Director rents a Midcentury Modern penthouse by | Real Estate news

Growing up in a small city outdoors of Cleveland, Tyler Piña was fascinated by Los Angeles and the glamour of Hollywood.

“My dad grew up out here, and it’s where my parents met,” says the 33-year-old screenwriter and Emmy Award-winning director of “Next Level With Lauren Goode.” “I bear in mind trying at outdated Polaroids of them in the ‘80s and seeing how much fun they had.”

His attraction to Los Angeles, however, was more than just nostalgia. “I was mesmerized by the landscapes and architecture,” he says, noting the Santa Monica Mountains that run alongside the Pacific Ocean and glass-and-steel Case Study Houses such as the Stahl House, perched on a hillside overlooking Los Angeles.

“I had never seen anything like it in Ohio,” he says. “It felt like another world, so far from reach. Yet it was a life I aspired to live one day.”

Looking back, he can’t imagine he realized his dream of transferring to Los Angeles from San Francisco in 2018 and finally renting a Midcentury Modern penthouse steps from the Sunset Strip.

“A Midcentury Modern penthouse on Sunset Boulevard in the heart of West Hollywood, with a bar in the living room? I mean, does it get more iconic? I am, in no way, cool enough to live here,” says Piña.

“It’s a little bit of a fishbowl,” Piña says, standing inside his lounge with views of a Netflix billboard through the unit’s floor-to-ceiling home windows. (It’s an advert for “Happy Gilmore 2” that reads “When Life Gives You S— for Breakfast … Go to Your Happy Place.”)

More than once, Piña has been caught sitting on his sofa in his underwear, writing scripts on his laptop computer, as Hollywood tour buses stop at the site visitors mild outdoors.

In other cases, pals have pushed by his building and texted him, “‘Hey, I just drove by and saw you in your living room,’” he says, laughing.

Although he appears like he’s residing in a fishbowl at instances, Piña attracts power from town outdoors his home windows.

The two-story, 22-unit Sunset Lanai condo advanced, designed by acclaimed midcentury architect Edward H. Fickett and constructed in 1952 by developer George Alexander, is an oasis in the center of a bustling half of town. That is because Fickett designed the West Hollywood flats to face inward, toward a lush courtyard and swimming pool, avoiding the exercise of the Sunset Strip.

Piña’s penthouse condo spans nearly all the top ground and boasts many of the architectural touches that Fickett was recognized for including as an indoor-outdoor ground plan that connects to a lanai, vaulted ceilings, partial partitions and heaps of glass.

Over the years, the condo’s homeowners and the West Hollywood City Council have debated its relevance as a historic landmark that wants preservation. But speak to Piña, and he’ll let you know it’s particular.

The Sunset Lanai flats have been designed by famous modernist architect Edward Fickett and constructed by George Alexander in 1952.

“I walked by the apartment every day before I moved in and was always curious what it looked like inside,” he says. “When I saw the ‘for rent’ sign, I immediately went on a tour. But the price was a little high for me, so I waited.”

His persistence paid off as the condo stood vacant for seven months during the COVID-19 pandemic. Following a number of price reductions, Piña, his boyfriend at that time and a buddy of theirs rented the two,850-square-foot unit for $5,200 a month in 2020.

“Right away it felt like home,” he says of the first time he stepped inside. “This was the place I grew up dreaming about.”

Piña, proper, and his boyfriend, Vittorio Manole, stand in the lanai in entrance of the condo.

The lanai has enough room for a fitness center, washer and dryer and a lounge. It also has ample built-in storage.

Inside, the condo is a treasure trove of distinctive options. The expansive lounge seamlessly connects to a formal eating room, which in flip leads to an up to date kitchen with stainless-steel home equipment, all with a view of Sunset Boulevard. Two bedrooms and two bogs, each with more built-in storage than they’ll use, sit off an intersecting hallway.

At the middle of the lounge, a fashionable enclosed moist bar, an authentic design by Fickett, exudes a “Mad Men” vibe. On the wall behind the bar, Piña hung a peel-and-stick wallpaper that he discovered on Etsy, reminiscent of the long-lasting banana-leaf wallpaper at the Beverly Hills Hotel, and a yellow neon signal that reads “Lost in euphoria.”

“There’s something really special about a Fickett building,” Piña says. “A Midcentury Modern penthouse on Sunset Boulevard in the heart of West Hollywood, with a bar in the living room? I mean, does it get more iconic? I am, in no way, cool enough to live here.”

“In a way, I guess decorating is just another medium for me to express my creativity like I do with film and writing,” Piña says.

“I tried my best to do this space justice,” Piña says, referring to his frantic two-week effort to enhance the condo while working on “Comeback Coach” and “Women in Business,” two actuality exhibits sponsored by Verizon. He has also labored on trailers for Amazon, shot and edited commercials for Google, Levi’s and Sephora, edited “Making Emilia Perez” for Netflix and wrote and directed the award-winning documentary “88 Cents.”

“At my previous place, I slowly decorated over time,” he says. “By the time it finally felt perfect, it was time to move out. In this space, I wanted it to feel lived in right away so I could enjoy it fully for as long as possible.”

Working until 3 in the morning, Piña sourced Midcentury-inspired furnishings from the online retailer All Modern, CB2 and a number of local classic retailers. He also bought a selection of furnishings, plants and equipment on Etsy and Offer Up as properly as artworks by local artists, photographers and pals.

Inspired by a print on wooden by Australian photographer Sarah Bahbah in his eating room, Piña adorned the residing and eating room in a related colour palette. Similarly, copper-colored bar stools he noticed in a small store in San Francisco impressed the bar space.

The bed room is darkish and moody, with home windows that look out over the Sunset Strip.

Explaining his adorning course of, Piña says he likes to start with a assertion piece such as an paintings, rug or piece of furnishings and then construct a story around it. “In a way, I guess decorating is just another medium for me to express my creativity like I do with film and writing,” he says.

Adding to the spacious ground plan is a lanai, which has enough room for weights, mats and a Peloton, as properly as a lounge space, washer and dryer, sink and a large walk-in storage space. “I have a projector and have hosted movie nights,” Piña says.

The formal eating room connects to an up to date kitchen with stainless-steel home equipment that faces Sunset Boulevard.

At night time, Piña says his condo glows from the streetlights and soaks up the power from the neighborhood. “It’s the best place to have a good cry,” he says. “Because you never feel alone. I put so much love into this apartment. And it’s given me so much back in return. And the tears I cried here, the immense struggles that I faced — a pandemic, losing work from the strikes, multiple relationships that came and went. But even in the hard moments, there was so much beauty. The architecture brings this place to life.”

But like so many good issues that come to an end, Piña not too long ago determined to transfer out of the condo after his roommate left.

Piña strikes on with nothing but completely satisfied reminiscences.

“I’m ready for the next dream,” he says.

Last month, Piña offered and donated all of his furnishings. He plans to journey to Europe and Asia and work remotely for a while. “Just me and a suitcase,” he says.

According to the director, he loved promoting his furnishings on Facebook Marketplace and plans on utilizing it as a source for his next home. “I met so many cool people from all over the city,” he says. “The whole concept of passing items down versus buying new just makes the home feel more lively in my opinion, like every item comes with its own story and a bit of love — not to mention it’s way more cost-effective.”

He leaves Los Angeles with his Polaroids, just like his mother and father.

“And all the amazing memories,” he says. “Those are coming with me.”