Esoteric Survey

Luther Conover with the Berkeley in the background.  Conover operated his Trade Fair gift shop aboard the Berkeley from 1960-1973.
Photo: CA Modern magazine
Yes, that Luther Conover
The Berkeley was built in 1898 and operated as a San Francisco ferry until it was retired in 1958.
Conover was a boat enthusiast. He purchased the Berkeley in 1959 and according to historic preservation documentation he saved the vessel from being converted into a marine animal processing plant . It's noted in that he took very good care  of it during the time he owned it. The ship-shop was located at the Northwest Pacific Railroad ferry slip in Sausalito.
More than you ever wanted to know about the Berkeley can be found here.
Trade Fair Catalog
Photo: CA Modern magazine
In 1973 Conover sold the Berkeley to the San Diego Maritime Museum for $100,000. It was towed 455 miles to

New Tackett from the weekend
Some of the old Tackett getting dusted

"Furnitures" = cute





Yamaguchi table
Source: Treadway
I don't believe this has anything to do with Yamaguchi but it was in the stack.
It does have something to do with Sori Yanagi
Yanagi elephant stool

Doyle Lane photograph on the wall at Reform Photo: Ben Serar
Doyle Lane pendant from the Rose Bowl flea

Designed by Walter E. Gindele. Vienna, 1960 Source: Dorotheum
Designed by Maurice Martine, Corona Del Mar, 1950
Kinda fishy if you ask me.

A set of prints are now on sale to help fund the continued conservation efforts at the Eames House. They will also be developing a 250 year maintenance plan and inventorying the entire contents of the house.  Learn more here.
Source: Eames Office
Purchase your prints here to help the cause.
This excerpt from an Eames Foundationnewsletter article by Foundation Director Lucia Dewey Atwood lists some of the conservation work that has already been done:Phase I began with the move of the Eames House living room — now all returned — to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art as a highlight of its Pacific Standard Time exhibition California Design, 1930-1965: Living in a Modern Way, followed by testing, examining and working on the House structure.During this time, I am delighted to report that we have accomplished several key goals, with manythanks to the focus of our architects Escher GuneWardena, the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI), additional consultants, and several wonderful donors, all of …

Light fixture


Legend has it that the largest bell here is one of the first bronze bells Soleri ever made.

A sculpture in Soleri's old drafting studio.



Cosanti- North Apse
During the summer, ‘Silt Pile’ workshops were held at Cosanti which enlisted volunteers from university architecture students.  This is presumably a list of people who helped build the North Apse in 1964.   

This is a 1965 poster Paolo Soleri Studios designed to attract volunteers to help with  the construction of Cat-Cast House and the South Courtyard Apse at Cosanti.
"These posters were distributed to architecture schools around the country  and also sold through shops like the Dick Seeger Design Gallery in Scottsdale."
Source: Objects