CA-Modern Magazine Fall 2019

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Contents

7 CA-Modernist Spotlight

8

Just-released video interview with designer Matt Kahn recalls Joe’s commitment to art

8 California Dreamin’ Escape from the Bay: enjoying ‘modern’ living without the stress of hefty price tags

14 Feature Storyboard Razing the roof: how San Jose’s Fairglen Eichlers made it to the National Register

20 Art About the House

24

Cold cold art: Ethan Stern eyes the past with his ‘cool’ approach to glassmaking

24 Modern Renewal Quake-up call: structural retrofitting and emergency supplies as earthquake prep

28 More Modern Renewal

20

Dials to die for: 12 wall clocks offering the perfect accent for your MCM home

34

32 Blast from the Past Unsung masters of the mid-century: California modern landscape architects

32

34 Dear Cherry Advice, etiquette and tips for healthy homemaking and mid-mod manners

28

Contributors Publisher & Managing Editor Marty Arbunich | marty@eichlernetwork.com Marketing Coordinator Chris Marcoccio | chris@eichlernetwork.com

On the Cover

Publisher’s Consultant Dave Kalman of Terrella Media

Our cover photograph this issue comes from the archive of Ernie Braun, best known for his classic architectural and lifestyle photos for Eichler Homes during the company’s heyday. By the mid-1950s, Braun and modernist architect John Matthias had become close friends based in Marin County, where Braun turned to the architect on three separate occasions to get additions designed for his growing family’s San Anselmo home. In that same period, Matthias (along with Charles and Ray Eames, Isamu Noguchi, Harley Earl, Garrett Eckbo, and several other designers of note) was recruited by Alcoa Aluminum to participate in their ambitious ‘Forecast’ program, which brought together 22 independent creative projects aimed at extensively promoting the use of aluminum in design and architecture. Alcoa, a believer that “there’s a world of aluminum in the wonderful world of tomorrow,” was not looking for a product to manufacture, but an inspirational concept that could embrace aluminum and expand its appeal into the future. Matthias’ contribution was the experimental ‘View Box’ dwelling (shown on our cover), a 16x16x8-foot portable aluminum kit of parts designed, according to one report, with the “nomadic outdoors-loving postwar family” in mind. Unveiled at the 1959 San Francisco Home Show, the ‘View Box’ was photographed by Braun that same year. The result was a handful of images, location unknown. Among them was the cover shot—our personal fave!

Staff Writers Dan Smith | Jack Levitan I Adriene Biondo

Features Editor Dave Weinstein Photography Sabrina Huang Print Designers Doreen Jorgensen | Diana Rich Social Media Editor Robin Bertelsen of Daxia Digital Web Maintenance Priscila Hoffman CA-Modern magazine is published quarterly in regional editions during January, April, July, and October by the Eichler Network, P.O. Box 22635, San Francisco, CA 94122. Mailed to thousands of select California mid-century modern households (and aficionados), including all Northern California Eichler and Streng modern homes. Subscriptions and back issues available at the CA-Modern magazine section of Eichler Network Online: eichlernetwork.com. Publisher: 415-668-0954. Marketing: 415-307-3801.

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■BLOG SPOTLIGHT

The CA Modernist Recalling Eichler’s commitment to art Inside just-released video interview with designer Matt Kahn Builder Joe Eichler is famed for his commitment to advanced and livable residential architecture. He is known as well for his commitment to providing housing for all, no matter race. But he’s less well known for another commitment —to the visual arts.

No, you won’t find a Joe and Lillian Eichler Gallery at the de Young Museum. And Joe was not an important art collector.

Instead, Joe promoted art as an integral part of daily life, by emphasizing to the buyers and the sellers of his homes, and to the world at large, that his homes could serve as vessels for art, as living and working spaces for artists both professional and amateur, and as art objects in themselves.

This aspect of Joe Eichler and the Eichler Homes company is brought to life in a video interview that was recently posted online with Matt Kahn, who for ten years functioned much like Eichler’s artist in his residences.

The film, ‘A Conversation with Matt Kahn,’ which clocks in at just under 30 minutes, was filmed in 2009 by King Lear, who both conducted the interview in an affable manner and handled the camera—if ‘handling’ can be used for setting the camera on a tripod and turning it on.

It is part of a longer interview that deals as well with Kahn’s own career as an artist. This shorter conversation relates to Kahn’s work with Eichler, and to his thoughts about Eichler homes.

The video was produced for the Los Altos Neutra House Project, a restored and re-purposed home designed by architect Richard Neutra and used today for events and conferences. It is dedicated to furthering knowledge of modern architecture.

Kahn lived for decades in an Eichler home on the Stanford

campus, where he was a professor in design. His career there was long, more than 60 years; he began teaching at the university in 1949 at age 21.

“[Eichler] was very courageous, it seems to me,” Lear says to Kahn at one point.

“I think he was,” Kahn agrees.

“A very complicated person.

Not a simple man,” Kahn recalls of Joe. “The people who worked for him saw him as something of a driver. He saw himself much more of a liberal. His associations with labor issues, let us say, were more philosophical than his relations with working people. He had a good sense of humor, a lot of sense of personal style. He loved color, especially in that context, like clothes.”

Kahn cautions Lear about the frailties of memory.

EICHLER ROOTS. Eichler Homes’ in-house design consultant Matt Kahn (left) seen in a 2009 one-on-one interview with King Lear (right). The video interview is now ready for online viewing. Top: African masks that decorated Kahn’s Eichler interior on Stanford campus. Eichler homes are “permissive,” Kahn said.

Lear too lived in an Eichler home for years, buying his first home, an Eichler in Sunnyvale, in 1964.

Not only did Matt Kahn, working with his wife, textile artist Lyda Kahn, design interiors for Eichler’s model homes for a decade, starting in the early ‘50s, but Kahn designed Eichler brochures and ads and other materials.

On top of that, Eichler persuaded Kahn to lecture to the company’s salespeople about art, “so that they would be more sophisticated,” Kahn says in the interview.

How many tract developers did something like that?

“You’re asking me to remember things that I may remember inaccurately. So I don’t want to tell you that any of this is fact. But it is my perception of what was going on.”

One such anecdote that Kahn retells—a secondhand tale at that— illustrates how memories may be fables. He tells of a time that Eichler purportedly drove the master, Frank Lloyd Wright, to see one of Joe’s subdivisions. “It was time for Joe to show Frank Lloyd Wright what he was doing,” Kahn says.

Joe had always been inspired

by Wright’s work, since living in a Wright-designed home during the

early 1940s, and Joe’s architects took inspiration from Wright too. But was that inspiration misplaced?

Upon entering an Eichler development, Kahn says, “Frank Lloyd Wright is said to have put his hands to his head and said, ‘My God, what have I done!?’”

More believable are Kahn’s memories of why and how he and Lyda worked on model interiors for Eichler.

King suggests one challenge facing Eichler and his salespeople, who needed to demonstrate to potential buyers “what life might be like in this non-traditional environment.”

Kahn responds, “In that sense the models became instructive, almost educational.”

Today, when mid-century modern homes come on the resale market, savvy stagers pull out the standard Eames and Nelson classic modern furnishings. The Kahns did not.

Kahn has always argued that Eichler homes are “permissive,” capable of housing objects of a wide variety of periods and styles, as long as they are objects with integrity.

“Certainly [things] that are done, with this genuineness and this integrity, work—and this can be textiles, this can be furniture. Certainly some of the early American things, oak things, are very happy in an Eichler home,” Kahn tells Lear.

Lear met Kahn after Carroll Rankin, an architect who helped put the Palo Alto Eichler tracts Greenmeadow and Green Gables on the National Register in 2005 and was also involved with the restoration of the Neutra House, suggested that Kahn would be a great interview subject.

“We got to be kind of instantly good friends,” Lear recalls.

Kahn died four years after the interview, at age 85.

“We really did admire Matt,” Lear says. “It was a really special connection. –Dave Weinstein • King Lear’s interview with Matt Kahn can be viewed online at neutrahouse.org/history-videos.

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■CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’

Escape from the Bay From Boise to Sacramento to Portland—flight paths that lead to modern living without sky-high prices Story: Dave Weinstein

Job hunting for Andrew Templeman meant more than finding something with good pay and benefits. It meant finding a job near Eichler homes.

A man “obsessed,” as he says, with all things mid-century modern, he’d become an industrial designer because of his love of modernism. So when he spied a job listing in Walnut Creek, he pounced.

“I knew the most affordable Eichlers were in Concord, so I landed a job in Walnut Creek, within commuting distance,” Andrew says.

Andrew and his wife, Randee Cole, who shares his enthusiasm, were living in Oregon. But they visited California, touring Eichler tracts, admiring Eichler’s all-steel X-100, checking out the architect-designed Case Study houses in Southern California.

These are folks who love modern design so much they named their son Eero, after architect-designer Eero Saarinen.

By 2013, Andrew and Randee were living their dream—in an Eichler home designed by one of Andrew’s favorite architects, A. Quincy Jones, in Concord’s Rancho del Diablo.

“We had $90,000 from Oregon, all the equity we had built up [in their home] over ten years,” Andrew says. “It was just barely enough to put 20 percent down on $460,000 for a fixer upper.”

They loved the atrium, “this little private oasis,” Andrew says, and turned their new Concord home tropical, with a bird of paradise plant that soon popped past the roof.

“Neighbors threw a welcome-to-theneighborhood party when we arrived,” he says. “I’m an introvert, so it was an easier way to get me to open up. I would never go up to someone who was working on their yard and start talking. After that we were borrowing milk from each other.”

So why are Andrew and Randee living today in their hometown of Boise, Idaho?

The answer suggests something trou8 CAMODERN

BOISE OR BUST. Economics drove Randee, Eero, and Andrew Templeman (above - L-R) from their Concord Eichler in 2017 to a more affordable ‘modest modern’ alternative in Boise, Idaho. Right, bottom: The front exterior of their Boise home. bling about the future of Eichler homes, as prices rise to exorbitant levels—for Eichlers and for all houses—throughout the Bay Area, not only in Silicon Valley.

What does it say about the community when folks like Andrew, Randee, and young Eero cannot afford to live in an Eichler? And how about to the small business people, teachers, professors, and middle-level professionals who once brought their talent and enthusiasm to Eichler neighborhoods but can do so no longer?

Must it be Boise for them too?

The answer also suggests something positive—that modern enthusiasts who cannot afford $2 million Eichlers in Palo Alto, or $750,000 Eichlers in Concord, are moving instead to less costly markets where modern homes can be found for much less, and bringing with them much of the Eichler spirit.

And it’s not like they are importing their enthusiasm into design deserts. The revival of the style has been a nationwide phenomenon for years, and many cities have active bands of enthusiasts, and real estate agents who focus on the style.

Among other cities that have been attracting Bay Area modernist refugees are Sacramento and, to a lesser extent, Davis, where there are Streng homes, built by the Streng Brothers Jim and Bill, and custom modern homes; Portland, Oregon, where there are midcentury modern homes built by Robert

Rummer, who managed to closely mirror Eichlers; and such further-flung locales as Denver and Phoenix.

While none of these towns have as many modern tract homes as the Bay Area, and few have any as purely modern as Eichlers, all have their attractions.

These include a simpler lifestyle, lower cost of living, less traffic in most cases, and lower-cost homes.

Why are people moving, and who is doing the moving? It doesn’t seem to be existing owners of Eichlers cashing out to buy less expensive homes with more cash in hand, say brokers in several markets, including Marisa Swenson, who’s been selling modern homes in Portland for a dozen years.

Instead, she says, “I have people who have wanted to purchase in the Bay Area but find themselves priced out, so they came up here to purchase.”

market than where your job is located,” he says.

In Andrew Templeman’s case, the decision to replace his Eichler in Concord with a not-quite-so-modern mid-century home in Boise, was difficult—though it brought with it opportunities.

The broker who handled Andrew’s Boise transaction, TJ Pierce, often tells would-be buyers about one major advantage of quitting a high-price market like the Bay Area for a cheaper one like Boise: “You can get ahead financially,” he says. Pierce runs Mid-Century Homes by Moniker Real Estate in Boise.

“We didn’t want to leave the Bay

GEM STATE. Home today to the Templemans, Boise has been identified by Forbes magazine as one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States. Top: Downtown Boise at night. Middle left: Nature isn’t far from Boise’s urban center. Above: The Templemans’ former home, a Concord Eichler.

Middle right: The Templemans enjoying life as mid-century modern enthusiasts in their Boise living room. Left: At the rear of the Templemans’ home—a lovely view of the Boise Foothills.

In Sacramento, Ted DeFazio has never seen an Eichler owner in the Bay Area trade down, as it were, for a modern home in the Central Valley. But, he says, “More people are seeing the home appreciation in the Bay Area and think-

ing, ‘Wow, I can cash out of this and go live a easier life in Sacramento.’ ” Retirees are among this number, he says. “One teacher said, I can retire off the proceeds of my house and live in Sacramento.”

Dane Kealoha, a modern real estate broker in Portland and Palm Springs, says that people who have job flexibility, who can work from home part-time, or telecommute full-time make up a good part of the influx.

“It’s great being able to go to a market where you can get the style of home you want—specifically, midcentury modern—in a more affordable

Area. I especially didn’t want to leave,” Andrew says. But the Del Monte Research Center, where he designed mostly pet food packaging and pet food (like Milk-Bone Good Morning treats), had been bought out, and was shifting operations to Ohio, “absolutely in the middle of nowhere, Amish Country. I wasn’t going to go there.”

Andrew sought design jobs in San Francisco, found the competition tough, and started freelancing “I desperately tried to cling to our Eichler, but eventually we ran out of money. My wife was working as a hairstylist, and we couldn’t make enough with me just doing random jobs.”

They considered buying an Eichler home in Sacramento, but those hit the market rarely and were selling for $500,000 plus. They considered buying a mid-century Streng home in Sacramento. But another consideration came into play.

“With a young son, we had no family in California,” Andrew says.

Continued pg 11 CAMODERN 9

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PORTLAND MODERN. A view down the street of Vista Brook, a Rummer home development located on the west side of Portland. The neighborhood features 62 houses that you’d swear, from their appearance, are bonafide Eichlers.

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■CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’ ESCAPE FROM THE BAY (cont. from pg 9)

Back in Boise, they had family who could help with childcare and the like.

They quit Concord in 2017. “It was a tough decision, but in the end we came here,” Andrew says, from his ‘modest modern’ ranch home in Boise.

“It’s not ultramodern, but it’s got some large windows and some of those other elements you would look for in a mid-century modern house,” he says.

The home also has a view, sitting on the rim of the Bench, a ridge above downtown Boise where homes were

built throughout the 1950s and ‘60s.

It’s also got what he and Randee have done with it, playing up its modern lines, painting the front door an eyepopping teal, adding hourglass exterior lights and floor tiles that suggest Eichlerstyle cork, and removing an added sunroom to create a covered patio with a shoji-like screen and flagstone paving.

They have filled the home with original furnishings by Eames, George Nelson, and of course Eero Saarinen.

And much of what you’ll see in the Templeman-Cole home are abstract artworks, wall décor, and mid-centurystyled clocks designed and built by Andrew, with Randee doing the makeor-break social media outreach for their company, Autronic Decor.

Andrew had thought before about making a living as an independent designer, but he knew he wouldn’t earn “enough to pay for an Eichler mortgage.”

things I enjoy and see whichever ones do the best,” he says. “Clocks are popular.”

Forbes magazine has identified Boise as one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States—and one with rapidly escalating real estate prices. In 2018, according to the New York Times, 20,000 Californians moved to the ‘Gem State.’

Asked about Boise’s appeal, broker TJ Pierce says, “It starts with a lifestyle that’s possible here that is financially driven. Our average price point for midcentury [homes] is $299,000, which is pretty reasonable. But three years ago it was less than $200,000. Now our locals are feeling that ‘it used to be affordable, but it’s not anymore.’”

Pierce also cites “the rivers, the mountains, the forests, and a cool downtown scene that’s growing with dining and the arts. There’s a lot more culture than there was five years ago.”

Pierce says that ‘modern’ homes in

OREGON BOUND. Middle left: MCM fans from California are eyeing the lower prices of the Pacific Northwest, including the city of Portland (pictured here). Top left: Portland Rummer home, one of the Eichler-like jewels of the Portland area. Above: It’s booty time at the Portland Modern Home Tour. Bottom left: A mid-century modern spotted on a home tour in Phoenix, a city that continues to attract “a huge influx of California people.”

Without a mortgage, though, he would have the chance to try.

In Boise, he says, “We knew we were not going to find a $70,000 industrial design job. But you don’t have to. We bought the house in cash, using the equity from our Eichler.” They had sold the home in Concord for $765,000.

“When there’s no mortgage, there’s more chance for you to expand your talents,” he says.

“It’s up and down but not bad, he says of Autronic. “I’m trying to make

Boise rarely approach the Eichler ideal.

“We are not Palm Springs, California,” he says. “Let me put it this way—of the 654 homes we sold last year, we had a ‘top 40’ of the really sexy, mid-century modern. The rest we call ‘mid-century modest.’ They can be made sexy, but many of them have not been understood by their owners.”

Because of its proximity to the Bay Area, and the availability of both Streng and Eichler homes, as well as custom mid-century modern houses, C A M O D E R N 11

■CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’ Sacramento also exerts a strong appeal.

Steve Streng, a real estate broker with Streng Realty who handles much modern business in Sacramento—and is the son of builder Jim Streng—says, “the attraction of Sacramento is the lower price, but also the quality of the

Nancy, who teaches Pilates in San Francisco, were happy with their bungalow from 1926 in Oakland’s Maxwell Park neighborhood—until they started collecting mid-century modern furniture, and visiting Palm Springs, where they admired the

that birthday weekend, both took off from work, drove back to Sacramento —and made an offer.

“I thought, I could retire a little earlier,” Glynn says, “and Nancy would commute to San Francisco part-time.”

They sold their home in Oakland

Glynn says he and Nancy surveyed the neighborhood before buying and liked what they saw. “We’ve met other people here who are in love with the Streng homes as we are,” he says.

And more are coming. “There are people moving in who have hunted this

NORTH TO SACRAMENTO. Among cities that have been attracting Bay Area modernist refugees is Sacramento, where prices are appealing as are the quality of the homes and the community that has grown around them. Top: Sacramento’s skyline, which exudes a pleasant urban vibe today. Above left: A glimpse of the town’s night scene. Above right: Hiking through the redwoods at Covell Park in nearby Davis. homes and the community that has grown around them.”

“I’ve had a lot of people from the Bay Area and Los Angeles and Palm Springs buy up here,” says broker Ted DeFazio, who handles modern homes in Sacramento and Davis.

“What I’ve been seeing is, some locals have been pooh-poohing some of these homes because they’re not updated. But people from the Bay Area appreciate them, because they’re closer to their roots,” he says.

Among those who have made the move are Nancy Rosellini and Glynn Owens, who bought a Streng home in Sacramento’s Overbrook neighborhood four years ago. They’ve become part of a community of mid-century modern enthusiasts, and even opened their home for the 2019 edition of the ‘Sacramento Mid-Century Modern Home Tour,’ which focused on Strengs.

Glynn, a Caltrans engineer, and 12 C A M O D E R N

sleekly stylish Alexander homes.

“We got to thinking, would a mid-century modern house ever be in our future? “Glynn says. “We looked [at Eichlers] in Castro Valley and Concord. They were totally way out of our price range.”

“So we thought, let’s fix up our bungalow in more of a mid-century modern style and stay here,” Nancy says.

Then it was Glynn’s birthday, so they were off to Reno. But wait. Why not stop on the way to meet with a realtor and see a few Strengs in Sacramento?

They fell in love with the first house they saw. “Wow, we really like the house,” Glynn remembers saying. “But could we make the move to Sacramento?”

Probably not. After all, Glynn planned to work another two years before retiring.

And Nancy had no plans to retire at all.

Who needs a 90-minute commute?

“But we couldn’t get this house off our minds,” Glynn says. So the day after

for $625,000, and paid $329,000 for a low-gabled model in a neighborhood of Strengs.

The affordability of the home was important, Nancy says. “We refused to make a stupid decision,” she says.

“We didn’t want to be mortgage poor.

It led us here.”

“Because we were ready to retire, we took on a more leisurely way of living in Sacramento,” Nancy says. “With the heat and the swimming pool, we enjoy being outside, and we’re close to the mountains and to hiking.”

“Downtown [Sacramento] is really changing quickly,” Glynn says of a city once dubbed a cow town. “It’s a fun environment, new clubs and restaurants.

The city has quite a nice urban vibe now.”

Their Citrus Heights neighborhood has seen much architectural renewal in recent years, similar to the way many Eichler neighborhoods in the Bay Area had gotten rediscovered years ago.

neighborhood for quite some time for homes to come open,” Nancy says.

Another hunting ground attracting mid-century bargain hunters is Portland, where, Dane Kealoha says, nice, smaller Rummer homes can be had in the mid $700,000s. One larger Rummer recently hit a record, selling for $875,000, he says.

Kealoha says well-preserved Rummers do better on the market than the many that have been “butchered.”

He notes that Portland has other modern neighborhoods, “but generally not as modern as the Rummers,” and a good collection of custom mid-century modern homes, that are generally larger and can go for well over $1 million.

Beth Howard, who sells real estate through Portland MidCentury, says a majority of people seeking modern homes there are from Northern or Southern California.

“They know and appreciate the

with “floor to ceiling glass, clerestory [windows], low-sloped roofs with exposed rafters and beams.”

mecca” where treasures can be found.

He dislikes the winter weather, and finds himself a lot more liberal than many of his neighbors—particularly those outside of Boise.

Neither he nor Randee have given up what he calls “our midcentury modern dream of living in California.” He adds, “I miss California and plan to go back.” ■ Photography: Andrew Templeman, Randee Cole, Guinevere Cameron, David Toerge, Adam Michaud of New World Industries, Dave Weinstein, Heath Ashli Taranowski, Darwin Fan, Robert CouseBaker, Justin Smith, Carl Warmouth, Eric Prado, Shockhits, Brocken Inaglory

AFFORDABLE MOVE. MCM enthusiasts Nancy Rosellini and Glynn Owens (pictured top right) once wondered “would a mid-century modern house ever be in our future?” Today they live in a Streng in Sacramento’s Overbrook neighborhood.

Top and middle left: Nancy and Glynn’s Streng on the 2019 ‘Sacramento MCM Home Tour.’ Middle right: Inside their living room. Above: A beautiful Streng atrium. Near right: Streng home exterior in Davis (top), Eichler in Sacramento (bottom).

mid-century modern, and they are trying to get something cheaper,” she says. “I’m from the Bay Area myself. I moved up for the same reason, to be able to afford a house.”

Phoenix, where a nice, threebedroom modern home also sells in that range, has been attracting “a huge influx of California people,” Shawn Beaird of Urban Luxe Real Estate, says.

Offerings include a handful of small, mostly “quiet modern” tracts, he says,

There are also custom homes by architects well known in the area, which can sell for $1 million and much more.

Closer to home, Southern California retains undiscovered tracts of midcentury modern homes that remain relatively affordable, in the $600,000s— not in the Hollywood Hills or the West Side, but in the suburban San Fernando Valley and Orange County.

Some were designed by top architects, including Jones & Emmons, who also worked for Eichler. Many have suffered over the years from neglect of their architectural style.

Still, as folks who have been watching the mid-century modern revival over the past decade can attest, even neighborhoods that have forgotten their heritage can reclaim it—often thanks to the love brought in by newcomers.

Back in Boise, Andrew Templeman is enjoying “keeping our home authentic.”

He loves that Boise is a “thrift store

STORY RESOURCES TJ Pierce

Mid-Century Homes - Boise Mid-centuryhomes.com

Steve Streng

Streng Realty - Sacramento Strengrealty.com

Ted DeFazio

Sac Modern - Sacramento Sacmodern.com

Beth Howard

Portland MidCentury Portlandmidcentury.com

Dane Kealoha

Selling PDX - Portland Sellingpdx.com

Marisa Swenson

Modern Homes Portland Modernhomesportland.com

Shawn Beaird

Urban Luxe Real Estate - Phoenix Urbanluxere.com C A M O D E R N 13

■F E ATU R E STO RYB O A R D Story: Dave Weinstein Photography: Sabrina Huang

When the ill-treated Eichler home across from Karolina Buchner and David Ross’s recently restored beauty sold to a contractor, they feared the worst.

The home had begun life as a flatroof model, but like many other houses in Joe Eichler’s Fairglen tract in San Jose, over the years it had gained an out-of-character, peaked attic. Plus, the home was swamped in overgrowth.

“A flipper bought it,” Karolina says. “We figured, they’re going to tear it down.”

Familiar story, no? No. Instead of tearing the house down, “they took the peaked roof off,” Karolina says. David adds: “It’s a model Eichler now.”

Fairglen is in the news these days because the largest portion of it was recently placed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is only the third Eichler neighborhood to win that honor, and the first since 2005, when two Palo Alto neighborhoods got the nod.

“We wanted to do something that is going to give us a sense, not of protection, but of recognition,” says Bill Pfahnl, a longtime neighborhood event “instigator,” as he calls himself, and one of the leaders of the National Register effort. “And hopefully the recognition prevents someone from coming in and scraping down a house and building a McMansion in this neighborhood.”

It’s not an easy process getting on the National Register. Research is needed to support a tract’s historical value, the condition of every home must be documented, and most neighbors must back the move.

That can be a problem, as people fear loss of control and a drop in home values. But it wasn’t a problem here.

“Only two [residents] were in opposition,” says Peter Hurd, who helped organize the effort.

Visiting the neighborhood suggests why there was so little opposition. Just ask Scott Hintz, a Fairglen resident since 1998.

“What you have here,” Hintz says, “is a crazy sense of community.”

Fairglen is a bit hard to define. There are three pockets of Eichler homes in the Willow Glen district of San Jose.

The biggest cluster, 218 homes built from 1959 to 1964 and including on Fairglen Drive, is the only section that sought Register status.

A smaller, approximately 90-home 14 C A M O D E R N

How decades of community building led the Fairglen Eichlers of San Jose to National Register success

cluster, a few blocks to the west, has homes of a similar vintage. Just to the north is a roughly 30-home tract that is often known as the ‘Dry Creek Eichlers.’

Residents of the central part of Fairglen and the 90-home tract, sometimes called ‘Hudson,’ or ‘HudsonComstock,’ for the names of some of its streets, regard the separated areas as a single neighborhood.

“Everybody considers this part of the Fairglen neighborhood,” says Chris Sanders, who lives on Comstock Lane in the 90-home cluster. Chris and his wife, Alicia, are good friends with people who live in the larger cluster, and Alicia, a drama teacher, was the MC and head of the talent show during some of the block parties that have taken place there.

Few Eichler neighborhoods are as conscious of their history as Fairglen. In large part that’s because its history has never gone away. From early on and to today, neighbors have organized events and learned from old-timers who came before them.

For many years the Fairglen Art Festival defined the neighborhood. It began as a small, community event, with artists showing in driveways and garages, and became a regional colossus attracting up to 5,000 people.

Crowds and liability concerns led to its demise in the mid-1990s. But what didn’t die was the spirit behind the event.

Neighbors have since been producing

neighborhood- and friends-only block parties, periodic home tours, their annual Joey Awards (named for Joe Eichler, of course) for best home and garden renovations, Christmas caroling, and more.

Many younger residents speak with affection of their older neighbors and of the homeowners who came before them, many of whose contributions are still remembered.

One such is Loni Nagwani, a former resident and community leader. Among the accomplishments for which she is still remembered is an Eichler she restored—by removing a pitched-roof attic added by the previous owner.

That was a costly and remarkable thing to do at the time—and it has

BLEAK PEAK. Top: Fairglen resident Xavier Cohen points to the pitched-roof attic that is no more. When he and his wife, Annabel, bought their Eichler in 2011, the attic loomed ten feet above the original roofline (above). That’s when he brought in workers (middle) to bring it down for good. inspired copycats. Jeff Stowe, a 24-year resident, described several subsequent attic-removal projects—including a recent one, which preceded the home quickly going on the market.

JOEY WINNERS. Middle left: Karolina Buchner and David Ross (with their dog Winston) have strived to meticulously restore their Fairglen Eichler. Top left: Winston takes center stage in the couple’s lovely atrium.

Above: It’s common to find kids playing outdoors in Fairglen. Top and middle right: Inside the home of Xavier and Annabel Cohen. Bottom right: This Eichler on Booksin Avenue is another that underwent attic removal.

Among the owners who’ve removed attic aberrations is Xavier Cohen and his wife, Annabel. They found an Eichler for sale that required much work.

Xavier loved it—except for the attic.

“I was like, “Aauugghhh!,” he says.

The attic, at its peak, loomed ten feet above the original roofline, and had a skylight that provided a sort of tunnel of light into the atrium.

His realtor, Mark Easterday, “told me it would cost $13,000 to remove it, so when we did the offer I removed $13,000 in the price, because for me, that was not part of the house. Mentally, for me, I cannot purchase something I don’t like. So we removed it.”

Xavier says he was inspired by Nagwani’s attic removal. “That’s why I knew it was possible, because somebody did it,” he says.

Jeff noted that several attic additions still remain, but he adds, optimistically, “When those [homes] turn over, the

new owners will probably take those pitched roofs off.”

When the National Register proponents listed homes that ‘contribute’ to the tract’s historical value by retaining their original feeling, they adopted a more forgiving standard than that used a decade and a half earlier by the Historic Quest committee that got the Palo Alto tracts listed.

Historic Quest, for example, did not accept homes with second-story additions or attics as contributors. The Fairglen surveyors did—if they decided the home retained its essential character.

“Because we were creating a historic district, the individual homes don’t have to be so pristine, because they build off each other,” Sally Zarnowitz, the architect who lives in the neighborhood and wrote the nomination, says. “They create a whole.”

She also noted that attics, and perhaps even some second-story additions, can be removed—as events have been proving.

But the era when Eichler homes were regularly desecrated is not entirely in the past. One homeowner recently added such an attic roof to their home C A M O D E R N 15

■F E ATU R E STO RYB O A R D —which did not go over well with some neighbors.

It brings pleasure to some old-timers that among the greatest proponents of Eichler preservation are young people who grew up in the tract.

Mark Pfahnl, 27, backed the National Register effort because he was seeing small, older homes in a nearby non-Eichler neighborhood being replaced by McMansions. He feared the

SENSE OF COMMUNITY. Middle left: Julie Butterfield and Ramon Colcer, residents of Fairglen for 15 years, are self-proclaimed “originalists” who have restored their Eichler, including this nicely furnished living room (middle right), over the years. Above: At Fairglen, Bunco is a vital social activity that brings folks together.

Monika Kafka, Shaheda Zaman, Barbara Weidmann-Werres, and Rosa Maria Garfunkel (seated L-R) are big fans. Right: Winston the dog leads owner David Ross and neighbor Ben Shaffer where they ought to go. same thing would happen in Fairglen.

“That’s why we did the historical thing,” he says. “We want people to have a good, hard think about doing what the people two doors down did —the big, ugly pitched roof [attics].”

His friend and neighbor, Ella Garfunkel, a young woman who also grew up in the neighborhood, shuddered over one recent remodel.

16 C A M O D E R N

“Next door they bought the house, and then they redid the whole interior. It was all original. They took everything out. Everybody on the block was so upset.”

“We talk about it, and we care about it,” she says of preserving the homes.

Newcomers to this tract in Silicon Valley tend to work for tech firms, and their impact on the neighborhood, says

longtime resident Jerry Escobar, has been “positive, very positive.”

“I would say the new generation coming here has done things to their houses. Many of these houses have been in terrible shape,” Jerry says.

“I think this neighborhood has improved in the last five years in ways I never thought possible.

Andrea and Sander Leech, who arrived six years ago, shortly before Continued pg 18

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■F E ATU R E STO RYB O A R D RAZING THE ROOF (continued from pg 16)

Andrea gave birth to their son, Coen, are typical of many newcomers—except, perhaps, for the cockatiel that rides Sander’s shoulder wherever he goes.

Sander works for a tech firm, he and Andrea love Fairglen’s neighborliness, and they have improved their Eichler— replacing a floor that had concrete in shades of blue, red, and yellow. “It was somebody’s personal taste,” Sander says. “It didn’t have universal appeal.”

The neighborhood attracts true Eichler lovers, Andrea says.

“Everybody who is moving in now is paying a premium to live here,” she says. “Everybody who moves in takes better care of their homes, and they’re improving their homes in some way.”

It’s worth noting that the Willow Glen district of San Jose is “way down”

BEHIND THE SCENES. Top: Gathered at a recent meeting working up plans to keep Fairglen alive and well are neighbors (L-R) Jerry Escobar, Mike Dorner, Sally Zarnowitz, Peter Hurd, and Bill Pfahnl, the core team responsible for bringing home the neighborhood’s successful National Register nomination. Right: The Quigley family gather together in their atrium: (L-R) Aaron (with daughter Bridget), wife Jenny, and daughter Maura. Above: Inside the Quigley living room. Bottom right: Street view of the family’s exterior. on the Peninsula, in the words of Christian Rober, a new homeowner who works as an engineer. That means longer commutes to jobs in Palo Alto or Mountain View—and Eichlers that generally cost a bit less than those to the north.

Several couples said that the price break made it possible for them to afford to buy an Eichler, and several said they bought Eichlers that needed work, also to save a few bucks.

Karolina Buchner, who works for Apple, and husband David Ross, who works for Google, are among the newcomers restoring their homes. They won a Joey for improving their home, which they bought in 2000.

Natives of the Toronto suburbs, they 18 C A M O D E R N

had been unfamiliar with Eichlers, and found their looks off-putting at first— from the outside. “But then we went into the first open house and it opened up,” Karolina says. “I narrowed my search criteria [to Eichlers only].”

The couple’s efforts to restore their home included removing paint from mahogany hallway panels. “We stripped it, and we wire-brushed it,” Karolina says.

She adds, “We’ve been tweaking it a little bit just to bring back the original features.”

Another “originalist,” in her own words, is Julie Butterfield, a Fairglenner with husband Ramon Colcer since 2004. She counts herself as one of the neighborhood’s “Eichler nerds.”

“We are always willing to help each other with Eichler globe lights or other ephemera,” she says. She and Ramon have repaired a home that had experienced “a Sears remodel” by, among other things, bringing back an original oven.

Melissa Leman and Christian Rober, who are raising a young daughter in their Eichler, are imports from Long Island and New Jersey who, like Karolina and David, were determined to own an Eichler.

Their goal with the home is to “make it livable for a modern family but to keep the original aesthetic,” Melissa says.

Christian adds, “We wanted to save what was original and do minimal updates.”

They removed vinyl siding from the exterior, salvaged original Eichler

cabinets from another Eichler home and from their own garage, and are working on other projects, doing it all themselves.

Like several newcomers, Melissa and Christian said the appeal of Fairglen was the community, as much as it was the stylish houses.

Eric DesFossés and Veronique Bourdeau, who hail from Montreal, were also looking for a community where

children could play outdoors. Their childhood memories included playing hockey in the street.

“We were driving in the neighborhood,” Veronique recalls, and saw 20 or so kids chasing each other on bicycles.

Eric says, “We thought this was the right place to start a family.” Their son,

about the neighborhood is that it really is a neighborhood, and that’s what you don’t find a lot around anymore,” says Jeff Stowe, a resident since 1995. “And whether you’re a fan of mid-century, whether you’re a full-blown mid-century architecture fan, it doesn’t matter.

The fact that we live in these houses

Peter Hurd, a resident since 1972 and one of the Register project organizers, emphasizes that the effort began as a groundswell from the community, not from some tight cabal. Veronique Bourdeau recalls that she was one of the neighbors who began saying “maybe we should start something like that” on the social platform Nextdoor.

“We wanted to have the younger generation, along with people who have been in the neighborhood for 50-plus years [behind the effort],” Veronique says. “We were all agreeing on the same things. It kind of came together really organically, I would say.”

Jenny Quigley, who moved to Fairglen from the Eichler National Register neighborhood of Greenmeadow five years ago, spread the word about the Register effort to her Fairglen neighbors.

She remembers the early fears:

include the other Eichler clusters in the Register nomination. But, says Chris Sanders, who lives in the nearby Hudson cluster, it would have been hard to include a ‘satellite’ tract.

But that doesn’t mean the Hudson Eichlers won’t hit the Register too.

“I am working with Bill [Pfahnl] to do the same process here,” Chris says, adding that the Hudson Eichler cluster is “largely intact.”

Being on the National Register does not impose any rules about what people can do with their homes. Design guidelines or enforceable regulations are steps that can be imposed locally by the city— but the folks behind the National Register effort take a more relaxed approach.

There are no plans now to seek local design guidelines or regulations. But National Register backers think Fairglen’s current status is already paying

FUN IN THE SUN. Left: The Sanders and Howard families and all their kids come together for backyard fun around the pool at the home of Chris and Alicia Sanders. Above: Sanders’ exterior.

Bottom left: While several Eichlers in Fairglen have undergone restoration with the removal of pitchedroof attics, others (including the three homes pictured here) still await their return to glory.

Surprisingly perhaps, two of these three homes (far left and far right) were accepted as ‘contributing properties’ for Fairglen’s National Register nomination.

Zachary, is pushing four, and within a ten-house radius, they say, there are ten kids between ages one and six.

Schools, parks, and playgrounds are all a short walk away. Parents gather in driveways at night to sip wine while their kids play on the sidewalk and in the streets, they say.

Just to show how little things change —in a good way!—Rosa Maria Garfunkel, Ella’s mother, had an experience similar to that of Veronique and Eric when her husband scoped out Fairglen in 1998.

He said, ‘You know what? There are kids playing in the street!’ And that did it for my husband. A neighborhood where kids could play in the street!”

“One of the primary things I like

brings us together.”

One social activity that brings people together while having nothing to do with modernism is the dice game Bunco. Women get together regularly at each other’s homes, several say.

“They’re pretty fun,” Melissa Leman says. “You get to go to everybody’s house and meet people in the neighborhood.”

If you’re wondering why the neighborhood united so easily behind what could have been a divisive issue like placement on the National Register, Bunco games may not be the answer.

But Bunco didn’t hurt. Clearly, the friendships and mutual understandings that developed in Fairglen over the past few decades made the task much easier.

“Are you going to tell me that I can’t have an addition to my house? Are you going to tell me what color to paint my house? Are you going to tell me I can’t put a second story on my house?”

Her response? “[Being on] the National Register doesn’t allow us to do any of that.”

Xavier Cohen recalls how Register proponents dispelled these fears, by arguing the National Register wouldn’t order people to do anything, but merely provide “guidance.”

“That was the key—when people shifted, when people were saying [that] it helps you by providing guidance,” he says. “Guidance versus control, exactly.”

Originally, folks thought they would

off, simply by emphasizing the importance of the homes and the tract.

Being on the Register, Bill Pfahnl says, should discourage people who want to come to Fairglen and consider ripping down or ill-treating Eichlers—while attracting buyers who love the homes.

About Eichler homes, he says, “You either get it, or you don’t.” ■ • The main section of Fairglen (approximately 218 Eichlers) is bordered by Andalusia Way, Booksin Avenue, Curtner Avenue, and Briarwood Drive. This is the tract named to the National Register.

About 90 Eichlers can be found to the west, bordered by Frobisher Way, Raleigh Drive, Dumbarton Avenue, and Hudson Drive.

The approximately 30 ‘Dry Creek Eichlers’ are found on Margot Place and Adele Place, off Dry Creek Road.

• Additional photography: Xavier Cohen C A M O D E R N 19

■ART ABOUT THE HOUSE

West Coast glassmaker Ethan Stern explores his ‘original voice’ with a keen, modern eye on the past Story: Jack Levitan Art: Ethan Stern Lead photography: Adriene Biondo

The first time Ethan Stern examined classic European ‘cut’ crystal goblets and fruit bowls and decanters, with their deeply etched lines and Rococo swirls, they offended his proto-modern sensibility.

He felt “repulsed,” he has said.

Why then, some 20 years after this boyhood encounter at the Corning Museum of Glass, did Ethan buy a machine that is used to produce just such crystal?

Maybe he wanted to do something with art glass that no one else was doing.

Ethan, 40, is a young man in a young art form. Glass art may go back to Mesopotamia, but as a contemporary phenomenon its roots are in the mid20th century American Midwest.

Ethan considers himself entrenched in a fifth generation of the American Studio Glass Movement, which allowed glass artists to create in a small studio, rather than a factory, thanks to the development of compact and affordable furnaces— and to the desire of glassmakers to emulate art potters.

“The Studio Glass Movement brought something new,” Ethan says.

“With factory glass, the people were blowers, but they were not the artists.”

Young though it be, the Studio Glass Movement has grown big and busy, with schools specializing in glass art, glass art museums, and even a few commercial galleries that specialize in glass.

So an artist has to do something to make a mark. That’s why Ethan imported a 1920s glass-cutting lathe from Vienna that had been used in a factory to produce commercial cut crystal.

Rather than focus on heroic ‘hot work’ glassblowing that most glassmakers specialize in, Ethan decided to go cold.

Yes, he blows glass, spending two to four hours in a hot shop on one of his typical pieces. He layers several colors of glass, one on top of the other, some with different opacities.

20 C A M O D E R N

COLD COLD ART

GOING COLD. Ethan Stern sees himself entrenched in a fifth generation of the American Studio Glass Movement. Left vertical row: Four pieces from his ‘Cut Clear’ series. Right vertical row: Three from the ‘Crosscut’ series, which “celebrates the traditions of the historical art form,” according to Stern’s website,” creating “a high relief surface that is designed to reflect and refract light.” Right row, third from top: One from the ‘Coast Light’ series.

But only after he leaves the hot shop does the real work begin.

Ethan dons goggles and earplugs, a thick apron, and respirator to protect against silica dust, hefts the glass object, and leans into his Viennese glasscutter.

Whirrr! The cold work begins.

“I spend most of my time in the cold shop,” he says, up to 40 hours per artwork. “In the cold shop I carve away layers of color.” He adds, “It’s like you’re

carving stone, removing material with the wheel or the grinder.”

“Cold working, for me, is where I have created my voice,” Ethan says.

It’s also where’s he’s created his body.

Glass is heavy. “I’d say my forearms are the strongest part of my body, just from holding the glass for cold working.”

Ethan has been making a living with his art for years now. He makes tabletop sculptures that might suggest Antarctica seen from a blimp; or a flattened, oversized, upright egg incised with lively Op Art-like arrangements of lines, swirls, and checkerboards.

He has taught glass art and was deputy director of the Pilchuck Glass School near Seattle. He assists other glass artists, and does glass work for

resembled pots, with matte surfaces, rough surfaces, and “rich color that absorbs light.”

Ethan says clay making still infuses his glassmaking. He wants people to see his hand in his work, as people can see the hand of the potter.

“Because glass is molten, you can’t touch it, so you don’t see the hand of the maker in it so much,” Ethan says.

“I’m taking the sensibility that comes from working with clay to use the cold work to put my fingerprint on the material, to show evidence of the cutting, of the carving.”

He also brings a bit of the painter to his work.

“I can create painterly images on one side, and then another image on the

VOICE FROM WITHIN. Top: Ethan Stern takes a moment to relax in his Los Angeles studio: “I spend most of my time in the cold shop,” he says. “Cold working, for me, is where I have created my voice.”

Above, left: Six pieces from Stern’s ‘Coastline’ series.

non-glass artists who use glass as one component of their work.

Ethan is also something of a historian. He ponders about where glass is going, and what it can be in an age where artists are no longer tethered to their materials.

At a time when art is all about concept—or, increasingly, identity and politics—and not about the perfection of craft, what and how can artisans whose work is tied to a single material contribute?

Ethan thinks the answer is “plenty.”

His art both plays up the inherent qualities of glass while at times subverting those qualities. Ethan began as a ceramicist, and says his early work

other side, so you can play one against the other,” he says.

In addition to both celebrating and subverting glass as a material for art, Ethan both celebrates and subverts the history of glass, by using early 20th century tools of cutting crystal to create 21st century glass.

An inspiration for his etched glass was an old-fashioned set of crystal inherited from his grandmother.

“Nobody else in the family wanted the collection, so her crystal has been in my studio since,” he has said.

“I have always tried to have a good grasp on the history of glassmaking, from the ancient times through the glass factories to Studio Glass,” Ethan says. “I want to take that history, and still have an original voice.”

What Ethan adds to the stylistic mix is the way he takes an oldfashioned method for creating old-fashioned glass—cut crystal and C A M O D E R N 21

■ART ABOUT THE HOUSE engraving—and uses it to create something of our time.

“With American cut glass, the patterns are so busy. You see plants, flowers, and birds,” he says, adding, “I’ve chosen to take that history and technology and push them forward, and use them in a more modern, minimal way.”

“I like the minimal quality of modernist architecture and design,” he says. “Everything is very sensible and clear.” Ethan has worked in Japan, where he has also taken inspiration from the minimal forms of Japanese ceramics.

Ethan’s ‘Crosscut’ series makes use of cut crystal techniques, creating intricate cut designs that can suggest Op Art. He also creates other series of work, including the ‘Coastline’ series, in which several layers of colored glass are overlaid over a translucent glass.

While they suggest coastlines, Ethan says the work is abstract.

Using the whirling wheel and grinders, Ethan etches away portions of the upper layers to produce what can appear to be archipelagoes.

MOONLIGHTING. “I have always tried to have a good grasp on the history of glassmaking, from the ancient times through the glass factories to Studio Glass,” Stern says. Above: Five prime pieces of glass art from Stern’s ‘Lunar Light’ series—objects that change “throughout the day as the light changes,” he says. “It’s almost a lunar landscape.” Bottom right: One example from Stern’s ‘Hot Cut’ series.

“When I started ‘Coastline,’ then I felt it was something unique to my voice. It’s when I started using carving in a new way,” says Ethan, who grew up in Ithaca, New York, not far from the Corning Museum, where he had his encounter with antique cut glass.

It was while doing the ‘Coastline’ series that his career began to blossom.

Ethan, who had studied art in upstate New York and Australia, was creating and teaching art in the Seattle area, one of the centers for Studio Glass.

“I was doing well, showing at galleries, sales were pretty strong. That was 22 C A M O D E R N

when my career started building,” he says. In 2010 he won the ‘Best Emerging Artist’ award from the Tacoma Museum of Glass.

Dani Montague, who shows Ethan’s work in her Montague Gallery in San Francisco, which specializes in glass, loves that his work seems both complex yet simple, combines opacity with translucence, and creates shadows and plays of light.

She says it’s hard to find artists who do work like his. “You can recognize his work. He’s developed a signature style,” Montague says. “He’s

been pushing the envelope, and he’s evolving, and I like that too. I like to see new directions in an artist’s work.”

Tom Kasten, who with his wife has put together a large collection of Studio glass at his Peninsula home, admires in Ethan’s work “the simplicity of it and the integration with nature his pieces have.”

“They’re organic in feeling,” Kasten says. “There’s a smooth, organic feeling, and his use of color in just the right proportion.”

Kasten sees landscapes in Ethan’s works, as well as suggestions of narrative, though he says his

interpretation may not be shared by others. Ethan’s piece ‘Lunar Light’ “changes throughout the day as the light changes,” he says. “It’s almost a lunar landscape.”

In another of Ethan’s pieces, part of

the ‘Crosscut’ series, “you can see the flow of a river, or in the other color, the flow of lava,” Kasten says.

Ethan, who loves gardening and bicycle riding, though he has little time for either these days, shifted to glass from ceramics in large part because ceramic work tends to be solitary—whereas glass, by necessity, is a team sport.

“You work in a team, and you have to really work with other people to help you achieve big things,” he says.

“Glass is unique in that way. You’re not carving wood by yourself or throwing

ceramics. You’re working with a team of four to five people.”

“That’s a huge part of glass, the community.”

High points in his career were assisting the legendary Lino Tagliapietra for three weeks in Portland. “Every morning just the two of us would have breakfast,” he recalls.

Like Prometheus stealing fire from the gods to help poor mankind, Tagliapietra brought to American glass artists of the mid-century even greater secrets—how the glassmakers of Venice created their marvels.

a team of artists to assist. He blows glass at the studio of a friend, glassmaker Joe Cariati, and teaches at Cal State Fullerton.

“L.A. is known for art,” he says.

“That’s one reason it’s been exciting to move here.”

The city is also known for its design scene, and Ethan wants to be part of it, while still producing fine art.

“My goal is to do both,” he says.

“I want to make design objects—like vessels, maybe lighting, some pieces that go for a lower price point.” He also hopes to collaborate with Amanda.

COLOR & TEXTURE. Above: Five pieces of hand-blown, wheel-carved glass from Stern’s archive: (L-R) ‘Scratch,’ ‘Black Cumulus,’ ‘Cumulus,’ ‘Igeta,’ and ‘Blunt Fork.’ Left: ‘Red Span’ from the ‘Coastline’ series.

Bottom near left: ‘Flora Cut’ from the ‘Hot Cut’ series. Bottom far left: Ethan Stern hard at work in his studio.

“Lino was the one person who created the foundation for the way we see glass now,” Ethan says.

Ethan also treasures his time doing his hot work in the studio of master glass artist Benjamin Moore, who had apprenticed at Venini Glass in Murano.

“He taught me a lot about glass and design,” says Ethan, who worked at Benjamin Moore’s Seattle Hot Shop from 2006 to 2017.

“The entire time at Ben Moore I was working with the same four to five people all those years,” he says. “We all kind of grew together and discovered things together.”

Another connection made through Studio Glass is Ethan’s wife, Amanda, who also blows glass, does stained glass, and works in metal. They met at Pilchuck.

After almost two decades in the Northwest, Ethan and Amanda are making a fresh start in Los Angeles, where they relocated because she found her “dream job” there with the eclectic and eccentric design firm, the Haas Brothers.

Ethan is setting up his downtown cold-working studio, and assembling

Besides doing his own art, Ethan often works with other artists on theirs. And not just glass artists.

One non-glass artist he has worked with is Olivia Booth, a sculptor and installation artist who “wants glass to fit into her work concept. The aesthetics of glass is not as important as the concept,” Ethan says.

“A lot of younger-generation artists are learning glass techniques and using glass, but it’s only one element in their work. They come to glass without a traditional background,” he says. “It’s really interesting, the people who don’t know so much [about glass].”

Ethan adds, “I almost think I know too much, in a way.”

“It’s a great thing,” he says, magnanimously, of non-glass artists working with glass. “It’s cracking it wide open. For real innovation to happen, it’s going to happen there.” ■ • For more of Ethan Stern’s art, visit EthanStern.com. His work can be seen in person at Montague Gallery in San Francisco, online at MontagueGallery.com.

Glass art photography: Russell Johnson, Rob Vinnedge, Daniel Fox, Fredrick Nilsen C A M O D E R N 23

■MODERN RENEWAL

QUAKE UP CALL Protecting home and family with reinforcements and supplies to safely survive the ‘big one’ coming our way Story: Adriene Biondo

construction professionals, is to replace single-pane windows with dual-pane safety glass. At worst during a seismic event, dual panes that meet code requirements will simply crumble instead of breaking into large, dangerous shards.

Another viable window option is to cover the home’s existing single-pane glass with security film, which makes living spaces safer by similiarly binding glass together.

Chimneys, block walls, and areas constructed with masonry should all be avoided during an earthquake.

These are danger areas that can topple quickly. Water heaters should be safely braced and a fire extinguisher and gas shut-off wrench kept nearby.

(For more on the above issues and on other areas of your home to reinforce against earthquake, refer to ‘Shake, Rattle…and Retrofit,’ a valuable, comprehensive overview story at the Home Improvement section of eichlernetwork.com.)

A series of three California earthquakes last July measuring 6.4, 5.4, and 7.1 on the Richter scale was a startling wake-up call for Californians, who were reminded in a resounding way that every day in the heart of earthquake country they are living on edge.

Those quakes and the thousands of aftershocks, centered in Ridgecrest, 130 miles northeast of the Eichlers in Granada Hills, were not only felt throughout Southern California, but all the way up to the Bay Area and even Sacramento.

Unfortunately, unlike hurricanes or other disasters, earthquakes commonly strike without warning. So planning ahead with anticipation is an essential step towards keeping our loved ones and homes safe when—not if—that ‘big one’ eventually arrives.

Reinforcing the structural integrity of our homes and stocking up on survival and medical supplies are critical to surviving a seismic event unscathed and being as self-sustaining as possible in the aftermath.

VALUE OF EARTHQUAKE KITS

SHORING UP THE HOME Since mid-century homes were not built with current building and safety codes, most seismic professionals today advise Eichler owners to consider reinforcing five areas of the home: floor-to-ceiling windows, the post-and-beam system, masonry fireplaces/chimneys, roof, and water heater.

“It’s a challenge with Eichlers,” says Joshua Carter, a project engineer with Sezen & Moon Structural Engineering, who has engineered many Eichler projects. “You want to keep that look, but what you need to do is antithetical to their construction. You can start with a thorough investigation of the structure to properly assess it.”

“Although there is no sure way to completely earthquake-proof mid-century homes, structural retrofitting can provide substantial resistance to shock waves by strengthening roof-to-wall connections,” advises Kaveh Rad, head of the structural engineering 24 C A M O D E R N

BAY SHOCKER. The Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989 was the highest magnitude earthquake (7.1) to hit Northern California since 1906. A day later two words said it all on the front page of the Oakland Tribune (above). firm Radco, based in Oakland.

For Eichlers, he adds, “the addition of shear walls, anchor bolts to secure the house to the foundation, and straps to accomplish that add elements that really help.”

Expansive floor-to-ceiling walls of glass are also seen as a priority concern for Eichler homes. During earthquakes, original single-pane windows have been known to implode, shooting shards of glass across open spaces inside homes.

The best prevention, says Rad and most other

Surviving an earthquake is dependent upon a myriad of factors, but having earthquake survival and first-aid kits on hand can mean the difference between life and death. Earthquake kits have one purpose: to help you make it safely through an emergency.

Most of us put our earthquake kits together with the hope that we’ll never actually need them, and hopefully we never will. But an earthquake kit is a crucial part of emergency preparedness and can provide the tools you need to handle a crisis.

Cal-Tech seismologist Lucy Jones has gone as far as recommending the storing of survival supplies “all over your home, your office, and your car—so that wherever you are when the big one hits, you have the option of staying put.”

A good first step in assembling earthquake kits is to download an ‘Earthquake Safety Checklist’ from the FEMA website. Using this helpful guide will make assembling a kit much easier.

Also, you’ll be able to rest assured you haven’t

overlooked any essentials (like fire extinguishers, solar phone chargers, gas-powered generators, etc.) that you may need in the days and weeks following a disaster.

FEMA’s detailed checklist explains what you need and why, provides worksheets to organize important phone numbers, and includes printable wallet cards so that you

can keep emergency contacts and prescription drug info handy. Print one out for each member of your family.

Pet owners may also want to order a ‘Pet First Aid and Disaster

LIVING ON EDGE. Top: A scene shaken and ablaze during the Northridge earthquake of 1994, when 74 people were killed. Middle left: In the aftermath of Loma Prieta, a scene of ruin at San Francisco’s Marina district. Middle right: An Eichler’s floor-to-ceiling wall of glass: a priority concern. Above: Metal post-andbeam bracing connections in an Eichler. Left: Hardware typically used in the Eichler retrofitting process.

Response Guide,’ available from SOS Survival Products.

CRITICAL FIRST 72 HOURS Second, pack your survival and first-aid kits well. The first 72 hours after an emergency are the most critical, but maintaining enough supplies for a week is advised. Consider that there may be extended periods of reduced services, power outages, and broken utility lines.

Following the 1994 Northridge quake, for instance, more than 20,000 people were displaced from their homes, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Millions lost power and other utilities due to electrical outages, water main breaks, and gas leaks.

Check with the Red Cross to review the helpful hints in their ‘Is Your Emergency Preparedness Kit Ready?’ article. The Red Cross also has an online store that stocks first-aid supplies.

One of the most reputable sources for survival gear is SOS Survival Products, Inc. SOS maintains an inventory of over 5,000 items. Check sporting goods and adventure stores too, like Big 5, REI,

and Harbor Freight—all excellent outlets for supplies.

Lastly, consider starting with a pre-packaged emergency kit and customizing it to your needs. That approach may also prove to be easier and more economical. A number of emergency survival companies offer easy-to-use kits that are packed into duffel bags, backpacks, buckets, or boxes. Essentials usually include firstaid and hygiene supplies, flashlight, food, water purifiers, waterproof matches, etc. Once the pre-packaged kit is in place, then simply add your preference of supplemental items to it.

Today, every kind of survival accessory is available on the market —from wind-up ‘dynamo’ radios to Mylar sleeping bags to high-tech C A M O D E R N 25

■MODERN RENEWAL gadgets. Some kits are tailored to one or two people, and others are expanded to suit families, office staff, and even entire schools.

Be prepared. Try to set up an earthquake preparedness meeting in your community, and coordinate with neighbors to help keep each other safe. With a plan and a strategy, everyone can be ready to respond.

It’s the smartest way to deal with any kind of emergency, and earthquakes are no exception. ■

TO THE RESCUE. Above right: American Red Cross brought relief to the Ridgecrest quake survivors in July 2019. Above left: FEMA’s ‘Earthquake Safety Checklist’—a good starting place for building an emergency kit.

READY-TO-GO EMERGENCY KITS 1 Custom creations EmergencyKits.com can have their emergency preparedness experts build custom emergency kits to exact needs and specifications. Disaster kits, trauma kits for work, schools, first responders, or as shelter-in-place for 1-1000 persons. emergencykits.com

2 ‘Honey Bucket’ special ‘Mayday Deluxe 4 Person Honey Bucket’: four-person, 72-hour survival kit packed into a fivegallon ‘honey bucket’ that doubles as an emergency toilet. U.S. Coast Guard approved. Designed to last five years under any climate.

Includes a Survive-a-Guide. $104.00. amazon.com

3 PrepareSurvive backpack ‘PrepareSurvive Backpack for Disaster Preparedness’: roomy, portable go-bag packed for emergency use. Includes long shelflife food and water, leather gloves, mask, goggles, water purification tablets, bio-bag, and first-aid package.

25,000 already sold. $57.95. amazon.com 26 C A M O D E R N

4 Ready America deluxe

5 Set for Seventy2 hours

Popular ‘Ready America 70385 Deluxe Backpack’ is a four-person survival kit designed as a grab-andgo basic survival kit. Includes 108 pieces, Red Cross-approved first-aid kit, and an emergency power station, four-function combination flashlight, radio, siren, cell phone charger. $133.69. amazon.com

The ‘Seventy2 Survival System’ is billed as a fully integrated 72-hour survival system with 35 high-functioning tools to buy time in any emergency situation. Highly praised for design, quality, and ease of use in survival situations. $349.99. unchartedsupplyco.com

DELUXE. Comprehensive kit of prepackaged supplies from emergencykits.com

1

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FIRST-AID KIT ESSENTIALS

• Ace bandages

• Packaged water

• Antibiotic ointment

• Bar soap

Pack first-aid kits separately so that you can grab your supplies on a moment’s notice. With prescriptions and meds, be sure to monitor expiration dates so that you can keep your supplies up to date.

• Aspirin, non-aspirin

• Cold packs (instant)

• Bandage strips, rolled gauze

• Cotton-tipped swabs • Cups (paper)

STORY RESOURCES

• Diarrhea medicine

American Red Cross redcross.org

• Disinfectant

ESSENTIALS. PrepareSurvive Backpack

3

• Eye drops • Face masks • First-aid manual • Hydrogen peroxide • Individual alcohol swabs • Needle and thread • Plastic bags • Pocket knife • Prescription medications • Scissors, tweezers • Sunglasses • Thermometer • Tissues • Towels • Sunscreen • Safety pins • Sanitary napkins • Splinting materials

SM

Photography: Sabrina Huang, David Toerge, Michael R. Perry, Douglas C. Pizac, Eve FraserCorp, Mimi Teller; and courtesy American Red Cross Los Angeles, Oakland Tribune, AP Images

California Emergency Management Agency caloes.ca.gov FEMA fema.gov Great California Shakeout shakeout.org Radco Structural Engineering Radco-se.com Sezen & Moon Structural Engineering smseinc.com SOS Survival Products sosproducts.com Southern California Earthquake Center scec.org C A M O D E R N 27

■MORE MODERN RENEWAL

DialsTO die for 12 unique wall clocks that bring a special splash of mid-century modern decorative art to your home

By Adriene Biondo

Thanks to a tidal wave of reissued classics and retro-inspired designs, there’s a wonderful world of clock décor out there to be explored.

An attractive wall clock can do so much more than just tell time. The right one can set a mood, define a space, add a unique color accent, make a design statement, and provide that perfect touch for your mid-century modern home.

Though sometimes nothing but a genuine vintage timepiece will do, there is much to be said for today’s new creations. With so many new materials and technologies on the market, clocks can be found in every shape and size. Lighter, modern materials (including Medium Density Fibreboard - MDF) combined with advanced precision machinery (like Computerized Numerical Control - CNC) make it possible to create an endless array of artistic designs.

No more worries about what to do with that pesky power cord hanging down near your fireplace or across a wall. The modern clocks of today can be conveniently displayed without cords thanks to battery-operated quartz movements.

To make it easier to navigate through the sea of available wall-mounted clock options, we’ve selected a dozen of our favorites to launch your search. In the mix, you’ll find everything from a sleek, modern-day cuckoo clock to a genuine, old-school neon model.

So whether you’re into contemporary, classic, retro-inspired, or something completely customizable, we’ve got a functional piece of decorative art that’s just right for you.

a pop of color. Dimensional nine-inch sunburst cast in resin and painted in orange (or turquoise blue) enamel. Raised center hub is high-quality walnut veneer, hand finished with gold numbers. Quiet, American-made motor. Battery operated. $75. Etsy store at AtomicKiki.etsy.com

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2 Skylark supreme Custom designed and built, Atomic Skyway’s ‘Skylark’ is finished with a teak face and striking abstract patterns (available in five colors plus a matte black body). High-quality quartz clock battery with silent movement and NOS clock hands. Seven inches x 15.5.

Each piece is signed. Tabletop version also available. Made in the USA. $269.

Etsy store at AtomicSkyway.etsy.com

3 Shoji Wing wonder This captivating model from Autronic Décor is reminiscent of butterfly rooflines, MCM angles, Japanese Shoji screens, and Eichler closet doors. Ball extensions evoke a whimsical, Alexander Girard-like, beach ball pattern.

Handcrafted from wood, acrylic, and paint. 12-5/8 inches x 17 inches. Cordless, basic analog motor. $150. Etsy store at etsy.com/shop/autronicdecor

4 Aztec ablaze Everything from the flames and fires to filling the tubes with neon

is accomplished at Curtis Clock’s workshop. The ‘Aztec,’ one of the studio’s popular designs, is a dramatic neon beauty with ruby-red jewels and a dimmer. 22 inches in diameter.

Plug-in electric and made in the USA. $750. curtisclock.com

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5 Dotty delight Created by Australian designer Abi Alice for Alessi, the ‘Dotty’ clock began as a playful experiment in sticky dots from a stationary store. Minimal and abstract, the clock harkens back to ancient astronomical instruments once used to measure time. Available in turquoise or yellow. Battery-powered. Made in Italy. $150. dwr.com

5

1

1 Distinctive Del Ray The ‘Del Ray’ from Atomic Kiki is perfect for those small spaces needing 28 C A M O D E R N

12

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6 Ornament original Heath Ceramics and House Industries came together to create this delightful ‘Ornament’ clock, a decorative object deserving of its name. Fifteen-inch ceramic body formed, glazed, and fired at Heath. Features a birch glaze with House’s striking graphics. Also available in Museum Black. Designed and handcrafted in Sausalito. $364. heathceramics.com

7 Ravishing RF Atomic

layer in maple or walnut and an acrylic front layer. Color-accent clock hands available in choice of colors. Reversepainted acrylic front layer available in grey or white. 23 inches in diameter. $166. houzz.com

8 Modspell Boomerang Modspell Custom Creations’ handcrafted ‘Boomerang Wall Clock’ is a three-piece ensemble that can be displayed in a variety of ways.

Constructed from heavy-duty MDF

A unique take on the starburst, the ‘RF Atomic’ features dual-layer construction, incorporating a wooden back

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with genuine, high-quality walnut veneer finished to satin smoothness. Three parts: 45, 16, and 12 inches.

Quiet, accurate quartz movement.

Signed on the back. Made in the USA. $495. Etsy store at Modspell. etsy.com

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9 Pace Cuckoo collab

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The traditional cuckoo clock meets streamlined modern style! The ‘Pace Walnut Cuckoo Clock’ is constructed with a Walnut frame and features Lemnos mechanics. The cuckoo bird stays quiet at night thanks to a light sensor, and the volume is adjustable.

A sleek collaboration between international designers and Japanese artisans. Battery operated. $329. rejuvenation.com

10 TNT Boomerang

3

‘Custom Mid-century Danish Modern Boomerang Belart Style’ is a dynamic

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design recreated by TNT Woodcraft Designs Studio. Crafted of solid African mahogany hardwood. Clock face is painted white poplar with applied vinyl. Color and size options; black, aluminum, or brass rods. Soundless, continuous sweep quartz movement.

21 inch. $285 as pictured. Etsy store at TNTDesignsStudio.etsy.com

11 Ball Clock classic Designer George Nelson’s ‘Ball Clock’ is the definitive mid-century icon and a luminous star in any environment. The brilliant design is featured here as a re-edition presented by the Vitra Design Museum. Constructed of wood and metal. 13-inch diameter.

High-grade quartz clockwork. Battery operated. Available in an assortment of colors (seen here in multicolor). $410. vitra.com

12 Tabitha

stylish sunburst

The ‘Tabitha’ Wall Clock from the Corrigan Studio is part timepiece, part artful accent. A 36-inch sunburst silhouette features floating numbers in a gold finish. Metal with a gold center accented by spade-style hands that point out the time in a most stylish fashion.

Battery operated. $155.99. wayfair.com

C A M O D E R N 29

Support the Eichler Network’s ‘Preferred Service Companies’

On the Homefront Calling card tiff Dog owners, neighbors square off over lawns spoiled by nature’s call Dogs and their walkers find Eichler

neighborhoods ideal—long, friendly stretches with so much to sniff about…front lawn after front lawn.

again, many replies were blunt as a pile of, uh, fertilizer.

“Yes, it’s trespassing. Yes, it’s illegal,” sputtered ‘SenorJuansie.’ “You can go on people’s lawns to deliver your paper route or to ring their doorbell to say hello. You can’t go on their lawn to deliver piss.”

No similar post set off a cyber

to talk ‘love’ down off the ledge.

topsoil and pet repellant spray.

“Your neighbor is doing what neighbors do sometimes—them’s the breaks,” consoled one. “You can’t control her, but you can control yourself and how you choose to work with her.”

Others were less patient: “Sorry, but you do not have a god-given right to leave dog urine anywhere you like in public.”

“Just avoid the Crazy,” counseled another. “It’s better for your blood

But, we’ve been told, at least one unsettling pet peeve has been known to erupt along the way.

A contributor whose tag is crankylex may ultimately have had the last word, given the impact of homelessness in many California cities today: “Quite frankly, given my neighborhood, I’m just happy when grown men aren’t peeing out there. Dogs of my neighborhood: knock yourselves out.”

It’s about the house call that, you know, no one is grateful for and the calling card that no one saves. It’s the scourge of unfenced front yards and easements everywhere, and these four-legged visitors have sent many a companion and neighbor to internet chat boards with grievances.

“Does anyone know if there are laws against your dog peeing on a property owner’s sidewalk grass?” innocently inquired a post on the Yelp San Francisco board by ‘Nilu r’ a while back. They added hastily that the inquiry was “not for my dogs,” but for “a friend [who] had a psycho neighbor stalk her” about it.

Apparently, hell hath no fury like a homeowner scorned, because a number of responses were quite heated. A few came to the “friend’s” support, with one suggesting they “mace the hell out of him the next time.” Most were not so supportive.

“The property owner is responsible and must maintain the sidewalk,” grumped one. “He should be able to cut off your dog’s nuts for that.”

“I take my dog for walks, as you do,” starts a recent Reddit.com legal advice thread, “and sometimes she pees in someone’s yard.

I’ve had too [sic] angry neighbors who yell at me to get her off their lawn. Is this trespassing if my dog walks into their lawn while on leash? While off leash?”

While most would agree that a homeowner’s territoriality certainly should preclude unleashed canines,

30 C A M O D E R N

Some were worried for the nonverbal actor in the drama: “While I completely agree with you that you shouldn’t have to accommodate your cray-cray neighbor, I’m worried about the possibility that if this escalates she might harm your dog.”

Despite ongoing battles like these, it is possible that minor correction can actually lead to PET PEEVE. Eichler and Streng neighborhoods are wonderful settings for cute shots of dogs and their owners happily strolling together up and down sidewalks, like the images seen here. They’re also places where controversy erupts from time to time. wildfire, though, like one on an Ask.com board called Metafilter about ‘Pets and Animals.’ The post was subtly titled, “Pissed off: How to respond to neighbor asking my dog not to pee?”

This pet owner, beatifically tagged ‘loveallaround,’ was battling a neighbor whose rental home fronts their companion’s preferred grassy ‘uri-knoll.’

“I could purposefully avoid that five-foot stretch of sidewalk in front of her house, but I don’t see why I should have to,” sniffed loveallaround in a lengthy, hopefully cathartic diatribe. “My dog isn’t hurting anything, we are obeying the law, and it’s her crazy.”

This online rant soon went crazy all around, with 45 steadily more impassioned posts over the next 22 hours. Some initially tried

pressure (and probably your dog’s stress levels, too).”

“I think you need to reframe the situation, from a battle about who’s right to not getting sucked into the neighbor’s hostility and craziness,” mused one respondent.

“In the second scenario, you win by not playing.”

One suggested an olive branch to the neighbor, whom loveallaround admits actually gardens the easement: “If you want to make peace, be a good guy, and respect [the homeowner’s] efforts,” was the advice, which included links for gifts of

diffusing bad blood.

Some say: Why not simply train your dog not to pee on lawns?

Or, when they do lift a leg, how about bringing along a spray bottle of water to dilute the urine and prevent lawn spotting?

What’s more, some dogs actually have health conditions that lead to uncontrolled urination— something to discuss with the vet.

Creative remedies are out there.

But most of all, be caring and understanding—on both sides— and let there be peace in the neighborhoods.

–Dan Smith

SM

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C A M O D E R N 31

nBLAST FROM TH E PAST

UNSUNG MASTERS OF THE MID-CENTURY CALIFORNIA LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS

By Dan Smith

“Unsung,” quoth the ancient Greek poet Pindar, “the noblest deeds will die.”

It is to prevent such senseless and ignoble death that we launched the ‘Unsung Masters’ series two years ago, and today we turn our attention to landscape architects of California. Once only the domain of the very rich, landscape architecture in the mid-20th century moved from estates and public parks into the yards and gardens of the masses.

Just as we’ve done in prior installments of this series with specialties

KATHRYN IMLAY STEDMAN

MAI ARBEGAST

Aside from Joe Eichler and his architects, it’s possible that no one exerted more influence on the look of Palo Alto than this native of New Hampshire. Stedman worked in retail fashion as a young woman and didn’t move to the town until middle age, when she started a practice with Geraldine Scott. Her work attracted Eichler’s attention and soon graced an estimated 100 of his homes, including his famous 1954 ‘Art About the House’ showcase, featured in Life magazine.

A lifelong advocate and guardian of trees, Stedman published The Trees of Palo Alto in 1959.

Despite being sent to a relocation camp in Wyoming with her family after Pearl Harbor, it’s hard to find someone who influenced planting in California in more ways than this San Jose native.

“I spent much of my early life in boots stomping on particular tomatoes,” Arbegast told an interviewer about helping crossbreed the fruit for her father’s prominent seed business. She went on to teach for 14 years at UC Berkeley and design many noteworthy gardens, including UC Davis Arboretum, Trefethen Vineyards, and restorations of Hearst Castle and Oakland Museum.

GERALDINE KNIGHT SCOTT

RUTH SHELHORN

JEAN E. WALTON

When Geraldine Scott graduated UC Berkeley in 1922, landscape architecture was still dominated by the formalist traditions of the beaux arts style. Modernism started to exert influence in the mid-century, and this Idaho native seized on it for terrific designs at the Golden Gate International Exposition and Daphne Funeral Home (by Eichler architect A. Quincy Jones) in San Francisco and particularly the Oakland Museum of California. She also was a rare woman appointed to planning commissions, first in Los Angeles and then San Francisco, as well as many other civic commission boards.

You couldn’t visit a Bullock’s department store in the 20th century and miss the provocative influence of this brilliant designer. It’s the same deft hand and eye enlisted to whip up the iconic pedestrian and landscape plan for Disneyland Park in 1955. By virtue of her genius, Shellhorn overcame sexism to landscape the ‘Southern California look’ with use of thenunusual plants like the banana tree and bird of paradise. Prior to her 33 years at Bullock’s, she worked to impose drilling restrictions for Santa Monica Bay that effectively led to the California Coastal Act.

San Jose born and East Bay raised and schooled, Walton may have made her biggest impacts out of state. She studied design at California School of Arts and Crafts and UC Berkeley, and then was hired as Lawrence Halprin’s first employee in 1949. Over a 26-year career as his primary expert on plants, she ascended to be a principal in the firm while helping design innovative, naturalist planting plans for the Sea Ranch development, Skyline Park in Denver, Freeway Park in Seattle, and perhaps most notably the award-winning Oakbrook Shopping Center in Illinois.

32 C A M O D E R N

in art, jazz, and design, we will not be singing the praises of the giants in this field. It is the people who worked with and learned from those modernist masters—the top-echelon trailblazers like Garrett Eckbo, Robert Royston, Thomas Church, and Lawrence Halprin—whose work needs to be celebrated lest it die in the shadows of time.

“Eichler Homes is kind of in the forefront of this,” says JC Miller of Vallier Design Associates, a Bay Area landscape architect and historian, speaking of the democratization of the industry in the U.S., especially

ASA HANAMOTO

following World War II. “Simply, the climate in California just lends itself to more landscape architecture.”

“There’s a lot of opportunity to do modernism, especially in these gardens,” said Miller, who kindly helped us select the most unsung of his 20th century predecessors. Studying on the GI bill alongside modern structural architects at places like Berkeley, Harvard, and Cornell, he noted, “It’s very fertile; there’s lots of cross-pollination.”

On that note—and to continue the botanical metaphor—let’s reap the goodly harvest of these abundantly fruitful designers.

COURTLAND PAUL

ROBERT DEERING

They make movies about lives like Hanamoto’s, whom our expert, JC Miller, calls “amazing, my hero.”

It would start with the injustice of his family’s relocation in World War II, during which he served while helping to translate messages stolen from the Japanese.

After studying under Robert Royston at Berkeley, he joined Royston’s succession of firms and eventually ascended to partner.

Meanwhile, he wrote environmental impact reports (before such a term existed) for creation of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and the Willamette River Greenway, as well as designing impressive landscapes for numerous parks and campuses.

As in academics, fame and success in landscape architecture ofttimes followed the old adage of ‘publish or perish,’ but that wasn’t how Paul worked. Were fame based only on dedication to advancing the burgeoning field, his name would be up there with Eckbo, Royston, and Church. He was an important advocate for licensing and a founder or leader in every important professional organization. With his inimitable bow-tied presence leading his own successful firm for decades, Paul’s greatest legacy as a California designer is undoubtedly the eminently livable, master-planned communities of Irvine, Mission Viejo, and Lake Forest.

There is probably no truth to the rumor that before making the heavens and earth, the creator had Robert Deering start inventing ‘solar control.’ Still, if any landscape architect can lay claim to that concept it is this native of Maine, practicing and teaching it for some 60 years, the latter mostly at UC Davis. Exhibit A of his work is the Nut Tree retail road stop near Vacaville, where Deering designed one of the nation’s first tree-shaded parking lots. He also presided over two decades of preserving Central Coast land and historic structures for the state parks system.

DONALD CARTER

TOMMY TOMSON

Carter worked alongside two of the better-known greats of the landscaping field, Thomas Church and Lawrence Halprin, and partly as a result may be the most unsung landscape architect here. Bay Area born, bred, and schooled, his imprint is all over the region as lead designer on a host of projects

by Halprin’s firm, including Ghirardelli Square, Sea Ranch, St. Francis Square, and the Market Street development project from 1962 to 1975. Possibly the pinnacle of his career, however, was the striking Leahy Mall in Omaha, Nebraska. In 1975, Carter and four other principals purchased Halprin’s firm.

The handsome, impossibly wellnamed Golden Sands ‘Tommy’ Tomson was apparently destined from birth to have a huge impact on a place called Palm Desert.

While helping his brother-inlaw, a developer, plan that city in the 1950s and ‘60s, he helped create inspired, prototypical L.A. landscapes at Park La Brea, Santa Anita Park, and the south patio of Union Station. He also did landscape design for countless residences. His work surrounding residential swimming pools with relaxing, idyllic planting was legendary. In listing his major accomplishments to an interviewer, Tomson quipped, “No fame, but a good game.”

Thanks to JC Miller of Vallier Design Associates for assistance in selecting our roster of masters Photography: courtesy Rico Tee Archives

C A M O D E R N 33

DEAR

CHERRY . . . America’s Queen of Modernism, Manners and Mirth!

Dear Cherry, We are facing a huge whole-house remodel project, and I don’t know where to start? Where do you suggest? –Hungry for Change

Dear Wondering, You might be surprised by my answer.

My favorite décor is the houseplant, because it never out of season.

There are literally hundreds of varieties of houseplants that you can choose from, but you will find a lot of the same varieties, over and over, at the nursery and home improvement stores.

Why? Because these are the ‘old faithfuls’ that often defy the purple thumb.

Houseplants bring fresh oxygen to a dull room, and many are natural works of art. Plants not only can bring brightness to a room, they can actually be quite functional as well. They can provide coverage to an open span of glass you’d prefer to have slightly obscured, and they can reinforce a separation between open, yet adjoining rooms.

Because mid-century modern homes are usually short on windowsills, you might have to get a little more creative in your plant display options. Consider a movable tea or bar cart, a metal plant stand meant for exterior use that will do just as well inside, or a slatted bench along a floor-to-ceiling window. And every modern home can benefit from an Architectural Pottery accent piece.

I would say that the quintessential mid-mod houseplant is a Monstera

Dear Hungry, You sorta answered your very own question. What else are you hungry for? How about food and sustenance to keep you going through the long, looong months of rehab ahead of you?

Make your kitchen the #1 priority, if possible. It’s the healthy thing to do.

When we don’t have a kitchen available, we tend to eat more fast food, take out, frozen meals, etc. and less freshly prepared items. Frankly, eating quicky foods is easy when your kitchen is a disaster. And thus, our health and energy levels suffer.

Another thing. Have you ever noticed when you have a party that people clump in the kitchen? It is because your kitchen is the heart of your home. So pay close attention to it—and keep your home’s heart and your heart healthy!

Dear Cherry, I feel a bit ashamed about my less-thanperfect home. I’d like to have guests over, but my place doesn’t even come close to looking as nice as the homes I see in CA-Modern magazine. What do you suggest? –Embarrassed Eichler Dear Embarrassed, In the words of one of my fictional heroes, Betty Crocker, in the book Betty Crocker’s Guide to Easy Entertaining, “Hospitality is not a contest. It is sharing the best you have.”

We do so much damage to our daily lives by focusing on our lack, our limitations, and negativity. Instead, we should be focusing on our abundance, our possibilities, and gratitude. Nothing is ever gained by calling attention and fixating on anyone’s shortcomings, including your own.

The most enjoyable times are those spent emphasizing the good things in life. The rest of life’s unpleasantries will always be there, so with time being such a precious and limited commodity, why waste it obsessing over unconstructive topics?

When you start a sentence with “this is going to be hard,” you predispose the learner in front of you to brace for a hard lesson. When you say “my house is a

34 C A M O D E R N

NO ORDINARY CROCK. Top: Where to find Betty Crocker’s words of wisdom, including “Hospitality is not a contest. It is sharing the best you have.” Middle: It’s the quintessential mid-mod houseplant, says Cherry—the Monstera Deliciosa. Above: The Smörgåsbord is alive and well these days—as the buffet. mess,” you are, in fact, encouraging your guests to look around for all of the flaws they might otherwise have missed.

So…in the words of my fine fictitious friend, Ms. Crocker, “Give the best you have without apology.”

Dear Cherry, What is your favorite type of house décor? –Wondering in Palo Alto

Deliciosa, otherwise known as the split- or cut-leaf philodendron or Swiss cheese plant! Put one of these sophisticated beauties in the corner and you’ll be halfway to becoming a living Shag painting.

Other graphic plants that I adore include the Ficus Elastica or Rubber Plant. The Dracaena family, with their characteristic stripes, are quite hand-

some. And, finally, one of my favorites is Sansevieria Trifasciata Laurentii, which goes by many fun names, including the Snakeplant, Striped Bowstring Hemp, or Mother-in-Law’s Tongue!

If you’re looking for an occasional bright bloomer, then you can’t go wrong with any bromeliad. They look like they came straight out of a Flintstones’ cartoon.

What’s more, if you are ever in doubt about a nice housewarming gift, it’s hard to go wrong with a houseplant like one of these.

Dear Cherry, Whatever happened to the Swedish Smörgåsbord? –Erik and Birgitta Dear E and B, Ahhhh…the Smörgåsbord. Even saying the word is fun. Well, it is alive and well, but just operating under an American alias—the buffet!

The term originally came from Scandinavia (Sweden and Finland), where many hundreds of years ago, a sideboard table was spread out with a variety of hors d’oevres to keep upper-class tummies happy before the main meal.

Quite literally smörgås means sandwich and bord means table. So a traditional spread might contain bread slices, butter, cheese, and a few cold cuts, especially pickled fish (popular and plentiful in Scandinavia).

Although the Fourth Earl of Sandwich was lucky enough to have a food item named after him, combinations of meat-dairy-pastry-condiments have been around since ancient times, stemming from stuffed pitas in the Mediterranean.

And like the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, these Swedish respites were meant as a prelude to a meal, not to be the main event.

However, the Smörgåsbord has become a complete repast. While a true Smörgåsbord will usually always have sandwich makings, it has broadened its horizons to become the full lunch and brunch buffet we all know and love.

So the next time you get a hankering for the ultimate Swedish Smörgåsbord, simply catch the quickest flight you can to…Las Vegas!

• For more Cherry, visit CherryCapri.com Photography: Taso Papadakis, Cherry Capri

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