Back in the 1970s, recording engineer Rob Fraboni (the Stones’ GOAT’S HEAD SOUP, The Beach Boys’ “Sail On Sailor”, the PLANET WAVES LP, etc…) designed and built an incredible, custom recording studio in Malibu, Ca. for his friends Bob Dylan and The Band.
Overlooking the ocean, this amazing, secluded compound known as the Shangri-La Ranch included living quarters, a game room, wooded grounds, a rose garden and more.
Many classic rock albums and tracks were created there, and while the property and facilities have been maintained and upgraded over the years, Shangri-La Ranch thankfully remains very similar to the way it appeared in its heyday.
It has not been on the market in three decades, but it’s up for sale now.
This phenomenal studio is packed with vintage recording and processing gear and a wide assortment of rare and desirable instruments (there’s even a smaller studio out back built into an old Airstream trailer).
It’s also perhaps the coolest rock and roll crash pad with the most unique and heady provenance in all of the USA.
Oh, if only those walls could talk…
The asking price has been reported at somewhere between $3.2 million and $4.1 million. Assuming it were to go for the higher price, 83 friends and/or like-minded rock and roll types could go in on this together and have their very own deluxe destination studio/time-share for decades at an investment of only $50,000 each.
They could then schedule various times throughout the year when they wanted to use the facilities for their own projects, and rent out the property to other big-name and/or well-funded artists during the down time to help pay for the upkeep.
I don’t even have $5,000 to my name, but since this whole thing is my idea, my share would obviously (duh!) be comped. In exchange, I’d make the personal sacrifice to live on the property year-round as a caretaker of sorts (meaning of course that I’d merely oversee the actual caretaker, as I myself am not handy at all).
So, read up on the property listing, check out the way-cool photos, look at the official studio website and get back to me pronto. We all need to make this happen ASAP.
Sincerely,
Jim Reed
Year-Round Comped Caretaker Supervisor and Idea Man
Shangri-La Ranch, Malibu, Ca.
