A few days ago, we got notice that the owners of the home that Karen and Richard Carpenter lived in in Downey were having a yard sale, advertising several Carpenters items. I picked Jeffrey up in Long Beach early this morning, and having no idea what to expect, we arrived at 9828 Newville Ave at around 9am. There were seven people there. As I said, having no idea what to expect, we were still shocked that there were only seven people there. We quickly sorted them into Carpenters fans (three) and yard sale people (four). One of the Carpenters fans was Joe from San Diego, who I have "known" for many years online in various Carpenters fan forums, but never met.

Since we were there so early, and there basically was no line up, we wandered into the back yard, which was gated but unlocked. It was truly sad. Jeffrey and Joe had been to the house a few times over the years, and they were appalled at the condition of the yard. I took several pictures, which I will show you in a minute. Complete disarray, what was once a meticulously maintained Japanese garden is now barren. The bridges are decayed, the foliage is all dead.

The owners of the home, who purchased the property about ten years ago when mother Carpenter died, have split the house into two, erecting a brick wall down the property line and literally sawing the house, the back yard, and everything in it, into two. There is a bridge in the centre of the yard that now goes right into the fence. It is very odd. We took several pictures in the back yard but were interrupted by a young man who ran out of the house claiming this area is prohibited and made us get back in line.

We were let into the house at 10am by a young latina woman, early twenties, with orange curly hair balanced precariously atop her head, and clearly overwhelmed by even the very small group of us. She initially wanted to let only five people in at once, but we protested quite loudly, and, while clearly exasperated, let us all in.

Once we were inside, though, the thrill dissipated. I had never been to the famed house before. I had no idea what to expect. Although, about 15 years ago I visited Graceland. I was so excited to see where Elvis lived; from the pictures I imagined it a castle. The reality was quite a shock. It's small, it's terribly decorated (maintained in its original 70s white trash "glory") and it's claustrophobic. And tacky.

The Newville house had a similar effect on me. Although it is (or at least, was) a very large house, still it has low ceilings, and is very dark. White (yellowed with age) stippled ceilings and dark wood beams. The style is Mediterranean, a lot of dark polished wood, faux bolts sticking out, Medieval style handles, etc. See (below) the photos I took of the wall sized wine rack. My point is, it's a home that is not at all to my taste, although one must keep in mind that it hasn't been updated for more than thirty years.

And it smelled bad. B-A-D bad. Musty, moldy, smelly, dusty. Upon closer inspection, I realized that there appeared to be water damage on the walls. Perhaps there is a legitimate reason to tear the building down, perhaps it is on its last legs, or if there is mold, the building may be uninhabitable.

The seller led us through the house (only the recreation side, though, not the living side) and pointed out the few, over priced Carpenters related items. There was the Japanese bridge, disassembled from the back yard, in a pile on the floor in the garage, for $500. A nice piece perhaps, but rotted and unwieldy. There was an array of records, laid out on a table, which she said belonged to Karen and Richard, for which she was asking an outrageous 10 a piece. (I noticed when we were leaving, much later, that the sign had been changed to $5 each. Still, no one had bought a single one.)

There were a few lamps, four stained glass, one lamp from Karen's bedroom (missing the shade), and metallic pot lamps from the music room. She was asking $200 for the lamps, which I though was about 400% more than they are worth, even if they are from a pop star's home.

She was selling the Carpenters' pool table, which was in a room of it's own, and has a small gold face plate with an inscription, something like "built for the Carpenters." Not worth the $5000 asking price (or was it $3000, but still too much).

They were also selling the carpet from the music room, a rich, soft and very red shag carpet, which Joe cut a small piece off as a memento. (Don’t ask me how much he paid for the "privilege." LOL.

They also had a huge wall-sized storage of wine, and were asking $100-500 per bottle. One of the yard sale people was a wine collector and had come specifically for the wine. However, a quick inspection revealed that most if not all the wine had spoiled due to incorrect storage, and he deemed it worthless. Although, curiously, he did buy several bottles at $1 each. The fans then took his cue and picked up a couple bottles each at the same price, purely for sentimental value.

Jeffrey had specifically expressed interest in the advertised item "Karen's bed," as he recently moved here from Sweden and doesn't have a bed. We asked about this several times, but were consistently refused permission to see it. She said she had an internet offer from the UK for $5000, and would only show us the suite if we were prepared to better that offer. I argued that we couldn't really make on offer on something like that without at least seeing it first. She agreed, but still refused to let us see the set. She said her cousin was sleeping in the bed and she didn't want to disturb her. This was at 10am. We were there for about two hours, and even after repeated inquiries were still informed that the cousin was still sleeping.

The owner of the house, the mother of the two daughters who were running the sale, had bought the house from Richard himself, was quite friendly and answered our endless Carpenters questions.

She said she had divided the house into two properties and is going to tear the first house (the one on the left, that we were in) down and build a new house for one of her daughters (I'm not sure which one). And then once that house is finished, they will tear down the main house and build another house for the other daughter.

Of course, this is horrifying news to Carpenters fans. We probably all agree that this house is sacred ground, this is where the Carpenters lived, and where Karen died. It should be a shrine, it should be a museum.

The mother said that there are many fans who come by the house, especially in the summer and especially from Japan and Europe, and there are quite often fans who leave flowers for Karen on the front steps. The eldest daughter said she was in high school when they moved into the house, and she didn't know who the Carpenters were, only that Karen was "that singer who died of anorexia." But the three of them were quite happy to talk about the Carpenters, especially the younger daughter.

There were a couple things that I would have liked to have bought, but, as I said, everything was frighteningly over-priced. Especially given that there was a less than stellar turn out. A couple more people wandered through while we were there (almost all of them gay), but I'm sure in total there was less than 15 people who attended the sale. I'm sure the girl had thought she would make off with thousands of dollars in one morning, and we die hard fans scoffed at that the big ticket items (like the bedroom set and the pool table and the bridge), not to mention discovering that her wine collection, which she had priced at over $100 a bottle and there must have been at least 500 bottles of wine there. She was understandably a little cranky.

Meanwhile, a friend of mine (Tom) that I had emailed the ad to, appeared in the doorway. I quickly gave him the run-down, and we hatched a plot to get into Karen's bedroom to see the suite. He told the girl in charge that he was interested in the suite, but couldn't make an offer on it sight unseen. Which is what I had told her about an hour earlier. But she eventually relented and took the four of us into the main house.

First, that was a shock as I never really imagined I would be inside the house. Suddenly, there we were, in the foyer. Sunken living room to the left, white carpet, a white mini grand piano (not the Carpenters' - I asked). A few more steps and you're in the dining room, with a glass top Mediterranean style table and six bleached wood chairs (original Carpenters furniture, for sale). To the left was another small room, and she said the huge black leather L-shaped sofa in there was original and for sale. As well as the white sofa and end tables in the living room. All of these furniture items are HUGE. There is no way even one of the sofas would fit into my truck, let alone my house.

Then she led us up the stairs. The stair case in complete disarray, the yellowed wallpaper peeling, the low ceiling water damaged and chipping off, carpet removed and not replaced; the hallway looked like a slum.

But then, at the top of the stairs, a quick turn into the first (small) doorway on the right, and we were cautiously ushered into Karen's former bedroom. She told us one person at a time, and no photographs because her cousin was in there sleeping. But when she knocked on the door, she discovered that her cousin wasn't there. So she relented and let the four of us in the room all at once.

It was surreal. I was in Karen Carpenter's bedroom. Jeffrey leaned over to me and whispered, "you realize you're standing in the exact spot Karen collapsed in, the morning she died." I looked down at the floor, and then up and I was indeed standing right in front of her closet, which is where her mother discovered her, comatose, on that fateful, final day in 1983. I reached out and touched the closet door handle, wondering if that was the last thing Karen touched. The room was spinning.

The bedroom itself was a mass of clutter; I believe a teenager is living in there now. Stuff everywhere, the bed a mess, the room in complete disarray. But with all of Karen's original furniture and bed. I was surprised to realize that the bed is a king size, and brass, with no footer. The mattress was low, uneven and sagging horribly; I looked underneath and the box spring was nearly touching the ground.

The bedroom suite includes the brass bed, two yellow wood night tables, a huge dresser with two ceiling high mirrors, and a huge armoire. The set is massive, the armoire is taller than me, and we guessed six and a half feet high at least, and easily five feet across. All bright lemon yellow, all meticulously carved, again, Mediterranean style. As much as I would have loved to have plunked down the cash and loaded the set into my truck, the set is so huge there would be no place for me to use it, I would have to put it in storage. And who's to say how much it's really worth. If I were to use it, I'm sorry to say, I'd have to strip it, there's no way I could live with that bright a color, even if it was Karen's selection. Not to mention the normal wear and tear of wood furniture that has been used for decades. Although, all things considered, in remarkably good condition. I imagine that that room sat untouched for over 15 years, before the house was sold.

All the way home, I was thinking what would I do with it, how often does an opportunity like this come along. To own Karen Carpenter's bedroom set. Wow.

So Jeffrey bought a couple small things, including the $1 wine bottles, spending $10; Joe bought quite few things, including the desk out of Karen's bedroom and the stained glass lamp from over the pool table, but Tom didn't buy anything, and, sadly, neither did I. We went for a quick lunch in a place we mistakenly thought was a 'Karen and Agnes haunt' back in the day, but the food was all right and a generous Joe picked up the tab (thanks again, Joe!). We then made a quick stop at the Downey library where they have a Carpenters shrine in the lobby (we took pictures and were quickly chastised by the staff), who then informed us of a binder chock full of Carpenters clippings, including what appears to be a complete set of fan club notices. Something to do on a rainy day.

The last thing we did before we said our sad goodbyes to the house for the last time was I posed in my truck in a re-creation of the famous "Now and Then" LP cover, which features Richard and Karen in their car in front of their house. You can see how it turned out (not exactly perfect, but we were going from memory only), in addition to pictures of the house (inside and out), the back yard, the division fence, the garage sale items and the Carpenters shrine at the library, all on my website. (No pictures of inside the main house or of Karen's bedroom, sadly.)

I think Richard (and Karen) would be horrified to see these pictures. A bitter-sweet day.

Rod Reynolds
Los Angeles, CA June 2007