Story by Tami Benedict and Olympia Zampathas
One of San Francisco’s cherished tourist locations was set ablaze last night. Around 8 p.m. the homeowner, Dr. Douglas Ousterhout, 79, said that he could smell smoke and realized that someone had set his front door mat on fire. Ousterhout was able to put the fire out himself before calling the police and fire department, but the front of the house and garage did sustain damage.
In 1993, the house, located in San Francisco’s Pacific Heights residence, was used to film “Mrs. Doubtfire,” starring the late actor Robin Williams.
Details aren’t clear yet as to why the house was targeted, but some speculate that is was because of the homeowner’s profession, being a transgender plastic surgeon; The San Francisco Police Department does not believe it was any form of a hate crime. Police are currently investigating a former patient of the doctor’s, who remains unnamed, but is described as a woman in her 40s.
The same Victorian house made news when fans turned it into a makeshift memorial after Williams committed suicide last fall and has been a its a tourist spot since the movie debuted 21 years ago.
No arrests have been made so far.