Datebook: Events, exhibits, classes for the week ahead

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

Nov. 3: Opening reception 7 to 10 p.m. for the L.A. Box Collective, artisans whose new furniture made from “dunnage,” mixed hardwood used as support and padding in building, shipping and trucking. Works include benches by Samuel Moyer and Andrew Riiska, stools by Casey Dzierlenga, a children’s table and chairs by Cliff Spencer, a woven screen by David Johnson as well as new pieces by William Stranger and Robert Apodaca. Inheritance, 8055 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles. (323) 658-6756.

Nov. 3: The Thursday Garden Talks With Lili Singer series continues with Bart O’Brien, right, director of special projects at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden in Claremont and co-author of “Reimagining the California Lawn: Water-Conserving Plants, Practices and Designs.” 9:30 a.m. to noon. $20. Palm Room, Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden, 301 N. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia. Reservations: (626) 821-3222.

Nov. 3: The Seed Library of Los Angeles presents David King, who discusses the essentials of saving seeds. 6:30 p.m. $40 in advance; $50 at the door. Learning Garden at Venice High School, 13000 Venice Blvd., Venice. (310) 722-3656.

Nov. 3: Curator Harold B. Nelson leads a three-part lecture series focusing on the exhibition “The House That Sam Built: Sam Maloof and Art in the Pomona Valley, 1945-1985,” a piece of which is pictured at right. Topics include Maloof’s handcrafted furniture and the painting, sculpture, ceramics and other works of his fellow artists. Jeremy Adamson, author of “The Furniture of Sam Maloof,” leads the second session. A discussion in the gallery follows each lecture. 10:30 a.m. to noon. Also Nov. 10 and 17. $55 to $65. Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino. Registration: (626) 405-2128.

Nov. 4-6: The juried Contemporary Crafts Market features works by more than 250 artists including makers of furniture, jewelry, glassware, ceramics and textiles. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, 1855 Main St. $8; children 12 and younger free. (310) 285-3655.

Nov 5: Celebrate the culture of Japan at this annual garden festival featuring taiko, origami lessons and a Japanese tea ceremony. Most activities are included with regular admission of $3 to $8. Descanso Gardens, 1418 Descanso Drive, La Cañada Flintridge. (818) 949-4200.

Nov. 5: The San Buenaventura Conservancy hosts a tour of the historic San Buenaventura Mission District. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 225 E. Main St., Ventura. Tickets available at the door, $20. (805) 643-4318.

Nov. 5: Steve Jones of the real estate development firm Better Shelter teams with Amanda Malson and Jolene Huitt of Domicile Interior Design for Orange County’s first Designer Flea Market. Local designers sell furniture, rugs, pillows, art and accessories. 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Free. The Cove 410 W. Coast Highway, Newport Beach.

Nov. 5: Sports historian and LA84 Vice President of Education Services Wayne Wilson discusses L.A.’s Olympic history at the annual Society of Architectural Historians/Southern California Chapter members’ celebration. Tour the historic Britt Residence and the Paul Ziffren Sports Resource Center, see rare artifacts and relax over wine and hors d’oeuvres in West Adams. 1 p.m. $20.

Nov. 5-6: Get expert advice and shop thousands of plants at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden’s 33rd annual fall plant sale. The garden’s emphasis is on low-water California natives. 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 5, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nov. 6. Free. 1500 N. College Ave., Claremont. (909) 625-8767.

Nov. 5-6: The San Gabriel Valley Cactus & Succulent Society exhibits succulents and cactuses rarely seen in summer shows. Featured plants include succulent pelargoniums, wild relatives of the common geranium, and cyphostemma, succulent members of the grape family. 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Free with regular admission of $3 to $8. Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden, 301 N. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia. Reservations: (626) 821-3222.

ONGOING: Beatrice Wood: “Beatrice Wood: Career Woman — Drawings, Paintings, Vessels, and Objects,” a survey devoted to the noted ceramist. Ends March 3. $3 to $5. Santa Monica Museum of Art, 2525 Michigan Ave., G-1. (310) 586-6488.

Craft show: In conjunction with the regional arts campaign “Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980,” Craft in America present “The Eighties,” an exhibition of California crafts. Participating artists include Steven Portigal, Tres Feltman and David Wulfeck from the UCLA Ceramics master of fine arts program; Kerry Feldman, who studied with glass artist Richard Marquis at UCLA; and Keiko Fukazawa, who studied with ceramic artist Ralph Baccera at Otis College of Art. Vintage work will be shown in the Craft in America Study Center through Dec. 31, 8413 and 8415 W. 3rd St., Los Angeles. (323) 951-0610, (323) 655-2607.

California craft: Craft in America and the Craft and Folk Art Museum present the survey “Golden State of Craft: California 1960-1985,” an exhibition of more than 70 pieces by 65 influential innovators. Ends June 3. 5814 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. $5 to $7. (323) 937-4230.

Maloof exhibition: “The House That Sam Built: Sam Maloof and Art in the Pomona Valley, 1945-1985” showcases about 30 pieces by the acclaimed woodworker with about 80 works by friends and colleagues. Maloof’s circle included painters Millard Sheets, Phil Dike and Karl Benjamin; sculptors Albert Stewart, Betty Davenport Ford and John Svenson; ceramists Harrison McIntosh and Otto and Gertrud Natzler; enamelists Jean and Arthur Ames; wood turner Bob Stocksdale; and fiber artist Kay Sekimachi. Ends Jan. 30. Included in admission of $6 to $20. MaryLou and George Boone Gallery, Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino. (626) 405-2100.

McCoy exhibit: “Sympathetic Seeing: Esther McCoy and the Heart of American Modernist Architecture and Design” includes photographs, texts and videos covering the architectural historian’s work with R.M. Schindler, first as a draftswoman and later as a critic. Also covers her unsuccessful campaign to save Irving Gill’s 1916 Dodge House in West Hollywood. $6 to $7. Ends Jan 8. MAK Center for Art and Architecture at the Schindler House, 835 N. Kings Road, West Hollywood. (323) 651-1510.

Midcentury design: “California Design, 1930-1965: Living in a Modern Way” features more than 300 objects including furniture, ceramics, metalwork, fashion and graphic design. Ends March 25. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. Regularly $10 to $15. Free admission to residents of L.A. County after 5 on some evenings. (323) 857-6010.

Woodworking: More than 30 bowls and other exemplary works by Sam Maloof, Ed Moulthrop and Bob Stocksdale, along with recently discovered correspondence and related documents, are on exhibit as a part of the Maloof historic residence tour. “In Words and Wood: Sam Maloof, Bob Stocksdale & Ed Moulthrop continues through Jan. 28. Sam and Alfreda Maloof Foundation for Arts and Crafts, 5131 Carnelian St., Alta Loma.

— Lisa Boone

Photo credits: Kwaku Alston; The Huntington

Please send listings at least three weeks in advance to home@latimes.com or Home section, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012.