Perusing the Palisades

If you're one of the lucky 27,000 residents of Pacific Palisades, you most likely host your neighbors for smart cocktails at sunset with ocean breezes wafting through your manse facing the sea.  If not, your opportunity to see where all this tanned and toned socializing happens was at Pacific Palisades Junior Women's Club "Holiday Home Tour" on Nov.13.

Architecture in the Palisades typically embraces cottage styles with shingle siding or Spanish Colonial stucco - both venacular dwellings for SoCal communities developed in the late 1920s.  Interestingly, the "developer" - a Methodist minister by the name of Charles Scott - envisioned an elaborate religious and intellectual "commune."  Well, I guess it is still that.  Just with million dollar tear-downs replacing tents.

Sunday's tour showcased five homes ranging from classic to colorful.  In no particular order, here goes ...

Artist Ed Massey likes color.  His wife Dawn likes color.  Apparently their children do, too.  Their home originally built in 1948 was remodeled by award-winning architect Eric Owen Moss in the 1980s and is burbling with color starting with the intersecting royal blue circles painted on the entry pavers to the Alice-in-Wonderland like back yard.  As wacky and whimsical as most of the home is, Massey's art sneaks in some pretty intense social commentary when you aren't looking.

Next stop - Spanish Colonial.  The style was brilliantly represented by two polar opposites - a newly completed home whose details were so authentic, you would swear it was transported from Spain and a grand casa once inhabited by legendary actors Charles Laughton and Elsa Lancaster.

Both have their charms and if I was forced in live in one, well... okay.  The newer of the two while spacious, is simultaneously cozy, luxe and laid back.  Bubbly and charming interior designer Dayna Katlin worked closely with the owners and somehow managed to replicate the rich blues and greens in the distant landscape in the custom fabrics, richly textured rugs and soulful art inside.  The Laughton home, on the other hand, while grand (the patio alone is 4300 sq. ft.) has a wonderful warren of intimate rooms each with elaborate moldings and old-school finish work.  Furnishings by designer Natasha Quinn Page brought the spaces elegantly to life as if Marilyn Monroe and Shelley Winters were still there engaged in their method acting workshop in the lower level.

Shingles are a staple by the beach and the 7000 sq. ft. Cape Cod style home gives you a big hug as you walk in the front door.  Awash in butter yellow and incredible art at every turn.  My favorite piece?  "Perseverance: Portait of a Surfing Rabbi."  Really.  Although to be honest, the room I'd have to be pryed out of is the 1000-bottle wine tasting nook.  (Take a peek at the picture!)  Jamie Roddy of EdenLA really embraced the owner's personal style and amped up the eclectic art with cushy furniture.  And room for that 1811 Chateau d'Yquem. 

And for sheer ingeniousness, a cottage completed in 2011 shows yes Virginia, you can have beautiful design on a budget.  If of course, you have any style of your own OR a sympathetic designer like Sandy Weinstock - and these homeowner's had both.

In all new design, I always look for a little nod to what went before; reclaimed bricks, an original dining room chandelier, markings where the previous tenants' children grew taller each year - and each of these homes paid homage to it's place in the Palisades.  A sweet - if unconscious tip o' the hat to Rev. Charles Scott and his planned "commune."