CITY OF MANHATTAN BEACH
HISTORIC PRESERVATION
Chapter 10.86 MBMC
APPLICATION FOR HISTORIC LANDMARK STATUS
1. The assessor's parcel number and legal description of the site.
2. A description of the historic property and statement of how it qualifies under the criteria described in Section 10.86.070.
3. A detailed architectural description, enumer ating the property's character-defining features, elevations, and spaces.
4. Construction chronology of the property, including history of major alterations/additions.
5. Ownership history.
6. A statement of significance describing why and how the property or feature meets the eligibility criteria of the Code including the area of significance, theme, and period of significance.
7. Current photographs and (if available) historic photographs, maps, sketches, drawings, or other descriptive material as available to support the nomination.
8. The signature of the property owner(s) or their authorized agents, if the owner is the applicant.
9. Such other information as requested by the Commission or Director.
10. References
- List any documents or persons used to obtain information about the property. For documents include, name of publication, date of publication, page numbers and web link if applicable. For persons interviewed include name, address, phone, email and date(s) of interview(s).
Address: 1505 Crest Drive
Assessor Parcel # 4179- 001-037
Legal description: Tract No. 2541 E 1/2 of Lot 5
Owner Name(s): Amy Dantzler & Julie Anderson
Address: 1505 Crest Drive
Phone number/Email: [email protected]/[email protected] Year Built: 1964
Historic Property
Name
Original Use single-family residential
Present Use single-family residential
Architectural
Style A-frame
Architect Richard Nesbitt
Builder
Allen "Bill" Juckes
If the structure has been moved, provide date moved and original location._________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________ The application should include a detailed, descriptive narrative addressing each of the following items:
1. Assessor Parcel Number and Legal Description
APN: 4179-001-037
Legal Description: Tract No. 2541 E 1/2 of Lot 5.
2. Summary of Significance
1505 Crest Drive is significant under City of Manhattan Beach Historic Landmark criterion 3 as an excellent, intact example of an A-frame house that epitomizes the form and development of this property type in the post-World War II era in Manhattan Beach. The property is also significant under criterion 5, with only three other 1960s A-frame houses remain in the Sand Section of Manhattan Beach, it is a rare example of the property type, as well as the most intact and best expression of this important Mid-Century Modern style in the city.
3. Detailed Architectural Description
The following describes 1505 Crest Avenue at the time of the site visit on March 24, 2021. As noted below, the property is currently undergoing a rehabilitation primarily to update systems and make the house weather tight.
Setting
1505 Crest Drive is located in a dense urban environment near the intersection of Highland Avenue and 15th Street. The second house north of 15th Street, 1505 Crest Drive is nearly across the street from Manhattan Beach Civic Center and a block from the Strand boardwalk that parallels the beach (for ease of description, it is assumed Crest Drive runs north-south, although in reality, it is oriented northwest to southeast). Crest Drive is a narrow street with no sidewalk or street trees and feels almost like an alleyway. This portion of the street extends only two short blocks, ending at 16th Street to the north.
1505 Crest Drive is located on the west side of the street. The one building on the property encompasses nearly the entire parcel with only narrow, concrete and brick walkways along the north and south elevations and a small wood patio at the rear, west elevation. The rear patio is enclosed by a wood fence.
Exterior
1505 Crest Drive is an A-frame house that sits atop a one-story garage/rumpus room. The house has a rectangular plan and is three stories high. It is defined by its distinctive, steeply pitched front gable roof with wide eaves at the east, front façade and a slightly shallower eave at the west, rear, elevation. The eaves along the east and west elevations are finished with a simple fascia. Flat-roof dormers line the primary, second floor along the north and south elevations, extending to the west elevation. The house is primarily finished in a pebble-textured stucco. With exception of the expanse of fixed glazing at the east façade, fenestration generally consists of horizontal, aluminum sliding sash.
The primary façade faces east toward Crest Drive and is finished in vertical tongue-and-groove wood siding. The ground floor is dominated by a garage door that is placed off-center toward the north side of the elevation. A shallow balcony runs across the second floor, providing the base of the equilateral triangle that comprises the A-frame shape. The balcony is supported on equally spaced rafter tails that project from the elevation. A wood railing borders the balcony on three sides and consists of horizontal wood members interspersed by regularly spaced paired vertical posts that extend down to the rafter tails. The dominant feature of the east façade is the expanse of glazing at 1505 Crest Drive
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the second floor within the triangular portion defined by the gable roof. The glazing is separated into three rows that are further divided vertically. A thin, vertical muntin descends from the apex of the gable roof while a second, vertical muntin runs parallel to the south. The thin area between the two muntins is filled with original colored, pebble glass. The thin strip of colored glass is placed slightly off-center, resulting in additional, thin muntins at the north side of the elevation. The lowest horizontal level of glazing contains a sliding glass door in the south portion.
Stairs to the main entrance at the second floor run along the east side of the south elevation. The stairs have concrete treads with a large pebble aggregate and no risers. A simple metal handrail protects the outside, south side of the stairs and landing. The main entrance door at the second floor consists of two panels with the upper panel glazed. The glazing is divided into a diamond pattern by wood muntins and consists of colored pebbled glass, similar to the colored pebbled glass in the central strip of glazing in the east façade. Two windows are located east of the stairs at this elevation.
The west elevation is fronted by a wood patio that is accessed via an aluminum sliding glass door located in the south portion of the elevation. A small window is placed to the north. On the second floor, two horizontal, sliding sash windows are located on either side of the elevation while a single window is centered below the gable peak.
The north elevation is generally unadorned and not highly visible as it is placed close to the property line. It contains a single door on the ground floor, located toward the west side of the elevation.
Two, horizontal sliding sash windows are located within the second-floor dormer.
Interior
The ground floor interior is separated into a garage at the east side and a rumpus room on the west.
The garage walls are finished in painted drywall while the floor is concrete. The rumpus room has a kitchenette with a tall island counter along the east side of the room and few other decorative features.
The primary living spaces are on the second and third floor loft, defined by the gable roof that forms the exterior walls. The roof shape is enhanced through exposed wood trusses regularly spaced along the east-west axis and by an exposed wood ceiling. At the second floor, the east portion of the space is dominated by an open, high-volume living area, opening onto the east elevation’s expanse of windows, while spaces to the west are more enclosed, including a small kitchen and bathroom set within the side dormer, as well as two bedrooms that line the west side of the second floor. The third-floor loft is situated in the west portion of the interior. A stair with open risers opposite the kitchen at the west side of the living and dining room accesses the third-floor loft. At the third floor, a shallow balcony overlooks the living and dining room. The balcony is edged by a simple metal railing. A bedroom at the west side of the house is separated from the balcony by a short hallway formed by a small bathroom on one side and a pair of closets on the other.
Alterations
Few alterations have been made to the 1505 Crest Drive since it was constructed in 1964 and only one alteration permit exists for the property, which is for plumbing. Based on physical observation, alterations have been limited to enclosure of an interior stair between the ground floor rumpus room and second floor living room.
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The house is currently undergoing rehabilitation to modernize private spaces, such as the kitchen and bathrooms, as well as upgrading services such as plumbing and electrical. Additional work currently under construction includes replacing windows on secondary elevations to provide better weatherization from the sea air, and skylights along the gable peak to provide additional light into otherwise dark spaces as well as to provide roof access to a new HVAC unit. These alterations are generally not visible from the public right-of-way and allow for continued and updated functioning of the house.
Integrity
Recent work on 1505 Crest Drive, completed in conformance with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties, has rehabilitated character-defining features of the exterior and interior, while making the residence more resilient to the atmospheric conditions of its location close to the ocean and allowing for its continued use. 1505 Crest Drive retains integrity of location, setting, design, materials, workmanship, feeling and association, and retains the essential physical features that enable it to convey its appearance from the period of significance (1964-1971).
As described more fully below in Section 6. Statement of Significance, 1505 Crest Drive exhibits the essential character-defining features of A-frame houses.
1505 Crest Drive retains integrity of location as it has not been moved. Located in a dense urban environment, a short distance from Manhattan Beach Civic Center as well as the Strand, the house retains integrity of setting. While surrounding houses may have been demolished and new houses rebuilt, 1505 Crest Drive continues to face a narrow residential street that appears almost as an alleyway with no street trees or sidewalk.
1505 Crest Drive retains integrity of design. The form of the A-frame, plan, space, structure, and style have been retained. Similarly, individual decorative features have been retained. Notably the structure and style of the A-frame continues to be clearly defined through the dramatic roof shape, double height glazing within the gable end, as well as doors leading out from the double height living rooms onto the balcony with wood railing. The house retains most of the physical features that constitute its style, and therefore retains a high degree of integrity of materials. While the rehabilitation includes replacement of windows on secondary elevations, new windows will make the house weather-tight, allowing for its continued use. Other alterations, including new skylights, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems have been integrated in a manner to be as minimally visible as possible; none are visible from the public right-of-way. Since all of the character-defining materials have been retained, the house also retains integrity of workmanship, demonstrated in details such as the colored pebble glass in the double height glazing as well as wood railing details along the balcony.
1505 Crest Drive was constructed as a single-family residence. However, for years it was rented as a non-permitted duplex. The first level has been reintegrated into the upper floors as originally constructed. By returning it to its original function, the house retains integrity of association and feeling.
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4. Construction Chronology
May 25, 1964: permit#75147 issued for a “residence and garage,” 1,918 square feet, 29-feet high and 3 stories, valuation $21,098
July 1, 2000: permit #2K-06133 issued for plumbing
May 24, 2021; permit #BLDR-20-00565 issued for “interior renovation of an existing…single family residence…scope includes renovated kitchen, bathrooms, window replacement & addition of new powder bathroom.”
5. Ownership History
1964: Allan Jukes
1965: Gary J. Ballengee
1971: James A. Johnson
1975: John R. Stivers and Frances Lucille Strivers
1979: Edward Lewis and Michael L. Corey
1979: William Alton and James G. Gallagher
1979: Terrence C. Riddell
1979: Wilma Heberle, Shirley Heberle, Gloria Jean Allen 2001: Tad O. Thormodsgaard and Kelly Thormodsgaard
2020: Julie Anderson and Any Dantzler
6. Statement of Significance
1505 Crest Drive epitomizes the form and development of an A-frame house in the post-World War II era in Manhattan Beach. As an increasingly rare property type that is quite unique in Manhattan Beach, the A-frame house expresses significant aspects of the postwar lifestyle of the city. 1505 Crest Drive was built as a speculative development by South Bay native, Allen “Bill” Juckes, while the first owner, Gary Ballengee, epitomized the typical resident of the property type: young, active, and economically upwardly mobile.
A-Frame Houses
Chad Randl, an architectural historian who wrote the seminal book on A-frame houses, simply entitled A-frame, in 2004, defines the property type as
a triangular structure with a series of rafters or trusses that are joined at the peak and descend outward to a main floor level, with no intervening vertical walls. The rafters are covered with a roof surface that ties the frames together and usually continues to the floor…most A-frames have roof rafters and floor joists of the same length, connected at sixty-degree angles to form an equilateral triangle.1
With A-frame construction, the pitched roof is the essential character-defining feature, as the roof becomes two of the exterior walls, forming the shape of all or part of the building. Often, as seen at 1505 Crest Drive, at least one gabled end consists of double height glazing, obscuring the distinction between interior and exterior space, a fundamental tenant of Modern architecture. A-frames are often constructed near bodies of water or in mountain areas, the glazed gable end looking out onto a natural setting. In describing this design sensibility, architectural historian Alexandra Lange notes,
1 Chad Randl, A-frame, (Hudson, NY: Princeton Architectural Press, 2004), 11. 1505 Crest Drive
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“The essential nature is to float slightly above their environment.”2 A-frame houses have few interior demising walls, highlighting the open volume of the two-story living room. A-frame houses in beach areas generally differ from those in mountain areas in two respects. While A-frame houses in mountain areas are generally set directly on the ground, with the tips of the gable roof only inches away to facilitate shedding of snow, A-frame houses in beach areas are typically set atop a raised foundation, that is often used as a garage or, like 1505 Crest Drive, with a rumpus room as well. In addition, as snow was not a primary issue in beach areas, these A-frames tend to have more dormers, skylights, and windows on side walls.
There have been many claims of ancient lineage for A-frame houses.3 Numerous indigenous examples of triangular buildings and/or buildings with steep triangular roof forms have existed throughout human history all over the world. Indeed, a canvas tent can be understood as an A- frame structure, albeit a temporary one. Randl suggests that the simple form was used throughout history due to its strength, durability, and ease of construction. He argues that “versions of triangular construction were built for exigency of survival.”4
Constructed in 1937, the first Modern A-frame house was designed by Rudolph Schindler in the community of Lake Arrowhead for his client, Gisela Bennati. Twenty years ahead of its time, Schindler’s model A-frame house was noticed by only a handful of architects in a four-page spread in the California modernist magazine Arts & Architecture in February 1944.
A-frame houses took on new connotations in the post-World War II era when they became more common. Several, widely published A-frames in the early 1950s brought the property type into the popular consciousness and accelerated its rise in style. Wally Reemelin’s A-frame houses from 1948, located in Berkeley, California, were featured in Architectural Record in 1950 and, later, in the Modern Living section of the San Francisco Examiner in 1955. The article, entitled “A Vacation Cabin – the Painless Way,” was the first to call this property type an A-frame.5 The most publicized A-frame of the 1950s was designed by San Francisco architect, John Campbell, a principal at the firm Campbell and Wong. His design was first published in Interior’s magazine in January 1951, appearing later that year in the San Francisco Arts Festival. Due to demand created by its appearance at the festival, Campbell offered a prepackaged kit, calling the model the “Leisure House.” The kit included everything needed to construct the house, including all lumber, nails and even a hammer. The Leisure House won an honor award from the San Francisco chapter of the American Institute of Architects in 1953, citing the design as a “wonderful example of the weekend house, full of the poetic feeling of the outdoors” and noting its many uses, “as a mountain cabin, ski hut, playhouse, garden shelter, pool cabana, beach house, resort cabin, or motel unit.”6 Throughout the 1950s, the Leisure House was published in general publications including Look magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, Sunset Magazine, as well as Sports Illustrated. A model of the house even appeared in the 1958 Brussels World Exposition.
2 Alexandra Lang, “The A-frame effect; Not just another house, but a way of life,” Curbed, September 22, 2017, https://archive.curbed.com/2017/9/22/16346810/a-frame-homes-architecture-rudolf-schindler. 3 Randl, 15.
4 Randl, 21 and 23.
5 Randl, 51 and “A Vacation Cabin – the Painless Way,” San Francisco Examiner, May 8, 1955, page 3 of Modern Living.
6 Elizabeth Lawrence, “Architectural Winners,” San Francisco Examiner, March 1, 1953, 75. 1505 Crest Drive
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By the early 1960s, the A-frame had become a “national phenomenon.”7 House kits were promoted by timber companies. Building product manufactures teamed up with architects to offer plan books and/or complete pre-cut packages. An article appearing in 1961 in Popular Science was entitled “Why the Big Boom in A-Frames?” answers, “A new concept for building …cabins now make it possible to own your own beach cottage or mountain retreat for the price of a new car – in some cases, less.”8 With building kits and pattern books, A-frame houses were marketed as a home improvement project.9 The houses were also attractive to low-budget builders, including Bill Juckes, the builder and developer of 1505 Crest Drive. Relatively inexpensive with lightweight, simple materials, the house required few construction skills.
As a “cultural icon, a geometric representation of the good life,”10 the form of the A-frame house became synonymous with leisure culture. They were fun, a marked change with a traditional cabin and a form of “accessible modernism.”11 The popularity of A-frame houses in the postwar era corresponded with a sharp increase in individual prosperity, coupled with additional leisure time.
Between 1955 and 1965, wages of American workers rose 50 percent. The GI Bill allowed returning World War II veterans to attend college and gain employment in white-collar jobs. During the same period, the amount of time people were not working increased. By the 1950s, the 40-hour, 5-day work week became standard for most employees. Prior to the 1950s, it was common for people to work a half day on Saturdays. In addition, by 1969, the average paid vacation was two weeks, five times as much as it was in 1940. With less time working, additional paid vacation, and more disposable income, consumer spending on leisure activities skyrocketed. With its dramatic form, A- frame houses fit comfortably within a Mid-Century Modern aesthetic and have come to represent the burgeoning middle-class and associated value of leisure time in the 1950s through mid-1970s.
A-frame houses declined in popularity in the 1970s and, by the early 1980s, construction of new A- frame houses had mostly ceased. Part of their decline may have been due to how pervasive the form became in beach and mountain communities. Symbolic of their omnipresence, Fisher Price made an A-frame play set house between 1974 and 1976, the first of its kind to be made of all plastic.12 The decline of the property type may also be attributed to challenges in heating and cooling the house.
Specifically, it was common for heat to get trapped in the gable peak, resulting in hot sleeping lofts and cool living rooms and requiring a significant amount of oil to maintain the desired temperature.
Although A-frames have regained popularity in the last decade with the small house movement, Mid-Century A-frames houses are becoming increasingly rare.13
Based on the above, essential character-defining features of A-frame houses, which are exhibited in 1505 Crest Drive, include:
7 Randl, 77.
8 Sheldon M. Gaitager, “Why the Big Boom in A-Frames?,” Popular Science, August 1961, 128. 9 Alexandra Lang, “The A-frame effect; Not just another house, but a way of life,” Curbed, September 22, 2017, https://archive.curbed.com/2017/9/22/16346810/a-frame-homes-architecture-rudolf-schindler. 10 Randl, 11.
11 Washington State Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, “A-Frame,” https://dahp.wa.gov/historic-preservation/historic-buildings/architectural-style-guide/a-frame. 12 Lang, https://archive.curbed.com/2017/9/22/16346810/a-frame-homes-architecture-rudolf-schindler. 13 Randl, 12.
As an example of the rise in popularity, Dwell magazine ran an article in May 2020 entitled, “4 A-frame Kit House Companies That Ship in the U.S.” with the byline, “Building a custom A-frame is easier than ever with the rise of these modern kit home companies.” See https://www.dwell.com/article/a-frame-kit-house-companies-cbb9a216. 1505 Crest Drive
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• Dramatic A-shaped roof form/wall truss system
• Deep, overhanging eaves
• Double height glazing within the gable end
• Wood wall materials
• Expansive porch/balcony
• Open interior on the main floor with a loft above
Manhattan Beach in the Post-World War II era
Manhattan Beach epitomizes the rise of the postwar leisure culture. The city developed contemporaneously with other beach cities with its earliest buildings constructed in the 1870s. Early transportation through the area included the Santa Fe Railroad, which completed a line through Manhattan Beach in the 1880s, and the Pacific Electric trolley, which established five stops in Manhattan Beach in 1903 and ran until 1940. When Manhattan Beach incorporated in 1912, the population was small, between 500 and 600 people, with most people choosing to live in Manhattan Beach only in the summer.14 Historic aerial photographs show small, wood bungalows dotting the dunes, facing the water. As there were no large tourist hotels near the beach, visitors would arrive for the day by streetcar or automobile. Many residents were seasonal, occupying a second home or rental. Manhattan Beach went through a dramatic change after World War II. Between 1940 and 1953, the population of the city more than quadrupled, from 6,398 residents in 1940 to 26,315 residents in 1953. The population continued to grow through the 1950s, with 33,934 residents counted in the 1960 census,15 topping out at 35,352 in 1970.16
While Manhattan Beach supported all the typical activities of a small town, with a City Hall, schools, and fire department, the focus has always been on the 2.1 miles of beach within its 3.88 square miles. The first pier at Center Street (now Manhattan Beach Boulevard) was constructed in 1901, replaced in 1920, repaired in 1960, and rehabilitated in 1991. The Roundhouse at the end of the pier was dedicated in 1921. The pier became, and continues to be, a popular spot for fishing. Notable large fish have been caught from the pier, including a 428-pound black sea bass in 1923 and a 600- pound sea bass in 1929.
While beach and water sports in Manhattan Beach were popular in the 1930s, their prominence increased in visibility after World War II. Manhattan Beach has been called the “home of beach volleyball.”17 Beach volleyball courts were first established in Manhattan Beach in 1930. The Manhattan Beach Open was first held in 1960. Now part of the professional volleyball tour, it is the “longest continually running tournament in beach volleyball.”18 In addition to fishing and beach volleyball, Manhattan Beach became a popular destination for surfing and paddleboarding. Dale
14 Bonnie Beckerson, ed., Manhattan Beach 90266; A Pictorial History (Manhattan Beach Historical Society, 1995),
10. 15 Bonnie Beckerson, ed., Manhattan Beach 90266; A Pictorial History (Manhattan Beach Historical Society, 1995), 6 and 84.
16 City of Manhattan Beach, Census Data, https://www.manhattanbeach.gov/residents/about-us/census-data. 17 City of Manhattan Beach, “Beach Volleyball,” https://www.citymb.info/departments/parks- and- recreation/beach-volleyball
18 Tyler Blint-Welsh, “’Granddaddy of Beach Volleyball’ hits the sand this week in Manhattan Beach,” Los Angeles Times, August 16, 2017, https://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-avp-manhattan-beach-20170816- story.html.
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Velzy opened his first surfboard shop in Manhattan Beach in 1949. He was among the first, if not the first, to shape and laminate balsa-redwood boards and is credited with “the first to put a name on a surfboard, the first to sponsor a surfer, the first to open a surf shop and the first to print a surf company t-shirt.”19 Manhattan Beach was solidified as a surfing destination in the lyrics of the 1963 Beach Boys hit “Surfin’ U.S.A.” The first Catalina Classic marathon paddleboard race from Catalina to the pier in Manhattan Beach took place on September 11, 1955 and continued until 1960. The race was revived in 1982 and has continued since.20
A construction boom in the postwar period paralleled the population boom. In 1940, there were approximately 3,200 homes in Manhattan Beach.21 In 1946, 384 permits were issued in the first six months alone, adding over ten percent more houses to the city.22 By the 1960s, 1,100 permits were issued for single-family homes, 743 permits for residences with two or more units, and 2,884 permits for alterations and additions.23 Historic aerial photos from 1946 show many vacant lots around the pier, while 25 years later, in 1971, historic aerial photos reveal nearly all the earlier lots developed.
Although 90% of the growth in the 1950s took place in the “soil section” and “back country” east of Sepulveda Boulevard,24 by the 1960s, “many lots…were split making way for more homes, more bulk.”25
History of 1505 Crest Drive
Don Zink, a real estate agent working in Manhattan Beach in the 1960s and 1970s, and the agent who sold 1505 Crest Drive, remembers three builders who were responsible for most of the new development in the city: Allan “Bill” Jukes (biography below), the builder of 1505 Crest Drive, Bill Berge, and the Komick brothers – Ken, Bob and Dick Komick.26
Allan H. Juckes (b. 1926), called “Bill” by all, spent much of his life in various south bay beach cities.
The first in his family born in this country,27 Bill Juckes lived briefly with his family on Catalina Island during World War II. In 1949, at the age of 22, he married Joan Newton and the couple initially settled in Redondo Beach.28 In the early 1950s, he worked as a plasterer, following his father, a painter, into the building trades.29 By the early 1960s, the couple and their young children moved to Rolling Hills Estates and Bill Juckes began working as a contractor in real estate development,30 constructing single family homes and small multi-family residential buildings throughout Manhattan
19 Beck Cherry, “South Bay Surf History,” South Bay Boardrider’s Club, https://southbayboardriders.com/south- bay-surf-history/.
20 “Catalina Classic History,” Catalina Classic, https://catalinaclassicpaddleboardrace.com/history/catalina- classic-history/.
21 Jan Dennis, Shadows on the Dunes; An Architectural History of Manhattan Beach, California, (Manhattan Beach:
Janstan Studio, 2001), 99.
22 Dennis, 104.
23 Dennis, 137.
24 Dennis, 119.
25 Dennis, 137.
26 Don Zink, personal communication, August 13, 2021.
27 Alan Juckes’ father, Percy Juckes, was born in Canada, while his mother, Jean Juckes, was born in Scotland.
The couple moved to Los Angeles with their first-born daughter in 1924. (1930 United States Federal Census, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, Page: 10A, Enumeration District: 0258.) 28 California Department of Health and Welfare. California Vital Records—Vitalsearch, The Vitalsearch Company Worldwide, Inc., Pleasanton, California.
29 Polk’s Redondo Beach City Directory, 1952, (Los Angeles, CA: R.L. Polk & Co. of California, 1952). 30 California, U.S., Voter Registrations, 1900-1968, State of California, Great Register of Voters, Sacramento, California: California State Library.
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Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, as well as several in San Pedro and Rancho Palos Verdes.31 Bill Juckes typically sold his houses for between $40,000 and $45,000. Although he mostly built simple “box” shaped homes designed to fit their lots, several of his developments were slightly different, including 1505 Crest Drive.32 In 1983, he established “Bill Juckes Development, Inc.,” which he dissolved in 1992.33 His career came to a close in 2000, when he pleaded guilty to federal loan fraud charges.34
1505 Crest Drive appears to be a stock A-frame plan that was adapted for the site by architect Richard Nesbitt.35 The property was developed in conjunction with 1501 Crest Drive, 1504 Highland Avenue, and 1500 Highland Avenue. While 1504 Highland Avenue is also an A-frame house, the other two houses had a different form.36 Bill Juckes built the house for a cost of $21,098.
When construction was complete, he sold the house to Gary Balengee, the roommate of the real estate agent Don Zink.
Gary Ballengee embodies the typical postwar owner of an A-frame house. Young, athletic, and likely tanned from his weekends on the beach, Gary Ballengee was born in the small community of Taft Heights in Kern County, about 40 miles southwest of Bakersfield. His father was born in Oklahoma and came west in the 1920s. With a ninth-grade education, his father worked as a truck driver for Peacock Dairy, earning $2,300 a year in 1940.37 Gary’s educational opportunities far surpassed his father’s. After graduating from Taft Union High School in 1956,38 Gary attended Taft Junior College for two years while working in the oil fields in the summers earning union wages. He ultimately graduated from San Jose State College, where he majored in science. During high school and college, Gary Ballengee competed on the swim team, but a shoulder injury in college pushed him to play intramural volleyball. After college, he moved to Manhattan Beach around 1960, sharing a house with three other men on the Strand while he taught biology and math at South Torrance High School and coached the football team. The house at 1008 Strand was steps from the beach, where Gary spent his weekends with his roommates and friends, playing volleyball and drinking beer. In
31 City of Los Angeles, Department of Building and Safety, “Application to Construct New Building,” Permit #14088, July 20, 2956; Delinquent Tax List,” San Pedro News-Pilot, June 14, 1963, 14; Los Angeles County Assessor Portal, https://portal.assessor.lacounty.gov/parceldetail/7556017035; City of Los Angeles, Department of Building and Safety, “Application to Construct New Building,” Permit #53235, June 10, 1975. 32 Don Zink, personal communication, August 13, 2021.
33 “Articles of Incorporation,” California Secretary of State, https://businesssearch.sos.ca.gov/CBS/Detail . 34 “Developer, Real Estate Agent Plead Guilty to Loan Fraud,” Los Angeles Times, June 15, 2000, 46.
Throughout his career, Bill Juckes fronted the down payment to the first buyers, many of whom did not have the cash.
In turn, the buyers had a separate, private loan from him that they would pay back in monthly installments. Each of his houses had a rental unit and he assured the buyers that they could recoup their costs. When Gary Ballengee purchased 1505 Crest Drive from Bill Juckes, he had two monthly payments: the first, his mortgage to the bank and the second to Bill Juckes. Bill Juckes once said to Don Zink, “I don’t make the money off of this…the people who buy them [the houses] make the money.” (Gary Ballengee, personal communication, August 13, 2021 and Don Zink, personal communication, August 13, 2021.)
35 Very little is known about Richard Nesbitt. Born in 1931, he graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 1957. (State of California, California Birth Index, 1905-1995, (Sacramento, CA: State of California Department of Health Services, Center for Health Statistics); El Rodeo, (San Luis Obispo, CA: California State Polytechnic College, 1957).) 36 According to Don Zink, real estate agent, Bill Juckes had an in-house architect prepare simple house designs.
The houses developed by Bill Juckes at 1500 Highland Avenue and 1501 Crest Drive are no longer extant.
Contemporary houses are now in their place.
37 1940 United States Federal Census, Kern, California, Roll: m-t0627-00214, Page: 17B, Enumeration District: 15-
59. 38 The Derrick, Taft Union High School, 1955.
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fact, Gary Ballengee met his wife, Peg, on the beach. After the birth of their second child in 1971, Gary Ballengee moved his family to Lone Pine near the Alabama Hills, where they continued their outdoor, active life.39
The A-frame house type reflects Manhattan Beach’s exponential growth in the postwar era and its beach culture. As commented by Jan Dennis, author of several books on Manhattan Beach history and former mayor, A-frame houses are “pretty unique” in the city.40 Of the three extant A-frame houses in Manhattan Beach, 1505 Crest Drive is the best example of the style and retains the most integrity. Nearly no alterations have been made since the house was completed in 1964. The other three A-frames include 1504 Highland Avenue, which was constructed at the same time as 1505 Crest Drive as a mirror image, as well as 116 21st Street, units A and B. Both houses on 21st Street were constructed in 1963 by Cloud Construction. Neither of the two houses on 21st Street exhibits the quality of design or degree of integrity as 1505 Crest Drive. Both houses on 21st Street have been altered numerous times, specifically changing the double height glazing within the gable end as well as the doors and railings leading out from the double height living rooms.
In contrast, while 1505 Crest Drive is currently undergoing rehabilitation to update systems, repair windows, and lighten otherwise dark spaces, it retains, and will continue to retain after completion of construction, all of its character-defining features, including its distinctive roof form, wood paneling and exposed roof beams, glazing within the gable end with colored pebble glass, sliding doors leading out to a balcony, and double height living room/dining room.
39 Peg Ballengee, Personal communication, August 12, 2021 and Gary Ballengee, personal communication, August 13, 2021.
Gary and Peg Ballengee’s younger daughter, Danelle Ballengee is a world-renowned adventure racer and trail runner. She gained notoriety in 2006 when she survived a 60-foot fall from a cliff in Moab. 40 Jan Dennis, personal communication, October 27, 2021. 1505 Crest Drive
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7. Current Photographs
See attached.
10. References
1930 United States Federal Census. Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, Page: 10A, Enumeration District: 0258.
1940 United States Federal Census. Kern, California, Roll: m-t0627-00214, Page: 17B, Enumeration District: 15-59.
“A Vacation Cabin – the Painless Way.” San Francisco Examiner, May 8, 1955, page 3 of Modern Living. “Articles of Incorporation.” California Secretary of State, https://businesssearch.sos.ca.gov/CBS/Detail.
Ballengee, Gary. Personal communication, August 13, 2021.
Ballengee, Peg. Personal communication, August 12, 2021.
Beckerson, Bonnie ed. Manhattan Beach Historical Society. Manhattan Beach 90266; A Pictorial History. Manhattan Beach: The Manhattan Beach Historical Society, 1995.
Blint-Welsh, Tyler. “’Granddaddy of Beach Volleyball’ hits the sand this week in Manhattan Beach.” Los Angeles Times, August 16, 2017, https://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-avp- manhattan-beach-20170816-story.html.
California Department of Health and Welfare. California Vital Records—Vitalsearch, The Vitalsearch Company Worldwide, Inc., Pleasanton, California.
California, U.S., Voter Registrations 1900-1968. State of California, Great Register of Voters, Sacramento, California: California State Library.
“Catalina Classic History.” Catalina Classic,
https://catalinaclassicpaddleboardrace.com/history/catalina-classic-history/.
Cherry, Beck. “South Bay Surf History.” South Bay Boardrider’s Club, https://southbayboardriders.com/south-bay-surf-history/.
City of Manhattan Beach. Beach Volleyball, https://www.citymb.info/departments/parks-and- recreation/beach-volleyball
City of Manhattan Beach. Census Data, https://www.manhattanbeach.gov/residents/about- us/census-data.
City of Los Angeles, Department of Building and Safety. “Delinquent Tax List.” San Pedro News-Pilot, June 14, 1963, 14 Dennis, Jan. Shadows on the Dunes; An Architectural History of Manhattan Beach, California. Manhattan Beach: Janstan Studio, 2001.
“Developer, Real Estate Agent Plead Guilty to Loan Fraud.” Los Angeles Times, June 15, 2000, 46.
El Rodeo. San Luis Obispo, CA: California State Polytechnic College, 1957.
Gaitager, Sheldon M. “Why the Big Boom in A-Frames?” Popular Science, August 1961, 128. 1505 Crest Drive
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Lang, Alexandra. “The A-frame effect; Not just another house, but a way of life.” Curbed. September 22, 2017, https://archive.curbed.com/2017/9/22/16346810/a-frame-homes-architecture- rudolf-schindler.
Lawrence, Elizabeth. “Architectural Winners.” San Francisco Examiner, March 1, 1953, 75.
Los Angeles County Assessor Portal, https://portal.assessor.lacounty.gov/parceldetail/7556017035 Polk’s Redondo Beach City Directory, 1952. Los Angeles, CA: R.L. Polk & Co. of California, 1952.
Randl, Chad. A-frame. Hudson, NY: Princeton Architectural Press, 2004.
State of California. California Birth Index, 1905-1995. Sacramento, CA: State of California Department of Health Services, Center for Health Statistics.
The Derrick, Taft Union High School, 1955.
Washington State Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation. “A-Frame.” https://dahp.wa.gov/historic-preservation/historic-buildings/architectural-style-guide/a- frame.
Zink, Don. Personal communication, August 13, 2021
1505 Crest Drive
City of Manhattan Beach Historic Landmark Nomination
Attachment 1: Maps
Map 1: Location map, 1505 Crest Drive circled red, note proximity to City Hall and the Strand (source:
Google, 2021)
Map 2: Detailed location map, 1505 Crest Drive highlighted red (source: Google, 2021)
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1505 Crest Drive
City of Manhattan Beach Historic Landmark Nomination
Attachment 1: Maps
Map 1: Assessor parcel map, 1505 Crest Drive highlighted red (source: Los Angeles County Assessor) 1505 Crest Drive
City of Manhattan Beach Historic Landmark Nomination
Attachment 2: Photographs
Photo 1: 1505 Crest Drive, east elevation, view west (source: Zach Kluckxon, 2020)
Photo 2: 1505 Crest Drive, east elevation, view west (source: Snow, 2021) 1505 Crest Drive
City of Manhattan Beach Historic Landmark Nomination
Attachment 2: Photographs
Photo 3: 1505 Crest Drive, south elevation, view northwest (source: Snow, 2021) Photo 4: 1505 Crest Drive, primary entrance at
second floor, view northwest (source: Snow, 2021)
1505 Crest Drive
City of Manhattan Beach Historic Landmark Nomination
Attachment 2: Photographs
Photo 5: 1505 Crest Drive, west elevation and patio,
view north (source: Snow, 2021)
Photo 6: 1505 Crest Drive, north elevation, view southwest, note entrance to rumpus room (source: Snow, 2021)
1505 Crest Drive
City of Manhattan Beach Historic Landmark Nomination
Attachment 2: Photographs
Photo 7: 1505 Crest Drive, interior, living room/dining room, view east toward glazing in gable end (source:
Zach Kluckxon, 2021)
Photo 8: 1505 Crest Drive, interior, stairs to third floor at left, note pebbled color glass strip in glazing, view northeast (source: Zach Kluckxon, 2021)
1505 Crest Drive
City of Manhattan Beach Historic Landmark Nomination
Attachment 2: Photographs
Photo 9: 1505 Crest Drive, interior, living room/dining room, view north, note regularly spaced roof beams (source: Zach Kluckxon, 2021)
Photo 10: 1505 Crest Drive, interior, living room/dining room, view southwest toward front door (source:
Zach Kluckxon, 2021)
1505 Crest Drive
City of Manhattan Beach Historic Landmark Nomination
Attachment 2: Photographs
Photo 11: 1505 Crest Drive, interior, second floor bedroom, view northwest (source: Zach Kluckxon, 2021) Photo 12: 1505 Crest Drive, interior, second floor bedroom, view northeast (source: Zach Kluckxon, 2021) 1505 Crest Drive
City of Manhattan Beach Historic Landmark Nomination
Attachment 2: Photographs
Photo 13: 1505 Crest Drive, interior, third floor loft, view southeast (source: Zach Kluckxon, 2021) Photo 14: 1505 Crest Drive, interior, third floor bedroom, view southeast (source: Zach Kluckxon, 2021) 1505 Crest Drive
City of Manhattan Beach Historic Landmark Nomination
Attachment 2: Photographs
Photo 15: 1505 Crest Drive, interior, first floor rumpus room, view south (source: Zach Kluckxon, 2021) 1505 Crest Drive
City of Manhattan Beach Historic Landmark Nomination
Attachment 3: Drawings
Drawing 1: Cover sheet for four properties developed by Bill Juckes, prepared by Richard Nesbitt, 1505 Crest Drive highlighted red above
1505 Crest Drive
City of Manhattan Beach Historic Landmark Nomination
Attachment 3: Drawings
Drawing 2: Sections and foundation plans for 1505 Crest Drive 1505 Crest Drive
City of Manhattan Beach Historic Landmark Nomination
Attachment 3: Drawings
Drawing 3: Floor plans for 1505 Crest Drive
1505 Crest Drive
City of Manhattan Beach Historic Landmark Nomination
Attachment 3: Drawings
Drawing 4: Elevations and details for 1505 Crest Drive