This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
What are the rich doing with their money nowadays? They're pissing it away.The Los Angeles Times looks at the latest real estate trend for rich people: having a shit-ton of bathrooms. New mansions are being built with bathrooms off of almost every room, while new home owners are adding more bathrooms on to older designs.
One Bel-Air home has 41 bathrooms, although when it was originally built in 1985 it only had 15.
So just why do the rich need more bathrooms than the rest of us?
It's more than a bathroom. "The bathroom has become the dressing room. They really don't look much like bathrooms anymore," said Bob Ray Offenhauser, a Studio City-based residential architect.
Guests won't be able to swipe your Xanax. The Times writes, "The presence of bathrooms in the public areas also enables homeowners to entertain without fear of guests' sneaking a peek into the medicine cabinet."
Being rich means never having to wait a minute for someone else to finish peeing. "The idea is never to inconvenience yourself or a guest," said Boyd Smith, an agent in the Pasadena and La Cañada Flintridge area.
No, it's really more than a bathroom. "The bathrooms are reminiscent of those in very fancy hotels," said Lynwen Hughes-Boatman of Deasy/Penner & Partners.
Guests need their own his-and-her bathrooms. "It's not only the master suite that has two bathrooms," Felix Pena of Hilton & Hyland said.
Can you have too many bathrooms? The Real Estalker thinks Michael Jackson should have taken the number of toilets into account when he moved into the Holmby Hills estate where he spent his final days, "When our seriously superstitious house gurl Svetlana heard there were 13 terlits in the house she dropped to the floor, flailed and wailed around a bit screaming about how 'Michael should have known. He should have known...'"
