‘This Is Us’ Boss Reveals If That Was Really Joni Mitchell’s House In ‘Clouds’ Episode
Spoiler alert: This article contains mild spoilers for the This Is Us episode “Clouds.”
This Is Us fans took a trip to Joni Mitchell’s house, but the executive producer of the show says it wasn’t the real deal.
Amid a sweet storyline that featured Rebecca (Mandy Moore) reminiscing about her love for the folk-rock singer and the Graham Nash-penned song, “Our House,” This Is Us boss Isaac Ataker admitted the “breaking and entering” scene with the Pearson matriarch and her movie star son Kevin (Justin Hartley) took place at a house not owned by the music legend.
“I hate to reveal it, but unfortunately it was not Joni Mitchell’s actual house,” Aptaker told Entertainment Weekly. “I believe, if I’m not mistaken, she still owns the actual house. So we had to find a very similar looking house in the Laurel Canyon area. But it definitely captures the vibe and essence of Joni’s real house.”
Aptaker added that the story that Rebecca tells Kevin about the famous house was true, to the best of This Is Us writers’ knowledge.
In the episode, Rebecca gets nostalgic after coming across a copy of the 1969 Joni Mitchell album Clouds at a vintage record store.
She then tells Kevin about the time she and Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) tried unsuccessfully to find Joni Mitchell’s house when they visited Los Angeles in the early 1970s. Kevin suggests they try to find the house today as a way to complete his parents’ mission. A quick search on his phone pulls up the address to the famous Laurel Canyon house where Mitchell once lived with her boyfriend Graham Nash.
While Kevin plans to use his star power to gain entrance to the gated residence, the gate is open and Rebecca walks in. Kevin says he hopes he doesn’t end up on TMZ for breaking into Joni Mitchell’s old house with his mom.
Rebecca then tells Kevin the story about how Mitchell inspired Nash to write the song “Our House” about their Laurel Canyon cottage, and she begins to sing the song in both past and present-day scenes.
Nash was living with Mitchell in Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles, when he wrote the song “Our House” in 1970. He later recorded the song with his band Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young for their album Deja Vu.
As for how the famous song came about, in 2013, Nash told NPR’s Fresh Air that it started out very simply. After he and Joni went to breakfast at the iconic Art’s Deli on Ventura Blvd., they spotted a vase in the window of an antique store. They bought the vase, and the lyrics to “Our House” were born.
“[We] got through the front door and I said, you know what? I’ll light a fire. Why don’t you put some flowers in that vase that you just bought?” Nash said. ” Well, she was in the garden getting flowers. That meant she was not at her piano, but I was… And an hour later ‘Our House’ was born, out of an incredibly ordinary moment that many, many people have experienced.”
