Barris custom auto shop to leave San Fernando Valley (and take Batmobile with it) – Daily News

I was looking at the Batmobile. He was resting in broad daylight in a showroom in the San Fernando Valley, like walking around, kicking the tires, and signing the papers to bring him home.

Supreme automotive customizer George Barris designed the Batmobile for the 1960s TV show. He had about three weeks to modify a Futura concept car with its bubble-shaped cockpits in the winged car that carried Adam West and Burt Ward around Gotham City.

The replica version is on display at Barris Kustom Industries in North Hollywood, but not for long.

Barris’ operation plans to move west to Ventura in 2022. His six-decade home at 10811 Riverside Drive is for sale, news that rocked the hot rod world. The 18,000 square foot corner lot is priced at just under $ 4 million.

“We are already in receivership with two backup offers,” her daughter Joji Barris-Paster told me when I visited on September 4. “It happened so fast. Almost too fast.

The process was emotional for the family, akin to cleaning up a relative’s house after their death. George died in 2015 at the age of 89. He had been semi-retired for years but retained the property as his head office, office and storage space.

And he had a lot to store. He enjoyed shopping for toys, thousands of them, based on his designs, not just the Batmobile but the Munsters Koach and Clampetts truck on “Beverly Hillbillies,” among others. And he kept multiple copies of any magazine featuring him.

Much of it has been sold. Barris Kustom is involved in car shows and educational programs for young people, but no longer accepts new projects, which means that a full personalized workshop is no longer necessary. Which doesn’t mean walking away is easy.

“It’s not easy for us,” says Barris-Paster. “It’s bittersweet. The days when we fall apart and cry. It has been a big part of our lives.

At the onset of the coronavirus, the family moved from Encino to a second home in Oxnard. As the year progressed, they decided to stay on the coast, especially as they began to make friends in the auto show community. So they bought a bigger house for a permanent residence and decided to move Barris Kustom rather than commuting. A site has yet to be found.

“It’s not that we are closing. We are moving, ”emphasizes Barris-Paster.

I got interested in my usual roundabout route. The anthology “Writing Los Angeles” gave me the chance to read Tom Wolfe’s famous 1965 Esquire article, “The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby,” on the custom car phenomenon of LA.

Barris was a big part of the article, alongside Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, both rebuilding square automobiles with wilder paint, a streamlined shape, or other modifications that Wolfe said were a shape of valid art.

“He doesn’t build cars, he creates shapes… Actually, they’re sculptures,” Wolfe wrote of Barris.

Having recently spent a weekend in North HollywoodI was cheered up when Wolfe gave the address of 10811 Riverside Drive. Less than a week after reading this essay, news broke that the Barris family would sell.

And as I prepared to head back to NoHo for Labor Day weekend, I checked out Barris Facebook page and learned that they offer free tours every Saturday in September. Perfect.

On Saturdays, I show up before the 9am opening, fearing there will be a queue. There are not any. I am the first there.

Jared Barris, 32, greets me. A few other car enthusiasts linger for the next few minutes.

Barris shows us the Batmobile and shows the empty spot where the Munster Koach – the hearse-shaped car for the “Munsters” family on television – would be if he hadn’t gone to a show. We see his grandfather’s old office with toy cars everywhere, the garage and the archives.

George came to NoHo in 1961 after a fame in South LA

“Grandma came here and found this place,” Jared tells me. “The studios were coming. Universal was there, Disney was down the street, Warner Brothers was nearby. Barris, who had previously made films, bought the property, a former car dealership, and settled down.

Photos line the walls of celebrities alongside Barris, usually with the garage doors behind them: Steve McQueen, James Caan, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Elvis and Priscilla Presley, Clint Eastwood, dozens more. Framed posters of car films hang near the ceiling.

In the early 1980s, Barris went into semi-retirement at the request of his wife, Shirley, to consult on designs and make personal appearances. The street corner near his shop was designated Place George Barris in a municipal ceremony in 2007.

“He was a self-promoter. He was larger than life, ”Joji said fondly.

Jared, who works in advertising, loved his grandfather and spent as much free time as possible with him. During the informal tours, he tells stories about Barris’ famous clients, his willingness to try and fail, his ability to see how the shape or color of a car might be altered to reflect his personality. owner.

The company, which includes Joji’s husband, Barry, and his brother, Brett, will continue after the property is sold.

“COVID made us reflect on our legacy,” says Jared. “This is the opportunity to make a new start.

Tours run from 9 a.m. to noon on September 11, 18 and 25 at 10811 Riverside Drive, masks required. Some time after that will come a motor show to say goodbye in style.

And later, the Batmobile will fly to Ventura.

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While writing about the San Fernando Valley tour in July, I mentioned my cold cuts breakfast of lox, eggs and onions. This is called a LEO, as reader Diane Pfahler points out. When she first saw it on a chalkboard menu, she assumed it was the cook’s name. When she saw him on a second menu, she thought the cook was moonlighting. But no, LEO is an acronym for ingredients. She adds a pro tip: “Instead of fried onions mixed with lox and eggs, I prefer raw red onions to sprinkle over eggs and lox. “

David Allen writes Friday, Sunday and Wednesday columns that could be improved by onions. Email [email protected], call 909-483-9339, like davidallencolumnist on Facebook and follow @ davidallen909 on Twitter.