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MAY MA A Y 20 2010 0
10 TIPS FOR HOME BUYERS JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE CITY HISTORIC HOMES’ FIRM FOUNDATION
GIM GIMME SHELTER THE LOW-DOWN ON AREA REAL ESTATE
REAL ESTATE
what you get for…
BY B.J. LORENZO
ARROYOLAND OFFERS A BANQUET OF DIVERSE HOME STYLES. ONE CAN LIVE IN CRAFTSMAN SPLENDOR, EITHER IN A COZY BUNGALOW OR A RAMBLING MANSION. ONE CAN ELECT A NEIGHBORHOOD OF FLAT ROLLING LAWNS OR AN EDGY VIEW OF THE RUGGED, ROCKY ARROYO. SPANISH COLONIAL REVIVALS MIX WITH FRENCH, ENGLISH AND ITALIANATE VILLAS; SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA’S MIDCENTURY MODERN STYLE CO-EXISTS WITH ITS EUROPEAN-INFLUENCED PREDECESSORS. SO HERE, IF YOU’RE LUCKY, YOU CAN FIND A GRAND PLACE TO HANG YOUR BASEBALL CAP. WE BRING YOU A LOOK AT JUST A FEW OF THE HOMES AVAILABLE. AS A WISE MAN ONCE SAID, “BUY REAL ESTATE. NO ONE WILL EVER MAKE MORE LAND.”
You can get more space for the money, but it would be hard to get as much charm as you’ll find in this rejuvenated 1923 hacienda in Glendale, listed at $487,000. The two-bedroom, one-bath home, just south of the 134 freeway, looked pretty glum when Realtor-developer Frank Verdugo bought it in 2009. He says he liked the location and the bones of the old place—its high ceilings, arches, airy open spaces and abundance of light. So he gutted the interior, put in new electrical, plumbing, heating, cooling, insulation, hardwood floors, roof, fencing and landscaping. He tore out a storage room to create a breakfast nook and opened the kitchen so it flows into the dining room. In other words, he did everything most owners of old homes would like to do but don’t have the energy or funds to take on. The result is a 1,200-square-foot space with Spanish architectural vibes and up-to-date stainless steel appliances and custom oak cabinets in the kitchen. There’s a bonus room that can double as a third bedroom, playroom or office and a backyard big enough for swings and barbecues. It may be pricier than some other houses of equal size in the area, but that’s because this is a 1920s residence that’s tricked out for 2010. It’s a trade-off that will appeal to some buyers who look both ways before they cross the street—to the past and the future.
WHAT YOU
$ 500 T GET F OR
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YOU WHAT
OR GET F
$L1 LION
It’s edgy, artsy, comfy, historic. And totally updated. The Alson Clark Studio and Residence, listed at $1.25 million, is a rare combination: two architecturally significant and totally independent structures that can function as one—both in a compound slung out over the Arroyo with panoramic views of the Rose Bowl and beyond. The smaller Colonial Revival structure was designed by architect Reginald Johnson in the 1920s for plein air painter Alson Clark. Clark traveled and painted around the world until he settled in Pasadena, where he did most of his important work. Thirty years after the senior Clark moved into the studio, his architect son, Alson Jr., designed what became the main building on his father’s lot. It’s a midcentury modernist home with striking spider legs, an open floorplan, glass walls and extensive use of redwood, poured concrete and copper. Film director Zack Snyder (Watchmen, 300) bought the property in 2007. He restored and renovated both buildings, while preserving their architectural integrity. The clubby studio, with all sorts of added built-ins, has a living area, screening room and master bed and bath. The airy main house, with two bedrooms and bath suites, has all the amenities you’d expect and one you wouldn’t: a saltwater pool that flows from the master bath to the great outdoors. John J. Matthes of Crosby Doe Associates has the listing.
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PHOTOS: John Jacob Matthes
MI
WHAT YOU
G
ET FO R Not just a house, but an entire compound—two homes with two separate addresses, plus a carriage house, all designed by the eminent architect Roland Coate, who created some of Southern California’s great residences. This particular estate, listed at $8.9 million and built in 1936 on four acres in Pasadena’s San Rafael section, is landscaped with rolling lawns, stately oaks and gardens (plus a fruit orchard) that surround the homes, pool, pool house and tennis court. The 14,000-square-foot main house has three levels: A dramatic entry hall leads to spacious living, dining and garden rooms. A wing off of the dining room contains the kitchen, butler’s pantry, a large family room with massive fireplace and a two-story high, wood-paneled library that can house more than 4,000 books . Upstairs, the master bedroom suite and four additional bedrooms with baths comprise the sleeping quarters. For exercise and entertainment, hit the lower level where you’ll find a home theater, exercise rooms, a second family room, a billiard arcade and more. The carriage house, above the four-car garage, features a living room, bedroom, full bath and kitchen, which make it ideal for guests or a personal assistant. The smaller Colonial Revival house, with two bedrooms and baths and its own garage, is located at the northern end of the grounds. Although Roland Coate (1890-1958) is not a household name, he is considered one of the region’s finest architects. He and his wife settled in the Linda Vista area of Pasadena, where he designed homes for L.A.’s elite, such as producer David O. Selznick (Gone With the Wind). Coate was named one of the state’s 12 top architects (along with Frank Gehry, Craig Ellwood and John Lautner) in the exhibition that celebrated the opening of the Pacific Design Center in 1976. The listing agents are John and Tammy Fredrickson of Sotheby’s International Realty in Pasadena.
$ M 9
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WHAT YOU
GET F OR
$15
What you get is Casa de los Robles—the San Marino equivalent of your own private resort. In the heart of the estate district, near Lacy Park and the Huntington Library, this architectural standout listed at $15.8 million was named House of the Oaks for the more than 70 oak trees that dot the two-acre property. The price is ample, but so are the perks of owning this bucolic estate. It’s secluded and totally private, yet central. It has Old World charm, yet it also has every update and amenity any techno-tycoon might wish for. The home was built in 1927 by architect Henry Palmer Sabin (1892-1956) for his own family, and he spared no expense in making it comfortable, elegant and intimate—outfitting it with multiple fireplaces, window seats, burnished-wood beams and barrel ceilings and artfully handcrafted ironwork, woodwork and tiles. The current occupant—only the fourth owner—bought the house in 1999 and traced its architectural history at the U.C. Santa Barbara Museum of Art, where Sabin’s papers are preserved. (Sabin also designed the Earhart Laboratory at Caltech and the Pasadena Hall of Justice.) There he found the architect’s plans to enlarge the house by adding a third level. The owner embarked on a six-year plan to restore, update and enhance the house while retaining its architectural integrity. Sabin’s original homestead, about 5,000 square feet, now has 11,000 square feet. There are eight bedrooms and 12 baths as well as a wine room, theater, tennis court, bocce ball court, subterranean parking for a dozen cars, elevator and grounds with multi-tiered gardens that might rival those of the nearby Huntington and Arboretum. “The addition is seamless. You cannot tell where the old house ends and the new house begins,” says Realtor Sarah Rogers of Coldwell Banker, who adds she usually needs two hours to show the place. “People seem to want to linger and absorb the beauty of the house and the extraordinary grounds.” AM
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PHOTOS: Susanne Hayek
MILLIO N
REAL ESTATE
(This page and opposite) Shabby Chic: Views of an elegant fixer on North Los Robles Avenue
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THE PASADENA AREA’S RICH HERITAGE OF ARCHITECTURALLY SIGNIFICANT PROPERTIES HAS KEPT THE WORST OF THE CURRENT HOUSING SLUMP AT BAY. BY NOELA HUESO
AFTER A SIX-WEEK SEARCH, REAL ESTATE ATTORNEY STEPHEN SELICE AND HIS FIANCÉE DONNA MASSETTI RECENTLY PURCHASED THEIR CENTURY-OLD, FIVE-BEDROOM SOUTH PASADENA CRAFTSMAN HOME FOR $1.3 MILLION. WHILE THEY WERE OPEN TO A VARIETY OF ARCHITECTURAL STYLES, SELICE, A 36-YEAR RESIDENT OF SOUTH PASADENA AND CHAIR OF THE SOUTH PASADENA PLANNING COMMISSION, SAYS THEY WERE VERY SPECIFIC ABOUT WANTING A HOUSE WITH CHARACTER—AND SPACE. “We needed space to accommodate three of my four sons and room for an office and a decent-sized kitchen because we both like to cook,” he says. “We knew we were going to have to spend $850,000 to $1.3 million to get something that size that was in decent condition.” The couple loved the quality of the home’s construction materials and its classic floorplan, which includes upstairs bedrooms, an entry flanked by a parlor and dining room, a butler’s pantry and a bonus first-floor room that will serve as an office. They also appreciated that very little had to be done to the home before moving in. Eventually, they’ll update the kitchen, in a way that maintains the home’s vintage style. “It’s important to keep the integrity of its heritage,” Selice says. Business litigation attorney Melissa Jackson agrees. The first-time homebuyer, who recently moved into her three-bedroom 1923 Colonial home in South Pasadena—paying $40,000 above the $765,000 asking price—intends to “keep everything that’s original and bring what’s not back to the style of the period in which it was built.” Tales of woe in the current real estate market have made headlines for months. but there’s good news for Pasadena and its surrounding communities: With their rich heritage of historic and architecturally significant properties, they’ve been less affected by the mortgage meltdown, experts say. While it’s true that sales may be a bit slower and prices have dipped for homes across the board, they have dipped less for properties that boast a famous architect— names such as Wallace Neff, Myron Hunt and the brothers Charles Sumner Greene and Henry Mather Greene come to mind—or that are true to the architectural styles, such as Craftsman and Spanish Revival, that have become syn—CONTINUED ON PAGE 18 ARROYO ~ MAY 2010 ~ 17
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onymous with Pasadena and its environs. “Older houses have gone down [in price] with the rest of the market,” says Coldwell Banker’s Steve Haussler, a 26year veteran of the Pasadenaarea real estate scene. “What have gone down less are houses with historic quality and authenticity. A beautiful or unusual (This page) Craftsman bungalow will get a ail: The Holy Gr ined A well-mainta premium when it’s marketed corna Craftsman South Pasade illion. m rectly that its neighbor of identical .3 sold for $1 size and age won’t.” As a rule, houses with vintage or even historic cachet “don’t slip as much as ‘plain Jane’ houses and they recover faster,” Haussler continues. “They’re the leading indicators. In the last recession in the ’90s, the really great houses set the prices that followed for the rest of the market the following year.” Not surprisingly, Pasadena’s well-heeled communities— Arroyo/Grande, Linda Vista, San Rafael, the Langham, Huntington Hotel area, Caltech, Madison Heights—and neighbors South Pasadena, San Marino and La Cañada Flintridge have been least affected by the crisis. However, very high-end homes-–those over $3 million—have taken a hit. “A lot of houses in this price range aren’t selling—and they would have sold easily five years ago,” says Sotheby International Realty’s Georges Rouveyrol. “If you bought your house in 2005 or 2006 and are trying to get the same amount of money now that you bought it for then, it’s going to be a little difficult. “People need more cash to buy homes these days,” he continues. “Not long ago, you could put 10 percent down toward a home purchase. Now, especially in the higher-end market, you have to put down 25 percent and prove that you have assets to qualify for a jumbo loan. The qualification process is much harder than it used to be.” According to Haussler, though prices have gone down, they’re still higher than they were 10 years ago, and signs indicate that the market is slowly beginning to stabilize. “Right now, we’re back to 2004 pricing—in some neighborhoods 2003 pricing,” he says. Price stabilization is, of course, happy news for owners of vintage homes who are thinking of selling their properties. But to get top dollar, experts say, there are certain things to keep in mind: “Protecting the architectural integrity of a house maintains and even improves its value,” says Pasadena Heritage Executive Director Sue Mossman. “Hardwood floors and fireplaces and lots of original windows are precious commodities that really define a house.” Mossman says that replacing old windows with “energy-efficient” dual-pane windows is a popular trend, but their installation, which typically means incorporating windows that are out of character with the rest of the house, can negatively impact the selling price. “People think they’re providing a lot of energy efficiency, but in truth, old windows are integral to the historic value of the house,” she says. 18 ~ MAY 2010 ~ ARROYO
“One of the biggest problems I come across with a buyer who wants a historic house is that it doesn’t have its original windows,” agrees Haussler. “How the window is made is one of the telltale signs of a home’s age. If you’ve got a historic house and you put in windows that are outside the style range of that house, it’s quite jarring to see.” That alone could be reason enough for a prospective buyer to bypass a property in favor of another with architectural integrity more or less intact, although many buyers are drawn to vintage houses precisely because they want to restore or update them. Still, historic treasures that are well maintained remain the Holy Grail for a lot of buyers. Private investigator Mark Stocks should know. The regal 1907 Arts and Crafts house on North Los Robles Avenue in Pasadena that has been in his family for more than 100 years and was his childhood home has been on the market for 15 months, along with two adjacent homes. The three buildings (a main house, adjoining bungalow and the most unusual addition: a stand-alone ballroom built by Stocks’ socialite uncle who owned the property in the ’20s) are in need of a lot of work—everything from new roofs to electrical wiring to plumbing. Beyond maintaining the ballroom, “No one in my family was really into big changes, remodeling kitchens or anything,” Stocks says of the home, which passed from his uncle to his dad to his mom. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it was kind of their attitude.” First listed at $999,000, the price has since dropped to $859,000. There has been interest, says Coldwell Banker listing Realtor Jan Thornton, from “artsy types” who see the potential in the properties, with their built-in cabinetry, hardwood floors and original light fixtures. “I had an artist looking at that back studio,” she says. “I had a dress designer who thought it would be perfect.” Recognizing the possibilities, local nonprofits and schools have also made inquiries. But, Thornton says, “Then they get the contractors over there for estimates and they say it will cost between $200,000 and $500,000 to restore all three buildings. “The good news is that they’re old and haven’t been touched. But the bad news is they’re old and haven’t been touched.” AM
BOOKS
home is where the art is AWARD-WINNING NOVELIST MICHELLE HUNEVEN FINDS HER MUSE IN AND AROUND HER NATIVE ALTADENA. BY SCARLET CHENG
“WHEN MY FATHER WAS EIGHT YEARS OLD,” SAYS
HOME, AND HE SPENT THE NIGHT ON THIS PROPERTY. IT WAS THE EAST INDIAN GARDENS THEN. LATER HE RECOGNIZED THESE VERY OLD EUCALYPTUS TREES, HE JUST RECOGNIZED THE PLACE.” We’re sitting in the backyard of Huneven’s house in Altadena, looking up at two gigantic eucalyptus trees that stand along the back edge of the lot. 40 ~ MAY 2010 ~ ARROYO
PHOTO: Michelle Huneven by Karen Tapia
NOVELIST MICHELLE HUNEVEN, “HE RAN AWAY FROM
PHOTO: Michelle Huneven by Karen Tapia
Huneven, 56, was born and raised in this town, then spent 30 years away––first at college, then living in Pasadena, the Sierras and Los Angeles. In 2001 she bought the single-story house with the sprawling lot we are strolling around now, the site of her father’s childhood misadventure. She returned with some trepidation. “I thought I was going to be swept by melancholy moving back,” she recalls. “Both sets of grandparents lived in Altadena, my mother lived here. But instead I just really feel whole. I love being here.” And why not? It’s a beautiful spring afternoon, slightly cool, flowers are in bloom and there are oranges and lemons in her trees. Huneven is an easy conversationalist and a natural storyteller. Every question uncovers a story. Her third novel, Blame, has been nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award and Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Set in Altadena, Pasadena and La Cañada Flintridge, it’s the compelling tale of Patsy MacLemoore, a beautiful young history professor with a bad drinking problem. For years she has laughed off her irresponsibility and recklessness. Then one day she wakes up in jail, accused of running over a mother and daughter in her driveway. Racked with guilt, she goes to prison, learns to do what she’s told and eventually joins Alcoholics Anonymous. And that’s just the first third of the book. How Patsy slowly reenters regular life––aided by her pal Brice and his new boyfriend, Gilles; her therapist, Silver; and her eventual husband, Cal––and learns to be
“BUT ISN’T THERE A HIGHER, TRUER SELF, A SELF THAT’S FREE OF ADDICTION AND OBSESSION, THAT KNOWS WHAT’S BEST FOR YOU?” good takes up the rest of the book. “But isn’t there a higher, truer self, a self that’s free of addiction and obsession, that knows what’s best for you?” Silver asks her in a session one day. “And isn’t that why you come here? To find and nourish that authentic, unenslaved self?” Patsy says no, that hadn’t occurred to her. What she wants to know, she says, is “how to live to with guilt.” Ultimately, Patsy does come around to exploring what’s best for her, but in the meantime it’s fascinating and satisfying to see a person wrestle with––and try to right––the consequences of her wrongdoing. Blame has garnered widespread praise. Maria Russo wrote in the New York Times Book Review that the novel “is firmly rooted in the moral ambiguities of addiction and recovery, probing responsibility, guilt and exoneration with a philosophical elegance. Huneven’s prose moves like a hummingbird, in small bursts that are improbably fast and graceful.” The New Yorker praised Huneven’s prose as “flawless, with especially arresting descriptions of the Southern California landscape, and her strong but fragile heroine is mercilessly honest.” Huneven has had literary ambitions since childhood. “I remember very clearly being in my bedroom and thinking I want to be a writer,” she says. “I was 8 or 9 and thinking I can’t be a writer because I’m not a man.” Nobody told her she couldn’t; she just thought it was impossible from what she saw around her.
When did she get over that obstacle? “How thoroughly does one get over it?” she replies. “Male dominance in literature is still alive and well.” Still, she began reading more women authors––not least of whom was Jane Austen––and saw that she could be one too. After attending a series of colleges, she ended up at the prestigious Iowa Writers’ Workshop in 1976 and got her MFA there. For a while, she made her living as a restaurant critic and food writer for the LA Weekly and the Los Angeles Times. She was good at it, winning a James Beard Award, and restaurant reviews left her enough energy to do what she considered her serious writing. In 1997, Huneven’s first novel, Round Rock, was published; in it, a lawyer ruins his life through drink, then tries to redeem himself by establishing a recovery center for alcoholics. Six years later she came out with Jamesland, about three people whose lives intertwine in Los Feliz. Her efforts earned her a General Electric Foundation Award for Younger Writers and a Whiting Writers’ Award for Fiction. Huneven’s latest novel was prompted by two ideas. “I wanted to write about someone who had lived a good life, then had reason to question the very principles of that good life,” she says of Blame. Then there was a real-life story she had heard from an acquaintance. “He was a terrible blackout drinker, and at one point he was arrested for murdering his ex-wife. He’d assumed he’d done it; he couldn’t remember. But despite himself he had an ironclad alibi, and the charges were dropped. What a close call that was. He did eventually stop drinking.” Alcoholism is a subject the author returns to again and again; she is, she acknowledges, a recovered alcoholic. Many of the main characters in Blame bond through regular attendance at AA meetings, and Cal prides himself on helping other recovering alcoholics, even letting them use his home as a halfway house. Huneven believes that AA “is designed to make a person aware that there are these deep forces that can take them over, like addiction.” She’s already at work on her next novel, which she writes in her office, a one-room building in the corner of the lot. Nearby are elevated garden boxes in which she grows lettuces and gigantic spring onions. Her terrier trots around while we talk, and every so often her gray parrot lets out a squawk from her cage. “I’m a really chauvinist Altadenan; I’m a West Altadenan,” she says with some pride. “It’s one of the truly integrated communities here. It’s been that way ever since I grew up. Interracial marriages, gay-friendly...My parents were very progressive. It’s a place to live out one’s principles.” AM ARROYO ~ MAY 2010 ~ 41