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| Mediterranean villa on Via Monte d Oro: L Cena Rice whose family has lived in this mansion for the past 41 years, has tried to maintain much of the home s original features, including furnishings and paintings. Situated on three lots, the house was modeled after the Beverly Hills estate in which Bugsy Siegel was killed. (Robert Casillas/Staff Photographer) |
So when the South Bay Realtor with an interior design background went to see a 3,500-square-foot Spanish Revival fixer-upper in the historic ocean-view hillside community known as the Hollywood Riviera, she was determined to make it her home. |See photo gallery.
"For me, this is a dream house," she says.
With its original scrolled ironwork framing the picture window, stenciled post-and-beam ceilings and wrought iron gates in place of interior doors, the house will be open as one of seven stops on the Riviera Historic Homes Tour Friday, June 1 and Saturday,
RIVIERA HISTORIC HOMES TOUR
What: Self-guided tour of several homes designed for the Hollywood elite of the 1920s and '30s, with free shuttle bus pickup and drop-off.
When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, June 1 and Saturday, June 2.
Tickets: $35 through Thursday, May 31; $40 thereafter, with proceeds benefiting community education, scholarship and civic beautification.
Information: For more information on where to purchase tickets, go to www.rivieragardenclub.org; or on tour day stop by the hospitality house at 124 Via Monte d'Oro in Torrance, where you can enjoy light refreshments, a Hollywood Riviera documentary slideshow presentation and various demonstrations.
June 2.
The self-guided tour put on by the long-running Riviera Garden Club focuses on the heyday of the Hollywood Riviera, Southern California's answer to the French Riviera located in the city of Torrance but with a Redondo Beach ZIP code. It offers visitors a glimpse into the homes that real estate developer Clifford Reid intended for movie stars of the 1920s and '30s. But the Great Depression stole his thunder and by 1928 only two houses stood, including Reid's behemoth Mediterranean-inspired villa.
It's been home to the Rice family for the past 41 years with few modifications, which was important to tour organizers when it came to choosing which homes to spotlight.
"We were looking for originality, upkeep and something reflective of the year it was built," says tour chairwoman Dina Wiley.
Walking through the mansion, L'Cena Rice points out upholstered furniture, a dining room set, paintings and a parlor grand original to the house.
Modeled after the Beverly Hills estate in which Bugsy Siegel was gunned down, the house sits on three lots surrounded by scads of neighbors, including some of the 35 homes built as part of the Hollywood Riviera into the '30s. The original models intermingle with post-war construction and contemporary homes.
While the area has dramatically changed, the Rice home remains as stately as ever.
"Over the years we've tried to maintain the original features of the house as much as we can," says Rice, a retired Redondo Union High School principal who along with her husband, Robert, raised three sons and entertained regularly among the hand-painted ornamental ceilings, faux-brick walls and Italian decorative tile flooring.
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| Spanish Revival on Camino de los Colinas: For me, this is a dream house, says Angie Block, who bought the house in 2007 with her husband, Michael. Renovations and re-wiring have modernized the home while staying true to its architectural and historical integrity. (Robert Casillas/Staff Photographer) |
"It just goes to show you that everything
Spanish Revival on Camino de los Colinas: For me, this is a dream house, says Angie Block, who bought the house in 2007 with her husband, Michael. Renovations and re-wiring have modernized the home while staying true to its architectural and historical integrity. (Robert Casillas/Staff Photographer)
they did here was built with perfection," she says.
Tour-goers can see the chip and all of the features from the vantage point of the grand foyer around which several rooms pivot, including the living room that features one of three original rugs that required a crane to install.
"To our knowledge it's never been taken up because it's too heavy," Rice says.
But before the Reids settled in, Block's "dream house" stood alone on the sandy dunes sloping shoreward. Two frescoes in the sunroom offer a glimpse of what the view of the Palos Verdes Peninsula and surrounding grounds all dotted with coastal trees looked like then.
It's not the only survivor in the cheerful, colorful environment that Block has created using a mix of Marrakesh, Spanish and contemporary-style furniture, decor and artwork. In fact, the house conceals a few secret compartments - relics from the days of Prohibition - including one used as a wine room that lies behind a bookcase in the downstairs office.
"For me it's important to maintain the integrity of the house," says Block, who along with her husband, Michael, purchased the house in 2007. "But having lived in '20s houses I know all the things that aren't convenient, and that you want to modernize, and this was the perfect opportunity to do it."
Today the house is re-wired from top to bottom for modern living, including an audio system with speakers in every room. A spare closet in the guest bedroom was closed off and transformed into a powder room.
And any architectural element added by Block is true to the period and style of the house, including vibrant floor tiles salvaged from a '20s Spanish Revival in Palm Springs.
Their geometric circles now create focal point walls in the shower of the guest bath and behind the range in the newly remodeled kitchen.
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