It is a pattern as old as snowboarding itself or actually way older than that. You fall in love with the sport and then move to the mountains, now what? Chances are you will get some crappy job, live in questionable situations and do what you love. Usually you end up moving on, getting a real job and letting the “real” world dictate your life. Some people go on to become pro. Yet there is still the group of people that is probably the least talked about; the people that find a niche in the mountain towns, get a good job and stay forever. Tim Gallagher has been in Mammoth for a long time. Currently he is the general manager of Wave Rave. I don’t know what he makes but he lives in the sickest house in Lake Crowley, which about 15 minutes from Mammoth. Surely he is not making an obscene amount of money but persistence, planning, luck and hard work has got him a great place to live. He has a few roomates, no doubt to help make ends meet but when you see his house, it would all seem worth it. Tim does not even have to huvk 1080’s to live there. We took a tour and talked to Tim.
SR: How long have you lived in Lake Crowley?
T: Since the house was done, June or July
SR: What motivated you to build such a rad house and not just a normal place like everyone else?
T: My brother, Dan Gallagher with DCG Architecture, is an architect and I have a little knowledge of design and creativity. I wanted to do something different. I learned a lot in the process and now I have a lot more respect for modern design than I ever had. I like some modern design but you have to differentiate between what is clean and what is kind of a little too much. I kind of gave my brother a blank canvas and he came back to me with three different concepts. I took one of them and twisted it up a little bit. Initially the main structure was facing pretty due west and with a detached garage out front. In the summer time it gets kinda hot (especially with all the windows) I wanted to maximize the solar heating of the sun for the winter months and then get some kind of cooling for the summer. So we separated the three story building, instead of facing west and brought it out here, separated the garage and connected it with an entry hall; mudroom and breezeway. Of course when you walk in the front door, it’s a stunning view. You don’t get the standard sunrise effect with the mountains behind us but you get an alpenglow that is gorgeous.
SR: I am not up at sunrise very much myself (laughter)
SR: Is the garage cool in the summer
T: Yea it is actually, there are a few windows but it stay cool. You can enter the garage from the front and the back.
SR: Yea I actually almost drove in through the backyard
T: The guys that rent the downstairs actually park down there in the back yard. You get open access to the backyard from the garage. (we are now walking around outside) There are a couple of challenges. I want to maximize the southern exposure but try to block view of the neighbors house as well. The garage pretty blocks the view of the neighbors house
SR: Yea, I noticed that earlier actually.
T: When you are hear (in the backyard) you don’t really have a feel for the other houses, it is pretty wide open.
SR: You going to build a pool for skating?
T: (laughter) I am going to plant a bunch of trees. I leave that to my boss, he is just a hill over.
SR: Steve (Klassen)?
T: Yea
SR: Does Hammer (Matt) live down here?
T: I don’t know about that
SR: Wait, I am thinking about Tommy Czeschin
T: Tommy does, he owns the Laundromat here and he lives behind it. That’s his brothers place going in right there.
SR: The big one?
T: The 4-5,000 square foot castle. So the main challenges were opening up the views with a ton of glass and privacy. (We walk around talking about planting more trees) The lot is wedge shaped; it is super narrow at the cul de sac and fans out
SR: Crowley is awesome because it is so sunny. When I lived here it would be a sunny day and you drive to Mammoth to ride and they got 18″ of new and I would be like oh man, I dressed wrong
T: (laughter) I pack a bag every day. I learned the hard way, you don’t want to forget shit. You get a pretty good view from here (so you can see the weather in Mammoth) You can see up Mt Wood, Dana and the entrance to Yosemite. There is a little greenbelt back there, it’s called Whiskey Creek so they can’t really build right behind me, it’s a preserve. Tons of birds.
SR: You have been manager of Wave Rave for how long?
T: I have General Manager for three years
SR: It’s pretty rad I never thought you never could…
T: Well if it wasn’t for the exploding real estate market and my buying a condo in 1999 and the value tripled. I sold it at the peak so I was able to do this.
SR: That is motivating, when I grew up there was no way you could buy something like this not even if you were Craig Kelly but now, if you play your cards right. I know what Wave Rave can sell, I have seen a tractor trailer truck of Da Kine stuff get unloaded, A whole truck of whatever, freakin backpacks and gloves
T: We move a lot of product, a lot of it in 5 months of the year. Yea Steve’s been really good to me
Here is the view of the yet to be landscaped backyard. You can see some prominent features here. The garage on the right has a garage door to the backyard. You can see the main three story living structure on the left and the hallway the connects the main house to the garage. Also, the house is designed as kind of a wedge, from the inside you can not see the next door neighbors houses. Also you can see the cool building materials
The view from the living room is insane. The furniture is Ikea and the views are of (r-l), McGee Mountain, McGee Creek and I believe Mt Morgan. In the foreground is the town and even closer to the house you can see the green belt which ensures no more direct neighbors - ever
The stairway from floor 1 to floor 2
The kitchen
A closer look at some of the cabinet details
On the back deck looking at the back of the garage
looking towards the mountains from the second floor. That looks like rust on the 3rd floor because it is. It is metal designed to get rusty, then that is like the paint; protects the house and adds the color. Crowley is so dry that rust is taking a while to form
The front entrance. The yard is very narrow at the street then gets very wide
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