Movie star Leonardo DiCaprio's Malibu dream house hit the market on Friday, listing for $10.95 million. Leo purchased the midcentury California bungalow (can you still call something a bungalow when it costs more than $10 mil? The jury is out!) back in 1998, and the three bed, two bath home is a beaut. It's on star-studded Carbon Beach, the views are killer, and the interiors are gorgeous.
But the truth is, life is probably meaningless and there is a strong chance that we all die alone. Could buying this house change any of that? Is it possible that life at 21844 Pacific Coast Highway, with your own private hot tub and large ocean front deck, could actually offer a reprieve from the agony of being a human in the world? Or, is it certain that "we cannot escape anguish, for we are anguish," as Jean-Paul Sartre once put it? Great question!
We decided to go straight to the horse's mouth for answers, and reached out to Allison Dunmore of real estate giant Redfin, who'd been kind enough to send us the listing in the first place.
LAist: Hi! Love the house!! Just a few questions. Albert Camus once said "At the heart of all beauty lies something inhuman." This house is obviously super beautiful—do you think there is anything inhuman about that beauty?
Redfin: Um, wow, that wasn't the question I was expecting. I think with this house in particular, with where it sits especially, it's an absolutely breathtaking home. I do not think there is anything inhuman about this house. I think it's a representation of the oceanfront property that it sits on.
Sounds great! Camus also once said "You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life." Would a house like this maybe give the buyer an insight into the meaning of life?
Can you repeat that quote again?
"You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life." Sorry if that wasn't quite clear, I guess what I'm asking is: do you think buying this house would be just another part of that search, or would it give the buyer the answers and allow them to finally retreat from searching?
I think this is a house that every day you would wake up and you would look out at that stunning view and you would appreciate what you have and what is around you and the beauty of nature.
Very cool. Just a few more things. Jean-Paul Sartre once said "I exist, that is all, and I find it nauseating." Obviously, you're still going to exist even if you buy this house, but do you think living in it would offer any temporary break from that nausea?
Yes, I definitely think this house is a getaway!
Awesome! In The Denial of Death, Ernest Becker wrote "Man cannot endure his own littleness unless he can translate it into meaningfulness on the largest possible level." This is obviously a really grand house, do you think it could actually be the kind of large-scale meaningfulness that Becker is talking about?
I think in terms of this property, with the proximity to the beauty and the ocean, that you would feel like you are possibly a part of something bigger.
Nice, just one last thing. As you probably know, Friedrich Nietzsche once said that God is dead. Do you think that despite all that, the presence of God could still be felt in this home?
I'm not going to answer that.
No worries, thanks so much again for your time!
Update [Sept. 19, 2017]: This home is no longer for sale. Nothing lasts.
