years in the making, “Maverick,” which is finally available to purchase via VOD on Amazon, iTunes and the like, boasts numerous nods to the 1986 action classic, the most prominent of which is Penny. Though she’s never actually seen in the original (she is only referred to twice), the character is fully fleshed out in the sequel, with Jennifer Connelly sublimely stepping into the role as both a new love interest for Maverick and the proprietor of the Top Gun pilots’ favorite local hangout, The Hard Deck bar.
Unfortunately for fans, the rowdy beachfront watering hole doesn’t exist in real life – it was an elaborate set created by production designer Jeremy Hindle on the sands of Breakers Beach at the Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego, a spot that is not accessible to the public. A few places from the film that can be visited? The famed Halfway House Cafe, a historic eatery in Santa Clarita that was initially established in 1931 and has been featured in countless productions since, most memorably serving as a backdrop for Cindy Crawford’s iconic 1992 Pepsi commercial. In “Maverick” it plays Cecil’s Cafe, where our hero heads at the beginning of the movie upon crash-landing his plane after achieving Mach 10 speed and becoming “the fastest man alive.” Popping up as the home of Admiral Tom “Iceman” Kazansky (Val Kilmer) is Wattles Mansion and Gardens, a public park in Hollywood that Cruise has long been familiar with thanks to a scene he shot there back in 1988 for “Rain Man.”
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Image Credit: Paramount Pictures -
Image Credit: Google The bungalow where Penny lives with her teenage daughter, Ameilia (Lyliana Wray), arguably the movie’s most memorable locale (aside from The Hard Deck bar), can be found about 25 miles south of downtown Los Angeles in the seaside town of San Pedro. Situated overlooking the coastline at 391 W. 40th St,.the place bears an uncanny resemblance to the residence belonging to Maverick’s original love interest, Charlotte ‘Charlie’ Blackwood (Kelly McGillis), in the 1986 film, which has since been transformed into a “Top Gun” themed pie shop. The similarity is, of course, by design. With its beachside location, retro California architecture and quaint sizing, the pad serves as one of the sequel’s definitive callbacks. (Please remember this is a private home. Do not trespass or bother the residents or the property in any way.)
Categorically picturesque with a peaked roofline, clapboard siding and a succession of valenced windows, the abode boasts two bedrooms and two baths in 1,282 square feet. Originally built in 1912, the structure was thoroughly remodeled in 1994, with a new kitchen, baths and roof installed. And while a 680-square-foot guest house once stood on the premises, it was demolished in 1990.
Sited on a spacious 0.34-acre corner lot abutting the sand and sea, the bungalow last changed hands in 2014 for $462,000. Per Zillow, it is worth just a contrail below $1.05 million today. That’s about $820 a square foot for those keeping track – and that’s not even taking into account the financial cachet that an appearance in a major motion picture brings!
According to permits, the cast and crew initially descended upon the home in late October 2018 for the “Maverick” shoot. Prepping the property took a full six days, during which time Hindle and his team made several alterations to the exterior, including bringing in multiple palm trees, swapping out street signs and installing street lights along the sidewalk out front. Unsightly lines attached to a telephone pole adjacent to the residence were also removed. The shoot itself took three days to complete, with the strike and clean-up occupying an additional four days. The group then returned in April 2019 to capture more footage, before which the dwelling had to be prepped again, this time for two days, with an additional three days for filming and two for the strike. All in all, the “Maverick” team spent 20 days at the property to lens what amounted to only a handful of scenes making up just a few minutes of screen time. Regardless, Penny’s home leaves an undeniable impression, thanks largely to its nostalgia factor and idyllic location.
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Image Credit: Paramount Pictures Audiences aren’t given much of a glimpse of the interior of Penny’s house, aside from her second-level peaked-roof bedroom, which I believe was just a set. Although a 1966 building permit does mention the addition of “attic access and living quarters” to the property, most other records show the residence as being only one story, not two as was purported onscreen.
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Image Credit: PM Entertainment Group As it turns out, “Top Gun: Maverick” is not the property’s first starring role. The pad also makes an appearance in the 1998 drama “Land of the Free” as the beach house belonging to Frank Jennings (Jeff Speakman), where the political campaign manager briefly hides out with his family after being chased by a couple of dirty cops working for his boss, congressional candidate Aidan Carvell (William Shatner).
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Image Credit: PM Entertainment Group The film grants viewers a look at the bungalow’s actual interior, which boasts a traditional Craftsman feel with wide framing, handsome wainscotting and hardwood flooring throughout.
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Image Credit: Warner Bros. Television The residence also plays the supposed Bayshore, Calif. home belonging to the family of murder victim Monica Dunninger (Rebecca Staab) in the season two episode of “The Mentalist” titled “Redemption,” which aired in 2009.
It truly is a house fit for the screen!