Taste Takes A Holiday

   One of the great benefits of the march of time is how often the tables get turned on the meanest of villains.
    Remember Mr Blackwell, the self-appointed arbiter of taste who each year published his list of the "10 Worst Dressed Women"? This the the man who said the Wynona Judd looked "..like Hulk Hogan in sequins," and that Martha Stewart "..dresses like the centerfold for Farmer's Almanac."
  Well guess whose long term home in the Windsor Square section of Hancock Park just came on the market? Let's just say that given his taste in home decorating perhaps he should have been a little kinder to those he made fun of.

  The exterior of the house could easily be improved by replacing the phallic shrubbery with some good landscaping. It sits on a good sized lot, with two separate guest houses out back. But the interior seems to be done in High Wasp Camp. Ultimately, all one can say is that perhaps one man's  object d'art is another man's tchotchke. But this guy was out to corner the market.

 

Aside from being stuffed to the gills, the decor is dark and oppressive with conflicting patterns and unappealing, random color schemes. As for the late Mr. Blackwell's treatment of his guests, it wasn't much better.

Here's the living room of the main guest house, a room that clearly says, "Please have a seat; the Gerontologist will be with you in a moment." This was the man telling America how to dress?
  Indeed, the elegant, Waspily named "Mr. Blackwell" was born Richard Selzer and grew up in a tenement in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. He managed to parlay a brief acting career into costume design, then fashion design (The House of Blackwell") then Arbiter of Taste. 
   Well the house of Blackwell is now on the market, asking $2,000,000.

 Personally, I feel if kitsch is one's goal, be honest about it and go all out. In other words, "If you can't hide it-flaunt it," which brings me to another new Hancock Park listing, a house that thousands of people in Los Angeles have made a pilgrimage to see in person.

Yes, it's the house with the 24 naked statues of David lining the driveway. The ideal time to see this house, of course, is during the Christmas Season...

..when each David gets a Santa cap and jacket but, alas, no pants.
In a million years I couldn't begin to tell you what the actual style of this house is or was supposed to be. Apparently, neither can the owners and I give them much credit for going with it all the way. Of course if you've gone this far on the outside...

...you can't short change the interior, and they haven't. Here's the dining room which I don't even know how to explain or interpret beyond guessing that the impetus behind the decor may have been a bad 70's acid trip.     There are 7 bedrooms and 7 baths, in 4800 square feet, a pool and a large yard. The asking price is $2,400,000 and the listing agent (whom no one has ever heard of) won't even take your phone call-he only accepts email messages. Let me know if you want to see it, and we'll see if he can read.
Jamie Foreman