No Place Like Home - Page 3

But these days most folks refer to this Eichler neighborhood as 'Thousand Oaks Eichlers,' or the abbreviated 'T.O.'

By the way, 'conejo' is Spanish for 'rabbit,' Phyllis Rautenberg reminds us. "And as a matter of fact, we do see quite a few hopping about," she says. "Some even come into our atrium."

Architects Jones & Emmons and Claude Oakland & Associates designed all the Eichler homes in Thousand Oaks, with more than a dozen different designs, a mix of courtyard and atrium models, and a variety of rooflines. Houses range in size from approximately 1,800 to 2,600 square feet.

Those Eichler models include one very unusual design, a one-of-a-kind anomaly, by architect Kinji Imada, out of Claude Oakland's office. His four-bedroom experimental VC-894, at 1756 Campbell Avenue, was originally built with both an atrium and loggia, three distinct rooflines visible from the street, and a (shocking!) stucco facade.

At the courtyard model on Camino Manzanas owned by Steve Eden and husband Jon Tanaka, which the couple has owned since 1999, guests enter from the street through double doors and into a beautifully landscaped courtyard with a garden structure that serves as additional living space.

"It was built by the former owner," says Steve, a corporate lawyer who grew up on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. "We use it as a lanai, and call it our Hawaii room."

The prefab-type structure also has skylights, and the couple has furnished it with collectibles from their travels. "A friend gave us this set of [furniture designer] Paul Frankl," he says, gesturing to their relaxing pretzel-twist rattan sofa and lounges.

"We definitely have enjoyed this room over the years, especially at Christmastime, when we'd have big holiday parties," adds Hawaii-born Jon, who, appropriately enough, has worked as a flight attendant for Hawaiian Airlines the past 38 years.

While visiting the Eden-Tanaka home, Doris and Jerry Caplan, a vivacious couple who live a few doors up on Camino Manzanas, stopped by.

"I've lived here since 1969, and I never plan to leave," says Doris, an artist and homemaker.

Jerry, a retired philosophy instructor and today an avid tennis player, comments that nearby Wildflower Park is a great recreational resource for people in this area. "Seniors 'own' the four tennis courts there, but the deal is that anyone can come and join in," he says.

The Caplans' Eichler is about as original as it gets, and Doris says she has cooked many a meal—"sometimes for as many as 35 people"—from her humble Eichler kitchen.

Over the years, Doris has made the Caplan house a place of comfort. "The woman who was here before us did not have much imagination—but I do!" she says. "That owner actually painted a huge parrot in the atrium, huge—that was the first thing I took care of!"