2111 Kew Street

Like many homes in Laurel Canyon, the house 2111 Kew Street comes with a distinctly Hollywood pedigree. From  Attack of the Crab Monsters to LA Law, it has had its share of famous tenants, but unlike many Hollywood homes, the house on Kew Street isn’t shrouded in scandal, death, divorce or financial ruin. In fact, it is has served as a longtime locus of healing, creativity and love.  You need only walk through to feel the good vibes.

Originally built in 1982 by b-movie actor and all-around good guy, Beech Dickerson, star of Roger Corman classics (and whose name, when Googled, will send interested parties down a series of fun rabbit holes), Dickerson paid for his non-union acting career by becoming a small-scale real estate mogul, buying and developing several properties in Hollywood, and renting them to friends in his community.

The Kew Street property, however, is special. Dickerson designed and built this house with his godson, Corbin Bersen of LA Law fame. Bernsen was Kew Street’s first occupant, carrying his bride, Amanda Pays over its threshold in 1988.

The house has been owned by other Hollywood notables such as Costas Mandylor, Talisa Soto and Benjamin Bratt in the years since.  Lauren Sarafan, a breathwork instructor and the house’s owner since 2000, remembers the moment she first walked through Kew Street’s front doors, “I knew immediately it was just a really special place, it felt joyful– it felt like home. I knew I would have an incredible life if I lived there.”

This home is so much more than it’s gorgeous Balinese doors, its high ceilings and its soaring canyon views—it has served as a kind of creative vortex since it was built. Countless songs and screenplays have been written here, people have come to Kew Street to heal and be healed, to create success and then celebrate that success with the people they love most.

All of this is part and parcel of the general magic that comes with living on top of the Hollywood hills, which feels more like Marin County than LA. The house overlooks Stanley Hills Drive which served as the original switchback up to the historic Lookout Mountain Inn, once famous for its commanding views of Los Angeles. As you wind your way past Frank Zappa and Joni Mitchell’s fabled homes, and breathe in the fragrant air, you feel transported to another time and place. The neighborhood itself is a sweet, close-knit community, with friendly neighbors looking out for each other–all of which makes the Kew Street property feel like a safe, cozy oasis.

Recently, a masked couple knocked on Lauren’s front door. It was Corbin Bernsen and Amanda Pays wanting to visit the house they had spent such happy years in. Lauren invited them inside to tour their old home. “The way Corbin and Amanda looked at each other and this house… you could tell their love was in the walls. This is a place to be missed.”