Let's Pick a Winner -- Meet the Top-10
Finalists of Our Kitchen Remodel Contest

photo: Mark Compton

Congratulations to the mid-century modern homeowners behind the ten dazzling kitchens profiled this edition of Eichler Network Online. They are the top-10 finalists of 'CA-Modern Magazine's Best Kitchen Remodel Contest.'

It was a challenge for the CA-Modern judges to narrow down dozens of submissions to just ten. Our judges were amazed at the quality of the entries. Both homeowners and the pros spent a lot of time, creative energy, and money on projects -- but a few simply stood out from the pack.

Our top-10 finalists were selected for their overall beauty and functionality and cohesion with the mid-century modern design aesthetic. They are kitchens that work well with the lifestyles of their respective homeowners, and at the same time pay respect to the homes' architectural tradition of clean lines and connection to the outdoors.

What's your #1 favorite kitchen from our top-10? Help us decide. Check out our top-10 candidates -- and vote!

Eichler-specific Guidelines Now in Place
to Preserve Sunnyvale's 1,200 Eichlers

The city of Sunnyvale, which has about 1,200 Eichler homes, instituted comprehensive 'Eichler-specific design guidelines' in July to preserve the homes' exterior appearance, as well as the quality of life in Eichler neighborhoods. The guidelines will be used by city planners, through a design-review process, when asked to approve significant exterior changes, other remodels, or new construction.

The well-illustrated and thorough guidelines provide tips for remodeling and expanding homes in a way that will "preserve and enhance the special qualities of the city's Eichler neighborhoods." The guidelines will not, however, ban second-story additions, in deference to the concerns of many homeowners who opposed tighter controls.

Nonetheless, the document "explains how second stories are not an ideal solution, and suggests other alternatives to add space," according to the staff report. However, if a second story is added, "staff recommends post-and-beam construction, low roof-plate heights, modern detailing, and strong privacy considerations." "All second-floor additions will receive additional scrutiny," the guidelines warn.

Also, individual Eichler neighborhoods will be allowed to seek stronger rules for their own neighborhoods, including second-story bans.

The rules affect all Eichler neighborhoods, except the earliest, Sunnyvale Manor and Sunnymount Gardens, because their styles are different than later Eichlers and many of their homes have been altered.

The guidelines also suggest how owners can make their Eichlers more energy efficient "without destroying their looks."

Remembering S.F. Architect Bob Anshen:
Inventor of Eichler Homes -- and Himself

Photo: courtesy John and Frances Anshen

By all accounts Eichler architect Robert Anshen should have been in pictures -- though he did not have matinee idol looks. "Anshen was aggressive, loud, sarcastic," says Ned Eichler, son of the builder Joe Eichler, who was Anshen's second most important client back in the 1950s. "Also, he was absolutely ugly. He was like a character out of Dickens. He had a small body, and the size of his head bore no relation to the size of his body."

Still, when Anshen was onstage -- and he was always onstage -- he absolutely commanded attention -- so much so people barely noticed his lifelong architectural partner and best friend, Steve Allen, even though Allen was a large man and Anshen short and thin, weighing in at roughly 125 pounds.

"I think to some degree Anshen invented himself," Ned Eichler says, adding, "Anshen was one of the greatest characters I've ever met."

Anshen and Allen, best known today as the original designers of Eichler homes, were responsible for several defining innovations, including the homes' orientations to the backyard, and the atrium. The firm worked on Eichler homes from 1950 to 1960, when Claude Oakland, an employee who had been doing much of the design, formed his own firm and took over the account.

Our ace staffer Dave Weinstein dug deep into the life of Bob Anshen for 'Bob Anshen: self-made man,' and for the first time the world will learn about the persona behind the man who designed the first Eichler homes. "Bob Anshen's life itself had the arc of a drama, a picaresque tale that veered from hero quest to mystery story, leavened throughout with comedy," Weinstein reports. Read on.

Original Claude Oakland Eichler Plans
Now Available thru Houseplans.com

Ever think about building your own Eichler home? Now you can do it, through an innovative Marin County business, Houseplans.com.

The venture, whose editor is Daniel Gregory, a former longtime editor at Sunset magazine and author of the recent book on builder Cliff May, offers four plans designed by Claude Oakland and his associate Kinji Imada in the 1960s for Eichler subdivisions in Oakland and Mill Valley. The plans include gabled and A-frame models -- and one rare two-story.

Gregory acquired the Eichler plans from U.C. Berkeley's Environmental Design Archives, which receives a portion of the proceeds. More Eichler plans will soon be added.

Houseplans.com, designed to help people build new homes or remodel existing ones, offers plans ranging in style from Colonial to modern and has nearly 29,000 plans in their portfolio. The firm can also customize the plans.

The Quirky 'Modest Modern' Architecture
of San Fernando Valley's Encino Village

photo: John Eng

What can you say about the charming San Fernando Valley enclave of Encino Village, in Encino, where low-gabled modern ranches sit alongside 'Colonials' that come with weathervanes? It set folks to wondering.

"Lee and BJ and I were like, 'Hmmm.' The houses are so well done, the neighborhood is so well laid out. There must be more to the architecture than we know about," says Alegre Ramos, who with neighbors Lee Bothast and BJ Farrar set out to solve the mystery.

Their historical quest, which began six years ago, took them through cyberspace and to the city planning department, and had them calling the archives of the University of Nevada at Las Vegas -- and it was productive.

The quest did something more. It spurred on many neighbors to take greater care of the neighborhood's very unique architectural heritage. More than modern tract developments that are modern through and through, Encino Village suggests the bureaucratic, aesthetic, and marketing battles that hindered the growth of modern suburbs in the postwar years.

That quest also led the Eichler Network and CA-Modern magazine to single out Encino Village -- the setting, incidentally, for the greatest feel-so-good-you-weep Christmas film ever, 'It's a Wonderful Life' -- as our latest 'Neighborhood on the Rise.'

Cliff May Neighborhood Wins Protection
in Long Beach with 13-foot Height Limit

The city of Long Beach in July banned second-story additions and demolitions in one of its most unique neighborhoods--Rancho Estates, a collection of 700 single-story homes built in 1953-'54 to designs by Cliff May and Chris Choate.

The effort to "preserve and enhance the unique character of the Rancho area" got a boost in 2007, when the city declared a moratorium on second stories and demolitions while it studied the matter. Public hearings showed strong support for the plan. Only a handful of residents fought the proposal. About a dozen houses in the neighborhood have second-story additions.

The City Council's action imposes a 13-foot height limit on homes in the neighborhood and bans demolitions of the homes. But no restrictions are placed on changes in materials or other characteristics of the homes, with their courtyards, clerestory windows, and ample glass. At one point, some neighbors had contemplated seeking a historic district overlay, which could have imposed stricter rules.

"This is pretty much what people want at this time," says Doug Kramer, a real estate broker who focuses on the 'Ranchos,' as the neighborhood is called. "It has been a two-year process, involving three town hall meetings, three City Council meetings, a planning department meeting, and a lot of neighborhood input. We are very excited and thankful."

Passionate Artists and the Mid-Century Modern Architecture that Inspires Them

Artist Danny Heller
photo: John Eng

Our homes are often seen as the backdrop upon which we enrich our lives and embellish our style. Even for devotees of Eichler, Streng, Cliff May, Palmer & Krisel, and other California mid-century modern homes, the house structure is, essentially, their canvas.

For some emerging artists, that particular mid-century modern canvas has itself become the focus. Because of its unique combination of neutrality and singularity of design, the mid-century modern look plays a dual role in the aesthetic of Americana: It symbolizes nostalgia and family security, as well as a sense of rebellion -- a departure from the traditional way we choose to relate to our surroundings.

For some artists, that duality provides rich fodder for paintings that, in different ways, explore what it means to grow up in suburban America, and how our surroundings shape our attitudes.

While young artists in their 20s such as Danny Heller of Chatsworth and New Yorker Megan Berk embrace the homes as symbols of suburban life, to be celebrated but also criticized, 58-year-old Los Angeles painter Nat Reed (whose grandfather, Eli Hedley, incidentally helped introduce America to Tiki design) sees a revolutionary notion within the homes' design.

All of these artists, however, share a passion for modern architecture -- both as symbols of Americana and as aesthetic masterpieces themselves -- that drives them to render the homes in their work. These artists, their work, and their personal experiences are at the core of our fascinating new feature on 'art about the house': 'Art Imitates Life.'

Group of 150 Launches New Community of Eichler Photo-Sharing on Flickr Site

Curious about what your neighbor's house looks like inside? Check out Ramon Colcer's Eichler Flickr group -- you just may find out. Colcer, who lives in San Jose's Fairglen tract, hoped that photos of his Eichler renovation would inspire others, and even provide useful remodeling ideas.

"People saw them and started to comment. 'It's very helpful; I'm trying to do the same thing.' I thought, 'There's definitely something to this,'" Colcer said. "Maybe there's a chance to build a little community through Flickr."

More than 150 people have posted hundreds of photos or comments on the site, the first (and perhaps only) dedicated Eichler site on the photo-sharing service. "For many people," Colcer said, "it's more of the vanity thing. People want to post pictures of their beautiful homes." Other participants are simply fans who take photos of Eichlers while cruising the neighborhoods.

Colcer notes that similar Flickr groups exist for Cliff May, Palmer & Krisel, and Streng homes. "Flickr is really a treasure trove for people who appreciate mid-century modern homes," he says.

Visit the Eichlers at this Flickr link.

Return of the Neutra House of Los Altos:
Speaker Series Celebrates Its Renewal

Neutra House committee organizers King Lear and Russ Quacchia at the entrance to the restored home
photo: David Toerge

The Neutra House of Los Altos, originally designed by legendary architect Richard Neutra in the 1930s and recently relocated and renewed, is now being successfully run as a conference facility.

It also serves as a mini-museum devoted to modern architecture, with small displays about Neutra and a big screen TV that shows films, some produced by the Neutra House's Architecture History Committee, about modern architecture and design.

With modern at its core, the Los Altos Neutra House Association recently launched an 'Architecture Speaker Series' at the Neutra House that includes:
• October 22: David Lenox, university architect at Stanford University, on the architecture of the campus
• November 12: Raymond Neutra, a physician, on his father and mother, 'Volunteer Americans: Richard and Dion Neutra'
• December 3: Alan Hess, author, architect, and architectural critic for the San Jose Mercury News, on Frank Lloyd Wright
• January 7: Dave Weinstein, author and writer for CA-Modern, on the architects who designed Eichler homes
• February 11: Jonathan Pearlman and Russ Quacchia, architects, on the history of modern architecture
• March 18: Michael Duncan, an architect with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, on the firm's work in Asia and the West Coast.

Speakers present from 6-7 p.m., followed by a reception from 7-8 p.m. for premium ticketholders. Seating limited. For info and availability, call 650-941-4164, or visit neutrahouse.org. The Neutra House is located at 181 Hillview Ave., Los Altos.

Sacto Streng Website Finds Success
-- a Viable Model for Others to Follow?

River City Commons, one of the more active Sacramento neighborhoods built by the Streng Bros. and designed by architect Carter Sparks, has found success with a comprehensive and useful website that could serve as a model for modern neighborhoods nationwide.

Since going live in mid-2008, the site, www.rivercitycommons.com, has "encouraged more people to attend neighborhood events and get to know their neighbors," says Tasha McLaughlin, the full-time mom and part-time web designer who created it. She's lived in the community of 197 homes, built from 1978 to 1981, for five years.

The site, run by the River City Commons Association, acknowledges folks who improve their homes through its 'property kudos' section, announces events such as movie nights in the community park, posts the association newsletter and all relevant association documents, provides crime warnings, and hosts a lost-and-found section. ("Luckily, nothing at this time," a recent post read.)

Particularly valuable, even to outsiders, are historical materials about the neighborhood, landscaping tips, and a lengthy illustrated guide to the homes' remarkable architecture.

The site allows residents to publicize their businesses and helps folks find local contractors. "We're just finding more and more uses for it," association president Pat Sandlin says of the website.

Photographer Julius Shulman Dies at 98
-- 'Modern' Was His elegant Way of Life

photo: Ebby Hawerlander - courtesy Shulman family

No one did more to make modern architecture sexy than Julius Shulman -- certainly not the writers whose words wrapped around his images in 'Arts & Architecture' magazine and hundreds of other journals. Nor the architects.

Shulman, who died July 15 at his steel-framed, Raphael Soriano-designed Los Angeles home, recalled in a 2006 visit to San Francisco how he had to fight off Richard Neutra, his first and perhaps greatest architectural client, to get one of the most iconic shots of his career -- Palm Springs' Kaufmann house, seen from the pool just as the sun was setting, with Mrs. Kaufmann's lounging form catching the glow from a poolside lamp.

"Neutra gripped my arm to hold me back," Shulman told a gathering, "'Shulman, you can't go out. You've got to do interiors.' I said, 'Mr. Neutra, we have to photograph the house at this very moment.'" "It's one of the most beautiful photographs ever in architectural photography," added Shulman, whose self-regard was as strong as his talent.

Shulman, who met Neutra in 1936, became the go-to architectural photographer for the rest of his career -- which he continued almost to the end, arriving at shoots with his young collaborator, Juergen Nogai. "I've been doing this for 70 years," he said in 2006, "and it gets more enjoyable every day." Almost every modern architect in Southern California and many in Northern California had projects photographed by Shulman.

Besides impeccable taste, superb technique, a deep love for modern design, and an ability to read light conditions with his eye, Shulman brought to his work a sense of drama. The way he used models in his photos -- as in the famous shot of Pierre Koenig's Case Study House 22, with two women in evening dresses floating in a glass box above Los Angeles -- convinced the world that modern wasn't just a form of architecture. It was an elegant way of life.

Shulman, who was born in Brooklyn and raised from age 10 in Los Angeles, was married twice. He is survived by a daughter and a grandson.

Renowned Photographer Maynard Parker
Goes Live with His Big Archive of Photos

Fans of modern architectural photography have a new favorite site to bookmark -- the Maynard Parker Archive, which has recently been placed online by the Huntington Library. More than 6,000 images, primarily of mid-century modern architecture, from a collection totaling 58,093 images, can be perused online -- and more are being added regularly.

Los Angeles photographer Maynard 'Mike' Parker, who died in 1976, shot work by A. Quincy Jones, Cliff May, Thomas Church, William Cody, and hundreds of others.

The collection was donated to the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, in San Marino, in 1996, and catalogued and put online thanks to a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. It is part of the Online Archive of California, which draws from many different libraries and museums.

To enjoy Parker's work, visit www.huntington.org and search for 'Maynard Parker.'

'Southern California Eats': New Book Profiles Mid-Century Modern Eateries

photo: John Eng

Fans of Googie coffee shops, 'Polynesian paradises,' and other roadside restaurants that helped define mid-century America should appreciate 'Southern California Eats,' a new book from two CA-Modern magazine stalwarts, Adriene Biondo, our coordinator of SoCal public relations, and John Eng, staff photographer.

The soft-cover book, now available from Schiffer Publishing, Ltd., has 269 vintage and recent photos and lists for $24.99.

The authors describe 'Southern California Eats' as "a pictorial essay of the independent, unusual, zany, or under-appreciated eateries of Southern California."

1950s Film Footage of Joe Eichler at
Poolside Resurrected in Walnut Creek

You'll see young moms in swimsuits, children kick-boarding in unison the length of the pool, superb examples of the back stroke, and swan diving like you wouldn't believe.

It's May 1, 1959, opening day of the pool at Eichler's Rancho San Miguel subdivision in Walnut Creek, preserved forever on eight-millimeter film and recently discovered and posted on You Tube by neighbor David Smethurst in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Rancho San Miguel Swim Club.

Joe Eichler himself makes an appearance, at 3:55 into the film, smoking a cigar and clearly enjoying himself. Judging by his outfit, though, he's not taking to the water. Joe is wearing a bow tie and tux.

Bringing Together Fencing that Extends
the Home's Clean Lines into the Outdoors

photo: David Toerge

Fences are the walls of the garden room. They quite literally extend the structure and form of your modern home into the landscape, creating spaces for enjoying the out of doors. But what makes up the composition and dimensions of a well-designed modern fence -- and how should fencing relate to the interior of the home?

"If all rooms indoors and out were the same size and shape," cautions master California landscape designer Garret Eckbo in his 1956 book 'The Art of Home Landscaping,' "our world would be a prison, and we would go mad. We all enjoy the contrast of open space with complete enclosure."

The most successful fencing in the modern garden takes its cue from the clean lines and rigorous geometries of house, building on the important relationship of indoor and outdoor space and expanding it all the way to the property line.

Landscape architect JC Miller uncovered some of the secrets of successful modern fencing, and brought them together with some choice photographic examples. Don't miss his 'Great Garden Walls' inside.

Inside Frank Sinatra's Legendary Home
-- Hollywood Lore Meets Desert Modern

photo: Joseph S. Pickett III

Frank Sinatra -- 'the Voice,' the 1950s' greatest crooner, perhaps the greatest ever -- was made for Palm Springs, a town that's all about relaxing with style. Or was Palm Springs made for Frank?

Twin Palms, Frank Sinatra's first house in the desert, became a Palm Springs landmark as soon as it was completed, in 1947 -- but not because it was big or spectacular. For a house of a star, the four-bedroom, 3,500-square-foot house was modest, even as a weekend home. It is, in essence, a typical postwar ranch-style house, albeit more elegant and modern than most.

It is also an architecturally important house as the first home designed by E. Stewart Williams, who would go on to become one of Palm Springs' most important architects. CA-Modern's Dave Weinstein got inside Twin Palms, and also dug up the story behind Ol' Blue Eyes' tenure there. You can read his account as 'One Voice, Twin Palms.'

CA-Modern Uncovers 1950s Crooners
Who Enhance Romance for a Song

When the boys returned home to their girls after fighting World War II, they were very much in the mood for a different kind of boom -- from making babies, not from dropping and dodging bombs. In the years that followed, there was a bounty of singers who set the mood for love all over America by romancing melodies and lyrics.

The term 'crooning,' applied to this style of singing, evoked the soothing but sensual sounds that beamed from the country's emerging line of mid-century home electronics -- newfangled hi-fi record players, transistor radios, and television sets. Singers got served up, along with cocktails for two, in the intimate setting of the homes Americans were building and buying in record numbers, as well as in the nation's bourgeoning network of cozy nightclubs.

"You learned how to woo the audience, and have them come to you and have you come to them," reflects Tony Bennett, now 83 and one of the few mid-century favorites still alive and singing. "What I found out...is that the more honest you become, the more it becomes a reality and a solid performance... It lasts, it's not something that will just be popular and then be forgotten."

There's a lingering desire among many of us to be crooned to, to take the time to listen, and to love. The music of Bennett and many of his crooning contemporaries of the 1950s and '60s is certainly a great soundtrack for promoting such romance, and CA-Modern's Jeff Kaliss has served up a lovely in-depth story on the subject that you won't want to miss: Mood to be Wooed.

How MCM Homes Turn to Rooftop Solar in Face of Rising Electricity Costs, Emissions

Randy Feriante of Dura-Foam Solar Center
photo: Adam Feriante

While some homeowners stuff their hard-earned dollars under mattresses in an uncertain economy, others hang them outside for all to see -- on rooftop solar panels.

California is the nation's leader in rooftop solar, with well over half the country's installed capacity. There's good reason why: California's electricity rates have historically increased by 6.7 percent per year, and prices continue to rise. The state's present goal is to improve its energy supply, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and reach 3,000 megawatts installed by 2018.

California's mid-century modern homeowners are taking advantage of rooftop solar and like the benefits. "The thing I like most is that it completely isolates us from any rate increases, and we make so much more [electricity] than we use," says Kevin Gray, an Eichler owner residing in Thousand Oaks.

CA-Modern writer Tanja Kern recently investigated the present state of solar technology in California and the costs, and sought out homeowners and solar providers for interviews. In the face of rising electricity costs and the battle of greenhouse emissions, 'Sun Power Rising' puts the current state of residential solar into perspective.

Celebrating 60 Years of 'Beat Generation' -- Return to NorCal's Bohemia by the Bay

S.F.'s North Beach, circa 1960
photo: Jerry Stoll

Groove on the 60th anniversary of the 'Beat Generation' -- the term coined in 1948 by 26-year-old writer Jack Kerouac for a band of cultural rebels who would soon seek safe haven on the West Coast.

In the homey setting of San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood, fueled by good Italian deli food, coffee, alcohol, marijuana, and an assortment of other uppers and downers, the poets and authors fused with musicians, visual artists, thespians, filmmakers, and other free spirits to form a free-flowing group which 'San Francisco Chronicle' columnist Herb Caen dubbed 'Beatniks.'

They spoke a lingo that had been collected by jazzman Cab Calloway in his 'Hepster's Dictionary' of the previous decade. Living in modest 'pads' and on little 'bread,' these 'cats and kittens' found expression in art and on musical 'axes.' As with the Forty-Niners of a century earlier and the Hippies of a decade later, the Beats generated legends about their lifestyle, which in turn attracted many more would-be participants from far and wide, while strengthening the group's cultural influence.

Through our story 'Bohemia by the Bay,' we celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Beat Generation by revisiting a dozen of the most prominent road markers of the Bay Area Beats -- special people, places, and things that, a half-century ago, helped to inspire and sustain San Francisco's Beat identity.