February 2018

Welcome to the #NookNeighborhoods series, where every Wednesday you’ll find cool history and culture to make sure you don’t overlook an area that could have the best nook for you.

The traveler approaches Sea Ranch expecting a coastal town, much like she's seen up and down the Pacific Coast Highway. She stands anad squints through the morning fog. She can almost see forms of the original area inhabitants, the Pomo tribe, returning to the sea for their seasonal gathering of kelp and shellfish. In the opposite direction, sheep lay their heads low, keeping grassy areas trim and filling the air with confident bleats. The traveler turns back to the water when a single ray of sunlight burns through the mist, revealing silhouettes in the distance.

But are

Here at Nook, we have a passion for people, places, and properties. There is a reason that we say people first, for what makes a neighborhood special if not the people who live there? Welcome to #TastemakerTuesday, where we’ll feature the visionaries in our favorite nooks who are dedicated to building a better community through their talents.

How do you speak of architecture without saying his name? Frank Gehry is “the most important architect of our age,” according to Vanity Fair. Biographer Paul Goldberger describes his process as wanting “to locate his work where the line of imagination and the line of problem solving cross.” He’s “a friendly genius,” toasted Arianna Huffington on the occasion of his 80th birthday, although many accounts contest the

A great Chinese Emperor invites all of the animals to his palace for a birthday dinner. The order of their arrival determines their place on the Chinese Zodiac, because let's face it, that's about as intentional as any astrology belief. Rat and Cat hitch a ride across the river on Ox, but Rat kicks Cat off before they reach shore and so Cat never gets a zodiac year of her own. The race continues, with Dragon helping Rabbit across and some animals fighting and others cooperating. Dog came in at eleven out of twelve, because he wanted a bath and the river waters were just too tempting. And so each animal was assigned a spot in the twelve year cycle, humans born in certain years are assigned character traits of their corresponding animal, and here we are in

Norma Sklarek’s list of achievements is long. From the  American Embassy in Tokyo, the Fox Plaza in San Francisco, California Mart and Terminal One at Los Angeles International Airport, Sklarek’s influence is perhaps most deeply felt in the culture of designing American malls. She worked exclusively in that focus for two decades while at Green Associates, although her actual designs weren't able to see the light. This is quite simply because although she was able to pioneer as one of the first licensed African-American female architects, some clients wouldn't allow her to act as their main contact or designer. She managed and directed many of the projects at both Welton Becket Associates and the Jerde Partnership, but would not be accepted by most

Welcome to #TastemakerTuesday, where we’ll feature the visionaries in our favorite nooks who are dedicated to building a better community through their talents.

Today is National Love Your Pet Day! After a week of Valentine’s Day shenanigans, the furry loved one in your life needs their very own time with you. It may seem silly to have a special time for our pets, who we just adore and shower with affection, but there’s absolutely no harm in giving them one day dedicated to your companionship

In fact, pets have been proven to be good for overall health. They get you moving, help your heart and ease your stress level, according to Consumer Reports. Out of the many suggestions for going the extra mile to appreciate your pet on this day, and one of the

Palm Springs is just blazing with modernism for their annual Modernism Week, aimed to “celebrate and foster appreciation of midcentury architecture and design” and also to encourage contemporary thinking. After 2006’s Palm Springs Modernism Show and the Palm Springs Art Museum’s Architecture and Design Council annual symposium, they decided there was a real need and audience for investigating how modernism has infused Palm Springs with its legacy. Local designers and architects worked with local organizations to create a 5013c non-profit that also provides valuable scholarships for those pursuing the field of design while aiding preservation and education efforts.

We covered the preview week back in the fall and now Modernism Week is in full stylistic

Welcome to the #NookNeighborhoods series, where every Wednesday you’ll find cool history and culture to make sure you don’t overlook an area that could have the best nook for you.

If you’re lucky enough to be at Newport Beach this Valentine’s Day, romance awaits. Whether during a couples spa treatment, by a cozy fire pit in a seaside restaurant, or with an intimate gondola ride by sunset, everything you could possibly want in a romantic evening is here at Newport Beach. (Now that I’ve written that, I am seriously reconsidering the Valentine’s Day plans I already made. Is it too late to change them?)

Honestly, who wouldn’t want to bring their sweetheart to what’s been described as a “coastal fantasyland,” with its ten neighborhoods that bring a

Maybe you planned a special Valentine’s day dinner months in advance. Maybe your partner is taking care of it all. Maybe you’re lucky if you can sit your child down to sign all the cards for their friends. Maybe you don’t really care about a holiday to celebrate your love because you acknowledge how special it is every single day, and this is really just one more way for Hallmark to make money off our emotions.

Regardless of how you celebrate it, Valentine’s Day is a nice way to look at the romance in your life and embrace all the different kinds of love around us: in friendships, in hobbies, in partners and pets. At Nook, we love people, places, and properties, so our thoughts on love always drift towards how to make our homes more open to romance. If

Los Angeles is known as The City of Angels, the destination for Hollywood dreams. This nook surely holds a special place in your favorite films, music, and books. I will never forget the first time I listened to Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’” while I drove down Ventura Boulevard; in one instant, I understood. After years of hearing his music, I got it.

But while living in Los Angeles brought me closer to some music, there are numerous filming locations that you see in so many shows and movies that it’s hard not to expect your favorite characters to walk right out into the 101 Coffee Shop and order a short stack with coffee, black. I take a peculiar joy in walking by the Dresden in Los Feliz thanks to how perfectly the movie Swingers captured it. Among

Welcome to the #NookNeighborhoods series, where every Wednesday you’ll find cool history and culture to make sure you don’t overlook an area that could have the best nook for you.

Lido Village in Newport Beach brings to mind the best of peninsula life: casual, chic and fun, with a multitude of cool seaside dining and shopping experiences. Everything about its image appeals to those who enjoy the luxury, the fresh ocean air, and Lido Village’s most unique trait - its newness. Here you find the latest, not just in tastes and designer brands, but also the latest in lifestyle. As Lindsay Parton, the president of a Lido Village’s development said, “We’ve been given the keys to a kingdom”.  

In the 1970s, no one would have imagined Lido Village as the