Three Southern California pools, three very different summer stories

The view from the home’s entry hall used to be of the ramshackle sloped garden out back. Exter leveled the yard and erected a long concrete retaining wall to give homeowners Jimmy Wilson and Lou Sawaya the pool, garden and entertaining space they wanted. When visitors enter the home, the pool and the light wall now are the first things they see.

Back to L.A. at Home  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

The fountain flows in a solid sheet.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

The 25 white lights appear to float like giant bubbles over and past a single majestic spear lily. Each uses an energy-efficient 10-watt bulb on a dimmer. The result is cool and elegant, prompting smiles from visitors.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Visible through the glass entry doors and the glass entry hall, the watery centerpiece brings the house to life. Sawaya and Wilson’s interiors are like a contemporary art gallery, lined with paintings and limited-edition prints. The pool acts as another part of the collection. “It’s a garden, but it’s also an art piece,” says landscape designer Exter. “It straddles both worlds.” Celadon glass tiles echo the color of surrounding greenery.

Back to L.A. at Home  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

For Wilson, lighting up the bubbles for the first time was a magical experience. “I got butterflies,” he says. “It was like the cherry on top of everything else. And it’s been like a toy ever since. Every time someone comes over, we make sure it’s on.”

Back to L.A. at Home  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

In Fullerton, writer Debra Prinzing found another pool that delivers much impact in a compact space. Scott and Serena Lansburg had renovated a 1928 Spanish Colonial Revival home and installed a formal garden when Scott, a lifelong competitive swimmer and water polo player, began to crave an exercise pool, also known as swim spa. He asked Alison Terry of Terry Design to squeeze a pool into a little-used, 11-by-18-foot terrace.

Back to L.A. at Home  (Christine Cotter / Los Angeles Times)

Terry designed an in-ground pool with 14-inch raised coping to create seating around the perimeter. Mexican Talavera tile from Orange County Tile echoes the handmade terracotta used elsewhere in the garden and the house.

Back to L.A. at Home  (Christine Cotter / Los Angeles Times)

Well put.

Back to L.A. at Home  (Christine Cotter / Los Angeles Times)

The pool’s interior dimensions are just 8 feet by 15 feet, with a depth of 4.5 feet, but that’s large enough to accommodate swimming workouts. Fabricated by Fluid Dynamics Pool and Spa, a Fullerton contractor, the pool has spa jets as well as a Riverflow System, a continual current that allows Scott to swim in place and Serena, a marathon runner, to jog in place.

“It’s like having a treadmill to swim in,” he says. “It’s more enjoyable than swimming in a lap pool.” A tile guideline embedded in the floor of the pool keeps him swimming straight.

Back to L.A. at Home  (Christine Cotter / Los Angeles Times)

Terry, the designer, acknowledges that pools are often blamed for wasting water and energy, but she points out that this design is more efficient because it has a small footprint and satisfies multiple uses: exercise, play and relaxation. “Plus, it looks more like a decorative fountain than a swimming pool, which is nice for viewing from the home’s second level,” she says.

According to the owners, the small size allows the pool to heat up quickly, which keeps energy costs low. “We’re not using a lot of resources because we also have a low-voltage pump,” Scott Lansburg says. “I haven’t even seen a change in my electric bill.”  (Christine Cotter / Los Angeles Times)

For a glimpse of some timeless beauty, writer Debra Prinzing headed for Baldwin Hills and the home of interior designer Lory Johansson. A 1960 L.A. Times article captured the sparkling drama of the house’s pool, and to this day the mosaic surface remains a fine canvas of turquoise, azure and 24-karat-gold glass squares forming wave patterns.  (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Johansson, right, and husband Mats, an architect.  (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

For years Johansson has been adding glass mosaic patterns to her pool designs for big-budget clients, including one in Miami who now has a pool based on a Versace dinner plate. The designer sourced artwork from Mosaicos Venecianos de Mexico, a Mexican company known since the 1940s for making intricate, hand-cut glass tile designs based on Northern Italian techniques. “It is by far and away, the most amazing resource,” Johansson says.

Serendipitously, Johansson discovered that her pool was one of Mosaicos Venecianos’ first residential commissions in the U.S.  (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Malena Perdomo, export manager for Mosaicos Venecianos, is the daughter of the man who designed Johannson’s pool, Manuel Perdomo, now 80. “I couldn’t believe it when Lory told me about her pool,” she says, speaking from her studio in Cuernavaca, Mexico. “She sent me the pictures of it and I immediately took them to my father. He said, ‘Yes, I remember.’ ”

Perdomo’s design includes a school of red and gold fish swimming along the pool’s edge.

Back to L.A. at Home  (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

A bit of classic California.

Designer Johansson can be reached at (213) 924-3071.

Check out the L.A. Home blog.  (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)