Kevin Griffin lists Silver Lake home for $1.65 million
Singer-songwriter-guitarist Kevin Griffin of the alternative rock band Better Than Ezra has listed his Silver Lake home for $1.65 million.
The Tony Unruh-designed steel, glass and wood house has expanses of windows, decks on two levels and city light views, blurring the distinction between the indoors and the outdoors.
When Griffin and his wife, Laurel, bought the multistory house in 2006 for $1,595,000, they felt fortunate to find it.
“We moved here after the hurricane in New Orleans,” Kevin Griffin said. “We didn’t have a lot of time, and I was getting discouraged looking.”
The houses the couple saw either needed a lot of work, he said, or had “no discernible architectural reference point.”
“This house was a labor of love for the previous owner for five years,” Griffin said. “They took a 1,200-square-foot ‘50s post-and-beam house and made it 2,900 square feet.”
And the three-bedroom, three-bathroom house was within their price range.
“It had style, history, all new plumbing, all new wiring. Instead of being cantilevered, it used girders driven into the bedrock,” he said. “We were there at the right time. It was a just a no-brainer.”
When the Griffins moved in, they had one child. “So now we have 13-month twin boys. That said, a three-bedroom house isn’t cutting it for us.”
But it will be hard for the Griffins to leave Silver Lake.
“You get to know your neighbors,” he said. “There’s a great sense of community.”
Griffin said he has enjoyed riding his bike to his studio in Atwater Village and coming home to his peaceful neighborhood. “I’ll miss the house with no headaches,” he said.
Better Than Ezra, formed in the late ‘80s, continues to tour and released its seventh studio album, “Paper Empire,” last summer. Taylor Swift performed the Better Than Ezra song “Breathless” on the recent “Hope for Haiti” telethon. The rock group will host the ninth annual Ezra Open bowling tournament in New Orleans on March 27 to benefit the rebuilding of the city and the gulf region.
Griffin, who said he writes “everything from pop to rock,” also has been working with “American Idol” winner David Cook. They co-wrote the song “Avalanche” from the 2008 “David Cook” album.
Deborah Pisaro of Keller Williams, Studio City, has the listing.
