Heywood-Wakefield Dining Room

Found today: a vintage Heywood-Wakefield server/buffet that matches the drop-leaf dining table and chairs that we picked up a couple of months ago.

With sharper angles and less-radiused corners, these pieces definitely have more of a Danish influence than the more-common (and more-desired) Heywood-Wakefield pieces.

Amazingly all of this furniture was found in Carlsbad, just down the street from one another. And both the dining set and the server were originally in Heywood-Wakefield's "sable" shade of brownish grey; and both were refinished a more typical brown in the past. The finish on the table and chairs is definitely better than the amateur job that the server saw, but both look good for now. We'll probably have all of the pieces refinished sometime in the future. The early-70s yellow corduroy-ish chair cushions will be recovered as well, likely with a proper Heywood-Wakefield covering.

Next up is finding a suitable chandelier to hang above the table. I love everything about this one...

 ...except the price tag.

The Shins - The Rifle's Sprial

Your cool, animated video of the day - The Rifle's Spiral by The Shins

Random LA

Some shots taken during an outing to see the reclusive genius Jeff Mangum perform at The Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles.

Dinner was at this venerable LA institution, 104 years young.

 no clove Life Savers available to save my life

 umm

 the old United Artists Theater on Broadway

 Eastern Columbia building

 show venue

 outside an adjacent building

 Orpheum lobby lighting

 grand old theater

Unfortunately no videos of the show, recording (and photography) was strictly verboten and the seats were a bit too far up for the iPhone to properly capture the intimacy in Jeff's performance.

And a shot taken in a Carlsbad alley. 

Drive-By Truckers at The Belly Up Tavern

Alabama rockers The Drive-By Truckers performed at my favorite local music venue a little over a month ago. Due to the stresses of packing up all of my crap and moving across town, I am just now getting around to sharing the few songs I (crappily) captured with my iPhone.

The Truckers have two songwriters at this point, both of the band's co-founders. And the languid drawl of the Mike Cooley-penned songs are generally my favorites. Pretty obvious considering three of the four songs that I recorded were Cooley's.

When The Pin Hits The Shell 

Women Without Whiskey

A Ghost To Most

And finally a Patterson Hood song - Sink Hole

Exterior Lighting - That's Better

 From this...

...two of these...

 at one point this was all black

...and three of these atrocities around back on the patios and Celeste's balcony...

...to these:

In a hammered bronze finish, it's a good match to the Spanish Mission in the 1970s style of the home. And with a shielded top, they will not contribute to light pollution during the few times that they're actually turned on at night.

Elliott Smith, Live 2000

I can kiss an hour goodbye...



A superb performance by the late, great Elliott Smith.

Down On The Street

Pedaling down Carlsbad Blvd. (aka Coast Highway) on this misty morning, this searing yellow Giallo Modena Ferrari definitely caught my eye. I've seen it buzzing around Carlsbad the past few months, but it has always been in motion - until now.

So naturally I had to stop and whip out the camera/phone. Even though I'm not a big Ferrari fan, I do appreciate the storied cars. This one is a new 458 Italia, with a base price of about $230k. You want the "Scuderia Ferrari" fender badging? Cough up an additional $1600 (or 80% of a 21 year-old Miata).

 Gigantic carbon composite rotors, squeezed by oversized calipers.

 And the masterpiece under glass.

Adios.

I Wish I Was There

The Wolves, performed by Bon Iver during their Coachella set.



Opening for Radiohead no less. Even better was an absolutely electric and literally spine-tingling version of Blood Bank, but that hasn't been posted. Yet anyway.

Garage Project Update

After sitting in hibernation for nearly four years, the old garage receiver and CD player were wired up and tested out today.

The Nikko NR-750 (with "Quartz Lock"!) receiver was bought new in 1985 with money earned from caddying. Resplendent with 80s styling (and a power level meter), this 48 watt/channel, made in Japan receiver is still running strong. These days the tape input is used for playing the iPod. The barely-used CD player was a hand-me-down from my father in law when they relocated years ago.

The audio goodness comes through a pair of Alpine 6x9 three-ways.

 

These were last mobile when used in the trunk of my long-departed Subaru Justy.

Hiding in the eaves and providing sound to the courtyard is a pair of indoor/outdoor speakers that I had originally bought for use in our backyard in Libertyville, IL ten years ago.

Hope I don't annoy the neighbors *too* much with these.

And making it all happen were the additional outlets that the garage now has (previously mentioned here).

(heavy-duty outlets were used next to work benches)

Three were added in the trusses...

 ...these power the super-bright fluorescent fixtures that have been far nicer than I had anticipated. And the outlet above the shelf that the stereo is placed on powers the stereo too.

 There are just a few more things that I need to pack away/get rid of before the garage is dialed.

Down On The Street

Another BMW 2002 that I've noticed scooting around Carlsbad as of late.

This one has been parked about a block away from where this later 2002 was street parked for months. Oh, and this example is a preferred "roundie" (round taillight version).

The Neu Klasse line pretty much saved BMW from bankruptcy upon release - and the 2002 was the best-known of the series.

Inexplicable hood decal:

from Google Translate: "double horizontal body cast forty" - huh?

Weber grills, not Weber carbs?

And speaking of grills (or, rather, grilles), did anyone notice the missing kidneys from the nose of the car? She's in need of a transplant.

Hidden Woods, Carlsbad

Having recently moved in to a 37 year-old townhome that was previously occupied by the original owner, I hoped to unearth some of the original sales materials somewhere in the property.

Unfortunately they were nowhere to be found, but our next door neighbor, another original owner, came thorough this afternoon and walked this over.

Straight outta '75...

 

 

"Elm", now known as Carlsbad Village Drive, didn't go all the way through to El Camino Real when this place was developed. And from the looks of it, there wasn't an interchange at I-5 and Elm at that point either.

Now a floorplan. Our unit is similar, but mirror image and Celeste's bedroom is in the area labeled "open to dining room" as the unit was built with four bedrooms.

Our lower level bedroom (labeled "bedroom 3 above) is the studio/office and had the closet doors removed long ago.

Garage Update + Yakima Cargo Box Mount

A major milestone for a borderline-OCD dweeb like me yesterday, as I was able to finally park two of our cars in the garage.

The biggest challenge was getting the Yakima SkyBox Pro 16 cargo box up and out of the way. The last garage was  a few feet wider in both length and depth, so the box was laid on it's side in a "dead corner". With space being at more of a premium here, I had to come up with a way to get this up on the wall.

I discovered an extra set of Yakima cross bars during the move; I'm pretty sure they were last used on my WRX wagon that I sold prior to making the move to California. Cut down and screwed into some Home Depot-sourced closet hanger rod brackets, I now had a bracket from which the cargo box could hang, using the same brackets that clamp to the bars when mounted on the van's roof.

It's not perfect, but does the job using common and affordable components. It'd be just about perfect if they brackets were about half as deep, allowing for a flusher fit along the wall.