The Landmark Hillis House

08/04/2026

We made the cut!
Watch the video at https://youtu.be/wZxB4Y54osk?si=7slRyj1S9x3H2rSu

🎥 Santa Ana in the Spotlight 🎬 Take a stroll through one of Southern California’s most beautiful historic neighborhoods with architectural preservationist and Restored host Brett Waterman. In this Magnolia Network feature, Brett explores the timeless charm of Santa Ana’s Floral Park Historic District, highlighting everything from an elegant French Eclectic home to classic Spanish Colonial Revival architecture while sharing stories with the neighbors who call it home.

The tour wraps up at Brett’s own former residence—a stunning 1928 Mediterranean Revival home on Victoria Drive.

If you love historic architecture, preservation, or Santa Ana’s rich history, this is a must-watch!

🎥 Watch on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/wZxB4Y54osk?si=DjlkNLz34dniusYU

07/04/2026

We’re about to be YouTube famous! Brett Waterman and The Magnolia Network filmed here a few months ago as part of a profile on Historic Floral Park and it makes its world premiere this Sunday evening on the network’s YouTube channel.

06/20/2026

How cool is this?! A neighbor who has lived in Historic Floral Park for more than 50 years stopped by this morning with an incredible surprise. Years ago, she purchased this notecard featuring our house at an estate sale here and today she decided it belonged back where it started.

It’s fascinating to compare then and now. The landscaping has changed dramatically over the years, and one of the towering palm trees we know today was just little saplings when this illustration was made!

Moments like this are a reminder that we’re not just caretakers of old houses—we’re part of their continuing story. Thank you Barbara for gifting us with this wonderful piece of our home’s history.

06/18/2026

Lucky us! We were the high bid at the Diane Keaton auction for this 1920s Monterey cabinet radio with inlaid tile. It even works! She had this in several of her homes. And now it’s in ours!

05/15/2026

Open Garden Day was a big success — and events like that are what make projects happen. Now we’re ready for summer.

04/05/2026

Happy Easter! Wishing you a joyful day filled with peace, sunshine, and the beauty of spring. 🌷🐣

03/12/2026

When it’s 95 degrees, it’s nice to have a pool!

03/09/2026

The final touch: a piece of 1930s crackle art from the Rancho Craft Co., a Southern California manufacturer active in the 1930s that produced hand-decorated goods that reflected the era’s fascination with the romanticized Spanish and ranch heritage of California. A perfect fit.

02/15/2026

Look up above the door and you’ll spot our new Westward Ho plates — and don’t they pair perfectly with the Tom Mix poster? 🤠 These plates were originally made as dinerware by Wallace China in the 1940s and ’50s, featuring artwork by legendary Western artist Till Goodan. I remember first seeing then at the Gene Autry Western Museum of the American West. What started on café tables decades ago now tells a story on our breakfast room walls.
Yup, it’s all in the details. 🌵

02/13/2026

Tonight’s spectacular sunset.