|
Texas home of Janis
Joplin hits market for $500,000, gawkers included
Send a link to a friend
[June 09, 2016]
By Jim Forsyth
SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - The
modest home in the gritty Texas refinery city of Port
Arthur where rock legend Janis Joplin grew up in the
1950s is up for sale at a hefty price of $500,000, a
realtor said on Wednesday.
|
|
 The price for the 1,300-square-foot (121-square-meter) house
with a small front porch is about 10 times higher than the
asking price for other homes in the area. The Joplin home comes
with a historical marker and a steady stream of fans of the
woman known for songs including "Me and Bobby McGee," and "Piece
of my Heart."
The current owners of the home, about 90 miles (145 km) east of
Houston, has grown a hedge around the property to prevent
gawkers from peering through the windows, said realtor Diane
Fernandez.
"The owners have had people come from all over the world. They
come from Europe, Australia. They've had people offer them
$2,000 to sleep on Janis Joplin's bedroom floor," she said in an
interview.
Fernandez says the current homeowners, who declined to be named,
did not accept the offers.
The house even comes with an autograph, according to Sarah
Bellian of the Museum of the Gulf Coast.
"(Janis) and her sister carved their names into wood in the
house," she said.
[to top of second column] |
Joplin, born in 1943, was an outcast kid who was bullied for her
love of black music in the days of strict segregation in Texas.
A marker from the Texas Historical Commission waits in the yard of
the house. It says Joplin rebelled against conservatism at home and
left for the University of Texas in Austin in 1962, before her 20th
birthday.
About a year later, she moved to San Francisco where her career as a
singer took off. In 1970, she died of an accidental drug overdose at
the age of 27.
"She grew up in a normal house," Bellian said. "She didn't have a
particularly special or privileged upbringing."
(Reporting by Jim Forysth; Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by
Alistair Bell)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
