Arts & Architecture Ad for Park Planned Homes
Above is the original quarter page ad that ran in the June and July 1947 issues of John Entenza's Arts & Architecture magazine. The listing ran just as the houses were being completed on Highview.
The ad reads:
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LOCATION
Highview avenue below Foothill boulevard in Altadena foothills. Twenty minutes by auto from downtown Los Angeles, 30 minutes from Hollywood.
CONSTRUCTION
Wood frame, plaster and wood finish; concrete slab covered by asphalt tile throughout house. Three bedrooms, two baths, kitchen, dining area, L-shaped living room 24 feet long, 16 and 20 feet wide. Two enclosed outdoor living areas with privacy from street and neighbors.
DETAILS
Forced air heating, cooling and filtering system. Clerestory windows through most of house. Indirect lighting. Clear glass wall in every room looks out onto enclosed yard. Aluminum foil insulation
and reflecting roof. Landscaping complete.
PRICE
$18,000. Call builder, Bob Kahan, SYcamore 4-2852 or SYcamore 4-4656.
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Although Gregory Ain was a frequent contributor to Entenza's magazine, even serving on the editorial advisory board for many years during the 40s and 50s, he famously was never a part of the Case Study House program. There have been no definitive answers as to why Ain did not contribute, though many have speculated that his interest in solving housing problems for entire communities was at odds with the singular nature of the CSH program.
Even though a number of his single family homes still remain intact throughout southern California, it's a testament to Ain's vision that all of his community developments that were actually constructed are still standing. The four unit Dunsmuir Flats from 1937, the Avenal Cooperative Housing Project from 1947, and Modernique Homes (aka Mar Vista Tract) from 1948, are all regarded as seminal steps forward in Ain's oeuvre. Park Planned Homes is unfortunately the least known of the large-scale projects, although this has been changing in recent years with recent scholarly works on Ain showcasing the post-war development and home buyers taking care to keep the street preserved.
In the coming weeks, we hope to provide more details on many of the home features listed in the above advertisment, as well as additional vintage photos, drawings and spotlights on present-day restoration efforts.
welcome to the vortex...:-)
ReplyDeleteI lived on highview Ave in the 60's. Over fifty baby boomer kids. As I just wrote somewhere else:
ReplyDeleteHighview Avenue in Altadena. A time of baby boomers, the milk man and unlocked doors. The houses on highview ave. in Altadena I believe, are the only tract houses in town. The famous architect, Gregory Ain, drew up the plans. They seem ahead of their time. Built in 1948, the "Park planned homes" are unusual for the area. My earliest memories are on that St. in the early 1960's.
Let me give you the picture.
Their were over fifty baby boomer kids on that one block. Everyone knew everyone. Most of us could run, and roam anywhere, stop sign to stop sign, as long as we came in when the st. lights came on. Their was, the milk man, and the ice cream man, who came by twice a day. Every Saturday had a different theme, hide-n-seek, paper airplanes, flying kites, or making an obstacle course in someone's back yard. Their were flying in a box days, when large appliance box's could propel one down the block faster than you could run. The neighbor with the pool that everyone swam in all summer. And the other neighbor who didn't want anyone in their pool, and went on vacation, only to come home two days early to find half the block swimming in their pool. Their was the lady who taught bible to kids on Saturday, the guy who had chickens, and wasn't afraid to cut their heads off to cook them. Doors were unlocked all day, and many at night. From the view of a six year old, everyone of every race got along. It was the early sixties. My parents never told me anything about race relations. My neighbor may not have known either. He was black, and I white were best friends, not being burdened by past generations, or the world beyond our block. A kid could wake up on a Saturday. or summer morning, and have a world of adventure, and interact kids of every age, and background, as long as we came home by the time the street lights came on.
And everyone knew to do the right thing, because as free as we were to run around, every parent on that block had the authority to reprimand bad behavior to anyone's kids. ...(except that swimming pool thing, and a bunch more things like that)
That's how I remember Altadena in the early 60's