Tai Freligh interviews the new owner of the ‘Goonies’ house in Astoria, Oregon…
Behman Zakeri is a serial entrepreneur with Type A personality on hyperdrive — and the new owner of the house from The Goonies, the 1985 movie about a group of young misfits called The Goonies who discover an ancient map and set out on an adventure to find a legendary pirate’s long-lost treasure. I interviewed Behman LIVE on my TikTok a few weeks ago and have included answers below. If you want to watch the entire interview or view individual clips, you can check out the playlist on my YouTube Channel. I asked him about watching the movie for the first time, how he ended up buying the house, his message for fans who want to visit the house, and more.
How old were you when you first watched The Goonies in 1985?
I was eight years old, almost nine. I was actually almost nine. And then as soon as that movie happens, it just inspired me. It was just such a good movie, I thought I was a Goonie, I wanted to find the treasure. It’s just, I mean, you know how it is for all of us. The more you watch it, the more special it gets, the more stuff you see that you didn’t see before. But it just inspired me. You know, we had a bunch of friends that were all plus or minus the same age. And we didn’t have money. So it’s like, we need to go out and find a treasure. And you know, they’re out there, they still are. You know that there’s real pirate treasure still, they find it every couple of years. They find a big shipwreck or something like that with bazillions of dollars worth of gold coins from the 1800s, the doubloons and all that stuff. So here we are as kids, like holy cow, our parents could retire if we can just find this treasure. So you know, we’re just being kids and role playing the same thing. We’re going to people’s houses and looking for the lowest point looking for that magical spot under the fireplace that’s got a underground tunnel. And you know, of course, never never happened. But you know, that was just something that was like, so cool.
Do you plan on restoring the house to what it looked like in the movie?
The short answer is yes, we do plan on restoring the whole house to look like the movie, including the Rube Goldberg contraption on the front that opens the gate when Chuck does the truffle shuffle. So that’s actually being worked on right now. And the people the engineers that are working on it are are huge Goonies. And they’re starting from scratch. And they’re sending me snippets. So what I’ve seen so far is we’re not using a real chicken, of course, but we have a fake chicken, that is doing a great job. And they’ve gotten not only the chicken to make the same noise, but to turn its head like a real chicken and to drop an egg. This is all electronic. And then we’ve got the the leg that kicks the football into the target, we’ve got that to work. So we’ve got those two pieces pretty much down. And so we’ve just got to get the pump that pumps the balloon, set the bowling ball up that falls into the pan. And they’re talking about making it to where it automatically resets so we don’t have to reset it manually. So when the bowling ball falls to the bottom, it gets on a track, rolls, goes over, comes back up for the next person if they wanted to do it. So yeah, it’s really neat to see the progress. And there’s a Facebook page if you’re not part of it called Goonies 35th anniversary. You should join it if you’re a big fan. Deepak Souter is a good friend of mine in Texas, and he started a shared spreadsheet for anybody that has replica items or stuff that they want to donate to the house. Because we are trying to find a lot of stuff and not all of it’s easy to find. So stuff for the attic stuff or the living room stuff in the kitchen. And we’ve already got a lot of people that have pledged it. And what we’ve decided, since these people are donating everything, is plaques going up the stairs. Now the staircase is different right now that it is than it was in the movies. They knocked it out and closed it off. We can of course recreate it if we wanted to. But there’s a big wall going up the stairs and we were thinking, let’s just memorialize everybody that helps out and have like plaques and nameplates and things like that. So you can say my name is inside the Goonies house because I gave the David statue or I gave the the pillow on the couch or the MAD magazine or something. You know, that’d be so cool.
What can you do with the house (staying within zoning laws)?
Pretty much whatever anybody could do with a residential house. You know, invite friends over, invite family over, you know, throw a small gathering and things like that. It’s a house, there’s nothing we can do at the house to make money. There’s no way to turn it into a business a museum and Airbnb right now. We can rent it for 31 days or more. So we’ve already had people request for that. It’s just we’re not set up yet. We don’t have all the furniture, we don’t have all the stuff and we’re not ready to rent it this second anyway. I’ve got several TV show series and documentaries, probably have like seven to 10 companies that want to do something. I’ve already been filmed for a documentary for Goonies.
How can fans who want to visit keep the neighbors happy?
The only thing that I’ll say is, the neighbors just asked me hey, will you just tell people to park a couple blocks away and walk? And so that’s what I’ve been trying to convince people because the gravel road is challenging, and it is dangerous. There is a side that’s a cliff. So if you back off the wrong way, your car will fall off the cliff and you get injured or possibly kick the bucket. So that’s like super crazy to do so like parking just, you know, even down by the pier. I mean, it’s a beautiful town, just walk a few blocks up the hill, you know, and check it out. You’ll walk past a coffee shop that Rosalita was at right? To get there, that’s 37th Street. So you’ll cross Leif Erickson. And then you’ll see the coffee shop right there on the corner. It’s still there. It’s crazy that it looks almost the same, just painted a little bit of a different color. And then you walk up 37, make a left and then you’ll be at the gate. You know, you’ll see the Goonies house just up there to the left. That’d make the neighbors so much happier. They just get so mad because people come up the drive and and they’ll park in the no parking. Nobody can be policed. We can’t stop human behavior, but I’m just trying to not get yelled at as much, you know?
How did you end up buying the house?
Well, it was an act of God. That’s the truth of it. It was. It was meant to be. I mean, we went to visit in 2013. For the first time, we didn’t meet Sandy at the time. Sandy Preston that sold it to me, she was a previous owner. And then we went back for the 30th anniversary in 2015. And the Oregon Film Museum, the chamber, they had created these, like buses where you could bus over there, and you’d get a ticket and you’d be able to go in and, and Sandy was gracious enough to allow us to come in, and our friends and the whole, you know, whatever. I think it was part of the package, if I remember correctly, but bottom line is she led us in the house, we got the tour. She was super nice. We took lots of pics. And then as I was leaving, I was like, Hey, if you ever want to sell this the day, you’re ready to pass the torch, I want to buy this house for me. And she’s like, yeah, you and like a million other nuts. And I’m like, no, I’m serious. You know, I’m serious. Like, no, you have to believe me, Sheriff, I’m being for real, you know. So I’m trying to explain to her how much this means to me, how much it’s impacted my life in so many different facets, how many different people that are connected to it that I know. And I know how much good I can do by being that person. And we became friends. It’s not like we talked every day or whatever, but we kept in touch. And then all of a sudden, last November, a couple months ago, it goes up for sale. Sandy didn’t let me know. She hired an agent, they list it as so I immediately sent her a message. And I was like, hey, you remember me? I was like, God willing, I’m gonna buy your house. And she’s like, no way. And she’s like, good luck. You know, I wanted to keep it strictly professional, I didn’t want to, like do anything that would have affected the deal in any way. I just wanted to play the game fair, like everybody else. And so the way I kind of structured and I feel like my offer, and you know, it was, I don’t know how to say it like, it’s kind of more of a humble approach. Meaning I had told them if any of the cast, or anybody that’s a big wig in Hollywood, like Steven Spielberg, or Chris Columbus, or one of these people really wanted it, and they were going to make a run out of it, just let me know. So I can respectfully bow out because I don’t need to. I don’t need to go up against John if he asked for the Goonies house..if Sean wants it, he can have it. But I didn’t have any competition up until the last day. And then an offer came in that was significantly higher than mine. And long story short, she picked me over that other offer. So I feel very blessed. She took less money than she was offered. I think she saw that I just happened to be that person.
What do you think the possibility of a sequel is?
I’m going to be pushing for a sequel, I’m going to be pushing if they don’t make a sequel to help to create something like Cobra Kai, where for Karate Kid they have the series, because I think it’d be amazing. Could you imagine like all the cast being adults, and then having another group of kids, they could totally do it. They could just have to, you know, have people audition and stuff like that. I think it’d be amazing, honestly do. But again, it’s not my call. I just want to, we’ve got the house. And I know that they’re smart enough to know that if they’re going to do anything associated with Goonies, the house being so iconic, they need to reuse it. You know, it’s got to get used. That’s what I would have wanted, whether I own the house or not. I want to see the house again.
Many thanks to Behman Zakeri for taking the time to chat. He can be found on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and TikTok. The Goonie House also has an Instagram account!
Tai Freligh writes about entertainment and pop culture from sunny Huntington Beach, California…just a hop and a skip from Los Angeles. He can be found on Twitter and TikTok and his website.
