Meet Your Host: Julia Houfy.com/6356

Julia came to California when she was one, from Illinois. Her father was an architect. At age six her parents, her older brother, younger sister and Julia moved to the small coastal community of Briones. She got a big black horse which she named Gypsy that she rode every day bareback, until she saved up her own money and bought an English saddle, built jumps and taught her horse to jump.

Julia graduated from Tam High in Mill Valley and began a life of adventure. In California she sailed, climbed mountains and backpacked, and explored Mexico by train, returning in a 36' foot sailboat to Sausalito from Yelapa, Mexico. She also traveled to Brazil and started her own career as a tailor and designer.

In '85 she bought a one way ticket to Maui, and took her bike, her sewing machine and 1400 bucks. From there she and an old friend traversed the globe stopping in Hong Kong, Thailand, Burma, Singapore, Bali, Italy, France and Spain. It took 4 months, and was great! After that she went to live in Paris and studied fashion for 10 months. Upon returning to the bay area, her technical career started as a patternmaker at North Face, they trained her to use the best pattern design CAD software. During those years Julia worked at several clothing companies and lived in Berkeley, then in Sausalito. She also danced a lot:) Ballet, jazz, nightclub Motown, rock and roll, salsa, samba and lambada were all a great part of the years.

Julia started sailing again in San Francisco Bay races with her ski-club girlfriends, and went with one of them on a 48' beautiful fast yacht from Fiji to Vanuatu. They climbed an erupting volcano under a full moon with only a 10 year old boy as their guide!

Julia spent her birthday in 1999 on a sailboat delivery trip in the Caribbean, where she met Michael Kastendiek, from Santa Monica. They started a long distance relationship, got engaged in ’01, and were married at the Presidio yacht Club in Sausalito in ’02. They honeymooned in the Pelopponese, Greece, then lived in Santa Monica and Topanga. Julia took trips to India and Switzerland during these years.

In 2011 they bought Cliff House and Julia designed the remodel transforming it into a Poquito Hacienda. In 2016, Julia and Michael bought the 1954 Spartan Manor trailer and built the Tiny Tiki Retro Hideaway, which launched in January 2019. In photo, that's us in Avalon, Catalina! One of our favorite places! Feel free to yarn with Julia anytime!