Cliff May (1903–1989)[1] was a building designer (he was not licensed as an architect until the last year of his life) practicing in California best known and remembered for developing the suburban Post-war "dream home" (California Ranch House), and the Mid-century Modern May built Monterey-style furniture as a young man.

[3] Robert Mondavi chose May to design his winery in which he incorporated features found in construction of California Missions.

His father's side of the family held a lifetime lease on the old Los Flores Rancho in San Diego County.

[1] May lived in his 10,000 square foot "ultimate ranch house" located on a 15-acre site in one of the canyons in the Santa Monica Mountains near Brentwood.

[5] May died in 1989 at the age of 83, at his estate "Mandalay" in Sullivan Canyon in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California.

[citation needed] In 2012, the UC Santa Barbara Art, Design & Architecture Museum and the organization Pacific Standard Time mounted a retrospective exhibition, Carefree California: Cliff May and the Romance of the Ranch, 1920-1960.