Los Angeles is a city full of famous landmarks: Mann’s Chinese Theater, the Capitol Records building, Randy’s Donuts with its enormous plaster pastry, the famed ‘Hollywood’ sign. But some of LA’s most treasured landmarks lie off the beaten path on the city’s sleepy residential streets, far away from the hustle and bustle of the Strip.

That place looks familiar!
Near the intersection of Melrose and Vine, just behind the Wilshire Country Club, sits 565 N. Cahuenga Blvd. At first glance, this well-maintained six-bedroom pre-war home (estimated value: $1.6 million) looks rather unassuming. But in fact, it’s one of the most famous houses in television history, seen by millions of viewers every Tuesday night in the ‘70s and early ‘80s.

565 N. Cahuenga is better known as the Cunningham residence from the beloved sitcom Happy Days. Chosen for its wholesome, all-American look and proximity to the Paramount studio lot, the house was used for exterior shots of the Cunninghams’ Milwaukee home for ten seasons. Remarkably, the house looks almost the same today as it did in its ’70s heyday. All that’s missing is Fonzie’s motorbike in the driveway.

Location, location, location
Getting a home or business in the movies or on TV doesn’t happen randomly. Film studios employ people called “location scouts” who seek out locations that suit a scene’s needs, like the spacious 4-bedroom family home at 671 Lincoln Ave in Winnetka, IL (the house from Home Alone) or the secluded ultra-modern ravine bungalow at 370 Beech in Highland Park, IL (the one used in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off). Beyond fitting the scene, a location must:

• Be within reasonable distance to the studio or other shooting locations.
• Offer enough practical working space for cameras, lighting rigs, actors and crew.
• Provide parking for trucks, trailers and catering vehicles.
• Be equipped to handle the electrical load of film equipment (or have space for portable generators).

“If a script calls for a small house, you actually aren’t going to go out looking for a small house,” says Kayla Thames-Berge, president of the Location Managers Guild of America. “You won’t be able to get the film crew, the director, the equipment or the trucks into a small space. You need a physical space that will accommodate the practical work that needs to be done at the location.”

Make nice with the neighbors
Residential film locations present other unique challenges. As a gesture of goodwill, before allowing permission to shoot, you should notify your neighbors. “[Filming] can be a very disruptive process,” Thames-Berge says. “It’s not uncommon for a film crew to consist of 100 people, all of whom need to be on your property -- inside, outside, or both -- for extended periods of time.” Municipal governments and law enforcement may also need to grant permission if the shoot is going to disrupt traffic.

Get on the list
However, if you think your home has star quality and feel you can handle the distractions, the first step is to contact your municipal or state film office by email and send them a few photos of your property. Do not contact individual location management agencies, production companies, film studios or directors yourself; when locations are needed, filmmakers and location scouts always contact the regional film commissions first, as the local boards have a more specific understanding of what their jurisdictions can offer.

Be patient
While it’s good to be optimistic, don’t expect your home to immediately be chosen as the setting for the next Hollywood blockbuster. The amount of film production in the US is actually quite small, and location scouts maintain extensive databases of homes and businesses they’re already familiar with. An untested property will likely start out at the bottom of their list.

“There are only about 450 feature films shot in the US [each year],” says Bill Lindstrom, the chief executive officer of the Association of Film Commissioners International (AFCI), “and not every house has the potential or the ability to be used in production.”

“But that’s not to say it can’t happen,” he adds, “especially if you have a very unique property that has features that aren’t available anywhere else. Those are the types of properties that are useful for the local film commission to hear about.”

You can find a list of all of the local film offices nationwide through the Location Inquiry Service of the AFCI at www.afci.org.