Flintstone House

Drivers on Interstate 280 south of San Francisco could glimpse a hillside house of purple and red domes ringed by dinosaurs and cartoon figures, and the town it sits in went to court over them. SFGATE captions describe the house as built in 1976 and perched on a hillside overlooking the freeway. NBC News reported in 2021 that the house had been vacant for several years before a 2017 purchase, after which the new owner added dinosaurs, Flintstones statues and a sign reading “Yabba Dabba Doo”. In January 2018 SFGATE reported, citing readers who drove past, that three large dinosaur sculptures, a woolly mammoth and a giraffe had appeared on the sloping yard shortly after the new year. The Town of Hillsborough sued in 2019, saying the additions needed permits; the owner disputed this and countersued. The case settled in April 2021, though a gag order delayed the details until June. NBC News, citing the Mercury News and the Palo Alto Daily Post, reported that the town would pay $125,000 towards costs, that permits had to be applied for but were guaranteed approval, and that the improvements “will be permitted to remain”. In July 2024 the town told the owner that a paid dinner planned at the house could not go ahead, citing the single-family residential zoning; the caterer said it was not a restaurant. It is a private home: look from the public road and leave the property alone.