Lantz’s ‘Holiday House’ Is Runner-Up

Steve and Terry Lantz, who have lived at 513 El Medio since 1995, were able to enter PAPA’s Patriotic Home Decorating Contest for the first time this year and placed second behind perennial winners Jim and Vicki Mercer.
“We’ve decorated for 35 years,” said Steve, who received a 2006 Community Council Sparkplug Award for leading the fight to keep the Commuter Express 430 bus route between the Palisades and downtown L.A. in operation. “But this was the first year that homes outside the parade route were allowed to enter.”
All Pacific Palisades residents were eligible to enter this year by simply sending a photo of their decorated home via Facebook or e-mail.
Unlike the Mercers, who focus strictly on Fourth of July decorations at their Toyopa home, the Lantz’s decorate for every major holiday, including New Year’s, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Their 1950’s home is known to neighbors as “the holiday house.”
For July 4, the Lantz’s decorate their front yard and porch with hand-carved wood, metal and hanging displays. The interior of the house is also prettified with red, white and blue objects that are displayed from the ceiling to the floor. The unique collection includes patriotic oven mitts, trays and beaded-glass coasters.
The collection started 35 years ago when Terry, who has worked for United Cerebral Palsy for 40 years and now specializes as a client right’s advocate for the nonprofit, helped organize parties at work.
Raised in the Palisades, first on Marinette, then Greentree and finally Lachman Lane, Terry (Skidmore) initially just decorated with paper goods, but then started purchasing a piece or two for each holiday to liven up the look.
Today, the Lantz’s now store decorations in an attic, garage and two small backyard storage sheds (one is for the first half of the year, the other for the second half).
Terry met her husband, a Pasadena native, when he was the executive director of the Century City Chamber of Commerce and she had come to make a plea for help for kids who have cerebral palsy.
“I challenged him to get involved,” she said.
“She was wearing a short skirt,” he recalled, and not quite altruistically offered to help.
The two married in 1975 and purchased a house on the border of Culver City and L.A. After the Northridge earthquake, which shook the house off its foundation, they lived in a trailer house in front of the house until the insurance claim was settled.
They found a rental on Temecula for a year, but after nine months of a year lease had passed, they knew they wanted to stay in the Palisades, but prices were prohibitive.
One day, said Terry, they were walking in the neighborhood, with “fog  coming over the bluffs, and out of mist came ‘Mother Teresa’ [a well-known neighbor character]. She asked us ‘Are you looking for a house? Old man Baker’s house is for sale on El Medio. You should get it.’”
They bid on the house through a silent auction, and only then did they realize the seller was a childhood friend of Terry’s.
The Lantz’s may have been chosen because of that connection, or maybe it was because they promised not to cut down the orange tree in the back or the azalea bushes in the front. They also promised not to tear down the house. All promises they’ve kept.
The couple has two children, both of whom graduated from Palisades High. Son Patrick (class of 2002) was on the academic decathlon team and graduated from George Washington University in 2005. He currently works as a lobbyist for Kendal-Gagan on Los Angeles issues. Their daughter Katie (class of 2010) was a runner-up in the Miss Palisades contest.
“Actually, she was the runner-up twice,” Stephen said, noting that they also received runner-up in the July 4 home decorating contest. “Must be the curse of the Lantz family.”
Katie, who was active in the drama department at PaliHi, was accepted into the University of Michigan theater program and will be a senior this fall. After celebrating the Fourth, she left for New York City to work as a stage manager intern for the Off-Broadway show “Sleep No More.”
Although Stephen is officially retired, he still serves as a transportation consultant for the South Bay City Council and also for USC and Cal State Long Beach.
The couple was asked how the kids felt about the intense interior and exterior decorations. “It’s been the holiday house ever since they were born,” Steve and Terry said.