Interview with Skye Peyton

Recentering El Pueblo: What is the 'West Adams Moms Club'?

Skye: The MOMS Club of West Adams is a Los Angeles chapter of MOMS Club International (www.momsclub.org) We are a non-profit group providing support for mothers who are with their children during the day. We offer activities and resources for moms with children and raise money for community organizations benefiting mothers and children. Each month we have a variety of activities including play groups, field trips, mom's night out and service projects.

Recentering El Pueblo: How did it start?

Skye: The MOMS Club of West Adams was started in July of 2008 by it's current President, Skye Peyton, with the help of a neighboring chapter, MOMS Club of Mid-Wilshire.

Recentering El Pueblo: How does one join, or get more information?

Skye: To see our boundaries and to get more information, check out our website at www.momsclubwestadams.org. To join the club, send an email to Jenna Flexner at momsclubwestadams@yahoo.com

Recentering El Pueblo: Anything else you'd like our readers to know?

Skye: Yes, we are having a raffle to benefit the local charity that we support, Gramercy Housing Group (www.gramercyhousinggroup.org). We have some fantastic prizes and the tickets are just $2 each or 12 for $20 (2 extra chances to win!). The drawing is going to be held on Monday, May 4th (you do not have to be present to win). I can be contacted directly to purchase tickets: skye@filmmaker.com

Interview with Norman Gilmore

1. You spearheaded the creation of an on-line community web-site for the Jefferson Park neighborhood. Why?

The short answer is that a group of neighbors were meeting to discuss the proposed development on 4th and Jefferson.

It was clear to me that we needed a place to share photos and documents. A small part of my motivation to take it on myself was fear that someone else would propose a Yahoo Group, which I really find to be awkward.

We also had been sharing information ad-hoc, with people emailing each other with the somewhat random lists of neighbors they had happened to accumulate in their address books. I know people are sensitive about not spamming each other, but at the same time, they weren't sure how to reach out effectively to communicate about local issues. So people limited themselves to sending out only really big news.

The slightly longer answer is that I have had a lifelong interest in software tools for collaboration. I set up my first online service in high school. A chunk of my career was spent writing corporate databases, which are collaboration tools for structured knowledge. I've also set up wikis for a couple different clients, and have found that to be a very effective tool as well.

Obviously, for those who have online access, communicating online is faster, more time efficient, and allows more people to participate. It's totally conceivable that 50 or 100 or 200 people will log on daily or weekly for news updates or to comment, and it's obvious that no one would even suggest getting 100 neighbors together every weekend in person to discuss neighborhood news. It would be ludicrous. That said, I think meeting people in person helps build trust much faster than an online only interaction. It is nice that I recognize many names on the web forum. But a lot of names are new to me as well. I'm looking forward to meeting everyone, just not every month in a giant meeting!

I also consider this online group a bit of a laboratory. I have theories about how a tool like this might be improved and made more effective, and so I hope to have time to create some useful enhancements for it.

2. Have you a pet peeve, a thing you'd most like to change?

I have a complete menagerie of peeves. But one of my Los Angeles pet peeves is my perception that zoning seems to have allowed auto-repair shops to set up anywhere. I wish there would have been the foresight to encourage them to cluster a bit more effectively. Look at the multiple furniture stores at Helms Bakery, or restaurant supply row on Washington Blvd. I realize these two examples probably weren't created by zoning decisions, but I just point out that competitive businesses can be closely grouped and still work economically, and even out-compete businesses that are not part of a cluster.

Then we would have had all the blight in one (or 10) big ugly Mad Max thunderdomes, instead of sprinkling the ugly evenly throughout the city. I don't see auto-repair shops scattered around the pedestrian friendly areas of Westwood, Culver City, Santa Monica or Beverly Hills. So it must be possible to not screw that up.

Of course, this is a somewhat pointless pet peeve, because I don't currently have any ideas about how to mitigate what's been done.


3. What's the SOJE card night?

I think you mean South of Jefferson Card Night. Heidi Rudd kept an email list and encouraged a lot of the new residents to meet at a monthly card night. Hosting was rotated among participants, usually just 6pm to 8pm, and kid friendly. It was a chance to meet neighbors, but hosting is a lot of work, and card night has been on hiatus as far as I know.

4. What's the rudest thing ever said about your home buying decision (i.e., neighborhood)?

Hmmm. No real rude comments, but perhaps the accidentally telling "Hey, this isn't so bad..."

5. What's the future of Jefferson Park?

Jefferson Park has multiple cultures that share a physical space, but travel in parallel cultural dimensions. Visions that include more than one culture may be able to harness more passion. Perhaps.

The future of Jefferson Park will be determined by the number of people who have a vision for what Jefferson Park could be, and whether they know how to work the system to implement that vision. "People" could refer to residents, absentee landlords, or developers. Too few residents engaged in monitoring the changes to their physical space will allow others to set the agenda.

Practically, we are under served in a variety of categories and we have a struggling business corridor. It seems to me that the key turning points for pedestrian friendly commerce in Westwood, the Santa Monica Promenade, and Culver City all seemed to be linked to zoning, streetscaping, and city subsidized parking. I'm not advocating that Jefferson Park be a regional shopping destination, but there should be a way to improve the business corridor to both the benefit of residents and merchants.

American Stuccolow

Lisa and Louis created the small publication American Stuccolow, based
on their own preservation ambitions and irritations. Currently the
couple are restoring a 1906 Craftsman-style bungalow in Jefferson Park.
We sat down to talk in their recently painted dining room, where the
wood had been stripped, sanded, stained, and varnished the previous
year.

Adam: What inspired American Stuccolow?

Lisa: 1529 Grace St, I think that was the address. A fanzine from
Chicago, named for the apartment building in which the writer lived.
He wrote about the building and interviewed neighbors. I showed it to
Louis, and he said, “if this guy can do a zine about his building, we
can do one about our house.”

Adam: Is it also a reaction to American Bungalow?

Lisa: Yeah, we were subscribers to that tired publication until we got
bored of looking at doe-eyed carpenters showing off their five thousand
dollar headboards and McMansions with bungalow-reminiscent detail,
kitchen islands, and can lights. We looked at our own home and that’s
not what we saw at all, nor was it our aspiration. And I used to
publish a zine called American Homebody, which was about staying at
home, so it seemed like a good project for us.

Louis: We wanted to create a sense of community that was extremely
local. And by “extremely local,” I mean the space between the parkway
and the back alley.

Lisa: American Bungalow isn't about the reality of renovation. It's
about advertising and creating consumers.

Louis: We don't have any advertising, unless you'd like to take out an
ad?

Adam: Are there any preservation myths you'd like to debunk?

Louis: Restoration is significantly more time consuming than anyone
cares to admit or imagine.

Lisa: I flinch when anyone says it's “just painted.” It sounds so
simple to rectify—but paint stripping is pretty involved, smelly, and
noxious.

Adam (#4): Are future issues planned, what will it feature, and how
can people secure a copy?

Lisa: We’re planning a holiday issue with a Jefferson Boulevard
shopping guide to all the 99 cent stores and party stores and pawn
shops within walking distance, pictures of recently stucco-ed houses,
and one lone recently un-stucco-ed house, yard news, and a new section
called “Vegan Living.”

Louis: And more Fight Club--there's a lot of Fight Club...[transcripts
of disagreements between the couple}, a list of meetings we didn’t
attend, Yard News, something about furniture....

Adam: How can people get a copy?

Lisa: They can go to StealthisSweater.com and contact the
proprietress.

Adam (#5): What about the biggest surprise?

Louis: How beautiful and sensible the architecture is, how beautiful
1/4 sawn Douglas fir is, the grain...

Lisa: We’re pretty central. I can be at Whole Foods in 30 minutes on
my bike from here.

Louis: And no one at work believes my quick commute.

Five Questions with Jane Powell

Jane Powell is the proprietor of House Dressing, a business dedicated to renovating and preserving old homes, particularly bungalows. She is a frequent lecturer and consultant, and is the author of Bungalow Kitchens, Bungalow Bathrooms, Linoleum, Bungalow: The Ultimate Arts & Crafts Home, and Bungalow Details: Exterior.

I spoke with Jane on Thursday.

1. Adam: What's new?

Jane: We're getting ready to release Bungalow Details: Interior, in June. It's the biggest thing I've ever written, 95,000 words.

Adam: Are you still threatening to make this book your last?

Jane: It will be my last book--in 2006.

2. Adam: How many bungalows have you owned?

Jane: Nine, altogether I've owned eleven Arts & Crafts houses. My current home, "The Sunset House", is going to be featured in an upcoming issue of American Bungalow magazine. The article is titled, "Embrace the Darkness."

Adam: Nowadays everybody wants everything awash in light. But I don't mind having a room or two--so long as the sightline isn't restricted--that are dark.

Jane: Or a whole house [laughs].

Adam: Why Arts & Crafts architecture?

Jane: I bought a bungalow first. If I'd bought a Spanish revival, who knows?

3. Adam: What would you like to do, that you haven't--yet.

Jane: A television show that spotlights true restoration. Not what passes for it on these bad old house makeover shows.

Adam: The ones that feature the so-called "sensitive" additions: kitchen or "great rooms" that are twice the size of the original house.

Jane: Exactly.

4. Adam: What ticks you off?

Jane: Replacement windows, but that's too easy. The term "smart growth". It's urban renewal in sheep's clothing. There's nothing smart about infill that isn't built to scale. There's nothing "smart" or "green" about demolition.

5. Adam: The Craftsman/Arts & Crafts style is so enduring, what do you think of these nuevo Craftsmans?

Jane: Three knee braces and a gable does not a Craftsman make. The majority of them get it wrong, whether it's the two car garage on the facade or the textured sheet rock inside. The window proportions are almost always wrong as well.

Adam: If you don't understand the philosophy, you'll screw up the aesthetics.

Jane: Yes, a cathedral ceiling in a Craftsman for example translates to: a lot of wasted space, poor efficacy. The opposite of what the movement was trying to advocate.

Adam: Thank you Jane, I'm looking forward to the new release.

Jane: You're welcome.