LA Council Is Making Simpsons Producer Tear Down His Treehouse Inspired By The Show

A former producer on The Simpsons is being forced to take down a treehouse that he built on his property and turned into a Halloween attraction after years of complaints from no-fun neighbors and legal battles.

Rick Polizzi worked on the show from 2002 to 2012 for more than 200 episodes, according to IMDb (Simpsons nerdiness incoming: that's an impressive quarter of all episodes, seeing as the table read for the show's 800th episode just happened recently) and according to KTLA, he built a treehouse on his Sherman Oaks property 24 years ago.

That treehouse was reportedly inspired by the annual "Treehouse of Horror" Halloween episodes that The Simpsons does every year, and it eventually morphed into a beloved attraction.

I love stuff like this. I feel like every neighborhood - or at least every town-has a home that goes so all-out for Halloween that it becomes an attraction. 

When I was a kid, a guy who lived two streets over from me would put up all kinds of decorations, like life-size horror movie monster figures and all kinds of special effects. People would flock to our neighborhood to check it out, and it was all very cool.

Unfortunately, we've got some Halloween Scrooges, and at least one of them started complaining as the treehouse gained more and more notoriety.

That led to a seven-year legal battle that has cost Polizzi tens of thousands of dollars. The city has also demanded that Polizzi get a permit, (that doesn't sound like something Los Angeles would do… oh wait…) something he has tried to do.

"They say I don't have the right permit for it, but I've been trying to make the treehouse legal forever. The city's just not having it," Polizzi said.

Now, after a pre-trial hearing, Polizzi has decided to throw in the towel, and honestly, can you blame him?

But this is why we can't have nice things. You've got people trying to do cool things that will ultimately be for the betterment of their community, but nope, neighborhood sourpusses and city government bureaucrats hate fun.

I'd love to live next to Polizzi's treehouse because having things like that around means you're in a good neighborhood with a strong sense of community.

…Also, I would have a lot of Simpsons questions to ask him.