The Fairfax two-bedroom where Kurt Cobain supposedly holed-up with Courtney Love from 1991 to 1992 and wrote songs for In Utero is now available on Airbnb. Considering that the famed punk and grunge venue in the Arts District where Nirvana sometimes played is now a yoga studio, becoming a short-term rental isn't a totally terrible fate for this tiny piece of rock history. Hypebeast says that the unit's current tenant didn't learn about the apartment's Cobain connection until after he signed his lease in 2011. For some reason, the link to the Nirvana signer was turning people off to the place.
This apartment, if it's truly the one where Kurt and Courtney lived for those years, doesn't mark a great period in Cobain's life. Sure, Love was pregnant with their daughter, Frances, and Nirvana's Nevermind album was doing phenomenally well, but Cobain came to LA and hid in his home because he wanted to escape from the fame and pressure that came along with his band's success. A 2004 LA Times article says that the unit on Spaulding Avenue was a sanctuary where Kurt could hide away from touring and "million-dollar deals," and instead spend his time regularly eating at Canter's and "[retreating] to painting and narcotics." The apartment was a wreck while Cobain lived there, as an old photo of him in the bedroom illustrates.
Maybe the unit's unpopularity with possible tenants had less to do with what happened when Kurt was here and more to do with the pilgrims who return to the apartment at irregular intervals to check in on the place. As the current tenant tells Vulture, "Once every 60 days or so, I'll get a weird, older gentleman, a rocker-type dude, sort of a burnout, knocking on the door, saying, 'Do you know what used to happen here?'"
Now, it doesn't look like an art studio or a drug den; it just looks like a pretty average apartment. (Fancy deer head mounted over the fireplace? Check.) The listing is technically not for the entire place, just the bedroom that Kurt and Courtney slept in, but Nirvana fans and would-be guests should probably act fast on making reservations here. *The nightly price is $290; booking weekly or monthly takes that down to $150 a night, says LAist.
· Kurt Cobain's Private 1b + 1bth [Airbnb]
· You Can Now Rent Kurt Cobain & Courtney Love's Apartment on Airbnb [HB]
· LA's Legendary Punk/Alternative Club Al's is Now a Yoga Studio [Curbed LA]
· His last L.A. days [LAT]
· Kurt and Courtney's Old L.A. Apartment Is Available on Airbnb [Vulture]
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