LAUREL CANYON—It’s hard to believe that behind that anonymous tan stucco wall on the northwest corner of Lookout Mountain and Laurel Canyon lies the burnt-out remains of Laurel Canyon’s early history. As usual with many old Laurel Canyon stories, one version has the large log cabin built by the highest paid cowboy star of his time, Tom Mix. Another version has the cabin’s origins as the Laurel Tavern Inn.  It has been described as a place where "[Mix] and his friends could relax and get away from the women [nagging wives].” There are no pictures of the original cabin during Mix’s residence. Apparently he successfully “got away from it all."

I’m always on the lookout for personal stories about life in the canyons, so when I saw a car and four people pull into the west entrance of the property, I stopped to chat. A big burly guy with blond hair, accompanied by three teens and two cute teeny kittens had come by to have an informal acoustic guitar jam session at the Byrd House.  He told me he grew up in the log cabin – not the Byrd House.  I immediately thought, well, the place burned down in 1981.  It seemed possible that he was old enough to have lived in the cabin as a young kid.  I was chatting with Mark Hatten.  At the time, I had no idea who he was. 

Hatten told me he recalled all the famous musicians that were always stopping by the house when he was young. He included Frank Zappa as a visitor.  Having considered this possibility for a bit, I concluded that it was possible that Mark and his family lived at the house before Zappa moved in. It’s not improbable that Zappa had visited the house before he took up residence.  A logical offshoot is that even before Zappa brought fame to the Tom Mix log cabin, it was already part of the Laurel Canyon music scene. So the questions that remain unanswered are: Was Mark Hatten’s family actually a tenant of the cabin? Or was Hatten the son of some musician who informally moved in as a part of a retinue of musicians?

Hatten was the boyfriend of Anna Nicole Smith.  He has said in his recent tell-all, "Hollywood Bad Boy: Sex, Drugs, and Anna Nicole Smith," that he and Anna were secretly married. Hatten's sister, Jackie, was Anna Nicole's best friend.  I could see the Anna Nicole tattoo in elegant cursive script on the right side of his neck.  In his book interviews, he claimed that Anna had a matching tattoo.

But we didn’t talk about that part of his life.  He talked longingly of the time he spent at the cabin growing up and exploring.  All the caves and tunnels around the property had been fun as well as the huge high ceilings and the bowling alley.  He had fond memories, and he began strumming his guitar. We listened to his music being pushed back down by the heavy canopy of trees. Mark said he always remembered the trees—the whole place always “called to him, pulling him back.”  He was wistful. 

I asked if he thought that this place continues to be a muse for people creating music.  He didn’t really need to answer.  It was clear that this particular piece of hallowed ground continues to be magical.

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