The Warner Bros Ranch and The Partridge Family House
Welcome To Beautiful Downtown Burbank
Danny and I recently found ourselves in Burbank, California and he mentioned this is where the Partridge Family filmed. I did a little sleuthing and learned that the Warner Bros studio tour available to the public does not include the Warner Bros Ranch (formerly Columbia Ranch) where the Partridge home resides. Luckily, I’m married to Danny Partridge and we were granted guest passes. (Shout out to Danny for being the best sport — “Hey, on your day off, will you take me to the Partridge Family house?” lol)
None of this will surprise you…
This year marks the Partridge Family’s 50th anniversary, but Danny remembers it all with a clear memory, including all of the trouble he caused. Danny was such a hellraiser, someone was actually hired to be his keeper and make sure he behaved. An impossible feat. He used to climb up to the catwalk above the sets in the sound stage, making for a seriously dangerous hiding spot, about 150 ft above. No one would think to look for him up there and he’d get a kick out of watching people scrambling around, yelling his name.
One day on the Western themed street (demolished in 1993), Danny and actor Gary Dubin thought it would be funny to throw rocks at the windows. They had broken about 25 windows when studio security showed up and a slow-speed golf cart chase ensued. Stealing golf carts was another shenanigan of choice. He was constantly caught smoking and Dave Madden would allow him to hide out in his dressing room to light up.
By the second season of the show, Danny (who now cringes over this) felt pretty important. David had a house as a dressing room, so how come Danny had some lousy trailer? To appease him, a door was added between his trailer and the one next door to create twice the space, which he never used. (What a dick!) We still have the hand-painted sign that was on his door.
Ever been starstruck by a house?
As thrilled as I was to have been granted access to the lot, I totally expected to have some kind of chaperone. Instead, we had the entire ranch to ourselves AND every door was unlocked! I’m not going to post any of the dorky videos we made, but I took no less than 23846289374 selfies (wouldn’t you?).
The interior of the house is nothing like what you saw on television. Countless scenes were filmed in front of the house, like coming and going in the bus or the memorable episode when an artist painted a near nude woman on the garage door. The shots of the interiors were filmed inside of nearby sound stage 31. Those sets are long gone but a plaque in front commemorates the history, even though the Partridge dates on it are incorrect. Band practice in the garage was in fact filmed in the actual garage. You can see a few changes have been made to the house over the years. The white fence is gone, the structure around the door has been altered, and the windows look a little different. It’s still super reminiscent of the show.
American Suburbia
Named after the Blondie & Dagwood series of movies, Blondie Street is the site of many famous houses. The Bewitched house is here along with the home of their nosy neighbors, I Dream Of Jeannie, Dennis The Menace, Gidget, and the Griswold’s house from the Vacation movies, to name a few. As you can see in the video of the Partridge house, these are all shells. When you’re inside, it’s just a box. Stairs rarely lead to anything, there are no bathrooms, and in the case of the Bewitched house, there’s wallpaper on the wall behind the front door and then literally nothing else. No rooms, zilch. There’s a full sized swimming pool in the middle of a park on Blondie Street, which has compartments below so that cameras can film through windows along the sides.
As we were leaving through the gate on Hollywood Way, Danny remembered that this was the very gate where thousands of girls would hang out at all hours in hopes of catching a glimpse of their idol, David Cassidy.
People of all ages regularly approach Danny with appreciation of the show. Many know it from original airings, others like me discovered it in the ‘90s on Nick At Nite, and new generations are watching as it continues to air 5 decades later. What a legacy.
