‘Hollywood and Vine’ Exhibit

With a winter as calm and dry as this one in Northern California, locals have many choices for recreation besides heading for the Sierra slopes. You can check out a museum exhibit, drive to wine country to appreciate beautiful landscape, or maybe visit an art house to take in a movie featuring your favorite mid-century star or director.

Or, how about an outing that combines all three?

That's what you have at 'Hollywood and Vine,' the clever title of an ongoing exhibition in Berkeley featuring movie stars, wineries, and intriguing documents of mid-century design. You can see it any day of the week through May 15 at the College of Environmental Design Archives at University of California.

The archives displayed include a modern-style house designed by Eichler architect A. Quincy Jones for the man from High Noon, Gary Cooper. Of course for some, High Noon was before their time.

"Many of the students have no idea who those people are," admits the creator and curator of the exhibition, Waverly Lowell. Curator of the CED Archives for 20 years, Lowell said she got the idea for 'Hollywood and Vine' nearly that long ago when looking at archival materials about a never-built house famed Northern California architect William Wurster designed for celebrated director Billy Wilder.

"Wouldn't that be fun," she thought to herself about an exhibition focused on houses and properties owned by Hollywood's galaxy of stars. Of course, she confesses, "I grew up in a black-and-white television world, and I love black-and-white movies."

When she looked into it, however, "There wasn't going to be enough Hollywood to do both [display] cases."