At 1454 5th Street in downtown Santa Monica, just a few blocks from the beach, was the Beach Boys’ Brother Studio, a former porn theatre turned recording complex. Named after the Beach Boys’ record label, Brother Records, Brother Studio officially opened for public use in May 1974. Owned by the Wilson brothers, Brian, Dennis and Carl, the studio was functional as early as January 1974 as certain high-profile artists such as Elton John had begun using the facility.

Engineer Stephen Moffitt designed Brother after working earlier at L.A.’s Village Recorders. A magazine ad from 1975 boasts of the studio’s full dynamic sound and high-end gear as well as its “large screen video lounge” and “a playroom with pong, pinball and bumper pool.”

Dennis Wilson went on to record his seminal solo record Pacific Ocean Blue at the studio and some of its unreleased follow up Bambu, as did a number of critically acclaimed artists including The Runaways, Billie Holiday and Ricci Martin.