MAY 2010MAMAAYY 202020100

F I N E L I V I N G I N T H E G R E A T E R P A S A D E N A A R E A

GIMGIMMESHELTERTHE LOW-DOWN ON AREA REAL ESTATE

10 TIPS FOR HOME BUYERS

JOURNEY TO THECENTER OF THE CITY

HISTORIC HOMES’ FIRM FOUNDATION

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 FrankVerdugo bought it in 2009. He says he liked the location and the bones of the old place—its high ceilings, arches, airy open spaces andabundance 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 diningroom. 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 customoak cabinets in the kitchen. There’s a bonus room that can double as a third bedroom, playroom or office and a backyard bigenough for swings and barbecues. It may be pricier than some other houses of equal size in the area, but that’s because this is a1920s 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 thestreet—to the past and the future.

ARROYO ~ MAY 2010 ~ 11

WHAT YOU GET FOR$500 THOUSAND

WHAT YOU GET FOR$500 THOUSAND

REALESTATE

what you get for…ARROYOLAND OFFERS A BANQUET OF DIVERSE HOME STYLES. ONE CAN LIVE IN CRAFTSMAN SPLENDOR, EITHER IN A COZY BUNGA-LOW 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 MID-CENTURY 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 AFEW OF THE HOMES AVAILABLE. AS A WISE MAN ONCE SAID, “BUY REAL ESTATE. NO ONE WILL EVER MAKE MORE LAND.”

BY B.J. LORENZO

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REALESTATE

It’s edgy, artsy, comfy, historic. And totally updated. The Alson Clark Studioand Residence, listed at $1.25 million, is a rare combination: two architec-turally significant and totally independent structures that can function asone—both in a compound slung out over the Arroyo with panoramic viewsof the Rose Bowl and beyond.

The smaller Colonial Revival structure was designed by architectReginald Johnson in the 1920s for plein air painter Alson Clark. Clark trav-eled and painted around the world until he settled in Pasadena, where hedid most of his important work. Thirty years after the senior Clark movedinto the studio, his architect son, Alson Jr., designed what became the mainbuilding on his father’s lot. It’s a midcentury modernist home with strikingspider legs, an open floorplan, glass walls and extensive use of redwood,poured concrete and copper.

Film director Zack Snyder (Watchmen, 300) bought the property in2007. He restored and renovated both buildings, while preserving theirarchitectural integrity. The clubby studio, with all sorts of added built-ins,has a living area, screening room and master bed and bath. The airy mainhouse, with two bedrooms and bath suites, has all the amenities you’dexpect and one you wouldn’t: a saltwater pool that flows from the masterbath to the great outdoors.

John J. Matthes of Crosby Doe Associates has the listing.

WHAT YOU GET FOR

$1 MILLION

WHAT YOU GET FOR

$1 MILLION

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Not just a house, but an entire com-pound—two homes with two sepa-rate addresses, plus a carriage house,all designed by the eminent architectRoland Coate, who created some ofSouthern California’s great residences.This particular estate, listed at $8.9 mil-lion and built in 1936 on four acres inPasadena’s San Rafael section, is landscaped withrolling lawns, stately oaks and gardens (plus a fruit orchard) that sur-round the homes, pool, pool house and tennis court.

The 14,000-square-foot main house has three levels: A dramaticentry hall leads to spacious living, dining and garden rooms. A wing offof the dining room contains the kitchen, butler’s pantry, a large familyroom with massive fireplace and a two-story high, wood-paneled librarythat can house more than 4,000 books .

Upstairs, the master bedroom suite and four additional bedroomswith baths comprise the sleeping quarters. For exercise and entertain-ment, 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 personalassistant. The smaller Colonial Revival house, with two bedrooms andbaths and its own garage, is located at the northern end of the grounds.

Although Roland Coate (1890-1958) is not a household name, he isconsidered one of the region’s finest architects. He and his wife settled inthe 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 wasnamed one of the state’s 12 top architects (along with Frank Gehry, CraigEllwood and John Lautner) in the exhibition that celebrated the openingof the Pacific Design Center in 1976.

The listing agents are John and Tammy Fredrickson of Sotheby’sInternational Realty in Pasadena.

WHAT YOU GET FOR

$9 MILLION

WHAT YOU GET FOR

$9 MILLION

14 ~ MAY 2010 ~ ARROYO

REALESTATE

What you get is Casa de los Robles—the San Marino equivalent of your ownprivate resort. In the heart of the estate district, near Lacy Park and theHuntington Library, this architectural standout listed at $15.8 million wasnamed House of the Oaks for the more than 70 oak trees that dot the two-acreproperty. 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 alsohas every update and amenity any techno-tycoon might wish for.

The home was built in 1927 by architect Henry Palmer Sabin (1892-1956) forhis own family, and he spared no expense in making it comfortable, elegant andintimate—outfitting it with multiple fireplaces, window seats, burnished-woodbeams and barrel ceilings and artfully handcrafted ironwork, woodwork and tiles.

The current occupant—only the fourth owner—bought the house in 1999and traced its architectural history at the U.C. Santa Barbara Museum of Art,where Sabin’s papers are preserved. (Sabin also designed the EarhartLaboratory at Caltech and the Pasadena Hall of Justice.) There he found thearchitect’s plans to enlarge the house by adding a third level.

The owner embarked on a six-year plan to restore, update and enhance thehouse while retaining its architectural integrity. Sabin’s original homestead,about 5,000 square feet, now has 11,000 square feet. There are eight bedroomsand 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-tieredgardens that might rival those of the nearby Huntington and Arboretum.

“The addition is seamless. You cannot tell where the old house ends andthe new house begins,” says Realtor Sarah Rogers of Coldwell Banker, who addsshe usually needs two hours to show the place. “People seem to want to lingerand absorb the beauty of the house and the extraordinary grounds.” AM

WHAT YOU GET FOR$15 MILLION

WHAT YOU GET FOR$15 MILLION

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(This page and opposite)Shabby Chic: Views of an elegant fixer onNorth Los Robles Avenue

AFTER A SIX-WEEK SEARCH, REAL ESTATE ATTORNEYSTEPHEN SELICE AND HIS FIANCÉE DONNA MASSETTIRECENTLY PURCHASED THEIR CENTURY-OLD, FIVE-BEDROOMSOUTH PASADENA CRAFTSMAN HOME FOR $1.3 MILLION.WHILE THEY WERE OPEN TO A VARIETY OF ARCHITECTURALSTYLES, SELICE, A 36-YEAR RESIDENT OF SOUTH PASADENAAND CHAIR OF THE SOUTH PASADENA PLANNINGCOMMISSION, SAYS THEY WERE VERY SPECIFIC ABOUTWANTING A HOUSE WITH CHARACTER—AND SPACE.

“We needed space to accommodate three of my four sons and room for an officeand a decent-sized kitchen because we both like to cook,” he says. “We knew we weregoing to have to spend $850,000 to $1.3 million to get something that size that was indecent condition.”

The couple loved the quality of the home’s construction materials and its classicfloorplan, which includes upstairs bedrooms, an entry flanked by a parlor and diningroom, a butler’s pantry and a bonus first-floor room that will serve as an office. Theyalso 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, whorecently moved into her three-bedroom 1923 Colonial home in SouthPasadena—paying $40,000 above the $765,000 asking price—intends to “keepeverything that’s original and bring what’s not back to the style of the periodin which it was built.”

Tales of woe in the current real estate market have made headlines formonths. but there’s good news for Pasadena and its surrounding communi-ties: With their rich heritage of historic and architecturally significant proper-ties, they’ve been less affected by the mortgage meltdown, experts say. Whileit’s true that sales may be a bit slower and prices have dipped for homes acrossthe board, they have dipped less for properties that boast a famous architect—names such as Wallace Neff, Myron Hunt and the brothers Charles SumnerGreene and Henry Mather Greene come to mind—or that are true to the archi-tectural styles, such as Craftsman and Spanish Revival, that have become syn-

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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

ARROYO ~ MAY 2010 ~ 17

18 ~ MAY 2010 ~ ARROYO

onymous with Pasadena andits environs.

“Older houses have gonedown [in price] with the rest ofthe market,” says ColdwellBanker’s Steve Haussler, a 26-year veteran of the Pasadena-area real estate scene. “Whathave gone down less are houseswith historic quality and authen-ticity. A beautiful or unusualCraftsman bungalow will get apremium when it’s marketed cor-rectly that its neighbor of identicalsize and age won’t.”

As a rule, houses with vintageor even historic cachet “don’t slip as much as ‘plain Jane’ houses and they recov-er faster,” Haussler continues. “They’re the leading indicators. In the last reces-sion in the ’90s, the really great houses set the prices that followed for the rest ofthe market the following year.”

Not surprisingly, Pasadena’s well-heeled communities— Arroyo/Grande,Linda Vista, San Rafael, the Langham, Huntington Hotel area, Caltech, MadisonHeights—and neighbors South Pasadena, San Marino and La Cañada Flintridgehave been least affected by the crisis. However, very high-end homes-–thoseover $3 million—have taken a hit.

“A lot of houses in this price range aren’t selling—and they would have soldeasily five years ago,” says Sotheby International Realty’s Georges Rouveyrol. “Ifyou bought your house in 2005 or 2006 and are trying to get the same amount ofmoney 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 longago, you could put 10 percent down toward a home purchase. Now, especially inthe higher-end market, you have to put down 25 percent and prove that youhave assets to qualify for a jumbo loan. The qualification process is much harderthan it used to be.”

According to Haussler, though prices have gone down, they’re still higherthan they were 10 years ago, and signs indicate that the market is slowly begin-ning to stabilize. “Right now, we’re back to 2004 pricing—in some neighbor-hoods 2003 pricing,” he says.

Price stabilization is, of course, happy news for owners of vintage homeswho are thinking of selling their properties. But to get top dol-lar, experts say, there are certain things to keep in mind:“Protecting the architectural integrity of a house maintainsand even improves its value,” says Pasadena HeritageExecutive Director Sue Mossman. “Hardwood floors andfireplaces and lots of original windows are precious com-modities 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 incorporat-ing windows that are out of character with the rest ofthe house, can negatively impact the selling price.“People think they’re providing a lot of energy effi-ciency, but in truth, old windows are integral to thehistoric value of the house,” she says.

“One of the biggest problems I come across with a buyerwho wants a historic house is that it doesn’t have its originalwindows,” agrees Haussler. “How the window is made is oneof the telltale signs of a home’s age. If you’ve got a historichouse and you put in windows that are outside the stylerange of that house, it’s quite jarring to see.”

That alone could be reason enough for a prospectivebuyer to bypass a property in favor of another with archi-tectural integrity more or less intact, although many buy-ers are drawn to vintage houses precisely because theywant to restore or update them.

Still, historic treasures that are well maintainedremain the Holy Grail for a lot of buyers. Private investi-gator Mark Stocks should know. The regal 1907 Arts andCrafts house on North Los Robles Avenue in Pasadena

that has been in his family for more than 100 years and was his childhoodhome has been on the market for 15 months, along with two adjacent homes.The three buildings (a main house, adjoining bungalow and the most unusualaddition: a stand-alone ballroom built by Stocks’ socialite uncle who owned theproperty in the ’20s) are in need of a lot of work—everything from new roofs toelectrical wiring to plumbing.

Beyond maintaining the ballroom, “No one in my family was really into bigchanges, remodeling kitchens or anything,” Stocks says of the home, which passedfrom his uncle to his dad to his mom. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it was kind oftheir 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 cab-inetry, hardwood floors and original light fixtures. “I had an artist looking at thatback studio,” she says. “I had a dress designer who thought it would be perfect.”Recognizing the possibilities, local nonprofits and schools have also madeinquiries. But, Thornton says, “Then they get the contractors over there forestimates and they say it will cost between $200,000 and$500,000 to restore all three buildings.

“The goodnews is thatthey’re old andhaven’t beentouched. But the bad news is they’re old and haven’t been touched.” AM

REALESTATE

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(This page)

The Holy Grail:

A well-maintained

South Pasadena Craftsman

sold for $1.3 million.

40 ~ MAY 2010 ~ ARROYO

home is where the art isAWARD-WINNING NOVELIST MICHELLE HUNEVEN FINDS HER MUSE IN AND AROUND HER NATIVE ALTADENA.

BY SCARLET CHENG “WHEN MY FATHER WAS EIGHT YEARS OLD,” SAYS

NOVELIST MICHELLE HUNEVEN, “HE RAN AWAY FROM

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.

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Huneven, 56, was born and raised in this town, then spent 30 years away––firstat college, then living in Pasadena, the Sierras and Los Angeles. In 2001 shebought the single-story house with the sprawling lot we are strolling aroundnow, the site of her father’s childhood misadventure. She returned with sometrepidation. “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 inbloom and there are oranges and lemons in her trees. Huneven is an easy con-versationalist and a natural storyteller. Every question uncovers a story.

Her third novel, Blame, has been nominated for a National Book CriticsCircle Award and Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Set in Altadena, Pasadena andLa Cañada Flintridge, it’s the compelling tale of Patsy MacLemoore, a beautifulyoung history professor with a bad drinking problem. For years she haslaughed off her irresponsibility and recklessness. Then one day she wakes up injail, accused of running over a mother and daughter in her driveway. Rackedwith guilt, she goes to prison, learns to do what she’s told and eventually joinsAlcoholics Anonymous. And that’s just the first third of the book. How Patsyslowly 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

good takes up the rest of the book. “But isn’t there a higher, truer self, a self that’s free of addiction and obses-

sion, that knows what’s best for you?” Silver asks her in a session one day. “Andisn’t that why you come here? To find and nourish that authentic, unenslavedself?” Patsy says no, that hadn’t occurred to her. What she wants to know, shesays, is “how to live to with guilt.” Ultimately, Patsy does come around to explor-ing what’s best for her, but in the meantime it’s fascinating and satisfying to seea person wrestle with––and try to right––the consequences of her wrongdoing.

Blame has garnered widespread praise. Maria Russo wrote in the New YorkTimes Book Review that the novel “is firmly rooted in the moral ambiguities ofaddiction and recovery, probing responsibility, guilt and exoneration with aphilosophical elegance. Huneven’s prose moves like a hummingbird, in smallbursts that are improbably fast and graceful.” The New Yorker praised Huneven’sprose as “flawless, with especially arresting descriptions of the SouthernCalifornia landscape, and her strong but fragile heroine is mercilessly honest.”

Huneven has had literary ambitions since childhood. “I remember veryclearly being in my bedroom and thinking I want to be a writer,” she says. “Iwas 8 or 9 and thinking I can’t be a writer because I’m not a man.” Nobodytold her she couldn’t; she just thought it was impossible from what she sawaround 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 womenauthors––not least of whom was Jane Austen––and saw that she could be onetoo. After attending a series of colleges, she ended up at the prestigious IowaWriters’ Workshop in 1976 and got her MFA there.

For a while, she made her living as a restaurant critic and food writer forthe LA Weekly and the Los Angeles Times. She was good at it, winning a JamesBeard Award, and restaurant reviews left her enough energy to do what sheconsidered her serious writing. In 1997, Huneven’s first novel, Round Rock, waspublished; in it, a lawyer ruins his life through drink, then tries to redeem him-self by establishing a recovery center for alcoholics. Six years later she came outwith Jamesland, about three people whose lives intertwine in Los Feliz. Herefforts earned her a General Electric Foundation Award for Younger Writersand a Whiting Writers’ Award for Fiction.

Huneven’s latest novel was prompted by two ideas. “I wanted to writeabout someone who had lived a good life, then had reason to question the veryprinciples of that good life,” she says of Blame. Then there was a real-life storyshe had heard from an acquaintance. “He was a terrible blackout drinker, andat one point he was arrested for murdering his ex-wife. He’d assumed he’d

done it; he couldn’tremember. But despitehimself he had an iron-clad alibi, and the chargeswere dropped. What aclose call that was. He dideventually stop drinking.”

Alcoholism is a sub-ject the author returns toagain and again; she is,she acknowledges, arecovered alcoholic. Many of the main charac-ters in Blame bondthrough regular atten-dance at AA meetings,and Cal prides himself onhelping other recoveringalcoholics, even lettingthem use his home as ahalfway house. Hunevenbelieves that AA “isdesigned to make a personaware that there are thesedeep forces that can takethem over, like addiction.”

She’s already at work on her next novel, which she writes in her office, aone-room building in the corner of the lot. Nearby are elevated garden boxesin which she grows lettuces and gigantic spring onions. Her terrier trotsaround while we talk, and every so often her gray parrot lets out a squawkfrom her cage.

“I’m a really chauvinist Altadenan; I’m a West Altadenan,” she says withsome pride. “It’s one of the truly integrated communities here. It’s been thatway ever since I grew up. Interracial marriages, gay-friendly...My parents werevery progressive. It’s a place to live out one’s principles.” AM

“BUT ISN’T THERE AHIGHER, TRUER SELF, A SELF THAT’S FREE OF ADDICTION ANDOBSESSION, THATKNOWS WHAT’S BEST FOR YOU?”

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