Memories and realities about "this old Spanish house."

 

The Milch family had lived in a small house south on the same street, Princeton over in Santa Monica which at Montana became Moreno. Milch describes the transition:

    "When Ben was born in 1986 we bought a house in Brentwood. There were six weeks when we were waiting to move that we lived in a hotel on Wilshire, and the tight quarters were wearing. . . . We were lucky the Moreno Avenue house was ready when it was. It was this old Spanish house, built in the 1930s, and Rita made it beautiful. There were old palm trees all around and Rita planted what she tells me was a California pepper in the front, liquid amber trees in the backyard that changed color, a lot of vines and jasmine that grew up the walls. It was all alive."

"Old palm trees?" None I ever saw! The house was old but already beautiful, you know from pictures I have posted. What Rita did was transform the yard (oh, that pool! and the trees) and greatly enlarge the house. I imagine her walking into that narrow old kitchen and saying, "Blow this out toward 26th Street!" and she blew out the west side of the second floor too. She made it enormous and "all alive."