Annie Ritz
In reimagining her mid-century Laurel Canyon home, Annie Ritz of And And And Studio embraced the neighbourhood’s free-spirited past, taking cues from the visual and musical identity of 1960s Los Angeles.
After a six-month stay turned into a three-year sojourn in Toronto during the pandemic, my husband and creative partner Daniel and I woke up one morning in 2023 and decided it was time to move back to Los Angeles – our long-time home and beloved, creative, wild, golden city. It was calling us back for good.
We bought our current house sight unseen for two reasons: first, the neighbourhood, Laurel Canyon, was intriguing and new for us. It’s the hilly, rustic neighbour of Beverly Hills to the west and the Hollywood Hills to the east. Famously known as a 1960s folk-rock music epicentre, today it proudly maintains its flower-child roots. Peace signs are the local graffiti, a groovy font announces the legendary Laurel Canyon Country Store and an official plaque marks the spot where The Doors wrote ‘Love Street’. Today, the locals are successful creatives, musicians, artists, producers and writers who share a special affection for this place and its lore.
The second reason we bought the house was image 18 of the 26 listing photos posted online. It was an exterior horizontal photo taken from the rear-yard deck looking out over a vast canyon framed by the San Gabriel Mountains, a pink sun setting across them. If you could look past the exterior material choices, the image was a postcard. We made an offer, and I had that anchored, rooted feeling in my gut that this house was meant for me.
I let go of the need to explain myself and use reasoning and logic over my impulses as an artist. I practised allowing and listening – to the house, site, canyon and myself.
The house itself – a mid-century dwelling built in 1959 – had lost its way. Well cared for over the years but misguided in style, it had become an anonymous post-and-beam structure shrouded in bamboo with little street presence. It had a confusing switchback entrance, an awkward two-part living room with no purpose and a confusing general layout. The latest renovation was a chorus of grey and imitation materials that ignored the mid-century roots and missed the natural majesty of the property, period and site.
Designing the exterior and interiors of this house was a transformative process for me. Working on it felt like pulling on the final thread of my rigorous architecture school training – an unravelling I was finally ready to acknowledge and accept. I let go of the need to explain myself and use reasoning and logic over my impulses as an artist. I practised allowing and listening – to the house, site, canyon and myself. I practised genuine curiosity and let my imagination flow, asking myself simple questions: I wonder if I can make a kitchen out of this stone? I wonder if I can make a bedroom in the language of a library? I wonder if I can create a wild and whimsical wellness garden? I wonder if I can create a home that feels simultaneously natural, found, new and serene? I allowed the answers to come naturally. It was a joyful and intuitive process of discovery.
One year on, Daniel and I live here with our two beautiful children, Charlie and Rose. We eat dinners outside with the mountains and stars, marvel at red-tailed hawks as they soar above, hike the trails off Mulholland Drive and catch as many pink sunsets as we can. The kids love to make s’mores in the fire pit and we recently fostered two kittens here. If I find myself home alone on a weekend, I’ve been known to put on music, use the sauna, do a cold plunge, sunbathe nude and write in my journal. I marvel at how sound carries in the canyon and wonder if a distant wind-chime is actually quite close. We do a lot of homework at the kitchen table and the kids love to put on dance performances and have us rate them. We cook dinners, play, struggle to get out the door most mornings and live our triumphs and heartaches here.
When things are challenging – at home, in our city or on the news – I love to think about the 1960s and all the artists who energised this place: David Crosby, Frank Zappa, Joni Mitchell, Alice Cooper, Steven Spielberg, Cass Elliot and Carole King to name a few. I think of the art they made and the music this canyon holds, and I dream of a future filled with beauty, love and peace.
