Newlywed Actors Eyeing House Here?

Actress Melanie Griffith and Spanish actor Antonio Banderas are gone but not forgotten. The couple, who stayed in Seattle's Laurelhurst neighborhood last year during filming of "Assassins," were married in London last week.

Meanwhile, a rumor has been making the rounds in North Seattle.

Laurelhurst neighbors say Griffith and Banderas are interested in buying a home there. Is it true? Can't say. But I did check out the residence that figures in the story.

It's not the same place where the couple bunked last summer. But it's certainly a house fit for movie stars.

The romantic waterfront estate (it's called "Shoreham") was built in 1928 by Seattle architect Arthur Loveless and has turrets and balconies.

It features a sunken living room and lower-level ballroom (48 feet by 24 feet each), two kitchens, five fireplaces and four upstairs bedrooms (each with dressing room and bath).

Realtor Joan Broughton of the Dover Group, which lists the home, insists she "hasn't heard" about Griffith's and Banderas' interest in the place. But she agrees the home's meticulously restored 1920s decor cries out for glamour, fame and fortune.

Price for opulence, Seattle-style? "Shoreham" currently lists for $3.6 million.

Music for tourists: Two Seattleites (attired in post-grunge chic) were in a downtown hotel lobby last week, waiting in line at the gift shop. They were approached by a middle-aged couple, who asked the guy, "Are you in a band?"

He said, "Er, you haven't by chance just read Newsweek?" (The latest issue has a picture of a Seattle grunge band.)

They said, yes, they'd just read about the city's "exciting" music scene. Then they popped the question of the week: Could he recommend a spot where they could hear the real Seattle sound? Somewhere with valet parking?

Valet parking for grunge bands? Now there's a concept.

A problem: Seattle jeweler Coralie Swanson called her friend and client, San Francisco trial attorney Mel Belli, to find out the date of a promised visit to Seattle. Belli hemmed and hawed and finally handed the phone over to his administrative assistant, Michelle Myers.

"What's the matter? Is Mel sick?" Swanson asked.

That's not the trouble, said Myers. She reported that the 80-something Belli was merely embarrassed to tell her that he'd just eloped. The bride is a longtime Belli friend, San Franciscan Nancy Ho.

Top reason: Former CityClub director Debra Holland was driving through the Kitsap Peninsula near Bremerton when she was pulled over by a State Patrol officer.

The trooper asked, "Did you realize, ma'am, that you were going 39 in a 25-mile-an-hour zone? Neighbors here have asked us to cite speeders."

"Oh, but I'm from Seattle," blurted Holland. The trooper, much to Holland's astonishment, bought that excuse, letting her go with only a warning.

Fungus among us: Former Times columnist Alf Collins points out that the Puget Sound Mycological Society holds an annual dinner for students of mushroom lore.

This year's event was held in March. It's known as "the Survivors' Banquet."

Jean Godden's column appears Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday in the Local News section of The Times. Her phone is 464-8300.