Magnum Mania!

Robin's Nest

Robin's Nest

Estate Map

The real life setting for Robin's Nest, the beautiful oceanfront Hawaiian estate owned by millionaire pulp novelist Robin Masters, can be found on the southeast coast of Oahu at 41-505 Kalanianaole Highway (Lat: 21°19'29.66"N | Long: 157°40'47.68"W), between the small town of Waimanalo Beach and Sea Life Park. The property is known as The Anderson Estate and has been owned for decades by former local politician Eve Glover Anderson. Eve is the step-daughter of Cox Communications heiress Barbara Cox Anthony, the wealthiest Hawaiian resident until her death on May 28, 2007. [Estate Map]

In Magnum P.I., Robin's Nest is not located on Kalanianaole Highway, near Waimanalo Beach. It's on the fictional road of "Kalakaua Ave." (or "Kalakaua Kalakua Road") somewhere on the North Shore! This is in spite of the fact that we can often see Rabitt Island in the background. Rabbit Island is nowhere near the North Shore! We also never see any waves breaking in the ocean! Luckily, the estate's general location was only referenced four* times in the show, so the odd location setting didn't really present much of a problem. Still, the Ferrari must have racked up a lot of miles coming and going from the north side of the island to all of the action on the south side!

The Masters Estate (usually referred to as simply "The Estate") sits on "200 acres .... from the mountains to the sea", including approximately fifty yards of beachfront property. A mountain range looms closely behind the estate, creating a stunning, beautiful, backdrop. The main compound of the property (what is seen in the show) sits on five acres. It is wired for security and features a large main house, a seperate guesthouse, stables (no animals), orchards, a caretaker's house (also acts as a gate house), a greenhouse, private tennis courts, a man-made tidal pool and a secluded, semi-priviate beach. The property is surrounded by a large stucco wall (toppped with a chain link fence) and features an iron-gated entranceway.

Main House

Gatehouse

In the real world, the estate is much smaller than it appears in the show. It is a mere three acres in size. It's hard to see through the foliage, but it actually sits very close to Kalanianaole Highway. The estate was built in the early 1930s and is comprised of the large main house, a boathouse (the guesthouse in the show), a caretaker's house (or gatehouse), private tennis courts, and of course, the beach and tidal pool. The estate does not have a real guesthouse as portrayed in the show.

One of the highlights of the estate is the beautiful tidal pool, framed by a 500' by 50' stone wall (submerged at high tide, but visible at low tide). The enclosure is an ancient Hawaiian turtle pond known as Pahonu Pond (Pahonu means "turtle enclosure" in Hawaiian). The original purpose of the pond was to house captured sea turtles for an Ali'i (Chief) that favored sea turtle meat. Turtle meat was kapu (forbidden) to all but the chiefs under penalty of death. The turtle pond (and rock wall) was restored in the 1960's and was added to the Hawaii Historical Register in 1978. Because of the ancient turtle pond, the Anderson Estate is also often referred as "Pahonu", a name that can be found on a plaque by the front gate.

One of the reasons the Anderson Estate was chosen to represent Robin's Nest, in addition to its picturesque setting, is because it is located next to a piece of property (the Shriners Beach Club at 41-525 Kalanianaole Hwy) that had space for the production crew. The property was used as a temporary parking lot and staging area for the filming equipment.

Tidal Pool

Ocean Side

Virtually all of the indoor scenes of Robin's Nest, namely the main house and the guesthouse scenes, were filmed at the Hawaii Film Studio (also known as "Five-O Stage"), located at 510 18th Avenue next to Kapiolani Community College, at the foot of Diamond Head crater. Outside of the semi-enclosed balconies of the guest and main house, there were only two scenes filmed completely inside any of the buildings on the Eve Anderson estate. In the "Pilot Movie", the estate's kitchen was used for a couple of brief scenes, and in "Who is Don Luis Higgins?" (6.19) there is a scene where Tom finds Higgins bound and gagged inside a large shed. The "shed" was actually the real interior of the estate's boathouse, the guesthouse in the show!

The Anderson Estate was also used in several episodes of Hawaii Five-O, including "Forty Feet High and It Kills" (S2), "Sweet Terror" (S2), "The Second Shot" (S3), "While You're at It, Bring in the Moon" (S4), "Cloth of Gold" (S4), "You Don't Have to Kill to Get Rich, But It Helps" (S5) and the series finale "Woe to Wo Fat" (S12).

* "Italian Ice" (2.16), "Double Jeopardy" (2.19), "The Big Blow" (3.22) & "Unfinished Business" (8.8)

The Main House

Outdoor Patio

Computer Room

The large, L-shaped, two-story main house was built in 1933 and is a beautiful example of Mediterranean Revival style architecture. The main house features a gorgeous second-floor balcony, stucco walls, a low-pitched roof, a walled courtyard, and wide, projecting eaves. There is also a one-story "maintenance wing" which extends out from the main house. This long shed-like structure is open on one side and is used for storage, primarily for landscaping materials and tools [pic]. The main house is roughly 5,000 square feet in size under the roof and features five bedrooms and five full baths.

Higgins' Study

Upstairs Bedroom

In the show, the main house presumably also has five bedrooms, including a large master bedroom. It features a large living room, a spacious kitchen, an elegant dining room, a darkroom, a computer security room, a library, a sauna (never seen) and a study, or office. There also appears to be a number of smaller ante, or utility, rooms spread throughout the house. The basement features an extensive wine cellar.

The north-facing side of the main house features a gorgeous wrought iron balcony that overlooks a spacious grassy patio, which is surrounded by a stone wall. Again, all of these rooms seen in the show were filmed on a soundstage, not inside the real main house of the Anderson Estate.

The Guesthouse

Guesthouse

Living Room

The guesthouse (aka Magnum's quarters), like the main house, is a Mediterranean Revival design. It features stucco walls, a low-pitched tiled roof and a semi-enclosed balcony. Inside, the guesthouse features a large main room with an extremely high ceiling and a bedroom with one bathroom. The main room also contains a small kitchen, which is slightly elevated from the rest of the room.

The guesthouse features a unique, slightly baffling, split-level design. In order to get inside the guesthouse, you have to walk up an outdoor staircase, which leads you to a semi-enclosed lanai (porch). From the lanai, you enter the guesthouse via a door, then must descend back down an indoor staircase that finally leads you to the main room of the guesthouse! This setup was necessary, because in reality the guesthouse is really a boathouse that features no real ground-level door.

Front

Side

A source for much confusion in the show is the exact location of the guesthouse on the Robin's Nest property. In the show, the guesthouse was located on the west side of the property, away from the ocean, closer to the main road [pic]. The main house was closer to the ocean than the guesthouse. In reality, the guesthouse (the boathouse in reality) was on the north side of the property, very close to the ocean. This creative geography was achieved through sequenced cutaways and medium range shots, which created the illusion that the guesthouse was located in a different part of the estate. The main culprit was this shot, which was often used to show Magnum coming and going to guesthouse. This covered passageway, which is part of the "storage wing" of the main house, is nowhere near the guesthouse! The guesthouse is in the opposite direction!

Magnum's Bedroom

Kitchen Area

This setup makes for some confusing shots and cutaways, if you know where the real guesthouse (boathouse) and "storage wing" are located. Why is he walking in that direction? How did he get there? Sometimes it seems like Magnum is magically teleporting all over the estate. Why the producers chose to interpret the property in this manner is somewhat of a mystery, because there is nothing seemingly wrong with the real layout. It seems apparent, however, that they wanted this layout in order to make the property appear larger than it really is, although this could have been achieved with the real layout fairly easily.

The show further complicated matters by showing scenes of the guesthouse that contradict where it's supposed to be in the show! For example, in "The Black Orchid" (1.16) Higgins is seen standing in the upper-level balcony of the guesthouse, talking to Magnum, who is on the beach. The guesthouse, in the show, is supposed to be far away from the beach!

Something important missing? Got a correction? Shoot me an email.

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