Halloween House: The Home of Michael Myers

Sitting innocently in the quiet neighborhood of South Pasadena you’ll find one of the most notorious houses in cinematic history — the filmic home of murderer Michael Myers.

The Myers Halloween House

In South Pasadena, an unassuming powder blue house, sitting adjacent to the Gold Line (though we’re supposed to call it the L Line now), is a notorious film history location.

This normal-looking two-story saltbox house with Midwestern Greek revival styling stars in the opening scene of John Carpenter’s 1978 horror classic Halloween. It plays the role of the home where young Michael Myers killed his sister in an upstairs bedroom.

Known officially as the Century House, the building dates back to 1888 when the Indiana Colony settled in the area. It’s thought to be one of the first homes built in the 3.4 square miles that make up city. The house was originally located at 707 Meridian (some reports say 709 Meridian), literally down the block (less than 500 feet) from where it stands today.

Halloween House History

When Halloween was filmed in the late 1970s, the house had already long been abandoned. The rumors say the building was in such bad shape that the film crew had to do a little work to make the facade presentable — even as a spooky house.

After being used in the Halloween film, the house remained vacant and became increasingly dilapidated until it was eventually was slated to be bulldozed in 1987 — only to be saved from destruction at the last moment.

As the story goes, colorful South Pasadena councilmember David Margrave bought it on a whim for a single silver dollar. (Margrave famously never used paper bills, checks, or credit cards — he paid for all his transactions in silver and gold. In fact, he wrote a book about his approach to money.)

Although Margrave didn’t own any land where he could move his purchase, late one night he had it stealthily transported to its current location next to the old San Gabriel Valley Railroad right-of-way where the Gold Line eventually bisected South Pasadena. (Margrave also famously hated the Gold Line.)

Rather than have the clandestinely moved home destroyed, South Pasadena officials awarded it landmark status and named it South Pasadena Cultural Heritage Landmark No. 34.

The building is now home to Westland Financial Services (so there’s still some bloodletting happening here), but they don’t seem to appreciate the building’s horror pedigree — a small sign on the front door explicitly forbids trespassing.

South Pasadena, Hallowed Ground

But there are two other noteworthy spots that are easy walking distance from the Myers Halloween House.

Coincidentally, Nichol’s Hardware Store, where Michael Myers shoplifted the iconic mask and other tools of his grim trade, can be found across the street (at 966 Mission) from the Century House. Once the site of the Mission Arroyo Hotel (South Pasadena Cultural Landmark No. 26), the building has housed a few different businesses during its history. For the past few years it’s been home to Radhika, an Indian restaurant.

Another key location from Halloween is just five blocks away from the Myers Halloween House. At 1103 Fairview Avenue (at Oxley Street, right across the street from the South Pasadena Library), you’ll come across the movie home of heroic babysitter Laurie Strode, played by Jaime Lee Curtis.

South Pasadena Plays Haddonfield

These three spots aren’t the only South Pasadena locations that starred in Halloween. Many places in the town were used to depict Haddonfield, Illinois, the fictional town Halloween was set in. The nearby South Pasadena High School, easily recognizable for its Art Deco architecture, was used as the stand-in for Haddonfield High.

In fact, just wandering around streets like Highland, Oxley, Meridian, and Montrose can transport you back to 1978 and the eerily bucolic streets of Haddonfield.

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Halloween House (Home of Michael Myers)

• 1000 Mission St, South Pasadena
• GPS Coordinates: 34.1161558, -118.1569647 [ Google Maps ]
• what3words: ///atomic.reef.open (https://what3words.com/atomic.reef.open)

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