Save The Carpenters’ Home!
Karen and Richard Carpenters’ former home in Downey, CA is in danger of getting the chop. The home is where the two wrote a lot of their songs and it was the cover of their album “Now & Then.” It was also where Karen collapsed in 1983 before passing away.
The home’s current owners, Manuel and Blanca Melendez Parra, want to bulldoze the house down and build a new one, because they are sick of being bothered by Carpenters’ fans. The Parra family said that when they first bought the house they allowed the fans in, but it became too much. “In the beginning, we let everybody in. But honestly, it became horrible, not only for us but for the neighborhood. People peek in windows and take pictures. They leave flowers on the front porch.” Free flowers? Where’s the problem?
Carpenters’ fans are protesting the demolition and have asked the city of Downey to make the home a historical landmark. One fan said, “This house is our version of Graceland. When they photographed the ‘Now & Then’ cover here in 1973, the house was instantly immortalized.”
We’ve only just begun, Blanca! All these fans needs to do is ask Blanca to give them the house and they can move it somewhere else and turn it into a museum or something. This sounds like a job for Ty Pennington and Extreme Home Makeover.