A little New Orleans, a little Manhattan, and unmistakably California. Inside the La Jolla home of Coyote Ugly’s founder

In the middle of La Jolla Village, tucked behind a giant tree that sets the tone for the entire property, entrepreneur Liliana Lovell found the kind of home that felt less like a showcase and more like a sanctuary. The founder of Coyote Ugly Saloon and Ugly Inc., and host of TV show The Ultimate Coyote Ugly Search, Lovell has spent decades building an empire around high-octane energy and unapologetic personality. But at home, she wanted something quieter: a private retreat layered with color, texture, and the memories of places she’s lived — from New Orleans to New York City to coastal Southern California.

To bring that vision into focus, she turned to Allison Garrison of Alito Spaces, the San Diego designer known for creating coastal interiors that resist the usual shorthand of white walls and easy minimalism. Garrison’s work instead balances glamour with groundedness in a way that feels deeply personal rather than performative.

Lovell arrived with what Garrison describes as one of the most eclectic inspiration collections she’d ever seen: polished European interiors mixed with earthy organic spaces, traditional details alongside moodier, more cinematic references. “Our role was really to find the common thread within all of her inspiration and translate it into something cohesive,” says Garrison. “We wanted the home to feel warm and expressive, a little elevated, but still entirely livable and most importantly, true to her.”

Rather than forcing those ideas into a single lane, Garrison focused on creating a home that feels collected over time — a little New Orleans, a little Manhattan, and unmistakably California.

Nowhere is that layering more apparent than in the kitchen, designed around Lovell’s love of cooking. After extensive research, Garrison selected a restaurant-grade BlueStar range with custom finishes and hardware tailored specifically to the space. Above it, a sculptural hood becomes a focal point thanks to one surprisingly restrained decision: removing the backsplash entirely.

Originally, the wall behind the range was slated for white zellige tile. But as the room evolved, both homeowner and designer realized the kitchen felt stronger without it. Leaving the wall bare felt risky, particularly for a client who actually uses her kitchen hard, but the gamble paid off. “I was definitely nervous about it,” Garrison says. “But now that hood really shines.”

Elsewhere, the house reveals itself through moments of personality rather than spectacle. A downstairs bathroom wrapped in custom New Orleans toile wallpaper nods to Lovell’s years in Louisiana. An original painting by Johnny Cash hangs prominently in a plum-colored office that shifted late in the process from smoky gray to something far moodier and more enveloping. The saturated room, visible directly from the kitchen, adds an unexpected sense of depth to the home’s otherwise organic palette.

The emotional center of the home, however, remains the living room, where Lovell spends evenings looking out toward the backyard tree from her green Mario Bellini Camaleonda sofa. Even with soaring ten-foot ceilings, the space feels intimate — softened by faux-fur swivel chairs, anchored by a chiseled stone fireplace, and sharpened slightly by the edge of a chain-link chandelier.

“Even with the scale of the room, it still feels incredibly cozy,” says Garrison. “That balance between permanence and softness was really important throughout the house.”

Square footage: 2100
Year completed: 2025
Builder: Nau Builders
Architect: Mark D. Lyon
Landscape Designer: Steve Wichmann