Clueless (1995)

Before there was Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, there was Cher Horowitz in Clueless.

Cher, portrayed by the smoking hot Alicia Silverstone, is a rich and pampered teenager who lives at the top of the heap in Beverly Hills. Even though she spends her days at school, she has more important things on her mind; fashion, spending time at the mall and hanging out with her best friend, Dionne.

But Cher suddenly finds she has a purpose when two of her teachers need a love connection. She makes the match and with one success under her designer belt, she set her sights on another clueless and lonely soul, Tai Fraisier (played by the recently deceased Brittany Murphy). Cher has a harder time with Tai because she wants to set Tai up with Elton, a popular senior and Elton has the hots for Cher.

After one of those good ol' high school parties when the house gets trashed and someone pukes in the pool, Elton drives Cher home. On the way, Elton makes a pass at Cher who becomes increasingly frustrated that he is not interested in Tai. When Elton won't stop groping her, she gets out of the car in the parking lot of Circus Liquor and Elton drives off.

This isn't a good idea. After being left alone in the dark, Cher gets mugged and is totally forced to kiss the pavement. This is like, really bad for her and she has to suck it up and call her ex-stepbrother whom she hates at the time.

The party was supposed to be in Sun Valley but Circus Liquor is actually in North Hollywood which really isn't on the way from Sun Valley to Beverly Hills. Oh well, movies aren't supposed to be geography lessons.

You wanted me to take the pictures at night and make them more like the movie ??

As if!

I didn't want the same fate as Cher. The daytime pics will have to do.

This is not an exciting picture but it does indicate the area where Cher was forced down on the ground by her attacker.

In one of those blink-or-you'll-miss-it shots, Cher walks past the Witch's House which is located in Beverly Hills. She walks by it as she pouts about her disastrous driving test.

When I took these photos, the house was in the middle of a reconstruction. There was a green fence around it and the front yard was a little torn up. It has been around since 1921 so I guess it was time for a little tune-up.

HOW TO GET THERE: Circus Liquor is located at the intersection of Vineland and Burbank in North Hollywood. The Witch's House is at 516 N. Walden Drive in Beverly Hills.

WORTH THE TREK? 4/10 for Circus Liquor. Although it is a really cool looking neon sign, it is just that and the store sells liquor which can be purchased elsewhere. 7/10 for the Witch's House because it is such a unique property sitting among the snobby 90210 estates. Unfortunately it cannot be toured and I have no idea when the renovations will be completed.

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.