Holger Schubert has a problem. No, it’s not that some drunk Ferrari owner drove his car into Holger’s house- that 512BBi belongs to him. His problem isn’t finding accessories to go with his home decor, as the place is done up in various shades of white. No, Mr. Schubert has a problem with his neighbors. You see, they don’t like the fact that he built a bridge from the street to his hillside home in Brentwood so he could park his Ferrari in his living room.
Now, when Simon and Garfunkel sang about the Boxer, he was standing in a clearing and carried the reminders of every glove that touched him. It’s pretty obvious that Holger doesn’t let anybody touch his boxer, and you’d think that the neighbors on the narrow Tigertail Road would be grateful for him giving up a street spot. However, as the Los Angeles Times reports they’re all up in arms over what they claim is an illegal bridge, and a safety hazard. Why they’re bringing this up after both the planning commission, and the building inspectors have already given the house – including the Ferrari-floating bridge – the crowned okay is a head scratcher, but they did get the planning commission to reverse the approval, causing Schubert a whole passel of hassle.

Maybe the neighbors don’t share Shubert’s passion – or perhaps this could be considered a fetish – with the sensuous lines of the Berlinetta Boxer? Regardless, the glass-walled, and halogen-illuminated concrete structure doesn’t seem to appear garish or inappropriately scaled.
It should also be duly noted that Schubert’s house, since undergoing a five-year renovation, has won the prestigious Architectural Digest magazine’s Design Driven contest. It’s an embarrassment to the neighborhood that complaints about the appropriateness of the house in relationship to its surroundings should be raised after it has received such a notable accolade.
Now that the Planners have rescinded their approvals for the bridge, the city could conceivably require Schubert to tear down the bridge, forever dooming the 512 to live in the house, should he forget it’s there when the jackhammers start pounding.
The reason given by the Brentwood Homeowners Assn. for their opposition to the bridge is the fear that it would set a precedent. That’s right, they don’t hate this bridge so much per say, but are afraid that sometime in the future an auto bridge will be built that really juices their fruit of the looms and they’ll have no recourse in opposition of it due to precedent.
Yes, it does seem like Schubert may have watched Ferris Bueller’s Day Off one too many times, and in case you’re wondering if he fills the house with carbon monoxide every time he pulls the boxer out for a trip to T.C.B.Y., it should be noted that he had a batman-like hydraulic ramp installed to roll the car back onto the bridge before he fires it up. Yeah, that’s the kind of ingenious design I would complain about if I were his neighbor too.
Check out the whole shootin’ match over at LATimes.com.
Source and photos:[Los Angeles Times]