AS a gardener, Katrina Rivers dreamed of a home where she could see green from every window. As a mother, she wanted a place where her children could ride safely on their bikes. And as a writer and self-described healer, she yearned for a house with "magic."
Anyone who wonders if Rivers could conjure such enchantment need only approach her bit of bohemia on Mount Washington, where twin griffin-like creatures greet visitors from high atop a Balinese door. The 2-acre lot is filled with wild beauty -- aloe groves, bellflowers and ferns, a chaotic flurry of evergreen shrubs and vines. Wind chimes, glittering beads and Moroccan lanterns hang with pleasing randomness from trees and windows. Bells dangle from doors. The aroma of lavender and jasmine blends with the scent of Chinese herbs brewing inside, and a water fountain and the rustling of palms create their own auditory magic -- "like you are underwater," Rivers says.
Her children think of the place as a giant fairy garden. To others it represents what so many people in this city long for: a refuge from the frantic pace of daily life -- an urban haven, inside and out, that may not be perfect or pristine but does feel uniquely her own.
Nearly three years ago, Rivers was living in upstate New York and struggling with the question of whether to move back to Los Angeles. To force a decision, she made a checklist for her perfect family home. Then the real estate agent from L.A. called. " 'This house is you,' she told me," Rivers recalls. Her elder daughter agreed.
"When I looked at the pictures of the house online, I told my mom, 'If we have to move, that's where I want to live,' " says Adea, 12.
Thirty-five days later, Rivers moved in with her three children, two cats, five chickens, three dogs, assorted fish and Pip Squeak the rat.
THOUGH the property had the magic she was looking for, it also intimidated her.
"It's a lot of house, a lot of property," says Rivers, whose surprisingly diverse clientele is drawn to her mind-body-spirit meditation workshops. "There was a lot of energy. So many people had left their mark in certain places. When I first moved in, I felt like I couldn't discard that."
She says the two-story traditional home was built in 1910 as a summer getaway for the governor of Nevada. Subsequent owners included a prop builder for MGM who designed the terraces that meander up the hillside. The builder and his five sons left behind other artifacts: a spooky face that peeks out from one pathway, and a much-cherished Buddha now surrounded by aeonium, flowers and candles.
