Big Lebowski house up for sale

Jeff Bridges as The Dude in the movie 'The Big Lebowski'. The Dude's house from the movie is up for sale. Photo / Supplied

The Dude no longer abides. In fact, he's moving up the property ladder.

The house occupied by Jeff Bridges' character in The Big Lebowski has been placed on the market. But unemployed pot smokers who spend all day in a dressing gown will almost certainly be unable to afford it.

Twelve years of real estate boom and bust after the Coen brothers cemented its place in history, the one-bedroom cottage on Venezia Avenue, which is "just blocks from" Venice Beach, Los Angeles, will be sold to anyone able to rustle-up a spare US$2.3 million (NZ$2.6m).

If you think that sounds extortionate, you're not wrong. But the seller's particulars reveal the price applies to a tranche of six small homes, of which the cottage is one, measuring a total of 10,628sqft.

"It's a gorgeous little compound," estate agent Winston Cenac told the LA Weekly newspaper.

"Some of the tenants are decorators, so on the inside, the units just look primo... In the movie the whole compound is rundown. [But] the people who bought it upgraded it."

To the dismay of old-timers such as Jeffrey Lebowski - to use The Dude's full name - the property's gentrification is mirrored across Venice, which was once the edgy home of LA's artistic community. Today's best-known local celebrity is Lindsay Lohan.

It is also unlikely Lebowski would be seen dead in the "lushly landscaped gated courtyard" described in the sale particulars.

As fans of the film are well aware, his biggest concession to home improvement was a tatty rug "which really tied the room together" before it was urinated upon by a "Chinaman" called Walter.

Interest in the otherwise-unremarkable property highlights the cult following enjoyed by The Big Lebowski, a comedy which celebrates ten-pin bowling, marijuana, and life in the slow lane.

- INDEPENDENT