We’ve discussed Barbra Streisand’s Basement Mall here before — I mean really, how could we not? — but not until now could we cover Stephen Colbert touring Barbra Streisand’s Basement Mall. Babs appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert this week to promote her new memoir, My Name Is Barbra, which came out November 7. Well, I say “appeared on,” but really it was Stephen Colbert who appeared on Barbra’s property, as he flew out to her Malibu, CA home to film the interview. As it should be!
Barbra Streisand published her memoir earlier this month, giving readers a glimpse into her impressive life and career.
In the book, the 81-year-old star recalls an eerie warning from Judy Garland, her friendship with King Charles, as well as her marriage to James Brolin.
While promoting the memoir, Streisand has given the likes of Stephen Colbert and Gayle King a tour of her Malibu, California home — including the tiny shopping mall that she has in her basement.
Streisand uses the space to store her antique collection in a unique way, with the mall including a doll shop, a gift shop, and a sweet shop. Each store has its own retro window display to show off what’s inside.
Aside from one fleeting moment of panic when Stephen tries to buy something, Barbra was pretty receptive to Stephen’s antics, which was nice to see. And he came well-prepared. Among his gags were whipping out a coupon for ‘Bed Babs & Beyond,’ and planting two Barbies in the doll room, one of Babs and the other a Stephen Colbert holding a mini copy of her new memoir. Well done, Stephen. But speaking of doll room, fair warning — the following video contains graphic depictions of arguably creepy dolls:
Aw, what a gentleman Stephen is, lending her his arm to descend the spiral staircase. And love the cameo of the cloned-canines! Those dolls though… First of all, I wish we saw Barbra’s face when he asks if she considered calling the “store” Hello Dolly. Was she peeved? (She kinda sounds it!) But honestly, I don’t know if it’s the specific type of dolls she’s collected, their age, or just seeing them in such a high concentration. They’re freaky! And I’m saying that as someone who had porcelain dolls as a kid. Anyway, I wish Stephen all the best in the witness protection program he will be entering for filching the pink glass. Totally worth it.
photos are screenshots from YouTube and credit Avalon.red
I just want to know how they keep everything dust free.
An army of servants.
For sure. But they must be at it all day and every day.
I’m sorry but those dolls and the freakily empty mall give me total horror film vibes. Hate it.
I think that’s a great way to show off your collectibles, and I can think of a few local museums I’ve been to that did something similar with an “old-timey Main Street” type display. I would love to do this with some of my things, if I ever had access to unlimited funds and space.
Same, actually. I love my childhood dolls, and I hate that there’s no way to enjoy or display them without making my husband panic. If I had a massive walk-in closet or something, I’d be tempted to go Full Barbra. (As it is, I’m sadly still trying to figure out what to do with my dolls and generations of my family’s plates.)
Divorce?
Just kidding :))
Barbra did a coffee table book about creating that house and the whole property. It’s an entire seaside bluff here in Malibu with three distinctly different houses. We borrowed the book from the local library and it’s…a lot. Definitely worth seeking out if you’re interested in Barbra, a certain kind of ocd, or excess. There’s an entire chapter about the basement mall.
I’m currently reading Barbra’s memoir & she says SHE DOES NOT HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOR🤣 She grew up poor (which CAN cause you to hold on stuff) & she TRULY treasures things from the past…so to me…this is what a hoarder with $$$ can do❣️
I just feel like those plastic demons come to life every night and toddle around Malibu til sunrise trying to cause accidents and setting off Ring cams.
They are 100% haunted.
We used to live across the street from the Victoria & Albert’s Museum of Childhood, and I was convinced the dolls moved around at night and would steal the souls of anyone who looked in the windows.
She looks great!
I remember seeing a spread on her house somewhere , and one thing that struck me as a great idea if you’ve got the money was to build some kind of decorative design into your floors, so when you take your area rugs up for cleaning, you don’t just have bare plain tile.
It was such a rich people thing – have something pretty hidden away behind another pretty thing so you never have to look at something ordinary.
My house has the exact opposite- the living room has what’s called a Yankee floor – nice wide red oak hardwood everywhere, except for a rectangle that would typically be covered by an area rug. In that area, there’s cheaper pine boards with cracks and defects. LOL.
We New Englanders, why waste good money on flooring no one will ever see.
But if I had Babs money, even the floor under my kitchen cabinets would be nice, because I’d know.
This is REALLY fascinating!
I always pictured the “mall” much bigger and crazier, but I saw photos a few years ago, it’s just fancy rooms for her collectibles. It’s interesting, but I wouldn’t want a bunch of dolls in my basement like that!
Her property looks amazing, though I don’t love the red barn/stone silo look. But the grounds are lovely.
Bed Babs and Beyond. 😀
This is hysterical.
Colbert is the greatest.
OMG…he is so funny. “Is there a Hot Topic down here?” ROFLMAO
This is just celebrating someone for hoarding all these items that might actually bring use or joy for others, instead of just being piled up fancily in her basement hoarder mall.
Remember Babs people painted Oprah’s microphone white or was it cream, to match what Babs wore on the Oprah show. And the flowers outside her bedroom windows had to color match her bedroom walls. 👀
That is some tacky crap.