Do You Remember: Barbra Streisand’s Basement Mall
People who need basement malls are the luckiest people in the world.
We don’t make celebrities like Barbra Streisand anymore. The EGOT queen of song, film, and white microphones is a unique figure flung out of space via Brooklyn, a timeless relic of classic stardom who could only have been created in the liminal space between the end of the studio system and the birth of New Hollywood. She’s a true legend who took control of her career and image at a time when most stars were moulded by studio heads. We could be here all day listing her unique qualities and legacy, but you should just read her highly enjoyable doorstop of a memoir for that.
Barbra is also proudly bananas. The merits of being a beyond-famous national treasure include the ability to do whatever the hell you want, whether it’s directing, writing, producing and starring in Yentl, pretending you don’t remember whether or not you f*cked Warren Beatty, or doing a duet with Bob Dylan. In a life of firsts, Barbra gave us one of the most delicious and ridiculous displays of A-List clout: her basement mall.
(Image via YouTube // CBS This Morning.)
Streisand lives in a stunning coastal mansion in Malibu. You might recognize it from images that went viral after she tried to sue a photographer for $50 million for invasion of privacy because a picture of her house was one of literally thousands in a collection documenting coastal erosion in California. The more that Streisand tried to suppress the images, the more they were shared in reporting of the story. Thus the Streisand Effect was born!
As you would expect for an icon of stage and screen, Streisand has amassed an incredible collection of items over the decades. She’s dined with Presidents, won Oscars, snogged Robert Redford, and remade A Star is Born. With an archive like that, she was looking for a unique way to display it all. On a trip to the legendary decorative-arts museum Winterthur in Delaware, she became fascinated by the 19th-century-style shops that filled their indoor street. It was a nostalgic fantasy and one that was so very Barbra. So, in the early 2000s, she decided to bring it to life in her basement.
There’s a cobblestone street lit by lanterns that leads to an array of stores: the Sweet Stop, which offers popcorn and frozen yogurt to guests (usually during screening parties), the Gift Shoppe where Barbra can put together an aesthetically curated present for her nearest and dearest; the Antique Clothes Shop that houses her legendary outfits, and Bee’s Doll Shop, which is self-explanatory. In front of that, there is a bench, where men can sit dutifully while the ladies are inside. I like to imagine James Brolin just resting there while Barbra hangs out with her collection.
(Image via Reddit.)
