Much has been mythologised about Laurel Canyon in the 1970s, the loose hillside network of rented houses, recording studios, informal salons and open doors in the hidden in the Hollywood Hills. Musicians, artists and writers moving between kitchens, gardens and living rooms - stars like Joni Mitchell, The Byrds, The Doors, Frank Zappa are said to have played songs for one another, partied, took drugs and slept with each other, living freely while writing the music we still listen to today.
In the early 2000s, the band Simon Dawes, formed by high school friends Taylor Goldsmith and Blake Mills, brought a Malibu flavor to the solidifying indie rock sound. Once Mills left, it reformed as simply Dawes featuring Taylor Goldsmith and his brother Griffin. It also ditched the "indie" label and settled into a more folk sound, keeping that ocean breeze but incorporating a Laurel Canyon flavor.
The first five homes in the project were under construction when, in 2002, the L.A. Planning Commission placed a six-month moratorium on the project pending an environmental impact assessment to be drafted by the property developers. The impact assessment did not happen, the city attorney alleged in a 2021 statement, and the city ordered the homes demolished in 2003, according to news reports at the time.