Styles don’t live in a bubble. As a result, homes will influence transportation, and those will in-turn impact fashion, colors, materials and details. Will the latest trends mesh with what came before or bend our sensibilities and reverberate throughout all aspects of our lives. Our exclusive interview with Alison Martino provides us her insight into what many refer to as “Mid-Century Modern”.
Interview and images by John Grafman
There’s a tendency to break completely free and clear of the previous designs. Certainly, marketing loves to embrace “All-New” for the purpose of stimulating sales. At the same time, there’s a part of us that yearns for what came earlier in our lives. It’s a sense of familiarity, security, sentimentality, and a longing for what’s missing in our current world.
Intended or not, the events at Modernism Week 2024 explore this avenue. The Canyon Estate Home Tour is a fine example of an era that’s comprised of wonderful architecture and décor. And an assortment of period cars peppers the presentations and complete the look.
Alison Martino is no stranger to Canyon Estates. As a preservationist, Alison enlightens all via Vintage Los Angeles, showcasing historic moments in time. Her contributions can also be found on numerous other media outlets, along with being a television producer/writer, and online personality. Fortunately, we get her thoughts, perspective, vision, and a peek at Alison’s personal slice of heaven in Palm Springs.
AutoDesignO: Alison, can you tell us a little bit about design from mid-century?
Alison Martino: Mid-century modern has always been something that I’ve tried to attain aesthetically, but my love for it is more late 60s and early 70s. I sort of like the Hollywood Regency feel. It reminds me of my childhood, reminds me of my parents when I was growing up in Beverly Hills, and I went for that look. Rather than, you know, like Atomic 50s – and there’s nothing wrong with that, it was just more my style to go with a lot of color – big on color.
ADO: How long have you had this house and how long have you spent on making it what it is today?
Alison Martino: So, I’ve been looking for a house in Palm Springs for about 7 or 8 years. Finally purchased one in 2022. Moved in December of 2022, and it was an empty shell. There was nothing in here that even looks like this is the same house, but the great thing is it’s a Charles Du Bois. The previous owners never altered it as far as knocking out the kitchen or taking down on a wall. And so, if the bones were here, the home looks exactly the way it was intended to look, which I’m so happy about.
The House is Never Finished, so it’ll be a Project Ongoing Forever.
And so, we just brought in, again, a lot of color, mid-century modern furniture, on top of Hollywood Regency. A lot of antiques, but a lot of new furniture as well. I like to make [it over to] Jonathan Adler and Grace (Grace Home Furnishings) from downtown Palm Springs. I go to the Antique Alley, Misty’s [Consignments], all the vintage shops. I mean, I hit every one of them. I go to Revivals six times a week when I’m here. Now I’ve given my tips away. Anyway, the house is never finished, so it’ll be a project ongoing forever.
I’m big on wallpaper. Another, I think late 60s, early 70s sort of feel when everything matched. Your drapes matched your carpet, your carpet matched your couch, the pillows. That was like nothing, you know? But I wanted my bedroom to have the fabrics match the wallpaper and so on. And then in my bathroom, I found a 1968 wallpaper book. Went through the book, took a piece out and took it to a person called Designer Wallpaper in Ventura and they made it for me. So, I copied some things from the late 60s, early 70s. My favorite years for designers are 67, 68, to about 73. That’s where I live – in those years.
ADO: Why is it so important that we embrace mid-century design and vintage design?
It’s Important to Stay Close to Your Roots
Alison Martino: I don’t know if it’s important, but I think it’s necessary (laughing). I’m in my 50s, and I feel that it keeps me closer to the prior century. I’ve no problem moving forward and living in 2024, but I like my aesthetic to remind [me]of childhood. It makes me feel good when I go in. It makes me feel like I’m used to it. Our grandparents had cool ****. OK, they did! And maybe we didn’t realize it when we were younger, but it’s funny, when I was in my teens, now I wanted all my grandmother’s things or you know, her, her purses, her brooches, her hats, all that. And then it moved into furniture. My grandmother lived in Ohio. My other grandmother was in Philadelphia. I was always taking stuff back, and I just started growing into it. I think it’s important to stay close to your roots. I mean, it’s like when you have your childhood home and you see it being ripped down it, it tears your heart out. So, this way I keep that feeling of home is with me wherever I’m going. And that is mid-century modern design to me.
ADO: Everything connects, as you mentioned, from wallpaper to furniture. The cars from that era were special as well…?
Alison Martino: Yes. Well, my grandfather was a car salesman for Chevrolet and Ford, so my mom always had some pretty cool cars when she was growing up in Ohio as a teenager. And then later in life, when my mom married my father (Al Martino), he got my mom a ‘60 Ford for their 25th anniversary, [it] kind of started my obsession with vintage cars. I have two right now – two Mercedes 560. But I’m moving into something older at some point, and we’ve got that. The Plymouth in front right now, my friend Chris Penrad let us borrow. The car has to be right for the house.
Make Sure the Car Matches the House
You know, like when you think about it, back in the day before we lived behind gates, houses had a circular driveway or a driveway that would come into a lawn. You saw what people drove. Sure, they had a garage, but sometimes you left your car on the street. You knew what people were driving, and sort of, it’s your personality is in front of your house, right? So, make sure the car matches the house. This was built in ‘69, so I need a car now for 1969, but I’ve got one from ‘89. But it’s still cool. It’s still cool because maybe someone had that car in ‘89 here. But I think the car is part of your personality.
One more thing. I think that Palm Springs is where you can live that life. You know, you can, you can buy a mid-century modern house anywhere in the world, but that doesn’t mean your neighbors gonna have one or there’s gonna be one across the street. So, this is like suburbia of mid-century modern where every house is kind of the same, which makes it feel like a community. In LA, where I’m from, I don’t know what they’re gonna build next door. I don’t know what my future across the street is gonna look like. They knock down everything so and they build these monstrosities that don’t really have, I don’t think, a long lifespan.
Palm Springs is Where You can Live that Life
These houses are 60 years old, some of them 70 years. They’re still modern, they’re still unique, they’ve got the open floor plan. They never go out of style. And who doesn’t love Contemporary? And that’s what they were calling it then. This “Mid-Century Modern” came later, but at the time it was a contemporary home, like the Contemporary Hotel in Disney World. You didn’t call it the Mid-Century Modern Hotel, it was the Contemporary Hotel, now we look back on it because we’re in the 21st century, as mid-century. Contemporary, it was built to look modern and hold, and last at the test of time.
They’re perfect to live in for the rest of your life. Palm Springs is like a dream. I wake up and I feel like I’m living in a dream. I don’t think I could duplicate this in any other city, but Palm Springs, that’s the truth. Yeah.
Here’s my tip for anyone who buys a mid-century modern home. Live with it for a good six-months before you start knocking stuff out. You may fall in love with something. I found an old pencil sharpener in my bathroom that I didn’t know was there under the sink. I’m glad someone didn’t come in and knock it out because I want to keep some of the originals. You know, learn to live with the bar, learn to live with the kitchen counters if you have original ones, and then you might end up having it grow on you. Then you work around that. Don’t pull it out!
Just in case you missed the events in early 2024 (and even if you didn’t), The Modernism Week – October is coming your way on October 24-27, 2024. Tickets officially go on sale August 1, 2024 at noon PDT, but you can get a head start on your itinerary by previewing the full schedule at modernismweek.com. The most in-demand opportunities sell out, so don’t be late.
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