houses of redlands

i know i’ve mentioned this a few times before, but i am absolutely charmed by the vintage architecture here in redlands. so much so, that i find myself snapping quick pictures of my favorite houses while i wander around on walks in the historic district where i live. there are a number of buildings listed in the national register of historic places, or designated as california historical landmarks. i’ve been posting enough pictures to instagram, that i decided to start filing them all under the rather predictable hashtag #housesofredlands.

it’s just a fun little hobby for me, but it’s really been gaining steam now that i’m in the market for a house of my own. i find myself more intrigued with little details like walkways and landscaping, paint colors and porch covers. here’s a little selection of some of the photos i’ve taken. and of course, you can see more on my instagram.









new year

calivintage menudo

it’s always a special treat when i get to ring in the new year with my family. all my life, only once a year, my grandmother makes two giant pots of menudo for new year’s day. the whole family comes over to fill our bowls with soup and top it off with green onions, cilantro, tomatoes, oregano, and crushed chili peppers, and soak up the broth with warm tortillas. when i was a kid, i’d roll up the tortillas and use them as makeshift straws to drink the broth. then we’d all sit around the tv eating pan mexicano watching the rose bowl parade. i’m not a kid anymore, but i’m so thankful that i can still enjoy this simple tradition with my family.

here’s to a splendid new year!

calivintage pan mexicano

outfit: mountain town

calivintage: mountain town

after visiting snow line farms in oak glenn, i decided to continue my little walk down memory lane with a stop at mountain town. another spot filled with childhood memories, this campy little roadside attraction is a self-proclaimed “animal museum.” for three dollars, you can enter into a another world, which is equal parts creepy and fascinating. this little habitat is complete with stucco mountains, taxidermy animals, and real-live caged reptiles and birds. i suppose it might seem rather odd that i would be so enamored of this strange place, but perhaps that’s just the biproduct of a being raised on books by edward gorey and films like the dark crystal.

i snapped a few too many pictures to document the memory and am already scheming another trip for a proper editorial-style shoot! anyone looking to do a creepy look book?

wearing: j.crew sweater dress, ralph lauren oxford shirt from marshall’s, coach classics shoulder bag, cream knee socks from marshall’s, vintage mary janes from pretty penny vintage

calivintage: mountain town
calivintage: mountain town
calivintage: mountain town
calivintage: mountain town
calivintage: mountain town
calivintage: mountain town
calivintage: mountain town
calivintage: mountain town
calivintage: mountain town
calivintage: mountain town
calivintage: mountain town
calivintage: mountain town
calivintage: mountain town
calivintage: mountain town
calivintage: mountain town

outfit: oak glen

calivintage: oak glen

things have been silent the past week here on the blog. last monday, i quietly slipped out of town for a visit to southern california to see family, and decided to use the time for a bit of an internet break. i was working remotely for part of my stay, but the rest of the time was reserved for some quality time with family. i didn’t even take outfit pictures except during a day trip to oak glen for mini apple cider donuts! the weather was excruciatingly hot until sunday, when the clouds rolled in and we got some real california fall weather. so we hopped in the car to visit the apple orchards and take in the local sights.

i remembered snow line farms from my childhood. a silly little attraction in oak glen renowned for their mini apple cinnamon donut-making machine. so of course, we waited patiently in line to place our orders and enjoy piping hot donuts on a park bench in the crisp evening weather. i wore a very simple black, cream, and white outfit that seemed to contrast brightly against the apple trees.

wearing: j.crew sweater dress, ralph lauren oxford shirt from marshall’s, coach classics shoulder bag, cream knee socks from marshall’s, vintage mary janes from pretty penny vintage

calivintage: oak glen
calivintage: oak glen
calivintage: oak glen
calivintage: oak glen
calivintage: oak glen
calivintage: oak glen
calivintage: oak glen
calivintage: oak glen

bbq baby

calivintage: bbq baby

today i thought i’d share a set of personal photos taken on my trip to visit family in southern california last month. as is the tradition for most family gatherings, we all go to my grandma’s house and fire up the grill to bbq steak, burgers, or hotdogs which we enjoy with baked beans and my grandma’s famous potato salad. i love how looking back at these photos, our cool shades of white and blue make us look like we aren’t breaking a sweat leaning over the hot grill in 100 degree weather, haha. during the middle of summer in redlands, highs easily reach up to 110 or more, so it gets pretty brutal standing over the hot grill. but we set up the chairs under a shady tree in anticipation of the delicious outcome.

above, my brother let me do the honors of grilling the steak.

calivintage: bbq baby
the simplest of outfits are required to keep cool. i’m wearing a cotton seersucker american apparel sun dress and vintage navy salvatore ferragamo vara flats.

calivintage: bbq baby
old man king. he is getting so gray!

calivintage: bbq baby
my grandparent’s house. the house next door is actually where my grandmother grew up. now her brother lives there and she is next door.

calivintage: bbq babycalivintage: bbq baby
my grandpa is always working on projects around the yard. this is his little work shed.

calivintage: bbq baby
the essentials.

calivintage: bbq baby
my brother patiently watching the grill.

calivintage: bbq baby
kawaii!

calivintage: bbq baby
calivintage: bbq baby
calivintage: bbq baby
brendan had the hardest time with the heat.

calivintage: bbq baby
i am mildly obsessed with his steven alan bug print shirt.

calivintage: bbq baby
this might be the cutest photo ever. my grandma clocks in at a teeny tiny 4’11” while brendan is about 6’1″.

calivintage: bbq baby
moments after my aunt julie said i look like a stepford wife showing off the finished product. ha!

for more posts from visits to my hometown of redlands, you can click here.

outfit: south west

calivintage: south west

most of my time spent in redlands involved kicking around town with family close by. i had these big plans to sneak away and get outfit photos in front of some of my favorite local landmarks, but of course, most of those plans fell through. on sunday evening, we decided to run over to this little old bookstore on redlands boulevard out in loma linda, but by the time we drove up, the last of the sun was setting behind the san bernardino mountains and the shop was closed. we poked around the cool little spot filled with cactus and dry brush and snapped a few photos before heading back to my grandparent’s house for banana splits and dairy queen blizzards.

to see more photos i’ve taken while visiting redlands, you can click here.

top: whit striped crop top
shorts: vintage denim shorts from lola vintage
shoes: vintage navy salvatorre ferragamo vara flats
sunglasses: karen walker von trapp
bag: dooney & bourke flower basket bag scored at the local marshalls.
lipstick: ysl fard a levres rouge pur in rosy coral

calivintage: south west
calivintage: south west
calivintage: south west

mi familia: perez

calivintage: my grandparents

over the weekend, i took the long drive down to southern california to visit family in redlands. my mom and aunt have been building the family tree and learning about our ancestry, so naturally, our history was a big topic of discussion while i was  there. my grandparents were both born in redlands only a few blocks away from each other. they’ve now been married for almost 60 years. my grandmother laughed and joked that the secret to a long relationship is lots of fighting and lots of making up. she said that without love, you wouldn’t fight, and you wouldn’t find yourselves making up over and over again.

i asked them if they’d pose for a portrait in front of their house, and couldn’t help but sneak in a few candid shots between their stern, old school portrait poses. gilbert “jerry” perez and evalina roque perez.

you can view more posts featuring my beautiful family right here.

calivintage: my grandparents

bro time

calivintage: bro time

the whole time i was in redlands, i made my little brother devin take my outfit photos for the blog, so it only seemed fitting that we reversed roles on my last day there and i snapped a few photos of his outfit. he was proudly wearing two of his prized christmas gifts, a pair of green dr. martens and a nice new cpo jacket. while i was there, we talked a lot about clothes and even spent a day checking out menswear boutiques in la. i don’t know a ton about menswear, so it was interesting to observe. since there really are less options style-wise, there’s a much bigger focus on quality and fit than you typically see in women’s clothing. it stood as a nice reminder to focus on quality and craftsmanship. case in point, he may be wearing some simple basics, but they’re all very solid pieces meant to last a very long time. anyway, these photos were taken in my grandmother’s back yard. my brother is a bit serious, but i still managed to get him to do a “calivintage” jump for me, haha!

glasses: bonlook
top: fidelity by gerald and stewart cpo shirt
top: j.crew
jeans: levi’s 1947 raw selvedge 501s
socks: generic wool socks
shoes: green dr. martens
calivintage: bro time
calivintage: bro time
calivintage: bro time
calivintage: bro time
calivintage: bro time
calivintage: bro time

mi familia: tradition

calivintage: making tamales

in between sets of outfit photos taken while visiting family in redlands, i tried to take the time to snap a few personal photos to keep  as memories. while many of these are just for me, i thought it would be fun to share a little glimpse at my favorite holiday traditions. and yes, they revolve around food. like many mexicans and mexican-americans around the country, my family all gathers around the kitchen table on christmas eve to make tamales! this year, i sat at the table with my grandmother, mom, sister, and brother to spread masa and fill the tamales with our favorite fillings. we used to just make the traditional pork with red chile, but have since come to love a vegetarian style with california chiles stuffed with jack cheese as well. you can really put whatever you want in a tamale, but these are the two flavors that everyone in my family enjoys. though for fun, this year my mom bought some pre-made strawberry and pineapple masa for a little variety.

it may sound silly, but my grandma usually makes spanish rice and potato salad to complete the meal and we top it off with her home made salsa. i suppose it’s just one of those hybrid meals that springs up from a mexican family living in southern california for generations. i joke that it’s about the food, but clearly it’s so much more than that to me. i can remember sitting around the table spreading masa way back when i was a little girl and my great-grandma was there, too. four generations of women sitting around the table to learn and enjoy the tradition passed down from so many generations before us.

anyway, i know this is a boatload of pictures already, but you can view the full set here.

tamales
calivintage: making tamales
calivintage: making tamales
calivintage: making tamales
calivintage: making tamales
calivintage: making tamales
calivintage: making tamales
calivintage: making tamales
calivintage: making tamales
calivintage: making tamales
calivintage: making tamales
calivintage: tamales

chicken with mole
calivintage: preparing mole
calivintage: chopping onions
calivintage: chicken with mole
this year, my sister also decided to make chicken with mole and rice, so we enjoyed a veritable feast as we sat around the tree opening presents.

menudo and pan dulce
calivintage: menudo and pan
i very rarely get to stay in town long enough to celebrate new year’s day with my family, but this year i was lucky enough to be there to enjoy my grandmother’s home made menudo. i know it’s an acquired taste for many, but for me, it’s a real treat. the only day of the year that we get to enjoy this dish is on new year’s. i remember when i was a little kid, we would heat up the tortillas and roll them up to dip into the broth. this of course, naturally meant that the little tortilla roll could be used as a straw for us to drink the hot broth from the bowl. we would also enjoy warm pan dulce from the local panaderia. i still can’t decide my favorite, but i love the look of those bright pink conchas!
calivintage: pink concha
calivintage: menudo and pan

outfit: a new year

calivintage: a new year

this is my first outfit of 2012 and my last set out outfit photos taken while on my visit to redlands. as you read this, i’m probably somewhere along interstate 5 on the seven hour drive back up to oakland getting ready to transition back into the working world. i have to admit, i’m pretty sad to be leaving and in some way, i almost wish i never had to leave sunny southern california. as much as i love oakland and san francisco, something about the view of the san bernardino mountains to the north and the big stretches of desert to the east just call to me… i lived here for the first 18 years of my life, and can’t help but be hit with intense waves of nostalgia when i’m here. it seems like i’ll always feel homesick when i leave this place, even if i have been calling the bay area my home for over 10 years now.

but as hard as it is to say goodbye to family, i have to get back to work! and i certainly won’t mind arriving home to my little apartment with a pretty view of the hillside and of downtown oakland with my little kitty friend waiting to greet me. and it will be nice to be able to walk into my closet to get dressed in the morning instead of living out of a suitcase. and i can cook a healthy meal in my new le creuset pot (thanks, brendan!) and sleep in a comfy bed with the one that i love. and hopefully 2012 will be as kind to me as 2011 was, and i can’t wait for all of the exciting things i already have planned in just the first week of the year alone!

top: j.crew silk crepe blouse
sweater: j.crew mockneck sweater
skirt: j.crew mini felted wool skirt
coat: boutique by jaeger knot sleeve mac
shoes: vintage salvatore ferragamo vara flats
bag: j.w. hulme mini legacy bag
lipstick: make up for ever rouge artist intense #20

calivintage: a new year
calivintage: a new year
calivintage: a new year
calivintage: a new year
calivintage: a new year
calivintage: a new year