# Movie/TV characters' great apartments **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 14, 2016, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-characters-great-apartments/748941 "2016-03-14T02:46:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-characters-great-apartments/748941/1 "2016-03-14T02:46:45Z")
The best of them all is Harry Bosch in the Amazon TV series. It’s this cantilevered, glassy, stunning [apartment](http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site241/2015/0212/20150212_125409_dailybreeze037_500.jpg)with a spectacular view of Los Angeles. Don’t know how a cop affords that. Maybe it’s explained in the books. The other great one was Frasier Crane’s [apartment](http://i.imgur.com/rtU5gDY.jpg)in Seattle. I also loved Gregory Peck’s tiny [apartment](http://persephonemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/roman_holiday_2.jpg)in _Roman Holiday_. That’s Audrey Hepburn wrapped in a towel. Patrick Swayze had a fabulous house in _Road House_, but I couldn’t find a picture of it. A big ol’ barn of a place with a roof deck. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-characters-great-apartments/748941/2 "2016-03-14T02:49:19Z")
Here is an overhead view of Frasiers apartment. [http://img04.deviantart.net/ac13/i/2013/039/7/d/frasier\_s\_apartment\_floorplan\_\_\_v2\_by\_nikneuk-d5ewtl2.jpg](http://img04.deviantart.net/ac13/i/2013/039/7/d/frasier_s_apartment_floorplan___v2_by_nikneuk-d5ewtl2.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-characters-great-apartments/748941/3 "2016-03-14T03:00:17Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I also loved Gregory Peck’s tiny [apartment](http://persephonemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/roman_holiday_2.jpg)in _Roman Holiday_. That’s Audrey Hepburn wrapped in a towel. Maybe it’s just a common style for the time/(general) area, but at first I thought you had the wrong movie or apartment. It looks very similar to the apartment from [Irma La Douce](http://i.imgur.com/R5cDI.jpg). And while it’s not an apartment, the Bosch picture you posted is reminiscent of the house from [North By Northwest](http://hookedonhouses.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/North-by-Northwest-Hitchcock-movie-Van-Damm-house1.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-characters-great-apartments/748941/4 "2016-03-14T03:08:18Z")
Sandler’s place in Big Daddy was awesome. Inner city, open floor plan, brick and iron would be the pick for alternate timeline Sitnam. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-characters-great-apartments/748941/5 "2016-03-14T03:42:52Z")
Remember the 1970s television series _The Odd Couple_? I thought Oscar Madison’s apartment was really nice for a sportswriter who was paying alimony, even given the lower cost of living at the time. ---
**Author:** ![BeeGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@BeeGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeeGee)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-characters-great-apartments/748941/6 "2016-03-14T03:58:53Z")
That’s nothing. Check Oscar’s apartment in the movie from the sixties if you want to start chewing your knuckles off. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-characters-great-apartments/748941/7 "2016-03-14T04:01:35Z")
Actually, I saw the 1968 movie the other day. (I recorded it off TCM a couple of weeks ago.) And yes, the movie apartment was really nice. Oscar described it as an eight-room apartment. As a rental today, I’d expect it to go for more than $10,000 per month, and if it were sold, it would cost millions. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-characters-great-apartments/748941/8 "2016-03-14T04:07:04Z")
[Bosch’s location](http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=pphdgr541kjg&lvl=20.39&dir=356.43&sty=b&q=1870%20Blue%20Heights%20Dr%2C%20Los%20Angeles%20CA&form=LMLTCC) ---
**Author:** ![SUZ\_MAC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e8cbc/32.png) [@SUZ\_MAC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SUZ_MAC)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-characters-great-apartments/748941/9 "2016-03-14T15:36:24Z")
The first image that popped in to my head was Uncle Bill’s New York apartment in “Family Affair”. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-characters-great-apartments/748941/10 "2016-03-14T15:45:47Z")
In my experience, apartments (and hotel rooms) are contained within a rectangle. So I’m confused by apartments that don’t do that. Jerry Seinfeld’s apartment in his sitcom clearly didn’t do that. The bathroom and bedroom were on the same wall as the door to the apartment (so the apartment must have been L-shaped?). But the few views we saw of the hallway didn’t seem to leave room for the bedroom and bathroom. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-characters-great-apartments/748941/11 "2016-03-14T15:52:59Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I also loved Gregory Peck’s tiny [apartment](http://persephonemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/roman_holiday_2.jpg)in _Roman Holiday_. That’s Audrey Hepburn wrapped in a towel. Is there ANY apartment which wouldn’t be improved if it came with Audrey Hepburn wrapped in a towel? ---
**Author:** ![Anamorphic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anamorphic/32/3057_2.png) [@Anamorphic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anamorphic)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-characters-great-apartments/748941/12 "2016-03-14T15:55:22Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > The best of them all is Harry Bosch in the Amazon TV series. It’s this cantilevered, glassy, stunning [apartment](http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site241/2015/0212/20150212_125409_dailybreeze037_500.jpg)with a spectacular view of Los Angeles. Don’t know how a cop affords that. Maybe it’s explained in the books. I know for sure in the books, they explain that he made a lot of money when (in extremely meta fashion) Hollywood bought the rights to the story of one of his cases and made it into a [movie starting Clint Eastwood](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0309377/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_4). He may have had the house before that though; I can’t recall for sure. EDIT: Wait, I may be wrong. That book is in fact by Michael Connelly, but it’s not a Bosch book. But I am positive it’s mentioned in the Bosch books that a movie about one of his cases was made starring Eastwood, and he made a lot of money from it. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-characters-great-apartments/748941/13 "2016-03-14T16:31:04Z")
I think Leonard and Sheldon have a pretty cool apartment in TBBT. As did Monica in Friends. Of course, in both cases, one wall remains/remained unseen. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-characters-great-apartments/748941/14 "2016-03-14T16:50:46Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Maybe it’s just a common style for the time/(general) area, but at first I thought you had the wrong movie or apartment. It looks very similar to the apartment from [Irma La Douce](http://i.imgur.com/R5cDI.jpg). > > And while it’s not an apartment, the Bosch picture you posted is reminiscent of the house from [North By Northwest](http://hookedonhouses.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/North-by-Northwest-Hitchcock-movie-Van-Damm-house1.jpg). Ernest Lehman’s script for North by Northwest called for the House to specifically be like a Frank Lloyd Wright design. (The house never actually existed – it was the creation of a few sets and a couple of really nice glass painting by the legendary Albert Whitlock. > **[8 Lessons in Modern Architecture Through the Movies - Architizer Journal](https://architizer.com/blog/inspiration/collections/history-of-modern-architecture-through-movies/)** > > From 'Midnight in Paris' to 'Tron: Legacy': These films should be on every Architecture 101 syllabus. ) Virtually all characters in TV shows or movies have apartments well beyond their means. One of the more notable ones not fitting this description is Gene Kelly’s from _An American in Paris_, used to excellent effect in his opening dance number. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/i6cSzDV64v0/hqdefault.jpg "Un Américain à Paris - Reveil Gene Kelly [Jerry Mulligan]") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6cSzDV64v0) ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-characters-great-apartments/748941/15 "2016-03-14T19:57:00Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > I think Leonard and Sheldon have a pretty cool apartment in TBBT. As did Monica in Friends. Of course, in both cases, one wall remains/remained unseen. I always found it strange that their front door leads directly to the living room. Here in Finland even apartments have a foyer of some kind. I guess Californians don’t need to worry about sleet or snow. Come think about it, Monica’s apartment doesn’t have a foyer either and she lives in New York where snow can happen. ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_Urquhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@Gordon\_Urquhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_Urquhart)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-characters-great-apartments/748941/16 "2016-03-14T19:59:43Z")
Bob and Emily’s apartment from _The Bob Newhart Show_ was always pretty cool – very open floorplan, and the main living area (the space between the front door and the kitchen) seemed to measure about 6,000 sq. ft. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-characters-great-apartments/748941/17 "2016-03-14T20:11:54Z")
> [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#): > > I always found it strange that their front door leads directly to the living room. Here in Finland even apartments have a foyer of some kind. I guess Californians don’t need to worry about sleet or snow. Come think about it, Monica’s apartment doesn’t have a foyer either and she lives in New York where snow can happen. Yes, but in Monica’s apartment, she’s not going from the outside directly into the apartment; she enters the building lobby, takes the elevator upstairs and goes down the hallway to the apartment. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-characters-great-apartments/748941/18 "2016-03-14T20:20:42Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Yes, but in Monica’s apartment, she’s not going from the outside directly into the apartment; she enters the building lobby, takes the elevator upstairs and goes down the hallway to the apartment. In Big Bang Theory they don’t come in directly from the outside, either – They come into the foyer, then walk up three flights around the perpetually broken elevator (that Leonard is responsible for), then into the rooms from the hallway. I’ve seen LOTS of apartments like that. Heck, I’ve lived in lots of them. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-characters-great-apartments/748941/19 "2016-03-14T20:25:36Z")
> [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#): > > I always found it strange that their front door leads directly to the living room. Here in Finland even apartments have a foyer of some kind. I guess Californians don’t need to worry about sleet or snow. Come think about it, Monica’s apartment doesn’t have a foyer either and she lives in New York where snow can happen. Most NYC apartments are entered from an interior building hallway, which you reach via elevator or stairs from a lobby that acts as a foyer for the entire building. A lot of courtyard apartment buildings in Chicago are the same way. So… you don’t need a foyer because the environment just outside the door of your home is an interior one, not an exterior. …and ninja’d ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-characters-great-apartments/748941/20 "2016-03-14T21:25:52Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Patrick Swayze had a fabulous house in _Road House_, but I couldn’t find a picture of it. A big ol’ barn of a place with a roof deck. It was “a big 'ol barn” because it WAS a barn. He rented the loft cheap. I presume it came with all the bells and smells a barn has. He didn’t expect to stay long. It’s also why he bought the cheap 'ol beater of a car, he knew he’d be making enemies and it would get trashed. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tv-characters-great-apartments/748941.md?page=2)