Lime-green Bev. Hills mansion owing Sheik NLSTP
PUSSSYKATT
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Mohammed al-Fassi, the Saudi Arabian sheik whose
bizarre, lime-green mansion touched off a firestorm in normally staid Beverly
Hills and who later ran afoul of the Saudi royal family, has died at age 50.
Al-Fassi, who had been ill for much of the past year, died on Tuesday in Cairo
of complications from a liver infection, high-profile divorce lawyer Marvin
Mitchelson said. Sources with the Egyptian security sources confirmed his
death.
Mitchelson, who represents Al-Fassi's estranged first wife in a bitter court
fight between the couple stemming from their legal separation, said Al-Fassi
developed the liver infection during treatment for a hernia in his back.
Al-Fassi touched off a furor in Beverly Hills in 1978 when he paid $2.4 million
in cash for a mansion in an exclusive neighborhood that was also home to
Hollywood superstars Zsa Zsa Gabor, Rock Hudson, Debbie Reynolds and Red
Buttons.
Soon after moving into the elegant, 38-room mansion on Sunset Boulevard,
al-Fassi began to redecorate -- painting the house a shocking lime green,
replacing its red tile roof with bright copper and filling planters with
plastic flowers.
He painted classic nude statues on the sprawling estate in flesh colors, adding
lifelike hair and genitalia. The strange tableau stopped traffic on busy Sunset
Boulevard and attracted tourists to the neighborhood, infuriating his wealthy
neighbors.
"The mobs were immense on Sunset and they'd all stop and point it out like it
was the second coming of the Lord," Mitchelson said. "It became a famous
stopping-off place. He had all these statues out in front of the house painted
in different colors with pubic hair and everything else."
"He thought it was artistic," Mitchelson said. "He said he was entitled to do
what he liked with his own house and he thought he had an artistic touch."
The house was torched in 1980, allegedly by someone who lived nearby, while
al-Fassi and his family were in Europe, Mitchelson said. Neighbors gathered to
watch the blaze, he said, cheering and chanting: "Burn! Burn! Burn!"
The rubble of the mansion was razed and the lot remains vacant.
By the early 1990s, al-Fassi was back in the Middle East, where he began
criticizing the Saudi royal family in radio broadcasts from Baghdad. Mitchelson
said al-Fassi's actions ultimately landed him in jail and then house arrest in
Saudi Arabia.
He spent three years under house arrest before he was freed and banished from
the country, Mitchelson said.
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Le Grande Raoul
>
> Soon after moving into the elegant, 38-room mansion on Sunset Boulevard,
> al-Fassi began to redecorate -- painting the house a shocking lime green,
> replacing its red tile roof with bright copper and filling planters with
> plastic flowers.
>
> He painted classic nude statues on the sprawling estate in flesh colors,
> adding
> lifelike hair and genitalia. The strange tableau stopped traffic on busy
> Sunset
> Boulevard and attracted tourists to the neighborhood, infuriating his wealthy
> neighbors.
>
> "The mobs were immense on Sunset and they'd all stop and point it out like it
> was the second coming of the Lord," Mitchelson said. "It became a famous
> stopping-off place. He had all these statues out in front of the house painted
> in different colors with pubic hair and everything else."
>
> "He thought it was artistic," Mitchelson said. "He said he was entitled to do
> what he liked with his own house and he thought he had an artistic touch."
I remember this guy! He was inspirational to me! If I had that kind
of money, I might just do the same.
Imagine: twenty or thirty life-like statues in front of your house with
bright red peepees and pubic hair that looked like Brillo pads!
The best part is that it would infuriate my wealthy neighbors! After
enjoying myself for about a year, I'd slap about a 20% premium to the
value of the place, circulate flyers amongst my neighbors saying that
the house was for sale and, if no one wanted to buy it, I'd live there
for another five years. Once they owned it, they could do what they
wanted- just as I did. But, instead.......
> The house was torched in 1980, allegedly by someone who lived nearby, while
> al-Fassi and his family were in Europe, Mitchelson said. Neighbors gathered to
> watch the blaze, he said, cheering and chanting: "Burn! Burn! Burn!"
Supplyside Republican bastards. Personal freedom and a lack of
governmental control is just fine unless it shows up next to your
high-priced mansion with its penis painted bright red. Same bastards
like to talk about 'throw the law-breaking druggies in jail. Forever!'
Pity no one was strung up for destroying the "Penis Estates"
raoul
Haruspex
<ra...@olympus.net> wrote:
Yeh, I remember seeing this in the late 70s. He painted the statues
with public hair, etc. What a freak <albeit a wealthy freak>
mslinda
> On Wed, 01 Jan 2003 09:31:45 -0800, Le Grande Raoul
> <ra...@olympus.net> wrote:
>
> Yeh, I remember seeing this in the late 70s. He painted the statues
> with public hair, etc. What a freak <albeit a wealthy freak>
I live pretty close to there and used to drive past it a lot. We used to
wonder what horrible new thing he'd do next. The dyed Astroturf public hair
was the worst.
Linda C.
jflexer
"mslinda" <msl...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:3E138278...@earthlink.net...
I didn't live here then - sad to have missed it...
Is that the big empty lot on Sunset - in the back corner is a shiny,
horse-like sculpture??
maryanne kehoe
His brother lived in Atlanta for awhile and did something similar to a
mansion out on West Paces Ferry Road.