Dragnet

After “The Munsters” moved out of the Maxim home the house had to be cleaned up to act as a respectable background house on Colonial Street.  Gone were the bat-vane weathervane, the foreboding fence, and finally even the iconic front door.  In 1979, the short-lived sit-com “Shirley,” starring Shirley Jones, used the cleaned-up version of the house as their Lake Tahoe home. 

In 1981, Colonial Street at Universal Studios was moved from a spot nearby the Los Angeles River, to its current location in the hills above Universal’s Denver Street, and Elm Street.  When the houses were first moved a few changes were made.  In the case of the Maxim House (better known as the Munsters house), the screened porch and back porch never made the move.  The location chosen for this house was too small and these wings would have gone off the edge of the cliff.

The house continued much as it appeared in “The Munsters” although in this cleaned-up version.  It was mostly used as a background house and it appeared in “The New Leave it to Beaver,” also known as “Still the Beaver.”

In 1987, the house was featured in the film Dragnet, as the home of Granny Mundy.

For this SketchUp drawing I have removed the iconic Munsters elements and created a new lot for the house to sit upon.  A corner of the garage can be seen in its new location.  Behind the fence is the edge of the cliff and a spectacular view of the San Fernando Valley (not depicted in this rendering).