Ten months after his passing at age 70, the Los Angeles estate of Paul Reubens, the actor and comedian best known for his Pee-wee Herman character, has hit the market for the first time in nearly four decades.
Priced just under US$5 million, this midcentury ranch house, built in the late 1950s, offers almost 278sq m of living space and is located in the sought-after Oaks neighbourhood of Los Feliz, according to the Robb Report.
The property boasts spectacular views of the Griffith Park Observatory and the Hollywood Sign.
Reubens, a California Institute of the Arts theatre student and a member of the West Coast comedy troupe The Groundlings, created his Pee-wee character in the 1970s.
He gained fame in the ’80s with The Pee-wee Herman Show, Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, Big Top Pee-wee, and Pee-wee’s Playhouse.
He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1988 and also appeared in Mystery Men, Blow, and Murphy Brown, for which he earned an Emmy nomination.
Despite facing legal troubles later in his career, Reubens made a comeback with a new version of The Pee-wee Herman Show at L.A.’s Club Nokia and on Broadway, and starred in Pee-wee’s Big Holiday.
Reubens purchased the home in 1985 for US$415,000.
The single-storey structure, located on a 1.4-acre block, features three bedrooms and three bathrooms.
The interiors, largely original, include slate floors, wood-beam ceilings, and vintage wallpaper.
Highlights of the home include a living room with a fireplace, a dining area with sliding glass doors to the backyard, a den with a wet bar, and a kitchen with lemon Formica countertops.
The primary suite includes a seating alcove, a dressing area, and a bath that opens to an enclosed patio designed to protect Reubens’s cat from wildlife.
The property also features a swimming pool, a spa, and park-like grounds with more than 100 varieties of native shrubs and trees, a barbecue area, a pergola-shaded lounging spot, a cactus garden, walking trails, and a waterfall.
A concrete patio on the property includes handprints signed by Reubens’s friend, actress Debi Mazar.
Juliette Hohnen of Douglas Elliman holds the listing.
