Schoolbus Home in Santa Cruz, California

Thanks so much Lloyd for everything you’ve done to stimulate my passions for freelance building & creating cozy living spaces. Good to grow older together through your writings. Here is my ’59 Chevy bus that I did in ’81. I lived in it for a long time, now it’s in my backyard in Santa Cruz, being a choice shelter for family and friends.

I recently finished the sauna and the WC. (Who needs a driver seat and steering wheel?) Toilet is plumbed in to the house sewer. Besides the bus being used as a guest quarters, it’s also my regular kick-back space.

Right now i am in the middle of converting the interior of my modest 130-year-old Victorian here in Santa Cruz. I grew up in the Netherlands and did quite a bit of traveling in the region. I decided to try for a farmhouse-feel interior. The 42 hand-hewn beams arrived from Pennsylvania a couple of years ago. I’m not rushing it. Half the fun is trying to figure it all out anyway.

Anyway Lloyd, thanks for responding, I’ve been a big fan of all your writings, from the get go!

Looking forward to saying hi next time you’re at Bookshop Santa Cruz, introducing your latest book!

–Rolf Pot
Santa Cruz

About Lloyd Kahn

Lloyd Kahn started building his own home in the early '60s and went on to publish books showing homeowners how they could build their own homes with their own hands. He got his start in publishing by working as the shelter editor of the Whole Earth Catalog with Stewart Brand in the late '60s. He has since authored six highly-graphic books on homemade building, all of which are interrelated. The books, "The Shelter Library Of Building Books," include Shelter, Shelter II (1978), Home Work (2004), Builders of the Pacific Coast (2008), Tiny Homes (2012), and Tiny Homes on the Move (2014). Lloyd operates from Northern California studio built of recycled lumber, set in the midst of a vegetable garden, and hooked into the world via five Mac computers. You can check out videos (one with over 450,000 views) on Lloyd by doing a search on YouTube:

3 Responses to Schoolbus Home in Santa Cruz, California

  1. Rolf/Lloyd…beautiful. Would love to see more photos of interior, and photos of your home as you “graduate” to farmhouse.

    Thank you

  2. Hi Rolf, enjoyed the photos of your kick-back space and your red ‘2-chevaux’. Reminds me of the farmhouse you stayed in when you farmed in St. Claude. I think I’ve got some photos of you when we were in Israel back in 1974/75. I can send them to you if you forward me your address. How are you coping with this Covid19 situation?

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