With help from several laborers (Juan Garcia and Ernest Martinez, and my cousin Fred Aragon), plus my mom of course, my dad built this house in the years 1959-1961. My parents sold the house to the fellow from Carlson's Heating and Air in 1990, who proceeded to completely transform the place to the point of unrecognizability. There have been several owners since - a true multigenerational project!
These days, they call this place 716 La Entrada Road. When I was young, that system didn't exist, and so the house had no formal designation.
We planted two cottonwood trees that grew very slowly. Both are still here, though! Here's the one at the southeast corner of the house.
Entering the house through the (thoroughly-reworked) front door.
They put in a skylight. Given the propensity of this house to leak, that's madness!
The same light fixtures. Decades later! Amazing!
Behind some of the artwork, a glimpse at one of the two fireplaces we put in before our abortive San Diego move in 1971.
The space between the house (on the right) and the garage. Our dog Prince dug up a nest of mice here around 1969.
They put in a pool! A pool! Hard to wrap my head around this.
The garage is full of pottery these days!
They added on to the kitchen. This is not part of the original house.
My sister Michelle and her son Aaron look bewildered. Of course, Aaron is too young to remember any of this.
Here's where the French doors used to be, where, on a hot summer's day in 1963, a loose bull entered the house for some shade. I tried to get the bull to charge by making faces at it - someone on the school bus told me this would work - but the bull remained inert and placid. Eventually I alerted my mother, and she chased the bull outside with a broom.
Me and my sister Marra.
Art tourists shop among the wares.
The pool, with the garage behind it.
The living room. The bricks in the floor are just the same as sixty years ago! My bed was here. on the left where the paintings now hang. This part of the house was unheated during my years here. When I went to college, the bed was vacant, and thus it came to pass, when my grandmother fell at the age of 88 and needed a place to recover, that she came here. She died in my bed in 1982.
Looking through glass windows here - the part of the house we aren't permitted to visit. This is the southeast corner of the family room, where my two sisters and I had our beds in elementary-school years. Now it's a dining room. Just surreal!
They blew out the northeast corner of the family room for an expanded kitchen and living space.
They have goats! It's like life has come full circle. Sixty years ago, the Lewis' goats next door would get loose and come over to our house. And now, there are goats here again! They live here, though.
A pretty flower grows in what used to be pretty uninviting dirt out front.
These days, they call this place 716 La Entrada Road. When I was young, that system didn't exist, and so the house had no formal designation.
We planted two cottonwood trees that grew very slowly. Both are still here, though! Here's the one at the southeast corner of the house.
Entering the house through the (thoroughly-reworked) front door.
They put in a skylight. Given the propensity of this house to leak, that's madness!
The same light fixtures. Decades later! Amazing!
Behind some of the artwork, a glimpse at one of the two fireplaces we put in before our abortive San Diego move in 1971.
The space between the house (on the right) and the garage. Our dog Prince dug up a nest of mice here around 1969.
They put in a pool! A pool! Hard to wrap my head around this.
The garage is full of pottery these days!
They added on to the kitchen. This is not part of the original house.
My sister Michelle and her son Aaron look bewildered. Of course, Aaron is too young to remember any of this.
Here's where the French doors used to be, where, on a hot summer's day in 1963, a loose bull entered the house for some shade. I tried to get the bull to charge by making faces at it - someone on the school bus told me this would work - but the bull remained inert and placid. Eventually I alerted my mother, and she chased the bull outside with a broom.
Me and my sister Marra.
Art tourists shop among the wares.
The pool, with the garage behind it.
The living room. The bricks in the floor are just the same as sixty years ago! My bed was here. on the left where the paintings now hang. This part of the house was unheated during my years here. When I went to college, the bed was vacant, and thus it came to pass, when my grandmother fell at the age of 88 and needed a place to recover, that she came here. She died in my bed in 1982.
Looking through glass windows here - the part of the house we aren't permitted to visit. This is the southeast corner of the family room, where my two sisters and I had our beds in elementary-school years. Now it's a dining room. Just surreal!
They blew out the northeast corner of the family room for an expanded kitchen and living space.
They have goats! It's like life has come full circle. Sixty years ago, the Lewis' goats next door would get loose and come over to our house. And now, there are goats here again! They live here, though.
A pretty flower grows in what used to be pretty uninviting dirt out front.
