Budget Breakdown: A 1960s A-Frame Gets a $558K Refresh—and Historic Landmark Status

This story is part of our annual look at the state of American design. This year, we’re highlighting work that shines through an acrimonious moment—and makes the case for optimism.

In the early days of the Covid pandemic, when most public places were strictly off-limits, Amy Dantzler, an accomplished open-water swimmer, and her wife, Julie Anderson, got in the habit of taking early-morning trips from their home in the Hollywood Hills to L.A.’s South Bay. "Amy would get up at 4:00 a.m. and drive to Manhattan Beach because all the pools were closed," Julie says. "Sometimes I’d join her to run on the sand. One morning I turned to her and said, ‘Why don’t we buy a house down here?’"

Amy, a real estate agent, liked the idea a lot—so much that she floated it by Bryan Libit, an architect and interior designer who frequently joins her for a swim.

"We were walking back to the car from the beach one day and saw a For Sale sign from the street," he remembers.