Reframing The Future
An art collector embraces ranch life
Moving to Santa Ynez enabled Quinn Ezralow to retrieve her cherished piano from storage and feature it prominently in her living room; two India Mahdavi sofas upholstered in custom colored sheepskin by Danfield Leather & Design are flanked by Guillerme & Chambron vintage chairs covered in Claremont fabric; Flora Low Coffee Table by Marcin Rusak.
Written by Lorie Dewhirst Porter
Photographs by Sam Frost
Styling by Lisa Rowe
Owning a ranch in Santa Ynez has radically transformed Quinn Ezralow’s life: “You know when you’ve always said, ‘One day I’m going to do that’? That’s how I feel about this ranch. I always said, ‘One day I’m going to have a horse again.’ Now I have horses. This is a place where you don’t have to say ‘one day’ anymore. It’s today.”
Ezralow, an art collector and a philanthropist, discovered the sprawling 40-acre property with her son while viewing another home in the area. “My son said to the broker, ‘Do you have anything bigger than this?’” Ezralow says with a laugh. “We went from looking at a normal three-acre house to pulling up to this driveway, and my son looked at me and said, ‘We’re getting this.’ That was it, and we bought it that day.” The place is now known as Round Two Ranch.
“I’m much more friendly with my art now.”
The Santa Ynez Valley is a world apart from Beverly Hills, where Ezralow raised her three children (ages 30, 29, and 27), and she views it as a distinctive plus. “I’m able to offer them something completely different than how they were raised,” she says. In fact, Santa Ynez is a logical destination for Ezralow, whose own childhood included frequent visits to her aunt and uncle who lived there. And her cousin, Blair Fox, owns Blair Fox Cellars in nearby Los Olivos.
Stylish elements from Ezralow’s Beverly Hills home are evident throughout the ranch house, as Ezralow was determined to repurpose cherished items like the two bright purple India Mahdavi velvet couches that were smartly reupholstered in natural sheepskin to better suit their new surroundings. She enlisted Jordan Sholem and Jessica Katz of L.A. firm J2 Interiors to recontextualize her possessions and assist in updating the 1970s Spanish-style home. For most designers, incorporating pieces from a client’s former home is a daunting task, but Ezralow “has a genuine appetite for design risk,” Sholem says. “The pieces she selected from her previous home were bold and daring pieces. It was a fun design challenge.”
New items were also included in the mix, notably a custom-made L-shaped couch by Green River Project LLC that graces the living room and incorporates painted details from Ezralow’s life (favorite books, pets, food) in a wraparound visual narrative. Sholem and Katz also tweaked the home’s indoor spaces, adding hardwood floors, expanding the kitchen, and enlarging the windows to take advantage of the stunning countryside views. “Any view in her house looking through windows is totally art,” Katz says.
A bespoke sectional sofa with painted narrative images by Green River Project anchors the family room; custom-designed bar by J2 Interiors with stools by BDDW; Mood “Curl” photograph by Jill Greenberg.
“This is a place where you don’t have to say ‘one day’ anymore. It’s today.”
Art, of course, is one of Ezralow’s passions; she’s been an active collector for 20 years and formerly chaired the Director’s Circle at the L.A. County Museum of Art. Although she was originally focused on collecting iconic California artists like Ed Ruscha and Larry Bell, over time her interest shifted to work by up-and-coming creatives, and Ezralow feels Round Two Ranch can offer opportunities to nurture emerging artists through on-site symposiums and residencies.
The art Ezralow selected from her collection to install at the ranch house—primarily photographs and ceramics—also reflects her new perspective. Standout pieces include moody photographs of musicians Mick Jagger and Donovan snapped by photographer Andee Nathanson, whose circle of friends in the 1960s and ’70s also included Marianne Faithful, David Hockney, Gram Parsons, and Sam Shepard. Nathanson’s unposed images, taken without commercial purpose, were only made available for purchase in recent years, and their presence at Round Two Ranch is a testament to Ezralow’s artistic eye.
Ezralow is also a dedicated philanthropist. In 1997 she cofounded the Women’s Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) along with Kate Capshaw, Rita Wilson, Jamie Tisch, Marion Laurie, and Kelly Chapman Meyer. WCRF supports innovative research, education, and outreach to develop more effective prevention and treatment of women’s cancers; it has raised more than $75 million since its inception. She’s on the advisory board of Heart of Los Angeles (HOLA), which provides free youth-centered programming to under-resourced communities in L.A. Ezralow was one of three honorees feted at this year’s annual HOLA gala.
For the moment, Ezralow is busy splitting her time between L.A. and Santa Ynez but calls Round Two Ranch her happy place. “I feel like my whole family is happy when they’re here. It opens your mind,” she says. “Everyone’s creative juices start flowing. My daughter is talking about building a tree house for her kids. I’m like, ‘Let’s do it!’ ”
In the serene primary bedroom, a 1960s Viscontea Chandelier by Achille and Piergiacomo floats above a Rejuvenation bed uphostered in Claremont Wallace Stripe; Amadi Carpets rug; Brice Bischoff photograph.
