My family had a wonderful week at this house. Such amazing views over the ocean, and it was incredibly relaxing falling asleep every night to the sound of the waves. Just a short walk down to the beach, as promised, and it was a very peaceful stretch of beach that wasn't crowded compared to the areas closer to Santa Monica and the pier. A bonus of the location was being just down the road from the Getty Villa! We loved that the whole week we kept discovering new fun details in the decor - all the stained glass, hidden alcoves, painted and carved decorations, gargoyles, built-in furniture, decorative metalwork, and on and on. We loved that it was an older house full of quirks. We found our way around the kitchen just fine and were able to cook some nice meals together, including grilling and eating outside on the patio.
We were a little apprehensive at first about staying there in early August with no air conditioning, but found that with the windows kept open the place got excellent cross-ventilation and stayed perfectly cool - it was even chilly in the mornings. Surprisingly, despite leaving most of the windows open most of our stay, we hardly saw any bugs other than the ants which had been very accurately forseen in the description. The ants did show up, but weren't much bother. One of the couches in the living room had definitely seen better days, but we were still extremely comfortable and the place was perfect for our group. One downside was that my parents don't handle stairs so well anymore as they've gotten older, and while the house stairs were just fine with ample railings, it was also a lot of stairs outside to get to and from the beach, so they ended up driving to the beach in the mornings instead of walking, and had to pay for parking. There also was quite a bit of construction going on in the neighborhood, and narrow streets, which made it sometimes a bit challenging to manoeuver in and out of the neighborhood in the car. The area seems a little prone to landslides and shifting ground, so some of the houses above us on the hill looked a bit precarious, but they never toppled down on us during our stay so it was all good!