About Cliff May

I can’t remember when I first learned about this neighborhood—the Rancho Estates, commonly referred to as “The Ranchos,” in Long Beach, California. I think I read about it in the Los Angeles Times or maybe Atomic Ranch magazine. It was years ago. But as soon as I knew about it, I insisted my husband, Ric, take me there. It was love at first sight.

On weekends, we’d go to open houses there. I learned that the prettiest Ranchos were designed by Cliff May, a famous architect best known for his sprawling ranch homes. Post-and-beam construction. Open plans. Floor-to-ceiling windows. A seamless merging of the indoors with the outdoors. Gorgeous. I knew I had to have one. And now I do.

So who is this Cliff May? I’ve been asked, so I’m telling, right here in this blog.

Cliff May is widely credited with creating the modern “California ranch-style” home. He was a sixth-generation Californian born in 1908, a horseman, a pilot and a saxophone player. He loved cars and drove fast. He was handsome, too. Most of all, though, he was an architect—an artist, who designed and built more than 1,000 homes and commercial buildings. Cool tidbit? Cliff May was self-taught.

Many of the homes he designed were huge, rambling estates for wealthy clients. (Actress Bea Arthur owns a stunner in Sullivan Canyon.) But he also created a mass-production line he called Cliff May Homes in the early 1950s, which sold affordable designs to builders across the U.S. who produced tracts like the Long Beach Ranchos.

We just missed an exhibit centered on the great Mr. May and his work at UC Santa Barbara’s Art, Design & Architecture Museum, but there are some yummy images that can still be seen on the museum’s website. The exhibit featured a book that’s available for pre-order now (to be released in September 2012) called “Carefree California: Cliff May and the Romance of the Ranch House.” I’ve already ordered mine. You?  By the way, here’s a wonderful L.A. Times article about May, the exhibit and the book.

If you need more—and I did—there’s “Cliff May and the Modern Ranch House,” by Daniel P. Gregory, which has some examples of Long Beach Ranchos in it. The eBay seller I bought my copy from suggested another book: “Western Ranch Houses” by Cliff May himself. I don’t have that one yet, but I think I should. I mean, I have one of his houses. I should have one of his books, right?