Architect to the Stars with David Applebaum

In this episode of Construction Disruption, we sit down again with the renowned architect David Applebaum, famously known as 'architect to the stars'. With 40 years of experience shaping the skylines and living spaces in Los Angeles and beyond, David shares insights into the evolution of architecture, the impact of economic shifts, and his approach to creating spaces that resonate on a personal level.

The conversation also explores the challenges posed by corporate flippers and the permitting process in Los Angeles, the architectural integrity of design over profit, and advice for aspiring architects. Alongside architecture, the episode features Applebaum's personal stories, including encounters with Frank Sinatra and Ray Charles, offering a glimpse into his life and career.

Timestamps

02:43 David's Journey into Architecture

09:35 Navigating the Challenges of Modern Architecture

24:01 The Art of Model Building in Architecture

34:11 Client Stories and the Human Side of Architecture

43:25 Unveiling the Mystery: The Secret Recording Studio

43:45 Designing for Quincy Jones: A Piano Requirement

45:39 The Architect's Dream: From Self-Storage to Sacred Spaces

50:34 Crafting Unique Experiences: The Starbucks Design Challenge

58:34 Personalizing Spaces: The Essence of Residential Design

01:01:20 Navigating the Digital Age: The Challenge of Online Presence

01:03:23 Advice for Aspiring Architects: Passion Over Profit

Connect with David Online

Website: https://www.davidapplebaum.com/

Email: david@davidapplebaum.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidapplebaum_architect/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DavidApplebaumArchitect

For more Construction Disruption, listen on Apple Podcasts or YouTube

Connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn

This episode was produced by Isaiah Industries, Inc.

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy

Intro: 00:00:00

Welcome to the Construction Disruption Podcast, where we

Intro: 00:00:04

uncover the future of design, building, and remodeling.

Todd Miller: 00:00:17

I'm Todd Miller of Isaiah Industries, manufacturer

Todd Miller: 00:00:20

of specialty metal roofing and other building materials.

Todd Miller: 00:00:23

Today my co host is Ethan Young.

Todd Miller: 00:00:25

How are you doing, Ethan?

Ethan Young: 00:00:27

I'm doing good, Todd.

Ethan Young: 00:00:28

How are you doing?

Todd Miller: 00:00:29

I'm doing well also and so good.

Todd Miller: 00:00:31

We're just going to dive right into it today.

Todd Miller: 00:00:35

Um, I don't think we really had anything special to share, did we?

Ethan Young: 00:00:38

No, I think we're ready to get going.

Ethan Young: 00:00:40

We're excited to have this guest though.

Todd Miller: 00:00:42

Let's do it.

Todd Miller: 00:00:43

Well, today's guest is actually a return guest.

Todd Miller: 00:00:46

One of my favorite guests from season one.

Todd Miller: 00:00:49

In fact, um, Oh, I do know the one thing I want to remind everyone.

Todd Miller: 00:00:53

We are doing challenge words.

Todd Miller: 00:00:56

So you might be on the lookout for any words we use that are unusual.

Todd Miller: 00:01:00

And, uh, we've all been challenged to work a word or two into the conversation.

Todd Miller: 00:01:04

And at the end, uh, we will say whether we've been successful or not.

Todd Miller: 00:01:07

Or not.

Todd Miller: 00:01:08

So, uh, let's go on.

Todd Miller: 00:01:10

Our spotlighted guest today is David Applebaum living

Todd Miller: 00:01:14

and working in Los Angeles.

Todd Miller: 00:01:16

David has been in his profession as an architect for 40 years at this point.

Todd Miller: 00:01:21

Um, due to some of his famous clients over the years, David is

Todd Miller: 00:01:26

known as architect to the stars.

Todd Miller: 00:01:29

He has also hosted the America's Mansions program on National Geographic Television.

Todd Miller: 00:01:35

David, it's great to have you back on the

David Applebaum: 00:01:36

show today.

David Applebaum: 00:01:37

Oh, it is such a pleasure to be back and to see both of you, Todd and Ethan.

David Applebaum: 00:01:43

Well, thank you.

David Applebaum: 00:01:44

I was, it's so funny, I was actually thinking a month ago, gee, I wonder

David Applebaum: 00:01:48

if they'll ever call me back, because I had such a great time and

David Applebaum: 00:01:52

it was serendipitous that you did.

David Applebaum: 00:01:54

Yeah.

Ethan Young: 00:01:55

Well, we enjoyed the first one, so I'm glad we could get you back.

Ethan Young: 00:01:58

Good.

Todd Miller: 00:01:58

Absolutely.

Todd Miller: 00:01:59

We took a little break there.

Todd Miller: 00:02:00

We, uh, our first season was like 120 episodes and we decided to take

Todd Miller: 00:02:08

a little about a three month hiatus.

Todd Miller: 00:02:10

And so, uh, we're back at it and pleased with that.

Todd Miller: 00:02:14

Do you have stock in, um,

David Applebaum: 00:02:16

throat lozenges now?

Todd Miller: 00:02:17

Yeah, I should.

Todd Miller: 00:02:18

That's for sure.

Todd Miller: 00:02:19

Maybe.

Todd Miller: 00:02:19

Maybe.

Todd Miller: 00:02:20

Maybe.

Todd Miller: 00:02:21

So I'm kind of curious.

Todd Miller: 00:02:23

So last time you were on the show, we talked some about, um, your early

Todd Miller: 00:02:27

days, uh, in the profession and some of your thoughts on how to make design

Todd Miller: 00:02:32

meet the needs of the client and create something truly special for them.

Todd Miller: 00:02:37

But I don't know that we talked much about how you got to be interested

Todd Miller: 00:02:40

in architecture at the first point.

Todd Miller: 00:02:43

Um, how did that happen?

David Applebaum: 00:02:44

Oh, like everything else in my life, it was a bit of a journey.

David Applebaum: 00:02:48

I mean, I was one of those kids that loved building.

David Applebaum: 00:02:51

tree houses, and if there wasn't a tree, a fort, and I redecorated the house

David Applebaum: 00:02:58

every now and then when I was a kid.

David Applebaum: 00:03:00

Um, I think that my first project that, um, that gave me great satisfaction

David Applebaum: 00:03:07

was a prank I pulled, excuse me, a prank that I pulled in high school,

David Applebaum: 00:03:14

where, um, I called in, excuse me,

David Applebaum: 00:03:20

um, I, uh, So I think one of the great, the time that I remember that I got

David Applebaum: 00:03:28

great satisfaction out of something semi architectural was a prank that

David Applebaum: 00:03:34

I pulled in high school, in which, um, I called in subcontractors for,

David Applebaum: 00:03:41

uh, a carpet company and a painting company and an in commercial furniture

David Applebaum: 00:03:48

company to come into the library.

David Applebaum: 00:03:50

Cause it was, it was really bland and it wasn't so much that I was

David Applebaum: 00:03:56

actually going to get the work done.

David Applebaum: 00:03:59

I just wanted somebody to pay attention to, the carpet kind of smelled.

David Applebaum: 00:04:05

And so I created a committee and we actually made a presentation.

David Applebaum: 00:04:12

The assistant principal in charge of my grade was, shocked and livid when

David Applebaum: 00:04:17

I, when all these people were coming in to bid contract, uh, carpeting

David Applebaum: 00:04:23

and furniture and things like that.

David Applebaum: 00:04:25

And, um, and I acted like I really knew what I was doing.

David Applebaum: 00:04:29

And in the end they actually did make some changes in the, uh, in the library.

David Applebaum: 00:04:35

And I remember that gave me a lot of satisfaction, but to be Um, I

David Applebaum: 00:04:41

was, I didn't really think at that time about becoming an architect.

David Applebaum: 00:04:45

I just had a lot of, Curiosity and thoughts about what I wanted to spend

David Applebaum: 00:04:51

the rest of my life doing and I walked around with a little three by five

David Applebaum: 00:04:56

spiral notebook in my back pocket.

David Applebaum: 00:05:00

And when I met an adult, especially someone I knew and trusted, I would

David Applebaum: 00:05:04

say, so what is it that you do again?

David Applebaum: 00:05:05

And.

David Applebaum: 00:05:06

What background and training and schooling did you need and what do you

David Applebaum: 00:05:13

like and not like about the profession?

David Applebaum: 00:05:15

And I realized I didn't, it.

David Applebaum: 00:05:18

I'm old enough that there was no such thing as a DD back then.

David Applebaum: 00:05:22

You were just, you know, disruptive in class . Um, but I knew I didn't like to

David Applebaum: 00:05:28

read, so I wasn't gonna become a lawyer and I wasn't going to become a doctor.

David Applebaum: 00:05:33

Um, but I didn't know what I wanted to do and I took an aptitude test.

David Applebaum: 00:05:38

In 10th grade, at the end of 10th grade.

David Applebaum: 00:05:42

And the guy said, you've got a very unusual score because

David Applebaum: 00:05:46

you're very high in math.

David Applebaum: 00:05:48

You're very high in creativity.

David Applebaum: 00:05:49

You're very high in people's skills.

David Applebaum: 00:05:52

What's a profession that lets you be, you know, an artist and a

David Applebaum: 00:05:58

professional and work with people.

David Applebaum: 00:06:01

And he said, you know, if there was such a thing as a vice president in charge

David Applebaum: 00:06:05

of creativity, which there is now.

David Applebaum: 00:06:07

But there wasn't then, um, that would be a great job.

David Applebaum: 00:06:11

And we started brainstorming and architect was a job that was nine to

David Applebaum: 00:06:16

five and creative and dealt with people.

David Applebaum: 00:06:18

And it just seemed like a good idea.

David Applebaum: 00:06:21

And I just kind of stuck with it.

Todd Miller: 00:06:22

Very cool.

Todd Miller: 00:06:23

So you're one of those rare situations where the guidance counselor

Todd Miller: 00:06:28

actually suggested something helpful and you landed there.

David Applebaum: 00:06:33

That's good.

David Applebaum: 00:06:33

I hope that wasn't too loud, but yeah, yeah, not, not a bunch of pamphlets.

David Applebaum: 00:06:38

Just a hey.

David Applebaum: 00:06:40

And so I had to go back to my junior high school to take the test in

David Applebaum: 00:06:43

one of those temporary buildings.

David Applebaum: 00:06:46

And it was like kind of, it was, it's a, it's a long battery of tests.

David Applebaum: 00:06:49

It was like having to take an SAT that you don't really need, but it was

David Applebaum: 00:06:53

probably more valuable than the SAT.

Todd Miller: 00:06:57

Interesting.

Todd Miller: 00:06:58

So I remember when my son was going through that a few years ago, he

Todd Miller: 00:07:02

did one of those aptitude tests at school and it came back and told

Todd Miller: 00:07:06

him he should be a bus driver.

Todd Miller: 00:07:08

Now, nothing against bus drivers.

Todd Miller: 00:07:11

Um, Ethan knows my son though, and I think you'll agree.

Todd Miller: 00:07:14

Yeah, that probably wasn't a good

Ethan Young: 00:07:15

choice for him.

Ethan Young: 00:07:17

Evan's skills are definitely elsewhere.

Ethan Young: 00:07:19

He definitely has some great skills, but I don't think bus drivers is calling.

Ethan Young: 00:07:23

He doesn't even like to drive across town.

Todd Miller: 00:07:26

Okay.

Todd Miller: 00:07:27

Well, so over your years, um, and, and I saw you kind of scoff when

Todd Miller: 00:07:31

I mentioned it's been 40 years and you and I are the same age.

Todd Miller: 00:07:34

So, uh, we're, we've been at this the same time.

Todd Miller: 00:07:37

But doesn't

David Applebaum: 00:07:37

it sometimes feel like you just started?

David Applebaum: 00:07:40

Oh, absolutely.

David Applebaum: 00:07:41

I would also say COVID did a little bit to kind of reinvigorate because I don't

David Applebaum: 00:07:47

know what it's like for you, but for me, work is very much like the carousel,

David Applebaum: 00:07:52

the merry go round, the, you know, it's always moving and you got to jump on.

David Applebaum: 00:07:58

And once you're on, you're on.

David Applebaum: 00:08:00

But we had a little bit of a economic hiccup before COVID.

David Applebaum: 00:08:06

Yeah, COVID did.

David Applebaum: 00:08:07

And it kind of knocks everybody off the carousel.

David Applebaum: 00:08:10

And then with COVID, I remember thinking once COVID was starting to, um, Open up.

David Applebaum: 00:08:18

And there's some other things that I'm sure we'll get into later on, but

David Applebaum: 00:08:21

I kind of felt like I was in my late twenties again, starting all over again

David Applebaum: 00:08:25

with small jobs, not big jobs, because that was really all that was available.

David Applebaum: 00:08:31

And it's, it's been very interesting to kind of come back with that.

David Applebaum: 00:08:36

You know what, this is why I do it.

David Applebaum: 00:08:39

And.

David Applebaum: 00:08:40

I, I now I'm at a point where I want to take the job because I like

David Applebaum: 00:08:46

the clients or I like the challenge and not because I need the work.

David Applebaum: 00:08:51

Um, Frank Lloyd Wright once was asked, well, or once was told

David Applebaum: 00:08:55

in an interview, well, you know, of course you do great work.

David Applebaum: 00:08:58

You've got rich clients.

David Applebaum: 00:08:59

And Frank Lloyd Wright said, If my client wants something really

David Applebaum: 00:09:05

special and unique and of my point of view, I would do a chicken coop.

David Applebaum: 00:09:10

I don't care about the budget.

David Applebaum: 00:09:13

I care about the project.

David Applebaum: 00:09:16

I don't know if that was really true.

David Applebaum: 00:09:18

It's true for me.

Todd Miller: 00:09:19

Yeah.

Todd Miller: 00:09:20

Well, over your career, I'm curious, you know, what are some of the changes you've

Todd Miller: 00:09:24

seen and how do you feel about them?

David Applebaum: 00:09:27

Well, that's funny.

David Applebaum: 00:09:28

That was a great transition into what it was, uh, that I was referring to before.

David Applebaum: 00:09:35

My biggest problem is corporate flippers, or I should say my

David Applebaum: 00:09:38

biggest distaste for the profession right now is corporate flippers.

David Applebaum: 00:09:43

It used to be one thing that.

David Applebaum: 00:09:46

Planned communities had houses that all looked the same, but right now in

David Applebaum: 00:09:51

Los Angeles, the nicest neighborhoods look like planned communities.

David Applebaum: 00:09:57

Ah, interesting.

David Applebaum: 00:09:58

They are these oversized McMansions.

David Applebaum: 00:10:01

That, um, when I, when I became divorced and I had to look for a home, I was

David Applebaum: 00:10:08

looking for a home that I could renovate and work on, and I was always being

David Applebaum: 00:10:14

outbid for cash for, with a price that was much higher than it should be.

David Applebaum: 00:10:22

By all these corporate flippers 20 years ago, normally what happened is I would

David Applebaum: 00:10:29

get a phone call with somebody saying you were recommended as an architect.

David Applebaum: 00:10:32

My family would like to move to X neighborhood and we've started looking at

David Applebaum: 00:10:38

properties and we have 4 that we kind of like, and we would like your guidance as

David Applebaum: 00:10:43

to whether we should renovate tear down.

David Applebaum: 00:10:46

What the timing would be, but we liked the neighborhood.

David Applebaum: 00:10:48

We liked the school district.

David Applebaum: 00:10:50

And so you would go and you would meet with them and you'd give them

David Applebaum: 00:10:53

the pros and the cons, they'd pick one and a year or two, two later,

David Applebaum: 00:10:57

they would move into a custom home.

David Applebaum: 00:10:59

Those projects do not exist anymore.

David Applebaum: 00:11:03

The corporate flippers have come in and bought them often.

David Applebaum: 00:11:09

And I don't want to get into this, but before it hits the market, and then

David Applebaum: 00:11:16

It is, well, you know, the other thing that I don't like, and I'll get back

David Applebaum: 00:11:20

to it, is the permitting process, um, but they will say, hey, you have done

David Applebaum: 00:11:27

this one, you've approved it 74 times, it's the exact same thing, let's make

David Applebaum: 00:11:33

it 75, and they get a permit like that.

David Applebaum: 00:11:37

Because it's all, building and safety is just looking to, they don't care

David Applebaum: 00:11:42

about aesthetics, they care about the public welfare and safety.

David Applebaum: 00:11:47

And so they get a permit, but then a lot of these guys do things illegal,

David Applebaum: 00:11:53

like they said the house was 56 feet wide and that with the 10 foot and

David Applebaum: 00:11:59

10 foot side yards, it's a 76 foot.

David Applebaum: 00:12:03

Property line to property line.

David Applebaum: 00:12:06

In reality, the house is a 56 feet wide.

David Applebaum: 00:12:10

It's 60 feet wide.

David Applebaum: 00:12:12

And what ends up, or as a certain person who has two supermodels as

David Applebaum: 00:12:19

daughters and got a permit for a.

David Applebaum: 00:12:24

24, 000 square foot house in Bel Air and was building a 60, 000

David Applebaum: 00:12:30

square foot house in Bel Air.

David Applebaum: 00:12:33

And big dirt trucks were coming in and out in Bel Air, the most expensive

David Applebaum: 00:12:40

neighborhood in Los Angeles with the most rich clients in Los Angeles.

David Applebaum: 00:12:46

They, they put a stink to it.

David Applebaum: 00:12:49

Did they stop the project?

David Applebaum: 00:12:51

That's it.

David Applebaum: 00:12:51

No, they slapped his wrist with a million dollar fine, which

David Applebaum: 00:12:55

considering that he sold the property for 100 billion, big whoop.

David Applebaum: 00:13:00

Okay.

David Applebaum: 00:13:01

Um, but they changed the building code.

David Applebaum: 00:13:05

And now we are limited to how much dirt we can go, instead of following the rules

David Applebaum: 00:13:10

or, or, um, uh, enforcing the rules, they then make the rules more draconian,

David Applebaum: 00:13:17

which then goes back to my problem with the flippers, because they find a

David Applebaum: 00:13:23

slimy way Let's not, let's change that.

David Applebaum: 00:13:26

Let's, let's recalibrate my words to they find a slick way to get

David Applebaum: 00:13:34

something in and permitted and they get a permit within a month.

David Applebaum: 00:13:38

I had a project that took 2 years to get a permit because

David Applebaum: 00:13:42

it's on an irregular street.

David Applebaum: 00:13:44

It's on a substandard street.

David Applebaum: 00:13:46

It's in the hillside.

David Applebaum: 00:13:48

And so.

David Applebaum: 00:13:49

What used to be a one, a one to two year building process is now a two to four

David Applebaum: 00:13:57

year building process for me on the few properties that are available for work.

David Applebaum: 00:14:06

So to me, the biggest problem is departments of building and safety

David Applebaum: 00:14:10

don't have the guts or the teeth to enforce intelligent building codes

David Applebaum: 00:14:18

and make everything worse for us.

David Applebaum: 00:14:20

I'm doing a project in Texas.

David Applebaum: 00:14:21

I think I mentioned this last time, but doing a project in Texas.

David Applebaum: 00:14:25

The building code in Houston, Texas is 20 pages long in Los Angeles,

David Applebaum: 00:14:30

California, it's 20 volumes long.

David Applebaum: 00:14:32

Yeah.

David Applebaum: 00:14:33

And some of those volumes have seven or eight binders.

David Applebaum: 00:14:38

I don't even know, I don't even know how to get a building permit anymore.

David Applebaum: 00:14:43

That doesn't take a lot of time and a lot of, and often my clients have to hire

David Applebaum: 00:14:48

a, um, an expediter and I have a couple of expert expeditors, but guess what?

David Applebaum: 00:14:54

They cost almost as much as me.

David Applebaum: 00:14:57

So it's just, it's very, you know, at one point you're probably going

David Applebaum: 00:15:02

to say, so what do you have to say to young architect, a young

David Applebaum: 00:15:04

future potential architects?

David Applebaum: 00:15:07

It's tough, man.

David Applebaum: 00:15:08

It's tough.

David Applebaum: 00:15:09

I could probably.

David Applebaum: 00:15:15

I could probably, um, monetize my business by doing what these other

David Applebaum: 00:15:21

people are doing and just doing the same old block thing over and over

David Applebaum: 00:15:25

and over again and repeating it.

David Applebaum: 00:15:26

We're doing some, I have a lot of contractors that will say, David, your

David Applebaum: 00:15:31

favorite architect, not because of your design, but because you answer

David Applebaum: 00:15:35

the phone when something goes wrong.

David Applebaum: 00:15:38

If I'm doing a set of drawings for houses, at least 20 sheets.

David Applebaum: 00:15:42

large.

David Applebaum: 00:15:42

You make mistakes.

David Applebaum: 00:15:43

There are things that don't work.

David Applebaum: 00:15:46

So I'm there.

David Applebaum: 00:15:47

What most architects do is they do a drawing where the plans don't meet the

David Applebaum: 00:15:51

elevations, don't match the sections, but they do it, they do it quick, they get

David Applebaum: 00:15:57

it over with, and then they don't answer the phone to take care of the problems.

David Applebaum: 00:16:03

And so if you're old school like me, and you care about every aspect

David Applebaum: 00:16:09

of it, You're kind of a dinosaur.

David Applebaum: 00:16:11

And so if you, if you're willing, I realize in architecture school, so

David Applebaum: 00:16:18

in architecture school, we learn the history of architecture and it takes

David Applebaum: 00:16:21

two semesters to get through it.

David Applebaum: 00:16:23

And the book is about yay thick.

David Applebaum: 00:16:26

The portion of famous architects from even a hundred years ago is that much.

David Applebaum: 00:16:35

And I realized I don't want to be famous.

David Applebaum: 00:16:38

I just want to work.

David Applebaum: 00:16:39

I just want to make my clients happy.

David Applebaum: 00:16:41

I just want to give them their kind of project and I want to do it well

David Applebaum: 00:16:46

and I want to be proud of what I do.

David Applebaum: 00:16:47

That's all I want.

David Applebaum: 00:16:48

I just want to stay busy.

David Applebaum: 00:16:51

I, I, I kind of think the secret to life is find something you

David Applebaum: 00:16:54

like to do and stay busy with it.

David Applebaum: 00:16:57

And that's what I wanted.

David Applebaum: 00:16:58

I wanted to be happy and making clients happy.

David Applebaum: 00:17:02

makes me happy.

David Applebaum: 00:17:03

So, um, I realized then I am not going to take the path to fame.

David Applebaum: 00:17:09

So glad I didn't.

David Applebaum: 00:17:11

Um, and I just, again, I just want to do good work.

David Applebaum: 00:17:16

So it's, I know this is a very convoluted answer and I apologize,

David Applebaum: 00:17:21

but it's, the trends have made it that it's harder to be an architect,

David Applebaum: 00:17:27

but I will bet that the trends.

David Applebaum: 00:17:30

have made it so it's harder to be anything right now.

David Applebaum: 00:17:32

Can you imagine being a doctor and all that paperwork and insurance stuff?

David Applebaum: 00:17:38

And I mean, I, it's, I think it's just tough.

David Applebaum: 00:17:41

So my message to any prospective anything is find something that you really like.

Todd Miller: 00:17:49

Yeah, because you're going to have to have that patient

Todd Miller: 00:17:51

and desire to see you through all the difficulties of doing it.

Todd Miller: 00:17:55

And pick

David Applebaum: 00:17:55

Todd Miller: 00:17:55

trade.

David Applebaum: 00:17:56

I would say actually pick a trade because when you talk

David Applebaum: 00:18:00

about trends, I think one of the weirdest things, it's hard to find

David Applebaum: 00:18:04

contractors because they're having a hard time finding subcontractors.

Todd Miller: 00:18:08

Absolutely.

David Applebaum: 00:18:09

You know, it, there, there are no young plumbers, there are no

David Applebaum: 00:18:13

young electricians, there are no young.

David Applebaum: 00:18:16

plasterers or not.

David Applebaum: 00:18:17

I mean, it's, it's, I feel like I'm, uh, what's his name?

David Applebaum: 00:18:22

Mike Rowe.

David Applebaum: 00:18:23

Um, if you really want to do something with your life, I

David Applebaum: 00:18:27

swear, become a plumber, man.

David Applebaum: 00:18:30

There's all, there's, there's an unlimited air conditioning, electrical work.

David Applebaum: 00:18:35

There's an unlimited amount of work out there for you.

Todd Miller: 00:18:38

No, absolutely.

Todd Miller: 00:18:39

There sure is.

David Applebaum: 00:18:39

I'm doing work at my own.

David Applebaum: 00:18:40

I'm doing work at my own place.

David Applebaum: 00:18:42

There's paint all over my fingers because I couldn't get a painter.

David Applebaum: 00:18:46

I mean, I could get a painter in three months, but I couldn't get one now.

David Applebaum: 00:18:53

And so I had to, there's some things I won't do.

David Applebaum: 00:18:57

I won't do electrical.

David Applebaum: 00:18:59

Will not.

David Applebaum: 00:19:01

Um, I've shocked myself enough times.

David Applebaum: 00:19:05

The second time was like, okay, from now on, I don't care what

David Applebaum: 00:19:08

it is I'm calling an electrician.

David Applebaum: 00:19:10

I occasionally will do some plumbing, but very minor.

David Applebaum: 00:19:14

Fine cabinetry?

David Applebaum: 00:19:16

No.

David Applebaum: 00:19:16

But a lot of other things I can, I can do.

David Applebaum: 00:19:19

Yeah.

David Applebaum: 00:19:19

And, and I want to do it.

David Applebaum: 00:19:21

I think that's another interesting thing about me.

David Applebaum: 00:19:24

I don't know if everybody else does it.

David Applebaum: 00:19:26

I like, I actually, in, in my architecture school days, I spent

David Applebaum: 00:19:33

my summers and the year off between undergraduate and graduate working.

David Applebaum: 00:19:37

That was so quick.

David Applebaum: 00:19:38

I could, I need to recalibrate my, um, Um, I spent all of my summers

David Applebaum: 00:19:47

and the year in between undergraduate and graduate school of architecture

David Applebaum: 00:19:51

school working construction because you gotta know how it works and why.

David Applebaum: 00:19:59

And I personally, I've been told that besides answering the phone, I'm always

David Applebaum: 00:20:03

going to the job sites and I talk.

David Applebaum: 00:20:06

To everyone.

David Applebaum: 00:20:07

And I want to know, is there a new way of flashing the windows?

David Applebaum: 00:20:11

Is there a different way of doing anything?

David Applebaum: 00:20:15

Should I have chosen a metal roof instead of, you know, choosing a slate roof?

David Applebaum: 00:20:21

And, and things change.

David Applebaum: 00:20:23

We, in, in, in California, we have so many energy concerns that Everything

David Applebaum: 00:20:30

is transitioning to all electrical, no gas allowed in Los Angeles anymore,

David Applebaum: 00:20:36

and our HVAC, our air conditioning and heating, is now ductless.

David Applebaum: 00:20:42

We now have these split ductless setups that are ugly as sin.

David Applebaum: 00:20:48

But they're efficient.

Todd Miller: 00:20:49

You know, I have to think that that's great that you spent that time

Todd Miller: 00:20:52

in college working on construction sites.

Todd Miller: 00:20:55

Because I have to imagine that there are some architects out

Todd Miller: 00:20:58

there who are intimidated by the thought of being on a job site.

Todd Miller: 00:21:02

Um, just because of lack of familiarity with the job site.

Todd Miller: 00:21:05

That hands on aspect,

David Applebaum: 00:21:07

we live in a world where no one wants to admit that they're wrong.

David Applebaum: 00:21:13

I think that's a part of being old school also is um Nobody wants to prove their

David Applebaum: 00:21:20

nobody wants to admit that they're wrong.

David Applebaum: 00:21:22

And I think that That's how you fail.

David Applebaum: 00:21:24

Ethan Young: 00:21:24

think even that people sometimes don't want to admit that they

Ethan Young: 00:21:27

don't know, you know, that's maybe they view it as a weakness or a vulnerability,

Ethan Young: 00:21:31

but just being able to admit that, I don't know the answer to this.

Ethan Young: 00:21:35

I don't know.

Ethan Young: 00:21:35

You know, that could go along.

Ethan Young: 00:21:36

I don't know if you're right

David Applebaum: 00:21:37

about that, Ethan.

David Applebaum: 00:21:37

I don't know.

Todd Miller: 00:21:41

Well, you've referred to yourself a couple of times

Todd Miller: 00:21:43

as an old school architect, and I like the sound of that.

Todd Miller: 00:21:47

Um, tell us a little bit more of what that means to you, or are there any particular

Todd Miller: 00:21:52

Technologies you're seeing today that you are really rebelling against

David Applebaum: 00:21:57

or, or enjoying.

David Applebaum: 00:21:59

I mean, I guess the, Oh, wow.

David Applebaum: 00:22:02

You know, it's so funny.

David Applebaum: 00:22:03

I think there are a lot of musicians that are old school, but they're young.

David Applebaum: 00:22:08

Most of my old school is just, you know, when you say old school architect,

David Applebaum: 00:22:13

all I can think of is, Oh my gosh, I can't stand up from my chair.

David Applebaum: 00:22:18

My knees hurt.

David Applebaum: 00:22:19

Just so I will first.

David Applebaum: 00:22:23

Let's, let's be positive first.

David Applebaum: 00:22:27

There's some things that have occurred that I love.

David Applebaum: 00:22:32

Um, I actually love all this zoom technology and.

David Applebaum: 00:22:38

Face timing or Google view or whatever it's called, uh, with, with, uh, with

David Applebaum: 00:22:44

the Android products, um, you know, I've got this project in Texas and I

David Applebaum: 00:22:49

don't have to be physically on the job site all the time I've got to, I've

David Applebaum: 00:22:53

got clients meeting with a group of contractors and they have to, they had a

David Applebaum: 00:22:58

family emergency and they're in Montana.

David Applebaum: 00:23:00

Well, instead of waiting two weeks, we're going to do it all virtually.

David Applebaum: 00:23:06

And.

David Applebaum: 00:23:08

You know, in California, gasoline is 5 a gallon and my projects are

David Applebaum: 00:23:16

an hour's drive away sometimes.

David Applebaum: 00:23:18

So it's a, I, I save two hours, um, and expense sometimes

David Applebaum: 00:23:28

by doing things virtually.

David Applebaum: 00:23:30

So I like that.

David Applebaum: 00:23:32

I can also.

David Applebaum: 00:23:34

I would like to now add that I might have to stop because the garbage truck just

David Applebaum: 00:23:38

showed up and when it backs out of my street, you might hear a lot of beeping.

David Applebaum: 00:23:42

So, um, I thought about getting one of those for myself, by the way.

David Applebaum: 00:23:49

Oh, well, I, I'm the clumsiest guy in the world.

David Applebaum: 00:23:52

I trip over everything.

David Applebaum: 00:23:53

I back into everything.

David Applebaum: 00:23:55

Yeah.

David Applebaum: 00:23:55

Yeah.

David Applebaum: 00:23:55

There's a reason why I don't do electrical work.

David Applebaum: 00:23:59

Well, I don't either.

David Applebaum: 00:24:01

So, um, uh, so I like that part of technology a lot.

David Applebaum: 00:24:07

Um, however, there's an Italian style of drawing.

David Applebaum: 00:24:11

Oh, I can't remember the name.

David Applebaum: 00:24:13

It's got the, it's got char.

David Applebaum: 00:24:16

In it, but it taught, it's all about the shadows in the drawing.

David Applebaum: 00:24:22

Is it chiaroscuro or something?

David Applebaum: 00:24:24

Oh, you are.

David Applebaum: 00:24:25

Yes.

David Applebaum: 00:24:26

Thank you.

David Applebaum: 00:24:26

That's exactly what it is.

David Applebaum: 00:24:29

That should be the secret word.

David Applebaum: 00:24:34

But I could have never come up with it because I forgot what it was.

David Applebaum: 00:24:37

And it's funny.

David Applebaum: 00:24:39

It's something that I do in my life a lot.

David Applebaum: 00:24:40

I don't necessarily remember the word, but I know the intention.

David Applebaum: 00:24:46

And the whole idea of having it be about the shadows, and I love modern art, and

David Applebaum: 00:24:53

I love modern architecture, and I love crisp lines, and I love simplicity.

David Applebaum: 00:24:59

But if you look at a Le Corbusier building, It's not as sharp and

David Applebaum: 00:25:06

machined as you might imagine.

David Applebaum: 00:25:08

It's got a lot of hand laid brick.

David Applebaum: 00:25:12

And if you look at a Rothko painting, it's very simple, but the edges all bleed.

David Applebaum: 00:25:18

Um, I just went off topic.

David Applebaum: 00:25:21

So let me recalibrate and go back to where I need to be, which is, um, there's

David Applebaum: 00:25:30

something about intention, hand building.

David Applebaum: 00:25:35

Um, focus, personal perspective that I feel is starting to be missed in this

David Applebaum: 00:25:47

kind of launching off of when I said, I don't like how a lot of architects

David Applebaum: 00:25:52

in order to try and become profitable, they do this much of the work and just

David Applebaum: 00:25:57

hope somebody figures it out for them.

David Applebaum: 00:26:01

Um, I just, I can't work that way.

David Applebaum: 00:26:05

Um, and so, you know, we have now these computer rendered 3d drawings,

David Applebaum: 00:26:16

which I don't like because if you look at an MC Escher drawing, it looks

David Applebaum: 00:26:20

three dimensional, but it's not, you can see how you can lie in those.

David Applebaum: 00:26:28

And there's also this now 3d model building.

David Applebaum: 00:26:31

And where you get, I guess it has an epoxy or a glue or

David Applebaum: 00:26:34

something and it just builds it.

David Applebaum: 00:26:36

But I build models and the models that I build are out of very thin

David Applebaum: 00:26:41

cardboard because I design using those three dimensional tools.

David Applebaum: 00:26:48

Architecture is not flat.

David Applebaum: 00:26:50

It's not a painting.

David Applebaum: 00:26:52

It's not a drawing.

David Applebaum: 00:26:54

It's, it's not two dimensional.

David Applebaum: 00:26:56

It's three dimensional.

David Applebaum: 00:26:57

And so I use models Because I find it so funny how it's like, oh yeah, what

David Applebaum: 00:27:05

about, I think a lot of architects design what I call postcards.

David Applebaum: 00:27:09

It's a beautiful flat image of the front, but then you go to the side or you walk

David Applebaum: 00:27:15

up to it and the perspective changes.

David Applebaum: 00:27:17

I mean, I, this is a model that I built of a project that

David Applebaum: 00:27:22

I'm doing in Houston, Texas.

David Applebaum: 00:27:25

And.

David Applebaum: 00:27:26

It's one of the, so this is it from the street and the thing is,

David Applebaum: 00:27:32

it's got a yard and you can walk around it and you can hopefully see

David Applebaum: 00:27:38

in this how what started here is coming down and then coming back up.

David Applebaum: 00:27:47

And then around and then becomes a part of everything.

David Applebaum: 00:27:52

And so this is a side that you don't really see.

David Applebaum: 00:27:55

Sorry.

David Applebaum: 00:27:56

It's a little boring, but this is the backyard and this

David Applebaum: 00:28:00

is the side yard, which is.

David Applebaum: 00:28:02

Spacious and this is the front.

David Applebaum: 00:28:04

And the thing is, if I just design this, this actually is pretty boring in

David Applebaum: 00:28:09

my opinion, but as soon as you're here walking into the house, it stops becoming

David Applebaum: 00:28:15

boring and it becomes really interesting.

David Applebaum: 00:28:18

And when you're in the back.

David Applebaum: 00:28:22

Again, it's

Todd Miller: 00:28:22

very interesting.

Todd Miller: 00:28:22

It's like an MCS you're drawing there on the back.

David Applebaum: 00:28:25

Well, funny, funny.

David Applebaum: 00:28:29

So, so, I mean, I was hoping I could find, because you're the,

David Applebaum: 00:28:32

you're the roof master there.

David Applebaum: 00:28:34

Um, when I did Cubic Gooding Jr.

David Applebaum: 00:28:37

's house, I learned this a long time ago.

David Applebaum: 00:28:41

When you get the roof right, everything else works.

David Applebaum: 00:28:44

And he had a huge property.

David Applebaum: 00:28:49

And you were supposed to even the way even set it up was the way you

David Applebaum: 00:28:52

drove in the way you walked in.

David Applebaum: 00:28:54

There was a curving meandering path that took you through it and I had most.

David Applebaum: 00:29:01

Lazy architects, designers, design, if it's a two story house, a two story entry.

David Applebaum: 00:29:06

Ooh, that's big, it's massive!

David Applebaum: 00:29:08

But there's no scale.

David Applebaum: 00:29:10

So I had a one and a half story portico at the front that allowed you to feel

David Applebaum: 00:29:16

like you were at human scale, but that roof, as it went up, and then came back

David Applebaum: 00:29:21

on the, uh, on the gable side of it, then became, uh, A one story veranda

David Applebaum: 00:29:28

that with the roof of the veranda that wrapped around two thirds of the house.

David Applebaum: 00:29:33

And so it, it meshed together.

David Applebaum: 00:29:36

I couldn't have gotten that without building a model, especially because

David Applebaum: 00:29:41

in order to get that roof to work, my plate lines were always different.

David Applebaum: 00:29:49

Um, most houses are what I call a wedding cake.

David Applebaum: 00:29:52

First floor, second floor.

David Applebaum: 00:29:55

A single gutter line and then a roof like a pizza hut on

David Applebaum: 00:29:59

top, and I think that's boring.

David Applebaum: 00:30:02

And so I would break it up anyway, but in this particular house, the master

David Applebaum: 00:30:07

bathroom toilet room had a ceiling that started at seven foot ten, but pitched up

David Applebaum: 00:30:15

because I couldn't get the roof to work in all three dimensions without that.

David Applebaum: 00:30:21

So, um, you know, most cases, the plate line, you know, bedrooms and

David Applebaum: 00:30:26

stuff were all pretty, pretty similar.

David Applebaum: 00:30:29

But then, as the roof was being allowed to play, and if you are doing a 3D

David Applebaum: 00:30:35

model, you have to know exactly what it looks like or you can't build it.

David Applebaum: 00:30:40

And I want to be surprised.

David Applebaum: 00:30:42

I want to be delighted with what I discover.

David Applebaum: 00:30:46

Everything with me is kind of a journey.

David Applebaum: 00:30:48

So,

Ethan Young: 00:30:49

yeah, I mean, it makes perfect sense though.

Ethan Young: 00:30:50

The three of the model kind of lets you block everything out and see, you know,

Ethan Young: 00:30:53

exactly how you want to do it and be flexible with, Oh, I don't like this.

Ethan Young: 00:30:56

Let me change this.

Ethan Young: 00:30:57

You know,

David Applebaum: 00:30:57

I buy more thin poster board than a third grade craft teacher.

David Applebaum: 00:31:05

And, you know, it's so funny, um, when I was, uh, one of the jobs that I had before

David Applebaum: 00:31:10

I went on my own, I was remodeling for Frank Israel, a project that Frank Gehry

David Applebaum: 00:31:17

had originally designed, and there was an expansion to it, and, um, I didn't own it.

David Applebaum: 00:31:23

understand the drawings.

David Applebaum: 00:31:25

And I asked my boss, you know, say on my own time, I'll build a model

David Applebaum: 00:31:30

of this existing because I don't think we can build the addition.

David Applebaum: 00:31:34

I mean, Frank Gary's work is very three dimensional.

David Applebaum: 00:31:39

And I actually thought it was kind of ugly until I started building the model.

David Applebaum: 00:31:43

And then I was like, Oh, I get this.

David Applebaum: 00:31:45

Oh, that's why.

David Applebaum: 00:31:47

And so he wanted the opportunity to have first right of refusal on the direction

David Applebaum: 00:31:52

that we were going and he walked in and the first thing he said was, Oh,

David Applebaum: 00:31:56

you built a model to my boss, Frank.

David Applebaum: 00:31:58

Well, that was smart.

David Applebaum: 00:31:59

I think that was a really good move.

David Applebaum: 00:32:01

And Frank said, no, it was David's idea to build a model.

David Applebaum: 00:32:03

And he looked at me and he said, we designed this thing in model.

David Applebaum: 00:32:08

We didn't do one drawing for a while.

David Applebaum: 00:32:11

We just took pieces of corrugated cardboard and cut it with scissors and

David Applebaum: 00:32:16

ripped it and use scotch tape and glue.

David Applebaum: 00:32:18

But that's how we came up with this design, which is why you

David Applebaum: 00:32:21

can't understand it from a drawing.

Todd Miller: 00:32:24

Have there ever been any times that you even discovered as you

Todd Miller: 00:32:28

were trying to build the model that.

Todd Miller: 00:32:30

I can't make this do what I want it to do.

David Applebaum: 00:32:33

Every time.

David Applebaum: 00:32:34

Really?

David Applebaum: 00:32:34

Wow.

David Applebaum: 00:32:35

Every time the house that I'm doing in Houston, I remember I was with

David Applebaum: 00:32:42

some of my friends and one of them had brought their kid along and asked

David Applebaum: 00:32:49

what I did, what I was doing in town.

David Applebaum: 00:32:51

I'm an architect.

David Applebaum: 00:32:51

And I said, Oh, look, and I pulled a picture from my phone.

David Applebaum: 00:32:55

This is what the house is going to look like.

David Applebaum: 00:32:58

And he said, Oh my God, that's gorgeous.

David Applebaum: 00:33:01

How'd you come up with that?

David Applebaum: 00:33:02

And I said, I must've drawn it 580 times.

David Applebaum: 00:33:08

Frustratingly upset that it wasn't working and that was building a model,

David Applebaum: 00:33:14

sketching, building a model, putting it on the computer, sketching it again.

David Applebaum: 00:33:19

I said, so I must have done it now.

David Applebaum: 00:33:21

I forgot what number I did, but so I'm 580 times.

David Applebaum: 00:33:26

It was just frustratingly awful.

David Applebaum: 00:33:29

And then 581, it clicked.

David Applebaum: 00:33:31

And once it starts clicking, it's kind of like a friend, you know, you can talk

David Applebaum: 00:33:37

to somebody and know in five minutes.

David Applebaum: 00:33:39

No.

David Applebaum: 00:33:40

And they go from party to, you know, the party from person to person, all

David Applebaum: 00:33:43

of a sudden there's somebody it's like, you've known each other forever,

David Applebaum: 00:33:47

whatever you're talking about, all fits.

David Applebaum: 00:33:49

It's just, it just works.

David Applebaum: 00:33:51

So there's been one project that I walked in and said, Oh,

David Applebaum: 00:33:54

I know what we're going to do.

David Applebaum: 00:33:56

And from that moment, it grew from there, but just one, and that was a remodeling

David Applebaum: 00:34:02

in addition to a really wonderful.

David Applebaum: 00:34:06

California architect who had done it like 80 years before.

David Applebaum: 00:34:09

And it was just so clear what to do.

Todd Miller: 00:34:11

Well, why don't we dig into some stories?

Todd Miller: 00:34:14

You're always, you weave stories into everything.

Todd Miller: 00:34:16

And that's one of the things I love about you, David.

Todd Miller: 00:34:19

But, um, last time we met you told some great stories about, uh, Frank Sinatra

Todd Miller: 00:34:24

as a client, but any other memorable stories from past clients, maybe.

Todd Miller: 00:34:30

Famous or not famous, whatever.

David Applebaum: 00:34:32

Well, one of my, now happy memories, , uh, I was doing a

David Applebaum: 00:34:37

house in Bel Air, and you know, I, I'm going to say I have done, uh, uh,

David Applebaum: 00:34:45

eight projects for this guy, including the first one, but he is one tough.

David Applebaum: 00:34:52

SOB tough kind of mean.

David Applebaum: 00:34:56

His wife calls him a scoundrel.

David Applebaum: 00:34:59

Um, so I can, I will actually give you this completely unedited because

David Applebaum: 00:35:05

it's because you won't know who it is.

David Applebaum: 00:35:07

So it's okay.

David Applebaum: 00:35:09

And he's not famous, but you know, people become successful, that

David Applebaum: 00:35:15

successful by being a bit ruthless.

David Applebaum: 00:35:18

Um, so.

David Applebaum: 00:35:20

We were doing a house in Bel Air, one of the most expensive areas where the soil

David Applebaum: 00:35:23

is terrible and it's all these hills.

David Applebaum: 00:35:25

And we were doing an addition and a as and a a second floor and all these kinds

David Applebaum: 00:35:32

of things, and it was a one story house.

David Applebaum: 00:35:34

And as a two story house, I've already told you I like journey.

David Applebaum: 00:35:40

Not the band.

David Applebaum: 00:35:41

No, I do like the band, but I'm not talking about the band.

David Applebaum: 00:35:43

I'm talking about, I just think life is a journey and so should

David Applebaum: 00:35:47

the appreciation of where you are.

David Applebaum: 00:35:51

Um, as a quick aside, people don't understand it, but the elements

David Applebaum: 00:35:57

of architecture all have meaning.

David Applebaum: 00:35:59

For instance, columns are there to give you a sense of rhythm and repetition.

David Applebaum: 00:36:05

So that way, as you're walking, depending on how they're

David Applebaum: 00:36:07

spaced, you could, you know, Or

David Applebaum: 00:36:14

Steps are there to make you stop and pay attention to where

David Applebaum: 00:36:19

you are and where you're going.

David Applebaum: 00:36:22

To me, a doorknob is a handshake that welcomes you into the next room.

David Applebaum: 00:36:25

I like to think of all the architecture like that.

David Applebaum: 00:36:29

So with that in mind, where we were expanding We were right at the precipice

David Applebaum: 00:36:37

of a downhill drop, so I for sure was not going to build a 30 foot, two story wall

David Applebaum: 00:36:47

where you had 6 to 8 feet to walk in.

David Applebaum: 00:36:49

That's it.

David Applebaum: 00:36:51

So, I had the 1st floor where we're the 1st floor where you thought it should be.

David Applebaum: 00:36:58

Then I had a.

David Applebaum: 00:36:59

Balcony.

David Applebaum: 00:37:01

with columns that was the terrace to the second floor, which then the second

David Applebaum: 00:37:08

floor stepped back from that first floor so that you had, um, columns,

David Applebaum: 00:37:16

wall, wall step, wall stepped back.

David Applebaum: 00:37:20

And that meant that the staircase was in the middle of the house.

David Applebaum: 00:37:27

And because the staircase was at the.

David Applebaum: 00:37:29

edge of the wall of the second floor, but that put it in the middle of the

David Applebaum: 00:37:33

first floor and I'm showing them the design and the wife says, Oh, I think you

David Applebaum: 00:37:39

have the staircase in the wrong place.

David Applebaum: 00:37:41

We don't want it in the middle of the house taking over everything.

David Applebaum: 00:37:45

You have to put it on the exterior wall.

David Applebaum: 00:37:47

And I said, no, you can't.

David Applebaum: 00:37:50

And I explained, I said, you're, you're, you're going to have six to eight feet

David Applebaum: 00:37:53

to walk and you don't want a 30 foot wall, which is what will happen if you

David Applebaum: 00:37:57

put the staircase up against that wall.

David Applebaum: 00:38:00

It'll, you want it to step back.

David Applebaum: 00:38:03

And no, no, no.

David Applebaum: 00:38:06

And they fought me.

David Applebaum: 00:38:07

And I said, I refuse.

David Applebaum: 00:38:10

I was so young.

David Applebaum: 00:38:11

I can't believe I'm always I'm a, I'm a, I'm a pleaser of my clients.

David Applebaum: 00:38:15

Whenever you want your house, it's your money.

David Applebaum: 00:38:18

I will do my best with it.

David Applebaum: 00:38:19

And I said, it's your house.

David Applebaum: 00:38:21

It's your money.

David Applebaum: 00:38:22

I will do my best with it.

David Applebaum: 00:38:23

But I will not put your staircase on this wall.

David Applebaum: 00:38:28

I'm putting it here.

David Applebaum: 00:38:29

You have to trust me.

David Applebaum: 00:38:31

And if you want it on the exterior wall, you need to find another architect.

David Applebaum: 00:38:35

I said, I'll, I'll make this offer for you.

David Applebaum: 00:38:37

I will build a model of this house and show you why.

David Applebaum: 00:38:41

Said, okay.

David Applebaum: 00:38:42

And they said, I don't get it.

David Applebaum: 00:38:44

When I gave them the model, he said, I don't get it, but okay.

David Applebaum: 00:38:48

We're already this far along.

David Applebaum: 00:38:49

We don't want to find another architect.

David Applebaum: 00:38:51

Fast forward to eight months later, the house is now framed and the

David Applebaum: 00:38:56

staircase is in and the wife comes out.

David Applebaum: 00:39:01

And says, thank you for putting your foot down.

David Applebaum: 00:39:04

I get it.

David Applebaum: 00:39:06

My idea would have been so stupid.

David Applebaum: 00:39:09

It would have been a block.

David Applebaum: 00:39:11

It would have been ugly.

David Applebaum: 00:39:12

So thank you.

David Applebaum: 00:39:14

Now, the continuation of that, I could stop it there.

David Applebaum: 00:39:17

A happy ending.

David Applebaum: 00:39:19

The continuation is the client male turns to me and says, don't listen to her.

David Applebaum: 00:39:25

I'm the boss of this house.

David Applebaum: 00:39:27

Don't listen to her.

David Applebaum: 00:39:28

You're a terrible architect.

David Applebaum: 00:39:30

Get off my property or fired.

David Applebaum: 00:39:33

Now, I knew him well enough to know that that was his way of saying he believes

David Applebaum: 00:39:39

that if he's nice to you, like she was just nice to me, you're gonna start

David Applebaum: 00:39:43

taking advantage because you know, when you're, we have that much money,

David Applebaum: 00:39:47

everybody's trying to weasel in, I drive off and the car contractor called me

David Applebaum: 00:39:52

said, Oh my God, oh my God, are you okay?

David Applebaum: 00:39:54

I said, I didn't get fired.

David Applebaum: 00:39:56

If he would have fired me, he would have let me go home

David Applebaum: 00:39:59

and fired me over the phone.

David Applebaum: 00:40:01

He made a big thing out of that.

David Applebaum: 00:40:03

They called me that night and said, so what are we going to

David Applebaum: 00:40:05

do about this room in that room?

David Applebaum: 00:40:08

I mean, I was just really lucky that I had the confidence with him because he

David Applebaum: 00:40:13

was maybe the toughest human being I've ever had to deal with as a client, but.

David Applebaum: 00:40:22

Like I said, I've done like a dozen things.

David Applebaum: 00:40:24

I did done like 10 or 11 things for him since, some very small and some not so.

David Applebaum: 00:40:29

I mean, his prized book collection, there was a leak from upstairs and

David Applebaum: 00:40:34

it destroyed a bunch of his books.

David Applebaum: 00:40:36

And so we redid his library and he like called me and said, David, I need you.

David Applebaum: 00:40:41

I need you badly.

David Applebaum: 00:40:42

Please come.

David Applebaum: 00:40:43

And so, you know, step by step now.

David Applebaum: 00:40:46

And then, you know, there's some personal things that happened after that, but

David Applebaum: 00:40:50

it was, I consider him a I wouldn't call him a friend, but I would call him

David Applebaum: 00:40:54

a A familiar and close relationship.

Todd Miller: 00:40:58

Yeah.

Todd Miller: 00:40:59

Good,

David Applebaum: 00:41:00

good deal.

David Applebaum: 00:41:01

Then of course, if you live in Los Angeles, you go to the movie, you go to

David Applebaum: 00:41:05

the A MC movie theater and the movie's over and you're in the restroom and

David Applebaum: 00:41:09

all of a sudden next to you, you look over, it's like, oh my God, it's Mel

David Applebaum: 00:41:12

Brooks , which I think I must have said out loud, and he said, well, whatever

David Applebaum: 00:41:17

you do, don't turn around and say hello.

David Applebaum: 00:41:23

And so we basically spoke in Yiddish accents for about five minutes.

David Applebaum: 00:41:28

And it was hilarious.

David Applebaum: 00:41:31

It's very difficult to use the restroom when you're laughing,

David Applebaum: 00:41:35

but it's just it's just a wonder.

David Applebaum: 00:41:36

It's a treat.

David Applebaum: 00:41:38

And then, I mean, I was going to, you know, this is this

David Applebaum: 00:41:43

actually a really good one.

David Applebaum: 00:41:44

Um, One of my first projects that I ever did at a graduate

David Applebaum: 00:41:50

school was for Virgin Records.

David Applebaum: 00:41:52

They were going to open up an American division of their record company.

David Applebaum: 00:42:00

And I'm friends with the guy who is going to be the co CEO of this record label.

David Applebaum: 00:42:09

And they were, they were renting a house with a very small crew to get started and

David Applebaum: 00:42:15

start picking their artists and all that.

David Applebaum: 00:42:17

And they found a space and he said, why don't you come by and look at

David Applebaum: 00:42:20

it and talk to me and my partner about how to make this thing work.

David Applebaum: 00:42:24

And, um, cause we're going to interview all the famous architects.

David Applebaum: 00:42:28

We're going to interview Frank Gehry and Morphosis and Errico and Moss.

David Applebaum: 00:42:33

And we just want to do a run through.

David Applebaum: 00:42:34

So I went through, went through and told him this is what I would do.

David Applebaum: 00:42:37

This is, I think this is what you got.

David Applebaum: 00:42:40

And a month later he called me up and said, my partner's only like you.

David Applebaum: 00:42:44

Do you want to be our architect?

David Applebaum: 00:42:45

And so I did this project.

David Applebaum: 00:42:50

And then it's, I, I designed the vice president's house.

David Applebaum: 00:42:55

I started working with all of these people in the record industry.

David Applebaum: 00:42:58

And, um, at the time that I was doing this at the beginning was

David Applebaum: 00:43:06

there's a documentary on Netflix now.

David Applebaum: 00:43:09

the greatest night in pop about the, um, we are the world song with

David Applebaum: 00:43:16

all of the pop stars at the time.

David Applebaum: 00:43:19

I remember the rumor of it going around and go, Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

David Applebaum: 00:43:23

That sounds, I said, Ooh, I wish I could be there.

David Applebaum: 00:43:25

No, you can't.

David Applebaum: 00:43:26

Nobody even knows where it's going to be.

David Applebaum: 00:43:28

And it's like, well, it's going to be at A& M recording studios.

David Applebaum: 00:43:31

Nobody's supposed to know that.

David Applebaum: 00:43:33

How'd

Todd Miller: 00:43:33

you

David Applebaum: 00:43:34

know that?

David Applebaum: 00:43:34

Who told you?

David Applebaum: 00:43:35

It's like, it's the largest recording studio in all of Los Angeles.

David Applebaum: 00:43:39

You can't get that many people.

David Applebaum: 00:43:40

It's got parking behind, a lot of parking behind gates.

David Applebaum: 00:43:43

It just makes sense.

David Applebaum: 00:43:44

Okay.

David Applebaum: 00:43:45

So, um, fast forward to, um, you know, that just, but I worked a lot of record

David Applebaum: 00:43:53

people, then one of them became Quincy Jones's record company president.

David Applebaum: 00:43:57

And I designed Quincy Jones's.

David Applebaum: 00:44:01

record company headquarters and their, um, television, uh,

David Applebaum: 00:44:07

companies headquarters as well.

David Applebaum: 00:44:09

Lots of stories with that, but the best one with it was Q.

David Applebaum: 00:44:15

Um, Quincy Jones.

David Applebaum: 00:44:18

Um, he had, he didn't care about, he really didn't care about anything except

David Applebaum: 00:44:25

for, he said, I only have one requirement.

David Applebaum: 00:44:27

You have to have a piano.

David Applebaum: 00:44:29

I signed a one year contract with Ray Charles every year.

David Applebaum: 00:44:34

He's the guy who got me started.

David Applebaum: 00:44:35

He gave me my first big break.

David Applebaum: 00:44:37

I love him like a brother.

David Applebaum: 00:44:39

I will always sign him.

David Applebaum: 00:44:40

We signed a one year contract.

David Applebaum: 00:44:42

He comes to the office.

David Applebaum: 00:44:43

He signs it in person, and then he plays.

David Applebaum: 00:44:47

And I said, well, I'm not working on this project anymore unless you

David Applebaum: 00:44:51

promise that when he comes to sign a contract, I'm invited for a site visit.

David Applebaum: 00:44:56

And so one of the greatest moments of my life was basically being 10

David Applebaum: 00:45:03

feet from Ray Charles, laughing with Q and playing all of his hits.

David Applebaum: 00:45:12

Oh, awesome.

David Applebaum: 00:45:14

I didn't even know it's

David Applebaum: 00:45:17

serendipitous isn't even a strong enough word for how happy

David Applebaum: 00:45:21

and lucky I was to be there.

David Applebaum: 00:45:23

Oh my god.

David Applebaum: 00:45:26

That was It's, it's tough to go to a concert after you have a one on

David Applebaum: 00:45:30

one that intimate and close, but it was, I mean, it wasn't one on one.

David Applebaum: 00:45:34

There were like 60 or 70 of us there, but it was amazing.

Todd Miller: 00:45:39

So I'm curious at this point in your career.

Todd Miller: 00:45:43

You know, it seems to me you can be a little bit selective as far as the type

Todd Miller: 00:45:46

of projects you work on and so forth.

Todd Miller: 00:45:48

But, um, let me ask a couple of questions.

Todd Miller: 00:45:50

One is what type of project do you most enjoy working on?

Todd Miller: 00:45:55

And my follow up question on that, if someone asks you design a self storage

Todd Miller: 00:46:02

facility, is there anything that they could do that would make that excite you?

Todd Miller: 00:46:07

Oh, hell yes.

David Applebaum: 00:46:13

Um, there's a city, Columbus, Indiana, where

David Applebaum: 00:46:17

the Cummings diesel, uh, engines were designed and probably, and

David Applebaum: 00:46:23

still are designed and built.

David Applebaum: 00:46:25

And the, um, the, the people that own that meeting were big fans of architecture.

David Applebaum: 00:46:33

So they have warehouses and factories that are designed by Eero Saarinen

David Applebaum: 00:46:38

and Louis Kahn and just the great.

David Applebaum: 00:46:43

And, um, uh, Louis Kahn actually I just remember did one of my favorite

David Applebaum: 00:46:49

things he ever did were beach bathroom pavilions, just little

David Applebaum: 00:46:54

12 by 12 bathrooms at the beach.

David Applebaum: 00:46:58

Stunning.

David Applebaum: 00:46:59

I would be happy to do a public storage facility as long as you didn't

David Applebaum: 00:47:05

want what everybody else is doing.

David Applebaum: 00:47:08

If you just want to you know, that simple box, then find somebody else.

David Applebaum: 00:47:17

Cause it's not going to work for me.

David Applebaum: 00:47:18

But if you want to figure out a way to make public storage a little more fun.

David Applebaum: 00:47:25

Yeah.

David Applebaum: 00:47:25

Count me in.

David Applebaum: 00:47:26

Um, uh, Robert Venturi, the great architect said, there's

David Applebaum: 00:47:32

Two kinds of buildings.

David Applebaum: 00:47:34

There's the Long Island duct and the decorated shed and the Long

David Applebaum: 00:47:40

Island duct is one of the dock.

David Applebaum: 00:47:43

Not a duct.

David Applebaum: 00:47:44

We're not doing HVAC.

David Applebaum: 00:47:45

Um, the Long Island duct is where you have.

David Applebaum: 00:47:48

a building that looks like what it is that you do.

David Applebaum: 00:47:51

Like, there's a place in LA called the Tail of the Pup, which is

David Applebaum: 00:47:54

a big hot dog that opens up and you serve hot dogs from there.

David Applebaum: 00:47:59

And they also serve hamburgers, so if you want to get a hamburger

David Applebaum: 00:48:02

out of a hot dog, that's the joke.

David Applebaum: 00:48:04

That's the place.

David Applebaum: 00:48:05

And then the decorated shed is really what we're all doing.

David Applebaum: 00:48:08

And Robert Venturi actually went as far as to make all of his

David Applebaum: 00:48:12

buildings, for a while, a boxed shed.

David Applebaum: 00:48:16

Like he actually had to design for the, um, um, what do you call it?

David Applebaum: 00:48:21

Uh, the NFL hall of fame.

David Applebaum: 00:48:24

And it was just a box, but it had a huge, and this was before they were as

David Applebaum: 00:48:28

good as they are now, but an absolutely huge, uh, televised screen in front

David Applebaum: 00:48:34

that had, was, would always be showing great plays and interviews with the

David Applebaum: 00:48:40

players as you're walking in, because once you're inside, you're really, now

David Applebaum: 00:48:44

you choreograph, uh, the experience.

David Applebaum: 00:48:49

So, yeah, I would be happy to do that.

David Applebaum: 00:48:50

Um, This actually comes back to the conversation that we had before.

David Applebaum: 00:48:57

Cause I, I do like doing homes and it's so funny.

David Applebaum: 00:49:01

On one hand, you said, would I do public storage?

David Applebaum: 00:49:05

Yes.

David Applebaum: 00:49:06

A dream would be something I would love to do a chapel or

David Applebaum: 00:49:12

a contem contem Contemplative?

David Applebaum: 00:49:15

Contemplative.

David Applebaum: 00:49:17

Yes.

David Applebaum: 00:49:18

Are you sure?

David Applebaum: 00:49:18

A thoughtful space.

David Applebaum: 00:49:21

Thoughtful.

David Applebaum: 00:49:22

There you go.

David Applebaum: 00:49:22

That's part inside and part outside.

David Applebaum: 00:49:26

Like a chance to do something like the Wayfarer's Chapel.

David Applebaum: 00:49:29

Or Ronchamp by Le Corbusier.

David Applebaum: 00:49:33

I would love everything with music journey.

David Applebaum: 00:49:36

So if I could make it in some way, that every step you take changes your

David Applebaum: 00:49:41

experience builds upon the experience.

David Applebaum: 00:49:46

That would be serendipitous.

David Applebaum: 00:49:48

I hope I get that.

David Applebaum: 00:49:49

I don't know if it'll ever happen.

David Applebaum: 00:49:52

But man, you know, every everybody listening to this,

David Applebaum: 00:49:55

put your positive thoughts out.

David Applebaum: 00:49:57

David wants to do a poetry garden.

David Applebaum: 00:50:02

So, uh, that's, so those are the ends of the spectrum.

David Applebaum: 00:50:06

I do prefer doing residential over commercial.

David Applebaum: 00:50:09

I do commercial, I did a record company, several, several record companies,

David Applebaum: 00:50:14

because these are people that are interested in beautiful, special design.

David Applebaum: 00:50:20

I did a restaurant in Hong Kong and, um, I really, whoa, my God, we designed

David Applebaum: 00:50:29

everything from choosing the plates and the forks and the napkins to the building.

David Applebaum: 00:50:34

Um, I was actually offered a job at one point to be the design

David Applebaum: 00:50:39

director for Starbucks and I was absolutely excited about it.

David Applebaum: 00:50:44

because, but if I was going to do it my way, or if I was going to have

David Applebaum: 00:50:49

some strong input, um, it's so funny.

David Applebaum: 00:50:51

I was, when I was there and interviewing Howard Schultz, the chairman was

David Applebaum: 00:50:56

looking at ideas for, this is how long ago it was, drive throughs.

David Applebaum: 00:51:01

They were now deciding they wanted to do drive throughs.

David Applebaum: 00:51:04

It was that long ago.

David Applebaum: 00:51:06

And I'm standing there kind of off to the and I'm looking at all these

David Applebaum: 00:51:11

designs and Howard looks at me and he says, Well, he says, I like all of them.

David Applebaum: 00:51:17

I don't love any of them.

David Applebaum: 00:51:18

And then he looks over at me and says, okay, you're interviewing to

David Applebaum: 00:51:21

do some design work around here.

David Applebaum: 00:51:23

Give, give me something to go on.

David Applebaum: 00:51:26

I said, the problem is you have created a coffee experience.

David Applebaum: 00:51:31

Starbucks is not about the coffee as much as it is about the experience.

David Applebaum: 00:51:37

It's something that tastes delicious.

David Applebaum: 00:51:39

You wait in line, you smell it, you make your order.

David Applebaum: 00:51:43

You have this path that's choreographed with tea bags and mugs and CDs.

David Applebaum: 00:51:51

Remember CDs?

David Applebaum: 00:51:52

Oh, yeah.

David Applebaum: 00:51:53

And, um, and it's all part of an experience.

David Applebaum: 00:51:56

I said, all you're looking at is a McDonald's or a KFC or a Pizza

David Applebaum: 00:52:02

Hut that just has the awnings and green trappings of Starbucks.

David Applebaum: 00:52:07

You haven't created the experience.

David Applebaum: 00:52:09

And I said, here's what I would do.

David Applebaum: 00:52:12

And I came up with this idea where you would have a sculpture On the

David Applebaum: 00:52:18

outside of the building doesn't have again, decorated shed, the

David Applebaum: 00:52:21

building doesn't have to be anything.

David Applebaum: 00:52:23

You could make it a Long Island duck and make it look like a mug.

David Applebaum: 00:52:27

Okay, or it could just be a box.

David Applebaum: 00:52:29

It doesn't matter.

David Applebaum: 00:52:30

But now let's put a ring of columns around it.

David Applebaum: 00:52:34

And if you want to have them.

David Applebaum: 00:52:36

Sculptural, so they look like wafts of steam, but now

David Applebaum: 00:52:40

remember, I told you a column.

David Applebaum: 00:52:42

Gives you rhythm.

David Applebaum: 00:52:43

It also can give you a sense of enclosure without.

David Applebaum: 00:52:48

claustrophobically locking you in.

David Applebaum: 00:52:50

I said, let's put these columns around, but far enough away that they're at

David Applebaum: 00:52:55

a, you know, when you drive up, you're maybe doing eight miles an hour.

David Applebaum: 00:52:59

So you have them farther apart, but as you're stuck a little bit closer,

David Applebaum: 00:53:04

you know, so that you feel it, but now you're in between perforated

David Applebaum: 00:53:09

skin and waiting for your coffee.

David Applebaum: 00:53:12

And you're in line, you're queued in a choreographed way, the same

David Applebaum: 00:53:16

way that you are when you're inside waiting for the coffee.

David Applebaum: 00:53:20

And that was with us ago, that was really good.

David Applebaum: 00:53:24

And then I won't get into the politics that made me say no.

David Applebaum: 00:53:28

But, um, uh, see that kind of, it's so funny that goes back to

David Applebaum: 00:53:34

your public storage, because I'd be happy to do a drive through.

David Applebaum: 00:53:39

It just has to have, some essence to it that has personality and

David Applebaum: 00:53:45

meaning and purpose and design.

David Applebaum: 00:53:49

So when I'm, I have a certain, so I will do commercial if they'll

David Applebaum: 00:53:55

let me go in that direction.

David Applebaum: 00:53:58

Uh, usually in residential, that is a given.

David Applebaum: 00:54:02

Like somebody loves to cook.

David Applebaum: 00:54:04

I'm doing a house right now in West Hills.

David Applebaum: 00:54:08

And the wife is, she makes fudge, she makes gumbo, she makes

David Applebaum: 00:54:14

bread, she makes everything.

David Applebaum: 00:54:16

So the kitchen is really important.

David Applebaum: 00:54:19

And the fun that I'm having with her in creating a kitchen

David Applebaum: 00:54:25

that she will adore and enjoy.

David Applebaum: 00:54:29

And make her life easier.

David Applebaum: 00:54:31

That's, that, that, that's, that's why I do mostly residential.

David Applebaum: 00:54:35

And those are the kinds of clients and projects that I look

Todd Miller: 00:54:38

for.

Todd Miller: 00:54:38

I enjoy good stuff.

Todd Miller: 00:54:39

You know, you're talking about Starbucks and it's made me think

Todd Miller: 00:54:42

of something I was thinking about a couple of days ago when Starbucks first

Todd Miller: 00:54:46

started spreading across the country.

Todd Miller: 00:54:48

I mean, I would be traveling and I would seek out the Starbucks.

Todd Miller: 00:54:52

I, I found it to be a very special experience and I don't get that anymore.

Todd Miller: 00:54:58

I don't know if it's because.

Todd Miller: 00:55:00

The experience isn't there because I now expect more, but I love what you're

Todd Miller: 00:55:06

talking about as far as designing spaces that transport you someplace else.

Todd Miller: 00:55:12

And I was thinking a little bit, you mentioned chapels.

Todd Miller: 00:55:15

I thought a little bit about, I think it's, um, church of the Holy cross outside

Todd Miller: 00:55:19

of Sedona, um, up in, in the red rocks, I think it was maybe designed by a Frank

Todd Miller: 00:55:24

Lloyd Wright student or something, but

David Applebaum: 00:55:26

yes.

Todd Miller: 00:55:27

Um, you know, that's just such an experience to visit

Todd Miller: 00:55:31

that and, um, Oh, just amazing.

Todd Miller: 00:55:34

Amazing what you can do

David Applebaum: 00:55:36

with design.

David Applebaum: 00:55:36

If any kind of project like that, like you're part of a college campus

David Applebaum: 00:55:42

is, I think that what's happened with Starbucks is part of what I

David Applebaum: 00:55:48

said with Starbucks people was you've got more Starbucks than there are.

David Applebaum: 00:55:54

I mean, you go in a city, there's Starbucks within five minutes of.

David Applebaum: 00:55:58

one from the other from the other.

David Applebaum: 00:56:00

How are you going to sustain that?

David Applebaum: 00:56:02

And how are you going to continue to make it comfortable and have personality?

David Applebaum: 00:56:07

And I had some ideas.

David Applebaum: 00:56:09

I wanted to do a kit of parts where everything, um, everything did match,

David Applebaum: 00:56:14

but part of the problem I had with Starbucks, and I didn't really get it

David Applebaum: 00:56:19

until I was in Seattle interviewing because it was misting and gray.

David Applebaum: 00:56:24

The furniture at Starbucks was all crushed velour, like really stuff

David Applebaum: 00:56:29

that made you feel warm and in Seattle that makes perfect sense, but that

David Applebaum: 00:56:35

does not work in Miami in Miami.

David Applebaum: 00:56:38

You need to be using things like Naga hide and, you know, something that you can get

David Applebaum: 00:56:43

suntan oil on or something that isn't, it doesn't make you feel warm and stuffy.

David Applebaum: 00:56:50

Cool.

David Applebaum: 00:56:50

And so I wanted to kind of have a kit of parts so that if you go from one Starbucks

David Applebaum: 00:56:56

to the other, there is similarity.

David Applebaum: 00:56:58

There is the same graphics, there's the same color scheme, but Texas can

David Applebaum: 00:57:03

have corrugated metal because they're big in that, you know, and, um,

David Applebaum: 00:57:08

and Florida can have something that has more like a, uh, um, the, the,

David Applebaum: 00:57:13

the, the weaved grass kind of look.

David Applebaum: 00:57:16

And then in Chicago, you can have.

David Applebaum: 00:57:19

leather or fake leather and then, you know, and, and crushed

David Applebaum: 00:57:24

velour and things like that.

David Applebaum: 00:57:25

But it's, it's different in all of them.

David Applebaum: 00:57:27

And you can actually get a new experience with every store that you

David Applebaum: 00:57:32

go to yet always feel comfortable.

David Applebaum: 00:57:35

I think that, as I said, most jobs are getting more challenging.

David Applebaum: 00:57:41

I think when you have a behemoth, like the way Starbucks is now with ice creams

David Applebaum: 00:57:46

and, uh, so many products, I think you end up forgetting where you came from.

David Applebaum: 00:57:56

I even remember.

David Applebaum: 00:57:58

reading six months ago that Howard Schultz, who's now retired and

David Applebaum: 00:58:02

the emeritus CEO said, Hey, we have to remember where we came

David Applebaum: 00:58:05

from and get back to our roots.

David Applebaum: 00:58:07

And you know what, I always, from that first conversation I had with him, which

David Applebaum: 00:58:12

was short, but I really admire that guy.

David Applebaum: 00:58:16

He, and he's not there anymore.

David Applebaum: 00:58:18

And I think that's another reason why you don't feel the same because it's missing

David Applebaum: 00:58:24

his personality and it's more corporate.

Todd Miller: 00:58:27

Yeah.

David Applebaum: 00:58:27

Very interesting.

David Applebaum: 00:58:28

And Starbucks will never let me into another one of their

David Applebaum: 00:58:30

stores again for saying that.

Todd Miller: 00:58:34

So, switching gears a tiny bit, um, someone just walked

Todd Miller: 00:58:37

into a building that you designed.

Todd Miller: 00:58:41

What are some adjectives that you'd like to imagine them using to describe

Todd Miller: 00:58:45

the building or the experience?

Todd Miller: 00:58:48

Well, first of

David Applebaum: 00:58:49

all, I would love for them to not even know

David Applebaum: 00:58:51

I had anything to do with it.

David Applebaum: 00:58:53

I mean, I know that's going to sound really weird, but I told you

David Applebaum: 00:58:56

I'm not interested in being famous.

David Applebaum: 00:58:57

It's just me.

David Applebaum: 00:58:58

When I, when I do a house, like the, the house I just described

David Applebaum: 00:59:03

with the woman who's got the, the wife, Diane, let's just, let's

David Applebaum: 00:59:09

be, you know, let's make it true.

David Applebaum: 00:59:10

Diane loves to cook.

David Applebaum: 00:59:12

Okay.

David Applebaum: 00:59:13

And then I'm doing another house where these people are the most

David Applebaum: 00:59:17

fun, creative people I know.

David Applebaum: 00:59:19

And it's all about pizzazz and energy.

David Applebaum: 00:59:22

And I want people to walk into the house.

David Applebaum: 00:59:24

What I want to hear them say is, Hey, Fill in the blank of her name.

David Applebaum: 00:59:30

It might be, this is so you, this is you, I see you all over this house.

David Applebaum: 00:59:36

I don't want my fingerprints on it.

David Applebaum: 00:59:38

I want theirs.

David Applebaum: 00:59:40

However, I would love for them to say, wow, I would love for them

David Applebaum: 00:59:47

to say, I feel so comfortable.

David Applebaum: 00:59:50

I've gotten so many compliments from my clients.

David Applebaum: 00:59:53

My favorite one was when Cuba Goody Jr.

David Applebaum: 00:59:56

called me and said, my sister just came over for Christmas.

David Applebaum: 01:00:02

And after opening the presents, she just curled up and fell asleep

David Applebaum: 01:00:07

on the floor in the living room.

David Applebaum: 01:00:08

And I know that that sounds silly, but you've created a comfortable

David Applebaum: 01:00:14

home where people can be themselves.

David Applebaum: 01:00:17

And that is what I wanted.

David Applebaum: 01:00:20

And I didn't even tell you, and you gave it to me.

David Applebaum: 01:00:23

And my family is growing up here, and I feel the love all the day, every day.

David Applebaum: 01:00:31

That's, that's what I want.

David Applebaum: 01:00:32

I want people to be comfortable.

David Applebaum: 01:00:34

I want people to feel safe.

David Applebaum: 01:00:35

I want them to feel inspired.

David Applebaum: 01:00:38

And I want them to feel like they saw something really beautiful.

David Applebaum: 01:00:44

Or, I shouldn't say, I don't, ugh, I hate it, I'm so upset with myself.

David Applebaum: 01:00:49

Not that they saw.

David Applebaum: 01:00:51

Something beautiful that they experience experience, something,

David Applebaum: 01:00:54

a beautiful space and a beautiful view and a beautiful experience.

Todd Miller: 01:01:00

Um, that's good stuff.

Todd Miller: 01:01:02

And I have no doubt you're doing that for your clients just because

Todd Miller: 01:01:05

of your process and, uh, the way that you, uh, care for them.

David Applebaum: 01:01:09

I'm not easy.

David Applebaum: 01:01:10

You know, there's a lot of clients that don't want that.

David Applebaum: 01:01:13

They just want.

David Applebaum: 01:01:14

Give me the, I get so many clients, potential clients that call me.

David Applebaum: 01:01:19

Oh my gosh.

David Applebaum: 01:01:20

One of the things I hate is how much junk email I get, and I'm getting

David Applebaum: 01:01:25

at least 20 or 30 emails a day from we want to, um, um, what is it?

David Applebaum: 01:01:32

That's it.

David Applebaum: 01:01:33

They not budget, but, uh, They're, they're going to break down all the costs.

David Applebaum: 01:01:38

They're going to be able to give me breakdowns on the

David Applebaum: 01:01:40

costs for all of my products.

David Applebaum: 01:01:41

It starts with an E.

David Applebaum: 01:01:43

What are my estimators?

David Applebaum: 01:01:45

We're project estimators.

David Applebaum: 01:01:46

And it's like,

David Applebaum: 01:01:49

I'm an architect.

David Applebaum: 01:01:50

I don't, that's not part of my purview, but Oh my God.

David Applebaum: 01:01:53

Um, but I get a lot of.

David Applebaum: 01:01:56

Junk email, that's one of them.

David Applebaum: 01:01:59

Um, and a lot of them are for websites.

David Applebaum: 01:02:04

We can give you more traffic on your website.

David Applebaum: 01:02:07

I don't want traffic on my website because the traffic on my website

David Applebaum: 01:02:12

will be how much do you charge?

David Applebaum: 01:02:15

We live in an Amazon.

David Applebaum: 01:02:18

World where everybody's looking for a deal, a deal, a deal, a deal.

David Applebaum: 01:02:23

And sometimes a deal is not what you want.

David Applebaum: 01:02:26

How many times do you buy that 1, 000 sofa?

David Applebaum: 01:02:31

Let me take that back.

David Applebaum: 01:02:32

That 500, 600 sofa that three years from later is, three years

David Applebaum: 01:02:37

from purchase, is stained, is ripped, the fabric is stretching

David Applebaum: 01:02:42

in a weird way, it smells funny.

David Applebaum: 01:02:46

If you want cheap, if you want quick, if you want what everybody else

David Applebaum: 01:02:50

has, there are lots of other people.

David Applebaum: 01:02:54

But that's not me.

David Applebaum: 01:02:55

And I'm not easy.

David Applebaum: 01:02:57

And I'm, I actually have a contractor who.

David Applebaum: 01:03:01

built some cabinets that I have to say to him, you can't do that on the

David Applebaum: 01:03:07

next project or I will never work with you again, ever, ever, ever.

David Applebaum: 01:03:12

You gotta, you, you, we had to fix a lot of this.

David Applebaum: 01:03:15

Wow.

David Applebaum: 01:03:15

It's not happening.

David Applebaum: 01:03:17

It can't.

Todd Miller: 01:03:18

Well, you touched on earlier, but I will ask you this question.

Todd Miller: 01:03:23

Any advice for younger folks interested in architecture as a career?

David Applebaum: 01:03:28

I'd be interested in having a conversation with

David Applebaum: 01:03:31

younger people about pretty much everything when it comes to life.

David Applebaum: 01:03:36

Um, uh, I think it's important to do what you love and love what you do.

David Applebaum: 01:03:43

My.

David Applebaum: 01:03:44

Business has a, uh, David Applebaum architect.

David Applebaum: 01:03:49

It's byline is live where you love, love where you live.

David Applebaum: 01:03:53

And I think that's important in everything in life.

David Applebaum: 01:03:57

And I think life is tough.

David Applebaum: 01:03:59

So you got to pick something that you love so much that it doesn't

David Applebaum: 01:04:02

matter if you don't make money.

David Applebaum: 01:04:05

Um, Architecture is also the kind of field in which if you work for one

David Applebaum: 01:04:12

of the big corporate offices, there might be 600 people working there.

David Applebaum: 01:04:16

There's only five people designing.

David Applebaum: 01:04:19

So what about the other hundreds of people?

David Applebaum: 01:04:23

You have to feel really good that you're contributing to

David Applebaum: 01:04:26

something that you believe in.

David Applebaum: 01:04:28

Um, I really don't know what to say because I remember when I went into

David Applebaum: 01:04:34

architecture, a lot of architects said, run, don't get into this field.

David Applebaum: 01:04:40

It doesn't make any money.

David Applebaum: 01:04:41

It's a lot of hours.

David Applebaum: 01:04:43

It's very thankless.

David Applebaum: 01:04:45

And it probably, it's probably worse now.

David Applebaum: 01:04:49

I mean, I'd always thought if I was really good, I didn't have to

David Applebaum: 01:04:51

worry about those things, but you do have to worry about those things.

David Applebaum: 01:04:55

It's, it's, it's

David Applebaum: 01:05:00

wow.

David Applebaum: 01:05:01

I don't know how to answer this one, because if it's

David Applebaum: 01:05:05

something you really want to do.

David Applebaum: 01:05:07

It's interesting because when COVID and just before that, the big economic hit,

David Applebaum: 01:05:17

a recession that we had came about, I have, I'm still in touch with a lot of

David Applebaum: 01:05:21

my architecture school professors and administrators and the top 20 percent

David Applebaum: 01:05:27

of the students, the most creative, the hardest working, none of them went into

David Applebaum: 01:05:32

architecture for about eight years.

David Applebaum: 01:05:34

They all went into animation.

David Applebaum: 01:05:37

Because they were, um, uh, because so many of the things that we do with the

David Applebaum: 01:05:42

computer renderings and such, uh, all of the Disney's and Pixar's and 20th

David Applebaum: 01:05:51

Century Fox's were paying three times as much to become a digital animator.

David Applebaum: 01:05:56

and storyteller.

David Applebaum: 01:05:57

And in a lot of ways, it's very similar.

David Applebaum: 01:05:59

You're building a story.

David Applebaum: 01:06:00

You're building uh, understanding and um, whether it's a, whether it's a movie

David Applebaum: 01:06:05

or whether it's a building, it's, it, in my opinion, they're very similar.

David Applebaum: 01:06:10

And a lot of the best talent went there.

David Applebaum: 01:06:13

I can't blame them.

David Applebaum: 01:06:15

And if I would have graduated, then I probably would have been tempted

David Applebaum: 01:06:20

to go in that direction as well.

David Applebaum: 01:06:22

I think it's important to be flexible.

David Applebaum: 01:06:24

I think it's important to Make the, it's important to understand

David Applebaum: 01:06:28

that it's okay to make a mistake.

David Applebaum: 01:06:31

Hopefully life is long and we will all have chances to correct

David Applebaum: 01:06:38

any missteps that we have.

David Applebaum: 01:06:41

Um, I don't dislike what I do.

David Applebaum: 01:06:45

I have, I have a girlfriend now that's always telling me how she loves having a.

David Applebaum: 01:06:53

She just, she loves hearing about what it is that I do because she just

David Applebaum: 01:06:57

thinks that the talent that goes into it is just, I kind of forgot about, I'm

David Applebaum: 01:07:03

only, I'm not trying to pump myself up, but I forgot what it is that I really

David Applebaum: 01:07:11

do, which is creating for people.

David Applebaum: 01:07:13

And so when she'll ask me questions about what I'm doing and remind me,

David Applebaum: 01:07:19

How I'm taking care of people and how I have a trick to do this or whatever.

David Applebaum: 01:07:26

Did you notice you have a view?

David Applebaum: 01:07:28

Look at this tree.

David Applebaum: 01:07:29

We need to put the window here and she'll just smile at me and

David Applebaum: 01:07:34

tell me how great I'm doing.

David Applebaum: 01:07:37

And it's not that it's that it reminds me why I'm doing what I'm doing and And

David Applebaum: 01:07:45

how that's where I need to find my joy.

David Applebaum: 01:07:47

It's not my bank account and it's not my roster of clients.

David Applebaum: 01:07:51

It's doing something that hopefully makes the world a better place in

David Applebaum: 01:07:56

a very solid and substantial way.

David Applebaum: 01:07:59

Cause where you live, where you work, where you worship, where you

David Applebaum: 01:08:03

enjoy yourself, they all need places.

David Applebaum: 01:08:05

And instead of just being a box and thinking that storage lockers

David Applebaum: 01:08:10

need to always be like egg cartons.

David Applebaum: 01:08:15

Then if you can do something more, you can make the world a better place.

Todd Miller: 01:08:19

Love it.

Todd Miller: 01:08:20

Well, David, this has been great.

Todd Miller: 01:08:21

Thank you.

Todd Miller: 01:08:22

Great time together always.

Todd Miller: 01:08:24

And we will do it again.

Todd Miller: 01:08:25

But before we wrap up, I have to ask you if you're willing to, uh, subject

Todd Miller: 01:08:31

yourself to our rapid fire questions.

Todd Miller: 01:08:34

You did these last time.

Todd Miller: 01:08:36

I'm scared, but very willing.

Todd Miller: 01:08:38

Well, we chose different questions for you, so.

David Applebaum: 01:08:41

I don't even know if I remember.

Todd Miller: 01:08:44

Well, David has no idea what we're about to ask him

Todd Miller: 01:08:46

in our seven rapid fire questions.

Todd Miller: 01:08:49

So let's go, let's go for it.

Todd Miller: 01:08:50

You want to ask the first one, Ethan?

Ethan Young: 01:08:52

Yeah,

Todd Miller: 01:08:52

I can do

Ethan Young: 01:08:52

that.

Ethan Young: 01:08:53

All right, question one, um, who has been a favorite teacher of yours over the

Ethan Young: 01:09:00

years and what do you remember them for?

David Applebaum: 01:09:02

Rodney Hill, recently retired Texas A& M,

David Applebaum: 01:09:06

first year, first design class.

David Applebaum: 01:09:08

All about lateral, everything I just talked about, lateral thinking, finding

David Applebaum: 01:09:13

different ways to attack a problem, being creative, always in whatever it is that

David Applebaum: 01:09:19

you do, exercises every single week.

David Applebaum: 01:09:23

It's a little, I hope I can fit all of this in, but I remember For

David Applebaum: 01:09:27

instance, one time, he had us design a friend of his invented an energy

David Applebaum: 01:09:33

drink, and it was delicious hot and cold, and we should come up with this

David Applebaum: 01:09:37

inventive way to enjoy this beverage.

David Applebaum: 01:09:42

And then he took it to bring to his friend, and then a month later in class,

David Applebaum: 01:09:45

he said, this kind of gives it away, but everybody, you're tired, let's just have

David Applebaum: 01:09:50

some fun, everybody design a coffee mug.

David Applebaum: 01:09:52

And everybody's coffee mug looked like a freaking coffee mug.

David Applebaum: 01:09:55

And then he had us put it on the wall, and then he had us

David Applebaum: 01:09:58

put this other thing that we do.

David Applebaum: 01:10:01

He says, what's the difference between coffee and an energy drink

David Applebaum: 01:10:05

that is enjoyed hot and cold and is savoring, broke down what coffee was.

David Applebaum: 01:10:13

And I think of him and that every day, and I am so grateful I met him

David Applebaum: 01:10:20

and that I'm still friends with him.

David Applebaum: 01:10:22

Long live Rodney Hill.

Todd Miller: 01:10:24

That's a cool story, yeah.

Todd Miller: 01:10:25

Question number two.

Todd Miller: 01:10:27

What is your favorite sushi roll?

David Applebaum: 01:10:30

My girlfriend that I was talking about has a, uh, master's

David Applebaum: 01:10:34

degree from Stanford in Asian Studies and has spent a lot of time, uh, in Japan.

David Applebaum: 01:10:41

And she and I make hand rolls.

David Applebaum: 01:10:46

Uh, that are, that's so much fun to make them and eat them and,

David Applebaum: 01:10:50

and hear the stories that she has.

David Applebaum: 01:10:53

And so I've had a lot of wonderful sushi and she, I love it when she

David Applebaum: 01:10:57

comes in, just sneak in a little Japanese and throw them off.

David Applebaum: 01:11:01

And there's a secret she taught me that, that it's the, it, or has shared with me,

David Applebaum: 01:11:08

taught me that it's the simple things that are, that show a great, Sushi restaurant.

David Applebaum: 01:11:13

So we'll go to a place that's supposedly very highly rated.

David Applebaum: 01:11:16

And she will ask in Japanese for an egg omelette, little

David Applebaum: 01:11:22

square egg and pickled gourd.

David Applebaum: 01:11:25

And if they do that, right, first of all, they then, uh oh, and they really

David Applebaum: 01:11:31

go out of their way to be perfect.

David Applebaum: 01:11:33

Um, but.

David Applebaum: 01:11:35

The simple answer is the sitting around our table with kind of combinations of an

David Applebaum: 01:11:45

omelette and a tuna yellowtail and just making it and lots of different kinds of

Todd Miller: 01:11:52

pickles.

Todd Miller: 01:11:54

For you, it's the experience and that's what you live to

Ethan Young: 01:11:56

give to people too.

Ethan Young: 01:11:58

Sounds awesome.

Ethan Young: 01:11:58

Alright, question three.

Ethan Young: 01:12:00

What's a funny childhood memory that you would like to share?

Ethan Young: 01:12:03

Boy, you stumped me on that one.

Ethan Young: 01:12:05

A funny

David Applebaum: 01:12:05

childhood memory that I would like to share?

David Applebaum: 01:12:07

I can't think of anything.

David Applebaum: 01:12:09

Wow.

David Applebaum: 01:12:10

Let's either come back to that or we'll have to come up with another one.

David Applebaum: 01:12:13

I don't, I mean, it's lightning round, but I'm just, I'm blocked.

David Applebaum: 01:12:16

I don't have a funny childhood memory.

Todd Miller: 01:12:19

Maybe it's serendipitous in that when you do think of that,

Todd Miller: 01:12:22

we'll bring you on for another episode.

Todd Miller: 01:12:24

How's that?

David Applebaum: 01:12:25

Okay.

David Applebaum: 01:12:25

Yes.

David Applebaum: 01:12:26

You'll have to, I'm having a block.

Todd Miller: 01:12:30

Um, next question.

Todd Miller: 01:12:33

If you could invite any three people to be your guest at dinner,

Todd Miller: 01:12:37

who would those three people do?

Todd Miller: 01:12:39

Just for a fun dinner?

Todd Miller: 01:12:41

A, a alive or dead?

Todd Miller: 01:12:43

Or could, could be, could be a mixture.

David Applebaum: 01:12:45

Wow.

David Applebaum: 01:12:46

That's another, I mean, I'm, I'm heavy, like I want Einstein to be there.

David Applebaum: 01:12:51

There you go.

David Applebaum: 01:12:52

It's so funny because I'm thinking there's all these architects.

David Applebaum: 01:12:54

You know what?

David Applebaum: 01:12:55

Ray and Charles Eames.

David Applebaum: 01:12:57

I know that counts as two, but I'm going to only count them as one.

David Applebaum: 01:13:00

I just think that would be such a fun conversation.

David Applebaum: 01:13:04

I have a feeling they like food as much as I do.

David Applebaum: 01:13:07

And this is to dinner.

David Applebaum: 01:13:09

So, um, this one is kind of a little bit of a cheat, but there's so many things I

David Applebaum: 01:13:16

want to talk to Frank Sinatra about again.

David Applebaum: 01:13:18

I would love to have dinner with him right now and catch

David Applebaum: 01:13:21

up on what has happened since.

David Applebaum: 01:13:25

That would, that would be a conversation that would go on for a day.

David Applebaum: 01:13:30

I would.

Todd Miller: 01:13:31

Love that.

Todd Miller: 01:13:33

Oh my god.

Todd Miller: 01:13:34

He'd be making peppers and Hoboken sausage for you, though.

Todd Miller: 01:13:37

Yes, well,

David Applebaum: 01:13:38

fine.

David Applebaum: 01:13:39

I wouldn't care.

David Applebaum: 01:13:40

I did, it's I love eating, but sometimes the food is secondary.

David Applebaum: 01:13:45

But thank you for remembering.

Ethan Young: 01:13:46

Alrighty, next one.

Ethan Young: 01:13:47

Um What's a weird fact that you happen to know that most people wouldn't know?

Ethan Young: 01:13:52

You've got

David Applebaum: 01:13:53

some tough ones.

David Applebaum: 01:13:54

A weird This actually, wow, this just came up and now I can't even remember

David Applebaum: 01:13:59

what it is, you know, I don't know what it's like for you, but when you

David Applebaum: 01:14:02

get older, the memory just starts to, um, um, oh, I mean, okay, so there

David Applebaum: 01:14:09

was just an earthquake in New Jersey.

David Applebaum: 01:14:12

And, uh, really close to Manhattan.

David Applebaum: 01:14:14

And my girlfriend is doing something for Toyota in New York.

David Applebaum: 01:14:19

And she said there was an earthquake and everybody was yelling and

David Applebaum: 01:14:22

screaming and she didn't feel it.

David Applebaum: 01:14:24

And I said, that's because your room is near the bottom of the hotel.

David Applebaum: 01:14:28

The top of the, it's like a fishing pole, the top of the, the top,

David Applebaum: 01:14:30

the top of the building is doing this, but, but, you know, but

David Applebaum: 01:14:34

down here, it's not doing so much.

Ethan Young: 01:14:36

And so

David Applebaum: 01:14:37

she said, That, you know, all of these dumb little

David Applebaum: 01:14:41

things that are, she didn't say dumb.

David Applebaum: 01:14:43

I'm saying dumb, but you know, all these things that, no, it's like,

David Applebaum: 01:14:46

well, yeah, but that was part of.

David Applebaum: 01:14:47

Structural studies.

David Applebaum: 01:14:48

So thank you for that, sweetheart.

David Applebaum: 01:14:51

Otherwise it would not, I would have been stumped.

David Applebaum: 01:14:53

Okay.

David Applebaum: 01:14:54

I can do better.

David Applebaum: 01:14:54

These can be, I can, I'm going to be funnier.

David Applebaum: 01:14:56

Let's go.

Todd Miller: 01:14:57

Would you rather be a whale or a lion?

David Applebaum: 01:15:00

Ooh, you know what?

David Applebaum: 01:15:03

I think I'd like to be, I was just thinking about this.

David Applebaum: 01:15:05

I'm going back to the food thing because if you're a whale,

David Applebaum: 01:15:08

there's always plankton to eat.

David Applebaum: 01:15:10

If there's a, if you're a lion, you have to, you could be

David Applebaum: 01:15:14

weeks before you see a gazelle.

David Applebaum: 01:15:16

Okay.

David Applebaum: 01:15:17

So, um, I also think it'd be floating would be cool.

David Applebaum: 01:15:21

Those noises they make are kind of nice.

David Applebaum: 01:15:23

I mean, it's so funny.

David Applebaum: 01:15:24

I mean, my first thought was, Oh, I want to be a lion king of the jungle, but

David Applebaum: 01:15:27

you know what, I'd rather be a whale.

Ethan Young: 01:15:30

I totally get it.

Ethan Young: 01:15:30

Yeah.

Todd Miller: 01:15:30

You can rise up under someone's boat and

Todd Miller: 01:15:33

give them a big surprise.

Todd Miller: 01:15:34

You

David Applebaum: 01:15:34

know, When I was in graduate school, my last year, when

David Applebaum: 01:15:38

we were doing thesis studies, I didn't have anything to do, but thesis.

David Applebaum: 01:15:44

And it was just, it was so grueling.

David Applebaum: 01:15:47

So I took a scuba diving class.

David Applebaum: 01:15:49

So I'd have one moment during the week where I wasn't.

David Applebaum: 01:15:54

And it, where I was in fear of my life, um, and I would completely

David Applebaum: 01:16:00

get my mind off of my project and it was a very smart move to make.

David Applebaum: 01:16:03

And we did a couple of, we did three dives and in one there was

David Applebaum: 01:16:08

a whale and my friends and I were like, let's go swim towards it.

David Applebaum: 01:16:12

And we're starting to, and it gets, as you realize how huge they are, as

David Applebaum: 01:16:18

you get closer and that tail of it.

David Applebaum: 01:16:22

starts moving and you're thinking it, he doesn't have to do

David Applebaum: 01:16:26

anything but brush up against you.

David Applebaum: 01:16:28

And he would probably knock all your equipment off.

David Applebaum: 01:16:31

So we all kind of got scared at the same time and like, okay, that's close enough.

David Applebaum: 01:16:35

Good answer.

Ethan Young: 01:16:36

All righty.

Ethan Young: 01:16:37

Uh, last question.

Ethan Young: 01:16:39

Did you make a new year's resolution this year?

Ethan Young: 01:16:41

And if so, and you're comfortable talking about it, how is it going for you?

David Applebaum: 01:16:45

I'm one of those people that believes that every day is the

David Applebaum: 01:16:47

first day of the rest of your life.

David Applebaum: 01:16:49

So I never make a new year's resolution.

David Applebaum: 01:16:52

But I always make resolutions on random days.

David Applebaum: 01:16:58

And my most recent resolution was to just let things play out.

David Applebaum: 01:17:04

That I'm a very, let me fix it.

David Applebaum: 01:17:07

Let me take care of it.

David Applebaum: 01:17:08

Let me help you.

David Applebaum: 01:17:09

Let me do it kind of person.

David Applebaum: 01:17:12

And I have found out that I get in my own way and other people's way that I'm trying

David Applebaum: 01:17:16

to help more often than being helpful.

David Applebaum: 01:17:20

You know what I'm not going to, I.

David Applebaum: 01:17:22

No, that's wrong.

David Applebaum: 01:17:23

I am helpful more often, but there are times that it doesn't work.

David Applebaum: 01:17:27

And in those times, it really would be best for me to let things play out.

Todd Miller: 01:17:33

I think that's really good advice.

Todd Miller: 01:17:35

So, and I, I often find that to just, just get out of the way.

Todd Miller: 01:17:39

I'm going to write my, I have to remind myself of that.

Todd Miller: 01:17:41

Yeah,

David Applebaum: 01:17:42

I'm going to go back to your childhood memory.

David Applebaum: 01:17:44

All I can really think about Because, you know, we were talking before about

David Applebaum: 01:17:49

what made you become an architect and when I'm, instead of just letting

David Applebaum: 01:17:53

myself relax and thinking about some fun childhood memory, I'm remembering

David Applebaum: 01:17:58

making, you know, uh, in, in Galveston, making a fort out of driftwood.

David Applebaum: 01:18:05

That was kind of more sculptural than it was structural because we, there were

David Applebaum: 01:18:10

pieces, there weren't enough pieces.

David Applebaum: 01:18:12

But I remember a lot of the, you know, parents were like, maybe you

David Applebaum: 01:18:17

should just build my house for you.

David Applebaum: 01:18:19

So maybe I unblocked myself on that one and recalibrated my

David Applebaum: 01:18:24

brain to come up with something.

David Applebaum: 01:18:27

Save that one.

David Applebaum: 01:18:28

No, don't save it because I'll forget it.

David Applebaum: 01:18:29

But, you know, my, my, I will just say this, um, My childhood was very much

David Applebaum: 01:18:37

spent looking forward to being an adult.

David Applebaum: 01:18:40

I, I kept on thinking about all the ways that as an adult, I would

David Applebaum: 01:18:43

have my own house and my own, you know, control of my own life.

David Applebaum: 01:18:48

And a lot of my childhood was spent in, you know, doing well in school and

David Applebaum: 01:18:55

doing things so that I could get on with, you know, I wanted to be able to

David Applebaum: 01:19:03

redecorate a school library on my own, not because I was sneaking my way into it.

Todd Miller: 01:19:08

Uh, great stories, David.

Todd Miller: 01:19:09

Thank you.

Todd Miller: 01:19:10

Um, you're a joy to talk with.

Todd Miller: 01:19:12

So, if folks want to get in touch with you or something,

Todd Miller: 01:19:15

what's their best way to do that?

David Applebaum: 01:19:17

Well, I have a website, davidapplebomb.

David Applebaum: 01:19:20

com, pretty much just my name.

David Applebaum: 01:19:22

You can email me, david, at DavidApplebaum.

David Applebaum: 01:19:26

com.

David Applebaum: 01:19:26

It's got pretty much all of the information.

David Applebaum: 01:19:30

I'm on Instagram.

David Applebaum: 01:19:33

I'm on Facebook is DavidApplebaumArchitect and I'm on Instagram, but my Instagram

David Applebaum: 01:19:38

is DavidApplebaum underscore architect.

David Applebaum: 01:19:42

And there's a chat waiting for me.

David Applebaum: 01:19:44

So can't

Todd Miller: 01:19:46

wait to see what that is.

Todd Miller: 01:19:47

Cool.

Todd Miller: 01:19:47

Well, we will get those things in the show notes as well.

Todd Miller: 01:19:51

So I think we, well, you were an overachiever, David.

Todd Miller: 01:19:53

I think we all worked in our challenge words.

Todd Miller: 01:19:56

Am I correct on that?

Todd Miller: 01:19:58

Well, I know I did.

Todd Miller: 01:19:59

Yeah.

Todd Miller: 01:20:01

Serendipitous.

Todd Miller: 01:20:02

And you did it several times as well.

Todd Miller: 01:20:03

Thank you.

David Applebaum: 01:20:04

I was able to get calibrate in.

David Applebaum: 01:20:06

A couple of times.

David Applebaum: 01:20:07

And I even used my own once or twice.

Ethan Young: 01:20:10

You use block.

Ethan Young: 01:20:11

I had block and I got it in once, but not as many times as David.

Ethan Young: 01:20:14

So, yes,

Todd Miller: 01:20:14

but no, but yours, yours was, was very smooth.

Todd Miller: 01:20:18

Thank you.

Todd Miller: 01:20:18

Actually, I'm discovering the simpler words are a little harder to work in.

Todd Miller: 01:20:22

They are, they are mostly

David Applebaum: 01:20:25

partially because you kind of forget that they

David Applebaum: 01:20:26

exist since they're so simple.

Todd Miller: 01:20:28

Yeah.

David Applebaum: 01:20:29

Like the big words, like who, how am I going to use serendipitous?

David Applebaum: 01:20:31

How am I going to use calibrate?

David Applebaum: 01:20:33

Calibrate was a tough one, though.

David Applebaum: 01:20:34

Serendipitous was easy, because if you're lucky Serendipity comes into your life a

Todd Miller: 01:20:41

lot.

Todd Miller: 01:20:41

Good point.

Todd Miller: 01:20:42

Love it.

Todd Miller: 01:20:44

David, thank you so much.

Todd Miller: 01:20:45

It's been a pleasure.

Todd Miller: 01:20:46

We will do it again.

Todd Miller: 01:20:48

Thanks for

David Applebaum: 01:20:48

letting that last thing that I said made

David Applebaum: 01:20:51

me really happy to be alive.

David Applebaum: 01:20:53

So cool.

David Applebaum: 01:20:54

That was, thanks for allowing me to have

Todd Miller: 01:20:57

that good stuff.

Todd Miller: 01:20:58

And thank you to our audience for tuning into this very special episode

Todd Miller: 01:21:01

of construction disruption with David Applebaum architect to the stars.

Todd Miller: 01:21:07

Please watch for future episodes of our podcast.

Todd Miller: 01:21:09

We always have great guests.

Todd Miller: 01:21:11

Don't forget to leave a review for us, please on Apple podcasts or YouTube.

Todd Miller: 01:21:15

Till the next time we're together, keep on disrupting, keep on challenging.

Todd Miller: 01:21:19

I'm looking for better ways of doing things.

Todd Miller: 01:21:22

Don't forget to have a positive impact.

Todd Miller: 01:21:24

On everyone you encounter so god bless and take care and I will see you on the

Todd Miller: 01:21:29

next episode of construction disruption

Intro: 01:21:33

This podcast is produced by isaiah industries manufacturer of specialty

Intro: 01:21:38

metal roofing and other building products

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