Most everyone driving through Pacific Palisades has likely seen the decorative home known to locals as the “Gingerbread House” at the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Hartzell Street, but few may realize the home is not just someone’s expression of taste–it’s an inside joke. The idea for the reddish-brown painted home with yellow window frames, green shutters, red doors and a total of six decorative gingerbread men was conceived last year. The homeowner/jokester, Darrell Ruocco, 63, admitted that the concept first arose during a drinking session with friends. “The home was originally a wood-face California ranch-style house and I hadn’t done anything to the wood for a long time,” he recalled. A friend showed Ruocco, who was born and raised in Pacific Palisades, a picture of some Nordic homes. “In Norway, they’re not afraid of color,” Ruocco noted. “I said ‘My God, that looks like a gingerbread house. I want to do that to my house.'” His friend waited three days until after they were both fully sobered up and asked, “‘Are you sure you want to do this?'” Ruocco insisted that he was thinking clearly and set about recasting the home, without spending much money; most of the work was piecemealed and donated by friends. The project started as a joke but became a philosophical statement about life, said Ruocco, who has authored a book entitled “Foolosophy.” The book’s main theme is healing through comedy, an idea that has carried over to the home. Looking across the street, Ruocco pointed to some houses and commented that they were all the same, they all looked alike. “The essence of humor is contrast,” he said. “If my house puts a smile on one person’s face as they drive by, then it’s worth it.” Ruocco, a Palisades High graduate, lives in the house with two roommates, including his friend Rob Ingersoll, who was apprehensive about the makeover idea at first. “He is kind of a tough guy so he didn’t like the idea of having butterflies and gingerbread men attached to the house.” Eventually, the concept grew on Ingersoll, who works as a voice-strengthening specialist. Inspired by the home’s design, Ingersoll, who normally teaches adults to sing like rock stars, is now planning to teach children as well. He admits that the home’s motif will suit that sort of home-based business. “So many people think that the home is some sort of daycare, so it will work with my line of work,” he said. However, not everyone gets the gingerbread joke. Some people have claimed that “I am trying to show off or that I am being immature, which is my favorite,” Ruocco said, describing himself as a “dudzi”‘someone who wastes his own time and the time of others. “It’s just a statement. Let it go, people.” Ruocco said there were a couple of “stink bombs at first, but the negatives started to become positives.” Now, families walking by the home come to see the gingerbread men at the front and sides of the home. “The first gingerbread man we put up melted because the guy used actual icing,” Ruocco said. Hollywood contractors, who were recommended by Frank Stallone, made some of the remaining ones. As for his home’s future, Ruocco said it’s a work in progress. “We are talking about putting icing on the roof and people want to add things, so there will be more forthcoming, “he said. “People are still giving me ideas. The candy canes are coming, but they are hard to come by and we are working on the icing.” When asked why he was putting so much time and effort into keeping such a long-lasting joke going, Ruocco simply smiled and shared a quote from his book: “Humor is a reality check. The beauty of humor is the ability to laugh at ourselves daily, so we can be our own heroes.”
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