One item of business to begin:
You haven’t read this newsletter in nigh two-plus years because I stopped writing it. I left media and got a new job; I had another baby, a clone of the first; we are still living in California. Then seemingly everyone started sending newsletters and I got too busy reading them to put anything together myself. (For Scale is the best one—do feel free to stop right here and subscribe there.)
Rest assured, though, I still have plenty of opinions—Bode? Overindexed.—and recommendations—Surefire adult gift? $18 waffle-weave hand towels from Erica Tanov. Surefire kid gift? Sunprints..
Onto some recent stuff:
One, the release of Oppenheimer—YOU MAY HAVE HEARD OF IT?—reminded me of some local gossip I heard: One location Christopher Nolan considered for the movie (among many real-life locations in Berkeley and Kensington, which you can read about here) was the out-of-this-world Weston Havens house designed by Harwell Hamilton Harris in 1941.
The best view of the house is from below, snaking up twisty old Panoramic Way from the UC Berkeley campus, which is the only vantage point from which to spy the house’s unusual inverted-triangle profile. Cal’s college of environmental design owns the house now—it was deeded to the university by the “confirmed bachelor" owner, a fascinating character in his own right—and it was closed to rubberneckers for several years. Despite its, ah, delicate condition, you can now visit yourself for a mere $20 contribution to the house’s restoration fund. Reply to this post and I’ll send you the contact info.
Two, Naomi Osaka and I were briefly featured on a website together, courtesy of Mother mag. Dreams do come true!! I heartily endorse Mother for stories about people who are mothers, without the saccharine ‘mama’ filter. Here’s my little feature.
Three, I got to host a fun talk with artist Maira Kalman and New Yorker magazine creative director Nicholas Blechman last month in New York, coinciding with the launch of a special edition Saul Steinberg Eames fiberglass chair* from Herman Miller and Vitra. Hard to describe this distinctly un-sceney scene without sounding corny, but the evening felt kind of magical: It was not remotely online, for one, and involved the kind of art/intellectual/magazine-adjacent crowd in which three-quarters of the women present were wearing Ted Meuhling drop earrings. IYKYK.
Four, I haven’t been buying as many old architecture tomes as I once did, but have been savoring/relishing/eating up/[insert culinary verb here] Sophie Donelson’s recent book Uncommon Kitchens. I came for the Rodman Primack-designed Kentucky kitchen on the cover and stayed for the saturated color, painters-tape stripes, and bold but curiously practical spirit.
And finally, I am currently scouting houses in the Bay Area for upcoming Herman Miller photo shoots. I’ve already seen some real stunners, but drop me a line if you know of anything I should consider.
Thanks for letting me parachute into your inbox. If you need me today, I’ll be packing up the fam for a monthlong sojourn to my home state of Tennessee and rationing each exquisite paragraph of Patrick Radden Keefe’s mega-profile of Larry Gagosian.
OVER AND OUT.
*A ripe occasion for punning, this chair—and an opportunity to get friend Sarah Archer to write about Steinberg, the Eames Office, felines, and the artist’s perspective.
Hi Laura and Susan,
The best contact for Weston Havens House donations and tour inquiries is Mike Bond, at mikebond@berkeley.edu. Enjoy!
Ohh, I’d love to know how to tour this Berkeley triangle house.