In 2008 or 09,  there was a major Fundraiser at the Kaufman House in Palm Springs, to help raise funds for Eric Bricker’s  documentary film Visual Acoustics.  Apparently I was the last person in town to hear about it until about 24 hours before the event… and of course it was sold out. But that didn’t stop me.  A friend and I kept calling and hounding the people in charge, begging for a $100 ticket. Gaining access to the Kaufman House was extremely rare, and I knew this would be my one shot, and so worth the price of admission.

I left LA after work on saturday making the mad dash to the desert for the evening event, with dress clothes in tow. I got word en route that yes, they’d let us in. However, there were a few stipulations. No photographs in the home, nor from the end of the pool facing the mountains. That vantage point was sacred as Julius Shulman had shot his iconic image of the home from there in 1947. But that didn’t stop me from setting my little camera on the cocktail table and snapping a couple shots when no one was looking, thus the image at the top of the page.

I spent most of the evening on the upper level where I shot the images above. It was a tranquil summer night with a beautiful moon and no wind. It was the epitome of what desert modernism was about, indoor and outdoor spaces that effortlessly flow into one another. The home was built by Richard Neutra in 1946, and has remained a classic. In fact, it’s considered one of the most important houses of the 20th Century, along with Fallingwater, Robie House, Gropius House and the Gamble House.

Mr. Julius Shulman was in attendance, and despite being wheelchair bound, was having the time of his life. He was holding court in the new Marmol Radzner Pool House (built to enjoy the view his photo had made so famous) surrounded by beautiful women.  Eric Bricker’s documentary was putting the man behind the camera front and center, celebrating his life’s work… he was indeed a rockstar.