It is where the Beastie Boys created some of their most iconic work — “Check Your Head,” “Ill Communication” and “Hello Nasty” — and where they filmed the “Pass the Mic” music video. It was a 1,600-plus square foot studio, label headquarters, clubhouse, skate spot, basketball court: a creative anything-goes space that, post-Beasties, has been home to Han Cholo Jewelry, X-Large Clothing and Mad Decent Recordings. Recently, Courtney Barnett filmed her video in the back for “One Thing at a Time.”
The place is G-Son Studios in Atwater Village, an old ballroom that is known today as one of the most mythic creative hideouts in LA. The legend goes that around 1990, when Atwater Village had a more small town USA vibe, the Beastie Boys arrived from New York City with record label money in their pockets. They decided to set up their own recording studio on Atwater’s main strip.
On the roof of the building, an old sign that used to read Gilson Plumbing and Heating now only listed “G son.” The studio’s name was decided thus for the place where the trio would launch Grand Royal, the label and magazine, and catapult themselves to global superstardom. . . .
Read the entire article at Pasadena Weekly.
Jessica Koslow 