Visiting The Sam Maloof Residence
I don’t know why it took me so long to take one of the tours of the Sam Maloof residence up in Alta Loma, California. Several years ago I had seen a sign on the freeway (I think it was the 210 east… maybe? I dunno) pointing to an exit for the Sam Maloof residence. It was early in my woodworking career when I saw it and I wasn’t all that familiar with Sam Maloof at the time, but I’d heard the name and knew it had significance in woodworking. When I saw the sign I thought to myself “Sam Maloof…like SAM MALOOF SAM MALOOF?” Anyway, I meant to look into it but time passed, I forgot and that was that.
Fast forward to now and I have a whole new outlook on woodworking and furniture making. I’ve done more research, built more pieces, learned more techniques, AND now I’m MUCH more familiar with who Sam Maloof was (as well as other woodworkers who have paved the way). I finally told my wife “we gotta do the tour!”.
When you visit the website ( www.malooffoundation.org ) to look up the tours, you’ll find 5 different tour options to choose from, although the first 3 options are all that mattered to me since I wasn’t going in a large group and I wasn’t interested in just doing a virtual tour. So in this article I’ll only be referring to The Maloof Home & Collection Tour, The Grand Tour, and the Maloof Master Craftsman Tour. I’ve done all 3 tours so keep reading to hear my 2 cents :)
The Maloof Home & Collection Tour
The least expensive of the 3 tours ($25 at the time of this article), The Maloof Home & Collection Tour is some serious bang for your buck, especially considering you also have access to the gallery room to see any other exhibits they have going at the time. When we did the first tour, there was a collection of some work by Jack Rogers Hopkins on display. We didn’t know this would be there at that time and I’d recently been looking at some of Hopkins’ work online, so to see some of his sculpted pieces in person was very cool.
If you’re not familiar with the work of Jack Rogers Hopkins, look into it. It’s very interesting. You can also check out Katie Nartonis ( www.thenartonisproject.com ) as she recently put out a documentary and a book about Jack Rogers Hopkins. Additionally, the gift shop at the Maloof residence carries a newspaper style exhibit catalog of Hopkins (I wanted to buy a copy but they only had 1 copy of the DVD on-hand, so I bought that instead, haha!) Okay, now back to the tour!
For a woodworker such as myself, I was immediately inspired by the property as soon as I stepped foot on it. I dream of having more space and a larger shop on my own property, and this has that for sure. But then…when I saw the courtyard gate entry to the home, and also when I peeked in the windows of the workshop…I knew I was about to see something special.
The tour began and all my eyes could do at first was dart around the room looking at all the early, original Sam Maloof pieces of furniture surrounding me. It was like we stepped into a time machine and traveled back a few decades. It was beautiful. I’m not really a book guy and to be honest I don’t really enjoy reading all that much but I do have a few books about Sam Maloof and his work (I’ve also collected several magazines featuring Sam Maloof, including multiple copies of the Los Angeles Times Home Magazine from September 29, 1968 featuring Sam on the cover):
Sam Maloof, Woodworker by Jonathan Fairbanks
The Furniture of Sam Maloof by Jeremy Adamson
The House That Sam Built by Harold B. Nelson
After admiring the imagery in these books, I was now seeing some of these very pieces in person. AND, I was allowed to touch some of them. Awesome. The tour continued and our docent that day was really great (I believe his name was Sean).
The Maloof Home & Collection Tour focuses on the lower level of the home, and even though there are a couple rooms you don’t get to see on this tour, there’s certainly no shortage of beauty and history to enjoy. And again, it’s only $25. Definitely worth the price.
The Grand Tour
We did the first tour in April of 2024, so it had been about a year and we thought, “let’s do the Grand Tour and see the upstairs!” So we jumped online and found a date that worked for us. At $35/person this is the middle price point. Again, it is absolutely worth the price and again, we were excited :) Our day arrived and we hit the freeway.
Setting foot on the property this second time was just as cool as the first time, and just like the first tour, we started at the front door as our docent toured us through the dining room and kitchen. Our docent this time was Dennis, and he was also an amazing tour guide. While we were still in the downstairs area, I was hearing most of the same information as I did on the previous tour, but there were still some interesting tidbits that were new to me.
I think the only downstairs room included in The Grand Tour that was not included in the Home & Collection Tour was the Library. That was new to my eyes and ears so I was excited to see it! I felt the pieces in the Library were somewhat unique compared to the pieces in the rest of the home without losing that Maloof essence, so I’m really glad they have this room included in the Grand Tour. There are also a lot of furniture books on the shelf. Most are older books and I took some photos so I could look them up when I got home, haha!
When it came time to go upstairs, I was REALLY hoping we would get to use Maloof’s handcrafted spiral staircase (you can see photos a little further down this article), but alas, no such luck and we traveled up a different set of stairs. Originally I was under the impression that the upstairs portion of The Grand Tour was more focused on pieces of non-furniture art that had been collected and displayed, and while I was still interested to see those things (the stained glass installations were some of my favorite details of the upstairs), I was pleasantly surprised to still see several furniture pieces. The upstair portion of the tour was finished and the extra $10 was absolutely worth it!
The Master Craftsman Tour
When my wife and I signed up for The Grand Tour I noticed they also had one called The Master Craftsman Tour available two weeks later. This tour is a whopping 3 HOURS LONG and at $60/person is the most expensive option. Excited to be inspired like never before I was like, “just take my money!” My wife had to work on the day the tour was happening so I rolled solo on this one. Probably better for my wallet anyway, haha! So, one more tank of California-priced gas and I was on my way!
Something I didn’t mention previously is that prior to starting each tour, we all gather in a room and watch a short video about Sam Maloof and how this all came to be (There were 11 attendees on this tour if I remember correctly. The previous tours had 6, and 4, respectively). It’s an interesting video for sure, but seeing it for the third time now I was antsy to get started with what I was hoping would be the tour to end all tours! Off we go!
This tour started just like other ones, outside the front door, then in through the living room straight to the dining room again. We spent a considerable amount of time in this spot. Like….a LOT of time. The information given by our docent Dennis (again) was still great (and so was Dennis) but it really wasn’t anything different than what I’d heard on the other tours and in my head I was thinking “Cool cool cool. Are we gonna move on yet?” But we stayed in the dining room for maybe an hour, which seemed like a long time, and then it was “break time” and we’ll meet back here in 15 minutes. Ugh. Okay. I’m not sure how it took an hour to deliver the same information that took maybe 20 minutes a couple weeks earlier. Of course, with more attendees there were more questions and conversation but even still, it seemed like a long time to be in one spot.
After the break we continued on through the kitchen and into the Library, just like we’d done in the Grand Tour and I was hoping for some new info but again, it was the same info as before (still great, just, the same). We then continued to the upstairs and saw the same rooms and same items as on the Grand Tour. When we returned downstairs the rest of the tour continued on in the same order the other tours had, and we ended in the final room with Sam’s spiral staircase.
In this room, the attendees have the opportunity to sit in an original solid wood Maloof chair. You get this on the other tours as well, but it’s still cool. The chair IS as comfortable as the hype :) Then, the tour was finished! Hm!
Which Sam Maloof Tour Should You Do?
As a woodworker, I was excited to see all this stuff. It was very inspiring. Seeing the pieces in person and even being able to touch and feel some of them, shed new light on Maloof’s work for me. It was also really neat to look into the windows of the workshop and see several chairs in progress as well as a ton of original templates still hanging on the wall. On the first trip up there I even saw Mike Johnson in there doing some work. For those of you who don’t know who Mike is, he started working for Sam back in the early 1980’s and when Sam passed away in 2009, Sam Maloof Woodworking was left in the very capable hands of Mike and his family. What an incredible honor!
Anyway, when it comes to the tours I have some thoughts. First and foremost, DO ONE!! If you’re a woodworker, (newbie or established), you will appreciate it. If you’re an artist or designer, you’ll appreciate it. If you’re the spouse of a woodworker, artist or designer, you’ll appreciate it. If you’re just looking for something to do, DO IT (just remember you’ll need to schedule it in advance).
So the big question - which of the Sam Maloof tours should you do? Well, in my opinion, the BEST bang for your buck is The Grand Tour ($35/person at the time of this article). You get the downstairs AND the upstairs, a great docent sharing great information, and it’s just an all-around great tour. If you’re really watching your budget you’ll be totally happy with the Home & Collection Tour ($25/person at the time of this article). If I’m being totally honest, I have to say I was disappointed with the Master Craftsman Tour as it was literally the EXACT same tour as the Grand Tour. Exactly the same, just longer because there were more people. A little frustrating to spend $60 on the exact same tour I just spent $35 on a couple weeks earlier (and an extra tank of gas).
If I could have a say in the design of the Master Craftsman Tour, I think it would be great to include some time seeing the workshop rooms and how the machinery is laid out. Storage of the raw materials, tools, templates, etc. As a craftsperson myself (although far far far from a “master craftsman”) I’m not only interested in seeing the finished pieces and learning the history, but I’d also love a view at HOW the pieces were made. It doesn’t need to be a step-by-step kind of thing, but just something like “the materials come in here and get milled, and rough shaped…then over here for this and over here for this”. I think other woodworkers would really enjoy this as part of the tour. So if anybody at the Maloof Foundation is reading this, please let me know if you ever add something like this because I will once again say, “just take my money!!” :)
So if you have the flexibility in your schedule and can pick from the available tour dates on their website, just do the Grand Tour. If you’re only in town for a short visit and you really want to do a tour but the only tour available is the Master Craftsman Tour, by all means DO IT!! It’s not a bad tour at all (remember, it’s the exact same tour as the Grand Tour, just longer and more expensive).
Don’t Stop After Seeing These Photos!
I hope you enjoyed this article and found it helpful as you choose which Maloof Tour to take. The photos I’ve shared here are only the tip of the iceberg! Please don’t look at these photos and think to yourself “I get the gist…..I don’t need to go now.” There’s so much more to see and hear on one of the tours and it needs to be seen and heard IN PERSON. I hope you’ll have the opportunity to take one of the tours. You’ll have a good time :)
Have you already done one of the Maloof tours? Leave me a comment and let me know your favorite part! Also, do you know of any other similar kinds of tours in the Southern California area? I’ve also done a tour at The Gamble House in Pasadena which was really interesting. Leave me a comment if you know of any others!
Thanks for stopping by!
