Elliott Smith's LA: 5 places where the musician's legacy lives on

During a life cut short at 34, musician Elliott Smith left traces of his legacy in many cities, perhaps most notably in Los Angele

Writer Jamie Fisher spoke with some 140 people for her new book Nobody Broke Your Heart: An Intimate Biography of Elliott Smith.

Even though some of Smith’s painful struggles with addiction and mental health took place in L.A., Fisher said his time in the city wasn’t all bad.

“He was always very suspicious of artifice and then I think he found himself enjoying it more than he thought he would,” said Fisher, who worked as a researcher at the New York Times Magazine for a decade. “He liked how big and expansive the city was: you can just kind of vanish into L.A.”

Smith moved to L.A. in the summer of 1999. He died here about four years later. But in that time he cut some deep grooves into the city, in places from Los Feliz to the San Fernando Valley — if you know where to look.

Snow White Cottages

Take the Snow White Cottages in Los Feliz, lovingly named for their fairytale-like architecture, where Smith once lived.

Fisher said the cottages were run down when the musician moved in. One of her sources said a raccoon threw a roof shingle at Smith’s head.

“It was more of an apartment than a house really. And it was this little community that was tight knit at the time,” Fisher said.

The Roost

On Los Feliz Boulevard, just across the 5 Freeway, is the beloved dive bar The Roost in Atwater Village, a joint Smith memorialized on his album Figure 8 — as a fade out on the track "In the Lost and Found (Honky Beach)/The Roost."

“It’s just this little nod,” Fisher said. “He was always folding the places and people he loved into his music.”

Back in the ‘90s, the place was more of a working-class joint, and one of the more overlooked bars Smith had a penchant for, Fisher said.

“One of the bartenders there who really loved Elliott owns it now,” Fisher said.

Largo

Then, of course, there’s Largo at its old Fairfax location. Fisher said it was a huge part of Smith’s life starting in the late ‘90s, when he spent late nights playing piano with fellow musician Jon Brion.

New Monkey

Motor on over to Van Nuys for New Monkey, a music studio Smith founded where artists are still recording to this day.

Fisher said you can also find equipment that was used to record his final album, From a Basement on the Hill.

Fisher said Smith put the studio together at a point when he was struggling with addiction, in the last years of his life.

“It was really hard for him to write music, but buying broken equipment and repairing it and putting the studio together was something he could focus his energy into,” she said.

Smith wanted New Monkey, Fisher said, to be a place where musicians could affordably access some of the best recording equipment available.

As Smith lived with addiction and other personal issues, he was mentoring younger musicians and making a lifelong impression on artists such as Jim Fairchild from Modest Mouse and Grandaddy, and Aaron Espinoza from Earlimart.

“He was so generous with his time,” Fisher said. “He would show up to Earlimart shows and stand right in the front row and make them all extremely nervous.”

Fisher said she’d braced herself for writing the last chapters of the book about the final years of Smith’s life.

In 2003, Smith died from two stab wounds in his chest — and the case is still open.

Fisher said that despite his addiction and mental health struggles, she was surprised by the many “moments of light” during his time in L.A., from his love of cooking to his mentorship of other musicians and his work on New Monkey.

Figure 8 wall

(

Courtesy FMLY used with permission

)

The go-to spot for fans to remember Smith is still standing in L.A. — the Figure 8 wall in Silver Lake.

The mural of bending red and black lines famously became the cover art for the Figure 8 album.

More than two decades after his death, the wall is still alive with new memories.

“There’s always new notes from people saying, like, Elliott saved their life or quoting their favorite lyric or saying they wished he was still here,” Fisher said.