An interior shot of Malibu’s Harbor Studios, which is among the reportedly thousands of structures destroyed by the ongoing 17,000-acre Palisades Fire. Photo Credit: Harbor Studios
Malibu’s Harbor Studios, where artists from Drake to Imagine Dragons have recorded, “has been lost to the Palisades Fire.”
That unfortunate news comes from owner Zach Brandon, who posted a photo of the extensive wildfire-inflicted damage. Though Harbor’s history spans multiple decades, 2022 saw Brandon officially open the business in its current form.
This grand opening ushered in public-booking options for the famed studio itself as well as different on-site recording spaces and lodging.
Besides an excellent view – featured prominently in a recent Amazon Music Songline performance from the mentioned Imagine Dragons – Harbor boasted “an onsite chef, a movie room, a steam room, a hot tub,” and more in its main four-bedroom and -bath home, according to the appropriate website.
Meanwhile, the business only finished construction on its indoor-outdoor Zen Garden, complete with a 40-foot retractable canopy, multiple ponds and waterfalls, a fully equipped tea bar, an exercise area, and more, in early 2023.
Unsurprisingly, Harbor Studios’ seemingly comprehensive offering appealed to a variety of artists and music professionals. Just in passing, recent years saw the studio name-drop on social media clients including Jack Harlow, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Doja Cat, 21 Savage, Tate McRae, Nicki Minaj, SZA, and Jenna Raine.
Closer to the present, the previously noted photo shows that fire seemingly claimed the entirety of Harbor Studios; clients and others are offering words of support on social media.
While it’s difficult to find positives in such an inherently negative situation, Brandon has made clear his plans to rebuild the studio – and to capitalize on takeaways from the initial construction process when doing so.
“This is not the end of Harbor,” Zach Brandon wrote on Instagram. “We are restarting from scratch (again)… nothing we haven’t done before. Not only that, but I have gained so much knowledge and experience from Harbor 1 that I will be implementing into the rebuild.
“I’ve taken the initial steps forward – the original studio builder and I have already begun planning what the new Harbor Studios is going to look like. Thankfully, the magic that has been bestowed upon us by our clients is something that can never leave. It’s in the soil, it’s in the air, and it’s in our souls.
“We will come back stronger from this,” he concluded.