Ventana Monthly, April 2012

of three that Bill and Bonnie bought in 2008. But they tore the third house down to make room for a garage and shop, as well as a driveway.

“The house is actually built on a foundation of beach rocks,” said George Walker, who is doing the renovation. Under the foundation of the house, the rocks appear like dots an inch-anda-half apart. “They support the whole thing, and they were placed there by hand more than a hundred years ago. We’re not going to move them now,” Walker said. “The redwood is original and we’re keeping that, too. There’s no rot in it. The goal is to keep it like it was, as much as possible.”

Not a beach stone’s throw from Ash Street, just northeast of the Lucking residences, Cody Supan, a 25-year-old who grew up in his father’s construction and renovation business, took a different approach to a historic home. The photographs of the eyesore that Supan found on Hemlock Street are remarkable. Overgrown with weeds and crabgrass, critters flitting about here and there and two giant avocado trees leaning aggressively toward a bruised and battered structure originally built in 1908, fading away so that the paint chips were stronger in places than the edifice, Supan didn’t so much renovate as tame the house.

Now engaged to fiancé Alejandra Cortes, Supan’s renovated “bachelor pad” fits the bill perfectly as a family home.

“I bought it for $250,000,” said Supan, “and I knew what I April 2012 | ventana | 35