Arroyo Monthly May 2016

FINE LIVING IN THE GREATER PASADENA AREA

May 2016

DESIGN PASADENA 2016 STYLISH STORAGE AT SHOWCASE HOUSE

BATCHELDER BATCHELDER FOREVER FOREVER Inside Inside the the Craftsman Craftsman Tile Tile Master’s Master ’s Home Home

Was Was Eraserhead’s Eraserhead’s Jack Jack Nance Nance Rubbed Rubbed Out Out in in South South Pas? Pas?

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arroyo

VOLUME 12 | NUMBER 5 | MAY 2016

PHOTOS: (Top) Clark Dugger; (bottom left) Marlyn Woo/Joanne Wilborn, courtesy of Pasadena Museum of History; (bottom right) Alexander Vertifkoff

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DESIGN PASADENA 2016 13 BATCHELDER FOREVER Batchelder tile expert Robert Winter has donated his personal collection to the Pasadena Museum of History, which will exhibit them later this year.

—BETTIJANE LEVINE

20 GRAND MOTEL The world’s first motel was only one of many accomplishments by Pasadena’s other fraternal architects — the Heineman brothers.

—By MICHAEL CERVIN

37 SHOWCASING STORAGE Pasadena Showcase House designers created new storage spaces in the vintage home that function for the way we live now.

—By ELIZABETH MCMILLIAN

43 ERASED Was Eraserhead’s Jack Nance rubbed out in South Pasadena?

—By MICHAEL CERVIN

DEPARTMENTS 10

FESTIVITIES HBO’S Game of Thrones and Confirmation premieres, Casa Valentina opens at the Pasadena Playhouse and more

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LÉON BING How I learned to love shopping for designer fashions

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ARROYO HOME SALES INDEX

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KITCHEN CONFESSIONS Summer-fruit season can only mean one thing — the tarts are coming.

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THE LIST Political satire at Caltech, Bird L.A. Day at Descanso, LACO’s cello-fest

ABOUT THE COVER: Ederra Design’s master suite closet at the 2016 Pasadena Showcase House of Design, photo by Peter Valli.

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EDITOR’S NOTE

Pasadena was hip to historic preservation long before its neighbors in Los Angeles. Back in 1994, L.A. was still so indifferent to its own architectural treasures that the Schindler House — the West Hollywood home of Rudolf Schindler, one of SoCal’s most important modernist architects — couldn’t survive on Angelenos’ sparse support and turned for help to the MAK museum in his native Austria, which still operates the landmark. By then, Pasadena Heritage had already been working to protect the city’s historic architecture for a good 17 years.

So we look at vintage Pasadena in this month’s Design Issue. And if it’s May, it must be time for the Pasadena Showcase of Design, now in its 52nd year. The annual house-and-garden tour, benefiting cultural activities, has always focused on rejuvenating historical residences, whose classical lines continue to attract many fans. Their enthusiasm may not have waned over the years, but the way we live now has undergone huge changes, starting with all our stuff — we accumulate more, much more, than people did a century ago. So what’s a bungalow lover to do? Check out our Showcase House story by Elizabeth McMillian, a former Architectural Digest editor, who looks at three Showcase House rooms with completely new storage areas that function well in 2016 but would have looked very much at home in 1918.

We also bring you stories about Pasadena’s huge impact on design history. (For a small city, Pasadena has far more than its share of “firsts.”)

Did you know that the inventor of the motel was a local architect? Michael Cervin writes about Pasadena’s other pair of fraternal architects — the Heineman brothers — whose older half, Arthur, built the world’s first motel in San Luis Obispo in 1925. And Bettijane Levine talks to Batchelder tile expert Robert Winter, whose collection of the iconic Arts and Crafts tiles goes on view at the Pasadena Museum of History in September.

Finally, Cervin dips into the more recent past to search for the answer to a mystery: When Eraserhead star Jack Nance was found dead in his South Pasadena apartment 20 years ago, had he been killed? Cervin retraces the actor’s steps on page 43.

—Irene Lacher

EDITOR IN CHIEF Irene Lacher ART DIRECTOR Carla Cortez ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR Stephanie Torres PRODUCTION DESIGNERS Rochelle Bassarear, Richard Garcia EDITOR-AT-LARGE Bettijane Levine COPY EDITOR John Seeley CONTRIBUTORS Leslie Bilderback, Leon Bing, Martin Booe, Michael Cervin, Scarlet Cheng, Richard Cunningham, Carole Dixon, Lisa Dupuy, Lynne Heffley, Kathleen Kelleher, Rebecca Kuzins, Elizabeth McMillian, Brenda Rees, John Sollenberger, Nancy Spiller ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Dina Stegon ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Lisa Chase, Brenda Clarke, Leslie Lamm ADVERTORIAL CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Bruce Haring HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER Andrea Baker PAYROLL Linda Lam CONTROLLER Kacie Cobian ACCOUNTING Sharon Huie, Teni Keshishian OFFICE ASSISTANT Ann Turrietta PUBLISHER Jon Guynn 8 | ARROYO | 05.16

arroyo FINE LIVING IN THE GREATER PASADENA AREA

SOUTHLAND PUBLISHING V.P. OF OPERATIONS David Comden PRESIDENT Bruce Bolkin CONTACT US ADVERTISING dinas@pasadenaweekly.com EDITORIAL editor@arroyomonthly.com PHONE (626) 584-1500 FAX (626) 795-0149 MAILING ADDRESS 50 S. De Lacey Ave., Ste. 200, Pasadena, CA 91105 ArroyoMonthly.com

©2016 Southland Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.

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FESTIVITIES

Doris Roberts

Mayor Terry Tornek 10 | ARROYO | 05.16

Perez Hilton

Kerry Washington and Anita Hill

Peter Dinklage

Doris Roberts made her last public appearance on March 20 at the Pasadena Playhouse premiere of Harvey Fierstein’s Casa Valentina, Harvey Fierstein’s dramedy about a Catskills community of male cross-dressers. The beloved star of Everybody Loves Raymond passed away in her Los Angeles home a month later, at age 90…Indefatigable Pasadenabased event planner Billy Butchkavitz designed two HBO premieres over the past month: for Confirmation, a film about Clarence Thomas’ Supreme Court nomination hearings, on March 31, he filled a large space at Paramount Studios with Platner-like glass tables topped with fuschia tulips. Kerry Washington, who played Anita Hill, posed for photos with her real-life doppelganger. The April 10 Game of Thrones season six premiere in Hollywood, attended by Peter Dinklage, Emilia Clarke other cast members, started with a packed screening at TCL Chinese Theatre, whose entrance was dominated by a giant flying raven. Revelers moved on to the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, where a flying dragon was projected on the exterior; Butchkavitz designed an “ice throne” for the lobby, surrounding it with fake-fur-covered seating, and transformed the Blossom Ballroom into a Westeros castle for the evening…The nonprofit Assistance League of Pasadena kicked off its 75th anniversary on March 10 with a flag-raising ceremony, attended

by Mayor Terry Tornek, at its California Boulevard headquarters.

PHOTOS: Earl Gibson (Pasadena Playhouse); Gabor Ekecs (HBO premiere);

Choreographer Mark Esposito and Director David Lee

LÉON BING The author in her thrift-shop finery

GOODWILL

HUNTING Or, how I learned to love shopping for top designers’ fashions

PHOTO: PHO HOTO: TO: Ga Garet Gareth rethh S ret Seigel eig ig gel

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et’s talk about those Goodwill stores. The Mister took me on my fi rst treasure hunt about a year-and-a-half ago when a new branch opened up on Fair Oaks Avenue. I’d never been to a Goodwill before; there wasn’t one anywhere near where I lived in West Hollywood (or if there was, I didn’t know about it) and I had no idea how terrific they could be. So, fi rst time out: men’s and women’s shirts and jackets — sorted by color and size — on circular racks. Trousers, skirts, jeans on straight racks. Shelves of shoes, sneakers and boots. Bags, many of them with designer labels. Books, most of them hardback, shelved at the back. Lamps, cookware, glassware and furniture nearby.

I had trouble taking it all in. I’ve always detested shopping and went on forays only because my late mother loved stalking Saks and Neiman Marcus. We went to those two palaces of designer ready-to-wear and once in a while I’d fi nd something I liked — a beautiful evening jacket: Paris-made and sheer, in varying but subtle shades of teal blue, ornamented with serpentine velvet coils in a darker shade and made from a single piece of cloth: no seams. It was on sale and it still cost a bundle. Then my mom spotted a Donna Karan hand-knitted-in-Scotland cashmere cardigan: pale taupe, thigh-length with modified kimono sleeves, also on sale, also pricy; she urged me to buy it. I’d just signed a pretty tasty contract for a book, so I thought, What the hell. I’m still wearing both items — the cashmere sweater because it looks great and is wonderfully warm in chilly weather, and the French evening jacket because it’s a knockout with both faded jeans and dark silk anything.

Moving to Pasadena in 1990 changed everything about the way I looked for — and at — clothes. About a month after I settled in, I noticed a small shop called Clothes Heaven on Union Street. I glanced through the window: it looked most interesting and I knew my mother would love it. Th e instant we walked through the door I knew that “interesting” was a vast understatement. Th is place was, and remains, a haven for sales reps’ designer clothing of every stripe: Chanel, Karan, Armani, Lauren — the list is endless. There are piles of kidskin gloves and shelves of extraordinary costume jewelry. And, in the back, very gently worn shoes. I bought a pair of unworn black alligator Chanel pumps for $150. Th at’s right, you heard me: one-fi ve-zero. My mother got three or four St. John suits and a beautiful green Chanel cashmere cardigan with brass buttons and ivory piping around the cuff s. I’m still wearing the fi ve or six Armani suits I picked up there (because, as my mother was fond of saying, good tailoring never goes out of style), as well as the Karan raw-silk evening dress the color of a Weimaraner puppy and the black-suede, ivorykidskin–piped, Italian-made Gucci jacket, which zips on the bias. For me, Clothes Heaven was, and remains, Hog Heaven. Oh, and I found my second-favorite piece of jewelry there: a beautifully made dragon pin I wear any time I’m not in my usual jeans and T-shirts.

But here’s the cherry on the savvy buyer’s sundae: on that fi rst trip to Goodwill I noticed a black-and-dark-gray tweed sleeve crammed in among a line of other sleeves on full-length men’s coats. When I touched it, the material felt like soft, pure wool. I pulled the coat from its hanger, held it up and took a careful look. I needed a –continued –c cont onti tinu inued d on page page 12 12 05.16 | ARROYO | 11

LÉON BING ON THAT FIRST TRIP TO GOODWILL I NOTICED A BLACK-AND-DARK-GRAY TWEED SLEEVE CRAMMED IN AMONG A LINE OF OTHER SLEEVES ON FULL-LENGTH MEN’S COATS... THE MATERIAL WAS CASHMERE AND VICUÑA AND IT HAD BEEN MADE TO ORDER ON LONDON’S SAVILE ROW. –continued from page 11

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new coat and had been wearing one a friend had given me in the ’90s. (My friend bought it for $12 without trying it on and when he got home, he found that the sleeves were so short it might have fit a spider monkey. But the material was a mix of cashmere and vicuña and it had been made to order on London’s Savile Row; its provenance was written, in a fi ne hand, on an inside breast pocket. Sadly, it didn’t matter where that damn coat came from, it didn’t fit my friend. So he gave it to me even though my arms are longer than his — long enough for people to tell me I’d have made a great boxer. But I was happy to get that coat, and I solved the sleeve problem by wearing long black fi ngerless gloves whenever I wore it. But still, I knew I could do better.)

Back to that fi rst trip to Goodwill: I also looked at a coat so pristine the plastic envelope of extra buttons was still attached to the lining. There were three labels: Saks Fifth Avenue, Made in Italy, Giorgio Armani. I tried it on and it fit perfectly except for the shoulder pads. I don’t need shoulder pads, so I took the coat to my tailor, who removed them for about 50 bucks, which seemed like a lot of money.

Since I’d paid only $47.50 for that full-length Armani coat with the hacking vent in the back and all those extra buttons, I felt it might be inappropriate to carp about it. But I couldn’t resist placing a call to Saks Fifth Avenue. I described the coat and was told it was from the Armani collection of the year before. The retail price? 3,500 smackers. When I wondered about those extra buttons, the Mister thought about it for about six seconds and then suggested, in the mildest of tones, that perhaps the original owner had died before she got a chance to wear the coat. His penchant for teasing me is surpassed only by his admiration for that gargantuan Honda Pilot he bought a few months ago. At any rate, I have never found a better bargain. Well, unless we count that signed fi rst edition of Daphne du Maurier’s novel Rebecca that I picked up from a pile of used books in front of a small (and clearly clueless) bookstore in Westwood some years ago. The price on that one was $1.75.

I’m pretty sure my gift for spotting bargains comes from my late — and sorely missed — great-aunt Ethel, whom my mom and I called by her nickname, Hotten.

Hotten could have spotted a Fabergé imperial Easter egg in a landfi ll. It was she who picked up a wowza of a gift for me at a yard sale for 99 cents: a necklace made of black-and-white Lucite disks that looks like a snake. Like Hotten, I’m crazy about a great deal. But it has to be precisely the right deal. I have no interest in fake-fi r Christmas wreaths in January or little rubber jack-o’-lanterns in November. You can fi nd all that kind of stuff at any Goodwill store, but if you possess both patience and a good eye, you will spot, as my daughter, Lisa, did, a beautiful multicolored dish bearing the Spode label on the underside. Th at is one great fi nd because almost every piece of Spode is patterned in either blue or a luscious pale red.

I guess it runs in the family. ||||

BATCHELDER FOREVER Architectural historian and Batchelder tile expert Robert Winter donated his personal collection to the Pasadena Museum of History, which will exhibit it later this year.

BY BETTIJANE LEVINE

ROBERT WINTER STILL DOESN’T KNOW EXACTLY HOW HE GOT HOOKED ON BATCHELDER TILES. HE DOESN’T KNOW WHY HE BECAME THE WORLD’S FOREMOST EXPERT ON THOSE CERAMIC ICONS OF THE ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT IN PASADENA OR WHY ERNEST BATCHELDER, BORN IN 1875, EVEN STARTED MAKING THEM IN THE BACKYARD OF THE HOUSE HE BUILT IN 1910 ON THE BANKS OF THE ARROYO SECO. THAT HOUSE NOW BELONGS TO WINTER, BUT HE

PHOTO: Marlyn Woo/Joanne Wilborn, courtesy of Pasadena Museum of History

DIDN’T BUY IT BECAUSE OF THE TILES. Winter is a renowned architectural historian, the Arthur G. Coons Professor of the History of Ideas Emeritus at Occidental College where he taught for 30 years, and author of eight acclaimed books on Southern California’s architectural history.

In 1972, he bought the 106-year-old two-story, three-bedroom house with a sleeping porch that Batchelder built on what is now Arroyo Boulevard, purely because it was such a glorious example of the California bungalow style Winter so admired. (Winter is also an expert on bungalows and authored two books on them.)

Of course, the house was generously embellished with Batchelder’s homemade tiles, a crafts genre Winter says he knew next to nothing about at the time. “Didn’t know how to make tile then and still don’t know how,” he says with a laugh. When we visited Winter, 91, at home recently, we found the front walkway paved in tile, the back garden paths also tiled, the back wall of the lush tree-filled property enhanced by a magnificent tile fountain and the guest house and shed also awash in tiles. Greeted

by Winter at the front door, we entered directly into the living room, as is typical of bungalows. It’s a large, high-ceilinged, wood-timbered room, its central focus the magnificent fireplace embraced on both sides, and up to the rafters, with decorative tiles. That may sound like an overabundance of tiles, but Batchelder’s colors are so subtle, earthy and muted, and the matte finish so soft, that the tiles blend into the room without announcing themselves.

Winter explained with some glee that the tiles “just sort of took over” when he moved in. Their beauty seduced him into studying the man who made them and eventually writing the definitive book about both. Its title, Batchelder: Tilemaker (1999,

Robert Winter sitting in his living room with the Batchelder fireplace in the background

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Batchelder decorative “Cuenca” tile, circa 1930

–continued from page 13

Fireplace designed by Ernest Batchelder in 1912 with personal tiles representing himself and his wife, Alice 14 | ARROYO | 05.16

Balcony Press), inspired that of an upcoming exhibition at the Pasadena Museum of History. The museum’s Batchelder: Tilemaker exhibition, which runs from Sept.

21 through Feb. 12, 2017, will feature Winter’s personal collection of about 200 rare tiles he collected over the years and has donated to the museum, along with related archives.

Laura Verlaque, the museum’s director of collections, says Winter’s collection spans Batchelder’s entire career, from the earliest tiles that say “Batchelder Pasadena” on the back to those made later, in the Los Angeles factory where Batchelder had more than 175 craftspeople making the tiles. “We’re very fortunate to have been given this collection. It’s our first significant collection from the Arts and Crafts movement, and it’s also very personal to Pasadena,” she says. The donated archival papers are from Batchelder’s business and Winter’s research, she adds. Verlaque calls Winter’s home “a magical place” and says it will be preserved in perpetuity. “It’s on the National Register of Historic Places, and Dr. Winter has arranged to give his house to Occidental College…so it will be protected,” she says.

Winter is something of a treasure himself. Genial and jovial, he’s a raconteur whose eyes twinkle when he talks and who enjoys a good laugh, which he usually sparks at his own expense. He perambulates with a walker, due to arthritis and a smashed hip from an auto accident. But otherwise, he says with good humor, he’s just about in the condition he ought to be for a man his age.

Born in Indianapolis, Winter is a Dartmouth graduate with a Ph.D. in history –continued on page 16

PHOTOS: (Left) Marlyn Woo/Joanne Wilborn, (right) Michelle L. Turner, courtesy of Pasadena Museum of History

Batchelder figural “Dutch” tile, design #81 introduced 1912, tile produced circa 1920

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A selection of tiles from the Ernest A. Batchelder Tile Collection Fireplace designed by Batchelder in 1912 with personal tiles representing himself and his wife, Alice Fire

from Johns Hopkins University and a Doctor of Humane Letters from Occidental College. He says his interest in bungalows was aroused “when one of my students made a nasty remark about them in a course I was giving. I started reading about them and realized it’s a beautiful way to live, and I’ve lived in one ever since” — first, in a rented bungalow when he started teaching at Occidental, then in one he bought near the school, holding some of his classes in it. Then in 1971, a USC friend asked him to lead a tour of historic homes in Pasadena. “She said we should go to Ernest Batchelder’s. I had run into Batchelder’s name in relation to the Arts and Crafts movement while doing my doctoral dissertation and had read many articles he’d written about his studies in Europe, and the Arts and Crafts movement there, which was a protest against the shabby mass-produced goods of the Industrial Revolution.

The movement was a turn toward everything natural and handcrafted. That was the big thing — handcrafted,” Winter says, looking around at the wood structure on which he can still detect marks made by workmen who built it. “The bungalow somehow represents that whole Arts and Crafts movement,” he adds.

During Winter’s tour for USC, he arrived at the door of the Batchelder house to find the landscape architect who had bought it from Batchelder, and “I did a phony faint when I looked inside and saw the magnificent fireplace, the very big living room and the open floor plan which offered such ease of getting around, and I just loved it.

I wasn’t looking for a house. I was living happily over in Eagle Rock.” But when the house came up for sale the next year, he bought it for a song: $46,000 (about $265,000 today). Zillow and Trulia estimate its current worth at more than six times that — between $1.5 million and $2 million.

Winter doesn’t remember how or when he began collecting the tiles. “I remember two enterprising women in Temple City who went to the backyard of a Batchelder factory, dug up the earth and found some scarred tiles that they put up for sale. I didn’t care about the scars. Then I found some at the Rose Bowl swap meet and I think Glendale High School had a tile sale. I just fished around for them everywhere. People would bring them to me. I had a meeting with members of the [Occidental] Board of Trustees and one trustee bought me a tile. He said, ‘Would you like this?’ I said, ‘Do you know what you’re doing?’ He said, ‘Yes, it was outside the door of my mother’s house, which is being torn down.’”

Verlaque and Winter say the vintage tiles are prized collector’s items (running from less than $50 each to well over $1,000) because of Batchelder’s artistry and unique designs, which include classical images of birds, animals and musical instruments in delicate hues with a soft matte finish — all unique to Batchelder at a time when the fashion was bright colors and glossy glazes. And, of course, there is a finite supply of genuine tiles. Batchelder built a kiln in his backyard in 1910 and started his business with four students from Throop Polytechnic Institute, where he headed the art department. The business succeeded so handsomely that by about 1930 he had expanded twice and had sales offices around the country. Contractors and architects bought the tiles for public buildings — libraries, hospitals, churches, –continued on page 18 16 | ARROYO | 05.16

Promotional Batchelder tile, circa 1920 Pro

The historic Batchelder house on the Arroyo Seco, Winter’s current home

PHOTOS: (Top left, top right and bottom right) Marlyn Woo/Joanne Wilborn, (middle right) Michelle L. Turner; all courtesy of Pasadena Museum of History

–continued from page 14

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Fountain in the garden of the Batchelder residence. In the late 1920s, Batchelder produced colorful decorative tiles that reflected an Islamic pattern.

offices — and architects snapped them up for modest and upscale homes around the U.S. and Canada. Greene and Greene homes in Pasadena feature Batchelder tiles, as do hundreds of small local residences built in the 1920s. But the Great Depression of 1929 hit at the height of Batchelder’s success, and his business went steadily downhill; by 1933 he’d declared bankruptcy, says Verlaque. He regrouped and started producing wares with a lovely but very different aesthetic, she says. “These were boldly designed dishes and vases, very simple and clean forms free of ornamentation, with beautiful delicately colored glazes that are his signature palette. We’ll have those, too, in our exhibition.”

When Batchelder’s wife, Alice, died in 1948, the ceramicist decided to retire, she says. He moved out of the main house into the guest house on the property. He remained active in the community, serving on the boards of the Pasadena Playhouse and the Pasadena Public Library. He advocated for an art museum for the city and served on the committee that selected the architects for the local library, the Pasadena Civic Auditorium and City Hall.

Batchelder died in 1957 and, to this day, no one has discovered what led him to make tiles, Verlaque says. He had not trained for it, and there was no precedent she could find in his papers. So the curator turned to family. Batchelder had a son, Alan, now deceased, who became a patent attorney in Northern California. His grandson, also Alan, lives in Pioneer, California, just south of Sacramento. A UC Berkeley 18 | ARROYO | 05.16

graduate trained in forestry, he’s now retired from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and says he has no idea why his grandfather turned to making tiles. “He never talked about his work,” he told Arroyo Monthly. “He was very modest, and I was a teenager when he died. It really wasn’t until many years later that I fully realized his accomplishments.”

Winter is modest too, rarely speaking, even when urged, about his own interests and accomplishments, which are substantial: in 2011, Artstor Digital Library added more than 2,000 photos of California architecture taken by Winter over 40 years.

The photos document California’s major 19th- and 20th-century architectural styles, with a particular focus on the Arts and Crafts movement, and are also in Occidental’s archives.

Winter’s 1965 Guide to Architecture in Southern California (L.A. County Museum of Art), co-authored with David Gebhard, was revised and expanded numerous times until 2003 and is still considered the seminal work on the subject. But on this recent day, Winter was focusing on the upcoming tile exhibition and still wondering what on earth tempted Batchelder to start making them. “He trained to be a teacher, and taught at Throop here in Pasadena when he first came out to California from Boston,” Winter says. But then Throop tilted toward the sciences and later evolved into Caltech.

“Batchelder probably saw no future for himself there,” he says, “so he bought some land, built this house and started making tiles in his backyard.” |||

PHOTO: Marlyn Woo/Joanne Wilborn, courtesy of Pasadena Museum of History

–continued from page 16

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The Heinemans’ 1909 Hindry House near the Rose Bowl meshed two architectural styles: Mission Revival and Arts and Crafts.

THE NAME ARTHUR HEINEMAN MAY NOT SPRING TO YOUR LIPS, BUT THE ODDS ARE EXCELLENT THAT YOU HAVE SPENT TIME IN ONE OF HIS CREATIONS — THE HUMBLE MOTEL. NOT THAT THE

GRAND

MOTEL The world’s first motel was only one of many accomplishments by Pasadena’s other fraternal architects — the Heineman brothers.

BY MICHAEL CERVIN

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LATE PASADENA BUSINESSMAN WAS THE JOHNNY APPLESEED OF ROADSIDE LODGING, BUT HE IS CREDITED WITH BUILDING THE WORLD’S VERY FIRST MOTEL TO SERVE AMERICA’S BUDDING CAR CULTURE. Arthur and his brother Alfred joined forces in a Pasadena architecture fi rm in 1909, despite the fact that neither had any formal architectural training. (Arthur’s talent lay primarily in business and Alfred’s in design, although only Arthur became a certified architect.) Yet they produced a notable body of work in the 1920s, just as Southern California architecture in general — and Arroyoland building design in particular — was coming of age. Contemporaries of Frank Lloyd Wright and Pasadena’s better-known fraternal architects, Greene and Greene, the Heineman brothers left a legacy obscured by history in spite of their significant achievements.

Born in Chicago, Arthur (b. 1878) and Alfred (b. 1882) moved with their German immigrant parents to Pasadena in 1894. Arthur became involved in real estate development but realized that land sold more quickly when it had a house on it. Younger brother Alfred also dabbled in land speculation and, though he had little formal architectural schooling — he took Ernest Batchelder’s art composition course at Th roop Polytechnic Institute, Caltech’s forerunner — he possessed an inherent understanding of design. Arthur became a certified architect with Alfred as his uncertified associate, although the latter actually served as chief architect. Together, they unleashed their talent on a waiting world. It’s estimated that the brothers produced from 1,000 to 1,500

PHOTOS: (left) Alexander Vertikoff for KSMA, (above) Courtesy of The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens

designs for buildings — including more than 20 Pasadena residences — throughout California and the nation. (Their wide impact was due partly to Alfred’s practice of selling floorplans to bungalow builders, who gave them gratis to clients.)

Kelly Sutherlin McLeod, of Kelly Sutherlin McLeod Architecture (KSMA) in Long Beach, has done extensive research on Heineman-designed properties. “The Heineman brothers’ architectural career developed from their pursuit of economic opportunity rather than academic and design training,” she tells Arroyo Monthly.

“Heineman’s clients did not share the high-profi le league of the Greenes’ clientele, and their larger projects didn’t enjoy the construction budgets of the Greenes’ grand commissions.” She says that design elements proposed by the Heinemans were occasionally disregarded in the final construction, indicating they may not have always had the client support or respect they deserved. “On the other hand, their designs enjoyed a freedom and wide spectrum of stylistic exploration,” she notes.

The earliest residences in Pasadena were simple board-and-batten structures — unadorned farmhouses like those Midwestern transplants had left behind.

As Pasadena moved from agriculture into commerce, buildings took on more sophisticated design, including artistic embellishments and complicated floor plans.

Not only did early-20th-century Pasadena boast a wealth of talented architects, it was one of the strongholds of the Arts and Crafts movement, which greatly appealed to the Heinemans, although their interest was more entrepreneurial than aesthetic. Arts and Crafts proponents focused on using natural, locally sourced building materials and handcrafted embellishments. California architects used redwood and other readily available woods extensively; dark clapboard or shingles were favored for exterior sheathing. “Like the Greenes, the Heinemans incorporated beautiful materials into their residential designs — exotic woods, handcrafted metalwork, decorative glass and tile,” says McLeod.

The Hindry House is a classic example of the Heinemans’ exuberant interpretation of Mission Revival, with clear Arts and Crafts undertones. KSMA led the restoration of the National Register of Historic Places landmark in Pasadena’s Prospect Park neighborhood. “Hindry is very possibly the most authentic extant residential building of the Heinemans,” says McLeod. “While their design has a sense of whimsy and freedom to it and the brothers were prolific with the architectural styles in which they designed, they developed a distinguished vocabulary in their residential work that is

uniquely theirs,” she says. “The soaring two-story volume at the entry hall in Hindry is one of the most dynamic residential spaces designed by the brothers — rooms infi ltrated with natural light providing a dynamic that changes character throughout the day.”

Another Heineman residence on the National Register is the Lydia C. Edmands House on Wentworth Avenue in Pasadena, built in 1917. It’s a seven-bedroom, sixbathroom Cotswold Revival cottage with Arts and Crafts influences, melding solid design with more whimsical elements. Also of note is the brothers’ W.B. Ross House (featured in the fi lm Monster-in-Law, starring Jane Fonda) in Pasadena, reflecting Swiss and Japanese motifs, showing that whatever the brothers lacked in technical skill, they made up for in creativity.

Enter the motel — “the ultimate expression of the burgeoning automobile culture,” as historic preservation consultant Christine Lazzaretto, a principal of Pasadenabased Historic Resources Group, described it in her USC master’s thesis. The idea sprang from the rise of the bungalow court, introduced by Sylvanus Marston, who built the fi rst one ever in Pasadena in 1909 — the St. Francis Court on East Colorado Boulevard. Bungalow courts evolved from the Craftsman bungalow as higher-density housing to accommodate Southern California’s huge population expansion, doubling every decade from 1880 to 1930. Bungalow courts helped offset the resulting housing shortage for people with middle-class budgets, offering privacy and open space with the convenience of apartment living. With front porches and common areas to encourage socializing, the courts also helped provide residents with a sense of community and conviviality.

According to the City of Pasadena’s 2010 study of bungalow courts, 414 courts accommodating more than 6,500 residents were constructed from 1909 to 1933.

Forty-three went on to earn historic designations, including the Heinemans’ Bowen Court (1910) on East Villa Street, comprised of 36 bungalows on a relatively small land parcel (although Bowen was the only bungalow court to retain its original configuration and location). Curiously, Charles Greene lamented the Heinemans’ bungalow courts, writing in an architecture magazine in 1915, “The style and design of each unit is uniform, making for the monotony and dreariness of a factory district.

Th is is an example of what not to do.”

–continued on page 22 05.16 | ARROYO | 21

The Hindry House dining room

Bungalow courts mushroomed throughout California anyway, paving the way for a new architecture model to accommodate the skyrocketing numbers of automobile tourists — the motel. The motel was dreamed up by auto enthusiast Arthur, who owned the second or third car ever in L.A. (a Buckboard with a steering handle), according to Lazzaretto. Arthur’s frequent car trips to Northern California on business awakened him to the need for travelers’ accommodations with easy highway access and indoor plumbing, offering greater comfort than thenprevalent auto camps. He coined the word “mo-tel,” a combination of “motor” and “hotel,” copyrighting it in 1924, but it wasn’t until 1950 that the word finally entered Webster’s Dictionary, according to Lazzaretto’s thesis.

That was a good 25 years after Arthur built the fi rst one, borrowing from the design fundamentals of bungalow courts. In 1925, he opened the Milestone Inn (soon renamed the Motel Inn) in San Luis Obispo as a rest stop for travelers midway between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Arthur’s Mission Revival structure featured a bell tower over the office and a series of bungalows in a U-shape around a central courtyard, allowing guests to park right in front of their unit. When his mo-tel, which cost $80,000 to build, opened in 1926, rooms cost $1.25 a night. At the time, the San Luis Obispo Daily Telegram marveled at the new convenience: “A traveler arriving at night, or at any other time, need not climb out of his car and go into the office to register. Instead, the man in charge comes out to the car and one may register without leaving the car at all. That done, an escort is sent with the traveler to show him his rooms, his apartment or whatever kind of combination in rooms he wants.”

Unfortunately, Arthur seemed to be ahead of his time — he lost his fortune with the motel and was forced to sell. “It is unclear exactly why the Milestone failed,” Lazzaretto writes, “but rumored cost overruns on the property, in addition to the many services and amenities offered at low prices, certainly contributed. [That] combined with the onset of the Depression…” By 2010, the bungalows and garages had been mostly razed, leaving only the restaurant façade and bell-tower office. Last August, developers John King, Rob Rossi and CoVelop Inc. announced plans to build a new boutique hotel on the Monterey Street site.

Despite Milestone’s failure, motels went on to become iconic fi xtures of America’s highway landscape, quite a legacy for Pasadena architects who are far from household names. “The Heinemans were prolific designers and continued to produce good design in a multitude of styles throughout the decades — from Craftsman to Spanish Colonial, Tudor, to Streamline Moderne, keeping current with the times,” says McLeod. The brothers continued working together until the fi rm closed in 1933.

Arthur, who occupied himself with inventing labor-saving devices, passed away in 1972. He was followed a scant two years later by Alfred, who parlayed his lifelong fascination with city planning into service to the planning commissions of Pasadena, L.A. and San Pedro. Though the name Heineman is not widely associated with Arroyoland architecture, the brothers’ impact is undeniable.|||| 22 | ARROYO | 05.16

PHOTOS: Alexander Vertikoff for KSMA

–continued from page 21

05.16 | ARROYO | 23

24 | ARROYO | 05.16

ARROYO

HOME & DESIGN SPECIAL ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD HOMES (WITHOUT RETROFITTING) Minimize earthquake damage by bolting your home to its foundation

BY BRUCE HARING WE LIVE IN AN AREA WHERE EVERYONE KNOWS WHAT “THE BIG ONE” MEANS. YES, WE’RE LIVING IN EARTHQUAKE COUNTRY, AND IT’S NOT A QUESTION OF IF, BUT RATHER, WHEN WE’LL BE HIT WITH A SHAKER THAT WILL CAUSE EXTENSIVE PROPERTY DAMAGE. There is no way to truly “earthquake-proof” your home to any degree of perfection. Earthquakes come in various degrees of strength and have fault lines that can reach many locations in several directions, putting stresses on property in places that can’t be predicted.

But there are ways to ensure within reasonable certainty that your house, which is the largest investment of their life for most people, has a better chance of surviving the forces of nature. The biggest way is to retrofit your home to state building standards, making sure that it can withstand most shakers without falling apart or sliding off its foundation, the latter the number one cause of unsalvageable damage.

While retrofitting is a major step toward potentially saving your home in the event of calamity, there are other considerations that can help with fighting against earthquake damages. Water heaters, heavy shelving and

certain pieces of furniture should be looked at with a wary eye, as these are potential disasters if they topple in case of a major earthquake. These need to be secured and/or braced.

Likewise, a gas shut-off valve should be installed on your main gas line to make sure that a house that survives the earthquake doesn’t go up in flames from the combustible outpouring from a broken gas line. This is a simple step that often costs under $350, a small price to pay to save your home from a post-quake inferno.

SCALE WAS BORN HERE Southern California has many distinctions, and one of them is that the way we measure earthquakes was devised right here. Charles F. Richter of the California Institute of Technology came up with a mathematical way to compare the size of earthquakes in 1935.

Richter’s scale was modeled after one used by astronomers to measure light from far-away stars. Instead of light, Richter’s scale measures ground vibrations caused by slipping ground faults, and –continued on page 27 05.16 | ARROYO | 25

26 | ARROYO | 05.16

—ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT—

–continued from page 25

then assigns a single-digit number to it. A magnitude 3 is a small earthquake, and there are hundreds of them each day in Southern California. One that registers in the 6 range is significant, with the highest ever recorded in North America measuring 9.2, a tremendously huge quake.

The Richter scale, though widely used, is not a foolproof measure of an earthquake. There are quakes with the same Richter scale number that cause widely different ranges of damage, mainly because of things like the direction of fault-line vibrations, the amplitude generated at different points in the quake, the terrain of your home, and other buildings in the area, among other factors.

NOT FOR YOU Retrofitting your house to protect against earthquake damage is not a do-it-yourself project, and should only be undertaken by trained contractors. It is hard to say what a retrofit will cost, since every house and property is unique. But most will be somewhere in the neighborhood of $3,000 up to $10,000, the costs changing based on location, what size your home is, the materials needed, the situation, the slope, and other factors.

–continued on page 30 05.16 | ARROYO | 27

28 | ARROYO | 05.16

05.16 | ARROYO | 29

—ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT—

–continued from page 27

One overlooked area when considering earthquake protections is the outside of the home. Many slopes are highly vulnerable to rock and mud slides during earthquakes, and require a trained eye to determine vulnerability.

Walker Martin, the CEO of SC Industrial Corp., which has recently been acquired by the Mocon Corporation, says that where a home is located on a slope can have a big impact.

“It’s amazing, if you drive around Pasadena, you’ll see multimillion dollar homes with blue and brown tarps draped across slopes,” says Walker. “It’s an attempt to stop erosion during rainy season, or sometimes they keep it up year-round because of (falling) rocks and debris.” Walker scoffs at the practice, terming it “the Home Depot attempt at slope stabilization.”

Martin’s firm provides various stabilization techniques to mitigate against homes falling victim to sliding debris. He says that deciding whether a home needs to bring in a professional to evaluate the hazards is a “matter of comfort and risk. People who live in the forest accept the risk that there could be a forest fire,” says Walker. “Same for those who live on the bluffs of Malibu understanding that their house could slide down the hill. It comes down to a comfort level for the homeowner. You have to weigh the costs of insurance against potential danger to your life.”

How will you know if your home is in potential trouble? “I would say that if you notice things moving, or you find small pebbles on the ground, there’s a sign,” Walker says. “A build-up of dirt falling off a hill –continued on page 33

30 | ARROYO | 05.16

05.16 | ARROYO | 31

32 | ARROYO | 05.16

—ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT—

–continued from page 30

is a good indicator that things are not aligned any more. Eventually, something is going to give.

HOW OLD IS YOUR HOME? If you live in a home built before 1979, chances are that it wasn’t built to the standards of the current building code, and most likely isn’t bolted to the foundation unless you had it previously retrofitted.

The key to retrofitting is a crawl space located under the first floor of many homes. This space has a short wood-framed wall known in the trade as a “cripple wall.” This needs to be bolstered to stop your house from sliding off the foundation during an earthquake, and that’s accomplished by adding bracing and anchor bolts.

The statewide building code prescribes that each city’s building department has to approve the retrofit plans for a house if the cripple wall is higher than four-feet. Those plans must be prepared by a registered design professional. Under that height limit and you do not need an architect or engineer.

The state does offer a program called the Earthquake Brace + Bolt program that can provide certain homeowners with up to $3,000 in funds to strengthen the foundation.

Unfortunately, that program is now closed to applications, but may open again in the future as funding becomes available. Visit www. earthquakebracebolt.com for details. Pasadena residents in zip codes 91101, 91103, 91104, 91105, 91106 and 91107 are eligible for funding, but other zips may be added when the program reopens.||||

05.16 | ARROYO | 33

34 | ARROYO | 05.16

arroyo

™

~HOM E SALES I N D EX~

+7.96% ALHAMBRA ALHAMBRA (NEW) Homes Homes Sold Sold Median Median Price Price Median Sq. Ft. Ft. Median Sq. ALTADENA Homes Sold Median Price Median Sq. Ft. ARCADIA Homes Sold Median Price Median Sq. Ft. EAGLE ROCK Homes Sold Median Price Median Sq. Ft. GLENDALE Homes Sold Median Price Median Sq. Ft. LA CAÑADA Homes Sold Median Price Median Sq. Ft. PASADENA Homes Sold Median Price Median Sq. Ft. SAN MARINO Homes Sold Median Price Median Sq. Ft. SIERRA MADRE Homes Sold Median Price Median Sq. Ft. SOUTH PASADENA Homes Sold Median Price Median Sq. Ft. TOTAL Homes Sold Avg Price/Sq. Ft.

MARCH ’15 ’15 MARCH N/A n/a N/A n/a N/A n/a MARCH ’15 31 $668,000 1703 MARCH ’15 31 $950,000 1714 MARCH ’15 15 $635,000 1427 MARCH ’15 111 $585,000 1490 MARCH ’15 13 $1,800,000 2285 MARCH ’15 162 $693,750 1470 MARCH ’15 11 $2,280,000 2975 MARCH ’15 7 $685,000 1468 MARCH ’15 17 $865,000 1516 MARCH ’15 398 $565

MARCH ’16 MARCH’16 28 $527,500 $498,750 1404 1320 MARCH ’16 28 $718,500 1690 MARCH ’16 32 $852,500 1654 MARCH ’16 28 $752,500 1605 MARCH ’16 127 $620,000 1483 MARCH ’16 25 $1,675,000 2381 MARCH ’16 152 $727,500 1442 MARCH ’16 13 $2,140,000 2654 MARCH ’16 12 $876,000 1296 MARCH ’16 14 $680,000 1317 MARCH ’16 431 $610

HOMES SOLD

2016

431

AVG. PRICE/SQ. FT.

2015 HOMES SOLD

+8.29%

march march

398

HOME SALES

HOME SALES ABOVE RECENT HOME CLOSINGS IN THE PASADENA WEEKLY FOOTPRINT ADDRESS ALHAMBRA 2619 Birch Street 1501 South 3rd Street ALTADENA 2671 Santa Anita Avenue 1717 East Mendocino Street 2027 Glenview Terrace 819 West Heritage Oak Court 2553 Tanoble Drive 3845 Old Toll Road 2139 El Molino Avenue 3422 Rubio Crest Drive ARCADIA 1304 San Carlos Road 1032 Hampton Road 1760 Wilson Avenue 1416 South 4th Avenue 1717 Alta Oaks Drive 1244 North Santa Anita Avenue 926 Mayflower Avenue 1311 South 3rd Avenue 29 East Orange Grove Avenue 346 Laurel Avenue 2538 Doolittle Avenue 418 East Las Flores Avenue 1810 Watson Drive 1815 Lee Avenue 1036 Encino Avenue EAGLE ROCK 5136 Argus Drive 5166 High Crest Avenue 1234 Rock View Street 2041 Escarpa Drive 1367 Wildwood Drive 2217 Addison Way 959 Glen Arbor Avenue 1978 Chickasaw Avenue GLENDALE 3720 San Fernando Road 1617 Cleveland Road 1440 Wabasso Way 330 Wonderview Drive 3177 Grangemont Road 827 West Mountain Street 1071 Old Phillips Road 2691 Sleepy Hollow Place 3322 Barnes Circle 1500 Greenbriar Road 937 Calle Simpatico 3201 Country Club Drive 1414 Dixon Street 1146 Geneva Street 3300 Oakmont View Drive 714 Pleasant View Terrace 1040 Kildonan Drive 3250 Emerald Isle Drive 3163 Beaudry Terrace 2141 Glenada Avenue 1762 Allen Avenue 1316 Greenbriar Road 3274 Linda Vista Road 1539 Idlewood Road 3604 Sierra Vista Avenue 1321 Sonora Avenue 1255 Oak Circle Drive 998 Calle Amable 1404 Val Verde Place 416 North Adams Street LA CAÑADA 453 Somerset Place 4319 Woodleigh Lane

CLOSE DATE

PRICE

BDRMS.

SQ. FT.

source: CalREsource YR. BUILT PREV. PRICE

03/30/16 03/08/16

$1,125,000 $1,020,000

6 5

3999 3528

1947 1991

03/21/16 03/23/16 03/25/16 03/11/16 03/25/16 03/23/16 03/10/16 03/01/16

$4,700,000 $2,340,000 $1,705,500 $1,465,000 $1,380,000 $1,375,000 $990,000 $988,000

2 4 3 5 5 5 2 3

948 3226 2585 3902 2823 3886 2790 2111

1921 1923 1950 1998 1921 1998 1901 1965

03/09/16 03/24/16 03/16/16 03/30/16 03/30/16 03/11/16 03/24/16 03/21/16 03/02/16 03/29/16 03/14/16 03/03/16 03/16/16 03/15/16 03/25/16

$4,000,000 $3,900,000 $3,850,000 $3,795,000 $3,750,000 $3,530,000 $2,570,000 $2,370,000 $1,890,000 $1,320,000 $1,015,000 $950,000 $935,000 $930,000 $910,000

6 3 7 4

4433 1696 8040 2644

1937 1951 2007 1951

3 2 3 4 4 3 3 3 3

1148 1523 1855 2769 1897 1561 1611 1323 2263

1927 1954 1941 1988 1950 1950 1951 1951 1956

03/24/16 03/04/16 03/03/16 03/18/16 03/04/16 03/11/16 03/30/16 03/08/16

$1,505,000 $1,165,000 $1,130,000 $1,126,000 $990,000 $912,500 $910,000 $875,000

3 4 2 2 4 5 6 3

1806 1783 1600 1864 3377 2715 2488 1825

03/25/16 03/29/16 03/28/16 03/04/16 03/01/16 03/31/16 03/29/16 03/11/16 03/15/16 03/03/16 03/29/16 03/03/16 03/11/16 03/02/16 03/16/16 03/01/16 03/24/16 03/29/16 03/07/16 03/04/16 03/28/16 03/08/16 03/29/16 03/22/16 03/08/16 03/21/16 03/25/16 03/25/16 03/30/16 03/31/16

$2,725,000 $2,550,000 $1,810,000 $1,770,000 $1,701,000 $1,570,000 $1,495,000 $1,485,000 $1,460,000 $1,400,000 $1,325,000 $1,310,000 $1,305,000 $1,299,000 $1,255,000 $1,250,000 $1,197,000 $1,170,000 $1,170,000 $1,150,000 $1,100,000 $1,070,000 $999,500 $980,000 $975,000 $925,000 $915,000 $910,000 $904,000 $900,000

3 3 5 3 6 3 4 3 5 4 4 3 4 5 4 3 4 5 3 6 2 3 3 3 3 3 2 4 3 5

03/17/16 03/08/16

$5,595,000 $4,800,000

4 5

PREV. SOLD

$159,500

01/26/1988

$315,000 $1,305,000 $1,230,000 $423,000

11/07/2011 08/18/2015 12/18/2003 07/30/1998

$544,000 $855,000 $302,500

12/11/1998 11/03/2010 11/29/1994

$1,540,000 $2,000,000 $1,580,000 $2,480,000 $1,325,000 $1,235,000 $888,000 $1,020,000 $1,750,000 $1,038,000 $167,000

04/18/2013 02/19/2002 12/17/2013 09/25/2007 02/07/2014 08/05/2011 09/30/2013 06/10/2014 05/02/2014 11/15/2013 12/28/1984

$182,000

08/30/1985

1911 1931 1938 1951 1988 1924 1978 1948

$625,000 $725,000 $284,500 $300,000

09/18/2014 08/06/2015 06/24/1988 06/23/1992

$675,000 $579,500

09/28/2015 06/25/2012

6736 4595 5033 2653 4496 2867 3000 2537 4055 3301 2618 2744 4272 2882 5070 2139 2784 2700 2632 3182 2390 2359 2427 2195 1632 1819 1601 2615 1857 2670

1922 1932 1991 1969 1975 1925 1973 1981 1988 1967 1990 1953 1927 1933 1989 1926 1980 1968 1971 1978 1954 1965 1979 1959 1925 1926 1948 1989 1961 1940

$1,990,000 $2,050,000 $551,000 $1,275,000 $88,000 $1,010,000 $140,000 $1,405,000 $995,000 $83,000 $1,126,000

03/19/2015 05/22/2014 10/05/1994 08/06/2013 07/28/1975 04/24/2015 02/14/1977 07/01/2008 01/24/2003 11/01/1976 08/06/2014

$860,000 $84,000

10/30/2014 12/12/1986

$405,000 $1,500,000 $865,000 $687,500 $875,000

03/26/1999 06/29/2006 07/15/2008 09/10/2015 10/25/2010

$649,000 $395,000

02/06/2002 11/29/2001

$900,000 $822,500

06/23/2014 02/07/2014

$555,000 $338,000

07/22/2002 07/16/1998

4798 5563

1927 2000

$3,500,000 01/30/2004 $3,925,000 04/25/2013 –continued on page 36

The Arroyo Home Sales Index is calculated from residential home sales in Pasadena and the surrounding communities of South Pasadena, San Marino, La Canada Flintridge, Eagle Rock, Glendale (including Montrose), Altadena, Sierra Madre, Arcadia and Alhambra. Individual home sales data provided by CalREsource. Arroyo Home Sales Index © Arroyo 2016. Complete home sales listings appear each week in Pasadena Weekly.

05.16 ARROYO | 35

–continued from page 35 ADDRESS CLOSE DATE LA CAÑADA 832 Valley Crest Street 03/31/16 03/04/16 4420 Woodleigh Lane 4155 Chevy Chase Drive 03/04/16 684 Wendover Road 03/09/16 4337 Cobblestone Lane 03/23/16 4824 Hill Street 03/15/16 4959 Commonwealth Avenue 03/08/16 208 Mariners View Street 03/01/16 5645 Burning Tree Drive 03/18/16 1016 White Deer Drive 03/04/16 2030 Lyans Drive 03/23/16 4803 Hill Street 03/16/16 4397 El Camino Corto 03/21/16 3919 Starland Drive 03/04/16 2007 Derwood Drive 03/04/16 5112 Redwillow Lane 03/11/16 827 La Porte Drive 03/29/16 2003 Manistee Drive 03/04/16 4514 La Granada Way 03/15/16 5168 La Canada Boulevard 03/31/16 1427 Verdugo Boulevard 03/30/16 4536 Commonwealth Avenue 03/15/16 5443 Godbey Drive 03/29/16 PASADENA 123 Hurlbut Street 03/24/16 03/01/16 1585 Pegfair Estates Drive 645 South Euclid Avenue 03/30/16 535 South Grand Avenue 03/29/16 196 South Orange Grove Blvd. #104 03/31/16 1030 South Oakland Avenue 03/14/16 3445 Vosburg Street 03/25/16 1109 Linda Glen Drive 03/15/16 705 South Mentor Avenue 03/15/16 1603 Hastings Heights Lane 03/11/16 1051 Pine Oak Lane 03/11/16 2405 Oswego Street 03/30/16 621 Westover Place 03/31/16 964 South Oakland Avenue 03/01/16 1767 La Cresta Drive 03/01/16 1690 East California Boulevard 03/18/16 432 Arlington Drive 03/09/16 155 Cordova Street #306 03/15/16 920 Granite Drive #305 03/31/16 1622 Casa Grande Street 03/02/16 1132 Wotkyns Drive 03/15/16 3521 San Pasqual Street 03/29/16 1990 Sierra Madre Villa Avenue 03/09/16 2675 Las Lunas Street 03/15/16 326 South Parkwood Avenue 03/18/16 2060 Windover Road 03/16/16 884 Old Mill Road 03/30/16 440 San Palo Place 03/01/16 280 Cherry Drive 03/25/16 103 Grace Terrace 03/11/16 455 Cherry Drive 03/08/16 215 Sequoia Drive 03/11/16 480 South Orange Grove Boulevard #803/03/16 1200 Riviera Drive 03/14/16 1865 Rose Villa Street 03/15/16 953 North Catalina Avenue 03/21/16 423 South Oak Avenue 03/14/16 360 South Orange Grove Boulevard #903/31/16 266 Palmetto Drive 03/10/16 2040 Fox Ridge Drive 03/16/16 1315 Lomay Place 03/15/16 1215 North Sierra Bonita Avenue 03/31/16 175 Sequoia Drive 03/24/16 318 Bonita Avenue 03/21/16 248 West Howard Street 03/25/16 840 North Fair Oaks Avenue 03/30/16 1451 North Altadena Drive 03/24/16 450 Santa Paula Avenue 03/17/16 SAN MARINO 1285 Oak Grove Avenue 03/08/16 03/09/16 665 South Santa Anita Avenue 2375 Adair Street 03/10/16 648 Winston Avenue 03/11/16 677 South Santa Anita Avenue 03/08/16 1665 Del Mar Avenue 03/15/16 970 Darby Road 03/23/16 1868 Palmas Drive 03/30/16 1550 Bellwood Road 03/21/16 1396 Bradbury Road 03/04/16 1985 San Marino Avenue 03/08/16 1900 Montrobles Place 03/18/16 2795 Monterey Road 03/09/16 SIERRA MADRE 722 Oak Crest Drive 03/21/16 03/24/16 695 Gatewood Lane 417 Mariposa Avenue 03/02/16 520 Sierra Meadows Drive 03/22/16 358 North Canon Avenue 03/03/16 409 Mariposa Avenue 03/14/16 SOUTH PASADENA 1840 Monterey Road 03/17/16 03/17/16 1635 Via Del Rey 1501 Santa Teresa Street 03/30/16 1945 Fletcher Avenue 03/15/16 312 Camino Verde 03/31/16 867 Monterey Road 03/04/16 36 | ARROYO | 05.16

PRICE

BDRMS.

SQ. FT.

YR. BUILT PREV. PRICE

PREV. SOLD

$3,001,000 $2,975,000 $2,625,000 $2,600,000 $2,470,000 $1,992,000 $1,895,500 $1,849,000 $1,820,000 $1,745,000 $1,675,000 $1,558,000 $1,550,000 $1,330,000 $1,275,000 $1,215,000 $1,195,000 $1,125,000 $1,030,000 $1,000,000 $944,000 $920,000 $916,000

5 3 5 3 4 3 2 4 4 3 5 3 4 2 3 3 2 3 3 4 2 3 2

2461 3339 3317 4169 2478 1386 2768 2033 3216 2381 2416 1196 3507 1959 2144 1844 1255 2279 1488 3030 1310 1828 2070

1952 1940 1934 1987 1958 1951 1948 1967 1964 1966 1963 1950 1998 1957 1962 1956 1947 1962 1957 1942 1933 1940 1966

$1,170,000 $1,910,000 $2,300,000 $1,137,500 $1,460,000 $850,000

10/10/2000 04/17/2012 06/15/2006 09/15/1998 02/19/2015 03/04/2015

$1,170,000 $80,000 $1,025,000 $409,000 $935,000 $1,320,000 $350,000

09/04/2015 04/27/1973 04/17/2012 04/17/1987 04/08/2015 03/24/2005 08/12/1994

$410,000 $820,000

08/29/1997 03/02/2015

$654,000

02/12/2004

$910,000 $900,000 $349,000

06/21/2007 08/04/2015 10/09/1997

$4,900,000 $2,825,000 $2,465,000 $2,300,000 $2,254,000 $2,200,000 $2,100,000 $1,927,000 $1,890,000 $1,825,000 $1,800,000 $1,750,000 $1,700,000 $1,662,000 $1,650,000 $1,600,000 $1,535,000 $1,500,000 $1,493,000 $1,465,000 $1,450,000 $1,425,000 $1,410,000 $1,350,000 $1,350,000 $1,315,000 $1,300,000 $1,245,000 $1,200,000 $1,185,000 $1,181,500 $1,150,000 $1,100,000 $1,090,000 $1,088,000 $1,028,000 $1,015,000 $1,000,000 $995,000 $955,000 $950,000 $950,000 $944,000 $940,000 $926,000 $900,000 $885,000 $880,000

1 4 5 4 3 4 4 3

627 3687 3540 2441 3250 3000 3020 2936

1906 1965 1908 1948 1921 1956 1973

5 4 5 4 5 2 4 3 3 2 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 4 3 3 3 2 3 2 4 3 4 4 2 3 3 2 6 2 3 8 5 3 2

4220 2181 1734 2018 2914 1352 2707 2457 2240 2340 2506 2536 2983 2755 2178 2488 2361 2667 2578 1840 2180 2522 2081 2020 2245 1664 1923 1821 2288 1849 2149 1865 2706 1747 1528 3600 2330 2151 780

1986 1970 1924 1947 1910 1956 1926 1955 2010 2009 1923 1925 1936 1962 1940 1925 1958 1926 1969 1950 1924 1947 1950 1972 1953 1924 1921 1927 1974 1975 1953 1952 1912 1958 1924 1925 1905 1949 1948

$2,240,000 $875,000 $2,100,000 $295,000 $2,295,000 $2,035,000 $635,000 $210,000 $1,000,000 $937,700 $1,575,000 $2,120,000 $1,380,000

06/03/2014 07/15/2011 05/27/2010 03/17/1981 11/25/2015 06/21/2005 05/23/1995 03/30/1979 03/05/2014 07/16/1993 07/20/2009 01/09/2014 05/02/2011

$800,000

12/17/2001

$575,000 $1,250,000 $1,385,000

05/19/1998 02/27/2013 06/30/2014

$1,030,000 $585,000 $1,007,510 $961,500 $599,000 $85,000

07/09/2010 12/17/1997 04/26/2004 09/02/2015 07/27/2000 07/10/1975

$475,000 $749,000 $955,000 $979,000 $875,000 $635,000 $384,500 $205,000

02/09/2001 07/30/2004 03/31/2010 12/08/2006 04/21/2009 10/02/2013 11/05/1992 08/26/1994

$475,000 $635,000 $725,000

06/16/2000 04/01/2004 01/13/2005

$125,000 $764,000 $620,000 $436,000 $174,000 $85,000 $420,000

03/22/1984 04/30/2007 05/05/2009 02/14/2003 07/19/1999 12/14/1977 10/11/2013

$6,200,000 $3,348,000 $2,880,000 $2,708,000 $2,238,000 $2,200,000 $2,140,000 $1,758,000 $1,752,000 $1,630,000 $1,550,000 $1,500,000 $1,370,000

8 4 5 4 3 7 5 2 3 3 4 3 4

6227 3520 3104 3220 2385 3976 2654 1968 1949 2068 2672 1662 2028

1930 1951 1937 1941 1948 1941 1948 1929 1940 1939 1938 1925 1951

$2,250,020 $1,388,000 $890,000 $770,000 $718,000

02/28/1995 05/23/2006 08/15/2000 07/24/1996 10/11/1991

$1,290,000

05/15/2009

$508,000 $320,000 $1,090,000

07/07/1999 07/24/1997 06/23/2015

$1,568,000 $1,320,000 $1,010,000 $960,000 $940,000 $922,000

3 5 0 3 2

3371 2677 0 1718 936

1991 1988

$1,117,000

11/16/2015

1963 1931

$835,000 $750,000

09/30/2013 05/05/2008

$1,860,000 $1,430,000 $1,330,000 $1,205,000 $1,070,000 $1,005,000

3 5 4 2 4 3

2999 2878 2385 1329 1977 1405

1909 1964 1965 1906 1972 1941

$1,790,000 $439,000 $1,300,000 $667,500

03/27/2008 12/19/1996 08/28/2014 12/19/2014

$700,000

03/01/2007

SHOWCASING

STORAGE STORAGE

Pasadena Showcase House designers created new storage spaces in the vintage home that function well for the way we live now.

BY ELIZABETH MCMILLIAN

CLASSICISTS WILL THRILL TO THE ELEGANT EXTERIOR OF THE 52ND PASADENA SHOWCASE HOUSE OF DESIGN, A MISSION REVIVAL ESTATE IN LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN DESIGNED BY CALTECH ARCHITECT MYRON HUNT FOR RESTAURATEUR LEON C. RIGGS. BUT THESE DAYS, EVEN PURISTS WOULD FIND IT DIFFICULT TO ACTUALLY LIVE IN THE FORMER DRYBOROUGH HALL AS IT WAS BUILT IN 1918 — LONG BEFORE AMERICANS’ CONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION BALLOONED WITH THE RISE OF AMAZON, MADISON AVENUE, THE OSCARS RED CARPET, GROUPON, FASHION SHOWS AND CELEBRITY MAGAZINES

PHOTO: PHO PH HO OTO: T Peter Peter t Valli Valli

AND ON AND ON. In short, homes built a century ago had little storage because people didn’t need more. Today, we have much more stuff. So where to put it all?

Enter some of the 30 designers who took on the task of transforming the 16,000-square-foot residence and 2,000-square-foot guesthouse on two acres for one of the country’s oldest and most successful home-and-garden tours. The goal: to update the home for today’s lifestyles while honoring its traditional roots.

Here are three Showcase House spaces stylishly remodeled to accommodate the way we live now: the master suite’s dressing room, the family room and the grandparents’ suite bathroom. All achieve the highest standards in terms of space, technical detail and design.

–continued –c onti ont tinu inued d on page pag ge 38 38 05.16 | ARROYO | 37

–continued from page 37

Master Suite Dressing Room Pasadena’s Ederra Design Studio (ederradesign.com) created a light-fi lled 525-square-foot closet and dressing room that simply didn’t exist before. As Ederra’s Samantha Williams explains: “One of our challenges was combining two master suites with small closets. In a large stately home like this, it seemed appropriate to make the closet a spotlight, turning it into a luxurious master dressing room.

We picked the northern bedroom, which received less light but had a fi replace and beautiful views, and we designed it as a closet that also functions as a second living room within the suite.”

The reconfigured storage and dressing space is enhanced with luxurious window treatments, heirloom furniture, antique rugs and traditional lighting in tune with the home’s heritage.

Design partner Cynthia Lambakis adds: “Since it is a room that gets quite a bit of light and has many windows, we were conscientious to put doors on all of the wardrobes so that dust collection and fading would not be an issue. We wanted to make it as attractive as possible so we used beautiful cabinetry and hardware. On one wall we covered all the cabinetry with mirror panels that make the space look larger and reflect the light from outside as well as from the chandelier and sconces. The mirror panels add a decorative touch to an otherwise functional cabinet.”

The designers detailed all the cabinetry above the mirrored closet doors with interior lighting so its contents can be easily seen against an attractive back glow. The room’s center is occupied by additional — and substantial — storage space in the form of a marble-topped island, about 4 feet by 10 feet, with 16 soft-close drawers on each side. The top drawers are velvet-lined and divided for jewelry storage.

“I can imagine morning coffee there or, particularly, evening packing for a trip,” continues Williams, “placing everything out on that marble counter. And I can see myself taking a break to assess my choices, lying back on the British Colonial chaise by the fi replace and enjoying a glass of wine. It is just a very comfortable space for living and for storage function.”

The closet system was co-designed and installed by the Closet Factory, as was the storage island topped with Statuarietto marble. The chandelier is from Visual Comfort & Co. in New York, and the window treatments are from Fabritec Designs of North Hollywood. Cushions from the Portico Collection top the window seat, while the wool rug comes from Norbert’s Rug Gallery in Pasadena.

38 | ARROYO | 05.16

PHOTO: Peter Valli

–continued on page 40

05.16 | ARROYO | 39

–continued from page 38

CAPTION:

Family Room Creating storage was an imperative for San Marino designer Robert Frank when he reconfigured the family room. “It is not unusual that the historic homes we’ve worked on have very limited storage, so we always try to incorporate as much additional storage as we can,” Frank says. “In the case of the Showcase House’s family room, there was no storage...We added additional cabinets so the homeowners would have plenty of storage, both hidden enclosed storage and decorative open-shelf storage so they could display items.”

Frank installed two walls of new cabinetry, so true to the home’s original aesthetic that the unsuspecting would assume they were always there. The previous owner had already combined two first-floor bedrooms into one space and opened up the wall adjacent to the main hallway, so they were separated only by a low wall connected to the lintel by pillars. “We originally wanted to remove the pillars within the room but they were structural and had to stay,” Frank says. “We minimized them and made it work.”

Frank built out the media wall on one end, dedicating several cabinets to the television and stereo equipment alone. To add decorative shelving, “we actually used metal mesh on the doors to give it an interesting vintage feel that’s appropriate to the era of the architecture of the house,” he adds. The glint and gleam of the metal mesh and hardware impart a fresh sparkly aura.

At the opposite end of the room, Frank replaced a glass display cabinet with a wet bar and additional cabinetry. “It is now quite usual today to use the soft-close doors and self-closing drawers, yet these cabinets still have an older vintage feel — what we call ‘flush inset cabinetry.’ However, they have all the modern technology so they are fully functional.”

The custom cabinetry and ceiling coffers, along with a neutral palette of whites accented by shades of cream, striated fl ax textures on the coffeetable and indigo and navy-blue upholstery fabrics make this a timeless, light-fi lled space with ample storage for today’s media-driven lifestyle. Says Frank: “It was our goal to make it a casual comfortable room, an informal retreat that would function well.”

A white marble-topped table on black-walnut pillars designed by Frank is the focal point of the far end of the room, which is lined with new cabinetry. The front and seat of the custom dining chairs are upholstered in Thibaut’s Diamonte fabric in almond; the back is covered in Thibaut’s Tigris Velvet in beige. Thibault also made the Rye Linen fabric in natural used for the drapes. The pendant lamp is from Visual Comfort & Co. The table is next to a built-in sideboard under an antique mirror inset.

40 | ARROYO | 05.16

PHOTOS: Clark Dugger

Frank created plenty of storage space with custom cabinetry installed by Juan Covarrubias Construction of Pasadena, which also installed an inset ultra-high-definition Bang & Olufsen TV that’s state-of-the-art. The custom-designed sofas are covered in Thibaut Design’s Montebello Herringbone fabric in flax. Frank also designed the black-walnut ottoman topped with blue tufted leather. The blue-and-white Chinese ginger-jar lamp is from Visual Comfort & Co. in New York.

PHOTO: Peter Valli

All the tile is from Pasadena’s Foothill Tile & Stone Co. (which also designed the room), installed by Enrique Estrada Tile Stone Fabrication. The charcoal-colored vanity (at left) is Wood-Mode Fine Custom Cabinetry from Sierra Custom Kitchens of Pasadena, and the chandelier is from Pasadena Lighting. Over the sink is a mirrored Robern Medicine Cabinet from George’s Pipe & Supply of Pasadena, which also installed the Sigma sink and shower faucet.

Grandparents’ Suite Bath Carmel Chow and Vincent Chow of Foothill Tile and Stone Co. (foothilltile. com) in Pasadena transformed a tired bathroom with a pedestal sink, toilet, showertub combo and tall-but-small chest of drawers into a spa retreat. Arched windows distinguish the architecture of the large bath between the bedroom and sitting room of the grandparents’ suite. “Originally, it had no built-in storage and lots of wasted space,” Carmel says.

By moving the commode to a private niche behind a new wall, the designers freed up the space next to beautiful arch windows overlooking the garden. They installed a large freestanding vanity and, over the basin between the windows, a mirrored cabinet illuminated by a crystal chandelier. The vanity’s white marble top offers ample counter space, while the interior provides abundant storage, with self-closing drawers. Its deep charcoal hue picks up the accent colors in the exquisite surrounding marble tile, arranged in sophisticated mosaics in gray and pearl.

Against the opposite wall, the designers installed a generous walk-in rainfall shower with two benches and two storage nooks. “We wanted a big shower and wanted it ‘elder-friendly,’” Carmel says. “There is no jamb or threshold to the marbletiled shower, which has large double-glass doors that open in or out, and there is an infinity drain so the water just flows back into the wall.” Installing the new shower also involved removing a sitting area previous owners had created next to the showertub to hide air-conditioning ductwork. The designers hid the ductwork behind a faux-faced base cabinet, adding deep open-glass shelves for storage above.

If you go…

The 52nd Pasadena Showcase House of Design runs through May 15 in La Cañada Flintridge. Visitors park at the Rose Bowl, Lot I, where they can pick up a free shuttle to the residence. Tickets cost $35 to $45 and can be ordered by mail, online or by calling (714) 442-3872. Over the years, the nonprofit Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts, which organizes the annual fundraiser, has gifted more than $20 million to the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association as well as music and arts education and audience outreach.

Call (626) 578-8500 or visit pasadenashowcase.org.

05.16 | ARROYO | 41

42 | ARROYO | 05.16

ERASED

Was Eraserhead’s Jack Nance rubbed out in South Pasadena?

BY MICHAEL CERVIN –continued on page 44

05.16 | ARROYO | 43

ACTOR JACK NANCE DIED 20 YEARS AGO, NOT FAR FROM THE PASADENA PLAYHOUSE WHERE HE REPORTEDLY WANTED TO STUDY ACTING. POLICE INITIALLY THOUGHT HIS DEATH A HOMICIDE, STEMMING FROM AN INCIDENT AT A WINCHELL’S DONUT PARKING LOT IN SOUTH PASADENA. NANCE, WHO PLAYED THE TITLE ROLE IN DAVID LYNCH’S SURREAL CULT FILM ERASERHEAD (1977), LIVED THROUGH AN ODD AMALGAM OF ALCOHOLIC BINGES, REBELLION, HUMOR, MISERY AND BURSTS OF GLORY. DUBBED “THE ELVIS OF ALIENATION” BY PEOPLE MAGAZINE, HIS LIFE AND DEATH WERE AS STRANGE AS ANY LYNCH STORY LINE. As I roll into the Winchell’s Donut House lot at 438 S. Fair Oaks Ave. at 6 a.m., the air is hushed, the dawn breaking in tangerine light as a lone bread truck rumbles up the street to deliver pastries. It was in this mundane parking lot, at 5 a.m. on Dec. 29, 1996, that the incident occurred. Nance, known for his bad temper, reportedly got into a brawl with two men and was punched in the face and knocked to the ground. He would then have walked south along Fair Oaks, crossing the street to get to his low-rent apartment near the entrance to the 101 Freeway. At this point Fair Oaks measures about 70 feet across; it took me less than two minutes to walk to his apartment from Winchell’s. It must have taken Nance longer — at just 53, he was in poor health after years of alcohol abuse and was undoubtedly dazed by the punch to his face. His body was discovered the next day in his apartment.

44 | ARROYO | 05.16

Marvin John Nance was born in Boston and raised in Dallas, the oldest of Neiman Marcus exec Hoyt and Agnes Nance’s three boys. After discovering performing at North Texas State University, where he majored in journalism, Jack dropped out to pursue acting gigs. “He always did things 100 percent,” brother Richard Nance told Premiere magazine after his death. Twenty-year-old Jack packed his dreams into a suitcase and reportedly headed for the Pasadena Playhouse, although the theater told Arroyo Monthly it had no record of his enrollment. Nance eventually became a favored member of Lynch’s ensemble fi lms, appearing in five of the director’s seven features and as a semi-regular on his TV series Twin Peaks. Yet his strange gravity-defying hairdo in Eraserhead, which became an icon of early indie cinema, is probably much better known than his name.

As an odd posthumous documentary on Nance demonstrated, his life was like a Shakespearean tragedy, punctuated with promise but fi lled with despair. Aptly titled I Don’t Know Jack (2002), the fi lm, presented by Lynch, offers insight into the actor and the people he left behind, who all talk candidly about his peculiar sense of humor, loner ways and voracious consumption of alcohol.

As Premiere recounted after his death: “No one remembers when Nance began to drink. A couple of times during Eraserhead Lynch sent Nance back to his dressing room to sleep off the booze. He’d get drunk and sometimes end up sleeping in vacant lots.” Lynch told the magazine that any director who wanted Nance for a project would fi rst have to put effort into finding him. “He was completely unmotivated,” Lynch said. The director didn’t respond to an interview request.

Needless to say, Nance’s career was defined less by ambition than by the luck of the draw. To make ends meet, he worked odd jobs, including one at a cheap hotel where he was twice held up at gunpoint. Yet he also appeared in major fi lms (albeit as a minor player), including Johnny Dangerously (1984), Colors (1988) and Lynch’s Wild at Heart (1990). Meanwhile, he kept drinking. He married fellow Lynch cast member Catherine Coulson (best known as the Log Lady in Twin Peaks) in 1968, but the marriage ended in 1976. In 1991 he married Kelly Van Dyke, the daughter of actor Jerry Van Dyke (Coach) and niece of Dick Van Dyke, but that marriage ended in tragedy six months later, when she hanged herself. Kelly had been in rehab because of a substance-abuse problem, something the couple shared, though Nance

PHOTO: Michael Cervin

–continued from page 43

Nance played lumberjack Pete Martell in Lynch’s TV series Twin Peaks (1990–91).

was now sober. According to Richard Nance, Jack, who was in California fi lming Meatballs 4 at the time, told Kelly in a phone call that their marriage was over. She threatened suicide, but then a lightning storm suddenly knocked out the phone lines and Jack could not reconnect with her. When police eventually broke into her Oregon apartment, she was dead. By all accounts, Jack was distraught. He began to drink again, and for the next five years, his life spiraled downward. A year before his death, Jack told his brother Dennis he had a brain clot and only a year to live, Dennis recalled in the documentary. When brother Richard visited him over Thanksgiving, a month before his death, he said he noted Jack was in “real bad shape.”

On Dec. 29, 1996, Jack had lunch with actor friend Catherine Case and her thenfiancé, screenwriter Leo Bulgarini. They noticed what they later described to police as a “crescent-shaped bruise” under Nance’s right eye, which led him to recount the fight at the Winchell’s parking lot the previous morning. “I mouthed off and I got what I deserved,” Jack reportedly told Case. During the lunch, Jack, who’d suffered two minor strokes over the previous 18 months, complained of a headache and went home.

The following day, Bulgarini went to Jack’s apartment and found him crumpled on the bathroom floor. The autopsy revealed that, in addition to the head injury, Nance’s blood alcohol level was a staggering .24 percent. Police said the cause of death was “blunt-force trauma” to the head, but investigators failed to find evidence of the alleged fight. That’s curious, when you consider that Winchell’s windows overlook the parking lot, and you can even see Jack’s apartment building across the street. But in 1996 no one saw anything, leading observers to question whether the incident had really occurred.

An L.A. County Sheriff ’s Department Cold Case Unit spokesman told Arroyo Monthly that the coroner listed Jack’s death as “undetermined” — not as a homicide — and it’s “still an open case.” Did Jack slip and fall in a drunken stupor? Was there a fight? Did the alleged clot cause Jack to lose consciousness and bang his head?

We do not know. All we know for sure is that years of self-abuse, both physical and emotional, took a heavy toll on Jack Nance. As for his death, perhaps it really is an unsolved homicide — a story with no end. As Charlotte Stewart, who played Jack’s wife in Eraserhead, says in the documentary, that would be a happy ending — of sorts.

“In some kind of quirky way,” Stewart says, “he would have loved that.” |||| 05.16 | ARROYO | 45

46 | ARROYO | 05.16

KITCHEN CONFESSIONS

Sweet Tarts IF IIT’ IF IT’S T S SU T’ S SUMM SUMMER UMM MME MER ER FFRUIT RUI RU UIT IT S SEA SEASON, EA E ASO SON, N, THAT THA HAT CAN CAN ONLY ONLY MEAN MEA M EAN EA N ONE ONE THING… ON THING THIN G…

BY LLESLIE ES SLIE EB BI ILD DERBA ER RBA ACK BILDERBACK –continued on page 48

05.16 | ARROYO | 47

KITCHEN CONFESSIONS

Pâte Sucrée (a sweet, buttery tart dough)

INGREDIENTS 8 ounces unsalted butter (2 sticks) ½ cup granulated sugar

1 large egg 3 cups cake or all-purpose fl our

METHOD 1. Cream together butter and sugar until smooth and lump-free. (You can do this in a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or by hand with a sturdy spoon.) Add the egg and beat until thoroughly combined. Add the flour all at once and stir it in slowly until a dough forms.

If you add the flour a little at a time you will overwork it and the finished product will be tough.

But if you don’t stir in the flour slowly, you’ll get flour everywhere.

2. Divide the dough in two, press into flat discs, wrap in plastic and chill at least 1 hour.

One common mistake is to use the dough just after it is made. Dough needs to chill to be workable, letting the flour absorb the moisture and the softened butter re-solidify. But because this dough is half butter, it gets very hard in the fridge. We wrap it in small flat packages to make it easier to warm to a workable texture. You should chill them at least an hour, but the dough can also be left several weeks in the freezer. Professionals typically make dough in large batches and freeze them in small packages for use throughout the week.

3. Coat a tart pan with pan spray.

I suggest a false-bottom pan, because it is easy to unmold and serve neatly. I also like tart rings, which form only the side of a pan. (A parchment-lined baking sheet serves as the pan bottom.) False-bottom pans come in various sizes and shapes, and have fluted sides. Tart rings have straight smooth sides.

4. Dust your work surface with flour, and pinch off only as much dough as you’ll need for one tart shell.

(You will have to guesstimate this.) Knead it briefly to soften slightly, and pat into a disc. (When you start with a round piece of dough, you’re more likely to end up with a round piece of dough.) You are now going to roll the dough into a circle a couple of inches larger than your tart pan, and no more than a quarter-inch thick.

There is a trick to this rolling business. First, do not be alarmed if the dough cracks or sticks.The dough will crack if it’s too cold, and it will stick if it’s too warm. But these are easy fixes. Too warm?

Chill it. Too cold, let it sit on the counter a few minutes to warm up. Easy. My best advice is to work fast, and roll with purpose. Don't answer the phone or get distracted by Facebook. And don't hesitate to use plenty of flour on your work table while rolling.

Now, the rolling. Roll in one direction only, then give the dough a quarter-turn after each roll.

Roll, turn, roll, turn — until it is the size you need. That way, you will keep it round. This also alerts you instantly if it starts to stick, enabling you to compensate with a dusting of flour. If you press and roll the dough in one spot, it will surely stick, be uneven, look bad and frustrate you.

5. Now it’s time to transfer the dough to the pan, which we call lining the pan. If you have rolled quickly, the dough will still be cold and should lift easily. If you took your time, you may need to roll it loosely around the pin to move it. Press the dough into the pan, pinching off the top rim flush with the rim of the pan. If the dough cracks or tears, it is not a big deal. In fact, none of this is a big deal. It’s just a tart, not a cure for cancer. Take a deep breath, and patch it as needed. When your shell is lined, freeze it for 10 minutes while you preheat your oven to 350°. If you plan on using a filling that needs to be baked, you can add that now. But if you plan to use a no-bake filling, the shell needs to be blind baked.

–continued from page 47

P

eople often tell me that rolling out tart dough is the one baking technique that befuddles them. Experienced bakers do it without thinking, but novice bakers often see it as a process specifically designed to frustrate them. Like any useful skill, it takes practice. But there are a few insider tips I can offer. With a little practice, you’ll be ready to rock as we head into summer fruit season (which is, by extension, tart season).

Th is dough can be used with any number of fi llings, and there are some suggestions at the end of the recipe. But here I am concentrating on the crust only, because that requires real skill. I know from experience that this recipe is going to freak out some of you. But I promise nothing bad will happen to you. Just go with the flow, and repeat to yourself, “Cooking is fun. Cooking is fun.”

48 | ARROYO | 05.16

6. They call this “blind baking,” but you can actually see everything all the time. It’s a stupid term, but an important technique. We fill the shell with a fake filling to simulate the weight of a real filling, holding the dough in place as it bakes. (A dough such as this, with so much butter, will melt into a blob without this blind-baking technique.) Take the tart shell out of the freezer and set it on a baking sheet. (This will make taking it in and out of the oven easier.) Line it with foil, and fill it to the rim with dried beans or rice. Don't buy special pie weights or baking pearls or whatever the “gourmet stores” want to sell you. It’s all a scam. (I have a bin of dried beans that I have been using for 20 years. Just another tidbit about me you didn’t need to know.)

Bake until the rim begins to turn golden brown, about 20 minutes. Spin it around occasionally so that it browns evenly. When it looks like it has solidified, carefully (I mean it!) remove the fake filling and liner.The bottom of the shell will look doughy and raw. Return to the oven to bake another 5 minutes with no beans, until the bottom is golden brown and clearly cooked. Remove from the oven and let it cool completely. Now you can fill your shell with pastry cream and fresh fruit, chocolate mousse and raspberries, no-bake cheesecake filling and peaches, lemon curd and blueberries, banana cream or any other fresh, ripe, delicious filling you can think of. During the holidays you can use this for your pumpkin and pecan pies. The same dough can be used to line individual tartlet shells. This recipe is too sweet for a savory tart (like a quiche) but the rolling and blind-baking methods are the same.

Now you’re ready to greet the summer with some smart tart art. What are you waiting for? Start! |||| Leslie Bilderback is a certified master baker, chef and the author of Mug Meals: More Than 100 No-Fuss Ways to Make a Delicious Microwave Meal in Minutes. She lives in South Pasadena and teaches her techniques online at culinarymasterclass.com.

05.16 | ARROYO | 49

THE LIST COMPILED BY JOHN SOLLENBERGER Huntington Happenings

514 S. Spring St., L.A. For tickets, visit web.

May 2 — Astronomer

hnandartists.com for information.

ovationtix.com/trs/cal/28125; visit brynco-

Kevin Schlaufman,

Stepping It Up at Caltech

Carnegie-Princeton Fellow at the

May 7 and 8 — The

Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science, discusses the exoplanets

Capitol Steps comedy

outside our solar system discovered

group performs at

in the past 10 years and the progress

8 p.m. at Beckman Auditorium. The troupe

made in the search for life outside the

of former Congressional staffers delivers

galaxy. Admission to the 7:30 p.m. talk is

original song parodies poking fun at

free; no reservations required. Visit obs.

politicians and other newsmakers. Tickets

carnegiesience.edu.

cost $35 to $45, $10 for youth high-school

May 6 and 7 — Celebrate Mother’s Day

age and younger.

over brunch, with seatings at 10:30 a.m.,

Beckman Auditorium is located on Michi-

12:30 and 2:30 p.m. Tickets cost $55, $27.50

gan Avenue south of Del Mar Boulevard,

for children four to 12, free for children

Pasadena. Call (626) 395-4652 or visit

three and younger. Call (626) 405-2246 for

events.caltech.edu.

reservations.

May 7 — On Fiber Arts Day, expert techniques for spinning, weaving, dying

Roses, Birds and Stitches at Descanso

with natural plant dyes and carding and

May 7 — Descanso

craftsmen showcase centuries-old

combing fibers such as cotton and linen,

Gardens salutes the

from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Free with

second annual Bird L.A. Day by celebrating

regular admission.

our feathered friends in all-day festivities.

May 14 — The exhibition Geographies of

A family bird walk takes off at 10 a.m., free

Wonder, Part 1: Origin Stories of America’s

with Descanso admission. Visit birdla.org for

through Sept. 3. Part 2 is scheduled to open

BEER AND BRATS BENEFIT FOR BABY BOOKS

information.

in October.

May 7 — Friends of the Pasadena Public Library host the annual “Beer, Brats

from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Floral artist Alison

May 16 — The Carnegie Observatories

and Books” fundraiser at 7 p.m. at the Pasadena Public Library’s Central

Franchi and makeup artist Jennifer Aspinall

Lecture Series features astronomer

Branch. Craftbeerking.com will have microbrews on tap, and Robin’s Wood Fire

create a “human vase” — a living artwork

Katherine Alatalo, Hubble Fellow at

Barbecue provides brats, sauerkraut, salad and garlic fries. Desserts are served

using a model as a canvas — from 11 a.m.

the Carnegie Observatories, discussing

by Nothing Bunt Cakes. Misplaced Priorities plays tunes of the 1960s and

to 2 p.m. A Rose Garden walk and talk

the Hubble sequence of galaxies, the

’70s. Tickets cost $50, $90 for two. Proceeds benefit the library’s Born to Read

starts at 1 p.m. All activities are free with

galaxies’ violent histories and the avenues

Pasadena program, providing first-time mothers with books for infants and

regular Descanso admission of $9, $6 for

to galactic expansion at 7:30 p.m.

parenting resources to help foster an early interest in reading.

seniors and students and $4 for children

Free; no reservations required. Visit obs.

The Pasadena Public Library’s Central Branch is located at 285 E. Walnut St.,

five to 12; members and children four and

carnegiescience.edu.

Pasadena. Call (626) 744-4066 for library information and visit friendsppl.org for

younger are admitted free.

The Huntington Library, Art Collections

tickets.

May 17 — Descanso rose experts teach

National Parks, 1872–1933 explores the origins and evolution of our national parks with materials from the Huntington’s archives, opening today and running

May 14 and 15 — Descanso’s Rose Festival features various activities both days: A rare-rose discovery station runs from 9 a.m. to noon. Floral art activities go

and Botanical Gardens is located at 1151

garden-care techniques at 10 a.m. Guests

Oxford Rd., San Marino. Call (626) 405-

should bring gloves. (Descanso admission is

2100 or visit huntington.org.

continues at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays

presents two evenings of innovative

free the third Tuesday of every month.)

and 2:30 p.m. Sundays. Tickets cost $30, $27

dance at the L.A. Theatre Center with

May 28 — Learn beginning hand

Tennessee Williams Comes to Sierra Madre

for seniors, $20 for youth 13 to 20 and $17

its productions of Home and the West

embroidery with artist Jenny Hart as

for children 12 and younger.

Coast debut of Skin. The New York–based

you stitch her original design inspired by

The Sierra Madre Playhouse is located

dance troupe brings together dance,

Descanso Gardens from 9 to 11:30 a.m.

May 6 — The Sierra

at 87 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre.

theater, original music, scenic design

The cost is $120 ($110 for members). Pre-

Madre Playhouse

Call (626) 355-4318 or visit sieramadre-

and an exciting intermission exhibition.

registration is required.

playhouse.org.

Performances start at 8 p.m. both nights.

Descanso Gardens is located at 1418 Des-

production of the Tennessee Williams

Tickets cost $32, $24 for seniors and

canso Dr., La Cañada Flintridge. Call (818)

Menagerie, opens at 8 p.m. today and

Pioneering Dance Moves

students.

949-4200 or visit descansogardens.org.

continues through June 12. The show

May 6 and 7 — Bryn Cohn + Artists

The L.A. Theatre Center is located at

semi-autobiographical classic, The Glass

50 | ARROYO | 05.16

–continued on page 53

05.16 | ARROYO | 51

52 | ARROYO | 05.16

THE LIST –continued from page 50

Children’s Chorus Turns 30

Society hosts the “Rockin’ for the

May 7 — L.A.

from 7 to 11 a.m. at Hahamongna

Children’s Chorus’

Watershed Park. The fundraiser features

30th-anniversary

live music, food trucks, giveaways, finisher

Homeless” 5K run/walk and kiddie dash

celebrations continue at 7 p.m. with the

medals, 5K participant T-shirts and a rock

group’s annual spring concert at First

star costume contest. Registration costs

United Methodist Church of Pasadena.

$45 from May 1 through 11, $50 May 12

Artistic Director Anne Tomlinson helms

until race day. Registration starts at

this evening of contemporary and

7 a.m., the adult runners’ race begins at

traditional tunes. Ticket prices start at

8:30 a.m., walkers take off at 8:45 a.m.

$40; half-price for those 17 and younger.

and kiddie dashers at 9:45 a.m.

The First United Methodist Church of

Hahamongna Watershed Park is located

Pasadena is located at 500 E. Colorado

at 4550 Oak Grove Dr., Pasadena. Regis-

Blvd., Pasadena. Call (626) 793-4321 or

ter at unionstationhs.org.

visit lachildrenschorus.org.

Storytelling with a Smile

Chamber Orchestra Celebrates Cello

May 12 — Author Ty

May 14 — Composer,

Fance (left) brings his irreverent, funny and

conductor and poet Matthew Aucoin will conduct a world

poignant real-life stories to Altadena’s

premiere of his work during the L.A.

Coffee Gallery Backstage at 7:30 p.m.

Chamber Orchestra’s 8 p.m. concert

The tales are drawn from his adventurous

at the Alex Theatre. Music Director

childhood, challenging teen years and

Jeffrey Kahane conducts the remainder

often-mystifying adulthood, brought to

of the concert, featuring Mozart’s

life with vivid and animated images. Also

Piano Concerto No. 17 in G major and

appearing is comedian Jamie Bridgers.

Schumann’s Symphony No. 2 in C major,

Tickets cost $10.

Op. 61. The concert repeats at 7 p.m.

Coffee Gallery Backstage is located at

May 15 at UCLA’s Royce Hall. Ticket

2029 N. Lake Ave., Altadena. Call (626)

prices start at $27.

798-6236 or visit coffeegallery.com.

The Alex Theatre is located at 216 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale. Call (213) 622-

Music under the Stars in Pasadena

7001 or visit laco.org.

May 21 — LACO’s Baroque

May 14 — The

Conversations series finale at 8 p.m.

Pasadena Symphony

features cello concertos performed by

and Pops presents a

acclaimed cellists Colin Carr (above),

free 7:30 p.m. concert under the stars

Thomas Demenga, Jean-Guihen

outside Pasadena City Hall. Larry Blank

Queyras and Giovanni Sollima at

conducts music from Broadway, film

USC’s Bovard Auditorium. The program,

and the Great American Songbook,

also part of USC’s 2016 Piatigorsky

featuring vocalists Katherine Strohmaier,

International Cello Festival, includes

Dale Kristien (above) and Norman Large.

C.P.E. Bach’s Cello Concerto in A major,

Festivities start at 5:30 p.m. with a musical

Boccherini’s Cello Concerto in G major,

instrument petting zoo, pre-concert

Leo’s Cello Concerto No. 3, Piatti’s Cello

family fun and gourmet food trucks.

Concerto in D minor and Vivaldi’s Cello

Pasadena City Hall is located at 100 N.

Concerto in C minor. Tickets cost $80 for

Garfield Ave., Pasadena. Call (626) 793-

adults and seniors, $40 for students.

7172 or visit pasadenasymphony-pops.org.

USC’s Bovard Auditorium is located at 3551 Trousdale Parkway, L.A. Call (213)

Running for the Homeless Rocks

740-4672 or visit laco.org.

May 14 — Pasadena’s Union Station Homeless Services Young Leaders

–continued on page 54 05.16 | ARROYO | 53

THE LIST Gamble House Exterior

FREE TOUR OF ARROYO MUSEUMS May 15 — Museums of the Arroyo Day offers free admission and activities at six local cultural and historical institutions.The annual event, from noon to 5 p.m., includes Pasadena’s Gamble House,The Autry’s Southwest Museum Mt. Washington Campus, Heritage Square Museum, the L.A. Police Museum, the Lummis Home and Garden and the Pasadena Museum of History.The day includes children’s activities and family fun, including boarding a retired LAPD helicopter at the L.A. Police Museum, learning Victorian dances at Heritage Square Museum, viewing pueblo pottery at the Southwest Museum and more. Free shuttles connect all stops.

Visit museumsofthearroyo.com.

–continued from page 53

Carnival Helps Altadena Preschool

show at the Magic Box at The Reef in

May 14— Village Playgarden, a holistic

who’s who of the industry, with experts’

preschool and kindergarten in Altadena,

talks and product demonstrations.

hosts a spring carnival and fundraiser from

The event also includes sports and

10 a.m. to 4 p.m., featuring puppet shows,

entertainment celebrities, plus fun and

storytelling, food, games, a tea tent, crafts,

educational activities for all levels of

family fun for all ages, live music and a

enthusiasts. Exhibitors will offer deals and

marketplace. Admission is free.

discounts available only at the show.

Village Playgarden is located at 3636

Hours run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. both

Skylane Dr., Altadena. Call (626) 296-6901

days. Tickets cost $10 for a one-day

or visit villageplaygarden.org.

pass, $15 for both days; children 12 and younger are admitted free.

54 | ARROYO | 05.16

Frontiers of Photography in Focus

Magic Box at The Reef is located at 1933

May 21 and 22 — Samy’s Camera

S. Broadway, L.A. Visit photoconla.com

presents PhotoCon L.A., a two-day

for the schedule and samys.com for

cinema and photo consumer trade

company information. ||||

PHOTO: Alexander Vertifkoff

downtown L.A. The show will be a virtual

05.16 | ARROYO | 55

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