Design Guru forms many of his ideas while spending time at his vintage trailer.

Bill Moggridge

Award-winning designer Bill Moggridge is a founder of IDEO, one of the most successful design firms in the world and one of the first to integrate the design of software and hardware into the practice of industrial design. He has been Visiting Professor in Interaction Design at the Royal College of Art in London, Lecturer in Design at the London Business School, member of the Steering Committee for the Interaction Design Institute in Ivrea, Italy, and is currently Consulting Associate Professor in the Joint Program in Design at Stanford University.

Bill's career has had three phases; first as designer, then as a manager of design, and now as a communicator, working as a writer, graphic designer and video maker. His fascination with design, and with what people want from everyday things, has given him a broad view of the information revolution.

Dwell Magazine Reports on Vintage Trailers (Again!)

THE AIRSTREAM LIFE

First came the idea. Then came the late nights of Craigslist searching. And then it happened quickly: a trip to a derelict horse ranch in the Salinas Valley, an exchange of cash in an old barn, and a harrowing towing adventure up Highway 101 netted me my current abode—a 1959 Airstream travel trailer.

The metamorphosis, which occurred in a generously allocated space at a friend's Stanford sculpture studio, was an archeological study in all things Americana. Tucked under couch cushions and linoleum panels, I found artifacts—mix tapes, scrawled recipes, and wrinkled photographs—that chronicled the lives of those who had dwelt within the Airstream since some stranger first purchased it in 1959 from Pacific Railroad Sales in Salinas, California. I was participating in American history by unearthing and updating one of its most iconic symbols in order to make it relevant to my age and time.

The renovation was necessarily an exercise in restraint and creativity. With just 150 square feet to work with, I jettisoned the 1950s colors of flesh tone paint and wall-to-wall linoleum, and moved in with cork flooring, track lighting, fresh colorful paint, and custom designed cabinets and furniture to fit the sinuous interior topography. I revealed the beautiful workmanship of the riveted aluminum end caps, and removed sewage facilities completely. I performed the work myself, trying to keep the design in my head one step ahead of the building process of my hands.

The materials palette that I chose is light in color with a few splashes of color. This lightness holds the space open and gives it a contemporary feel. The Airstream now resides in the garden of a co-op in North Berkeley, a few steps from the Cheeseboard and Chez Panisse.

My obsession with mobility, modularity, and affordability began long before the Airstream and has since extended beyond. As a recently self employed (read: laid off) landscape architect, I have been able to address several of the problems that I see in my field. Namely, the lack of connection between the LAND and the ARCHITECT. Whereas landscape architects once spent significant time ±on the site, the profession now finds some of the most creative minds shoehorned into cubicles. This seemed like a loss to me, and I wondered how it might be possible to create a space for real understanding within the profession—the kind of understanding that occurs from seeing a day of shadows move across a place, or listening to and observing people in a space.

I was intent on keeping the original stove, incorporating it into the cabinetry. I created a backsplash using inexpensive aluminum flashing that I texturized with a ball-peen hammer. With this in mind, and the knowledge that I gained by designing and building the Airstream, I set about creating a mobile studio that could travel to the site and where I could work during the early and critical stages of concept design. The studio had to allow me to be productive, but also put me squarely in the environment. It also had to be a showcase of my design sensibilities.

The interior is lit by several medium sized windows and an off-the-shelf track lighting system. With the door open, diffuse light makes the space glow. Some potential clients raise an eyebrow at the studio and walk away. Most, however, have been delighted. And those are the people I want to work for: they see the value of process, understand the subtleties that result from deep understanding, and want to engage with a designer as we surround ourselves in the medium.

Season's Greetings from All of us at Pinecrest!

Christmas Time is Here

(From the Charlie Brown TV Christmas Special)

Christmas time is here,
happiness and cheer,
fun for all that children
call their favorite time of year.

Snowflakes in the air,
carols everywhere,
olden times and ancient rhymes
and love and dreams to share.

Sleigh bells in the air;
beauty every where;
yuletide by the fireside
and joyful memories there.

Christmas time is here;
we'll be drawing near;
oh that we could always see
such spirit through the year,
such spirit through the year.

What to do in Winter? Let's go the the Agua Caliente Hot Springs!

Wondering what to do at Pinecrest once the pool is closed and the temperature drops? Well, have I got a well kept secret for you! It's called the Agua Caliente Hot Springs, County Park. This is a great, easy day trip from Pinecrest. It's about a 45 minute drive through some of the most beautiful, most remote parts of the Anza Borrego Desert. Make sure you arrive early in the day and spend a few hours here as it takes some time for the minerals to soak and seep into you body and soul.

Seriously! This is a well kept secret, and let's keep it that way. Because it is a county park, for some reason nobody but well read German tourist seem to know about it.

HERE'S THE SKINNY: There are two pools: one indoors with warmer water and one outdoors with cooler water, but also a nice breeze of pure desert air. Also check out the somewhat primitive but restorative showers, located up by the outdoor pool.

Be sure to bring your own Spa Treatment Kit: including but not limited to nice soaps, salt scrub, mud/clay mask, some big fluffy towels and your own ipod, iphone or other musical device to add to the soothing experience (the inside pool can be loud when busy so headphones add a calming touch).

Soak in the water, sit in the sun and relax, then have a light picnic at one nearby picnic tables. Allow time to rest and regroup before rushing back up the hill to Pinecrest. If you do it right, you'll find you body will be tingling all the way home!

Here's a little more information:

Spring Synopsis: An indoor therapy pool and shallow, outdoor kids pool both fed by several warm mineral springs in the above hillsides. Located 111-miles northeast of San Diego.

Seasonal Accessibility: Open Labor Day to Memorial Day, elevation is 1,350 feet.Adult visitors can use the pools for $5 per adult.

Restrictions: Clothing is required.

Pools hours vary, check here to see the schedule:www.co.san-diego.ca.us/parks/Camping/agua_caliente_pools.html

Services: There’s a little store at the park entrance where you can get most things, including equipment for shuffleboard. The park also offers an amphitheater, horseshoe pit, picnicking, playground, restrooms and showers, a pavilion, hiking trails and dump station.

Additional Information: Soakers at Agua Caliente swore by the health benefits of the mineral water. One woman said that after spending a year and a half in a wheelchair due to arthritis, bursitis, and other ailments, she began making the trek from Yuma, AZ to Agua Caliente once a week. She would soak all morning, retire to the outdoor pool and do calisthenics, then back for another hot soak. Now she walks dances and does yoga, things she hasn’t been able to do for a decade. With a new lease on life she encourages others of the benefits from the mineral water at Agua Caliente.

GPS COORDINATE: 32.9498°N X 116.3025°W
www.co.san-diego.ca.us/parks/Camping/agua_caliente.html
www.desertusa.com/caacv/caacv.html

How to Tell if you Have a Vintage RV

Special Guest Article Submitted by Anneliese Hinds.

Read more by Ann here.

Vintage RV's are all the rage. They have been made more popular by Huell Howser and shows like RV Crazy on the Travel Channel. How old does a RV have to be before it is considered vintage? Does vintage include all RV's or is it just travel trailers? There are several different opinions but most defer to the standard set by the Tin Can Tourists.

Who are the Tin Can Tourists? It is a group that is dedicating to preserving the history of RV's in America. The original Tin Can Tourists started in the 1900's. The club was revived in the 1989. They set the standard that most Vintage RV people use as a guide.

1. Travel Trailers that are 25 years or older are considered vintage.
   

2. Truck Campers and Pop-up Trailers are also considered vintage at 25 years or older. If you run across a vintage trailer rally, campers and pop-ups are also welcomed. We traveled from California to Maine in our truck camper.

3. Motorhomes that are 20 years or older are considered vintage. I own a 1973 Dodge Openroad Motorhome. You know, the green shag carpet.

4. Teardrop Trailers are in a class by themselves. I have the 1989 Snooze Box. It doesn't qualify by age as a vintage travel trailer but it is a teardrop. Since most teardrops are built from the original plans of the earlier trailers, they are considered vintage. Teardrops are welcomed at all Vintage Trailer Rallies and have their own Teardrop rallies only. In my opinion, these are the most fun of all the trailers. Someone once asked us if it was a house for our dog.

Silene serpentinicola was added to the CNPS Inventory (List 1B.2) in 2005.
Photo by S. Carothers.

Benefits of Native Plants

Native vegetation evolved to live with the local climate, soil types, and animals. This long process brings us several gardening advantages.

• Save Water:
  Once established, many native plants need minimal irrigation beyond normal rainfall.
• Low Maintenance:
  Low maintenance landscaping methods are a natural fit with native plants that are already adapted to the local environment. Look forward to using less water, little to no fertilizer, little to no pesticides, less pruning, and less of your time.
• Pesticide Freedom:
  Native plants have developed their own defenses against many pests and diseases. Since most pesticides kill indiscriminately, beneficial insects become secondary targets in the fight against pests. Reducing or eliminating pesticide use lets natural pest control take over and keeps garden toxins out of our creeks and watersheds.
• Wildlife Viewing:
  Native plants, birds, butterflies, beneficial insects, and interesting critters are “made for each other.” Research shows that native wildlife prefers native plants.
• Support Local Ecology:
  As development replaces natural habitats, planting gardens, parks, and roadsides with California natives can provide a “bridge” to nearby remaining wildlands.

Beautiful natural landscapes in California, including the scenic National Parks here, display authentic California flora. Your garden can too.

PLUS: FIND OUT HOW TO IDENTIFY NATIVE PLANTS AND WILDFLOWERS HERE.

Know Your Native Plants: Perserve this precious, sacred environment.

White Sage grows wild on the hilltops of Pinecrest. We are lucky, because this plant can be choosy about where it likes to grow, is difficult to propagate and takes several years to mature. Please respect White Sage and all the native plants. Do not remove or damage these plants for the sake of an extra tent site or parking spot. Let's keep Pinecrest's native plants alive!

White Sage can be a slow growing, difficult to establish plant that can take up to three years to reach a mature size. The plant above is a three year old pictured in spring. The body of the plant gets to be two to three feet tall and can spread eight feet or more. The flower wands will add two to five feet to the height and will have tiny insignificant looking white flowers that are dotted with lavender. At least they are insignificant to us, to the bees they are heaven, which it is why it is sometimes referred to as bee sage. White Sage has highly aromatic, waxy gray leaves that are used for incense.

Native Americans have used white sage for centuries and continue to use it today. White sage has been used traditionally to purify the mind, body and spirit before praying. Native Americans also used white sage in ceremonies of birth and death. Sacred objects such as pipes and eagle feathers were passed through the smoking of burning white sage in order to purify them.

When clearing the land of dry brush and weeds for fire safety, be mindful of the plants that should never be removed: native american plants such as the white sage.

October Weekend, At the Lookout. (Pinecrest)

Everybody makes their trailer their own through a combination of personal nick-nacks, candles, cozy-comforters, easy to move chairs, photos, art and every quirky specialty item that "doesn't quite fit at home". Every trailer also needs some kind of instrument lurking in a corner, or at least a ka-zoo tucked away in the kitchen drawer.
Weekends are for resting, cooking, cocktails, bird watching, raking leaves, moving rocks, painting, planting, watching the sun set and the moon rise, slowing down, and enjoying the company of loved ones.

DWELL Magazine re-evaluates "Trailer Parks"

For decades, trailer parks have been increasingly marginalized to a strict set of stereotypes. They might gleam as well-manicured retirement communities to some, but in their most iconic state they are perceived as the province of the unfortunate. The question of whether design can save or even improve trailer parks is preempted almost immediately by “Why bother?”

The latter question is easier to answer. Allan Wallis, author of Wheel Estate: The Rise and Decline of Mobile Homes and an authority on regional housing, calls trailer parks an undervalued, endangered resource. “Hundreds of thousands of living spaces” have been zoned out of existence, Wallis says, warning that “we are losing a certain niche in the housing market that the market left on its own would not really replace.” Trailer parks, he explains, put workforce housing where communities desperately need it. Drive these inhabitants to suburbia’s outer rings, and freeways get clogged while households become severely strained by car and gas payments. Wallis welcomes innovative design: Trailer parks could use a face-lift. “You need to create a visually attractive package,” he says. “I would ask the designers of the iPod, ‘Could you do that for a mobile home?’”

For the rest of the story go to: http://www.dwell.com/articles/upwardly-mobile-homes.html

The Pinecrest Website has been Redesigned.

Photo: Interior of Lynn Reinstein's trailer, Pinecrest.

The Pinecrest Website has been Redesigned.
Check out the new site at http://www.pinecrestretreat.com/