Charmed (1998 to 2006)

Not all witches are green, wrinkled, warty and evil.

In the television series Charmed, the witches were young, hot and kicked demonic ass. No wonder it was a guilty pleasure for eight seasons on the now defunct WB channel.

If you're not familiar with the show, there were originally three witchy sisters; Prue, Piper and Phoebe played by Shannen Doherty, Holly Marie Combs and Alyssa Milano respectively. When Shannen Doherty was fired (well, maybe she wasn't fired but something happened and it wasn't good), her character was killed off and the sacred trio was reformed with a half-sister, Paige who was played by Rose McGowan. These sisters lived in the Halliwell Manor which (in the series) was located at 1329 Prescott Street in San Francisco.

In actuality, the Manor is located at 1329 Carroll Street in the Echo Park area of Los Angeles.

This is a small but very beautiful neighborhood of Victorian houses. It isn't difficult to spot the "Charmed house" because it is so distinctive. The camera-toting tourists also gave it away.

In the series, the ground on which the Manor was located was the center of the five essential life elements and was therefore considered a "spiritual nexus." If you're a trio of witches looking to conquer the forces of evil, this is a good thing.

If you're a Charmed fan, then you can't buy the actual house (it's a privately owned residence) but you can come pretty close. The house right next door is up for sale.

Judging by its looks, I'm thinking it's a "fixer-upper."

After checking on http://www.zillow.com/, you can buy this bad baby for less than $700,000! And it comes with seven bedrooms!

Of course, you might get tired of the Charmed fans asking if you've seen any of the Halliwell sisters.

It doesn't take long to walk down Carroll street and admire the other houses. It really doesn't feel like you're in Los Angeles.

And now we come to another famous house. Do you recognize it? Especially with all the MJ stuff going on?

This house was used in Michael Jackson's Thriller video. After her boyfriend turned a little freaky, this is where our heroine ran for safety.

This would not be my first choice for a hiding location if zombies were chasing me.

It still looks a little worn down but maybe they keep it that way for Halloween.



WORTH THE TREK? 9/10. Absolutely. Even if you're not a Charmed fan, this area is worth a visit for the architecture alone.

HOW TO GET THERE: It's easy to find. Echo Park is located in the northeastern part of L.A. and accessible by the 101 or the 110.