Recognize This MGM House?

For showtimes for Meet Me in St. Louis, click here. For showtimes for The Long, Long Trailer, click here

The Victorian home above is quite beautiful, and the street that it's on has been the home for a few different film families.

The first was the Smith family in Meet Me in St. Louis. The classic musical starring Judy Garland was an expensive project that some people at the studio didn’t initially believe in.

The film had a budget of about $1.5 million, which included approximately $151 thousand to build Kensington Avenue, later nicknamed “St. Louis Street”, on the MGM backlot.

According to the song, “The Boy Next Door”, the Smiths lived at 5135 Kensington Avenue.

After Meet Me in St. Louis in 1944, director Vincente Minnelli used Kensington Avenue again in The Long, Long Trailer in 1954.

Lucy and Ricky stop by a relative’s who happens to live just next door to where the Smith’s lived. Marjorie Main, who played the maid in Meet Me in St. Louis, also made an appearance in the movie.

The neighborhood was later used in Cheaper By the Dozen (1950).

Unfortunately, a fire destroyed portions of Lot 2 in 1967, and what remained was then demolished in 1974. Today, Lot 2 consists of condominiums. Though one of the street names – Garland Avenue – hints at what used to be there.