Actress Stockard Channing has listed her longtime home in Laurel Canyon for sale for ~$2.5 million. The bewitching property has been hearth and home to Ms. Channing for nearly three decades; according to public records, she paid $870K for the three-bedroom secret of a home in 1991.

With its hillside location, marvelously uncluttered views, and thick framing of mature flora, the living style of this Laurel Canyon hideaway is appealingly bohemian; not pretentious, but reticent, and perhaps erring on the side of the sensitively cautious. Its earthiness is enhanced greatly by the red brick and terra cotta tile that feature as accent materials, and the jungly front walk that offers a romantically mysterious preamble to coming home, even if one knows the way.

The single-level house is hunkered beneath the boughs of mature trees. The stained glass panel in the front door adds a period artisanal element to the 1956-built home, and the interiors continue to develop the easygoing but circumspect feel established by the dialogue between the house and its setting. At one time, many a Grove Press and New Directions Paperbook must’ve graced this living room’s array of built-ins.

The plank hardwood is finished in a washed-out black, a pleasing contrast to the pale plank of the ceilings; a cozily diminutive fireplace with a dramatically raised hearth sets atmosphere galore in the den. Outside, a terrace, a pool and a balcony off the master sum up the exterior living style, with tropical landscaping that riffs on the Miltonian Eden. One of the prettiest and more surprisingly disarming cottages we’ve seen in a neighborhood of L.A. that is prized by creatives.