CLEVELAND — Editor's note: Video in the player at the top of this story was originally published in a previous article on Nov. 14, 2022.
Despite one actor telling 3News that cast members had interest in purchasing the house from A Christmas Story -- which was put up for sale earlier this week in Cleveland -- a new update posted Friday afternoon to the attraction’s Facebook page says otherwise.
“SNOPES: We are NOT in talks with any of the cast members about purchasing A Christmas Story House,” according to their post.
When one person commented about the reports in which actor Yano Anaya said the cast was possibly interested, the Facebook page for A Christmas Story House said this: “Although they have advertised they are in talks about purchasing the house. They have not sent any offers or had and [sic] serious talks with us or anyone related to the sale.”
And then there was this…
One commenter wrote: "Key phrase ‘not in talks’ means at THIS TIME they are not at the talking stage but I can’t imagine them NOT talking to any and all interested Buyers! Right A Christmas Story House??"
The Facebook page for the house replied: “We are not interested in selling to the cast.”
This update comes just days after 3News spoke with Anaya himself – who portrayed bully Grover Dill in the 1983 movie – as he met with fans during a meet-and-greet event Tuesday afternoon at Great Northern Mall in North Olmsted.
“Of course it would be a beautiful thing for the entire cast to run the operations of it, but there’s a lot of due diligence that needs to happen," Anaya told 3News' Neil Fischer. "It’s up for sale, so anybody can grab it right now. So we don’t know. We’re just going to stay positive no matter what.”
When Fischer pressed for more about any possibility of cast members trying to move forward to put together an offer, Anaya offered this statement: “I foresee it happening, sure. I mean, it just makes sense. Why not? But it’s still in the talks. There’s five, six, seven of us and we all want to do it as a family. You know what I mean? It just makes sense to do it as a group so that we all have a stake in it. It’s also about the fans. It really, truly is. Without the fans, it would’ve never been there.”
You can watch our full interview with Anaya in the player below:
Similar reports with Anaya discussing the cast possibly purchasing the property also made national headlines in recent days with outlets like TMZ and People.
3News was first to break the story Monday morning about the house going up for sale. We also captured video of the moment its current owner, Brian Jones, placed the “for sale” sign in front of the famous house at 3159 West 11th Street in Cleveland’s Tremont neighborhood. The sale also includes all associated properties -- like the neighboring Bumpus House, gift shop and museum.
An asking price was not listed.
"Looking for the right buyer," Jones told 3News. "It's an interesting property to not only own, but you also have to take care of as a piece of Americana. It's going to be an interesting journey."
Watch our interview with Jones in the player below:
In addition to the West 11th Street house, which depicted Ralphie's childhood home in the film, the production also used various Cleveland locations as a backdrop for some of the movie's most memorable moments. Remember the Santa slide scene? That was filmed inside the former Higbee building downtown, which is now home to the JACK Cleveland Casino.
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