Auto customization guru and reality TV personality Ryan Friedlinghaus is on the move, hanging a $4.6 million price on his souped-up multi-acre spread that’s scenically tucked into the affluent and guard gated Bell Canyon enclave in the rolling hills that form the rugged, northwestern border of L.A.’s San Fernando Valley.
The much-tatted car nut made a local name for himself with his auto customization business, West Coast Customs, which he co-founded in the mid-1990s with Quentin Dodson. It wasn’t long before he was launched into reality TV fame in the mid-Aughts with the MTV series “Pimp My Ride” and, later, on Discovery Channel’s “Inside West Coast Customs,” the latter of which ran from 2011 to 2018.
Along with his success he’s had his fair share of public controversies, from allegations of subpar workmanship on some of the cars overhauled on “Pimp My Ride” to a $150,000+ fine levied by the U.S. Dept. of Labor to settle a case about underpaid employees. There were also some unhappy celebrity customers who let their displeasure be publicly known, including internet sensation Trisha Paytas, who was initially disappointed with the alterations WCC made to her then brand new Mercedes G-Wagon.
Nonetheless Friedlinghaus has amassed a vast and impressive rolodex of celeb clients who include Shaquille O’Neal, Sean Combs, Post Malone, the Jonas Brothers, Travis Scott, Conan O’Brien, Kid Rock, Chris Brown, Mark Wahlberg and will.I.am. One of his most recent customizations was done for pop star and pimped car aficionado Justin Bieber who had WCC transform his $330,000 Rolls Royce Wraith into the menacing ride of a sci-fi villain.
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Image Credit: Realtor.com Though it’s been worked over here and there with some notable bespoke elements, Friedlinghaus’s home out in Bell Canyon is a much less flashy affair than most of the cars he customizes. Built in 2006 on more than four acres, and nestled on a high perch against scrubby mountains at the end of a long and gated driveway, the clay-tile-roofed and ochre stucco residence is a fairly typical suburban-style family house with six bedrooms and 7.5 bathrooms in almost 7,000 square feet.
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Image Credit: Realtor.com Wrought iron glass doors open to a cavernous foyer dominated by a flamboyant floating staircase that makes a gravity-defying sweep up to the second floor beneath a wood-beamed rotunda ceiling.
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Image Credit: Realtor.com Full-sized replica’s of “Star Wars” robots R2-D2 and C-3PO stand sentry alongside stone columns at the entrance to a large room with a soaring beamed ceiling and imposingly scaled fireplace. The voluminous and light-filled room might more commonly be used as a formal lounge, but Friedlinghaus has gone full “Star Wars,” fashionioning the room on the famous Mos Eisley Cantina scene from the original 1977 blockbuster, complete with a wine-barrel bar tended by Jar Jar Binks and a tiny Yoda guarding the top-shelf booze displayed on the back wall.
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Image Credit: Realtor.com Described as “massive” with not just one but two islands, the kitchen is open to the family room that doubles as a screening room with blackout shades, and two rows of black leather theater recliners facing a flat-screen TV mounted over a stone fireplace flanked by wooden built-ins.
Two guest bedrooms are sequestered in a wing of their own on the main floor, while a second-floor children’s wing contains several more bedrooms plus a playroom. Also upstairs are a study with two separate work spaces and a homeowner’s retreat with walk-in closet, private terrace and spa-like bath.
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Image Credit: Realtor.com Outside amenities include an open-air pavilion with built-in bar and barbecue alongside a lagoon-like swimming pool and spa positioned to take best advantage of the panoramic mountain views.
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Image Credit: Realtor.com Below the pool, at the base of a towering pile of boulders, a flat and grassy area includes an outdoor basketball court.
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Image Credit: Realtor.com The property’s most unusual customization just might be the two-story pirate ship-like tree house and alfresco entertainment complex that’s complete with a swinging bridge that spans a rocky crevasse, a crow’s nest and a poop deck.
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Image Credit: Realtor.com The property is available through Kevin Godley at Pinnacle Estate Properties.