LAUREL CANYON—An upscale 4,000 square foot home that was once host to various events from Rock and Roll’s heyday in the 1960s and 1970s now sits quietly in a tree-lined Laurel Canyon Neighborhood in Wonderland Park Estate.
The original 1930s storybook English tudor-style house sits back from the main road and is accessible from a private bridge over a creek. According to Vanity Fair, the two-home compound was originally owned by Chip Taylor, uncle to celebrity Angelina Jolie and “visionary and music innovator” to various bands in the ’60s and ’70s. Taylor, who is also known for the hit song, “Wild Thing”, had rented the home out to music legend Keith Richards, a friend, back in 1978.
According to Jason Reitz, sole owner of Rock Reality Group, a boutique luxury real estate brokerage and development firm who spoke to Canyon News, Richards had thrown a big party one night and burned the home down.
“There was a big party one night and somebody had turned the gas fire off-but not all the way. So the gas was still going and there was some incense burning and then there was a spark….BOOM! I’m in the bedroom with the flavour of the month, my girlfriend of the hour. I wake up and the room’s full of smoke and she’s crashed out and I sniff. I open the door to the bedroom and I’m looking at a fireball rushing down the corridor towards the oxygen…and me!”
Keith goes on to describe in the book of how he narrowly escaped the fire at the Wonderland Park Avenue home. All that was left was a stump of a pillar and his possessions, such as a passport, favorite tapes, jewelry and a shooter along with ammunition.
The rustic home includes a formal living room, lead glass windows, family room, pub and spa and is currently listed at $3.695 million, says Reitz who found the home to be in need of desperate renovation, which was last restored in 1984.
Reitz had discovered the home when he found an area with trees growing around in a circle, which later was discovered to be a vintage flagstone patio, covered in almost a foot of dirt. The trees that surrounded the patio led directly to various entryways to Old Hollywood legends, including the home of Barbara Streisand’s music producer and John Barrymore’s house, where concubines once lived.
Keith Richards, who has been with the Rolling Stones, self proclaimed “World’s Greatest Rock and Roll Band” since 1962 is known for his ‘single body of riffs,’ according to Rolling Stone magazine, who ranked him number 4 of 100 of the best guitarists in the music industry.
Father of three daughters, and 1 of 4 members who played alongside famed Mick Jagger, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts, Richards has won various awards, including GQ Men of the Year in 2015 and was nominated for a Grammy as a runner up for best song, “Doom and Gloom” in 2014.
Richards also released a children’s book, “Gus & Me: The Story of My Granddad and My First Guitar,” on September 9, 2014. It was illustrated by his daughter Theodora Richards, who is named after his father and subject of the book, Theodore Richards.
According to Reitz, a vintage bottle from the ’30s or ’40s was found in perfect condition and will be given to the new owner of the home when sold.
