It is said the only constant is change. That especially rings true of Los Angeles’ suburban landscape, where remodels, teardowns and rebuilds appear to be the norm. But situated just north of Interstate 10 in the city’s West Adams district is a small residential pocket stretching across three blocks between Arlington Ave. and W. Manhattan Pl. where time stands still. Known as Western Heights, the community bustles with more than 120 historic homes of varying architectural styles, each seemingly untouched since the day it was built.
As such, the area has naturally become a popular spot for filming – so much so that the Google Street View cameras even caught a production crew there on their last sweep of the neighborhood in February 2020! Tour the scant enclave and you’ll come across a saturation of famous properties. The Zeta Alpha Zeta sorority house from the 2008 comedy “House Bunny” stands at 2151 W. 20th St. Lucy Hale and her friends lived around the corner at 2233 W. 21st St. in the 2018 horror flick “Truth or Dare.” And in 2014’s “Neighbors,” Seth Rogen and Zac Efron called 2179 W. 20th and 2203 W. 20th home, respectively.
And smack dab in the middle of the neighborhood at 2299 W. 20th St. sits the large Craftsman where Dee Snider and his fellow Twisted Sister bandmates shot the music video for that most anthem-y of ‘80s anthems “We’re Not Gonna Take It.” A friend who shares my proclivity for filming locations only recently identified the place after embarking upon an extensive hunt to track it down.
Constructed from 1908 to 1909, the property is known as the Marston Residence, named in honor of its original owners, Dr. Luther M. Marston and his wife, Anna. The couple purchased the four-bedroom, three-bath dwelling upon its completion from builder J.H. Hillock for $9,000 and not only made their home there, but Luther, a teacher and healer, also partially ran his School of Metaphysics out of the residence. According to the West Adams Heritage Association’s September 2006 newsletter, Luther and Anna were an “unusually devoted” couple and friends took to calling their home “The Love Nest.” Their devotion to the pad was not nearly as impressive, though. They sold the place in late 1911, a little over two years after moving in.
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Image Credit: Compass The Love Nest was later acquired by Bob Bortfeld, one of the founding members of the West Adams Heritage Association, who lived there from 1981 until his death in 1986. He cherished the residence so much that an etching of its exterior appears on his gravestone.
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Image Credit: Compass The 2,310-square-foot Craftsman most recently sold in March 2016 for $883,000. According to the listing, it had “nearly every original period detail still intact” at the time. One look at the MLS images confirms that the property is indeed a relic! Even the original kitchen cabinets are still in place, as is the stove!
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Image Credit: Compass A newspaper report from 1909 notes the house as being “artistically papered” and that still appears to be the case, as well, with wallpaper lining nearly every room.
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Image Credit: Compass Woodwork is also prolific throughout the residence. Along with an oak staircase and a Mahogany den, the place boasts wainscotting, beamed ceilings, and crown moldings as far as the eye can see.
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Image Credit: Compass Other retro amenities include a built-in china cabinet in the dining room, leaded glass windows and an inglenook fireplace.
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Image Credit: Compass Outside on the 0.14-acre lot, there’s a wide front porch, a tiered deck and a porte-cochère.
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Image Credit: Compass Though Craftsman architecture screams “Los Angeles,” the Marston Residence gives off a decidedly Anywhere, U.S.A.-feel, which made it the perfect spot to serve as a backdrop for “We’re Not Gonna Take It,” a video centered around a suburban family.
Released in April 1984, the song, written by lead singer Dee Snider, rose to number 21 on the charts, becoming Twisted Sister’s only Top 40 single in the U.S. Of penning the hit, Snider told NPR, “I wanted to write an anthem. I’m from the Alice Cooper school of ‘School’s Out,’ ‘I’m Eighteen,’ you know? And Alice was very big on these anthemic songs. So I wanted to write an anthem for the audience to raise their fists in the air in righteous anger.” Mission certainly accomplished! “We’re Not Gonna Take It” has become a fight song for the ages and a mainstay of ‘80s rock. Though it wasn’t without controversy.
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Image Credit: Compass In 1985, the Parent Music Resource Center (PMRC), a committee co-founded by Tipper Gore, deemed the song one of its “Filthy 15,” aka the 15 most offensive tunes of the day, due to its supposedly violent lyrics. Snider testified at the Senate hearing that followed, stating that PMRC likely confused the song with the accompanying video.
Directed by Marty Callner, the video sees actor Mark Metcalf reprising his role of villain Douglas C. Neidermeyer from the 1978 comedy “National Lampoon’s Animal House,” this time as a father aggrieved over his son’s love for rock and roll. Throughout the four-and-a-half-minute segment, Douglas is repeatedly flung out of his house in various slapstick scenarios instigated by his five sons who have magically transformed into the Twisted Sister members.
Violent as it may have been perceived by PMRC, in truth, the video’s inspiration came from a G-rated source. Sneider told the Senate’s Committee on Commerce, “The video ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’ was simply meant to be a cartoon with human actors playing variations on the Road Runner–Wile E. Coyote theme. Each stunt was selected from my extensive personal collection of cartoons.” Though an ACME anvil is never dropped on Douglas’ head in the segment, he does find himself enduring numerous comedic pratfalls.
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Image Credit: Compass “We’re Not Gonna Take It” makes extensive use of the Marston Residence. From the exterior to the bedrooms to the stairs, virtually no portion of the home was left unfilmed. At one point, Douglas is even tossed out of the second-floor balcony into the yard below.
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Image Credit: Compass As the MLS photographs from the 2016 sale attest to, the home remains frozen in time from its musical cameo. The dining room even appears to still be covered in the same dark floral wallpaper it was at the time of the shoot!
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Image Credit: Compass The MLS images are matched up so perfectly to the angles shown in the video, I can’t help but wonder if the real estate agent is a huge Twisted Sister fan!
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Image Credit: Atlantic Records One thing is markedly different from what was shown onscreen, though. The house purported to be situated directly across the street, which is visible a couple of times in the video, is actually located two doors east of the Marston Residence at 2287 W. 20th St.
Despite the passage of almost 40 years, “We’re Not Gonna Take It” still makes for a fun watch and the song behind it remains a rock and roll touchstone. As Snider expressed to NPR, “It has transcended the genre, it’s transcended the era, it’s even transcended the band. And this song will live on long after I am gone. I think, as a songwriter, there’s no greater compliment than to have something you created become part of the fabric of not just the country — of society, of the world.” Indeed, the music video still had fans searching for its locations all these years later!
Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂
Stalk It: The house from Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It” music video is located at 2299 W. 20th St. in Los Angeles’ Western Heights neighborhood. Disclaimer: Please remember this is a private home. Do not trespass or bother the residents or the property in any way.