If the name Colonial Street doesn’t ring a bell, you’re not alone. Chances are, however, you’ve seen it many times. That’s because Colonial Street is one of the backlot sets at Universal Studios in California. The street set has a long history, spanning over 60 years of movies and television. It started way back in 1959, when Colonial Street was the location for the Cleavers' house, the middle class family from the ABC sitcom Leave It To Beaver. The house’s address was 485 Mapleton Drive in the fictional town of Mayfield. The house was reused in 1969 when it became the location of the ABC medical drama Marcus Welby, M.D. In 1988, the front facade was changed for the Tom Hanks movie The ‘Burbs, and in 2004, it was used in the filming of the ABC series Desperate Housewives, where it was known as Wisteria Lane. Then, in 2014, the house was again used for the NBC comedy About a Boy. Colonial Street has more than just the Leave It To Beaver house. The lot was also the set for the houses that were used in the television series The Munsters, The Hardy Boys, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Murder She Wrote, Dragnet, Adam-12, The Nancy Drew Mysteries, and Ghost Whisperer. In fact, one of the houses on the lot is still used for Ace Hardware commercials today.
