Parker: MTV's 'Real World Denver' house tour proves a poor draw

By Penny Parker, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

The Real World Denver house tour Monday night was a real bust. I counted roughly 16 people walking from the party place inside Mattie's House of Mirrors, two doors down at 1946 Market St., over to the 1920 Market St. residence for the MTV reality series. And two of them were Denver Post editors.

I arrived with friends around 6 p.m. at the Tavern Downtown, across the street from Mattie's. We had a full view of the tour tent set up for the masses that organizers apparently anticipated.

The event, which cost $50 for the pre-tour party, along with drinks and snacks and the house tour itself with cast members, was a fundraiser for the Denver Art, Culture & Film Foundation.

"Neat idea," I thought when Pauline Herrera of the Denver Office of Cultural Affairs sent an invite to me and every other member of the media last week. I was poised to take the tour when a second e-mail arrived uninviting the press. Jessica Nicola from MTV explained that the press would not be allowed on the tour, and that anyone taking part would have to show ID and sign a confidentiality agreement.

Which leads me back to the barstool at the Tavern Downtown, where I was planted to watch the "activity."

We saw a couple of guys and three girls walk into Mattie's around 6:30. At 6:50, we saw a woman, who looked official because she was wearing a mic, walk out of Mattie's and look longingly up and down the street. The Denver Post editors (they knew they could slip in under the "no press" radar because their names rarely appear in the paper) walked over to join the tour.

At 7 p.m., the paltry crew trudged through the on-and-off rain to The Real World house. About a half hour later, the tour appeared to be over.

I heard that the tour-ists did not get to meet the cast.

REAL DOUGH: MTV paid an impressive $2.7 million cash for The Real World pad, according to Marcia (pronounced Mar-SEE-ah) Mueller, a broker with Frederick Ross Co. who sold the house to the cable network in March.

"It was a fun sale," Mueller said. "But it took about 10 years off my life."

The building, previously occupied by B-52 Billiards, sold in one week, a record for Mueller. "We could do it so fast because I knew the building," she said.

"We had a lot of the due diligence done, but we pretty much worked 'round the clock."

Mueller had sold the building once before, when the Bella Ristorante boys sold it to B-52. Mueller said this was the first time in 18 seasons that MTV bought a residence for their Real Worlders. "I thought that was a really neat thing for Denver," she said.

MTV is expected to sell the building, but it is not on the market yet, Mueller said.

RED ROCKS ON BOARD: Our beloved Red Rocks Amphitheatre has been immortalized by Hasbro in its new "Monopoly Here & Now" edition, which goes on sale Thursday.

Because you said so (119,049 folks voted for Red Rocks online last spring), the world-famous concert venue won a space on the Monopoly board over runners-up LoDo and Larimer Square.

In the new edition, which features famous landmarks throughout the U.S., Red Rocks will occupy the space where States Avenue (in the light purple neighborhood) formerly resided. The price? A steal of a deal at $1.4 million.

EAVESDROPPING on a woman sitting in the bar at the Tavern Downtown watching the handful of The Real World Denver tour attendees: "Real World, real sad."

Prime spots

Other landmarks and their prices in "Monopoly Here & Now":

• Times Square, New York......$4,000,000

• Fenway Park, Boston......$3,500,000

• Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco......$2,800,000

• French Quarter, New Orleans......$2,600,000

• Hollywood......$2,600,000

• Texas Stadium, Dallas......$600,000

Penny Parker's column appears Tuesday through Saturday. Listen to her on the Caplis and Silverman radio show between 4 and 5 p.m. Fridays on KHOW-AM (630). Call her at 303-954-5224 or e-mail parkerp@RockyMountainNews.com.