(upbeat music)
- We walk in and Gerhard goes this is a streetcar.
I'm like what?
What do you mean it's a streetcar?
He goes yeah, look at it.
Look at the bathroom.
There's another streetcar over there.
I'm like you're kidding me.
We were blown away by it.
First we thought we would never move in a house like this.
No way, this is crazy you know, but it's fun.
You come out to the little porch
and then when you come through the door
you have to kind of stoop a little
because it is a little short door.
And it feels like you're kind of a hobbit.
(laughing)
So sometimes Gerhard and I are creating
little jokes about that.
You know, a little hobbit house.
- It was very strange, 'cause they're low ceilings.
I almost hit my head on the ceiling
and it was pretty run down.
- {Mary] Originally when we first moved here
the streetcar windows were acrylic plastic, faded,
it was really pretty bad.
So Gerhard got on it.
It took him a week.
But he built these light boxes
with LED lights in them.
- I wanted to create this look of stained glass.
To do that I had some acrylic panels cut
to several different sizes.
And then we bought some window film
that has this fake stained glass pattern
and Mary and I put the window film onto the acrylic panels.
And then I had to build some light fixtures
to illuminate the panels from behind.
There's a total of about 436 lights in this whole system.
And you can create different color effects
with it if you like.
- [Mary] So you can get blue moon sort of color
in the evening and you can get a sunset red
as the sun is going down.
You can get really nice task lighting.
When we first bought the home, it had a lot of color.
A lot of really crazy color like it was very bohemian.
We wanted to keep that vibe, that energy,
'cause that's how Santa Cruz is.
But we're grandparents.
We don't want to go too crazy and too hippie, right?
We knew we needed some help.
And my painter recommended Houzz,
and he said put your ideas on an ideabook.
And then when you and Gerhard and I get together again,
we'll look and see what you liked in common.
That's how we picked all the colors.
I'd loved reading the comments on Houzz.
Most of the comments were great and awesome.
But then once in a while I got a comment
that said oh it's just a glorified mobile home
or something like that.
And I thought wow, that's crazy,
I wish this guy could come actually see this place.
Because the streetcars are made of redwood.
And that's why they've been able
to stand for over a hundred years.
They're solid, they're not going anywhere.
It feels cozy.
I come home and it's just enough square footage
to where I can say hey Gerhard, I'm home.
And he can hear me from the other room.
I love historic homes.
And the idea of these streetcars being in the 1920's,
running down the streets of Santa Cruz,
just blows my mind.
And I'm kind of a Mary, Mary Quite, Contrary
sort of person, you know?
I just don't do things the way most people do.
So this was perfect for me.
It's just different enough.
And then we added our touch to it.
We've done a lot of work to it.
So it's been great, it's been really fun process.
It's been a labor of love.
I love the smell of the ocean air.
Even at night we can open the window
and hear the sea lions barking down on the wharf, you know?
So that's nice.
(sea lions barking)
My dad passed away when I was about 10 years old.
But he used to take us to the beach all the time.
To Chincoteague, and is at the Atlantic Ocean,
a lot of big waves and warm water.
So we used to go all the time
and even after my dad passed away
my mom would take us to the beach.
And so that was my happy place, you know my happy zone.
- [Gerhard] Very easy walking distance to the beach.
Easy access to various running trails.
It's just really great to live so close to the beach.
- [Mary] Pour you some wine?
- Okay, thank you.
- Gerhard and I have been married for 30 years now.
We have three kids and six grandkids.
So we thought it would be great to have
a house in Santa Cruz where the kids can
go to the Boardwalk and go to the beach.
The last house we were in was in Los Gatos,
in the mountains.
So it's very peaceful and serene.
Very quiet, you know, no street lights.
We came here and there were a lot of street lights,
and you know city, people walking by,
students walking by, cars going by,
so we had to adjust to the noise.
And to the lights.
In between the bedroom and the bathroom
is an actual streetcar door.
From the bedroom you're going to the bathroom.
You're actually going where the conductor might have sat.
And so there's this door that actually runs on tracks.
So when you're opening and closing it
you can hear that rumbling.
Just like you would if you were in the streetcar.
Now that was originally really fun.
But at night sometimes it's a little annoying.
'Cause you know, you have guests and they can hear
that rumbling and it's like what was that?
(laughing)
It's like the streetcar is actually running.
So it's a little challenging in that respect
but I would never get rid of it.
It's part of the streetcar and
it just makes it all that more special.
When Ger and I moved here,
we had to go from a 2500 square foot home
to a 750 square foot home.
So we had to downsize big time.
I love organizing things so it was an opportunity
to get really organized.
If we end up retiring here,
I think the kids will really appreciate it
because Ger and I eventually leave the world,
we won't leave them with a big mess.
(laughing)
And a big house full of stuff and junk.
Sometimes I still wake up in the morning and go,
I'm living in a cable car.
This is crazy.
I'm living in a cable car.
Could this really be?
Is this right?
But then I just love it.
I love coming home to it.
And it's me.
It's unique, it's Gerhard, it's both of us together.
We love it.
Just looking forward to the kids coming
and going to the beach with them.
And building those sand castles.
Just enjoying the rest of our lives together.
(relaxing music)