Music

You can now rent Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love's L.A. apartment on AirBNB

by Mark Teo

One of the real joys of AirBNB—aside from being cheaper than most hotels—is apartment tourism. Instead of bedding down in a sterile hotel room, you’re welcomed into someone’s home, and there’s no saying what you’ll find: Will you land in someone’s bougie penthouse condo, with a suite overlooking an infinity pool? Will you land on the ratty couch of a punk house, where everything smells like dog and Camembert? Or will you unknowingly land in the house of a celebrity?

If it’s the latter ye seek, then you could certainly do worse than Brandon Kleinman’s home on Spaulding Ave., in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles. Kleinman rents the space, and after he signed the lease, his landlord told him about the apartment’s history—namely, that it was the apartment Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love lived in from 1991 to 1992. During that period, Love was pregnant with Frances Bean, their daughter, and allegedly, Cobain wrote “Heart Shaped Box” while in its bathtub.

So basically, it’s a place every Nirvana fan would want to stay.

“The day I signed the lease, I was sitting with the landlord, and as soon as I signed on the dotted line, he said, ‘Okay, now I can tell you the real story behind this apartment,’” Kleinman told Vulture. “He kept it a secret because he wasn’t getting great tenants when he advertised the apartment’s backstory. He went on to tell me about what it was like having Kurt Cobain live here, and what to watch for. It’s been funny.

What happened there, so the story goes, is a lot of painting. And there was a lot of heroin consumed. There may be, in fact, some of Cobain’s painting still in the apartment—there’s latex painting over the fireplace, and Kleinman says there may be even more lurking underneath the apartment’s paint.

Kleinman says there isn’t an incredible amount of interest in the apartment—he says he rents it out four or five times a year, at the cost of US $1,100 per week. And while Kurt and Courtney kept the apartment in disrepair—photos show it strewn with trash, while the couple allegedly moved out due to faulty plumbing—it’s in wonderful shape now. Check the gallery above for before and after photos.

So, want to rent the Cobain-Love apartment when you’re visiting L.A.? Check the AirBNB listing here.