I was driving down PCH with the top down, playing Jhené Aiko’s “Golden Coast.” By the time the light hit Malibu, I’d already played it twice.
I keep coming back to the tenderness in that song. She sings about the ash along the coast and the spirit still moving through the canyons. You can hear how much she loves the place in the way she lets both things sit there.
Listen to “Golden Coast” by Jhené Aiko featuring OHMA
I thought about Trip and how openly Jhené spoke about making music after losing her brother, Miyagi. Years later, she lost her home in the 2025 Los Angeles fires. Listening to her sing about the coast, I thought about how much of loving a place is remembering what used to be there.
When I think about the fires, my mind goes to the little things people might miss. The sound the gate made when somebody came home. The pencil marks on a doorframe. Where the light landed in the kitchen at four. A whole city can be on the news, and the part you’re grieving can be one room.
I think about rooms a lot in my work. When I look at a vacation rental, I want to know where I’d sit with my coffee. I want to know whether I could walk somewhere good for breakfast and whether I’d feel comfortable finding the house after dark. That’s usually where I find the details worth leading with.
A Venice bungalow might be exactly right for somebody who wants to spend the morning on foot. A place near the Hollywood Bowl might be right for somebody flying in to see their sister sing. If you own either one, the way you photograph it, write about it, and welcome somebody to it should come from the trip they’re actually taking.
That’s what I bring to Suvida. When we work on a listing, a direct-booking website, or the message a guest gets before check-in, I’m thinking about the same person all the way through. If we tell them it’s easy to get in late, I want the parking directions to be clear when it’s eleven at night and they’re tired. The little things we say up front have to hold up when someone gets here.
I want you to know that about me when you see The Suvida Agency on something. I care about how a place feels when you finally get there. And I care about giving people a chance to know LA well enough to find their own favorite corner of it.
Los Angeles is not dead. ♡
With love,
Dominique
P.S. If you host here, I’d love to see the little piece of LA you share with your guests. Request a complimentary listing audit.
