‘Madhouse’ Creator Jeff Beacher Takes Us Inside His North Of Sunset Zen Pad
5 min read
We reached producer Jeff Beacher as he piloted his Ferrari 458 Spider to a lunch appointment at the Beverly Hills Hotel’s Polo Lounge, Hollywood’s marquee rendezvous since 1941.
“I bought my house because it was behind the Beverly Hills Hotel, I love it that much––I eat there all the time,” says Beacher, known as the outré impresario of Beacher’s Madhouse, a vaudeville-inspired mash-up of bawdy sketches, burlesque and little people who do impersonations, amid other boundary-busting shtick. The lysergic show had a lengthy run––from its 2002 start in New York City, then in Las Vegas and at The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.
The madcap spectacle––Beacher has called it “the best of the worst”––also toured 81 cities.
Beacher’s 1,785 square-foot double lot home––edged into a hillside between Benedict Canyon and Laurel Canyon––was his crash pad of sorts during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, He purchased the two-bedroom two-bathroom Beverly Crest home in 2019, and then fully modernized the 1959 residence.
“I’ve outgrown the house,” says Beacher, whose $2.75 million listing is managed by Tessa Hilton and her husband Barron N. Hilton, both Hilton & Hyland agents. “I need more of a showman’s house.”
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Among the property’s standout features is a rare adjacent lot included in the package. It’s approved for an additional 1,200 square feet of add-on space.
Beacher has used the home’s amenities––a Jacuzzi big enough for a crowd, an infrared sauna and cold plunge and two expansive terraces––to entertain: an after party for Paris Hilton’s 2021 wedding, which included six designer outfit changes; and a 2020 birthday bash for Kelly Osbourne, among other soirées.
With the home’s west orientation, celebrations at the residence are framed by consummate Los Angeles panoramas: the city, ocean and sunsets.
The understated facade of Beacher’s home harbors a twist: the white-painted trunk of a weathered tree that’s incorporated into a low wall. An entry courtyard lies just inside the front gate.
Beyond the front door is ample welcoming space––the kitchen and living and dining rooms anchored with a fireplace. The expanse is banked with windows affording those singular views. The top floor includes two bedrooms.
Over two years, Beacher sank nearly half a million dollars into the property. Additions included the lower floor’s 10-person hot tub and spa, white oak floors throughout and black steel frame doors and windows, which are paired with motorized blinds. Set on a timer, “they roll up at 6:30 every morning to reveal ocean views,” he says.
It’s the quintessential Southern California wake-up call.
Beacher’s renovation included reconfiguring the primary bedroom’s bathroom. He enlisted the help of director and producer Michael Bay––“an absolute genius,” says Beacher, noting Bay’s own three-story Bel Air villa designed by Chad Oppenheim that was featured in Architectural Digest.
“I had a whole idea where I wanted the bathroom and shower to be, and Michael said, ‘No way, you’re crazy––move it over here, and you’ll have a steam shower overlooking the city.’ And he was so right, it’s breathtaking.”
The bathroom’s floors and ceiling are covered with Italian Calacatta marble by Absolute, lending the space a lavish feel that’s at once fresh and airy. The walls are lined with Calacatta porcelain slabs. The room is accented with quartz tiling.
A spacious shower room is set with a freestanding ebony scoop tub by Hydro Systems. A walk-in closet with charcoal-stained wood completes the appropriately indulgent look. The ensuite has a private door to a secluded balcony.
The guestroom’s bathroom is conversely black––elegantly so with ample use of Nero Marquina marble imported from Spain.
Although Beacher is searching for a larger home––he favors the hills behind Chateau Marmont as well as the Bird Streets––he had ideas for what to erect on the property’s adjacent lot. “I was going to build a master with an office next to it––all glass and with a glass staircase,” he says of the imagined look. A pool was another option.
Next to that empty lot “there are four or five acres that can’t be developed, it’s owned by the city,” he says. “That makes for a quiet house. It was great to be here during the pandemic. I called it being in my ‘house zone.’”
In 2015, Beacher dropped 250 pounds in the space of two years––from 440 to 190 pounds, “so the house is literally built for my health,” he adds. That includes the spa, workout areas he’s established on the terraces and such kitchen gadgets as air fryers and juicers.
“I’ve got my crystals everywhere, my big Buddha and my cool funky art––it’s all set up to maintain my health, keep me balanced,” Beacher says. “It’s very Zen.” Besides a membership at Equinox in West Hollywood, Beacher also walks his neighborhood’s maze of streets, sometimes hoofing it down to Sunset Blvd., which is about a 40-minute walk or an 8-minute drive.
“The neighborhood is really incredible,” Beacher says. “I’ve become close with almost all my neighbors, going to dinners, hiking.” His home is a 5-minute drive or a half-hour walk to Franklin Canyon Park’s 605 acres of chaparral, grasslands, oak woodlands, lakes and five miles of hiking trails.
Beacher became his neighborhood’s resident raconteur during the height of the pandemic, sharing stories of his A-list connections. Fans of his brainchild Beacher’s Madhouse included Mick Jagger, Kim Kardashian, Justin Bieber, Leonardo DiCaprio, Christian Bale, Johnny Depp, Miley Cyrus, Sandra Bullock and David Beckham. In 2015, he parlayed those connections to form Beacher Media Group, which brands cross-promotions between celebrities and companies.
Beacher’s neighbors were ecstatic when he bought the home in 2019. The former owner had painted the residence a clinically depressed gray accented with a garish pink––a cross between the color of Pepto-Bismol and Barbie pink. “It was an eyesore,” Beacher says.
Beacher promptly painted the home white. “A couple of the neighbors sent me thank-you gifts,” he says.
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