Maggie Rogers Buys Boho-Chic Starter House on L.A.’s Eastside
By James McClain
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Celebrities follow all sorts of unusual paths to fame and fortune, but one of the more interesting journeys is the story of Maggie Rogers. Rewind back to 2016, and the rural Maryland native was still an ordinary college student at NYU’s Clive Davis Institute, pursuing a degree in music journalism. She took a Pharrell Williams-led masterclass and played him “Alaska,” a song she had written in under fifteen minutes, and essentially melted his mind . The video clip showing a visibly moved Williams listening to her song subsequently went viral and generated a massive wave of interest in her music — old records she recorded in high school were unearthed by the almighty internet and quickly streamed more than 300,000 times on Bandcamp.
After a reported record label bidding war, Rogers eventually signed with Capitol Records. In the three years since, the folk-influenced pop star has been featured at Coachella, Lollapalooza, and SXSW, among many other festivals; and she’s performed on some of TV’s biggest platforms, including “Saturday Night Live” and “The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon.” Rogers also released a full-length album, 2019’s “Heard It in a Past Life,” a debut Variety described as “musical comfort food.”
More recently, the critically-acclaimed songstress scored a 2020 Best New Artist Grammy nomination, pitting her against stiff competition from the high-profile likes of Billie Eilish and Lizzo. (Rogers didn’t win the Grammy, but she won over worldwide fashionista hearts with her novel Chanel water bottle accessory , something Vogue termed “the chicest (and most eco-friendly) fashion statement on the red carpet.”)
Somehow, Rogers also found time to do some real estate shopping. She recently closed on a nearly $1.3 million house in L.A.’s rapidly gentrifying and increasingly expensive Echo Park neighborhood, on the city’s hipster-approved Eastside. The house was recently renovated and sold by well-known blogger/photographer Victoria Smith, author of the long-running SFGirlByBay site and an influencer — she has nearly 220,000 Instagram followers — with a self-described “bohemian modern” aesthetic.
Records show Rogers paid a whopping $215,000 more than the asking price for her new home, indicating there was a hard-fought bidding war for the refreshingly boho-chic property. Painted a fetchingly trendy ebony black, the petite two-story structure offers three bedrooms and neutral interior decor in just over 1,000 square feet. There’s a one-car garage that sits right atop the street; beside it, a steep wooden staircase leads up to the home’s upstairs porch and entryway.
Somewhat unconventionally, the front door opens directly into a formal dining area that connects to a living room/library combo with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and glossy hardwood floors stained a dark chocolate brown. Just beyond that is a renovated kitchen with cream white cabinets, medium-grade appliances and a door leading directly to the hillside home’s tree-shaded backyard.
Other features include a master suite with midcentury-inspired custom fixtures and a bathroom with soaking tub. There are also two guest bedrooms, one of them done up with an airy vaulted ceiling and the other that currently functions as an office and sports a big-picture view of the backyard and distant canyons.
Though the .13-acre lot isn’t particularly big, the backyard includes amenities like a hard-sided swimming pool and an alfresco lounge area that’s partially covered by a vine-filled trellis, with inspirational views that take in a swath of the surrounding Eastside hills and treetops.
Rob Kallick of Compass held the listing and jointly repped Rogers with Laura Marchetti , also of .
