I would like to build one using modern materials. I have been looking into SIPS designs. (Structural Insulated Panels). Modern heating/cooling, modern windows etc.
Call it the street rod of houses. I want it to look vintage with all of the details, but more efficient for retirement.
Like the old saying "It warms you twice, once when you split it and the second time when you burn it"
thanks @Roothawg Hello, We stayed a small 2 bedroom/one bath Craftsman House until 1953. After spending the time we arrived in Long Beach in 1946 until 1948, we stayed in a 20-25 foot long U.S. Government trailer court, specially constructed for the aircraft workers in So Cal. Our dad saved until he was able to buy a real house, the 30’s Craftsman House on the far reaches of the Western edge of Long Beach. The old neighborhood with varied old style homes from stucco, brick and wooden slats for the Craftsman Style homes. When we moved to our last larger home about 4 blocks away. (Larger is a misnomer as 900 sq. ft. is not large, but larger than the old Craftsman House.) In the years we lived there until 1998, we expanded to about 1100-1200 sq. ft. by adding a pre-teen study room that improved the flow of the house. My brother and I had direct access to the backyard. We also had direct access to the kitchen without disturbing our parents in the front area living room. A tall old pepper tree in the grass area and the whole street lined on both sides with the purple flowering Jacaranda Trees. Later, it was listed by the city, as a main area of Long Beach that had the Jacaranda trees on every street in the rectangular block neighborhood. Nice, but not a place to park old hot rods or fast sedans with the falling “purple haze” sitting on the pristine paint surfaces and streets. Yikes! Previously, I may have mentioned that a 1941 Buick was in the garage. But, upon closer inspection it was my brother's 1951 Oldsmobile two door lowered sedan. Circa 1957-58. We lived there from 1953 to 1998. This was a second area of the Westside that got the “Tract house” build. The streets are all running in left to right and North/South rectangular direction with the remaining housing in the whole area. Every house had a larger yard than the first edition of these old homes. But, most were 2 bedroom one bath with a separate garage and huge backyard. For some, the yards became the family storage places with overgrown weeds and tall grasses. Others had pristine yards and then the addition to homes began as families started to outgrow the 900 sq. ft. original size homes. The letters for street names were alphabetical for lack of a better system. From Adriatic Avenue to Gale Avenue near the Los Angeles River, until the LB Freeway was built. We lived on Caspian, almost in the middle of the direction from the Western main street to the LA River/LB Freeway area. Jnaki As we started junior high school our parents decided to expand to give us some pre-teen space for our own usage. Studying, music, model building and a shelf of reference books. Remember the World Book Encyclopedia salesmen that would not take no for an answer? We had a nice hardbound set with yearly updated books with the latest world news articles. The "look" until we both moved out of the house after college and “new wife” adventures.
The Jalopy Journal
