Second drawing may provide ‘House’ winner

Elizabeth Dutton

Thursday, Nov. 13, 1997 | 11:05 a.m.

Keep your fingers crossed and take your bootleg Bart Simpson T-shirt out of the attic; you just may be the proud owner of a piece of cartoon history.

After months of anticipation, Pepsi officials are trying to locate the winner of the Simpsons' House in Henderson. While details remain sketchy, a winner may be announced as soon as this week.

It has been almost two months since Fox Television, Pepsi, and Kaufman and Broad Home Corp. tried to unload the surreal domicile on an eager public. A drawing was held in connection with a Pepsi promotion, and after much anticipation, the winning number was announced.

Number 9786065, your time is up.

Somewhere, the winning game piece sits unnoticed. Is it under your uncle Frank's car seat? Is it in a landfill in Alabama? Still on the shelves of the supermarket down the street? The world may never know.

Wherever it is, it's no good. Another drawing was held last week in which mail-in forms were used. The tickets, intended to pawn off promotional items such as skateboards, now hold the lofty task of producing the title holder for the soon-to-be modest home at 714 Red Bark Lane, east of the Boulder Highway.

"We are still in the process of determining a winner," said Anna-Marie Hintgen, communications specialist for Kaufman and Broad Homes.

As soon as the legal issues are cleared up, a crew will come in and erase all things Simpson about the house. No more bright exterior, farewell to the upright piano, Marge's cans of hair spray, and Lisa's closet full of identical dresses.

In a matter of months, the house will be almost indiscernible from the rest on the block, save Homer's inscription in the cement out front, courtesy of Simpsons' creator Matt Groening.