In early December, a house featured in the 1985 movie “The Goonies” was bought by superfan Behman Zakeri for $1.65 million. Zakeri’s childhood friend Michael Eakin also bought a neighboring house at the same time. Zakeri, an entrepreneur from Overland Park, Kansas, has made it clear that he would encourage fans to come to visit the home. This decision has apparently sparked a passive-aggressive sign war with their neighbor.
Megan Hodges has been very vocal with her issues regarding the property. From how much traffic it causes, to disrespect by fans visiting the neighborhood. She decided to voice her concerns with a large banner in front of her home which reads: “Goonies Not Welcome.”
In true Goonies fashion, Zakeri and Eakin were not going to back down from this battle. Zakeri put up his own banner which reads: “Hey You Guys! Goonies Welcome.” Eakin also put up a banner that reads “iGNORE KAREN,” with an arrow pointing to Hodges’ home.
Hodges claims she hung her banner preemptively. “The new owner has really aggressively stated how much he is going to invite more people,” she said. “I just want to live in peace and quiet and I feel like everybody has a right to. And off of one person’s greed and profit, the whole neighborhood has to suffer.”
It is safe to say Zakeri is on a completely different page. “There is nothing more important to me than preserving the landmark while also respecting the local community,” he said. “I hope that the neighborhood can understand how exciting this journey is for me, and can join me in celebrating the Goonie magic.”
Unfortunately, this is far from a new issue with the property. The last time this seriously boiled over was in 2015 when the film’s 30th anniversary was drawing larger-than-average crowds. This caused the home’s previous owner to put up “No Trespassing” signs, and close foot traffic to the famous house.
Hodges and other neighbors have asked the city to take measures to ease traffic concerns. But is seems like little to nothing has been done. “The impact is great, and the response is not great,” Hodges said. “When nothing gets done, what are you supposed to do? I mean, what am I supposed to do, just keep showing up to the City Council meetings and saying the same thing over and over?”
Whereas Zakeri thinks he can quell some of these issues by simply asking visitors to be chill. “Let’s not go in the neighbors’ yards,” he said. “Let’s not mess with their stuff. If they want to come take selfies, if they want to geocache or whatever and say, ‘I was at the Goonies house,’ and do the truffle shuffle, then go right ahead. Just be respectful, just like anything else.”
