Cleveland, OH -- With the holidays rapidly approaching, Christmas movies will soon inundate our TV screens, but there is one place in Ohio worth traveling to that will allow you to step inside a holiday classic.  And this year, it’s expanding.

It’s a home in Cleveland that is seemingly ordinary outside, but in the window you can find an iconic clue of the Christmas magic inside.

A Christmas Story House is the home that made pink bunny onesies and Red Ryder BB Guns popular items on Santa’s gift list.

Now this treasured tourist stop is a dream come true for fans of the movie. 

  • Fans of A Christmas Story can spend the night at the famous house
  • Includes museum and gift shop
  • Tours available seven days a week 

“You can put on character hats, act out your favorite scene, crawl under the sink and call for your big brother just like Randy did,” explains Kim Riffle, the general manager of the museum.  “You can hold the BB gun, the bowling ball, go upstairs, decode a secret message, wash your mouth out with soap, all of the above. People love it.”

While the movie is set in Indiana in the 40s, Riffle says the movie was partially shot at a soundstage in Canada and at the home located in Cleveland’s west side neighborhood of Tremont.

“People cry, people become speechless, they're just amazed that they're actually there,” Riffle tells Spectrum News 1.

This treasure, completely recreated inside to look just like the movie, brings people in from all over the country and even the world. 

 

Diane and Frank Nardon made the trek from Pennsylvania, hoping to see the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the childhood home of Ralphie Parker.

"We connect with the movie every year but now we'll connect this visit with the movie, which makes it even more personal for us," Frank says.

Paige Ballard is one of the tour guides and says she has seen adults have very emotional responses to stepping through the front door.  She says it’s also a highlight to see grownups acts like kids every day.

“Adults, I think, get more out of it,” she says.  “Because adults, they watch the movie and then they come here and it's like stepping back into their childhood a lot of the time, whereas a lot of the kids are more, 'What are those light switches, that doesn't look like a washing machine, what's a rotary phone?'"

After the tour, you then come to the museum filled with original treasures from the film.

“We've got a Red Ryder BB Gun, we've got mom's robe over there, we've got the original toys that were in the Higbee’s window,the original chalk board that Mrs. Shields writes A+++ on,” Riffle explains.

Then of course you can stop by the gift shop to pick up your own deranged Easter bunny costume and BB gun. 

The museum also offers an experience that will make the holidays truly unforgettable.

“So we have a loft that's on the third floor of the house,” says the general manager.  “You can rent that out.  It sleeps six.  We've got all the movies up there for you to watch as well.  And then when we leave for the day, you have the entire run of the house.”

Brand new this season, A Christmas Story House is allowing your family to stay at the neighboring home of ravenous Bumpus hounds.

You may remember the dogs’ famous scene of breaking in the Parker house and gobbling up their turkey.

Thankfully the hounds are excluded in the room rental, but step back in time, curl up under custom quilts donned with infamous scenes from the movie, and look out your window at the home that makes America smile and laugh during the holidays year after year. 

Tours of the Christmas Story House are available seven days a week.