September 20, 2024 • 24 mins
In this exciting episode of On the Road with Paul Ward, we meet Mike Corridori, the visionary behind Tiny Porch Concerts. Mike shares the fascinating history of Peter Strauss Ranch, nestled in the Santa Monica Mountains, where the concerts take place. From its roaring '20s past, to becoming an amusement park with animals, to finally becoming an iconic music venue, this ranch is full of stories. Mike also recounts the 2019 Wolsey Fire that impacted the area and how Tiny Porch Concerts rose from these challenges.
Mike explains how the concerts started in 2016 and evolved, overcoming the challenge of keeping the events free, intimate, and magical. He describes the variety of music that fills the ranch, highlights memorable performances like Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes, and shares how Nashville bands have become a staple in the lineup. Listeners will also learn how to make the most of their Tiny Porch experience, from bringing picnics and pets to supporting the concerts through donations to the Santa Monica Mountain Fund and/or becoming a sponsor.
Watch the full episode HERE:
0:00 Paul Ward introduces our guest, Mike Corridori of Tiny Porches Concerts
1:03 Mike Corridori gives us an awesome description of where Peter Strauss Ranch, where the Tiny Porch Concerts are held, is located
2:07 We learn the exciting history of Peter Strauss Ranch, how it ties to the Indy 500, and paints a beautiful picture of what the ranch looked like in the 1920s
4:20 Find out what happened to the ranch after the Roaring Twenties to include an amusement park, a pool and animals.
5:56 Mike Corridori tells us how Peter Strauss, an actor, became owner of the ranch
6:38 Peter Strauss donated the ranch to The National Park Service, who owns and operated the ranch now
7:02 The Wolsey Fire of 2019 destroyed portions of the ranch and the surrounding area according to Mike Corridori
7:54 We learn how Tiny Porches came about
9:16 Mike Corridori shares how he came up with ideas to overcome the request by The National Park Service for the concerts to be free
10:04 From the first concert in 2016 to now, Mike describes the evolution of Tiny Porches and how they find bands to play there
11:52 Learn about the type of music typically played, a few artists that have played, and how the setting makes Tiny Porches so magical
13:55 A story about when Taylor Goldsmith, of Dawes, performed at Tiny porches
15:03 Keeping Tiny Porches intimate and free is paramount for Mike Corridori’s vision
16:08 Find out what the future holds for Tiny Porches and how Mike Corridori hopes to keep improving on the overall experience
18:24 How to learn more about Tiny Porches: www.tinyporchesconcerts.com, social media, and contacting Mike directly from the website and he will offer help in anyway he can
19:20 You can bring your own food and drink, including beer and wine, and make a picnic out of your concert experience
20:18 Why Nashville bands are attractive to Mike Corridori and how many concerts are in the Tiny Porch Series each year.
22:11 Where exactly The Peter Strauss Ranch is located.
22:47 Tiny Porches is a 501c3 and proceeds go to The Santa Monica Mountain Fund
23:36 A little more about the vibe of a Tiny Porches Concert, including the ability to bring your dog!
24:37 A little about the sponsors of Tiny Porches and they are always looking for more sponsors to keep the concerts going and enhance the experience
26:07 Thank you to our sponsor, Opus Escrow
Related Episodes: Wings, Wrenches and Wise Cracks
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:05):
Hi friends, Paul Ward here,and welcome to On the Road.
You probably have your favoritenational park. Maybe it's Yosemite,
maybe it's Yellowstone, maybeit's the Grand Tetons. Well,
did you know that the Santa MonicaMountains National Recreation area is
actually administered by the NationalPark Service and it's the largest park
(00:25):
next to an urban area, Los Angeles. So,
you would never know that we arenext to a bustling metropolis of
10 million people.
And today we happen to be actually ina little corner called the Peter Ranch,
and it's also the home of aTiny Porches concert series.
And who better to talk to us today aboutthat than our guest? Mike Corridori,
(00:47):
the founder of Tiny Porches.Mike, welcome to On the Road.
Thank you, Paul. It'sa pleasure. I really,
could not be more excited to be here.
Absolutely. Well, we're glad to have you.So, before we talk about Tiny Porches,
Mike, tell us about the PeterStraussRanch. Where are we?
We're in a unique areahere called Cornell Corner,
basically between ParamountRanch and Peter StraussRanch,
(01:09):
where we're at right now.
And it's known for moviesthat have been filmed here
movie stars, musicians that liketo hang out in this area. 'Cause,
it's very rural. So, likeyou said in your intro,
it doesn't look likeyou're in Los Angeles.
It looks like you're in the countryside.
This is sort of like the cowboy area ofLA and it's just a really special place
(01:30):
that people like to cometo. It's not that popular,
you know, and that's kind of a goodthing, and a bad thing. Right now,
I kind of think it's a goodthing because when you come here,
it's not overcrowded.
You really feel like you're Kindaa little garden of Eden here.
Yeah. Very much. Not too far offthe freeway. Maybe a few miles,
but a world away.
(01:50):
Yeah. Five miles maybe. Yeah.
So, this particular spot,Peter Strauss Ranch,
has kind of a rich history of characters,
kind of Indy 500 and all kinds offolks have kind of owned this place
over the years.
Yeah, very much so.
This particular property nowcalled Peter Strauss Ranch was
(02:12):
originally purchased by Henry Millerand he built carburetors for the Indy
500. And I guess he made a lot of moneydoing it 'cause this is a pretty big
property, and he built a ranch house,
and he also built this tower. So,
coming here is like stepping back intime. And imagine this is the 1920s.
(02:35):
You're coming to this party out in themountains or out in the hills of Los
Angeles, like kinda.
The roaring twenties.
The roaring twenties. Yeah. It'sprohibition. You can't have alcohol. So,
he built this tower at the entrance ofthe ranch. It's this big stone tower.
And he would have somebody upat the top of this of this tower
with a walkie-talkie.And when the police came,
he would alert everybody at the partyto say, "Okay, put your alcohol away!".
(03:00):
That's awesome.
. So yeah, it's all aboutentertainment. This, you know,
this ranch and this area in general.
He had a travertine dance floor,and he was kinda a partier.
Yeah.
There's a thousand-foot travertinedance floor in front of the ranch house.
And they would have bands, bigbands play and dancing and.
Kinda art deco type stuff from.
(03:20):
Yeah. Yeah. All night long.All night long. It was art.
Yeah. Wow. And of course it wasn'tas populated back then. I mean,
this was like the middle of nowhere.Yeah. I mean, we've got, you know,
motorcycles going by today 'cause it'skind of like a popular with Harley
Davidson guys and it's popularwith road bikers and your
bicyclists.
You're right on Mulholland Drive here.So, it's right off of Mulholland. And,
(03:42):
and that's a very popular placefor people to ride bikes or
cars. You know, if you have a sports car,
Mulholland Drive is amazingplace to ride your car on.
And it kind of fits withthe theme of the Indy 500
carburetor maker righthere. So, he probably knew everybody that had nice cars.
And they came here, and you know,even over at Paramount Ranch,
(04:05):
just one mile down, they usedto have a big racetrack there.
Not a lot of people arefamiliar with that. So,
it was a hot rod area.
Interesting. And then, so RoaringTwenties came and went. And then,
so what happened to theproperty after, after that?
Yeah. So, the carburetor businessfor the Indy 500, I guess dried up.
And he went bankrupt,and it was purchased by
(04:28):
an amusement park. There wasan amusement park on the site.
Interesting.
They built this giant pool, andit was fed by Malibu Creek. So,
they dammed it up and they would fillthis pool from water from Malibu Creek.
I imagine back in the day before,permits were a thing, right? Just,
"Let's build a pool.".
Yeah. Yeah. And it's exactly, andthere's this big island in the center,
(04:50):
and they would have,
like orchestras play why people wouldbe on like these little rowboats.
I know it sounds crazy to say a rowboatin a pool, but this pool is big.
I think it's like 60 million gallons.
Wow!
It's the biggest pool you'veever seen. And they had the stage
where the concerts are held right now,
(05:10):
you'll see like a brick wallbehind the bands when they play.
And back behind that,
which you can't see is allthese sort of stone square
buildings, which they had the animalsin. And they would bring 'em out to the,
to the front of the stage and theywould kind of cart 'em around.
Interesting. So, what wasthe name of this park?
(05:32):
It was Lake Encanto.
And there was a big sign outfront and it was very popular
for a while. And then, but it couldn'tcompete with other amusement parks.
And eventually it went out of business.
And then Disneyland came along.
Yeah. Yeah. Disneyland.Yeah. Magic Mountain. It's tough. It's a tough business.
I'm sure.
So, did it stay inprivate hands after that,
(05:54):
or did somehow the NationalPark Service get involved?
So, Peter Strauss wasfilming, "Rich Man Poor Man.".
He was an actor or a producer?
He was an actor. He still acts. He'sin, he does Broadway shows. Oh, wow.
He's still around. He's still around.Yeah. That's amazing. He lives in Ohio.
Okay. some people have said thathe's been to a few of the shows.
I have not seen him, he hasn'tintroduced himself, but it's possible.
Interesting. He's taking incognitocoming to his own old property.
(06:18):
Yeah. I mean, a lot of people, you know,
he is the older generation of actors. So,
I think a lot of people may notknow who he is if they saw him.
'Cause he does Broadway. He doesn'tdo the popular movies that we see now.
He is not a one of the Avengers.
. Right, right. So, he sold tothe National Park Service at some point.
(06:38):
Yeah. So, he sold it, pretty muchdonated to the National Park Service.
And they're the ones that ownand operate this space now.
And they've really tried to keep itexactly the way it was. You know,
you don't add stuff to it. You onlypreserve what's made. So, the theater,
everything like that is the wayit looked back when it was before.
(06:58):
Then unfortunately the housewas lost in the Wolsey Fire.
Yeah. So, the Wolsey Fireof 2019 destroyed the
ranch house, the stage for the theater.
It was pretty traumatic.
And the bridge that gave you accessto here from Mulholland was also
(07:21):
burned down. 'Cause It was a wood bridge,
if you can imagine a woodbridge in California.
But that burned and it tooktwo years to recover from that.
We rebuilt the stage. And then,
I guess Caltrans rebuilt thisbeautiful bridge that they put there.
How did Tiny Porches come about?
Because you don't really think ofhaving a concert in a national park
(07:46):
or national recreation areas a littlebit different. Did you just say one day,
"Hey,
this is a beautiful setting and I wannathrow concerts here." How did this all
come about?
Well, I love live music and I've beengoing to shows, festivals, concerts,
all around the country. I like ruralsettings. I prefer outdoor shows.
And a lot of my friends knewthat I like music. And so,
(08:06):
one of my employees said tome one day, he said, "Mike,
there's this really cool theaternot far from where you live,
called Peter Strauss Ranch.
I think there's this show this Sundaythat the National Park Service is putting
on. You should go checkit out." So, I came here,
brought my own, youknow, picnic and stuff,
and was just completelyblown away and enamored.
(08:28):
I just fell in love with the theater,with this whole surrounding here.
I didn't particularly care forthe music that was being played.
I didn't think it fit the space. Itwas like heavy metal or something.
Heavy metal is, fine. Youknow, just not here. So,
I called up the National Park Servicethe Monday after. It was a Sunday,
I think that I went to the show,and I asked him, I said, "Hey,
(08:49):
do you need any help withthis? It looks like, you know,
you could use some help with curatingthe bands and maybe having, you know,
different audience flow." And they said,"Actually, if you want to take it over,
please do.".
Wow. Just like that?
Yeah. Quick. Yeah. I mean, itwasn't, it didn't happen that quick.
I'm giving you a shorter story. But theysaid, "As long as it's a free concert,
(09:10):
great. You can do it." And that's apretty big hurdle to do a free concert.
There are costs for everything.
Yeah. You got sound, yougotta pay the artists. So,
I came back to them, and I said,"What if we could get sponsors?
Could we get VIP donors that we couldgive them special seating and maybe
wine and cheese beforehand?" Andthey got back to me a couple weeks
(09:34):
later.
'Cause The federal government does movea little bit slower than other places.
They can't do a deal right there.And they said, "Great. Let's do it.
You know, send me aproposal." And it's been,
I think we had a five-year contract.
The contract came up two yearsago and they renewed it then. So,
it's been great.
So, I imagine it's evolvingright. From your first concert.
(09:57):
When was the first concert?
The first concert was 2016.
Okay. So, you've been at it forabout six years or so, or no, eight.
Eight years.
Eight years. We had, wehad we had one hiatus.
'Cause that thing that happened in2020. The year before that 2019,
after the fires burned this area down,
we actually held the seriesat King Gillette Ranch,
which is another bigranch house down the way.
(10:20):
And then we came back here as soon aseverything was ready because this is a
special place. Tiny Concertsbelongs at Peter Strauss Ranch.
Right. And so how did youfind your first bands?
And then how is that kindof evolving now? I mean,
imagine words kind of getting out.
Yeah. It's much easierright now to get bands.
'Cause now the more bandsthat have played here,
(10:42):
the more bands that wanna play here.
You're making a reputation.
. Yeah. They telltheir friends, you know,
we have a lot of bands from Nashvillethat are calling us up that wanna play.
'Cause it's a great audience.They listen. It's not rowdy.
Everyone is there to listen. We get300 to 500 people and it's amazing.
But to get that started was hard. So,
I had this really long emailthat I would send out to artists
(11:05):
or their management and say,
"There's this really amazing spacein the Santa Monica Mountains,
just outside of LA. You know, can youdo it for this much money? You know,
it'll be worth your while." And we gota few takers the first year, and then
we started getting photographs ofwhat it looks like at these shows.
And then we had stuff to post onsocial media and to send on emails. So,
(11:28):
people were getting more and moreof a vibe of what this looks like.
And they started gettingthe concept. And so,
we've been getting artists ever since.
That's great. Now,
is there a particular style of musicthat the kind of concert gears towards?
I would say in general, it's called, it'dbe progressive bluegrass, indie folk.
Interesting. So all anda little bit of pop.
(11:49):
So everything kind of fits in that anda little bit in country alt country.
Okay. So who are some of the bands thathave, that have that have been here?
Well, we just had Adam Ezraplayed our last show. We've had
Sean Watkins play here.
Steve Poltz These are namesthat in the folk world,
(12:09):
in the folk bluegrass world.Not very big names..
But if you're listening to classic radio,
you might not know who they are rightnow. But they will be very big names.
To get sponsors and to getpeople to come to this shows.
I would say this is our version of theHollywood Bowl, but it's much smaller.
It's very rustic, and plenty of parking.
(12:31):
And I think that's a really good way ofdescribing it. When you see it's a bowl,
you know, a rustic small bowl for music.
It's meant for musicand the acoustics work.
Right. It's amazingbecause it's natural stone.
It's not unusual for an encore or evenin the middle of a set for a band to just
completely unplug really. And then go,
(12:53):
they'll stand out in front of the stageand just play it completely acoustic
crowd just goes deadsilent. And it just sings.
I would imagine there's somethingmagical about having a concert
in such a natural setting. I mean,the Hollywood Bowl is awesome,
don't get me wrong. Right. Butit's not a truly natural setting.
Right. Yeah. This has anatural setting, actually,
(13:15):
the way the stairs were and everything.
It just conforms to the natural bowl.
And then the mountain, if you lookbehind it there, it just keeps going up.
It just keeps going all the wayup to the Santa Monica mountains.
'Cause that's what the artist is looking,
while the artist is playing tothe audience, he's looking at,
or she's looking at Santa MonicaMountains and it's just this big.
(13:37):
So the experience for theartist is equally amazing.
In a normal, not normal, butin a kind of a concert hall,
sometimes the artist can'teven see the audience.
'Cause the lights are shiningso brightly on the artist.
They're just looking into the blackness.
Here's a great storyabout that. So, we had
(14:00):
Taylor Goldsmith from Dawes playhere. It was like a late afternoon,
early evening show. And he camein, we just had one chair for him.
He just sat sitting down to play anacoustic set. And he looked around.
He just was like blown away.He had never been here before.
He grew up in Malibu.
And local boy.
Local boy, local, yeah. Bigstar. And he said, "You know,
(14:24):
I gotta tell everybody, I didn'thave any expectations here.
'Cause I try not to haveexpectations, but if I did,
this would've far exceededmy expectations." And that's,
every artist feels that way. Theycome here expecting one thing,
and then they're always blown awayand they always wanna play here again.
That's awesome. And I would imaginewith success is kind of that,
(14:45):
you know, American idea about growing.
Bigger is better. And the name of thisis Tiny Portches that you're limited to,
you know, 300 to 500 people and thatkind of is anathema to what you would
think. But there's somethingspecial about keeping it small.
Yeah. We've had lots of people come, "Oh,
this is one of the bestconcerts I've ever been to.
(15:07):
You could make this thing so big.You could do a thousand people,
2000 people." I'd say."We're not, first of all,
we can't get a thousand people here, andwe can't do it anywhere else but here.
This concert series was meant to be,
your shows were meant to be here.
And then you have the addedpressure of keeping it free. I mean,
(15:29):
I imagine you can always raise theprice of the wine and cheese to Yeah.
.
Yeah. We want to, you know,we wanna keep it free.
And the more people you have, the moreexpensive it is to do it. So, you know,
we need,
we have parking lot attendants becausewe have so many cars coming right now.
We do have volunteers thathelp with ushering and ticketing and stuff like that.
(15:50):
But the more people wehave, the more expensive.
That makes perfect sense.What's in store for the future?
What's kind of the idea? I mean,obviously, the name is set.
There's the demand on the audience side,and the artists now wanna perform here.
Who's coming in the future?
Well, we have a show tomorrow.
We have a band called The Riverside isplaying and the Salty Suites. These are,
(16:14):
you know, traditional kind of bluegrassbands. And everybody's gonna come.
I guess
I just wanna keep improvingon what we're doing here.
I want people to come here.
I want them to feel like thisis their private concert venue.
That they step back in time and theyknow it's right in their backyard.
(16:35):
And they wanna feel like thisis something that, that is ours.
That I can tell my friends about thatlive back east or wherever they live.
And I can try to tell 'em aboutthis great, amazing place.
And when they come out and visit,
I'm gonna bring 'em to this thingand show them what I'm talking about.
And that happens all the time.I get relatives or, you know,
(16:55):
friends that come tovisit and then, you know,
a county porch concert goertakes them to the show,
and they introduce me to the friendand the friend's, like, "You know,
Jim's been telling meabout this thing for years.
I can't believe he's totallyright. This is amazing.
I can't wait to come back.".
That's awesome.
Yeah. I just wanna keep doing that.
So just improve on the experiencereally at the very beginning.
(17:16):
A lot of people ask me, "Well,what kind of music, you know,
is being played here?" Or,
"Do you have...?" And it'skind of a question that kind of would almost upset me
a little bit. 'Cause I don't know.They're gonna fit in the Americana thing.
It's gonna be original music. Let'ssee what they sound like live.
Because every band has roots inwhether it's country or bluegrass or
(17:40):
folk. And when they play here,
they really are kind almost forced toplay that style. 'Cause It's acoustic,
you know? If you get an up-and-comingcountry band for example,
that, you know, playselectric and everything,
when they come out here and they play,it's gonna be more of an acoustic-like,
folk kind of country soundthat it kind of changes.
(18:02):
So, they could playthose more modern songs,
but maybe here it's kind of in amore intimate acoustic setting.
Like unplugged. Imagine like,it's like unplugged. Yeah.
That'd be a good way of explaining it.
Gotcha. So how can folkslearn more about Tiny Porches?
And maybe they're watching onthe East Coast or the Midwest,
(18:22):
or maybe they're here locally.
Okay. Well, we have a website.At tinyporchconcerts.com.
There you can get on the mailinglist there, an email mailing list,
and we tell everybody what's going,what's gonna happen next. Of course,
we have social media that we do.If, if you wanna know more about it,
get on the social media,get on the email list,
and we'll tell you what's going on.
(18:42):
And if you want to come outand visit and see a show,
literally contact us through thewebsite. I'll tell you where to stay.
If you want to camp, I'lltell you where to camp.
Oh, wow. And yeah, you could campon the Santa Monica Mountains.
There's lots of great campsites aroundhere. So, I've had people, you know,
coming from other places, youknow, Utah and saying, "Hey,
where can I park my trailer?"And I tell them, and, you know,
(19:05):
I can handle 300 peopledoing that..
Now is the concert recorded or doyou gotta be here to experience it?
You have to be here to experienceit. We have done some recordings,
but you know, you'll see more photosthan you will recordings really. Well,
you can, you can bringyour own food and drink.
Oh, you can?
Yeah. And you can bring wine andbeer. So, it is a big picnic.
(19:29):
And everyone comes out here and you cansee some pretty amazing spreads that
people put out.
They go all out.
They go all out. Yeah.They get here early.
And I like to walk around and meeteverybody, you know, before the show,
and I look and see whatthey're making and stuff.
And I've had some prettygood sandwiches..
, They're not fooling around.
Yeah. And they know I like wine.So, everyone likes to bring like,
(19:49):
some really special wine. If theyhave something they really like,
they like to share. So, Ialways like that too. It's cool.
That's great.
Yeah. But the VIP between4-5PM has wine, beer,
cheese, charcuterie
compliments of Cornell Wineright across the street.
And some other local wineries and somewineries from Paso and stuff that also
(20:12):
donate wine for the event.
You said that you gravitatetowards Nashville bands.
I do like bands from Nashville because Ido feel like as LA is the epicenter for
the movie business, I think Nashvilleis the epicenter for music. So,
if you can make it in Nashville andmusic, you can make it anywhere. So, you
(20:33):
always get a kinda certain vibefrom the Nashville. It's different.
I can't explain it. They're just,
they have a little bit differentway of presenting themselves.
Like they've been taught a differentway than what you get here.
LA's a little bit more the LAartists. And I love LA artists.
There's just so many great oneshere. Little bit more casual.
A band comes from Nashville. They'rebuttoned up. They're ready to go.
(20:55):
Interesting. Yeah. And what doesthe concert series look like?
Are you 12 months out of the year? Isit kind of a limited series? 'Cause,
I mean, we do have a littlebit of a winter here.
Yeah. Well, the first showis always Mother's Day.
Okay.
And then we do one show a monthafter that for three months. So,
we have a total of four shows.
It's short.
It is a short series. And yeah, thisis our last show tomorrow for the year.
(21:16):
And it feels like we just gotstarted, but it's a lot of work.
Putting on these shows is a lot ofwork. And it does start to get hot.
You'll notice tomorrow that it's gonnabe in the 80s and the 80s in this area
with the sun beating on you feelsmore like, you know, 100 degrees.
It's hot.
Yeah. But when themusic starts around 5PM,
the sun kind of comes down behind themountains and the trees and it starts to
(21:37):
cool down. And it's really one of thegreatest temperatures to see a show.
Everyone's wearing shorts and t-shirts.
Do you feel that a short series
is kind of what's meant for Tiny Porches?
Or do you see it beinga little bit longer?
I think we could do another show hereand there, you know, weather permitting,
(21:57):
but I think what makes itspecial is it's not, you know,
six months of concerts.
It's only these four concertsand everybody knows you have to get your tickets
for these shows. Otherwiseyou might miss it.
(23:15):
There's a couple neighborhoods over herelike that kind of surround us as well.
But still kind of not denselypacked. And they're no custom homes.
No. When I say neighborhood aroundhere, that means like, you know three,
four-acre ranch houses with horses,those type of homes. And they,
a lot of those people, they can eitherhear it from their own backyard.
(23:36):
Wow. How cool would that be?
Yeah, I know. Wouldn'tthat'd be great. Or they,
a lot of them just willwalk here, you know,
they'll walk with their kids and stuffand come and enjoy the show and introduce
themselves. We do get a lot ofchildren. And that's surprising.
You wouldn't think that they would beinto, you know, whatever kind of music is,
we're playing modern bluegrass.Right, right. But they get up there,
they start dancing and they have fun,and then the parents start dancing.
(23:59):
And I would say pretty much everyshow turns into a big dance party.
Everyone's dancing and enjoying it. Yeah.
People ask about dogs and thetheater's kind of tight, right.
So, if you bring a dog...
You can bring your dog?
You can bring a dog. It's gotta beon a six-foot leash at all times.
And we really ask people to be respectfulof the other audience, because we
(24:23):
don't want dogs barking.
Or eating somebodyelse's charcuterie board.
Right. We reallydon't encourage it,
but some people wanna bring their dogs.
We just tell 'em to kindof sit on the outside.
You can still hear the music just fine.
Who are your sponsors?
We
(24:47):
have like 10 sponsors.
Haley Dixon from theFinancial Freedom Network.
She's a new gold sponsor thisyear, and she's been very active.
but all the other sponsors havebeen doing it since the beginning.
(25:07):
They believed in the vision,and they've carried through.
Yeah. They believe in the vision.They like to bring their clients here.
They like to bring their friendshere or their coworkers, you know,
they're like so Ama Waterways.
It's not unusual for them to have 12 oftheir people in the audience, you know,
having a good time. It's a good way forsponsors to entertain their employees.
(25:28):
Sure. It's like having a boxseat at a Laker game. Right.
Yeah, but like The Hollywood Bowl.
But it's better in a lot of ways!
Yeah, it is better in a lot of ways.So, but we are looking for sponsors,
of course.
Wonderful.
And we do reach out towardsthe end of the year to,
for new sponsors or if someone'sinterested in being a sponsor,
they can go to our website and there'sinformation there and they can contact me
(25:49):
through the website.
Wonderful. Well, Mike Corridori,
thank you so much for being ourguest on this edition of On the Road.
We've loved having you and learning aboutthe Peter Strauss Ranch and the Tiny
Porches Concert Series.
Thank you, Paul, it was a pleasure.
And thank you for being interestedin this amazing music concert.
Absolutely. And of course, we wannathank our sponsor, Opus Escrow.
(26:11):
And be sure to tune in nexttime for the next On the Road.
Hi friends, Paul Ward here,and welcome to On the Road.
You probably have your favoritenational park. Maybe it's Yosemite,
maybe it's Yellowstone, maybeit's the Grand Tetons. Well,
did you know that the Santa MonicaMountains National Recreation area is
actually administered by the NationalPark Service and it's the largest park
(00:25):
next to an urban area, Los Angeles. So,
you would never know that we arenext to a bustling metropolis of
10 million people.
And today we happen to be actually ina little corner called the Peter Ranch,
and it's also the home of aTiny Porches concert series.
And who better to talk to us today aboutthat than our guest? Mike Corridori,
(00:47):
the founder of Tiny Porches.Mike, welcome to On the Road.
Thank you, Paul. It'sa pleasure. I really,
could not be more excited to be here.
Absolutely. Well, we're glad to have you.So, before we talk about Tiny Porches,
Mike, tell us about the PeterStraussRanch. Where are we?
We're in a unique areahere called Cornell Corner,
basically between ParamountRanch and Peter StraussRanch,
(01:09):
where we're at right now.
And it's known for moviesthat have been filmed here
movie stars, musicians that liketo hang out in this area. 'Cause,
it's very rural. So, likeyou said in your intro,
it doesn't look likeyou're in Los Angeles.
It looks like you're in the countryside.
This is sort of like the cowboy area ofLA and it's just a really special place
(01:30):
that people like to cometo. It's not that popular,
you know, and that's kind of a goodthing, and a bad thing. Right now,
I kind of think it's a goodthing because when you come here,
it's not overcrowded.
You really feel like you're Kindaa little garden of Eden here.
Yeah. Very much. Not too far offthe freeway. Maybe a few miles,
but a world away.
(01:50):
Yeah. Five miles maybe. Yeah.
So, this particular spot,Peter Strauss Ranch,
has kind of a rich history of characters,
kind of Indy 500 and all kinds offolks have kind of owned this place
over the years.
Yeah, very much so.
This particular property nowcalled Peter Strauss Ranch was
(02:12):
originally purchased by Henry Millerand he built carburetors for the Indy
500. And I guess he made a lot of moneydoing it 'cause this is a pretty big
property, and he built a ranch house,
and he also built this tower. So,
coming here is like stepping back intime. And imagine this is the 1920s.
(02:35):
You're coming to this party out in themountains or out in the hills of Los
Angeles, like kinda.
The roaring twenties.
The roaring twenties. Yeah. It'sprohibition. You can't have alcohol. So,
he built this tower at the entrance ofthe ranch. It's this big stone tower.
And he would have somebody upat the top of this of this tower
with a walkie-talkie.And when the police came,
he would alert everybody at the partyto say, "Okay, put your alcohol away!".
(03:00):
That's awesome.
this ranch and this area in general.
He had a travertine dance floor,and he was kinda a partier.
Yeah.
There's a thousand-foot travertinedance floor in front of the ranch house.
And they would have bands, bigbands play and dancing and.
Kinda art deco type stuff from.
(03:20):
Yeah. Yeah. All night long.All night long. It was art.
Yeah. Wow. And of course it wasn'tas populated back then. I mean,
this was like the middle of nowhere.Yeah. I mean, we've got, you know,
motorcycles going by today 'cause it'skind of like a popular with Harley
Davidson guys and it's popularwith road bikers and your
bicyclists.
You're right on Mulholland Drive here.So, it's right off of Mulholland. And,
(03:42):
and that's a very popular placefor people to ride bikes or
cars. You know, if you have a sports car,
Mulholland Drive is amazingplace to ride your car on.
And it kind of fits withthe theme of the Indy 500
carburetor maker righthere. So, he probably knew everybody that had nice cars.
And they came here, and you know,even over at Paramount Ranch,
(04:05):
just one mile down, they usedto have a big racetrack there.
Not a lot of people arefamiliar with that. So,
it was a hot rod area
Interesting. And then, so RoaringTwenties came and went. And then,
so what happened to theproperty after, after that?
Yeah. So, the carburetor businessfor the Indy 500, I guess dried up.
And he went bankrupt,and it was purchased by
(04:28):
an amusement park. There wasan amusement park on the site.
Interesting.
They built this giant pool, andit was fed by Malibu Creek. So,
they dammed it up and they would fillthis pool from water from Malibu Creek.
I imagine back in the day before,permits were a thing, right? Just,
"Let's build a pool.".
Yeah. Yeah. And it's exactly, andthere's this big island in the center,
(04:50):
and they would have,
like orchestras play why people wouldbe on like these little rowboats.
I know it sounds crazy to say a rowboatin a pool, but this pool is big.
I think it's like 60 million gallons.
Wow!
It's the biggest pool you'veever seen. And they had the stage
where the concerts are held right now,
(05:10):
you'll see like a brick wallbehind the bands when they play.
And back behind that,
which you can't see is allthese sort of stone square
buildings, which they had the animalsin. And they would bring 'em out to the,
to the front of the stage and theywould kind of cart 'em around.
Interesting. So, what wasthe name of this park?
(05:32):
It was Lake Encanto.
And there was a big sign outfront and it was very popular
for a while. And then, but it couldn'tcompete with other amusement parks.
And eventually it went out of business.
And then Disneyland came along.
Yeah. Yeah. Disneyland.Yeah. Magic Mountain. It's tough. It's a tough business.
I'm sure.
So, did it stay inprivate hands after that,
(05:54):
or did somehow the NationalPark Service get involved?
So, Peter Strauss wasfilming, "Rich Man Poor Man.".
He was an actor or a producer?
He was an actor. He still acts. He'sin, he does Broadway shows. Oh, wow.
He's still around. He's still around.Yeah. That's amazing. He lives in Ohio.
Okay. some people have said thathe's been to a few of the shows.
I have not seen him, he hasn'tintroduced himself, but it's possible.
Interesting. He's taking incognitocoming to his own old property.
(06:18):
Yeah. I mean, a lot of people, you know,
he is the older generation of actors. So,
I think a lot of people may notknow who he is if they saw him.
'Cause he does Broadway. He doesn'tdo the popular movies that we see now.
He is not a one of the Avengers.
(06:38):
Yeah. So, he sold it, pretty muchdonated to the National Park Service.
And they're the ones that ownand operate this space now.
And they've really tried to keep itexactly the way it was. You know,
you don't add stuff to it. You onlypreserve what's made. So, the theater,
everything like that is the wayit looked back when it was before.
(06:58):
Then unfortunately the housewas lost in the Wolsey Fire.
Yeah. So, the Wolsey Fireof 2019 destroyed the
ranch house, the stage for the theater.
It was pretty traumatic.
And the bridge that gave you accessto here from Mulholland was also
(07:21):
burned down. 'Cause It was a wood bridge,
if you can imagine a woodbridge in California.
But that burned and it tooktwo years to recover from that.
We rebuilt the stage. And then,
I guess Caltrans rebuilt thisbeautiful bridge that they put there.
How did Tiny Porches come about?
Because you don't really think ofhaving a concert in a national park
(07:46):
or national recreation areas a littlebit different. Did you just say one day,
"Hey,
this is a beautiful setting and I wannathrow concerts here." How did this all
come about?
Well, I love live music and I've beengoing to shows, festivals, concerts,
all around the country. I like ruralsettings. I prefer outdoor shows.
And a lot of my friends knewthat I like music. And so,
(08:06):
one of my employees said tome one day, he said, "Mike,
there's this really cool theaternot far from where you live,
called Peter Strauss Ranch.
I think there's this show this Sundaythat the National Park Service is putting
on. You should go checkit out." So, I came here,
brought my own, youknow, picnic and stuff,
and was just completelyblown away and enamored.
(08:28):
I just fell in love with the theater,with this whole surrounding here.
I didn't particularly care forthe music that was being played.
I didn't think it fit the space. Itwas like heavy metal or something.
Heavy metal is, fine. Youknow, just not here. So,
I called up the National Park Servicethe Monday after. It was a Sunday,
I think that I went to the show,and I asked him, I said, "Hey,
(08:49):
do you need any help withthis? It looks like, you know,
you could use some help with curatingthe bands and maybe having, you know,
different audience flow." And they said,"Actually, if you want to take it over,
please do.".
Wow. Just like that?
Yeah. Quick. Yeah. I mean, itwasn't, it didn't happen that quick.
I'm giving you a shorter story. But theysaid, "As long as it's a free concert,
(09:10):
great. You can do it." And that's apretty big hurdle to do a free concert.
There are costs for everything.
Yeah. You got sound, yougotta pay the artists. So,
I came back to them, and I said,"What if we could get sponsors?
Could we get VIP donors that we couldgive them special seating and maybe
wine and cheese beforehand?" Andthey got back to me a couple weeks
(09:34):
later.
'Cause The federal government does movea little bit slower than other places.
They can't do a deal right there.And they said, "Great. Let's do it.
You know, send me aproposal." And it's been,
I think we had a five-year contract.
The contract came up two yearsago and they renewed it then. So,
it's been great.
So, I imagine it's evolvingright. From your first concert.
(09:57):
When was the first concert?
The first concert was 2016.
Okay. So, you've been at it forabout six years or so, or no, eight.
Eight years.
Eight years. We had, wehad we had one hiatus.
'Cause that thing that happened in2020. The year before that 2019,
after the fires burned this area down,
we actually held the seriesat King Gillette Ranch,
which is another bigranch house down the way.
(10:20):
And then we came back here as soon aseverything was ready because this is a
special place. Tiny Concertsbelongs at Peter Strauss Ranch.
Right. And so how did youfind your first bands?
And then how is that kindof evolving now? I mean,
imagine words kind of getting out.
Yeah. It's much easierright now to get bands.
'Cause now the more bandsthat have played here,
(10:42):
the more bands that wanna play here.
You're making a reputation.
we have a lot of bands from Nashvillethat are calling us up that wanna play.
'Cause it's a great audience.They listen. It's not rowdy.
Everyone is there to listen. We get300 to 500 people and it's amazing.
But to get that started was hard. So,
I had this really long emailthat I would send out to artists
(11:05):
or their management and say,
"There's this really amazing spacein the Santa Monica Mountains,
just outside of LA. You know, can youdo it for this much money? You know,
it'll be worth your while." And we gota few takers the first year, and then
we started getting photographs ofwhat it looks like at these shows.
And then we had stuff to post onsocial media and to send on emails. So,
(11:28):
people were getting more and moreof a vibe of what this looks like.
And they started gettingthe concept. And so,
we've been getting artists ever since.
That's great. Now,
is there a particular style of musicthat the kind of concert gears towards?
I would say in general, it's called, it'dbe progressive bluegrass, indie folk.
Interesting. So all anda little bit of pop.
(11:49):
So everything kind of fits in that anda little bit in country alt country.
Okay. So who are some of the bands thathave, that have that have been here?
Well, we just had Adam Ezraplayed our last show. We've had
Sean Watkins play here.
Steve Poltz These are namesthat in the folk world,
(12:09):
in the folk bluegrass world.Not very big names.
But if you're listening to classic radio,
you might not know who they are rightnow. But they will be very big names.
To get sponsors and to getpeople to come to this shows.
I would say this is our version of theHollywood Bowl, but it's much smaller.
It's very rustic, and plenty of parking.
(12:31):
And I think that's a really good way ofdescribing it. When you see it's a bowl,
you know, a rustic small bowl for music.
It's meant for musicand the acoustics work.
Right. It's amazingbecause it's natural stone.
It's not unusual for an encore or evenin the middle of a set for a band to just
completely unplug really. And then go,
(12:53):
they'll stand out in front of the stageand just play it completely acoustic
crowd just goes deadsilent. And it just sings.
I would imagine there's somethingmagical about having a concert
in such a natural setting. I mean,the Hollywood Bowl is awesome,
don't get me wrong. Right. Butit's not a truly natural setting.
Right. Yeah. This has anatural setting, actually,
(13:15):
the way the stairs were and everything.
It just conforms to the natural bowl.
And then the mountain, if you lookbehind it there, it just keeps going up.
It just keeps going all the wayup to the Santa Monica mountains.
'Cause that's what the artist is looking,
while the artist is playing tothe audience, he's looking at,
or she's looking at Santa MonicaMountains and it's just this big.
(13:37):
So the experience for theartist is equally amazing.
In a normal, not normal, butin a kind of a concert hall,
sometimes the artist can'teven see the audience.
'Cause the lights are shiningso brightly on the artist.
They're just looking into the blackness.
Here's a great storyabout that. So, we had
(14:00):
Taylor Goldsmith from Dawes playhere. It was like a late afternoon,
early evening show. And he camein, we just had one chair for him.
He just sat sitting down to play anacoustic set. And he looked around.
He just was like blown away.He had never been here before.
He grew up in Malibu.
And local boy.
Local boy, local, yeah. Bigstar. And he said, "You know,
(14:24):
I gotta tell everybody, I didn'thave any expectations here.
'Cause I try not to haveexpectations, but if I did,
this would've far exceededmy expectations." And that's,
every artist feels that way. Theycome here expecting one thing,
and then they're always blown awayand they always wanna play here again.
That's awesome. And I would imaginewith success is kind of that,
(14:45):
you know, American idea about growing.
Bigger is better. And the name of thisis Tiny Portches that you're limited to,
you know, 300 to 500 people and thatkind of is anathema to what you would
think. But there's somethingspecial about keeping it small.
Yeah. We've had lots of people come, "Oh,
this is one of the bestconcerts I've ever been to.
(15:07):
You could make this thing so big.You could do a thousand people,
2000 people." I'd say."We're not, first of all,
we can't get a thousand people here, andwe can't do it anywhere else but here.
This concert series was meant to be,
your shows were meant to be here.
And then you have the addedpressure of keeping it free. I mean,
(15:29):
I imagine you can always raise theprice of the wine and cheese to Yeah.
Yeah. We want to, you know,we wanna keep it free.
And the more people you have, the moreexpensive it is to do it. So, you know,
we need,
we have parking lot attendants becausewe have so many cars coming right now.
We do have volunteers thathelp with ushering and ticketing and stuff like that.
(15:50):
But the more people wehave, the more expensive.
That makes perfect sense.What's in store for the future?
What's kind of the idea? I mean,obviously, the name is set.
There's the demand on the audience side,and the artists now wanna perform here.
Who's coming in the future?
Well, we have a show tomorrow.
We have a band called The Riverside isplaying and the Salty Suites. These are,
(16:14):
you know, traditional kind of bluegrassbands. And everybody's gonna come.
I guess
I just wanna keep improvingon what we're doing here.
I want people to come here.
I want them to feel like thisis their private concert venue.
That they step back in time and theyknow it's right in their backyard.
(16:35):
And they wanna feel like thisis something that, that is ours.
That I can tell my friends about thatlive back east or wherever they live.
And I can try to tell 'em aboutthis great, amazing place.
And when they come out and visit,
I'm gonna bring 'em to this thingand show them what I'm talking about.
And that happens all the time.I get relatives or, you know,
(16:55):
friends that come tovisit and then, you know,
a county porch concert goertakes them to the show,
and they introduce me to the friendand the friend's, like, "You know,
Jim's been telling meabout this thing for years.
I can't believe he's totallyright. This is amazing.
I can't wait to come back.".
That's awesome.
Yeah. I just wanna keep doing that.
So just improve on the experiencereally at the very beginning.
(17:16):
A lot of people ask me, "Well,what kind of music, you know,
is being played here?" Or,
"Do you have...?" And it'skind of a question that kind of would almost upset me
a little bit. 'Cause I don't know.They're gonna fit in the Americana thing.
It's gonna be original music. Let'ssee what they sound like live.
Because every band has roots inwhether it's country or bluegrass or
(17:40):
folk. And when they play here,
they really are kind almost forced toplay that style. 'Cause It's acoustic,
you know? If you get an up-and-comingcountry band for example,
that, you know, playselectric and everything,
when they come out here and they play,it's gonna be more of an acoustic-like,
folk kind of country soundthat it kind of changes.
(18:02):
So, they could playthose more modern songs,
but maybe here it's kind of in amore intimate acoustic setting.
Like unplugged. Imagine like,it's like unplugged. Yeah.
That'd be a good way of explaining it.
Gotcha. So how can folkslearn more about Tiny Porches?
And maybe they're watching onthe East Coast or the Midwest,
(18:22):
or maybe they're here locally.
Okay. Well, we have a website.At tinyporchconcerts.com.
There you can get on the mailinglist there, an email mailing list,
and we tell everybody what's going,what's gonna happen next. Of course,
we have social media that we do.If, if you wanna know more about it,
get on the social media,get on the email list,
and we'll tell you what's going on.
(18:42):
And if you want to come outand visit and see a show,
literally contact us through thewebsite. I'll tell you where to stay.
If you want to camp, I'lltell you where to camp.
Oh, wow. And yeah, you could campon the Santa Monica Mountains.
There's lots of great campsites aroundhere. So, I've had people, you know,
coming from other places, youknow, Utah and saying, "Hey,
where can I park my trailer?"And I tell them, and, you know,
(19:05):
I can handle 300 peopledoing that.
Now is the concert recorded or doyou gotta be here to experience it?
You have to be here to experienceit. We have done some recordings,
but you know, you'll see more photosthan you will recordings really. Well,
you can, you can bringyour own food and drink.
Oh, you can?
Yeah. And you can bring wine andbeer. So, it is a big picnic.
(19:29):
And everyone comes out here and you cansee some pretty amazing spreads that
people put out.
They go all out.
They go all out. Yeah.They get here early.
And I like to walk around and meeteverybody, you know, before the show,
and I look and see whatthey're making and stuff.
And I've had some prettygood sandwiches.
Yeah. And they know I like wine.So, everyone likes to bring like,
(19:49):
some really special wine. If theyhave something they really like,
they like to share. So, Ialways like that too. It's cool.
That's great.
Yeah. But the VIP between4-5PM has wine, beer,
cheese, charcuterie
compliments of Cornell Wineright across the street.
And some other local wineries and somewineries from Paso and stuff that also
(20:12):
donate wine for the event.
You said that you gravitatetowards Nashville bands.
I do like bands from Nashville because Ido feel like as LA is the epicenter for
the movie business, I think Nashvilleis the epicenter for music. So,
if you can make it in Nashville andmusic, you can make it anywhere. So, you
(20:33):
always get a kinda certain vibefrom the Nashville. It's different.
I can't explain it. They're just,
they have a little bit differentway of presenting themselves.
Like they've been taught a differentway than what you get here.
LA's a little bit more the LAartists. And I love LA artists.
There's just so many great oneshere. Little bit more casual.
A band comes from Nashville. They'rebuttoned up. They're ready to go.
(20:55):
Interesting. Yeah. And what doesthe concert series look like?
Are you 12 months out of the year? Isit kind of a limited series? 'Cause,
I mean, we do have a littlebit of a winter here.
Yeah. Well, the first showis always Mother's Day.
Okay.
And then we do one show a monthafter that for three months. So,
we have a total of four shows.
It's short.
It is a short series. And yeah, thisis our last show tomorrow for the year.
(21:16):
And it feels like we just gotstarted, but it's a lot of work.
Putting on these shows is a lot ofwork. And it does start to get hot.
You'll notice tomorrow that it's gonnabe in the 80s and the 80s in this area
with the sun beating on you feelsmore like, you know, 100 degrees.
It's hot.
Yeah. But when themusic starts around 5PM,
the sun kind of comes down behind themountains and the trees and it starts to
(21:37):
cool down. And it's really one of thegreatest temperatures to see a show.
Everyone's wearing shorts and t-shirts.
Do you feel that a short series
is kind of what's meant for Tiny Porches?
Or do you see it beinga little bit longer?
I think we could do another show hereand there, you know, weather permitting,
(21:57):
but I think what makes itspecial is it's not, you know,
six months of concerts.
It's only these four concertsand everybody knows you have to get your tickets
for these shows. Otherwiseyou might miss it.
(23:15):
There's a couple neighborhoods over herelike that kind of surround us as well.
But still kind of not denselypacked. And they're no custom homes.
No. When I say neighborhood aroundhere, that means like, you know three,
four-acre ranch houses with horses,those type of homes. And they,
a lot of those people, they can eitherhear it from their own backyard.
(23:36):
Wow. How cool would that be?
Yeah, I know. Wouldn'tthat'd be great. Or they,
a lot of them just willwalk here, you know,
they'll walk with their kids and stuffand come and enjoy the show and introduce
themselves. We do get a lot ofchildren. And that's surprising.
You wouldn't think that they would beinto, you know, whatever kind of music is,
we're playing modern bluegrass.Right, right. But they get up there,
they start dancing and they have fun,and then the parents start dancing.
(23:59):
And I would say pretty much everyshow turns into a big dance party.
Everyone's dancing and enjoying it. Yeah.
People ask about dogs and thetheater's kind of tight, right.
So, if you bring a dog...
You can bring your dog?
You can bring a dog. It's gotta beon a six-foot leash at all times.
And we really ask people to be respectfulof the other audience, because we
(24:23):
don't want dogs barking.
Or eating somebodyelse's charcuterie board.
Right.
but some people wanna bring their dogs.
We just tell 'em to kindof sit on the outside.
You can still hear the music just fine.
Who are your sponsors?
We
(24:47):
have like 10 sponsors.
Haley Dixon from theFinancial Freedom Network.
She's a new gold sponsor thisyear, and she's been very active.
but all the other sponsors havebeen doing it since the beginning.
(25:07):
They believed in the vision,and they've carried through.
Yeah. They believe in the vision.They like to bring their clients here.
They like to bring their friendshere or their coworkers, you know,
they're like so Ama Waterways.
It's not unusual for them to have 12 oftheir people in the audience, you know,
having a good time. It's a good way forsponsors to entertain their employees.
(25:28):
Sure. It's like having a boxseat at a Laker game. Right.
Yeah, but like The Hollywood Bowl.
But it's better in a lot of ways!
Yeah, it is better in a lot of ways.So, but we are looking for sponsors,
of course.
Wonderful.
And we do reach out towardsthe end of the year to,
for new sponsors or if someone'sinterested in being a sponsor,
they can go to our website and there'sinformation there and they can contact me
(25:49):
through the website.
Wonderful. Well, Mike Corridori,
thank you so much for being ourguest on this edition of On the Road.
We've loved having you and learning aboutthe Peter Strauss Ranch and the Tiny
Porches Concert Series.
Thank you, Paul, it was a pleasure.
And thank you for being interestedin this amazing music concert.
Absolutely. And of course, we wannathank our sponsor, Opus Escrow.
(26:11):
And be sure to tune in nexttime for the next On the Road.
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