The green and white Cindy's diner sign has been a fixture on Colorado Boulevard in Eagle Rock for the last 60 years. But the Googie-style sign is deteriorating, and the diner's new owners, Monique King and Paul Rosenbluh, are hoping the public will want to help save the sign.

King and Rosenbluh, who own Firefly restaurant in South Pasadena, took over the diner in January and reopened its doors in April. They've kept the original booths, wallpaper and countertops inside, from when the diner opened in 1948, but King says the sign outside is crucial to maintaining the integrity of the mid-century landmark.

"We felt like the luckiest people in the whole universe when we got it," King said. "Its a beautiful sign, its vintage, original and there is just something so important about preserving it and taking it away from being just a big pigeon roost."

King and Rosenbluh started aKickstarter campaignto raise the $16,250 they say is needed to restore the sign. The two are hoping to fix the rusted metal, attach a new neon "open" sign, structurally reinforce the sign and replace the sign's letters.

"The Kickstarter comes in because it's not just going to be finding the cheapest sign guy around the corner and having some sort of plastic thing made," King said. "We need to bring in somebody that really understands, more of a preservationist, than just the cheapest bid out there."

Depending on how much you donate, Cindy's Kickstarter rewards range from a four-course chef's table dinner to having a blue plate special named after you.

"We are commited to keeping this sign, we just dont have $17,000 to do it," King said. "We're keeping the faith that we are going to reach the goal."

King and Rosenbluh also gave Cindy's original diner menu a makeover with their take on classic diner food.

"People that are really looking for an old-school greasy spoon have found us to be a little bit gentrified, or too hipster for them, but we're not doing foie gras or foams or anything like that," King said. "It's eggs and potatoes, we're just using cage-free eggs and doing homemade pancakes and waffles."

1500 Colorado Blvd., Eagle Rock, (323) 257-7375, http://www.cindyseaglerock.com/

The rest is here:
Quest to save the 60-year-old Cindy's diner sign in Eagle Rock

This stylish duplex in the South End was completely renovated into a sunny condo in 2010 and the owners have added built-ins and other amenities in the past four years.

Unit 2 at 77 Rutland St., one of three condos in the 1900-built rowhouse, occupies the first and second floors and has new windows, systems and roof.

From the outside, the building looks like a traditional rowhouse with a brick exterior, carved wood entryway and projecting bay and ornamental wrought-iron railings.

But the first-floor interior of the unit has an open floor plan, with a front-to-back dining/living and kitchen area with new red oak floors, custom crown molding and 9-foot-9 ceilings with recessed lighting. The dining area has two large windows, and the owners recently added paneled wainscoting with a deep closet running behind the wall. The living area has a gas fireplace with a carved wood mantel with new built-ins added on either side.

The kitchen has 20 cabinets, including several that are pantry sized, and beige granite countertops with newly added glass mosaic tile backsplash. A bi-level granite island with new pendant lamps overhead seats four. High-end stainless-steel appliances include a Sub Zero refrigerator, a Viking gas stove and wine cooler and a Bosch dishwasher. Off the back of the kitchen is a glass door leading out to a private deck with a gas line to an outdoor grill.

Off to the side of the kitchen is a half-bathroom with a small white marble tile floor.

A turning oak staircase leads to two bedrooms on the second floor off an oak hallway with a closet holding a stacked Bosch washer/dryer.

The front-facing master bedroom suite has three large windows, including a three-part bay window with a window seat. The room has 9-foot 7-inch ceilings with recessed lighting, oak floors and a built-in bookcase. Theres a large walk-in closet with built-in storage. The en-suite master bathroom has a white Carrara marble floor and vanity top, as well as a marble surround for a deep soaking tub and a glass walk-in shower with rainhead and handheld fixtures.

The rear-facing second bedroom also has oak floors and an en-suite bathroom with a beige marble tile floor and surround for a tub/shower. Theres also a granite-topped vanity.

This unit has central air conditioning but does not come with a parking space, so owners will have to park on the street with residential permit or rent a garage space nearby.

Continue reading here:
Rowhouse renovated with style

James Smith and Mary Anne Walser knew they could fix the flaws in a midcentury modern home.

The dated home was situated on a wooded 1-acre lot in Atlanta and had the right wrong things going for it, Walser said. For example, the ugly Formica countertops, shag carpet and dark wood paneling could be torn out, replaced or painted over. But the property didnt have a steep driveway or other structural elements that would be too difficult and costly to repair.

The house presented a chance for Smith, an architect, and Walser, a real estate agent, who were married in 2009, to start from scratch on a home project together. Their plan included ripping out walls, exposing wood, and bringing in contemporary fixtures and furniture.

Its a wonderful opportunity to allow us to furnish it in ways that fits both of us, Smith said.

Snapshot

Names: James Smith and Mary Anne Walser, and their dog, Snack. Smith is a principal at Perkins + Will; Walser works for Keller Williams Realty Premier Atlanta.

Location: Atlanta

Size: About 3,000 square feet, four bedrooms, four baths

Year built: 1974

Year bought: 2011

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Making the most of a mid-century modern

YOUNTVILLE Water dishes are placed under the countertops where lamb sliders and prosecco are served. Tiny pet treats share a wooden dish with cookies. And nearly all the guests at the monthly social inside this sleek Upvalley resort arrive in pairs, one visitor on two legs and the other on four.

On the first Tuesday of each month from May to October, the Bardessono resort becomes host to the Dog Bar, an interspecies happy hour where canines are not only welcome but often the most popular guests. Within the shaded atrium of the resorts Lucy Restaurant & Bar, human visitors have two hours to socialize while their dogs, yapping or sniffing other dogs or nuzzling their owners, do the same.

Last week, while two dozen guests from Yountville, Napa and St. Helena chatted and laughed over glasses of wine, they spent as much time greeting, petting or nuzzling the visitors at their feet a terrier mix here, a Chesapeake Bay retriever there, or Fozzy, Linda Goldfarbs bristly Heinz 57 mutt of a cancer therapy dog.

I try to take her everywhere I go, said Goldfarb, a St. Helena vintner who was making her first visit to the Dog Bar. I think it feels good, knowing shes comfortable with other dogs.

Though the Bardessono opened five years ago, the Dog Bar is a more recent arrival at the Yountville hideaway, introduced by a director who spent years making other places more welcoming to mans best friend.

Its something Id done in other hotels; I used to call it Yappy Hour, said Jim Treadway, who staged regular pet-friendly socials at hotels as president of the Westin chain before becoming the Bardessonos general manager. In the spring of 2013, he brought the idea to Yountville, patterning the name after the resorts Dive Bar poolside parties.

Hotels and haute-cuisine eateries have given Yountville a stream of annual visitors far outnumbering the towns 3,500 residents. But for the Dog Bars creators, the canine social is a way to bridge the gap between a resort and nearby locals, using a near-universal and seemingly irresistible bond.

This is more about bringing together locals who have one thing in common, and thats a love of dogs, said Treadway. Its less about hotel guests than about the local community. We just have a once-a-month party here, so were not distant or aloof.

Its a type of clientele we dont get all the time: friendly, laid-back, a lot of familiar faces, said Ross Wheatley, Bardessonos director of food and beverage, who arrived with Bodie, his adopted basset hound. I could charge a lot more for this, but thats not the point. Its a way to say to people, Look, you dont need to take us too seriously.

For a clientele not always sure of a warm welcome for animals in public places, the chance to be among other pet owners can be a valuable time even more so for their companions.

Original post:
Happy hour in Yountville for mans best friend, too

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