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Vol. 23 No. 5 May 2015
C STREET PANORAMA
Around the Neighborhood John and Hanna Santos cultivate a garden of plants, tortoises, fish that live in a rain barrel, a free book library and much more in their Arizon Street home. PAGE 5
Rudd and Sally Schoeffel in their C Street home that they have been restoring since they purchased it in February 1998.
Science Fun at the Circus A hands-on circus is the next big exhbition at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center. At “CIRCUS: Science Under the Big Top,” kids and adults can exploe the science behind the spectacle. PAGE 6
Girl Scouts’ Cool Women Carmen Vann of North Park and Hillcrest resident Awetash Keflezighi — mother of marathon champion Mel Keflezighi — were honored as Girl Scouts San Diego’s Cool Women 2015. PAGE 10
The Rudd and Sally Schoeffel home at 3188 C St. was designed by San Diego icon architect Richard Requa. It was built in 1927.
A 1927 house lovingly restored by Rudd and Sally Schoeffel Those who have purchased tickets to this year’s Old House Fair historic home tour on June 20 have a double bonus in store when they enter the C Street home designed by San Diego icon architect Richard Requa. The bonus being the opportunity to also wander amid the idyllic landscape, which was originally designed by Milton Sessions, the prominent landscaper of the early 20th century (Kate Sessions’ nephew). Built in 1927 from Requa blueprints that came with the Tuscany-style, three-level home, Rudd
and Sally Schoeffel purchased the indesperate-need-of-maintenance home in February 1998. They have been restoring it ever since. The couple (both very active as owners of South Park’s Rancho Buena Vista Real Estate), focused first on renewing the home then recently began paying attention to the expansive grounds. During the current restoration, the Schoeffel’s met Parker Jackson, a noted locally-based historian, who specializes in the career of Richard Requa. “Our meeting with Parker was by chance,” said Rudd. “When he
learned we lived in a Requa-designed home he told us he had not visited it before. Of course, we invited him and he accepted.” Later, after several visits, Jackson, who at the time was lecturing at an architecture class at San Diego State University, brought the entire class and professor to visit Requa’s C Street project. Rudd reports that Jackson told the class that their home was an example of Requa’s best work. The C Street address is not the first home the Schoeffel’s have bought and restored to historical standards. Their
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The opening of the St. Catherine parking structure at the Academy of Our Lady of Peace has brought some closure to a long, nasty battle the school waged with homeowners and the city. PAGE 15
taste in restoration projects over the years has focused on Mediterreanstyle, mainly Tuscan and Spanish Revival; plus an adobe pueblo and toss in a coupe of California ranchstyle projects. But, they don’t just pick any home in need of TLC. They appreciate the work of San Diego’s fabled architects, having restored three homes by Cliff May, one by Lillian Rice and the current one by Requa. But perhaps, the redux closest to SEE PANORAMA, Page 16
SHORT-TERM RENTALS — A Confusing Problem North Park could have as many as 500 listings B O
Our Lady of Peace Modernization Plan
BY THOMAS SHESS | PHOTOS BY SCOTT BASILE
The Internet has changed the way we live. It has made life easier in many ways and it has created some challenges. One area that wasn’t previously truly possible to explore pre-Internet was the so-called “sharing economy.” That’s a fancy name for sharing your assets with other people in a way that makes some money for you and saves the user some money, too. For example, in some cities, for a fee you can use someone else’s car while they are traveling. Cool, right? Another example is the collection of home sharing sites: Airbnb, VRBO,
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Couchsurfing.com, FlipKey, etc. They all have two aspects that are important for this conversation: they are easy to use and they let regular people get more value out of one of their biggest assets (and biggest costs) — their homes. So, this month, I want to share some information about Airbnb and what it means for North Park and our surrounding neighborhoods. Estimates are that there are between 250 and 500 Airbnb/VRBO/Craigslist short-term SEE RENTALS, Page 16
The owner of this North Park home advertised a room for rent for $60 a night or $500 a month.