"The Event" Filmed in my Neighborhood

Last night, as I was walking P + T around our neighborhood, I noticed some of those temporary NO PARKING signs posted about, with the forbidden day written in as Thursday.  "Something's afoot," I thought to myself.  Then I spotted some of those rent-a-cop-type security guards hanging around on some of the street corners, and a weird looking line of porta-potties all lined up on a trailer.

I had a very strong suspicion about what was afoot and tweeted:

They're setting up to do some filming on Aldama Ter., between Raphael St + Aldama St. I'll investigate further tomorrow. #90042

Today was a fairly busy day, and I was either engrossed in work or out running around for a lot of it, and completely forgot all about my special assignment until about 4:30.  All at once, I remembered.

Paul and Todd were napping.  "Quick, get your leashes!  We've important investigative work to do!  Something was afoot today, and we may have already missed it!"   They scampered to get their leashes hooked onto their collars and assemble themselves at the front gate, while I stumbled around frantically looking for my keys.

"Look on the kitchen counter under the dish towel!" called Paul to me from the front yard.  "HURRY!"

I found my keys, got the front door locked, and we were off.  We made our way up the block and around the corner, to the street where my spidey sense told me there had been something going on today.

The whole scene was relatively deserted.

There was a lady out on her lawn absent-mindedly pulling weeds while she talked on the phone, with her little boy hanging around playing. Other than that it was pretty quiet.  Towards the end of that block, in front of one of my favorite little bungalows, I could see a stack of folding chairs.  The NO PARKING signs were still up.  I saw a discarded post-it note in the gutter that had a message having something to do with makeup written on it in black sharpie pen. They had clearly been filming in the immediate vicinity.

Further down, at the corner, we came to a security guy sitting in one of the folding chairs. From there, I could see that the trailer of porta-potties had been moved around the corner from where they were yesterday. There was a dumpster there, too.

"Were they filming around here today?"  I asked.  He nodded.  "What were they filming?"

"The Event" he answered.

"What's that?" I asked, not watching much TV these days, and finding myself pretty clueless.

"Some show.  They were filming down the street, the house right at the edge of the hill.  Fourth house down." He pointed back the way we had come.

Back we went.  Turned out that the 4th house was the house with the lady and kid hanging around the front yard.  They had gone back inside, but she re-emerged as we approached.

"Was your house the one where they were filming today?"  I asked.

"Yes!" she answered, enthusiastically.

"Wow, neat!  How'd you get that gig?"

"We were just lucky.  They said they wanted a house that looked like no one lived in it.  Now we have the money to have it painted!"

 "They also liked it for the view" she added.  The view from there was pretty fabulous.  Way better than my view, from a block over and further down the hill.

Apparently The Event has something to do with space aliens, and this house was being used as an 'alien safehouse' for the episode being filmed, thus the appeal of the peeling paint.  Also, this episode featured lots of special agents wearing contamination suits and such, which, she said, made it all the more fun for their kids to watch as they staked out the place, crept across the roof, and tried to catch the aliens living inside.  Or something like that.

"Where do you live?" she asked.  Then we stood there for a while, chatting and exchanging stories about the goings-on in and around the neighborhood.  Then she invited us in!

We got the complete tour. They have a piano, and the whole family plays!  The house is very charming inside, with lots of really great woodwork and craftsman details.  All of their furniture had been removed and replaced with rented furniture for the shoot.  I was glad of that, because the shabby vacant house space alien furniture wasn't doing the charming craftsman house any favors.

She even showed us the upstairs.  The view from the master suite up there is incredible.  I'm totally jealous, since most of my upstairs view is blocked by my neighbor's roof.

So now, our questions have been answered.  Our inquiring minds now know.  A small dramatic episode involving aliens on Aldama Terrace has unfolded, been captured, and is now on its way to post-production.  And, P + T and I have made new friends in the process!

As of this writing, my new friend had no idea when her episode would air, but if I find out, I'll post an update.