Carl Sagan's House Across the Gorge via Frat House

A *rough* idea of the view that Dr. Sagan & family enjoyed in lovely Ithaca, NY.

Shot from the same frat house which, during the 1980's, put up a huge infamous "FU Sagan" sign up using electric xmas tree lights. It was a misunderstanding, quickly resolved. ;-)

Carl's place is the boxy cream-colored structure among the trees. You can also see Cayuga Lake, the roof of the frat house I was on, and the Stewart Ave bridge.

Special thanks to current frat members Edward and Joe. Joe is briefly seen in the video.

Shot not with a camcorder but a Fuji S5200 digicam. So you won't see the incredible sunset or colors, no refocusing, no zoom. Sorry. Fuji wants you to buy a camera *and* a camcorder instead.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Carl
• Sagan
• Ithaca
• Gorge
• Frat
• House
• astronomy
• science
• skeptic
• humanist
• tourist
• tourism
• evolution
• COSMOS
• Pale
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[yummybeers]

As one of the sign builders, I would add that the flashing Christmas lights sign said "Eat Me!", not "FU Sagan". It could be seen for miles at night, even from planes flying in and out of Tompkins County Airport.

The sign was was a reply to Carl's demand for $200 or more to come to dinner at our house, a not-very-courteous response to his new neighbors' dinner invite (he'd just moved in).

[SardonicusRexx]

Interesting. What year was that? And how was it resolved?

[kjg28]

Hi, I'm a Cornell student (and huge sagan fan as well). I've been wondering where his house is...Which frat is that?

[SardonicusRexx]

I'm afriad I don't know. I was inside, and on their roof :-) but i just don't know.

[EllinikiKardia]

Ithaca is beautiful.

[Jbear9]

A beautiful place for beautiful people. Thanks for sharing.

[loosekarrott]

@yummybeers you people are simpletons and bullies.

[Alienmad462]

@yummybeers

you must be well off. nice area

[yummybeers]

@Alienmad462 I assume that asking for cash was his way of dissuading people from sucking up his time - after all, he was a celebrity and a lot of people probably wanted stuff from him. But we were his new next door neighbors, after all.

The next winter we put up a sign that said "Eat Me Again!", but this time the cops asked us to take it down in a day or two. Sagan was recuperating from a burst appendix, and did not enjoy that flashing at him constantly.

[Alienmad462]

@yummybeers

how did he communicate to you that he wanted 200 dollars and why?

why not just decline?

what was his reasoning?

[Alienmad462]

@yummybeers

why did he want 200 dollars?

please elaborate.

i'm fascinated

[Grant691]

Across the frathouse.

They were billions and billions of parties!

[Phil99459]

@SardonicusRexx

I disagree. I, too, lived in that fraternity and looked at Sagan's house across the gorge hundreds of times. If you look closely at the sandstone structure you'll see a horizontal band across it just beneath the glassed opening. That band marks the former roofline of the white concrete structure I'm referring to. In fact, you can even see how they've boarded up the former sliding glass door that used to exit the sandstone structure onto the grassy rooftop atop that stucture.

[SardonicusRexx]

What you're talking about is the front and slightly cornered gorge-side. The view from here is the back as seen from across the gorge.

[Phil99459]

The house when he inhabited it was quite different than the sandstone Sphinx Head structure that's pictured. There was a large white concrete and glass rectangular building beneath the sandstone, with a grassy roof, so that the Sphinx Head building sat atop it as though on a plaza. There was a semi-enclosed hallway that descended to that building from a locked gate the street level. And I think there was a small tower built on top. It all became structurally unsound and was de-constructed.

[hunterhalo2]

Hey thats awesome! haha I live just an hour south from you guys. I cant believe that Sagan lived in Ithaca!