What the Well-Appointed Southern California Home or Garden Wears
The closet display that his mother was inspecting did not interest Jonah Harris, whose eyes were focused on the nearby beef jerky counter and a sign promising free samples.
Carolyn Harris was immersed in a cedar-lined custom closet, taking whiff after whiff of the aromatic wood, but her 9-year-old son savored the jerky. The Harrises from the Midwest had taken a break from their summer trip to Disneyland to find out “what people in California have in their homes.”
“Maybe if we had a closet like this in your bedroom, it wouldn’t look like a tornado keeps blowing through it,” said Carolyn Harris to Jonah good-naturedly. “But even if this was in your room, I’m sure I’d still have to walk around piles of clothes to find your bed.”
In the end, Jonah got to taste not only the jerky but possibly every other food item offered Sunday at the Southern California Home & Garden Show at the Anaheim Convention Center. The show attracted several thousand people to hundreds of displays, ranging from a $3,000 chair that gives a full body massage to GMC’s new line of trucks and sport utility vehicles.
In many ways, the displays were similar to those seen at the Orange County Fair last month. There were indestructible knives, vegetable slicers and spot removers.
“We saw most of this stuff a couple of weeks ago at the fair,” grumbled Sid Strickland, who said he was “dragged” to the show by his wife, Peggy.
Still, this did not stop Strickland and others from paying up to $7.50 for admission and $7 for parking. But given Sunday’s warm temperatures, the convention center was a comfortable place to spend two or three hours in the afternoon.
David Brewer’s display was one of the more unusual. Brewer, an architect and engineer, owns Creative Builders, a construction company that uses “engineered lumber” to build custom homes.
The wood is made from trees that are stripped into strands or chips and then bonded with glue to eliminate knots and warping. According to Brewer, who has been using the special lumber about 20 years, the treated wood makes straighter walls and non-creaking upper floors in two-story houses.
Brewer said the wood--from studs to sheets--is ordered special for every project and is used to build a rigid frame.
“There’s no added cost, because we order exactly what we need per project. Our waste is less than 5%. This wood doesn’t warp, bend, crack or chip,” he said. Brewer said his company builds up to 10 homes each year.
Not far from Brewer’s display, two young women were checking out a booth featuring a product guaranteed to whiten yellow teeth.
A salesperson offered a demonstration.
“It’s not for me,” laughed one of the women, who flashed two rows of straight pearly whites. “My boyfriend’s father has terrible teeth. They’re almost green. I’m thinking, ‘Should I buy him this stuff?’ ”
The 47th annual show runs through Sunday.
