Oscar Wilde famously wrote in his 1889 Socratic dialogue format essay “The Decay of Lying” that “life imitates art far more than art imitates life.” However, in the case of a vintage midcentury home tucked into the affluent foothills of L.A.’s popular and ever-more pricy Studio City community, art — or a primetime sitcom, at any rate — sometimes does indeed mimic real life.
In the unconventionally structured ensemble sitcom “Life in Pieces,” canceled in 2019 after four seasons, Zoe Lister-Jones’ character, tightly wound attorney and new mom Jen Short, resided with her husband and new baby in a modestly sized and stylishly appointed midcentury residence that’s curiously similar to a low-slung midcentury home that Lister-Jones and her real-life actor/filmmaker husband and creative partner Daryl Wein now have on the market at a sliver less $1.3 million.
Lister-Jones and Wein, who co-wrote, co-directed and co-produced the star-studded dark comedy “How It Ends,” which was shot across L.A. “renegade style” during the pandemic, made its premiere earlier this year at Sundance and in which Lister-Jones also co-stars, acquired the time-capsule of a home about 5.5-years ago for $855,000. Digital records indicate the couple has frequently used the just shy of 1,500-square-foot flat-roofed home as a rental, initially setting it out for lease just a few months after they bought it at $4,500 per month. Since then the price has fluctuated between $3,950 and $4,800 per month, and it was most recently available in 2019 at $4,500 per month.
A pumpkin-orange door makes a plucky statement in the otherwise unassuming and unpretentiously landscaped two-bedoom and two-bath home’s street facade that’s painted a fashionable medium grey shade with inky black trim work around the windows and double-car garage
The property is available through Karen Medved and Lynda Kahn, both at Compass.