After a years-long legal battle, the quirky, colorful prehistoric decor dotting the so-called Flintstone House will be allowed to stay.
According to the Palo Alto Daily Post, Florence Fang and the town of Hillsborough recently settled a 2019 lawsuit stemming from allegations that Fang had failed to get approval to add dinosaurs and a large sign reading “Yabba Dabba Doo,” among other things, to the yard surrounding her whimsical orange and purple home, which is very visible from Interstate 280.
The settlement agreement reportedly says Hillsborough will pay Fang, a retired media mogul whose family used to own the San Francisco Examiner, $125,000 to cover costs associated with the lawsuit and approve permits for the changes made to the home. Fang, who is in her mid-80s, will drop her claims. She has said the city had stymied her initial attempts to get permits, and she suggested that she was discriminated against for being Asian.
Attempts by this news organization to reach Fang on Saturday and Sunday were not successful, and the Angela Alioto Law Group, which is representing Fang, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. An attorney for Hillsborough also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Case records show attorneys for both Fang and Hillsborough filed requests for dismissal in late April.
Designed in the 1970s by William Nicholson, the unusual dome-shaped home sat for several years without a buyer until Fang scooped up the nearly 3,000-square-foot Bay Area landmark in 2017 for $2.8 million.
Soon, she was adorning the property with the controversial dinosaur statues and other eccentric sculptures that would lead to legal woes.
“Before, passing by, I always wondered who’s living in that house. Now I’m the one,” Fang told this news organization in 2018.
She isn’t the only one who has wondered about the unique structure which resembles the cave-like homes featured in the popular Flintstones cartoon series that ran on TV in the 1960s.
On Saturday afternoon, several selfie-seeking tourists parked their car near the home on quiet Berryessa Way and approached a padlocked gate, bearing both a “no trespassing” posting and a sign emblazoned with the phrase, “Life is so good.”
Before them were cartoonish red-capped mushrooms, bright green cacti and, off to the right under some shade, a cluster of baby dinosaurs hatching from pastel eggs — seemingly unaware of the legal battle they had just weathered.
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