He built his own Disneyland in the backyard...just another day at an Encino estate sale

I went to an actor’s estate sale last weekend that fascinated me. It also needs a disclaimer. It’s going to look pretty sad, but this wasn’t the house he lived in, I did my usual digging and found out he also owns the home next-door. Assuming this was a man cave of sorts.

What drew me to the sale was its impending feeling…There was an unease that I don’t even have to describe as the photos say it loud and clear.

It was a different crowd than I’m used to, they seemed unfazed by the mold that made the walls look camouflaged. A lot of people brought their kids too..I was wandering around wishing there was a closed shoe addendum. My flip flops and I tripped along wires layered so thick and hot they felt like my grandpa’s electric blanket. I might’ve gotten a shock or two but it honestly could’ve mellowed me out.

So this was the sale of Bobby Sherman. It was listed in last week’s sales, I had mentioned how I really wanted to go for the house. On the listing it was called his “cavern of curiosities”.

A man that looked like he’s never turned down an arm wrestle, was excited to tell me Bobby Sherman was a huuuuge ladies man, you know in the 1960s/70s. But then he said he preferred some guy in The Partridge Family? He brought it up in a way like I’m supposed to know what he’s talking about, so I didn’t ask any questions. My one contribution was, “did you see this thing??” and I was referring to the ticket bearer looming in a dark corner, outside of the home theater. He looked like Mr. Potato Head and was a traumatizing reveal when I finally figured out how to turn my flash on.

The movie theater grabbed you immediately with a collage of old Hollywood celebrities along the walls. Jean Harlow looking better than everyone, Humphrey Bogart with a cig dangling out of his mouth in a way we never get to see anymore because people huff big vape cartridges. It feels lighthearted, fun. Remember, we’ve tripped over rusty nails and floorboards shooting straight up cartoon style just to get to this room. The history of it all makes you almost miss that it’s a full house of mannequins dressed in obscure outfits? Why do some of them look like the co-star in Lars and the Real Girl?

Other moments that made me take a beat include, his at home flight simulator set up, with notes.

All of the T.V.s that were dangling from the ceiling via chains. If this was an all over aesthetic choice I think I would’ve gotten into it. I do understand that it is a very old man thing to do, I think he wanted to watch T.V. from bed and just thought, a quick Home Depot run will suffice.

If you can’t tell, this house doesn’t need any sort of natural disaster in order to collapse, the exhaust on a tween’s Nissan Altima would do the trick. It feels like it’s slowly dissolving into the earth. Aren’t we all but I won’t get started.

Bobby Sherman was an actor, singer, and “teen idol” in the 1960s and 70s. He released 107 songs, 23 singles and 10 albums between 1962 and 1976. In 1969 Bobby released the single “Little Woman”, which peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and spent nine weeks in the Top 20. It sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc by the R.I.A.A. in October 1969. The screaming from fans at his concerts was so intense that it left him with permanent hearing loss.

In the 70s he left the industry to become a paramedic and deputy sheriff. There was a ton of vintage EMS equipment in the sale, and parked in his driveway was his own EMS RV? Weird but cool.

On an entirely different note, he built a reproduction of the Disneyland Main St in his backyard. Disney sent him the elevations of the first two blocks, and he just went for it and did the whole thing himself (at a ⅕ scale if we’re getting technical). It took him two and a half years. I did get to see it from a distance…it was pretty incredible. Love a dude with a hobby.

Below are my favorite sales to hit this weekend. You could’ve experienced Bobby’s personal movie theater for yourself! Don’t miss out on a couturier’s phenomenal closet and a sale I’m using as an architectural tour…