House Tours Are Designed for Charity

In April, Herb and Kathy Goodman’s house was invaded by an army.

The Goodmans were given less than two weeks notice to get out of town.

Unable to reclaim their own land, they headed for the coast and holed up for months.

Now, the army has cleared out, but for the next month, thousands of others are trooping around the property.

When the exercise is over, the Goodmans will come home.

Until then, Kathy Goodman wants people to see what has happened to her Encino home.

It is no longer the in-need-of-renovation 1929 mission-style house it was before its six-month-long face lift.

It is a newly expanded, enhanced and enriched finca that will be open to the public until Nov. 3.

The Goodmans and their home are not victims of a political, but rather a philanthropic coup. They were temporarily dispossessed by good deeds rather than black acts.

In January, they said yes to a request to allow their property to become Design House 1991 for the San Fernando Valley Chapter of the International Society of Interior Designers.

The group has sponsored four Design Houses in the past five years, taking an architecturally interesting home with at least 10,000 feet of interior space, conceiving an overall plan of renovation and design, then assigning individual rooms to society members to develop and decorate.

Once the project is complete, the society invites the public in to see; the money raised from the ticket sales--at $15 apiece--benefits a number of charities.

Proceeds from tours of the Goodmans’ Encino Hacienda de las Flores, as it is formally known, will go to the society’s scholarship fund and the many local charities of the Assistance League of Southern California.

During the monthlong open house now under way--every day except Mondays--the society expects thousands of people to view the 1929 mission-style home.

The work of 23 interior designers will be showcased in the now 12,000-square-foot home, which has 20 rooms, including a four-room master suite and guest accommodations. The property also includes a staff house, aviary, greenhouse, tennis court and a pool.

In addition to the tour of the home and redesigned grounds, there will be an art boutique, featuring jewelry and clothing, and entertainment, including a jazz quartet, chamber music, a banjo band and other musical offerings.

The home was made for entertaining, said Kathy Goodman, which is part of the reason she allowed all this to happen.

The hacienda was originally situated on 30 acres of choice land in the area of Los Encinos when it was developed in 1929 as a wedding present by a father for his daughter.

Over the years, the property on Haskell Avenue was subdivided. As the area grew and became Encino, dozens of movie people--like Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, W. C. Fields, Spencer Tracy, John Wayne and Edward Everett Horton--flocked to the area and settled in.

By 1971, when the Goodmans bought the home, it had less than two acres.

“We owned the Ventura Club in Sherman Oaks and ran a catering business and a band,� Kathy Goodman explained. “We were looking for a good place to have parties and entertain, and the Hacienda de las Flores was made for that.�

“We eventually sold the club to become professional bums,� she said, “but we never thought of selling the house.�

For the past 15 years, the Goodmans, who met as students at USC and married in 1958, have spent much of their time traveling to Europe, Africa, South America, Australia and the South Seas.

Their home base continued to be the hacienda, where their only “children,� two great Danes, awaited their return.

“It is home,� said Kathy Goodman, “our sanctuary.�

Why would anyone turn a sanctuary over to an army of decorators and the general public?

It all started a couple of years ago when the Goodmans’ decorator, Beverly Coffey, asked an innocent question.

“Why don’t you let the ISID make this a Design House,� she wanted to know. The idea came to her, she says, when she was thinking about what she would do if she could upgrade the whole thing.

“It was a beautiful home that needed renovation,� Coffey said. When she was called in by the Goodmans to talk about updating the kitchen and redoing the gardens, the Design House idea just seemed to take over.

“Because of the classical architecture and square footage, I knew it would make a great project,� Coffey said. All she had to do was persuade her clients.

The Goodmans didn’t know anything about ISID Design Houses, but they did agree to listen.

Coffey explained that it would mean that for the better part of a year they would have to move out so that the construction people and designers could work their magic, and that while the design work would be donated, the Goodmans would have to pay $500,000 for construction costs. They could, however, approve the color scheme and the plans.

None of the furniture the designers used for the home tour would stay, although Coffey said the couple could purchase any pieces they wanted at discounted prices.

The Goodmans agreed, partially to see what the designers could do, and partially because they liked the idea of helping raise so much money for charity. The event is expected to raise at least $200,000 for charity, according to Pat Alcantara Assistance League event chairman.

“The joke was that Herb and I thought we could stay in our little beach house in Oxnard while the work was taking place� in Encino, Kathy Goodman said. Soon after they moved in, though, “the Coastal Commission approved plans for renovation of the house and we were homeless again.�

The Goodmans moved out of the Oxnard house to a rental on the edge of a golf course in Camarillo where Herb-the-golf-fanatic, at least, has been happy.

The renovation included a complete update of the structural, electrical and plumbing systems as well as the addition of a family room, breakfast room, computer room, pool cabana, entertainment room, wine cellar, laundry room, expansion of the garage from two- to three-car and reordering a number of other rooms.

The owners hope to begin moving into their newly renovated home around Thanksgiving, and be settled in time for Christmas. “That is, if I can get my husband off the golf course,� Kathy Goodman said.

Design House 1991, located at 4401 Haskell Ave., Encino, is open through Nov. 3 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday. It is closed Monday. Parking is available off site. For information, call the Assistance League of Southern California: (213) 469-1973.