Joe Bonamassa has returned to Nerdville West, his home in the Hollywood Hills, after being forced to evacuate as the LA wildfires closed in.
The blues guitar superstar posted an updated on his Instagram page, thanking fans for their support, and extending his sympathies to those who have lost their homes in the fire.
At least 10 people have died in the disaster. Thousands of buildings have been destroyed. Many of those left standing have no power and Bonamassa’s is one of them.
“As you can see, I am back here,” says Bonamassa. “There is still no power but we have survived, and thank you to the LA Fire Department for doing the due diligence. There was fires in Studio City, Runyon [Canyon], everything. That’s very close and could easily have made it here and in not a long period of time.”
Nerdville has been threatened by fire before. In a 2024 Reverb documentary, Bonamassa said he had a call in the early hours of the morning informing him that his home escaped a close call.
“I was up in Oakland, we’d just started a tour,” said Bonamassa. “That night I get a call at 2am from my neighbour. He [sent] a video going, ‘Don’t worry, I got you, the fire department’s here.’ “It was during the windy season and the dry season, where that shit could’ve swept right up the side and took the whole thing out.”
Nerdville is home to some of the rarest vintage acoustic and electric guitars and guitar amps in the world. It is filled with vintage guitar ephemera.
My heart really goes out to the people that have lost everything in the past two days
This gear obsessive’s Xanadu has become a fixture of guitar culture, and in sharing the stories behind some of the most prized instruments in his collection, Bonamassa has taught us all a lot about the history of electric guitar and its evolution.
Furthermore, his Nerdville collection has influenced the design of the guitars we play today. It has become a launching pad for new vintage-inspired guitars. His long-standing collaboration with Epiphone in particular bringing us affordable versions of holy grail Gibson guitars such as his Lazarus 1959 Les Paul Standard and a replica of his 1955 Copper Iridescent Les Paul Standard – a super-rare finish that was originally produced for the 1955 NAMM show.
Most recently, Bonamassa and the luthiers at Martin’s Nazareth facility joined forces for an exacting replica of his 1941 000-45, with a Brazilian rosewood version of the pre-War acoustic guitar in the works.
That is a special guitar in Bonamassa’s collection. His purchase of it helped a woman keep her home.
“I don’t collect guitars, I collect stories,” said Bonamassa. “I don’t collect instruments because I want a deal on them. I want to collect instruments because I want to help a family out of financial trouble, and they have this one item that could be sold for lots of money... It was the last thing of value that she had, so it saved her house, and I got a wonderful guitar and a hell of a story.”
It is a measure of how fast-moving the situation is in LA that it was only yesterday that Bonamassa posted that the evacuation of Nerdville was underway, admitting that the fate of his home and collection was out of his hands.
“A very hard place to be as a curator,” he wrote. “It’s my lifetime of work. I knew this day would come eventually but just not today. So far so good tonight but the situation is very fluid. A major thanks to the firefighters and first responders for giving it their all these past few days. Stay safe Los Angeles.”
Bonamassa describes the past 48 hours as “unprecedented and unbelievable” and said his sympathies lie with those who have been less fortunate and have lost everything overnight.
“It’s important to know that, as very grateful as I am to be here there is a lot of people, thousands of people right now that have lost their homes and perspective is everything in life,” continued Bonamassa. “My heart really goes out to the people that have lost everything in the past two days – because this has an been unprecedented and unbelievable 48 hours. But thank you for the support. I will keep you updated. We are on 24-hour watch here at Nerdville. No looters. No nothing. Don’t even try.”
“There was a minute in the ‘80s where I was just being a lunatic. I got it into my head that I should think more about music and I cut a demo with Toto”: Rob Lowe says that his wild antics led him to believe that he should consider a career in soft rock
“I said, 'We don't do that. We don't steal stuff.' I always felt bad about it”: How Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry acquired Jeff Beck's fuzz pedal - and what he did to pay him back
