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Jerry Garcia’s Stinson Beach home asks $4.35 million

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Standing on Stinson Beach, the sea will part before you

The facade and yard of 18 Avenida Farrallones Brian McCloud

Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Jerry Garcia’s house at 18 Ave Farralone, Stinson Beach in Marin County is for sale again, asking $4.35 million, down a bit from its previous listing asking nearly $4.6 million last June.

That listing failed to secure a buyer, but maybe this time they’ll try just a little but harder, try just a little bit more.

Compared to the remarkable refinement of Dead bassist Phil Lesh’s own North Bay home that listed last April, Garcia’s onetime crash pad looks a bit more humble and even a bit retro, which we suppose means the decor was built to last.

It sports some weird little touches of sense and color, like the startling sunburst tiles in the bathrooms and golden backsplash in the kitchen.

But additions like the psychedelic lighting fixtures previously on display last summer have been retired to the attics of life, full of cloudy dreams.

The old place has some smart fundamentals too, like the giant sliding glass walls in the living room, and a location adjacent to Bolinas Bay. A peaceful place (so it looks from space), though a close look reveals the human race.

Not many of them, though; Stinson Beach has a population of about 630. Love is like an April rain that makes the harvest grow, but most of what’s growing here is cypress and redwoods on an acre overlooking the sweet calm face of the sea.

Back in 2013 this retreat, which Garcia reportedly nicknamed "Sans Souci" (roughly, "No worries") sold for $3.6 million.

Note that Garcia and his wife paid $20,000 for it in 1971, the equivalent of about $118,000 today, proving once again that it costs a lot to win and even more to lose.

It’s been 35 years since Jerry himself sang here a little while and then flew on. In the meantime a member of San Francisco-based pop rock band Pablo Cruise also owned the estate, and it’s hard to tell how much of the Garcia vibe remains, since sometimes we live no particular way but our own.

Time will tell if the new staging and slight price break since last year will attract new eyes to the place. Buyers, of course, are not often right, but have never been wrong, so personal taste is paramount.


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