South Jersey man documents our love for famous film and television houses
Filmmaker Tommy Avallone's documentary, "The House From" debuted earlier this month.
Everyone has a movie or show they’ve watched so much, that the characters begin to feel like family, and their homes feel like, well, home.
It might be Elliott’s bedroom in E.T., the Tanner family’s Victorian Full House in San Francisco, or Winona Ryder’s living room in Stranger Things, bedecked in Christmas lights.
Tommy Avallone, an Audubon, N.J., filmmaker, took that simple feeling and turned it into his latest project — The House From — a documentary that debuted last week at New Jersey director Kevin Smith’s Smodcastle Cinemas in Monmouth County. The film is now available on streaming networks.
Avallone, 42, has an abiding love for all things pop culture, having directed a film about America’s hatred of Barney, the dinosaur, called “I Love You, You Hate Me.”
“Growing up in the area, like 15 minutes from the Rocky steps, you could go there and think, ‘Wow, that’s a real place. I used to think Audubon High School was the clock tower from Back to the Future,” Avallone said recently in Haddon Heights, where he grew up. “I was always curious and it was natural for me to grab a camera.”
Avallone’s film, narrated by actor Jason Lee, follows fans who make pilgrimages to these homes, to places like Oregon, where you can do the “truffle shuffle” outside of the Goonies house, or the Cleveland area, where you can pay to tour the iconic home from Christmas Story.
“This is a childhood dream of mine to come to this house, Kevin Arnold’s house. My favorite show on TV,” says a man who shoots a layup at a garage hoop at The Wonder Years home in Burbank.
Avallone also explores the pros and cons of owning a famous house. The owners are paid, but some pay a price if the show becomes a cultural icon.
With Breaking Bad, for instance, the former owner of Jesse Pinknman’s mansion said it was a “privilege” to share home with fans of the show. Across town, however, at the White residency, some fans have thrown pizzas on the roof, like Walt did in season two and the show’s creator had to implore them to stop.
Videos abound of the current owner yelling at tourists.
“If you’re gonna be a jerk, stay the hell away,” she told a local news station in 2015.
The Rubio house in Altadena, Calif., was used for a whole slew of movies and shows, including This is Us, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and American Pie, Cheaper by the Dozen, and countless others.
“Stifler’s, from the entry into what we call the den and from the den, then into the living room,” the owner said.
When asked what houses are the most iconic, Avallone couldn’t pick just one.
“You know, there’s Danny Tanner’s house or The Golden Girls house. You walk in and you feel like you’re part of the show,” he said. “For movies, I think Christmas Story and Home Alone are so big because of the holiday element.”
Avallone said his next project is about the history of MySpace.
The House From is streaming on the Maximum Effort Channel on FuboTV and available for purchase on iTunes, Amazon, and Google Play.