Inside Benny Blanco’s Fun-Filled L.A. Home | Open Door | Architectural Digest

- Everyone always tries to act so cool when

I'm so excited you're here.

Hi AD, I've been waiting to do this forever.

Come inside. My name's Benny Blanco.

I don't know what else to say. Bye.

Not bye, hello.

[groovy music]

We are in I guess this is called, like, a living room.

I don't know. I call this a listening room.

I love this room, 'cause you kind of just

melt into this couch.

We made this couch.

You can actually just fall back into this thing

and fully submerge yourself and sink into the moment.

You can fit, like, comfortably, 15 people on this couch

in various positions and in this position

and these speakers are these really old speakers

that they had in a club called The Loft

in, like, the '70s and my friends got 'em for me as a gift.

I play music really loud in here

and I like to just melt away

at the beginning and end of the day.

I had a dream and I dreamt of this, like, big onyx box

that I was walking towards that was, like, illuminated.

I remember asking a friend who, like,

fabricates a lot of this stuff for me.

I was like, "Hey, can this be made?"

And apparently, it can be made and it was made

and my ideal time is when it's raining.

I have this little globe on and I have, like,

a beautiful record on and copious amounts of marijuana.

I'm so embarrassed to hear my own music.

I also have another thing where,

the second I write something,

I actually can never play it again.

I kind of just sit there and make it all happen

on the spot when nobody's around.

So no, I won't play.

[piano keys jangle]

To me, this room has, like, so many powerful

pieces of art in it.

This one is Picasso, and then that one's Martin Wong.

I just feel like there's so much energy in this room.

Oh my god, I sound like one of those people.

Oh my god, that's crazy.

I'm not one of those people.

I'm not, like, there's not, like,

a crystal up my butt right now.

I really do believe in, like, energy of, like,

artwork and music and places and I dunno,

it makes me feel good when I'm in this room

and I can kind of just, like,

forget about the outside world for a second,

and then be flooded with anxiety

the second I leave this room.

But for now, wee.

[groovy music]

All right guys, we're in my dining room.

I felt like I wanted to be, like, an adult in here.

I wanted it to be, like, regal.

I wanted there to be, like, gold and it to be opulent.

The truth of the matter is nobody ever

goes in this room ever.

The only time I ever go in is to grab bottles

and bring them out.

You know when you're a kid and, like,

you go to your grandma's house and she has, like,

the couch with like the laminate over it.

That's what this room is. I never go in this room.

You gotta check this one thing out. This is amazing.

So my friend made this sculpture

and everyone thinks it's real.

It looks like it's just a bag of money-

[sculpture knocks]

But it's actually made of wood.

This is a chair my friend made out of bread-

[chair knocks]

And you can sit in it.

I'm scared to sit in it, but you can sit in it.

So this is by a guy named George Condo.

The painting's actually called "The Musician".

I kind of think it looks like me.

I just like having art all over the house,

because I don't know what emotion

the person had when they were making it,

but I see certain things when I walk past it

and it might inspire me

and I might look at it differently another day

and be like, holy shit,

like, I never noticed that one, like, stroke there

or, like, that imperfection right there

and I don't know, it makes me happy.

I really care about the whole bar set up.

I'm the type of person, if people come over,

I wanna entertain.

My girlfriend actually only drinks one drink

no matter what.

It's just vodka, ginger beer, and lime.

Now, I have like different like amaros.

This one's insane. This one tastes like chocolate.

A man makes this in LA.

You wanna sip? It tastes really good.

I'm the type of person where,

when a friend comes over to my house and they're like,

"Oh, I really love this one amaro."

The next time they come, I try to make sure

that there's, like, a bottle ice cold waiting for them.

And honestly, I either want to be like a gentleman

or be like I'm in a frat house

and be taking, like, jello shots outta someone's stomach.

[groovy music]

There's one small thing about this room.

The second you sit on this couch,

it is impossible to get up.

There's a lot of people with children

who bring their children to the house,

nieces and nephews, and we have a lot of play dates

and I like a stuffed animal, so everyone does.

Everyone likes a stuffy.

I hate when you go into someone with, like, a nice house

and it, like, doesn't feel lived in.

I remember having the thought when I first got this house

where I was just like, I want every room to be a spot

where it's someone's favorite room.

I wanted it to be so comfy.

So if something gets spilled on or lost,

it doesn't matter to me.

I just want people to be able to walk in and feel at peace

and feel like they can be their youngest self here

and just, like, let loose.

I got this whole wall of, like, tchotchkes

that was basically designed for a child to grab something

and throw it against the wall

and break it into a million pieces,

and then me be disappointed in them.

Oh my god, Lee, you know what's one of my favorite things?

[Benny pants]

Okay, this one, you know who this is?

It's Junior Soprano. My friend made this out of clay.

It looks like it's gonna be, like, wet, but it's not.

This thing's like six years old, but I love this.

This is one of my favorite things in here.

My friend Will made this, Will Child.

[lips smack]

Goodnight, Uncle Junior.

[funky music]

This is my kitchen, guys. This is where it all goes down.

Honestly, this is the room we spend

the most amount of time in.

I'm cooking. There's 50 people in here.

Sometimes people sit and we eat on top of this thing

while people are over here.

I find that cooking and sharing these experiences

with friends, oh, look at this.

A little place right here.

I actually have a cookbook coming out.

This book is about, like, really throwing, like,

the best dinner party and bringing

all your friends together

and I like to bring people from all walks of life.

There might be, like, a 75-year-old man

sitting next to a young man who's just taken, like,

toad venom for the first time and he's, like,

trying to find himself this evening,

next to, like, my mom wearing, like, a bedazzled shirt

that says, like, "Bada Bing" on it or something,

and then like SZA's like singing a song in the other room.

And I find, like, just bringing

all different people together to have

an amazing time with food.

Food is like the best lubricant to, like, talk to someone.

And then, my friend Jonas Wood,

his children made these plates of me.

They look insane. I look insane. I look so crazy.

These actually kinda look exactly like me.

I have this thing that, I mean, if this drops,

it could sever your arm in half.

I kind of have, like, a grocery store down here.

I got everything down here.

You guys probably shouldn't come down.

See? You guys can't fit in here.

It's amazing. There's all sorts of stuff you want.

One time, one of my friends tumbled down this

and was on the injured reserve list for, like,

three to six weeks.

Come down at your own discretion.

[psychedelic music]

This is my room.

Usually, this room is all, like, white and cream based.

If you look around, there's no paintings

in this, like, main part of the room,

because I need all distractions away

when I'm sleeping.

Don't most people say, like,

this is where the magic happens and stuff?

That's stupid, AD. That's what they say on "Cribs".

No one says that on AD, right? AD's classy.

We would never talk about magic happening in here.

This is one of my little favorite benches.

You know, sometimes I just sit here and, like,

I might, like, kick my feet up, and now look at me.

I'm underneath this chandelier.

This feels like an important time in history right now,

just sitting here, me and you.

We're in the room.

Something could happen. It wouldn't be magic.

[groovy music]

All right guys, we're in my closet.

Now, a lot of you might not know this,

but depending on what I'm wearing,

they actually change the color of the carpet

and all of the cabinets every day.

So I happen to be wearing pink today,

so we went with the pink room.

I honestly spend so much time in here.

People come in here and we kind of just, like,

will drink and hang out, 'cause it's the softest carpet.

Put your feet on it. You feel it?

Yeah, it's a soft carpet.

My stylist happens to be my friend since I was 13 years old.

So her name's Chloe. She actually made this

entire thing I'm wearing right now

and out of like old bedsheets from France.

Look, I'm not afraid to wear a heel.

This is a beautiful heel.

Like, I wanna be dainty sometimes

and I could use the extra inches.

I'm very small. I like these.

Look at these. Oh, are you kidding me?

Nice little, I almost don't want to touch 'em.

You could lick the bottom.

[groovy music]

I love this room.

It's also one of my favorite rooms in the house.

This shower is actually a full steam shower.

It's so big. My friend Dave,

he's probably gonna kill me for this,

but anytime he comes over and we're like,

we have to go to something together

and we're in a hurry, we just shower together,

because there's two separate showers.

You can mind your Ps and Qs in there.

You could turn on a steam. It's warm.

Who doesn't want to talk when they're in the shower?

You want a friend next to you.

You want to be able to talk and have fun.

[relaxed music]

We're outside. I feel like I've said this 100 times.

I think I like my house, 'cause most of the areas

are my favorite areas.

This is one of my favorite areas.

I stay in this pool for minimum six hours at a time

on the weekend.

You know when you went into a baby pool,

where, like, it was just filled with piss?

That's exactly the temperature I like to keep this at.

We always have parties. We're barbecuing. We're grilling.

We're constantly in a flow of, like, pool, jacuzzi,

sauna, cold plunge, if you're not scared.

I'm scared a lot.

Everybody's all into the cold plunge now.

You're not a professional athlete.

Like, getting in a cold plunge for, like, six minutes a day,

like, isn't gonna help you write, like, 12 emails faster.

Like, relax. It's freezing. Nobody likes it.

I get in every once in a while, if I'm really hungover.

Over there, that's, like, my personal oasis.

That's where I like to have all my meals,

even if there's not enough seats

and we have, like, 15 people,

we're all crowded around there.

We're eating. My favorite place though,

besides that, to eat is I usually feed everyone

while they're in the pool and everyone, like,

lines up on this area,

but if we're trying to be a little bit civilized,

we go over there.

This is where it goes down, guys. We have a pizza oven.

We love making pizza.

We love doing, like, Middle Eastern nights

where we're making, like, pittas and also, like,

Indian nights with naan

and everyone will gather around here

and we'll all put the pizzas in together, take them out.

Honestly, it's just different places in my house

for people to gather around and eat.

Isn't that what life's all about?

[relaxed music]

Basically, a few years ago, my friend Scott and I

started putting together a garden.

I wanted to eat, like, what I grew

and in the time that we did that, we're always giving back

and finding ways to do cool things

with interesting charities

and my friend Maggie Baird has a charity

called Support and Feed.

We linked up and we basically deliver all the vegetables

from my gardens to different food deserts in the LA area.

We do it every single week

and we get to feed people who are less fortunate

and don't have access to, like,

incredible, healthy, fresh vegetables.

[funky music]

We're out in my guest house

that I turned into a movie theater.

I did this with my friend Keith and this is, oh,

it's home.

It's the best. This room, we watch movies in here.

It's a black hole.

One might stay here for two to seven business days.

Everything's made out of velvet.

It feels like you're in, like, a '70s porno. I love it.

And then, when I was a little kid, I always wanted

a candy room and now I got one.

Now, we have every type of candy you could ever think of.

You know, we got the M&Ms.

We got the Reese's. We got the peanut butter M&Ms.

We got the Skittles.

Wait, I think they took Skittles away,

because they, like, kill you or something.

It makes me like 'em even more. Oh my god.

[candy crunches]

We got so many candies from different countries over here.

You know, I collect these. This one's blowfish flavor.

This ping pong table, me and my brother have had a feud

over ping pong for 30 years.

Unfortunately, I've never beaten him in my entire life.

It doesn't even mean that he's necessarily better than me.

He's just in my head.

He owns my head rent free and I can't get out of it

and we've had near fist fights over ping pong.

All right, AD. Who's ready to play some ping pong?

[ball knocks]

[paddle rattles]

[groovy music]

AD, thank you guys for coming over.

I know I'm supposed to kick you out,

but I actually don't have anything to do right now,

so I don't, you probably do. I love you guys. Goodbye.

[door slams]