collective VISION

Designed by a queer couple for a queer couple, a California cabin reimagines communal living for the present moment

- SAM COCHRAN

Even along the Pacific Coast  Highway-arguably the most scenic stretch of American open road-the tiny town of Mendocino, California, stands apart. Here, wilderness and waves collide as redwoods meet the rocky shore, its twists and turns a daisy chain of littoral caves. Founded as a logging community in the 1800s, the village would evolve into a haven for artists after the local timber industry collapsed. Then came the hippies, whose experiments in communal domesticity challenged prevailing norms of nuclear-family life.

That singular mix of natural beauty, creativity, and counterculture was what drew Max Goldstein to the area. A free-spirited physician based in Los Angeles, he had been searching for a second home somewhere along the Pacific, or, as he puts it, "a land project where I could find resource and joy." After looking in Malibu, Ventura, and Ojai, he stumbled across a listing that had languished on the market: three adjoining lots, roughly one and a half acres in total, with an uninhabitable cabin on the grounds. Never mind that the few photos online painted a grim picture. Goldstein entered escrow without ever setting foot on the property, excited at the prospect of an easy walk to the water and an existing foundation that would expedite permitting. Recalls Goldstein: "I saw a house I could fix."