Photos: Fred Karger, first openly gay presidential candidate, lists California beach home for $3.5 million
Fred Karger, the first openly gay and Jewish candidate to seek the Republican nomination for president of the United States in 2012, has put his longtime Laguna Beach weekend home on the market.
The asking price is $3.495 million.
A white exterior with periwinkle trim, three decks and a Dutch door painted a cheerful orange distinguishes this three-bedroom, 1,451-square-foot cottage with three bathrooms.
Just a stone’s throw from the steps to Victoria Beach, the house — recently updated by Los Angeles-based interior designer James Lumsden — boasts panoramic views of the ocean and Catalina Island.
One of its many vantage points is the combined living and dining room with its open-beam ceiling. A fireplace anchors the well-appointed space, which opens to the eat-in kitchen with custom blue cabinets, a tiled backsplash, Corian countertops and an under-counter wine cooler. The living area also extends out onto a dining deck.
Upstairs, there’s a larger deck off the primary bedroom whose en-suite bathroom features a tiled shower. There’s also a walk-in closet.
All of the home’s furnishings are available to buy separately.
The house has direct access to a two-car garage and a driveway, a plus in this neighborhood where parking is hard to come by. As a result, the famed public beach known for its “Pirate Tower” and a circular man-made pool doesn’t get crowded.
Records show Karger bought the property in June 1996 for $455,000.
“After 26 amazing years, I’ve decided to sell my house,” he posted on Instagram and explained in the comments that he planned to spend “more time in New York and San Diego.”
Chris Tebbutt of Compass holds the listing. The house at 155 McAulay Place will be open from 1 to 4 p.m. Jan. 7-8.
Karger, 72, is an LGBTQ activist and retired Republican strategist who worked on presidential campaigns for Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan. Although he never held elective office, he ran for president to change attitudes within his party about gay rights and marriage equality.
That campaign, which ended after more than two years in June 2012, has been documented in the 2014 film “Fred” and, very recently, a 4-minute video produced by History UnErased. The nonprofit education organization brings LGBTQ history in the U.S. into the mainstream classroom.
Karger writes about the experience in his 2011 memoir “Fred Who? Political Insider to Outsider” and the upcoming “Undaunted,” both co-authored with Steve Fiffer. The one-time presidential hopeful also has another forthcoming book, “World’s Greatest Crasher,” co-authored by Sam Eichner, that documents the places where Karger has unexpectedly popped up, from the Oscars stage to White House parties.
Locally, he first became known for an unsuccessful campaign to revive the landmark gay bar the Boom Boom Room after its closure in 2007. He continues to advocate for marriage equality and LGBTQ causes nationwide.