(upbeat bright music) - I'm gonna take us to
the first place I lived until I was seven years old. (upbeat bright music) Hang on to your hats. I kinda thought about this
was to just basically do this in chronological order. So this was my street
back in the seventies. This neighborhood wasn't super savory. This is it. It looks so much nicer, by the way, with like the greenery and the gate. (upbeat bright music) They really made it look
so much more romantic. The bars were on the windows because it just wasn't safe enough, but the neighborhood has
gotten so much better. It was pretty scary when I was a kid here. God, I'm so tempted to
just beg them to let me in. A dinger, a doorbell. (dramatic piano music) I don't have to be lonely anymore. I was so lonely in this house. It was just me and my mom, and it was just a really sad energy. It was very empty and very lonely. And you know, I grew up and got
in charge of my own destiny. And now my house is like
Grand Central Station. There's so much life and
there's so many people. And this place just taught me that I wasn't the kind of
person who wanted to live in a quiet lonely place. I wanted to live a life where
I was around a lot of people, but they've made the outside so pretty. It's like, it's not dark at all. It's very blooming and I
see little limes growing and hummingbird feeders. It has a real sweetness now. And 10. (quirky fun music) Are you manning that thing? - Yeah, we're doing software testing. - You're doing software testing? Well, there's a full circle future moment. Do you live here? I can't believe you're here. - [Owner] I can't believe you're here. - Well, I just so wanted
to revisit this place. This place means so much to me. I spent zero months to seven years old. Could I please just walk around the back? I'll walk, do one loop and leave. - [Owner] Okay. Okay. - Thank you so much. We'll leave everybody outside. Thank you for this opportunity. - [Owner] Come back anytime. - Okay, I'll come visit. I come to LA quite a bit. If there was one thing I learned here, my mom used to, whenever we would eat, she would like stand up at the counter and I would eat at the table, but I was like, why can't we sit down and have a meal together? And I judged her for it. And I just felt like,
why can't we sit down and have like proper family dinners? And it's so funny 'cause I'm a single mom running around my kitchen with my kids, and I have them sitting at the counter and I'm running around and
I'm like, oh, I get it. It's hard. You know, to live up to that
Norman Rockwell fantasy. It's so not real life. Yeah, I get it now for sure. I've learned so much living in this place, and I thank you for keeping it beautiful. Making it more beautiful. Thank you. Thank you so much. (sirens wailing) Oh shoot. Is that me? I used to get pulled over all the time so every time I hear a
siren I'm like, oh it's me. I learned to drive at Sophia
Loren's ranch in Calabasas. Her two sons Carlo and Eduardo taught me in a Renault Le Car, and they
taught me on a stick shift. This is it. Oh my God. When I was trying to
attempt sleeping at night, even though I was just so scared, this is what cats sound
like when they are mating. Are you ready? (Drew imitates cat wailing) That was the soundtrack to this apartment. Back in the 70s, this neighborhood wasn't super savory. I mean, for a 14 year old,
I was like, I was scared. And I'm not scared anymore. I'm not scared anymore at all. But I'm so happy that this 14
year old girl is totally okay. And it hasn't been okay the whole time. Even a few years ago, getting
divorced, I felt so broken. I think the most broken
I've ever felt in my life because all of a sudden it
wasn't about me anymore. It was about two people I cared about much more than myself. That's real fear. That's bigger fear than
anything I experienced as a kid. I definitely am glad that
my kids, no matter what, 'cause we're gonna, all of
us are gonna screw it up with our kids. We're gonna do our best, but
we're gonna make mistakes. I'm so glad that my kids won't be having to live on their own at 14. And that's as healing to the
14 year old me as it can get. It's nice for just a moment
to think everything's okay. It will disappear later this afternoon or tomorrow the next day, and you have to fight for it to come back. But, in this moment, I
felt really relieved. By the way, that's an
underrated emotion, relief. (upbeat bright music) I feel is that we might have to like stop at a Poquito Mas today. I love California Mexican food. That California soft fluffy
rice and those refried beans. There's nothing like it. So this is Book Soup,
which was a bookstore that I used to go to when I was a kid because when I was 14 and living
on my own and emancipated, the judge was like, by the way, you never have to go to school again. And I was like, yes! Peace! I'm never going to school again. And then I was like, oh my God, I don't want to be uneducated. So I hit the books and this was honestly my favorite bookstore. I would always look for the classics. I would start with A,
and then I spent 25 years trying to make it to Z. I started to think for a while that unless a book was this thick, that it wasn't gonna be for me. Here is John Fante. I've read every book he's ever written. The same with Joan Didion
and Charles Bukowski. Funny thing is is no
matter how much you read, no matter how much you try, you will never ever read everything. You'll never get there. There's not one Kurt Vonnegut
book that I've ever read that I didn't put down and think, I just got to live in
the mind of a mad genius that made my life better. And I actually got to have
dinner with him one night, and he ate baked beans and drank vodka. And it was the most amazing night ever. This is my favorite book right now. The best ever. Do yourself a favor and read
everything she's ever written. It's the one thing I'm
not willing to share. You can have the shirt off my
back and the keys to my car, but if you touch my book, I will end you. (upbeat Latin fusion music) Mm. Mm. Mm. Okay, this is the area
that the laundry mat was. I mean, everything is so different now. (Drew gasps) This is it. Oh my God. It's still here. The Washing Machine. This is such a dream to be here. I spent years here. When I first lived in my
apartment that I was so scared in, the truth was is that I would
let the laundry and dishes and everything pile up. I didn't know how to clean. But this was where I learned
how to take care of myself. You know, the books were the school, and this was like the domestic journey of learning how to live on your own. Kids don't know how to
take care of themselves until you teach them. Olive and Frankie I'm coming for you. This was my row. And I would open and I
would stew in the bleach like I was a witch at her cauldron. Like I was butter churning that stuff. (upbeat bright music) This is the origins of
my stain removal story. (upbeat bright music) Everything was okay inside of this temple. If there's one corner in Los Angeles that I might love the most, it might be right here on the
corner of Sweetser and third. Hey, it has the word sweet in it. And I just take these
lessons and these feelings and they're still as relevant to me today as they have ever been. That we can just take some time out, and we can clean up our
lives, our side of the street, our laundry, our behavior, everything. Just purify it somehow. Clean it. It doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't erase anything. Although I will erase the stain. I can't erase my life's
problems and nor do I want to, but stains they have got to go. This right here. The place was called the Barb Wire. Yeah, that's it. Nobody's answering. (soft dramatic music) I was a real wild child. And I just got so out of control that no one knew what to do with me. And so my mom called a friend because her daughter was out of control and they drove me here in
the middle of the night, and they walked me right
through those two doors. And when you go through those two doors, you do not come out. And I was there for a year and a half. And I hated it. I kicked. I screamed. One minute, you're at movie
premieres and clubbing, and the next minute you're
in a full blown institution with barbed wire everywhere,
and you can't get out. I think this is important
for me to share with people because when they watch our show, we have a very beautiful set. And I get to dress in nice clothing and get my hair and makeup done. And there's an elegance
hopefully to the show, but I will never lose sight
of this part of my story. And I have seen and been through things, and they've helped me just recognize in all of us that we go through stuff and
it can't be embarrassing. It has to be our strengths. It has to be something
that we can be proud of because we overcame it and we look back with
honor and humor. (chuckles) Life is so wonderful compared
to what it was in this place. I can't even believe I actually
get to be where I am now because when I was
here, I didn't see that. I thought I would be here forever. I never thought I was gonna
make it to somewhere better. And I'm just so happy with my life. And I don't know if I
would have the life I have if it wasn't for a place like this. So it was so important to come here today and just like honor this. I think this can be a good
gateway to start season two and go deeper with people. I'm never gonna not wanna be funny. I'm never gonna not wanna play. I'm never gonna not wanna be positive and find the good stuff, but I've seen some stuff and we all have, and we need to deal with it. And we need to figure
out how to fix ourselves and work on ourselves. It's very empowering. It's very celebratory. I wouldn't wanna go back. I just get to visit it in
my dreams and wave hello and no, I'm not here anymore. And that's pretty cool. Welcome to the "Drew
Barrymore Show." (laughs) Where we like to keep it real. (upbeat bright music)
