600 Exhibits at Home and Garden Show Add Up to Swinging Event

As Janeth Black rocked peacefully in the wide nylon swing, she seemingly was transported from the Anaheim Convention Center to the coast of Massachusetts, where 20 years ago she spent countless hours languidly swaying in a porch swing hanging from a living room’s high ceiling while the houseguest of a friend.

“When you’d swing forward you could see one side of this gorgeous bay, and when you’d swing back, you could see the other side,” recalled Black, a retired switchboard operator from Orange. Such fond recollections were all it took to convince Black to purchase one of the $99 “bocker rockers” for her own living room--and another two for gifts.

Black is one of 100,000 people expected to visit the 31st annual Southern California Home and Garden Show, which began its nine-day run Saturday at the Anaheim Convention Center. With 600 exhibitors, the show’s promoters bill it as the largest of the estimated 230 home or garden shows held annually in the United States.

On display are booths featuring room additions, manufactured homes, interior decorating, kitchen remodeling, roofing, gourmet cookware, security systems, solar heating, pools, spas, gardening, landscaping, patio furniture, greenhouses, appliances, artworks, water-purification systems, closet organizers and much more.

The Antique Row, introduced last year, proved so popular, show spokeswoman Corrine Sidney said, that a third more booths have been added to the attraction. It features about $1 million in decorator and collector items: glass, china, silver, coins, dolls, jewelry, furniture, paintings and rugs.

Upon entering the show’s main entrance, guests are greeted by a spectacular flower show. Thousands of fresh flowers and plants, a replica of one of the life-size busts recently excavated from the tomb of the first Chinese emperor, an ornate Chinese pavilion guarded by a 10-foot dragon and exquisitely decorated Chinese lanterns have been used to remind visitors that the theme of this year’s flower show is “China: Land of Enchantment.” To complement this theme, the Alice Lo Chinese Dancers perform authentic folk dances on weekends.

At the opposite end of the exhibition hall was a startling, two-story, three-bedroom log house. People rubbed and pounded the exterior to determine if the logs were real--and sturdy. Indeed, it was built in just three days by two workmen, Sidney noted.

You can buy a completed log house--which comes in 40 models--through a dealer or purchase the basic package and do some or all the work yourself, explained Dick Cook, owner of Fresno-headquartered Town & Country Homes, which sells these so-called Real Log Homes.

They are manufactured by Sierra Log Homes of Carson City, Nev. For the do-it-yourselfer, the pine or western red cedar logs are precut, numbered and lettered. Extra logs are included in case you make a mistake.

Urban Settings

“You think of log houses in rural settings, which is my personal preference, but I’ve built them in Brentwood, Thousand Oaks, Glendale and urban areas where you wouldn’t expect to see them,” Cook said.

Because of their relatively low cost, energy efficiency and ease of maintenance, Cook said, today fully half the log houses he sells throughout the state are for principal residences, unlike 10 years ago when log homes first came on the market in California primarily as vacation or second homes.

“Its main appeal is its country look,” said Courtney Grove in explaining why he and his wife, Chris, had driven down from Palmdale in northern Los Angeles County to inspect the log house. The 37-year-old owner of an auto repair shop said he, his wife and three children were contemplating building a $20,000 log house for a vacation home on a lot they own in the pine woods of Modoc County, which borders Oregon and Nevada.

House of Vinyl

Attracting the curious was the so-called Vinyl House, which featured more than 30 uses of vinyl. Applications ranged from roofing, siding and fencing on the exterior to appliance components, bathroom fixtures and wall and floor coverings in the interior.

Representatives of the Vinyl Institute, the trade association sponsoring the Vinyl House, told visitors that it is an “easy living-no maintenance home.” In the home’s interior, shoe scuff marks can be removed with just a damp mop, and children’s handprints on vinyl wallpaper can be washed off with a damp cloth.

Vinyl window blinds not only put an end to drapery cleaning bills but also are energy efficient because closing them against harsh summer sunlight drastically reduces air-conditioning bills, they said.

And because vinyl siding never needs painting--”just hose it down once a year,” said Dennis Collins, a representative for a vinyl siding manufacturer--its real cost is comparable to wood siding.

Builder Unconvinced

Unconvinced was H. L. Owens, 55, a retired home builder from Laguna Niguel. “They’ve got some good ideas, but I don’t think the public’s ready for it. I don’t have any problems with interior use of vinyl. In fact, I used to put it in the houses I built.

“But I’ve got my doubts about using vinyl outside. How long will vinyl last since it stretches and contracts with changes in temperature? And with the kind of direct sunlight we’ve got in Southern California, I find it difficult to believe that the color of the siding won’t fade or that vinyl siding won’t let the heat in so that the house is like a tin box.”

But Vinyl Institute spokesman Jon Bard maintained that while exterior use of vinyl may have been problematic in the past, “in the last 10 years there’s been a revolution in vinyl.”

“Siding’s been developed that’s resistant to weather, and it (carries a 40-year warranty) to go without cracking or changing color. And far from being a tin box, one of the great selling points of vinyl today is its excellent insulation,” Bard said.

Show Entertainment

The show’s entertainment is provided by Big Band singer Helen O’Connell, who performs daily. On weekends there are performances by the South Coast Ballet, which is presenting a new rock ballet to the music of pop singer Cyndi Lauper.

Show hours are are 2 to 10 p.m. today through Thursday, 2 to 11 p.m. Friday, noon to 11 p.m. Saturday and noon to 9 p.m. Sunday. Admission prices to the show at the Anaheim Convention Center, 800 W. Katella Ave., Anaheim, are $4.95 for adults and $2.50 for children 6 to 16 years of age. There is no charge for children 5 and under.