California City Accedes to “Flintstone House” with Six-Figure Settlement

Ryan J. Farrick — June 27, 2021

The “Flintstone House” in 2019. Image via Wikimedia Commons/user:Yuanwen8624. (CCA-BY-4.0). No changes made.

The settlement will give $125,000 to Florence Fang, who fought a years-long battle with the town of Hillsborough over her eye-catching lawn décor.

A North California residence known locally as the “Flintstone House” will be able to retain its colorful array of dinosaur and cavemen sculptures.

According to The Mercury News, the town of Hillsborough, CA, had earlier claimed that Florence Fang never requested or received approval to add fake dinosaurs to her lawn, along with a large sign saying “Yabba Dabba Doo.”

However, Hillsborough has now agreed to pay Fang $125,000; it will also approve permits for the changes she has made to her home, which is visible from a nearby freeway. In exchange, Fang—an octogenarian “media mogul,” as well as the former owner of the San Francisco Examiner—will drop her claims against the city.

An image of the Flintstone House in 2007, over a decade before Fang moved in. Image via Flickr/user:Sergei Krupnov. (CCA-BY-2.0). No changes made.

“The parties have reached an amicable resolution of the case to the satisfaction of all the parties, such that improvements made to the Flintstone House will be permitted to remain,” the lawsuit states.

“Fred and Wilma will stay at their home,” added Fang’s attorney, former San Francisco Supervisor Angela Alioto.

Alioto, says the San Francisco Chronicle, said she could not divulge detailed information on the settlement and its terms.

In her initial lawsuit, Fang said that the city’s refusal to grant her permits had to do with her East Asian ethnicity.

Fang, notes The Mercury News, ran into legal woes shortly after purchasing her home in 2017. The residence, which boasts an unusually colorful and dome-shaped design, had sat unoccupied in the years leading up to Fang’s purchase.

Shortly after moving in, Fang began planting dinosaur statues and other unusual fixtures outside.

“I wanted to decorate with the past and the future combined together in harmony,” Fang told The Guardian in 2019. “I call that ‘over the rainbow.’”

“I’m just a tired old lady,” she added. “I just wanted my peaceful life. I’m a very, very regular, retired old lady. But of course, a little different. I have all kinds of dreams.”

However, the city quickly took issue, saying that Fang should have requested a work permit before making the odd additions. But Fang refused to take down the adornments, leading Hillsborough to issue at least three “stop work” orders against her residence.

Fang’s attorney, Angela Alioto, earlier told the Chronicle that Hillsborough officials had claimed Fang’s home violated multiple city codes; they also called Fang’s dinosaur sculptures “a highly visible eyesore.”

Fang, though, never thought of her property as particularly problematic. According to Alioto, the “Flintstone House” is Fang’s “happy place.”

“This is her fantasy,” Alioto said.