Remembering Willis Wonderland: LA's creative hub of the 1980s

The 1980s were a great time to be in L.A., and it was an especially good time to know Allee Willis. — By Matt Maranian

The following is an exclusive for Boing Boing Premium subscribers. Thanks for your support!

"The 1980s were a great time to be in L.A., and it was an especially good time to know Allee Willis. I've always maintained that Los Angeles owned the '80s much like San Francisco owned the '60s or New York owned the '70s. L.A. felt like the epicenter of that decade, and Allee's life felt like an epicenter-within-an-epicenter, because she wasn't just reflecting culture, she was actually creating some of it, right in that house."

"Presenting an original portfolio piece by American architect William Kesling," reads the Zillow listing for a 1936 2-bedroom/3-bath property in the San Fernando Valley, "known for designing a historic collection of homes in the Streamline Moderne style...throughout Los Angeles."

Photo: Mark Frauenfelder.

Photo: Mark Frauenfelder.

It also happens to be the former home of Allee Willis, who just might be the most fabulous person you've never heard of.

Ardent Boing Boing followers might recall that Willis' untimely passing in 2019, and the documentary The World According to Allee Willis released last fall, were both previously covered here. The film serves as both a comprehensive introduction and a worthy epitaph, and it's absolutely worth your time.

For the uninitiated: Allee was a creative force of nature. A Grammy- and Tony-winning songwriter and inductee into the Songwriters' Hall of Fame, she was also an inventive visual artist, art director, furniture and set designer, prolific blogger and columnist, and an early internet visionary. She later ventured into live performance with a one-woman show. She was also famously known for her epic parties (many of which are documented on her website) to which she'd gather people from the art world, music business, and the publishing, TV and movie industries, along with a smattering of A-list celebrities, fringe icons, fun-loving scenester freaks, vintage gearheads and sundry creatives for her hottest-invite-in-town parties held in the environs of her singular baby-pink, early-midcentury modern house.

The sale of that house—which Allee later dubbed "Willis Wonderland"—has particular resonance for me. It officially closes the book on one of the many closed chapters of my life in Los Angeles. I know the house intimately; it was my workplace. I was Allee's art and personal assistant from 1987 to 1989, and she was one of my life's greatest teachers. That house set the scene for the single most defining period of my life.