These are L.A.’s most notorious houses of horror.
Seven infamous addresses that you might drive by every day, perhaps unaware that they starred in your favorite scary movies, music videos, and TV shows. The houses where Michael Myers first drew blood and Freddy had his first rampage. Where The Ring girl took her first crawling steps from the screen, a zillion zombies danced alongside Michael Jackson, and the mansion known on-screen as “The Murder House” in American Horror Story.
They’re all right here in our backyard. Perfect for planning your own Halloween-timed tour of horror’s greatest filming locations. Some of them may scare you, some of them may surprise you.
All that’s left is to enter. If you dare…
Thriller ~ Echo Park
Roughly 8 minutes and 37 seconds after informing Ola Ray that he’s “not like other guys,” Michael Jackson lures his date into a weathered Victorian house that could body-double for the Psycho mansion. When the funk stops, the real trouble begins, with popping, locking zombies losing their rhythm to tear the house down.
But you won’t find the place idling on a Universal back-lot. The Thriller house is still standing as a cultural historic monument in the Victorian-heavy streets of Angelino Heights. Built in 1887 and known as The Sanders house for its owner, it manages to be beautiful and still a little creepy at the same time.
Thriller House ~ 1345 Carroll Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90026. Closest Metro lines and stop: Bus Line 92 - “Bellevue/Edgeware (southbound)” or "Edgeware/Boston (northbound)" or Bus Line 10 - "Temple/Edgeware."
Nightmare On Elm Street ~ Hollywood/Echo Park/Lincoln Heights/UCLA
As fun as it was watching decent Midwesterners get their just desserts in the fictional town of Springwood, Ohio, the most iconic locations from Nightmare on Elm Street come from the oh-too-real megalopolis of Los Angeles.
You’ll find the two-story Dutch Colonial home whose facade stood in for 1428 Elm Street, the residence of troubled teen Nancy Thompson, in Hollywood’s Spaulding Square neighborhood, where it still sits, looking mostly benign outside and so far from the dream world.
Springwood High School, where the soon-to-be-slaughtered suburban kids studied (and apparently learned archery) in the first films of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, was played by John Marshall High School in Silver Lake, which Movie Locations notes as the place Leonardo DiCaprio went to school. However, the school’s interiors were played by John Burroughs High in Hancock Park, according to Curbed.
The long-defunct Lincoln Heights Jail was famously used to film the heart-stopping boiler room scenes where Freddy ruled his dank domain. Interestingly, UCLA’s Royce Hall had a cameo, playing Westin Hills Psychiatric Hospital, where Freddy turns one teen into a literal meat puppet on one of its towers in Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors.
These are but a few of the many locations you can see from the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise in L.A., including the houses of Nancy’s pals, like the place where a young Johnny Depp got swallowed and spit up in bed.
Nancy Thompson’s House ~ 1428 N. Genesee Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90046. Closest Metro lines and stop: Bus Line 2 - “Sunset/Stanley” or Bus Line 217 - "Fairfax/Sunset."
Springwood High ~ 3939 Tracy St. Los Angeles, CA 90027. Closest Metro line and stop: Bus Line 182 - “Saint George/Tracy (westbound)" or "Saint George/Aloha (eastbound)."
Westin Hills Psychiatric Hospital ~ UCLA’s Royce Hall: 10745 Dickson Ct. Los Angeles, CA 90095. Closest Metro lines and stop: Bus Line 2 - “Hilgard/Wyton” or Bus Line 761 - "Hilgard/Westholme."
Halloween ~ South Pasadena
All it takes is a few celluloid frames of John Carpenter’s horror masterpiece to make us feel warm and cozy in October. If you’ve seen it so many times you swear you’d recognize the shrubbery, you can test yourself in South Pasadena, where the infamous hedges that hid Michael Myers can be found on Montrose Avenue.
Turns out the South Pas region is riddled with locations from Halloween, having served as the primary shooting grounds for the film. You can see the cursed Myers home, a two-story saltbox that’s since been restored, at 1000 Mission Street and primordial “Last Girl” Laurie Strode’s crib over on Oxley. The owners of that house are said to be friendly and cool about people taking their own pics there, while we’re told to treat the Myers home as if Michael was still living there.
The Halloween Hedges ~ between 1019 and 1025 Montrose Ave. South Pasadena, CA 91030. Closest Metro lines and stop: Bus Lines 258 or 260 - “Fair Oaks/Mission.”
The Myers House ~ 1000 Mission St. South Pasadena, CA 91030. Closest Metro lines and stop: Metro A Line or Bus Line 258 - “South Pasadena Station.”
Laurie’s House ~ 1115 Oxley St. South Pasadena, CA 91030. Closest Metro lines and stop: Metro A Line or Bus Line 258 - “South Pasadena Station.”
Ghostbusters ~ Downtown
We ain’t afraid of no ghosts. But, we admit, sometimes we’re a little afraid of Downtown.
The cast and crew of Ghostbusters certainly weren’t. And while we think of the supernatural comedy as a New York film for many good reasons, a lot of its interiors were filmed on 5th Street in Downtown Los Angeles.
This includes the innards of the 'Busters' firehouse HQ, located at Fire Station No.23 at 5th and Maple. The library stacks, where a spectral librarian materialized, were the very ones found at L.A.’s Central Library. And Downtown’s centurion Millenium Biltmore Hotel served as the Sedgewick Hotel, where Ray, Egon, Peter, and Winston met Slimer whilst coming, seeing, and kicking ass, before busting their ghostbusting cherries and capturing their first spirit.
The Firehouse ~ 225 E. 5th St. Los Angeles, CA 90013. Closest Metro lines and stop: Bus Lines 16, 18, 33, 53, 60, or 62 - “5th/Los Angeles” or Bus Lines 20, 92, or 720 - "Main/5th."
The Library ~ 630 W. 5th St. Los Angeles, CA 90071. Closest Metro lines and stop: Bus Lines 16, 18, 20, 37, 53, 55, 60, 62, 70, 76, 78, 487, 489, 720 or Metro J Line (910/950) - “Grand/5th.”
Sedgewick Hotel ~ 506 S. Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90071. Closest Metro lines and stop: Bus Lines 16, 18, 20, 37, 53, 55, 60, 62, 70, 76, 78, 487, 489, 720 or Metro J Line (910/950) - “Grand/5th.”
American Horror Story ~ Hancock Park
Rents are high. Inflation is out of control. Home ownership just a distant dream from an earlier fantasy.
We’d still take the place known as "Murder House," haunted by the ghosts of the baker’s dozen that have been killed there over multiple decades. Especially if Jessica Lange was our neighbor and the leaks in our roof dripped with Ryan Murphy-ian camp.
Maybe the chance will arise at 1120 Westchester Place in Hancock Park’s Olympic Park neighborhood. Then we could stretch out in architect Alfred Rosenheim’s eponymous 1908 mansion, a red-brick fairy tale castle complete with turret and presumably free of Legos to step on.
It was not only the centerpiece of American Horror Story’s first season. Apparently, it has a couple of real ghosts and a number of recent incursions from fans of the show, leading to its own lawsuit from the new owners. We’ll stick take it.
AHS’ Murder House ~ 1120 Westchester Pl. Los Angeles, CA 90019. Closest Metro lines and stop: Bus Line 28 - “Olympic/Wilton” or Bus Line 30 - "Pico/Arlington."
The Ring ~ Hancock Park
Katie had a pretty nice life from all appearances. Beautiful home, nice friends. Then she went and watched the VHS tape from The Ring and wound up super dead. She didn't leave a good-looking corpse, either. Don’t be a Katie.
But if you want to see where the first and perhaps most memorable death from The Ring remake went down, you’ll find it at this beautiful Tudor-style mansion in Hancock Park. Then, you’ll get a call in seven days…
Katie’s House ~ 413 S. Mc Cadden Pl. Los Angeles, CA 90020. Closest Metro lines and stop: Bus Line 16 - “3rd/Highland”, Bus Line 20 - "Wilshire/Highland (eastbound)" or "Wilshire/Mc Cadden (westbound)."
Poltergeist ~ Simi Valley
Not only is the haunted house from Poltergeist still standing in Simi Valley, you can even sleep there. Often considered a character in itself, you can rent the house for your parties, screenings, and overnight stays. You could even get it just to sit in front of a snowy TV screen, repeating "they're heeeerrrre" all night in a toe-headed wig. We don't judge.
4267 Roxbury St. Simi Valley, CA 93063
