Goonies House Owner Slams Tourists For Doing The Truffle Shuffle In Her Garden
The owner of the house where the Walsh family lived in ‘The Goonies’ has slammed the behaviour of some of the tourists who flock to see it, and has now put up huge blue tarpaulins to restrict the view.
The house in Astoria, Oregon, where the movie was filmed, is best known for the scene in which Jeff Cohen’s Chunk performs the famous 'truffle shuffle’ just outside the front gate.
But the volume of tourists – which has ballooned this year due to the film’s 30th anniversary – now appears to have become intolerable.
Sandi Preston, who owns the house, has said that she can receive up to 1,500 visitors a day, and while some are polite and courteous, others are not.
She has found her property littered with beer bottles and cigarette butts, and had dogs urinating on her lawn.
Earlier this year, she told local paper Gazette Extra: “Though I enjoy meeting new people, it’s become very difficult to live here.
“People walk up the driveway and stand in the middle of the access road or driveway and refuse to move when a resident needs to drive up or down.”
Preston, who bought and restored the house in 2001, has now put up large blue sheeting around the front of the house, and also posted a sign up outside explaining the move.
“Imagine that you buy a house, fix it up, spend money, time and love. Then the city of Astoria encourages 100,000’s of people to come and stand in front and view it,” it reads.
“This driveway (maintained by homeowners) sees 1,000+ people every day. Most are kind, fun and welcome, but many are not.”
Things didn’t help when the city decided to celebrate the film’s 30th birthday with a weeklong festival, encouraging thousands more fans to descend from all over the world for tours of filming locations.
Regina Wilkie of the city’s chamber of commerce agreed that the situation had come to a head, telling the Daily Astorian: “[Preston] was overwhelmed and looking for help to try to get some semblance of normal life back. It’s just a constant stream of people coming at all hours of the day.”
Preston herself published a comment on 30th anniversary celebration Facebook page, saying: “The (caliber) of people/generations is changing, and not for the better.
“They don’t have a sense of family or community but feel entitled and let no one get in their way. We see it daily with the threats against us; all because we choose to have some privacy. It’s been unrestricted for 14 years and we are worn out.”
Fans have not taken well to the restrictions.
One told KGW News: “She should realize that there is a following for this movie and that people really want to see this house.”
Added another: “It’s a bummer as someone who just wanted to come see a piece of childhood and something you think you’re a part of.”
Image credits: ETonline/Yahoo File
