The suggestion of a bus tour to the Sam Maloof Historic Residence and Garden in Alta Loma and the Huntington's "The House That Sam Built" exhibit, struck a respondent chord with 41 participants who sallied forth at  eight in the morning and returned around seven in the evening.  Their appreciative comments included "being at Sam and Alfreda Maloof's home at the relocated property was the highlight of the day for me.  I loved the place and felt the spirit and soul of the creative and extraordinary people that created it".

Sam Maloof was unusual in his creation of furniture in that he was the designer and the producer. He and 2 or 3 employees fulfilled the, at most, 50 commissions a year. He rarely drew a picture, although his pictorial skills were proven. The picture was mental.  If the commission were 8 chairs, he'd do the first, make changes if needed and the rest would fall into place.

When he first started making rocking chairs, he used the traditional stretcher, as seen in the rocker with the under seat addition for supposed strength. 
Realizing a way to eliminate that distracting line without diminishing its integrity resulted in a cleaner look. The rocker's back and forth sway can go on for as long as four minutes.

No matter how many times we visit the Huntington, we are never disappointed.  There is always serendipity around the corner. "The House That Sam Built" entailed 81 works by Sam Maloof's artist friends. One of them, Betty Davenport Ford, now 88 years of age, still working and doing demonstrations of her method, has 2 of her works shown.  Another is Harrison McIntosh, now 97.  McIntosh is known for his spiraling, geometric, mishima lines.  Mishima means grooving out a line and filling it with a different color. He, with Maloof, George Nakashima, Charles and Ray Eames were part of the "California Look".  Thinking of Millard Sheets' evaluation of Maloof as "unpretentious", he might have used that term for McIntosh and other California artists in that post-2nd World War era.