by Recently, a post online identified the “most googled” interior design searches by state. In California the most popular style was Hollywood Regency–which really surprised me. It is a super-glam style with lots of glass, mirrored tables, white curvy furniture and women lounging around in floor-length white satin gowns. Apparently part of the appeal is that the authentic original furnishings are small scale, which fits right into the tiny apartment lifestyle now prevalent in Los Angeles and San Francisco. And if you use enough mirrors even a small space looks bigger.
The antithesis of Hollywood Regency is the California Rustic home style which became popular in the 1970s onward as many young people turned away from the mass-produced, cookie-cutter homes in the ‘burbs. Budgets had lot to do with it at first. Can’t afford a new house? Well then, find a run-down cottage or cabin–preferably far away from suburban side-by-side lots.
Desirable in the ’70s and still loved today
In Southern California that meant up in the hills or in the canyons. Young musicians, artists, actors and hippies led the way by making their homes in places like Laurel Canyon. Furnishings were bought at used furniture shops and mismatched was considered desirable, as was original art by local artists. (Full disclosure: I lived in Laurel Canyon for a brief while back in the ’70s. It was a crazy place, but then so was S.F. where I lived during the ’60s.)
In time, as vacant land in the flat areas of L.A. became unavailable, developers began to build homes in the hillsides and some of the “hippie stigma” of living in the canyons disappeared. Which is how the house where I stayed in Altadena through Airb&b came into being. It was originally part of a development called The Meadows, which is a misnomer–the homes are all on hillsides. Not a meadow in sight.
View into the canyon from backyard into Altadena Canyon. This land is part of the Angeles National Forest.
On Airbnb the homeowner described it as a rustic home with a pool overlooking a canyon and it was close to Pasadena where I was getting my belongings moved from storage into a POD.
It turned out that my hosts, Erick and Dana would have fit right into the 1970s scene in Laurel Canyon. Erick is even a musician, a drummer. A full drum set, several guitars and other musical instruments fill one side of the living room. I think of them as Altadena Gothic — notice the pitchfork he is holding. He was in the middle of painting an armoire.
As years rolled by the rustic style of the 1970s became more upscale as you can see in Erik and Dana’s California back yard…with a not-so-rustic swimming pool.
There was a lot of seating around the pool and floaties for their grandchildren.
The other guests were affiliated with the Jet Propulsion Lab which is nearby. Maybe they liked chess?
A few years later after Erik and Dana bought the home the federal government set boundaries for the Angeles National Forest. The Meadows neighborhood was included inside the borders. That means no additional buildings can be erected in the area. Development stopped there. And this California rustic home’s setting is now permanent.
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