That house is famously visible from the I-280 Freeway. (Here’s a view from that angle taken in 2007).
22 Likes
I got the impression that the traffic from gawkers is posing a problem in this case.
1 Like
One person’s art is another person’s…
If you did that, I would recommend painting the lawn gnomes blue and maybe giving one a red hat and red pants.
6 Likes
I’m with others on here. It doesn’t look like it is THAT visible from the streets or other properties. View from the highway doesn’t matter, no one lives on the highway. And while I do believe people can do too much and trash up their yard, that photo looks like she has a theme and it is done well, not over done.
It’s waaaaayyyy better than this article I saw where a buy bought like 10,000 printers, and then sold off the ink for profit, and dumped the printers in his back yard. That’s a mess.
6 Likes
I’ve never seen people stop on the freeway to look but it’s one of those local landmarks everyone points out as they drive past.
I think this has less to do with the neighbors than the city itself being embarrassed by what passers-by might think.
9 Likes
I don’t live in an HOA neighborhood, but sometimes they serve a purpose by preventing weirdness like this.
10 Likes
It needs a couple of those stone-agey cars in the driveway though.
6 Likes
Everyone needs a hobby. If it was an Obama display it would only be a little less weird.
4 Likes
It occurs to me that those giant stone axlewheels could be chock full of batteries…
1 Like
Give her a permit on condition that she opens the place up for the public and makes it into an official tourist attraction.
1 Like
I think it might be visible from the houses across the valley from it. Still not something worth freaking out over though.
1 Like
You can see it from I280 (mostly from the northbound lanes) as well. But… why do they care? It’s literally the only interesting thing about Hillsborough.
11 Likes
Oh, no, it’s totally visible from 280. It might be fun close up, but it really looks pretty crappy at a distance.
1 Like
I feel like there are three levels of control that communities exert over public-visible property:
- Conformity (no chairs on the porch)
- Whimsy (Flintstones house, hypothetical Obama display)
- Nastiness (Trump display)
3 Likes
Sounds like Hillsborough has their own version of the Morale Suppression Initiative in effect…
1 Like
I suspect that if a HOA tried to ban that, they’d be hit by a number of lawsuits about constraining political speech - likely backed by conservative political groups looking to make headlines - that they’d give in and let it stand.
6 Likes
I always thought it looked pretty neat. And what she’s done is fun - and it’s her house.
Also, as I noted above, it’s the only interesting thing about Hillsborough. I’d wager that 90 percent of the people that see it from the freeway the first time don’t even know what town that is.
4 Likes
It’s a veritable Bedrock of our democracy!
19 Likes
