After viewing the "Moore On Sunday", we get an idea of how authentic they wanted the show to be. I think it was a great effort to actually film on location like that. Look at shows like "Happy Days", "Laverne & Shirley", and "Bosom Buddies"; all supposed to be set in locations far away from Hollywood(okay, with the exception of the last three years of L&S), but actually filmed around the L.A. area..

Does anyone know if the apartment that Mary moved to with season six was actually an exterior from a building in Minneapolis, or did they just find a building in L.A. for this? Since I'm guessing the crew didn't go back on location after '73, I suppose it's possible that when they were there, they just shot some various buildings, and they didn't end up using this stock footage until it was later needed for her new building, but it seems more likely to me that they just found a building in California, when it was needed.

I'm not quite sure, sorry. I just know everything you know about apt. 1.

pat

A couple months ago I was on a site and they talked about Mary's 2nd Apt. I'll have to back trace and let you know.

The 2nd apt building was definitely in Minneapolis. By the way, if you look closely at the 1st house, you see that what was supposed to be Rhoda's apt is actually on the same floor as Mary's. It just looked like it was on a higher floor because they shot her window from below.

Yes, Mary's second apartment building is in Minneapolis. It is called the Riverside Plaza. In real life, it is a low-income housing project near the West Bank campus of the University of Minnesota. It is not in the world's best neighborhood...today it would certainly be considered a big step down from the Uptown area where Mary's first apartment was.

Don't you dig those oh-so-modern random colored panels?

I read the first apartment was a house in Minneappolis. The building that Phyliss owned. As the years progress, the woman who owned the house got tired of the film crews filming the exterior so in later season Mary moved.

Well, you can see in the "Moore on Sunday" episode the reason why they may have been scoping out new buildings for Mary...the person who owned the house that they filmed for Mary's first apartment was so annoyed by people coming around to look at "Mary's house" that, when they came back to film more exteriors in 1973, she hung "Impeach Nixon" banners all over they house in a very un-Mary-like fashion (though I wouldn't put it past Phyllis. Wouldn't it have been funny if they had filmed the house anyway and used it in an episode?)

Dave Moore commented that it was a very strange move for someone who said they wanted privacy...pictures of the house (along with the address, I'm sure--probably how it became common knowledge) were splashed all over the newspapers the next day.

First off, thanks for all of the information. Secondly, do we ever see the exterior of Mary's original apartment again? I realize that the owner made it obvious that she didn't want them to do any new filming of the house, but did they continue to show old footage of the house, even after this took place? I seem to remember, that with season four, the exterior looks different, and I always wondered if it was a new house, or they shot from a different side. Now, I'm tempted to say that they found another house that looked somewhat similar, and used that as the exterior for seasons four and five. Any thoughts?

The Riverside Plaza complex was finished before the series's fourth season and Mary lived in either the McKnight Tower or the Chase House. Exterior shots of the complex were featured. If there was an episode about Mary moving into the Riverside Plaza comlex, please specify.

If you're referring to the 2nd apartment, she moves there at the beginning of Season 6, "Mary Moves Out." Hope that helps!

- Kristen

Phyllis didn't own Mary's first apartment building,she and Lars were landlords.
I always preferred Mary first apartment,I missed the view from Mary's first place when she moved.

The name of Mary's first apartment building during the earlier seasons remains a mystery as there were no exterior shots of that building.