“I saw James Turrell’s work in museums and also at the
Pace Gallery [in New York] and I was really excited about it,”
explains Goldstein. “I was thinking, and this probably goes back
to 1990, that I wanted a collaboration between Lautner and
Turrell, the three of us had a couple of meetings and things were
underway but getting the city to approve this was a laborious
process. It took a number of years and by the time I was ready
to start construction, Lautner was no longer around. So, then
it became a project with me and Duncan Nicholson [Lautner
protégé and Goldstein’s architect since Lautner’s death in 1994]
and Turrell.”
Turrell provided the specs and dimensions for the room and
Goldstein and Nicholson did the rest. It’s an astonishing, almost
Gehry-ish structure, jutting out from the green forest into the
eternal blue sky. Goldstein had the idea to add a window in the
southeast corner, “which Turrell went for and it turned out to be
a great addition.” The effect is something like looking through
should have your own clothing line, but, number one, my tastes
are too extreme to be popular from a commercial standpoint
and number two, I don’t want to get burdened with the business
at this point.”
It’s a little cliché to say, but it feels a bit like an Eden up
here, although, perhaps, an isolated one. But it’s certainly
splendid isolation if it is that. I ask Goldstein how he ever
leaves. “I love traveling, so now I’m only here five or six months
a year.” I suggest he could rent the forthcoming guesthouse to
me for $800 a month. He laughs.
Goldstein tells me he’s dropped out of the LA social
scene recently and doesn’t entertain as much as he used to,
something he hopes to take up again when the new facility is
complete. He doesn’t know exactly when it will all be done, but
guesses it could be up to five years. “They’re supposed to pour
the concrete on the tennis court this summer,” he says, a bit
skeptically. When I suggest he may kick the bucket before this is
The multi-use facility on an adjacent property will sit beneath a tennis court
and include a theater complex, nightclub, large bar, massive DJ booth, a
guesthouse, kitchen and surrounding deck. The structure will be bigger than his
primary living space but even he doesn’t know when it will be completed. “Who
knows,” he says.
porthole and catching a glimpse of the great sea outside.
Goldstein fumbles with a remote control that looks like
something that would operate a Wii console, and a section of
roof peels back to reveal the blue sky.
“That show starts at 7:30 tonight,” he says. “It’s not a sunset
you see, but you see the changing colors of the sky. The sky
doesn’t look like the sky. It looks like the ceiling of the room.”
I ask if he ever meditates here.
“I’m not sure what that means,” he replies dryly. “I enjoy the
experience no matter how many times I’m here. I’m not sure if
you call that meditation.”
THE FUTURE NEEDS A BIG...DJ BOOTH
Goldstein finished the Skyspace six years ago and turned his
attention to his current major project, a multi-use facility on an
adjacent property that will 6