Inside John Mayer's takeover of a Hollywood music mecca

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John Mayer calls it “adult time care”: the historical signaling workplace down the arched gates connected La Brea Avenue wherever celebrated musicians person been keeping themselves — and 1 different — creatively occupied since the mid-1960s.

Known for decades arsenic Henson Studios — and arsenic A&M Studios earlier that — the three-acre analyzable successful the bosom of Hollywood has played big to the instauration of immoderate of music’s astir celebrated records, among them Carole King’s “Tapestry,” Joni Mitchell’s “Blue,” Guns N’ Roses’ “Use Your Illusion” and D’Angelo’s “Black Messiah.”

In 1985, A&M’s parquet-floored Studio A was wherever Quincy Jones gathered the all-star congregation that recorded “We Are the World” successful a marathon overnight session; successful 2014, Daft Punk evoked the studios’ wood-paneled splendor successful a show of “Get Lucky” with Stevie Wonder astatine the 56th Grammy Awards.

A soundstage connected the spot has seen astir arsenic overmuch history, including filming for TV’s “The Red Skelton Show” and “Soul Train” and the accumulation of the Police’s MTV-defining euphony video for “Every Breath You Take.” More recently, Mayer and his bandmates successful Dead & Company took implicit the soundstage to store their cutting-edge residency astatine the Las Vegas Sphere, not agelong aft Mayer chopped his astir caller solo LP, 2021’s “Sob Rock,” astatine Henson.

“I utilized to travel present adjacent if I didn’t rather person thing to do,” says the Grammy-winning vocalist and songwriter known for his romanticist ballads and bluesy guitar heroics. “I conscionable wanted to beryllium astir euphony — to person a spot to spell arsenic an creator to find immoderate operation successful my life.”

Now, with an oculus connected preserving the spot astatine a infinitesimal of wide upheaval successful the amusement industry, Mayer and his concern partner, the filmmaker McG, person finalized a acquisition of the lot, which they bought for $44 cardinal from the household of the precocious Muppets creator Jim Henson and which they’ve renamed Chaplin Studios successful grant of the silent-film elephantine who broke crushed connected it much than a period ago.

Their imaginativeness for Chaplin, which takes up fractional a metropolis artifact betwixt Sunset Boulevard and De Longpre Avenue, is ambitious. “We’re doing our champion to make benignant of a Warhol’s Factory happening of like-minded artists bumping into each different to bash their champion enactment possible,” says McG.

And the duo already person immoderate almighty enactment down them.

“A batch of my friends and I were precise blessed to spot that Henson was being taken implicit by immoderate large people,” Paul McCartney tells The Times successful an email. The stone legend, who made 2001’s “Driving Rain” and 2018’s “Egypt Station” astatine Henson, admits that quality of the studio’s changing hands near folks successful his satellite “worried that it mightiness not beryllium handled sensitively.”

“However, we recognize present we person nary crushed to beryllium arsenic John Mayer and McG look to beryllium doing a fantastic occupation successful keeping the celebrated workplace alive.”

Still, the challenges they look are real: Thanks to advances successful inexpensive audio instrumentality — and with the economics of streaming having chopped into once-lavish signaling budgets — adjacent A-list artists often opt these days to grounds astatine location alternatively than ammunition retired to publication into an old-line workplace similar Chaplin. (Consider that astatine slightest 2 of the songs nominated for grounds of the twelvemonth astatine February’s Grammys ceremonial — Billie Eilish’s “Wildflower” and Chappell Roan’s “The Subway” — were constructed chiefly astatine home.)

“Everyone with a machine and a microphone has a studio,” Mayer says, and that’s not adjacent accounting for the proliferation of euphony conjured up by AI retired of the integer ether.

On the movie side, the ongoing exodus of accumulation from L.A. raises earthy doubts astir the quality to support a soundstage engaged with clients — doubts, 1 presumes, that led the owners of Occidental Studios adjacent Echo Park to enactment that batch up for merchantability past summer.

“The existent property guys weren’t needfully saying what a prudent concern determination this was,” says McG, who directed the 2000 blockbuster “Charlie’s Angels” and enforcement produced TV’s “The O.C.” “But it’s not astir the dividend oregon the monthly spit-out. I respect John for throwing down.”

Says Mayer: “I emotion doing things that radical archer maine aren’t gonna work. That’s however I cognize I’m onto something.”

McG wrong the soundstage astatine Chaplin Studios.

Mayer, 48, and McG, 57, are lounging connected a December day successful Mayer’s ranch-hand-chic office, which occupies what erstwhile was the mill wherever wood for Charlie Chaplin’s movie sets was cut. Last nighttime the co-owners threw a vacation enactment for the studio’s unit and friends; McG breakdanced — “My cervix hurts today, but I got done it,” helium says — portion Mitchell turned up and played the soft successful Mayer’s idiosyncratic Studio C, wherever she liked to enactment successful the ’70s.

As we talk, Mayer is sipping nary less than 3 antithetic smoothies — an attack helium says helium picked up from the precocious Apple laminitis Steve Jobs, who evidently would bid aggregate smoothies to guarantee helium wasn’t missing retired connected a caller discovery.

“There’s thing I subordinate to astir that,” Mayer says, his Double RL boots propped connected a java array successful beforehand of him. “I’m gonna person this smoothie and a small spot of these different smoothies to fig out: Does that smoothie bushed this smoothie arsenic my all-time-favorite order? What if there’s a smoothie retired determination successful the satellite that you haven’t tried yet that could beryllium your favorite?”

He puts down 1 cupful and picks up another. “This 1 has wheatgrass successful it,” helium reports. “Not for me.”

The vocalist met McG, whose existent sanction is Joseph McGinty Nichol, successful 2024 done the studio’s longtime manager, Faryal Ganjehei. Each had ample acquisition connected the lot: In the 1990s, McG changeable euphony videos connected the soundstage for the likes of Sublime and Smash Mouth; Mayer archetypal recorded astatine Henson successful 2005 erstwhile helium chopped a mentation of “Route 66” for the soundtrack to “Cars.”

“You’d deliberation John and I would person known each different conscionable from astir present oregon from Ari Emanuel’s oregon whatever,” McG says. “But this was really a spot of an arranged marriage” betwixt 2 radical who’d separately heard rumblings that the Jim Henson Co. mightiness beryllium looking to determination its operations. (The company, which makes a assortment of children’s tv shows, is present headquartered astatine Studio City’s Radford Studio Center.)

“One twelvemonth in, we’re inactive performing vigorous lovemaking,” McG says of his and Mayer’s union.

“Can’t hold to spot that successful Times New Roman,” Mayer adds.

Herb Alpert, left, and Jerry Moss astatine A&M office successful 1966.

Charlie Chaplin, who was calved successful London, began gathering the batch successful 1917 successful a white-and-brown English Tudor style; helium went connected to nonstop immoderate of his best-known films, including “Modern Times” and “The Great Dictator,” connected the property. After Chaplin near the United States successful 1952, the batch was utilized for episodes of “The Adventures of Superman” and “Perry Mason.”

In 1966, Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss bought the spot and made it the basal for their A&M Records; they converted 2 of the lot’s soundstages into high-end signaling studios that drew the the likes of Sergio Mendes, the Carpenters, Stevie Nicks, U2 and John Lennon. Henson took implicit successful 2000 and continued to cultivate what galore of the studio’s regulars picture arsenic a cozy household vibe.

“It was genuinely my location distant from home,” says John Shanks, who produced deed records by Sheryl Crow, Miley Cyrus and Ashlee Simpson, among galore others, astatine Henson. “My kids celebrated birthdays determination — they knew wherever the candy was successful Faryal’s office.”

Mayer and McG accidental they’re putting $9 cardinal into improvements connected the batch — “an up-to-speed-ovation,” the manager calls it — but person nary plans to marque important structural oregon stylistic changes. Ganjehei’s unit of astir 22 engineers, techs and runners volition enactment on, arsenic volition artists who support offices and studios connected the property, among them Daft Punk’s accumulation institution and the duo of Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman.

“We’ve each seen places we loved get renovated and past you go, ‘Yeah, I don’t similar it determination anymore,’” McG says.

Such as?

“The Four Seasons connected Doheny,” Mayer responds. “They took retired the aged eating country and enactment successful a Culina, and it’s nary amusive anymore.” Of Chaplin, helium says, “This spot has a beating heart. All we person to bash is efficaciously not termination it, right?” He laughs. “Just enactment distant from the large reddish fastener that says, ‘I got an idea.’”

Adrian Scott Fine welcomes that attitude.

“It’s what we similar to perceive — it’s not what we often hear,” says the president and main enforcement of the Los Angeles Conservancy, a nonprofit dedicated to historical preservation. “When places transportation retired of semipermanent stewardship, that ever raises our spidey senses: What does this mean for the future? Sometimes they spell into harmless hands with the adjacent owner. Oftentimes it means extremist change, nonaccomplishment of character, possibly demolition oregon redevelopment. So we’re precise hopeful erstwhile idiosyncratic says that due to the fact that it doesn’t hap capable successful L.A.”

John Mayer, right, and McG wrong Studio B astatine Chaplin Studios.

As a amusement of humanities continuity, Mayer and McG initially wanted to telephone the spot Chaplin A&M. But Mayer says helium couldn’t get Universal Music Group, which controls the A&M brand, to motion disconnected connected the name.

“I’ve ne'er seen effect truthful adjacent to the crushed before,” helium says of the thought to bring backmost A&M. “Everyone I spoke to did the happening that radical astatine grounds companies do, wherever it starts to get precise gauzy arsenic it moves up the flagpole: ‘Listen, I get it, but I can’t get the idiosyncratic supra maine to spot it.’” (Moss died successful 2023, and a spokesperson for Alpert said helium wasn’t disposable for an interview. A UMG spokesperson didn’t respond to a petition for comment.)

More disappointing, Mayer and McG say, was the Henson family’s determination to instrumentality down the 12-foot statue of Kermit the Frog — dressed arsenic Chaplin’s Little Tramp quality — that presided for 25 years implicit the lot’s beforehand entrance.

“It was important to the Hensons to person Kermit — that was expressed precise aboriginal on,” Mayer says of the statue, which the household is donating to the Center for Puppetry Arts successful Atlanta. “We mightiness person had the delusion of a reprieve. But they didn’t alteration their mind.”

“I speech to radical I cognize and they say, ‘My kids spell to schoolhouse connected La Brea, and each time we thrust by and say, “What’s up, Kerms?”’” McG says. “It saddens maine that the radical of Los Angeles won’t beryllium capable to stock successful Kermit looking implicit them. If I sold Randy’s Donuts to a barbecue place, I’d anticipation the barbecue feline would support the elephantine doughnut. It’s successful the ‘I Love L.A.’ video with Randy Newman, OK?

Until recently, a 12-foot statue of Kermit the Frog presided implicit the beforehand entranceway to the Henson property.

“This isn’t a McG thing,” the manager adds. “It’s not a John Mayer thing. With the top respect, it’s not adjacent a Henson thing. Kermit, to me, had transcended each of that and go a portion of the cloth of this community.”

Did they marque that affectional lawsuit to the Hensons?

“We tried,” Mayer says.

And it fell connected deaf ears?

“Indeed,” says McG. (A spokesperson astatine the Jim Henson Co. declined to comment.)

Mayer has seen the comments connected societal media blaming him for Kermit’s disappearance, which is nary uncertainty wherefore he’s anxious to get the connection retired that it wasn’t his doing. Yet the vocalist — a tabloid fixture since the days erstwhile helium dated Taylor Swift and Jessica Simpson — says he’s not tortured by his haters.

“They should beryllium disquieted astir what I deliberation of them,” helium says with a laugh. “Honest to God, sometimes I work worldly and I go, ‘If lone you knew …’ And I don’t person to use that to myself arsenic a balm truthful I halt feeling bad. I’m astatine the property present wherever I’ve seen everything you could perchance write, and I’ve survived.”

Not truthful agelong ago, Mayer would happily leap into the unsmooth and tumble of online discourse. “But don’t you find yourself scrolling distant from things truthful evidently designed to outrage you?” helium asks. The prima is starting to spell down extracurricular — this is the clip of day, helium says, erstwhile Chaplin’s bucolic grounds punctual him of Montecito’s San Ysidro Ranch — and he’s getting somewhat philosophical.

“Millennials had their brains ripped retired by the things they read. Gen Z is opening to go, ‘I deliberation a batch of these are bots.’ And I deliberation Gen Alpha volition beryllium the procreation that looks and says, ‘There’s a full clump of clankers penning bulls—. We don’t care.’

“My years of trash talking oregon being captious of immoderate creator successful immoderate mode — I deliberation they’re over,” helium says. “It ne'er felt arsenic bully arsenic it feels to tally into radical successful the hallway and beryllium gladsome they’re here.”

The consciousness of assemblage Mayer feels — and is trying to nurture — astatine Chaplin is 1 crushed he’s optimistic the workplace volition succeed.

“I deliberation we’re leaving an epoch of ‘I did it myself — aren’t you amazed?’ Look astatine Dijon onstage astatine ‘SNL,’” helium says of the R&B vocalist and shaper who led an expansive radical of musicians done a vivid TV show successful aboriginal December. “We’ve heard our hands applauding the information that radical person done it alone, and present we’re turning the country and loving collaboration again. And you can’t travel into a spot similar this and bash it alone.”

"I emotion doing things that radical archer maine aren’t gonna work," John Mayer says.

Even so, bills hold for nary vibe shift. Beyond the concern of recording, Mayer and McG are anxious to marque Chaplin’s soundstage a destination for acts successful request of rehearsal abstraction — AC/DC was precocious successful determination practicing — arsenic good arsenic for definite high-end unrecorded events.

“If Anna Wintour’s gonna bash ‘Women of Hollywood,’” McG says, “I request Anna Wintour going, ‘John, it’s got to beryllium astatine your place.’”

Mayer says he’s fantasized astir a sitcom oregon a speech amusement taking up residence connected the soundstage.

“I perceive John’s beauteous bully friends with Andy Cohen,” McG says of the Bravo host. “We’ll spot wherever his amusement goes.”

“He looked astatine it,” Mayer says. “I deliberation helium needed much abstraction to beryllium capable to bash ‘Real Housewives’ reunions. Think astir the fig of Star Waggons you request for that.”

Yet euphony remains astatine the bosom of Mayer’s ambitions for Chaplin, which helium says helium intends to ain agelong capable to “sit down successful a seat for a documentary respective times, talking astir different people’s records that were made here.” (Mayer himself says he’s been “defending the calendar of 2026” to grounds an medium of his own.)

“Every clip an creator drives done that gate, they’re taking an affectional risk,” helium says. “Hoping they person a opus successful them but not being definite — it’s a precise susceptible authorities to beryllium in. Everyone’s walking around, bumping into walls, reasoning astir what the rhyme is to that word. I privation to marque this the top spot you could ever struggle.”

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