The Old House

When does a house become a home? How does a house become a home? In the recent L.A. fires, around 10,000 houses were destroyed. When a house is also a home, much more goes up in flames than the structure and its contents. The house itself has a dialectical relationship with its inhabitants, expressed through furniture, decor, and a greater or lesser life force that infuses a building with its own ambiance. There are sad houses, happy houses, sterile houses and quirky houses. 

Dr. Philipson had the extraordinary (and increasingly rare) good fortune to grow up in one house -- 1485 Old House Road -- which remained in his family for 36 years. This podcast takes you through that house room by room. Much more comes through than a real estate walk-through. You get the life of that family, a "thick description," to use an anthropological term. 

There is a pre-history as well, the land grabs and investments that ultimately delivered the half-acre lot to Joseph Philipson in 1950. And there is a denouement because nothing lasts forever. Though threatened by the Eaton Fire, the house is still standing, but it is no longer "the old house." Listen, and you'll understand why.

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