Your Eichler Hostess is Calling....

Notice anything different around here? *blink blink blink*

That's right, I got a makeover. Many thanks to Ben Della Rosa for the new 'do! Check out the cute extra graphics in the left margin as you scroll down. I feel swell!

I've been slaving away in the kitchen working on serving up some new posts about mid-20th century Sacramento. I have several things on the burner and can't wait to dish them out!

In honor of my new look, thought I'd share the above ephemera with you: It's a door knob tag used by Eichler hostesses. What's an Eichler hostess? Thought you'd never ask.

Per a December 10, 2000 article by Patricia Leigh Brown for the New York Times:

"In model homes, Eames and Bertoia furniture mingled with hanging salamis and the aroma of roasting turkey, making modernism homey. 'We weren't selling, we were educating,' said Catherine Munson, a Marin County real estate broker who has sold some 3,000 Eichlers since 1958."

According to an article written by Marty Arbunich from the Eichler Network quoting the lovely Ms. Munson:

"the Eichler organization had this concept that these hostesses were to be some sweet, little housewives who told the potential buyers as they walked through how groovy it was to live in an Eichler home. We were supposed to look pretty and decorative, demonstrate the swivel table, and serve chocolate milk and graham crackers to the kids."

Consider me your Eichler hostess; I'm not selling, I'm educating.