The Art of Living Creatively

Inside artist Dave Tourjé’s “Chateau Loco”

A historic estate can be preserved as a monument to the past, or it can be given a new life.

At Chateau Loco in Pasadena, artist, filmmaker, musician, entrepreneur and preservationist Dave Tourjé has done both. The chateau’s name has its roots in Dave’s association with the renowned art collective the California Locos. 

Originally known as the Bell Estate, the more than 11,000-square-foot property was designed by noted Southern California architect Sylvanus Marston and built in 1930. Its scale, history and architectural character immediately appealed to Tourjé, who saw the estate as another overlooked piece of the region’s cultural heritage.

“It was another example of ignored SoCal history,” he says.

Tourjé also recognized something more personal in the property. The estate offered enough room to bring his many creative pursuits together under one roof.

“The Chateau had everything I needed: studios for music, art and film,” he explains. “For me, there was a sense of destiny that I had to do it.”

The result is Chateau Loco, an historic residence which was a hidden, overgrown and neglected landmark property before Dave discovered it, and transformed into a multidisciplinary creative headquarters.

It is a place where paintings are made, films are developed, music is recorded and Southern California cultural history is collected, discussed and preserved. Rather than treating the estate as a conventional luxury home, Tourjé has turned it into an evolving expression of the way he lives and works.

Preserving the original architecture

Tourjé approached the restoration with a clear philosophy: protect the estate’s original architectural identity while modernizing the property’s electrical, plumbing, air conditioning and other essential infrastructure necessary for contemporary use.

The goal was not to make the house appear newly built. It was to retain the character, details and craftsmanship of the original estate while ensuring that it could function as a modern facility for  both living and active creative endeavors.

Tourjé was uniquely prepared for the challenge.

In addition to his work as an artist, he is the owner and CEO of Alpha Structural, a Southern California company specializing in foundation, hillside, seismic and structural repair. His construction career began in 1978 and was centered around carpentry and conventional construction practices, then soon shifted to difficult properties and structural problems that required a combination of technical knowledge, experience and creative thinking.

At Chateau Loco, those skills were applied to a building that carried both architectural and personal significance.

The restoration reflects Tourjé’s belief that preservation should not freeze a structure in time. A historic building remains relevant when it can support a meaningful contemporary life.

A house built around creativity 

Today, Chateau Loco includes dedicated spaces for painting, music, filmmaking, recording and collaboration.

The rooms are not designed merely to display the objects of a creative life. They are built to support the actual work.

Tourjé describes the property as a centralized view of his artmaking practice, bringing art, music and film together with living, all in one place.

His painting studio allows him to continue developing his work influencing, and influenced by the visual culture of Southern California. The music spaces host rehearsals and recording sessions. Film projects are developed under the banner of Four Point Star Productions which has its own space on the property. Artists, musicians and collaborators can gather for various events throughout the estate.

The boundaries between home, studio, workshop and cultural salon become intentionally blurred.

That quality separates Chateau Loco from the typical idea of a private creative retreat. It is not a place designed solely for isolation. It is also a place of exchange.

The property has become a central location for Tourjé’s continuing work with the California Locos, the Los Angeles art collective he founded in 2011 with Chaz Bojórquez, John Van Hamersveld, Norton Wisdom and Gary Wong. It also supports music and film projects, including sessions with his band Los Savages and the recent Gil T’s Big House recording sessions being produced by John Doe of X, which also includes Grammy winner Steve Berlin of Los Lobos. 

Tourje says, “I could say that I prefer to be, but honestly I find that I need to be surrounded by great art, so I have a big collection.”

In this environment, collecting is not simply decorative. Artwork, guitars, automotive objects, archival materials and highly curated cultural artifacts form part of a larger conversation about how California’s creative identity developed.

The California original

Tourjé’s own creative practice is difficult to contain within a single category.

He is a painter whose work draws from fine art, graffiti, sign painting, punk, surfing, skateboarding, hot rods and street graphics. He is a filmmaker who documents overlooked artists and subculture. He is a guitarist with roots in the Los Angeles underground music scene. He is a builder and restoration specialist. He is also Executive Director of the Chouinard Foundation, which works to preserve the history and legacy of the Chouinard School of Art.

These roles might appear unrelated in a traditional professional biography. Inside Chateau Loco, however, their connection becomes visible.

Each reflects Tourjé’s interest in how things are made, how cultural value is recognized and how history can be preserved without losing its energy.

A hand-painted sign, a punk performance, a historic building and a contemporary painting may all carry different forms of meaning. Tourjé’s world allows them to coexist.

The estate is therefore less a showcase of personal success than a physical map of his creative interests.

Every space contributes to the same larger practice.

Creativity and civic purpose

Tourjé’s commitment to Southern California extends beyond his private work and collections.

In addition to his long list of accolades for film, music and art projects, he has recently received commendations from multiple cities recognizing his contributions to civic and cultural life. One Los Angeles commendation honored him:

“In recognition of dedicated service to the affairs of the community and for the civic pride demonstrated by numerous contributions for the benefit of all the residents of Los Angeles County.”

The language speaks directly to the larger purpose behind many of his projects.

Tourjé has consistently focused attention on overlooked elements of the region’s history, including artists, musicians, educational institutions, subcultures and architecture that might otherwise disappear from public memory.

Through the Chouinard Foundation, he has helped preserve the legacy of Nelbert Chouinard and the influential Los Angeles art school she founded. Through documentary film, he has recorded stories connected to artists and musicians whose importance was not always fully recognized by mainstream institutions. 

Through his longest-standing outlet for artistic expression, his painting and creation of artwork, and with the California Locos, he has elevated the visual languages of surf, skate, punk, graffiti and automotive culture to the walls of galleries and museums.

Chateau Loco brings those interests together in physical form.

It preserves an historic estate while creating a platform for new artistic activity. It is both private headquarters and collaborative space, a home rooted in history but animated by present-day work.

A living work of art

The most compelling homes reveal something fundamental about the people who inhabit them.

Chateau Loco reveals a man who does not divide creativity into separate compartments.

For Tourjé, painting, filmmaking, music, construction and preservation are not competing careers. They are different ways of understanding structure, history and cultural memory.

The estate embodies that philosophy.

It honors Sylvanus Marston’s original architecture while supporting contemporary work. It protects the past without becoming trapped by it. It provides a setting in which art can be made, music can be played, films can be developed and cultural histories can be preserved.

Chateau Loco is not simply where Dave Tourjé lives.

It is where the many parts of his creative life finally occupy the same space.