A piece of music history is on the block in Encino — especially for those who like their sites with a little bit of six-string flavor.
Grammy-winning rock guitar virtuoso Steve Vai and his wife Pia are selling the San Fernando Valley home they moved into 20 years ago, on Encino Avenue in the same “Music Row” neighborhood where Tom Petty, Ronnie James Dio, Dave Grohl, Slash, Graham Nash (Vai’s next-door neighbor for 20 years), Sergio Mendes and others also lived, not far from the Jackson family compound on Havenhurst. Built in 1941, it had been abandoned for 10 years when Vai purchased it for $1.2 million in 2006. Today, after significant renovations, it’s listed for nearly $11.8 million via Sotheby’s International Realty’s Malibu brokerage.
“It’s bittersweet, sure,” says Vai, who’s moved to the San Diego area. “There’s always those heartstrings. We raised our (two) children there. It was a really good life. We customized every inch of that property. I put millions of dollars into it to restructure the house completely, and there was a lot of love put into it.”
That’s particularly true of the Harmony Hut, a highly customized studio built in a detached shack on the compound — which was where a gardener who looked after the property after it was abandoned passed away and was found two weeks later. “That’s kind of a creepy story,” Vai acknowledges, “not the story I like to share so much when we’re selling the house. But there’s only good vibes in that studio now.”
The Harmony Hut — which Vai initially considered calling the Dead Gardener and designing like an English pub — is an 1,800-square-foot, acoustically tuned state-of-the-art studio with a unique console designed by Steve Firlotte of Tree Audio in Los Angeles, blending 500 Series and Neve technologies with room for a substantial number of modules and plug-ins. Vai recorded albums such as 2005’s Real Illusions: Reflections and 2022’s Inviolate, on which he debuted his custom triple-neck guitar the Hydra. Vai worked on material there with Joe Satriani, a friend since childhood on Long Island, and also rehearsed Beat, the all-star quartet with Adrian Belew, Tony Levin and Tool’s Danny Carey that’s become a global success performing King Crimson’s early ‘80s repertoire.
“If you look at the Harmony Hut, it doesn’t look like a recording studio. It’s more like a gentleman’s lounge,” says Vai, who’s leaving the studio — which also housed his extensive collection of guitars — largely intact for the showings. “It’s just a dreamboat property for an artist. It’s a sanctuary, it really is, completely walled-off and beautiful. If somebody wants to have a home with a studio, you’re not going to find anything better.”
The rest of the house, about a half mile from Ventura Boulevard, isn’t too shabby, either. Expanded to more than 10,000-square-feet, it boasts five en suite bedrooms, a swimming pool and pool house, a gym, a billiards room, a library and extensive landscaping whose foliage includes a 400-year-old oak tree. The Sothebys listing describes it as “an inspired, artful environment where nature, creativity, peace and possibility converge.”
“We just wanted a change,” says Vai, who plans to build “a more appropriate studio” in his new home. “I didn’t want to grow old in the Valley. But we loved it there. It has a particular energy and it really served me and my family well, and it’s…great for people in the arts and the music community and the film community.”
While the property lists, Vai is keeping busy with his own art. He’s on the road with Satriani and their SatchVai band through May; it’s released three songs so far and has finished a full album that’s expected out later this year. He’ll then be in Europe with Beat during June and July and has other touring that will take up much of the year. He’ll be hosting a Creamsicle Sunset cruise of the Rhine River June 26-July 3 2007 and has several album projects in motion — including an acoustic vocal album, orchestral works with the Metropole Orchestra in the Netherlands and the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra in Finland. He’ll also be composing a piece to be performed during summer 2027 in The Hague.
