LOS ANGELES _ If you're looking for a new home and have a thing for nostalgia, boy, do I have the listing for you. This 4,400 square-foot Bel Air estate sits on a double lot and comes with a fireplace in the master bedroom, tennis court, pool and a piano nook walled in glass. The four-bedroom Georgian style home is the perfect spot for either a growing family or a power broker who lives to entertain. Trust me, treasures like this are rare. In fact, this particular home is on the market for the first time since 1984.
That's the year Jerry Buss sold it.
"I thought about (buying it) but it is a lot of house for one person," said Jeanie Buss, who stopped by her old home to reminisce after learning it went on the market this spring. "A lot of great memories happened there."
At the time of the sale, the Lakers had appeared in the NBA Finals four times in the five years since the Buss family had bought the franchise from Jack Kent Cooke, winning the championship twice. The L.A. Strings, the family's first sports franchise, won the TeamTennis title in 1981. The Kings, which were acquired along with the Lakers, had yet to make a deep playoff run but they did have the 1982 Miracle on Manchester. Against Wayne Gretzky's Edmonton Oilers, who built a 1980s dynasty, the Kings fought back from a 5-0 deficit in Game 3 of their first-round matchup to win in overtime, 6-5. The Kings, the team with the fewest points in the playoffs, eliminated the Oilers before falling in the next round.
Great memories indeed.
The first time 18-year-old Jeanie Buss met 20-year-old rookie Earvin "Magic" Johnson was in this house. It was also the spot where young Jeanie and her friends watched the Lakers clinch the 1980 NBA Finals with a 123-107 defeat of the Philadelphia 76ers. It was also where Jerry Buss told his daughter not to bother flying to Philadelphia for the game.
"He didn't want a bunch of people to go there to watch us lose," she said. "We were thinking about Game 7 back at the Forum.
"Knowing what we know now, of course I would have gone. But Kareem (Abdul-Jabbar) was injured and not going to play and we knew they had a great team... Who knew Magic was going to do what he did?"
