Following up on a tip, I saw that the house from A Christmas Story is for sale on eBay.
According to the eBay listing, "Buy this house and re-live Ralphy's adventures in the original house from the movie "A Christmas Story". The house, which is actually on Cleveland's Near West Side, has been known to draw fans of the movie.
Their asking price is $99,900, and does NOT come with the leg lamp.
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Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - michelle poole
I love how the "shed" will "bring back childhood memories." Did you see the pic of the shed?!? Scary. It reminds ME of the shed from "Sling Blade." And for only $99,000 you have to wonder what sort of neighborhood this house is in. I doubt that kids getting their tongues stuck to poles comprises the major social problems that exist. As much as I love a "Christmas Story" I'd stay away from buying this house....
2 - Bruce Kratofil
Michelle --
I know exactly what kind of neighborhood-- for I live about six miles away. The house sits on the rim of the Cuyahoga Valley, and below it are steel mills. For awhile, these mills had been shuttered, but they've started back up again.
Six or eight blocks north, the area is rapidly gentrifying, with lots of new restaurants, bars, rehabbed buildings being turned into condos, and the like. This part is the Tremont neighborhood in Cleveland.
"A Christmas Story" wasn't the only movie filmed here. Big chunks of "The Deer Hunter" were also shot in this neighborhood -- the church, the hall where they had the wedding reception (one of the buildings going condo), the grocery store where Meryl Streep worked, and quite a few other street scenes.
3 - Anita Campbell
Bruce, this is interesting news! The movie is on TV all over the place this week. It's become a classic at our house.
Happy holidays,
Anita
4 - andy marsh
Of course there's no lamp. It's broken!
5 - Eric Olsen
thanks Bruce, very interesting local news - I would be concerned about the wiring and the neighbor dogs, though. At $100k there doesn't appear to be much of a "celebrity premium"
6 - Mark Saleski
no problem andy, get yer leg lamps here.
7 - Bruce Kratofil
I'd also inspect that #@!$%@#!!^&*! furnace very carefully, too.
8 - andy marsh
Mark - I think I'd rather get mine the old fashioned way. Didn't he win that lamp writing dirty stories or something like that?
9 - AZMike
I can't recall ever being in Cleveland but if it is similar to other cities in the Midwest $99000 buys a pretty decent house. "When I was a kid..." Seriously the house I grew up in in Estherville, Iowa could probably be bought for under $50,000.
A good marketer could offer tours and could build "a package" that would get RALPHY fans coming all-year-long. With a SPECIAL "sleep at the Christmas Story house" for only $399.00. (That ought to make it a seriously great investment.) And if the NEW owners were smart they would get some autographed pictures to include in the pictures.
Just my two cents.
AZMike
P.S. Nice Blog!
10 - Eric Olsen
Thanks Mike! Excellent marketing ideas - Cleveland is still underpriced for real estate although many areas are gentrifying. If you are willing to live within city limits you can get some great deals. Seriously crappy schools, though
11 - Brian
I bought the house. I plan to rehab it and turn it into a museum for all to visit. Nice to hear the neighborhood is on the up and up. Having a tourist attraction should help generate even more business for the new restrauants and shops. The website www.achristmasstoryhouse.com will go up in about a month. It will chronicle the house, its restoration and the movie. It will take some serious work to do the restoration correctly but it will be a fun project and an adventure. I think the house is a true piece of Americana.
Happy New Year--- Brian
12 - Bruce Kratofil
Brian -- good luck if you actually bought the house, although I hope you did more investigating of the neighborhood than just my capsule review
13 - Eric Berlin
I don't if anyone has seen or made mention of this, but the Christmas Story lamp is on sale at Amazon, and was on a list of the 25 Weirdest Items you can purchase until, at some point recently, the leggy lamp ran out of stock:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000C6ECG/garylapointe-20/ref%3Dnosim/102-6978679-2813735
Eric Berlin
Dumpster Bust: Miracles from Mind Trash
http://dumpsterbust.blogspot.com
14 - Jon
This is the best leg lamp I've seen. I got one for xmas and it's just like the movie
15 - Eric Olsen
that IS one hell of a leg lamp
16 - Howard
I have a buddy in the entertainment biz and he heard Warner Bros. is going to file a lawsuit against the guy who bought the house because he is using the name and logo to promote this project. I guess they did'nt give him the thumbs up on the project. Too bad that the big corps have to get a piece of everything...the guys promoting their movie...what's the problem
17 - Frank
I bought a Red Rider leg lamp from the company that owns this house. It's Garbage! It works but it's made very cheaply. My advice, get the One leg up leg lamp. It's much better quality.
18 - Eric Olsen
I thought Red Rider was the BB gun - now they make leg lamps?
19 - Eric Olsen
it would appear so given the ad at the top of the page
20 - Bubba
I got a Red rider leg lamp on ebay for a steal. Not the best quality lampshade and the stocking was a little stretched but a great price and a bargain for what I paid
21 - Lori
I made the mistake of buying a redrider leg lamp on ebay. I was very dissapointed in the quality. All of the components seem to be bottom of the line. The seller hyped it up so much and says it's the best quality you can find....NOT TRUE! I'd love to tell fellow ebayers the truth about this lamp but I'm afraid I'll receive negative feedback from the seller if I clue people int. That's the problem with ebay. There is so much fear in telling the truth because you don't want to jeopardize your precious feedback. Anyway, It works fine but does not look anything like the movie lamp. Maybe the owner of the company should have spent more money on developing a good product instead of buying the christmas story house. ):
22 - Ziggy
There are two other companies that sell leg lamps. You may want to try them. leglamps.com and leglamp.com. Found them on the web. They are a bit more expensive than the redrider but they both look pretty nice! and you can get crates too! May help you with your redrider blues. Don't shoot your eye out...Ha Ha!
23 - Harold
OH MY GOD was I unhappy with the red rider leg lamp. I thought about sending it back but the guarantee requires me to pay to ship it back and I lose my original $45 that spent to have it shipped to me. So thats $90 for the pleasure of looking at the darn thing. Figure I'll just keep it. If you don't care about quality and you just want a leg lamp, then it will do. I was expecting a much nicer lamp based on the description.
24 - Brain Boy
The most authentic leg lamp is the NECA leg lamp. It is officially licensed by Warner Brothers and I guess looks just like the movie lamp. Don't let the other companies fool ya!
25 - johnboy
I didn't much care for the NECA lamp. The shade is too short for the width and the leg glow is dim. For the offical lamp it looks the least like the movie of any I have seen. Looks like NECA spend more on their license than making a good lamp. I got a Red Rider Leg Lamp to replace it and was very pleased with it. It was also half the price of the others. For my money you can't beat it.