The story of the shopping mall in Barbara Streisand’s house
Barbara Streisand is one of the ultimate icons of popular culture, and has enjoyed a life and career that is the stuff of dreams. She first broke through in 1963 with her critically acclaimed debut, The Barbara Streisand Album, which won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, setting a precedent for the king of soaring highs she would experience until the present.
As well as dazzling everyone with her voice on stirring cuts such as ‘The Way We Were’ and ‘Evergreen’, she’s consistently shown her theatrical aptitude in a host of classic films. From starring alongside country hero Kris Kristofferson in the original A Star Is Born to the comedy classic Meet the Fockers, in whatever setting it might be, dramatic or comedic, she has the power to hold our attention, the sign of a true great.
Streisand’s life is the stuff of legend, and whether it be her creative work or dedication to philanthropy, there are a lot of aspects to love. The New York native has been so successful that she’s amassed a wealth of around $915 million, which has allowed her to do unfathomable things to the rest of us, including building a shopping mall under her lavish home in Malibu, California.
In her basement, Streisand constructed a mini shopping mall that features a gift shop, antique clothing shop, a doll shop and a sweet shop that serves frozen yoghurt and popcorn to the A-lister guests she invites to movie screening parties. Added to this surreal sense is that each shop comes complete with old-fashioned shop fronts, whose primary purpose is to store the vast collection of items she’s accrued over the years.
“Instead of just storing my things in the basement, I can make a street of shops and display them,” Streisand told Harpers Bazaar in 2010.
In 2015, it was revealed that Ryan Murphy, the creator of the hit series Glee, alongside some other eminent peers, had visited the house at the invitation of Streisand. In an interview with Vulture, he recalled visiting the mall.
“We had dinner with Barbra and Jim, and Kelly [Preston] and John [Travolta], and Gaga and I,” Murphy said. “And after dinner, she said, ‘Do you want to see the mall?’ And Gaga and I were out of that chair so fast … We went down to the mall and spent an hour down there. She pulled out her collection of gowns from Funny Girl and Hello, Dolly! And then she said, ‘Do you want frozen yoghurt?’ I could write a whole book about that night”.
