West Los Angeles' Dignified Assisted Living for
Seniors
The Daily Breeze wrote:Ivy
House entwined with gentility
By Verne Palmer
STAFF WRITER
The conversation ranged from the latest developments in cell-division
research to the difference between Frank Sedlar's new Bikini restaurant
and his old St. Estephe.
Not exactly the talk you'd expect at a typical home for the elderly, but
then Ivy House-newly ensconced on 12th Street in Santa Monica, a neighborhood
notable primarily for its old houses and big trees -isn't your typical board-and-care
facility.
For instance, there's owner Susan Leeds Kudo, who on a recent Tuesday was
sitting on the front porch whiling away a quiet afternoon chatting with
resident Mary Winston, late of Beverly Hills.
Nobody knows how old Mary is-she hit 80 and promptly quit counting - but
her mind's as quick as her now-fragile body is slow The porch scene was
as reminiscent of a kinder, gentler era as the two-story white frame house
behind them- - a homey blend of late Victorian and early California Craftsman.
Inside, sunlight streamed through white-framed windows onto ivy wallpaper,
overstuffed sofas
and armchairs and rich hardwood floors brightened by Oriental
carpets.
It's about as far from institutional as you can get and still qualify for
a license -which is exactly what Kudo intended.
Ivy House is the 37-year-old former art dealer's tribute to her father,
a Cedars of Lebanon, anesthesiologist who died in 1986 after suffering from
Alzheimer's disease for five years.
"My mother cared for him most of those years, but it got to the point
she couldn't lift him anymore," Kudo says. "When I came home one
day and the plumber was bathing him, I knew it was time to start looking
for an alternative. "My father was an old gentleman from Vienna. He
was accustomed to gentility, and I wanted for him the same thing I would
want for myself: a beautiful environment, good food, no linoleum, no coldness
and no people constantly going on and off shift."
She spent months traipsing through residential facilities from the coast
to the Valley and found nothing. So she decided to create her own.
Her father didn't live to see Ivy House, but she believes he would have
approved.
The hardest part was finding the right house, she says. That took her almost
five years.
At first, "everyone who saw the place said, 'Oh, my God, it's awful,'
but I saw it had good bones, and it was so well-suited to what I wanted
to do. It had a huge, tree-shaded back yard, lots of bedrooms, big, roomy
living
and dining rooms and lots of cross ventilation and natural light.
In creating the house's comfy, "just-like-home" atmosphere, Kudo
says, she stole shamelessly from a pair of local landmarks: The Ivy restaurant
on Robertson and Shabby Chic on Montana.
Most important of all, she installed Irma Bravo - the longtime
caregiver who saw her father through his final year - as administrator.
"I knew she was exactly who I needed when I went to a birthday party
at her house and two little old ladies she was caring for were whooping
it up dancing to Mexican music in the middle of the living room," says
Kudo.
was so impressed that she allowed them to do that.
"She's everything the people in the places I had gone were not. She's
terrific with older people. She respects them and loves them and treats
them like friends."
Kudo believes that homes like hers - small, homey establishments that cater
to the elderly and to those suffering from Alzbeimer's, Parkinson's and
other disabling illnesses-
are the coming thing.
"In Europe and Asia they have incredible respect for the elderly, and
I see it coming into focus in America as well," she says. "The
number of elderly is increasing tenfold. People are living longer, and they're
expecting more quality out of life.
Kudo intends to limit Ivy House, which opened last month,
to six residents. Monthly fees at Ivy House range from $1,900 to $2,500
and include room and board, laundry service, supervision, assistance in
dressing and bathing, trips to the
doctor and a variety of planned activities and outings.
The conversation comes free.