Step Inside the Midcentury-Modern L.A. Home of Blink-182 Rocker Mark Hoppus
Mark Hoppus knows music. After all, he’s one third of Blink-182, the pop-punk band which exploded in 1999 with hits like “What’s My Age Again?” and “All the Small Things,” and that—despite breakups, makeups, and member shake-ups—remains a prominent part of the millennial cultural lexicon. What the bassist and singer did not know when shopping for a home in Los Angeles with his wife Skye Hoppus back in 2004, was anything about the architect Harold “Hal” Levitt . It was only after the couple fell in love with and purchased a midcentury-modern house by Levitt that they learned about his legacy.
“We lucked into this amazing architect that we didn’t really know anything about,” Mark tells AD . “We’re really happy to have fallen into that.” Nearly two decades later, after raising their 19-year-old son Jack in the home and holding onto it through a three-year stint in London, they’re still enamored with its abundance of windows and sweeping curves, including a round sunken den. What Skye never loved, however, was the home’s original rectangular terrazzo bathtubs. “While they looked stunning and were super interesting architecturally, they just were not comfortable,” she says. “I really always wanted a bathtub that was usable. It’s kind of like my one moment, at the end of the day, to just chill.”
This desire for a more comfortable place to soak created a ripple effect. Finally, in 2015, Mark and Skye brought in Marmol Radziner to give the entire house a facelift. (The kitchen remained untouched, but there is talk of updating it next.) The front door and entryway, which the firm’s design partner Ron Radziner says was “confusing” before, was completely reconfigured, as was the main bedroom suite. The landscaping was refreshed, as was most of the furniture, and the biggest addition was that of a completely brand new subterranean music studio for Mark. The bunker-like room features a vocal booth and cozy seating area, and it provides the perfect place for the musician to keep items “that Skye doesn’t necessarily like in the rest of the house,” the rocker says, like Star Wars memorabilia or Dodgers baseball bobblehead dolls.
Radziner says the firm’s main focus during the entire process was to “respect the soul of the house,” which was originally built in 1961. “I think if we can be anonymous and quiet about our interventions in this situation, we’ve done a good job,” he says. (Because Levitt is on the City of Beverly Hills List of Local Master Architects , the firm had to get clearance for the exterior changes.)
Buy now for unlimited access and all of the benefits that only members get to experience.
The result is seamless and provides the perfect canvas for Mark and Skye’s eclectic style to shine—especially since, Skye says, their taste has evolved since they first moved in. Back then, they filled the house with midcentury furnishings that matched the architecture, but they’ve since realized the value of mixing styles. “Living in London, we saw that you could live in an old Victorian home, but you didn’t have to have Victorian furniture. With that sensibility, we live in a midcentury-modern home but not everything needs to be from the mid century. You can bring in other vibes,” Skye says.
Plus, the renovation came at a time when the couple needed their home to be a sanctuary more than ever. In June of this year, Mark revealed on social media that he had been diagnosed with cancer and had been undergoing chemotherapy for three months. The Blink-182 rocker is now done with treatment and recently announced that he is cancer-free .
During the ordeal, he’s found particular comfort in his home’s newly refreshed front garden, where he’s added numerous mutated plants that he found during a visit to a succulent nursery right after his diagnosis. “I built this cancer garden with these mutated cactuses that I felt kind of connected to just because of my own body’s mutation. It is a nice area to go and sit in the morning and have a cup of coffee,” he says.