Pritikin strikes again!
A few years ago, I wrote a post here about a real live eccentric millionaire.
Check it out here: http://community.livejournal.com/discord_society/55867.html
Anyways, he's now talking about making his house a museum. I would *so* love to go to this!
Bob Pritikin knows just what San Francisco needs - yet another museum.
And the quirky former ad man, hotelier and musical saw player - yes, he plays a saw with a reputed Yehudi Menuhin violin bow - has the perfect spot.
His house.
It's packed with a kaleidoscope of art, kitsch and magic show paraphernalia. We're talking about a home where a tree in the yard shoots fire (although it wasn't working on a recent visit), Eleanor Roosevelt is memorialized as a whiskey decanter and Sen. Chambers drowned in the upstairs swimming pool after a night of carousing. (The good senator was a parrot.)
The catch is that his mansion at the convergence of the Mission, Noe Valley and Glen Park neighborhoods doesn't have the proper zoning, and Pritikin will need approval from the city's Board of Supervisors for his plan.
The whole thing may get as far as Pritikin's 2004 offer to turn his home into the city's mayoral residence - pretty much nowhere.
Then again, this time could be different.
Pritikin, whose parties and fundraisers draw a lively cross section of the city's intriguing characters and old-guard politicos, argues his home is really the perfect place for it.
He even had the perfect name: the Only-in-San Francisco Museum.
It seemed fitting for the collection assembled by a guy who wrote a book titled "Christ was an Ad Man" and gave out wristwatches featuring Jesus with fake eyelashes in honor of Tammy Faye Messner singing at one of his renowned Labor Day bashes.
You've got Adolf Hitler's globe - with a plaque reading "May the bastard rot in hell" - juxtaposed with sculptures by pacifist Beniamino "Benny" Bufano and the blue neon sign from the defunct North Beach restaurant Moose's.
Pritikin even had a mural painted on two exterior walls depicting 70 or so famous San Franciscans, from Dianne Feinstein to topless dancer Carol Doda riding a zebra, which is being unveiled today.
Turns out the "Only-in-San Francisco" name won't fly, though. The San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau already owns the Web site onlyinsanfrancisco.com.
So Pritikin has settled on The Pritikin Museum, and he's trying to get city approval to show off his collection to the paying public.
Ticket sales will help cover the several hundred thousand dollars a year it takes to maintain his mansion and grounds, known as the Chenery House, he said.
Pritikin's plan is to have about 20 visitors a day, six days a week, who would pay $49 a pop for a docent-guided tour, a magic show and a Mexican lunch next to the pool where the parrot drowned.
"I'm not trying to make any money on this thing," he said. "I'd like to pay the bills, make a nice contribution to the community and have some daytime visitors."
Pritikin says he will strictly limit the numbers of guests and hours of operation. He has enough off-street parking. He has a busy school and senior center on either side. He's met with neighborhood groups, who seem supportive.
Pritikin also has an ally in Supervisor Bevan Dufty, who represents the area. Dufty asked the city attorney last week to draft legislation to create a special use district for the museum, saying Pritikin had an "extremely unique property" and "an amazing collection" of art and San Francisco memorabilia.
"This looks like a walk in the park compared to a mayoral residence," Dufty said with a chuckle. "The issue for me is, is it consistent with the neighborhood and copacetic with the neighbors? So far, so good."
And in Pritikin, we are talking about a guy who made his fortune convincing people to buy things. Some even give the former ad exec credit for the famous Rice-a-Roni jingle, although the words were written by the late Charles Foll.
"It's so stupid," Pritikin said as he sat surrounded by a J.M.W. Turner oil painting of Venice, a 3-foot replica of the Transamerica building made out of condom boxes and a 19th century French carousel pig. "My work is so much more sophisticated than a stupid jingle."
Check it out here: http://community.livejournal.com/discord_society/55867.html
Anyways, he's now talking about making his house a museum. I would *so* love to go to this!
Bob Pritikin knows just what San Francisco needs - yet another museum.
And the quirky former ad man, hotelier and musical saw player - yes, he plays a saw with a reputed Yehudi Menuhin violin bow - has the perfect spot.
His house.
It's packed with a kaleidoscope of art, kitsch and magic show paraphernalia. We're talking about a home where a tree in the yard shoots fire (although it wasn't working on a recent visit), Eleanor Roosevelt is memorialized as a whiskey decanter and Sen. Chambers drowned in the upstairs swimming pool after a night of carousing. (The good senator was a parrot.)
The catch is that his mansion at the convergence of the Mission, Noe Valley and Glen Park neighborhoods doesn't have the proper zoning, and Pritikin will need approval from the city's Board of Supervisors for his plan.
The whole thing may get as far as Pritikin's 2004 offer to turn his home into the city's mayoral residence - pretty much nowhere.
Then again, this time could be different.
Pritikin, whose parties and fundraisers draw a lively cross section of the city's intriguing characters and old-guard politicos, argues his home is really the perfect place for it.
He even had the perfect name: the Only-in-San Francisco Museum.
It seemed fitting for the collection assembled by a guy who wrote a book titled "Christ was an Ad Man" and gave out wristwatches featuring Jesus with fake eyelashes in honor of Tammy Faye Messner singing at one of his renowned Labor Day bashes.
You've got Adolf Hitler's globe - with a plaque reading "May the bastard rot in hell" - juxtaposed with sculptures by pacifist Beniamino "Benny" Bufano and the blue neon sign from the defunct North Beach restaurant Moose's.
Pritikin even had a mural painted on two exterior walls depicting 70 or so famous San Franciscans, from Dianne Feinstein to topless dancer Carol Doda riding a zebra, which is being unveiled today.
Turns out the "Only-in-San Francisco" name won't fly, though. The San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau already owns the Web site onlyinsanfrancisco.com.
So Pritikin has settled on The Pritikin Museum, and he's trying to get city approval to show off his collection to the paying public.
Ticket sales will help cover the several hundred thousand dollars a year it takes to maintain his mansion and grounds, known as the Chenery House, he said.
Pritikin's plan is to have about 20 visitors a day, six days a week, who would pay $49 a pop for a docent-guided tour, a magic show and a Mexican lunch next to the pool where the parrot drowned.
"I'm not trying to make any money on this thing," he said. "I'd like to pay the bills, make a nice contribution to the community and have some daytime visitors."
Pritikin says he will strictly limit the numbers of guests and hours of operation. He has enough off-street parking. He has a busy school and senior center on either side. He's met with neighborhood groups, who seem supportive.
Pritikin also has an ally in Supervisor Bevan Dufty, who represents the area. Dufty asked the city attorney last week to draft legislation to create a special use district for the museum, saying Pritikin had an "extremely unique property" and "an amazing collection" of art and San Francisco memorabilia.
"This looks like a walk in the park compared to a mayoral residence," Dufty said with a chuckle. "The issue for me is, is it consistent with the neighborhood and copacetic with the neighbors? So far, so good."
And in Pritikin, we are talking about a guy who made his fortune convincing people to buy things. Some even give the former ad exec credit for the famous Rice-a-Roni jingle, although the words were written by the late Charles Foll.
"It's so stupid," Pritikin said as he sat surrounded by a J.M.W. Turner oil painting of Venice, a 3-foot replica of the Transamerica building made out of condom boxes and a 19th century French carousel pig. "My work is so much more sophisticated than a stupid jingle."