Saturday, November 22, 2008

Happy Birthday Laurie Strode!

On November 22, 1958, Jamie Lee Curtis was born to Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh. A child of actors, it seemed fairly natural that she followed them in their footsteps. After appearances on various television movies and series, she landed her first feature film role in 1978. That April, she headed to South Pasadena to film a low-budget horror film by little-known director John Carpenter from a screenplay he co-wrote with Debra Hill.

Curtis landed the lead role of a 17-year-old babysitter named Laurie Strode who becomes stalked by a murderer/escaped mental patient by the name of Michael Myers in the fictional city of Haddonfield, Illinois. That October, Halloween would hit screens and would become one of the most profitable films ever made and make household names out of Curtis, Carpenter, and of course... Michael Myers.

We just so happen to have passed another important milestone when on October 25 of this year Halloween had its official 30-year anniversary. So in honor of Curtis and the film, we decided to put the spotlight on one of the locations that was used in the film that has haunted the movie-going public since - The Myers House.

Most people know that its current location at 1000 Mission Street is not the same location seen in Halloween or for its sequel Halloween II for that matter. What most people don't know is that the house happens to be a historic landmark designated by the city of South Pasadena because it was built back in 1888, nor that its official name is the "Century House." It does not have a murderous past, aside from its fictional appearance, nor does it have any full-time residents. The house is now home to multiple businesses, which include a graphic design company and a couple financial firms.

Since its appearance in Halloween, the house has received countless tourists who wanted to see a little part of movie history; including even one that showed up on the front steps dressed as Michael Myers. Recently, one fan took his obsession so far that he began building his own exact replica (down to the smallest detail) in Hillsborough, North Carolina.

The "Myers House" is also not the only gem waiting for tourists interested in seeing the Halloween locations. Several of the other houses that appeared in the film are in the general area, including even the "Myers House" seen in the Rob Zombie remake of the film. In fact, the house is now directly across from the hardware store that Myers broke into and pilfered the tools and infamous mask he needed to aid him in his work.

"That's a haunted house - awful stuff happened there once." - Tommy Doyle.

-Casey H.

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