‘Lucifer’ actress Aimee Garcia soars in her treetop sanctuary
“Lucifer” actress decorated her living room with Mexican artwork, including some made by her grandfather.
Aimee Garcia’s “treehouse in the middle of nowhere,” the elevated living room of her Los Feliz home, is where the actress celebrates her family and their Mexican heritage, and she and her friends inspire and nurture one another.
“This is where I have Sunday brunches and sunset wine hour,” said Garcia, known for her roles in Showtime’s “Dexter” and Fox/Netflix’s “Lucifer.” “We’ll sit here and talk about everything under the stars — boys, future projects — and we’ll create together.”
Recently, Garcia even posed nude for her friend, artist Teek Mach, who was spontaneously energized by the view and “the picture-perfect day in L.A.”
“I just ate chocolate chip cookies. When an artist feels inspired in your favorite room, you just go with it,” said Garcia, 40. “There’s no Photoshop and no eraser. I posed for two hours and am so flattered and proud of the imperfections.”
Inside the 2,000-square-foot Spanish-style home, Garcia pays homage to her roots with Dia de los Muertos figurines, a prehistoric Aztec piece and an “old-school plate” she got in the Coyoacán borough of Mexico City. On the wall, a watercolor her grandfather painted in the 1930s of a Mexican bodega hangs under the original post-and-beam ceiling.
“He’s no longer with me, but his spirit is,” she said. “It’s really important to never forget where your family came from — it defines who you are.”
Why is this your favorite room?
I’m a big entertainer, extrovert, and I love to have people over. On Friday nights we’ll drink wine and have dance parties, or I’ll host brunches with mimosas. If my girlfriends have a bad breakup, this is a place where we can just cry and stay on the couch because they love it here and feel safe.
This feels like a treehouse.
The first thing I saw when I walked in here was the tops of trees and these original windows from the 1930s, and I was home. I didn’t even look through the rest of the house — this was the room that sold me. It’s beautiful and such a rare gem that I feel lucky to have stumbled upon.
How would you describe your style aesthetically?
I like things that aren’t trendy, that stand the test of time, so I wanted to find a home that, because it will probably outlive me, will remain just as relevant 100 years from now. This is a kind of missionary, Spanish feel. I have post and beams that are almost a hundred years old, but let’s not get it twisted — I also have my surround sound for my parties. When I entertain, I don’t want janky sound.
What’s your favorite piece in here?
The painting by my grandfather. You can feel the movement of the people, the vendors and the families strolling. My grandfather was never a professional painter, he just loved it as his hobby. When I saw it at my parents’ place, I just had to have it as a piece of my grandfather’s heart in my favorite room.
What about this space fuels your creative process?
The different clouds every day, the lack of them, the rain, the colors of the sunset. It’s very nice to have this natural light and just sit here for six hours typing away on my computer in a space where it feels creatively exciting. The Spanish I added to my character in the new animated “The Addams Family” film (now in post production) was very much inspired by this room, and my grandfather’s painting.
Tell me your favorite memory in this room.
With my friends when we were all at this crossroads in life. I was dealing with a breakup from someone I was with a really long time and was blindsided, and none of us had any idea what the future would bring, but it was going to be OK. We opened the window and we toasted to the beautiful sunset. It was a reminder that this room would be a place where, even if you felt intimidated, lost or dealing with a different chapter, you would figure things out.
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