The late-19th-century residences in the area, which are slim, tall, and frequently constructed in the Victorian style, command a median selling price of about $136,000.
And then there’s 3159 W. 11th St., which is easily recognized as Ralphie Parker‘s residence in his 1983 story of material desire, “A Christmas Story,” and which was formally listed for sale on Friday with no minimum price stated.
In addition to the home’s value as a working Cleveland landmark and outdoor movie location that receives visitation believed to be in the six figures each year, prospective purchasers will need to take into account the added expense of buying the full “Christmas Story” campus there.
Brian Jones, the 47-year-old owner, told Cleveland’s NBC affiliate WKYC, “I’m looking for the appropriate buyer.” It’s something you have to care for in addition to owning.
A museum, a gift shop, a rental home, a parking lot used by museum and gift shop staff, and Ralphie’s neighbours, the Bumpuses, whose rowdy hound dogs ruined a Christmas meal, are all included in the 1.3-acre parcel.
The main “Christmas Story” property, which was erected nearly 100 years before the film’s release, was the first portion of the campus that Jones, a San Diego native who now resides in Florida and has been obsessed with the movie for much of his life, purchased in 2004.
It all began when he realized that his vision would prevent him from achieving his dream of becoming a Navy pilot. According to the home’s official revival tale, when Jones was feeling depressed, his parents sent him a leg lamp that was based on the Old Man’s beloved and spherical Major Award, which was a star of “A Christmas Story” in and of itself.
Jones’ mood was lifted, just like the Old Man’s in the movie, by the reproduction of a woman’s leg topped with a skirt made of a lampshade and wrapped in fishnet stockings. When Mr Parker, played by Darren McGavin, read the word “FRAGILE” on its shipping box and mispronounced it with long, Latin vowels, he classified it as exotic and European.
The character speculated that it must be Italian.
Jones jumped in and made his own imitation leg lamps. The actual location of the Parkers’ home, which was visible in the movie, which was filmed in Toronto and Cleveland, was available, his wife informed him via email during the second year of the project, according to the story.
He opened the house as a tourist destination in 2006 and continued to expand the campus as new property became available. To steal a line from “A Christmas Story,” when Ralphie’s quest for a BB gun would test him to not bite off more than he could chew, he didn’t shoot his eye out.
Jones was vague as to his motivation for selling.
The announcement from Monday comes just a few days before HBO was supposed to premiere one of three sequels created since the 1983 original.
A grown-up Ralphie (played by Peter Billingsley) makes a concerted effort to spread the holiday spirit of giving to a younger generation in “A Christmas Story Christmas.”
The “Christmas Story” campus, according to at least one neighbour, has benefited the neighbourhood.
Neighbor Byron Roberts told WKYC, “It has its drawbacks, with the backup of crowds and the fact that it’s all one-way streets around here.” But aside from that, it’s been great for the area.
This is a jewel in Cleveland, he continued.
