'Hood #21: Cheviot Hills to See Claire & Phil Dunphy's House from Modern Family

Here's a fun fact I learned while doing this 'hood challenge: I live less than a mile from Claire and Phil Dunphy!  (Or at least, the house where they film outdoor scenes for them on Modern Family.) I discovered this as I set out to visit Cheviot Hills—the neighborhood directly north of where I live in Palms that is, although adjacent, much, much swankier than my 'hood.

I drive through Cheviot Hills often since Motor Ave.—which runs through its center—is a shortcut to Pico Blvd.  I hadn't planned to visit it today, but my friends Jenifer and Jan were game to check it out on our way back from going out to lunch together.  Usually I research a 'hood before visiting it so I can look for what best represents it, but since this was impromptu, we were winging it.

Other than a country club and a large park, Cheviot Hills is all residential, so we were excited to see filming trucks near the park, which gave us something to investigate. (At this point, I had no idea about Claire and Phil's house and—no—it wasn't Modern Family being filmed.)  Turned out, it was a shoot for an HBO "sexuality drama" called Open from the producer of Glee.  They were packing up as we rolled by, so we didn't see any stars—but now that I know about it, if I ever fork out the money to get HBO, I'll be sure to look for it if it gets picked up.

Claire and Phil Dunphy's House

Now on to Claire and Phil.  I was already home and starting to write today's blog entry when I looked up Cheviot Hills on Wikipedia to get a few factoids (such as that it's 1.54 square miles and one of LA's most white, least densely-populated areas).  That's when I discovered it's also home to the Dunphys.

Well, there was no way I could say I saw Cheviot Hills if I didn't see what for me (Modern Family fan that I am) would be a highlight.

So... I popped on my iPod and went for a walk.  It took me all of about 12 minutes to get there and, yep, it's definitely the house!  I had to wait while a neighbor hauled in her trash cans to take a photo (I'm guessing I'm not the first fan geek to stalk the house)—go squeeeeeee a bit—and then head home.

NOW I can say I've seen Cheviot Hills.

Filming the HBO pilot for Open