In L.A., the West Adams location of the new office of Mara Brock Akil is no coincidence. “I was raised in this area,” the screenwriter and television producer tells AD PRO. For Brock, who is known for her work on Girlfriends, Love Is, and Black Lighting, “This was my ’hood. There are childhood memories on these blocks that shaped me as a person and an artist.” So for the next step of her career, which is marked by the launch of her production company Story27, setting up her new workspace in this part of the city came naturally.
The choice has another deep meaning: Back in the ’40s, this area, then called the Sugar Hill Arts District, was home to a booming Black art scene. “Writers, actors, artists, musicians, performers, poets all lived here and shared ideas, time, support, laughter, and dreams of a better tomorrow,” Brock Akil says. Imagining what a future workspace might look like for her and her team of five, she adds that she hoped to “revitalize that spirit.”
The ’70s-inspired office of Mara Brock Akil in Los Angeles.
Tiffany Howell of Night Palm studded the interiors with on-trend sofas and a dreamy palette of caramel brown, mauve, burnt orange, and cognac.
A suite of buildings obtained through RedCar—a commercial developer and property manager specializing in high-growth Los Angeles neighborhoods—makes the perfect new nest for the studio.
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But beyond the work of her and her employees, Brock Akil also hoped to support other creatives—an aspiration that has come to life through the creation of an on-site colony for writers in a building adjacent to her office. “The best use of the space next door is to continue my mission of lifting as I climb, by spotting and developing talent by simply offering them a place to write, to belong, and to find their voice.”
Nestled in two natural light-filled, single-story buildings, the offices and creative residency connect through a common courtyard with a fountain. Inside, Tiffany Howell, founder of interior design studio Night Palm, completed a transformation in less than three months—a challenge with a striking end.
