In a neighborhood full of homogeneous mid-century modern residences, Brandon McBurney's Palm Springs home stands out thanks to its 10-foot-tall lime green doors that open onto the street.
“I wanted something that lived up to the history of the Palm Springs front door,” says Josh Agle, the artist popularly known as Shag, who designed the house and chose the vivid hue. “There's no such thing as too cheesy.”
Agle was referring to Shag House, McBurney's four-bedroom home designed by architects Dan Palmer and William Krisel for Alexander Construction Co. in 1958. The house began as a whimsical idea from branding guru John-Patrick Flynn in 2021: buy a career -we brought down our Midcentury Modern home in Palm Springs and invited Shag to reinvent it as one of his works of art.
The front patio and outdoor lounge of the Shag House. (Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)
A sunny cat-themed bedroom features custom wallpaper by Shag, aka artist Josh Agle.
(Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)
On a recent sunny afternoon, Agle, whose colorful artwork depicts cool cats, Hawaiian tiki gods and martini-swigging swingers, had just put the finishing touches on the house, which will be open to the public during Modernism Week, which takes place on out on February 15. -25.
“We built it exactly to his specifications,” says Flynn, who found the house with McBurney and Agle after looking at 22 others. “Josh created a work of art, gave it to us and said, 'Build this.' And we did it.”
The process was challenging at times. For example, when Agle designed an outdoor bar with a round roof, contractors told them it was impossible to build. However, the 61-year-old artist insisted. “He stayed true to his design,” Flynn says of the bar, now ready for cocktail service.
As lead designer, Agle had final say on the home's design, with some input from McBurney, 46, who purchased the home in Palm Springs' Little Beverly Hills neighborhood for $935,750 in 2021.
Intentionally twisted liquor-themed artwork hangs on a wall in the game room.
(Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)
Owner Brandon McBurney gives his dog, Thor, some love in the living room of the Shag House.
(Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)
“I would do renderings and was often told it would be difficult to do,” Agle says of the design and construction process. “I changed some things. But I was adamant at the bar, especially because it was in the renders and they had shown it on social networks.”
Although McBurney agreed with Agle's tongue-in-cheek designs, including cat, tiki, and Asian-themed rooms with velvet paintings and Googie-style lava lamps, he was initially unconvinced by the house's orange ceilings. But now he's a fan. Her only request of him? A hanging chaise lounge and Buddha statue overlook the pool in the backyard.
Agle's artworks veer between joyful joy and heartfelt nostalgia: Rat Packers playing records and sipping martinis inside the John Lautner Compound in Desert Hot Springs; cocktails at Richard Neutra's Kaufmann Desert House; and a family picnic outside the Eames House in Pacific Palisades. His last piece, “The Mammoth Martini,” was inspired by his father, who was in a fraternity at UCLA. The painting hangs over the bar in the game room and is completely done in the backyard of the Shag House.
“I've always been a fan of Shag's art,” says McBurney, an e-commerce executive for the Kroger supermarket chain who has been coming to Palm Springs for more than 20 years. Originally from the Pacific Northwest, he lives in the desert full time and hopes to open his home for charity and fundraising events.
“How can I not share this house?” says McBurney, decked out in Mr. Turk's Palm Springs-appropriate pink and green floral jacket. (McBurney describes the renovation as a “million-dollar” project, including what he spent and donations from sponsors Ferguson Bath, Kitchen & Lighting Gallery, JennAir and California Closets, among others.)
The backyard, with a pair of towering palm trees, is ready for the Modernism Week festivities.
(Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)
And he adds, sounding a little melancholy: “I feel very blessed to be able to live here. This house is iconic. “It’s a beautiful representation of Josh’s art.”
Agle admits he wasn't a fan of Palm Springs when he first came to the desert enclave in the 1980s. “It was pretty boring,” he says. “But the architecture was amazing, even the commercial buildings. You could see what once was. I began to paint not what I used to be but what I hoped I would be. “I was painting the lifestyle I wanted to live, the parties I wanted to be at and the houses I wanted to live in.”
Today, past and present collide at Shag House, which is a testament to sunny mid-century Palm Springs and the postwar optimism of that era. In fact, it's hard to feel sad when visiting the Shag House, which is a bit like seeing a Christmas light display: you can't help but smile when you see it and wish it stayed open all year.
Just like Palm Springs, the home has a casual vacation vibe. “I didn't want to take the house too seriously,” Agle says as she walks past a piece of art inspired by the game Operation depicting a Hennessy heart, a Bacardi brain, and a Ketel One kidney.
Dressed in a chartreuse sports jacket, white pants, and a vintage-inspired shirt made from a fluorescent-print fabric, Agle says, “There's a strong alcohol theme throughout the house, which also influences my art.”
Tiki-themed artwork hangs on the wall.
(Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)
Thor the dog, left, Seal Beach artist Josh Agle (aka Shag) and owner Brandon McBurney pose poolside at Shag House.
(Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)
Agle no longer drinks (he jokingly describes it as “professional research”), but he still loves painting boozy party scenes. “It points to a mythical lifestyle that sums up Palm Springs,” Agle says. “People from Los Angeles and movie stars would come to Palm Springs and start drinking at noon, have a few drinks at the clubhouse, go out to Melvyn's and have a couple more drinks. Because they weren't working, they could live that lifestyle, even if it was just for a weekend.”
As for the home's colorful interiors, which feature a bright orange and green kitchen, case-study-style blue chaise lounges, and an Eames lounge chair in a custom orange fabric, Agle wanted to push against neutral trends like cream-colored boucle . “Ten or fifteen years ago, you would walk into a Midcentury Modern store in Palm Springs and everything would be turquoise and green,” he says. “The colors I chose for the house (mainly orange, green and blue) are appropriate for Palm Springs.”
The result is a cheerful, happy home that feels like you've somehow landed in a surreal version of one of Agle's paintings.
“It's no surprise that Shag is an icon in Palm Springs,” says Elizabeth Armstrong, independent curator and former director of the Palm Springs Art Museum, in an email. While Modernism Week takes historic preservation seriously, Armstrong adds, “Shag has created a new type of home concept. A retrofuturist known for his nostalgic take on all things mid-century modern, visitors can immerse themselves in a totally beguiling and surreal three-dimensional version of Shag's vision of Camp Modernism. He is Shagalicious.”
Shag's mural “The Mammoth Martini” hangs above the bar of the house, whose backyard was designed to resemble the artwork's pool scene.
(Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)
Fairy lights and a classic Shag mural set the scene in the dining room. The side patio houses a table tennis table. (Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)
After two years of supply chain issues, labor disruptions, and weather delays, Shag House is finally ready to open its doors on February 15. Representatives of Modernism Week estimate that more than 4,000 people will pass through the house, in addition to hosting special events and parties for more than 300 people. As Agle prepares for the opening, he hopes visitors will “have fun and not take it too seriously.”
True to its initial concept, the house is a timeless treasure from a forward-thinking team that worked to preserve its past.
“We added square footage, but you can still recognize it as an Alexander house,” says project director Flynn. “I found a woman whose grandparents owned the house from 1968 to 1992, and I invited her and her stepbrother to come see the house. She stood there crying and said, “I recognize my grandparents' house.” I see the magic you have created.'”
Owner Brandon McBurney, left, says he didn't veto any of Josh Agle's ideas when it came to transforming the mid-century modern home into a Shag masterpiece.
(Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)
Shag House Events During Modernism Week
The Shag House Signature Home Tour, Modernism Week 2024: February 15-25. Ticket: $40.
Shag House Poolside Fashion: Trina Turk's Style: 11 a.m. Feb. 20. Admission: $95.
Shag House Poolside Fashion: The Story of the Kaftan: 11 a.m., Feb. 21. Ticket: $125.
Swinging Mid Mod Cocktail: At Shag House: 7 pm on February 21. Admission: $250.
Shag House Poolside Fashion: Candice's Style Celebration: 11 a.m. Feb. 22. Ticket: $95.
The Mammoth Martini Party at Shag House: 8 pm on February 23. Admission: $125.
For tickets to these events and more information, visit modernismweek.com.
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