Silent film studio revived as architect's live-work retreat

A hundred years before “The Artist” made its run for Oscar history, American Film Co. arrived in Santa Barbara and produced nearly 1,000 silent films in what the industry considered Hollywood North. You can find out about the influential Flying A, as the studio was called, and take a trip back in time at the recently opened Santa Barbara Historical Museum exhibition “The Flying A: Silent Film in Santa Barbara.” Or if you're architect Peter Becker, you can simply take a walk in your garden.

Becker is the proud owner of what had been part of the Flying A. His long, narrow garden, planted circa 1913, still has the original redwood pergola and a profusion of Cecile Brunners, the ubiquitous soft pink roses that bear successive flushes in spring, summer and fall.

“Indeed, they seem to be in bloom year round,” says Becker, who believes his Cecile Brunners may be some of the earliest plantings of the rose in Southern California.

PHOTO GALLERY: Peter Becker's garden and home

They are but one part of the silent film studio once located at Chapala and Mission streets — at its peak, “one of the most influential studios in the world, cranking out nearly a reel or two a day,” says Dana Driskel, studio professor of film media studies at UC Santa Barbara.

The Garbage Maven's goal: A kids' party with no trash

I used to be the sort of mom who strung Mylar balloons with ribbon strings for my son's birthday parties. For each of his eight years, I handed out goody bags stuffed with candy and 99 Cents Only Store toys. I bought cakes topped with plastic decorations. I served junk food and Capri Suns. I was oblivious to the mounds of waste I was generating. I just wanted to throw the perfect party.

This year, I decided on something different. For my son's ninth, trash was the enemy. The goal: a party that generates zero garbage. There would be no Slinkies or wax candy mustaches. And Mylar? That was definitely out.

Throwing a zero-waste party was a challenge. I'm not going to lie. Certain items just weren't possible to eliminate, and the party needed to seem just as fun and “normal” as any of the previous birthday blowouts I've thrown. It's one thing to live environmentally conscious myself. It's another thing to ask parents I didn't know well to be part of the experiment, or to include my son, who splits his time between my house and his dad's, where recycling isn't as big a priority.

Clifford Wright's kitchen: worldly, with a dash of Three Stooges

Clifford A. Wright is an earnest culinary scholar who has worked at the Institute of Arab Studies and has written 14 books. His kitchen is a history of his travels. But over his kitchen sink hangs a Franklin Mint plate on which Larry, Curly and Moe, wearing chef’s jackets, are about to get to work on a turkey.

Wright takes food seriously, with a dash of Three Stooges demeanor.

A careful look around reveals charm and humor again and again. As he puts it: He is a scholar who writes for people who watch their happiness before their weight.

The author of the classic “A Mediterranean Feast” was testing recipes one recent morning: Frittata‘i Rosa Marina (eggs and smelt) and Chiculliata (a salad of tuna, capers, anchovies, olives and chile). He has thousands of tested, unpublished recipes in his files and two new books — “Hot & Cheesy,” released this month, and “One-Pot Cookery” due out in 2013.

Wright, who worked for years at think tanks such as the Brookings Institution and the Institute of Arab Studies, found his way to culinary scholarship combined with good food on many journeys; the mementos fill the galley kitchen and adjacent dining area of his house in Santa Monica, where he moved in 1996, just a few blocks from the Pacific.

Coming up the stairs and into the room, rows of colorful plates on three sturdy shelves grab the eye. There are a few, from France, where Wright lived as a child. Others come from Sicily, the subject of one of his cookbooks; still others from Turkey. And that institutional-style white one decorated with a pineapple? That came from the Encyclopedia Britannica cafeteria in Chicago, where Wright held his first job, as a proofreader.

“So I stole it,” he says.

John Lautner designs open during Palm Springs Modernism Week

Because so many of the home tours during Palm Springs Modernism Week have sold out already -- who wouldn't want to see Frank Sinatra's Modernist pad?  -- we're pointing out that tickets are still available for tours of two John Lautner landmarks.

Lautner's Elrod House (1968), shown above, will be open for five public tours Feb. 24-26 to benefit the Los Angeles Conservancy and the MAK Center for Art and Architecture. The home, famous for its domed concrete roof and wedge-shaped skylights, was featured in the 1971 James Bond film "Diamonds Are Forever." Tickets for the tour are $45; the tour with a special brunch on Feb. 26 is $99. 

Prior to the Elrod House, Lautner designed what is now known as the Hotel Lautner (1947) in nearby Desert Hot Springs. It will open to the public for the first time since a renovation by its owners, designers Tracy Beckmann and Ryan Trowbridge. They, along with board members of the John Lautner Foundation, will offer tours and answer questions from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Feb. 19. Tickets are $25. A three-course dinner follows at Two Bunch Palms for an extra charge. Tickets are available online through the John Lautner Foundation. 

A detailed list of tours, lectures, films and other events is posted to the website for Palm Springs Modernism Week, which runs Feb. 16-26.

RELATED:

John Lautner photo gallery

Lautner's Los Angeles legacy

Lautner's Harpel House restored

-- Lisa Boone

Upper photo credit: Joshua White

Lower photo credit: Dan Chavkin

EnergyGlass: Windows that make solar electricity

Almost 90% of electricity generated from the sun comes courtesy of roof-mounted panels made with silicon, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo. But new technology using clear glass offers another option.

EnergyGlass, based in Riviera Beach, Fla., sandwiches a sheet of polycarbonate laminate infused with nanoparticles between two pieces of optically clear glass. When it comes into contact with various types of light, the light is directed to the pane's perimeter, where it's converted into electricity in the frame of a window or door.

The glass can convert sunlight, ambient light and artificial light into electricity, according to Saf-Glas, a 15-year-old manufacturer of bullet- and blast-resistant safety glass. The company introduced EnergyGlass last year for commercial projects, such as high-rise office buildings and hotels, that are already using significant amounts of clear plate glass.

Vertically mounted EnergyGlass generates about a third as much power per square foot as traditional photovoltaics, the company said. The advantage of EnergyGlass is that it generates electricity in spaces that otherwise wouldn't.

"Architects and designers and construction managers can use this like any other piece of glass. We can make this any size or shape, and it goes where regular glass would've gone anyway," said Steve Coonen, EnergyGlass chief technology officer. "We're taking advantage of the cost of the glass already going in and the labor to put it in. You don't need a rack to hold the solar panels because it's already part of the building."

The technology used in EnergyGlass is known as a luminescent concentrator, so called because "small particles in the glass absorb the light and reluminesce," said Sarah Kurtz, a spokeswoman for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Kurtz said the efficiency of luminiscent concentrators still has a ways to go before they are as efficient as silicon and cadmium telluride photovoltaics. It's a "difficult technology" that will take a few years to develop to become cost effective, she said, but "if you can take light that would otherwise result in heat load from the building and turn that into electricity, that's a win-win for everybody."

Coonen said a 30% federal tax credit and the fact that EnergyGlass simply substitutes for another type of glass make the product competitive in price to standard rooftop photovoltaics. So far, the company has installed the glass in two buildings: a government building in Taiwan and an office building in Delray Beach, Fla. A few other projects are slated for completion in South Florida.

RELATED:

Thin-film solar panels

Solar Decathlon moves to Orange County in 2013

Residential solar power in California still a hot topic

-- Susan Carpenter

Photo: A buildling in Taiwan outfitted with electricity-generating EnergyGlass. Credit: Saf-Glas.

How to grow sugar cane: Some sweet choices

As he pours fresh sugar cane juice through a filter, John Guettler says it’s important not to confuse the plant with what it becomes after processing. “Sugar cane has been demonized in Western cultures because it is turned into sugar,” Guettler, right, says.

He pours a glass of sugar cane juice, skimmed of foam. The juice has a consistency like water but is slightly thicker and sweet, with a caramel undertone. It’s grassy too. And filling -- partly why it has become a favorite drink for fasts. Robby Whitelaw, co-owner of Raw Cane SuperJuice Bar in Hollywood, says sugar cane juice is full of fiber and minerals, like wheat grass.

Last week we wrote about gardeners growing sugar cane as a source of juice, as a chewy snack, perhaps even as a windbreak around the yard. This week we continue the conversation with some advice on propagation and a discussion about how sugar canes are not all the same. The varieties used in juicing contain less sucrose than the type processed into sugar. Juicing canes are bred to have long straight sections with fewer nodes; chewing canes are bred for easy peeling.

In Louisiana and Florida, where sugar cane has a long history of commercial production, heirloom varieties come in a rainbow of colors: Georgia Red, Louisiana Purple, a green-yellow variety called Home Green.

Domino magazine plans return to newsstands in April

When Domino succumbed to declining advertising and folded in 2009, fans of the youthful home decorating magazine were heartbroken. Apparently sensing that their love is still alive, Conde Nast Editorial Director Thomas J. Wallace announced Tuesday that a special Quick Fixes edition of Domino will be available on newsstands April 17.

Domino's Quick Fixes, which is still in the planning stages, will mix new and previously published content, said Susan Portnoy, vice president of corporate communications and digital strategy at Conde Nast.

"We love that there is still that Domino lover out there,"  Portnoy said. "The best thing about the magazine will remain the same -- all the great ways that you can make a big difference without a huge amount of time and effort."

A news release described Quick Fixes as "Domino's best home decorating stories, focusing on easy, often inexpensive changes that make a big difference -- from quick spruce-ups of dowdy furniture to more involved DIY projects like painting stairs or reorganizing a home office." 

Quick Fixes will be available through July 16. Price: $10.99. A second issue is planned for the fall, although the subject matter is not known at this time.

Portnoy dismissed the idea of a campaign to bring the magazine back, but she did acknowledge, "We know that we have a very passionate audience."

RELATED:

Shelter magazines thrive in China, Russia, India

-- Lisa Boone

Photo: Domino's premiere issue in 2005. Credit: Conde Nast

Unique L.A., worm composting and more in the week ahead

Home and garden events, classes and exhibitions are listed below. Suggest your own via reader comments. No store promotions and no frivolous links, please.

Feb. 6: Los Angeles designer and architectural theorist Joe Day of Deegan-Day Design lectures as part of the UCLA Architecture and Urban Design series. 6:30 p.m. Free. Decafé (Perloff Hall, Room 1302). (310) 267-4704.

Feb. 8: John Enright, co-founder and principal of the Los Angeles-based Griffin Enright Architects, which recently completed the St. Thomas the Apostle Education Campus in Los Angeles, speaks as part of the Southern California Institute of Architecture’s spring lecture series. 7 p.m. Free. Lectures, talks, and discussions are also broadcast live at www.sciarc.edu/live. 960 E. 3rd St., Los Angeles. (213) 613-2200.

Feb. 9: Arborist and plant pathologist Jerrold Turney discusses fungi in local gardens as part of the Thursday Garden Talks With Lili Singer. 9:30 a.m. to noon. $20. Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden, 301 N. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia. (626) 821-4623.

Feb. 9: Hungarian botanist Zsolt Debreczy gives an illustrated talk about his new book, “Conifers Around the World,” two volumes with 3,700 photographs and 40 years of research and field work. 2:30 p.m. Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino. Free. Rain cancels. (626) 405-2100.

Feb. 11-12:  More than 300 vendors sell their work at Unique L.A., a marketplace of handcrafted items. 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. $10. California Market Center, 110 E. 9th St., Los Angeles. 

Feb. 11-12: Hundreds of blooms compete for top honors at the Huntington Botanical Gardens’ 40th annual Camellia Show, co-sponsored by the Southern California Camellia Society. 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Free. 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino. (626) 405-2100.

Feb. 11: Tom Sitton, author of “Grand Ventures: The Banning Family and the Shaping of Southern California” talks about how the “father of the port of Los Angeles” influenced the region. 11 a.m. Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, 1500 N. College Ave, Claremont. Included in garden admission of $4 to $8. (909) 625-8767.

Feb. 11: The Silverlake Art, Craft & Vintage Market runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Micheltorena Elementary School, 1511 Micheltorena St., Los Angeles. Free. (323) 467-0623.

Feb. 12:  The Los Angeles Mycological Society’s annual Wild Mushroom Fair includes a talk by Gary Lincoff, author of “Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms,” and a cooking demonstration by Nancy Silverton, founder of La Brea Bakery. The fair includes wild mushrooms in habitat displays, guided mushroom walks, cultivation lessons, children’s events and mushroom-themed vendors. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Call for reservations and fee information for Lincoff talk. Rest of fair is included in regular admission of $3 to $8. Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden, 301 N. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia. (626) 821-4623; (323) 292-1900.

Feb. 12: Horticulturist, garden designer and longtime worm wrangler Stephen Baldonado leads a workshop on composting kitchen scraps and garden waste. A Q&A session and tour of Grow Native Nursery worm composting system follows. The Grow Native Nursery Westwood, managed by Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, is behind the Jackie Robinson Stadium on Davis Avenue on the Westwood campus of VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System. 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Free.  Send RSVPs to cwheeler@rsabg.org

Before and after: Family-friendly L.A. loft remodel

Chinmaya Apurva Collaborative recently completed its first interior loft renovation, a 1,574-square-foot space rethought as a series of areas for parents and child to rest, work and play. The project, completed in December, is the latest installment of Pro Portfolio, our Monday feature that looks at recently built, remodeled or  redecorated spaces with commentary from the designers.

Location: Downtown Los Angeles.

Designer: Chinmaya Apurva Collaborative, which also goes by Cha:Col. General contractor: Alex Taslimi, Taz Construction. 

Designer's description: The clients -- husband, wife and 3-year-old daughter -- bought this historic loft in the South Park neighborhood of downtown last summer. The couple needed a flexible space for living as well as occasional home-based work. The building is seven floors high, the top three of which were added by the developer.  This unit is on the fourth floor, giving us the opportunity to design within the historic structure.

When the couple purchased the loft, it had spartan, unmaintained finishes including synthetic wood flooring; reinforced concrete (or RC) columns with granular, degenerating stucco; RC beams; retrofitted aluminum-framed windows; and exposed HVAC and electrical work along ceilings, concealed within partition walls.

The clients needed a flexible live-work plan as well as a separate space for their daughter. The budget was extremely limited, so at the outset we decided to limit the scope of the project to  interior mill work and finishes.

We worked extensively with 3D models and drawings to establish key sight lines. These were required so we could define separate zones without losing visual continuity between any of them. First, we defined all areas that were beyond the limited budget. We then cut an  existing utility room in half and redesigned it as an open, flexible workspace with integrated shelving. Storage was relocated to a new partition wall. We then built open shelves to separate spaces yet leave porous boundaries.

To see more, keep reading ...

Smith & Others twofer: Pacific on one side, Torrey Pines on other

With banks of windows up to 20 feet high taking in the ocean to the west, the new Del Mar home of David and Linda Weinman would seem hard-pressed to deliver a more glorious view -- unless you were to look toward the south, where more glass frames vistas of Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve.

"Our idea was to connect the park at the back with the ocean in front,” said Ted Smith, who, with Kathy McCormick, makes up the architectural firm Smith & Others.

Their task was not easy, given that the sloping site has large houses on both sides. The architects not only positioned the new house close to the property's rear boundary, thus opening up the view to Torrey Pines, but also elevated it, expanding the views northward.

The result feels like something of a giant Modernist balcony from which the Weinmans can take full advantage of their perch high above the Pacific.

PHOTO GALLERY: The Weinman house

The three-bedroom, 3,500-square-foot home looks deceptively simple: two concrete-and-glass boxes. Inside, however, the ingenuity of McCormick is much in evidence. She designed every room with a different ceiling height, ranging from 20 feet in the living room to a mere 7 feet where the sloping ceiling of the master bedroom hits the east wall.

This bedroom, above right, a mezzanine only 12 feet wide, is walled by glass for an exaggerated sense of living, and sleeping, above the ocean.