27th Annual Vintage Mother's Day Tour

Mother's Day Weekend is going to be one exciting weekend for the arts & crafts enthusiast. There are events in Colorado, Oregon, and in Texas. But for those of you in the Southern California area, the city of Monrovia is presenting us with it's own unique Mother's Day Tour.


From the Tour Website:

The annual MOHPG Mother’s Day Tour is typically held in May and this year will be held on May 10, 2009, from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. Seven homes in the newly designated Wild Rose Tract Historic District (Monrovia’s first historic district) will be open for viewing as well as the newly updated Monrovia Historic Museum. Tickets can be purchased by mail, online, or at the door:

Advance Ticket Sales

Adult . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $15.00
Senior (65+) . . . . . . . . . $12.00
Teen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 6.00
~~~~~Under 13 Free~~~~~

Day-Of Sales

Adult . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $18.00
Senior (65+) . . . . . . . . . $15.00
Teen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 9.00
~~~~~Under 13 Free~~~~~

More information can be found at the MOHPG website.

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"Has anyone seen this viewer and door knocker before?"

Forum Member "Kevin in LA" needs your help!

This is from a home built in the Los Angeles area in the 1920's:

"With the poppies and grizzlies, it's probably only found in California."

Do you believe you know where these originate? If so, let us know! Or sign up to the forums and check out this thread to get in touch with Kevin.

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Dr. Robert W. Winter Honored

Bob Winter, who has served American Bungalow with distinction since the days it was just a gleam in its founder's eye, has been honored with the 2009 Los Angeles Conservancy's President's Award, here. In addition to his classic work with David Gebhard, cited in the award announcement, Bob authored The California Bungalow (Hennessey + Ingalls, 1980, still in print). Bob, and the book, were profiled in Issue No. 49 on the 25th anniversary of its publication. Our sincerest congratulations to a dear friend.

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On the Right Track?

For some years now, I have toyed with the idea of offering an article in American Bungalow about the importance—and the romance—of railroad transportation during the original bungalow era. Photographer Alex Vertikoff and I have even gone so far as to shoot photos for such an article, or at least we did whenever the subjects fell into our laps. It can be remarkably heady stuff. Many of the depots and train stations were created in the Arts & Crafts style, as were some of the era’s private Pullman cars. And anyone who has been near a steam locomotive knows of the awesome power, virtually and literally, these icons of our past can project. Then there is the personal aspect of it all – the way 20th Century America’s trains provided an up-close, mile-by-mile insight into the landscape—participation, really—and allowed travelers to actually get to know each other in the process.


But it is often difficult to discern what is objectivity and what is sheer fancy, and both Alex and I are known to wax fanciful when it comes to trains. It concerns me that readers who have waited three months for their magazine might not be thrilled to see some of its pages filled with material that, however well presented, in this day and age is not a part of their world. Conversely, in a time where our brains are invisibly penetrated by wireless waves, it might be refreshing to immerse one’s consciousness into the reality of wood and leather and iron and the hot, living breath of steam.

Fortunately, in this age we do have the Internet, so I thought I’d just ask, wirelessly. Your thoughts on including this content—or this kind of content—within the pages of American Bungalow are invited.

For that matter, I encourage your ideas and suggestions on all aspects of the magazine’s content. In magazine publishing as well as with railroads, it’s the squeaking wheel that gets the most attention.

John Brinkmann
Publisher/Founder
American Bungalow

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