The House from The Goonies Has Been Closed to Visitors

For '80s movie nerds, owning the iconic house from the The Goonies sounds like a dream come true. For actual homeowner Sandi Preston, it eventually became her waking nightmare.

After 14 years of welcoming strangers to Truffle Shuffle outside the place she calls home, Preston has finally had enough. The Astoria, Oregon house has been covered with a blue tarp and is now permanently closed to the public. While well-meaning fans were never an issue, the excess of beer bottles, cigarette butts, and dog urine left behind by onlookers was a different story.

According to city officials, the house was drawing in an average of 1500 visitors a day, and things had only gotten crazier in light of the film’s 30th anniversary. This past June, the Astoria Chamber of Commerce organized a weekend-long festival in honor of the occasion. The event drew in 15,000 fans and even included a bus tour that drove past the home.

The homeowner has asked the Chamber of Commerce’s help in discouraging visitors, and so far they’ve been understanding. When asked about the closing, an Astoria City councilman told KGW news, “I’m surprised that she waited this long.” The city has put up a sign outside the home saying that access is now closed, but that didn’t stop Preston from posting some signs of her own. One reads, "Imagine that you buy a house, fix it up, spend money, time and love. Then the city of Astoria encourages 100,000's of people to come and stand in front and view it. This driveway (maintained by homeowners) sees 1,000+ people every day. Most are kind, fun and welcome, but many are not.”

For Goonies fans who were lucky enough to pay a visit to the famed house some time in the past 30 years, those memories just got a little more bittersweet. And if you were never able to make it out there, here's a little something to console you:

[h/t: The Independent]