Architecture -- John Lautner

Photograph by Crosby Doe Associates

This is the John Lautner's remodel of an existing home, done for Anne Baxter. The house at 8650 Pine Tree Place is listed by Crosby Doe Associates at $1,895,000. Baxter received the home in her 1953 divorce from John Hodiak. It was put on the market five years later.

Found on EBay -- Batchelder Tile

Here's a matched pair of Batchelder tile....

This tile is listed here >>>

This tile is listed here >>>

Found on EBay -- Batchelder tile

Here's a Batchelder tile of two birds, listed on EBay. Bids start at $120. Note: Before you spend any serious money on EBay, always check the item and the vendor carefully.

Found on EBay -- Batchelder tile

Here's a signed Batchelder tile of a rabbit that's been listed on EBay. Bids start at $24.95.

   

Found on EBay -- Catalina Tile

This is a table with an image from Catalina Tiles embedded in the top. It's listed on EBay with a starting bid of $500. I have no idea what the going rate is for a genuine Catalina Tile table, as all I've seen so far are the more dubious ones. As always, check the vendor and the item carefully before spending that kind money.

Stolen statue returns

Photograph by Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times The 1920s statue, shrouded in plastic, will be reinstalled at San Vicente Boulevard and McCarthy Vista.

The 6-foot bronze miner statue stolen last February from the Carthay Circle area and later recovered from a Los Angeles scrapyard is back on familiar ground, where it will be fully installed in the next two weeks, city officials said today. For decades, the gold miner stood in plain view at the busy intersection of San Vicente Boulevard and McCarthy Vista. But sky-high prices for such metals as bronze, brass and copper made the statue too tempting a target to thieves. Then in February, thieves cut the miner free from its mooring to a boulder and made off with the 512-pound sculpture, valued at $125,000. Detectives with the Los Angeles Police Department's art theft detail tracked down the statue -- which had been sliced in two -- at a local scrapyard, where it was purchased for $900. Sebastian Espana, 22, and Jessie Hernandez, 23, were later arrested on suspicion of grand theft  in connection with a string of thefts of bronze statues and sculptures in the Wilshire area and in Beverly Hills. Each pleaded no contest to two counts of felony grand theft and were sentenced in July to 16 months in state prison. They were also ordered to pay $31,700 each in restitution. Sculpted by Henry Lion in 1924 and 1925, the miner, along with a fountain, commemorated 19th century settlers in California. Its reinstallation, nearly a year in the making, is expected to take a week to 10 days. It was one of three public statues stolen over nine months in 2007 and 2008, including a 6-foot-tall, 4-foot-wide bronze sculpture taken from its concrete stand in front of a business in Brea. Authorities across the country say the high price of metals -- which have since come back to earth -- prompted the thefts. Even then, police said, the art thieves ended up with pennies on the dollar for often irreplaceable works of art. --Andrew Blankstein

Found on EBay -- Batchelder tile

	An EBay vendor is selling the two marked pieces of Batchelder tile at left, which appear to be part of the same design. Both are listed at $9.99, although there is a reserve. The top piece is listed here. The bottom piece is listed here. I suspect that they might be in the same design as the piece below, offered by a second dealer:

Found on EBay -- Batchelder book

"The Principles of Design" by Ernest A. Batchelder of Pasadena is listed on EBay with a Buy It Now price of $95. Which you could do. Or you could buy it via bookfinder.com for $11.50. On the other hand, Google has digitized it here.

            

Architecture -- Paul R. Williams

Photograph by Susanne Hayek Home designed by Paul R. Williams, Pasadena.

The home at 1727 Putney Road, designed by noted African American architect Paul Revere Williams, is on the market for $2,795,000. The agent's website is here. The home was occupied in the 1940s by George C. Earley, who owned the Chrysler dealership in Pasadena at 337 W. Colorado Blvd.

36 homes burn in Malibu fire, December 3, 1958

I have seen some ugly Page 1 layouts but this headline takes the prize.

Corral Canyon fire, 1958

Corral Canyon fire, 2007.

One fire began near Bob Hope Ranch, the other near 20th Century Fox movie ranch and they joined. Surely you have heard the remark that if history doesn't repeat itself, it rhymes. Here we have fires in Corral Canyon, at the top in 1958 and above in 2007. At this point, the 1958 fire had covered 15,000 acres. Actors Strother Martin and Lew Ayres lost their homes and Jackie Coogan skipped a TV appearance to protect his home from the flames. And I have to say that my jaw dropped when I saw what they did with the headline. We also followed the deadly fire at Our Lady of the Angels in Chicago, where official speculate that the blaze was started by a student sneaking a cigarette. The set for "War and Peace" survives the flames. Bill Barnes signs three-year contract to head UCLA football.