Serving San Diego’s Premier Urban Communities for 21 Years sdnorthparknews.com
Vol. 21 No. 6 June 2013
Hot Diggity for Wiggity Bang Games!
2013 People in Preservation Awards
South Park couple make whimsical board games for fun and profit
Dalia and Gordon Hunt (foreground) with researchers Kiley and Alexandra Wallace (top left) and contractor Jim Stafford.
SOHO pays tribute to individuals and groups who have helped preserve important aspects of the region’s heritage P S L
HOTOS BY ANDÉ OLLIS
Entrepreneurs Matthew and Jean Rivaldi run Wiggity Bang Games in South Park.
Can you recall the last time you played a board game? Sitting Indian style on the bare carpet behind a colorful stack of money — dice in hand, contemplating your next move — the strategy — “Monopolizing” the board. While Companies and Markets reported a 6 percent increase in sales of board games in 2011, there are indications that last year did not fare as well. In January, Gerrick Johnson, toy analyst for BMO Capital Markets, was FURT is a party game.
SEE GAMES, Page 10
Dalia and Gordon Hunt purchased the 1913 three-story Henry and Lavina Nelson house in Mission Hills that they said had been “masquerading” as an updated Arts & Craftsstyle home. It’s bad features: vinyl siding, fake rock veneer and Tex-Cote paint that smothered all the texture and details in the brick chimney and wood trim. “Without flinching, (the Hunts) asked me to remove all of the aforementioned improvements and to bring the house back to its original condition,” said contractor Jim Stafford. Stafford and his crew removed the vinyl siding and were taken aback by what they found. Decades ago, the siding crew had knocked off many three-dimensional elements, such as corbels, knee braces and trim, to create a flat surface to install their product. Fortunately, old paint outlines of these elements and extant originals guided the restoration process, as did historic photographs of the house.
Restoration brought the home back to being a handsome, English-influenced Arts & Crafts-style abode with half-timbering, wood shingle siding, exposed brick porch columns and 50 working windows, all freed from unattractive coverings or neglect, and carefully restored or replicated. For this painstaking work, the Hunts and Stafford were awarded a 2013 People in Preservation Award by the Save Our Heritage Organisation. Stafford, who wrote an account of the work, called it “From Muddled to Magnificent.” Also honored at the May 23 awards ceremony at Point Loma Assembly: Daniel Ramirez Another startling transformation of a mistreated house and city of San Diego landmark — this one flirting with
NORTH PARK SCENE Rockin’ and Dancin’ Pottery Guild Holds Spring Sale Thousands of pieces of hand-made ceramics by many of San Diego’s best potters will be featured at the San Diego Pottery Guild’s spring sale June 8-9 in Balboa Park’s Spanish Village patio area. All of the items at the sale are one-of-a-kind. Works range from functional ware such as plates, bowls and coffee cups to more decorative and sculptural forms such as ceramic shoes, garden lanterns and conch shells. Prices range from a few dollars to a few hundred dollars. In addition to buying hand-made ceramics, you can also meet the artists. Most of the Guild members will be available to answer questions SEE SCENE, Page 5 about ceramics in general or
in Bird Park
11th annual concert series opens June 15 The 2013 Bird Park Summer Concert Series opens June 15 with a performance by Lenny “Fuzzy” Rankins, a Grammy Award-winning jazz and blues musician who should be most familiar to San Diego radio listeners. The concert series — now in its 11th year, is produced by the North Park Community Association SEE CONCERT, Page 6
Okapi Sun performs on June 29.
SEE PRESERVATION, Page 13