Contemplating.

Contemplating.
Wayzata, Minnesota

Friday, March 15, 2013

Guess What?

Guess what's on the market?

Of course, to even consider whether you'd be interested or not, do you have a spare $2,895,000 (oh shucks with closing costs and all just round it off to a healthy 3 million.)

That's right, with taxes of a little over 48 thousand dollars a year you can own the old "Mary Tyler Moore" house in Minneapolis located on 2104 Kenwood Parkway. 

Although, Mary never actually ever lived there.  But she did visit often.




Pictured here from the old days, when Mary's sitcom was being filmed.




Surely you recall Mary Tyler Moore's show from the 1970's sitcom featuring Mary as, Mary Richards a 30 something never married independent career woman fighting her way into the business world?

You could never forget Lou Grant, her boss and possibly this exchange between them. 

Lou Grant: Mary, I don't want you to take this wrong, but you're a jerk.
Mary Richards: How could I possibly take that wrong?




Mary and Lou Grant (Ed Asner) her boss(holding Ted Baxter, a buffoonish anchorman played by Ted Knight) at their Television station WJM.





Secretly, I think it was watching this show, and rerun after rerun that guided me into the banking business in downtown Minneapolis.  Seriously, at the time didn't most women dream of being just like Mary?  Even if we weren't 30 years old yet?  I know I envied her style.


 
2104 Kenwood Parkway, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The house, is currently listed for sale, (not even one offer on the table) I know after confirming over the telephone just now.  But this time since it's last sale in 2007 they aren't bragging about it being the "Mary Tyler Moore House" but true fans will always remember.
 
 
The house is not located on either lake but it does beam ever so magnificently between Cedar Lake and Lake of the Isles, in Minneapolis.
 
 
 
 

Mary and her best friend Rhoda, (Valerie Harper) sharing a conversation in the ever changing studio apartment that Mary rented for $130.00 a month in the television sitcom world.
 
 
 
Right now today, this could be your enclosed front porch and entry way.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
These stairs lead up to the second level of this more than two story house featured for sale today!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Of course the house that Mary and Rhoda romped around for their sitcom didn't look anything like this.  In fact the show listed their apartment building to be located at 119 North Weatherly which doesn't even exist in Minneapolis, or anywhere near there.  The sitcom was actually filmed on stage in Los Angeles, but the cast did make it out here to 2104 Kenwood Parkway where all the outdoor shots were filmed.
 
 
Lovely place isn't it?
 
 
 
 

For those of you that never viewed the show, Mary Tyler Moore is sitting on the arm chair on the left of this picture and her best friend for life, Rhoda Morgenstern (Valerie Harper) is sitting on the couch leaning over and wearing a red dress.
 
 
 
Note the ever changing famous window in Mary's apartment?  It's always fun to follow the many different views outside her window and furniture arrangement the show brought to her apartment.
 
 
 
 
 
 


At the door is their manipulative, self-centered landlady Phyllis Lindstrom played by Cloris Leachman.



Rhoda to Mary: It's a magnifying mirror!  Mary, why didn't you warn me?  I thought it was a relief map of the moon.  When they sell those magnifying mirrors they should include a printed suicide note.




To magnify or not to magnify that is the question?
 





Of course the house was divided into separate apartments for the show, (here Mary is visiting Rhoda in her own apartment) and today the real house on Kenwood Parkway is a single family residence.


 

 
 
Just look at another famous person we've all come to know and cherish sitting with the Mary Tyler Moore gang years later, with a few décor changes.
 
 
 
Not to mention dear Betty White, she too, made appearances on Mary's show.
 
 
 
 
 
Do you remember what Mary's thoughts were on the news?
 

 
"If it weren't for the rotten things that happen in this world we couldn't put on the news show.  We should be grateful to all the people who do those rotten things.  We should stop them in the streets and say, "Thank you Mr. Mugger, thank you Mr. Thief, thank you Mr. Maniac."

 
 
We know Mary wasn't serious, but it does make you reflect on just what our news is all about doesn't it?  Just don't linger too long in ill reflections though.  Just like this pretty picture below life is good, and it's a darn splendid neighborhood right here waiting for someone to raise their family in a wonderful Minnesota spirit. 
 
 
 
So what do you think?  Isn't this a charmingly, quaint rear patio?  In case you're wondering, if the house features a pool, not yet anyway.
 
 
 
 
So there it is, the current owners of the famously old and never forgotten, Mary Tyler Moore House, have put their 9,500 square foot home featuring 7 bedrooms, 4 full baths and 5 partial baths on sale.
 
 But the memory of that sitcom lives on, and famous celebrities still have to pay their respects to Mary and her friends.  Just like Ellen DeGeneres, generously did in August of 2011, see photo below.
 
 

Live next to the famous Mary Tyler Moore statue (featuring her favorite hat tossing on the opening of her sitcom) right on Nicollet Avenue in downtown Minneapolis.  Here Mayor R. T. Rybak officially declared this day as "Ellen DeGeneres Day" in which Ellen graciously accepted and mentioned that today, tomorrow and every other day should be Ellen day!
 
 
So, whether or not you're in the market for a famous house such as this, you have to admit this is television history, and fond memories of a long ago time in the business world, reaching in the limelight of today. 
 
Gone but never forgotten.
 
 
 

9 comments:

Filip and Kristel said...

Looks nice but far to expensive for my pocket.

Greetings,
Filip

Author R. Mac Wheeler said...

Let me guess. You really liked the MTM Show. Eh?

I personally thought it was dumb.

But MTM get's lots of accolades for contributing to our social conscious.

(Or...was it just pop culture? I'm unsure)

*smile*

21 Wits said...

Mac- I must confess I really did enjoy the MTM show, but that was a long time ago, and I've grown up and moved on since those days- ha! ha! I'm not so sure I'd be of fan of it today- but it's a part of my history that's for sure! I worked just up the street from where her statue now stands and it was back in the day when banking was a 9 to 5 or rather 8 to 4 working day period! Downtown anyway!

Alexia said...

I loved Mary Tyler Moore! Thanks for making me remember the show, Karen. I liked her feistiness. I must admit it's one of the few American comedies I've ever liked... don't shoot me now!

Looks like a nice house. I would certainly buy it if I lived in Minneapolis, and I needed a huge house, and I had the money :)

Max Sartin said...

Wonderful commentary on the house and the MTM show.
Did you know the original script had Mary Richards being recently divorced and moving to Minneapolis to start a new life? They changed it because they were afraid people would see her as having divorced Dick Van Dyke, and wouldn't watch the show?

darlin said...

I loved Mary Tyler Moore and you're so right, I too wanted to be a Mary of the world. It seems funny today to think back to those days when today women are in all areas of the workforce, we've come a long way baby! lol

The house is very nice indeed, but 3 million, I think that's a bit steep for a home such as this. If I were to have 3 million to spend on a home it would have to have a pool and a guest house, and a maid! lol

Have a wonderful weekend Karen!

Unknown said...

Far too many times, I think of Ted when watching a newscaster. Of course, that certainly attests to what an impression the show made upon me, but it certainly does not speak well of far too many actual newscasters.

sage said...

Beautiful house, but a little out of my price range. I remember Mary Tyler Moore, but only vaguely as there was a period then that I was watching little TV (which continued on to today).

Unknown said...

Maybe your post will help to sell the house! I've never watched her show (no episodes were shown on Dutch TV when I was young), except for a few episodes on youtube when people reference to them (I remember 'Chuckles Bites the Dust'). I love the 70s colors and hair styles.