I thought I would post a photo and description of a home for sale in Woodcliff Lake, NJ where my parents live:
Listing Description
“Spacious and custom 4 bedroom 2.5 bath center hall colonial. 3/4 acre of park like property with inground heated sylvan concrete pool, finished basement, hardwood flooring through out as in, 2 car attached garage, under ground sprinklers, large private 4 season enclosed porch, plenty of closet and storage space, close to schools, shopping and n.y.c. public transportation, a must see home!” $925,000
Woodcliff Lake is about 45 minutes or 17 miles NW of Manhattan. It is a quiet, upper-middle class town of 5,000 people. It has fine schools, beautiful parks, and some historic Revolutionary War era homes. Last year, I was visiting home, when a storm blew through and a cable-TV line fell down in front of the house. In 10 minutes, the cops were there to report it. Oh, and I forgot about the trains to NYC and the buses to 42nd Street. Oh, and then there is the Old Mill Pond where you swim….
Then there is Sherman Oaks, CA. It also has some fine schools (if you can afford to send your kids there). It’s about 45 mintues from….Northridge….when the traffic is moving. It is quiet along its streets and has many homes dating back to the Vietnam War era. There is only the occasional murder, armed robbery and automatic weapons at Ralphs incident to mar the safety. Here is a 3-bedroom house for sale on 1/6 of an acre:
Gorgeous new custom home in fabulous SO area. One level, cathedral ceilings thruout, open and lite, incredible attention to detail. Huge master suite with h&h closets, huge bath with walk-in shower, jacuzzi tub and custom vanity. Loads of storage thruout. Gourmet kitchen with stainless steel appl., custom maple cabinets,granite countertops opens to large den. French doors from den and master open to custom redwood deck and landscaped private yard. Hardwood floors thruout. Dual fireplace. $1,099,000
Could LA be just a little OVERPRICED?
Here in Van Nuys 
You make Woodcliff Lake sound great, but let’s be honest about it, W.L. is more like Calabassas, Sherman Oaks is more like Paramus.
I grew up in Montvale (the town next to W.L. for those wondering, think NJ’s version of Agoura Hills) you know there’s nothing to do in either town, not even with the recent addition of that little mall on Chestnut Ridge Road. Wow an Apple Store and a J Crew, great.
Off the top of my head I can’t think of any murders in W.L., but what about the mafia guys murdered behind Davey’s Locker, the body found buried in a septic tank behind Pascack Hills, and the teenager who murdered his whole family in the early 80’s. And I remember kids at PHHS having guns in the mid to late 90’s.
Sure that area of NJ is nicer than the valley (just a whole hell more boring) but I haven’t had to shovel a driveway or de-ice a car in the four years I’ve been out here.
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^ It’s ironic that Los Angeles is famous for all its people who fuss over and take pride in the look of (or aesthetics, if you will) their cars, and, particularly when it comes to those living in West LA, the look (or aesthetics) of their face lifts, muscle tone, tummy tucks and breast jobs. And yet in all years I’ve heard and read about discussions regarding southern California, I’ve rarely, if ever, noticed a lot of serious attention given to the look (or aesthetics) of much of it.
Do you think LA would be in much better shape today if the following document, issued not long ago, had been the rule rather than the exception from the very beginning? Uhh, is the Pope Catholic?
http://cityplanning.lacity.org/Code_Studies/Other/LincolnCDOSlideshowwebformat.pdf
These are the key quotes from that document:
…”it is imperative for the City of Los Angeles to
improve the unsightly character and poor
visual identity that exists”…
01/11/05 Council Motion
The Boulevard
Challenges
visual clutter, signs, power lines,
narrow sidewalks,
car-oriented and unsafe for
pedestrians,
unkempt properties,
uninspiring architecture.
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Thanks for the booster shot there.
When I started this blog in March 2005, it was as much in the spirit of optimism as criticism. I want to show us how to imagine a better place to live.
If there are aspects of our community that I (and many others) find appalling, such as litter, graffitti, billboards, gangs, sprawl, ugly housing and mini-malls…and they are also correctable…and then this blog is a way of publicizing and showing it to the world.
I’m not running for political office, because I don’t have the patience for the painted smiles and plastic personality one has to adopt to survive. Instead, I’m using the power of words and images to complain, cajole, criticize and create a dialogue about what we can do to improve Van Nuys and the greater Southland.
Gail Goldberg, the city planner of LA, recently said we have “low expectations” of our urban environment. That is so damn true! By contrasting and comparing Van Nuys to places such as Northern NJ or even Switzerland, which have the same resources and tax dollars we do, I can highlight the obscene deficencies of our local way of life.
People SHOULD ask: Is this the best that we can expect?
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> Either run for office
> and take action or live
> in the moment and
> surrender to the reality
> of Los Angeles.
I think if more people in LA had been (and were) as demanding and cranky, if you will, as Andrew has been about the city’s deficiencies, it wouldn’t have so many shortcomings to begin with.
For instance, believe it or not, but many, or most, of the small houses built throughout Van Nuys over 50 years ago, which seemingly even people with poor eyesight could’ve determined were flimsy and ugly, really didn’t strike many developers and buyers back then as all that bad. And what’s true of that is true of so many other mediocre aspects of southern California.
Quite simply, a lack of enough discernment and a more demanding mindset among too many Angelenos, and NOT the reason of their always being hamstrung by limited funding, is a major reason communities like Van Nuys, or the weather-beaten portions of LA and Orange Counties in general (have you ever been trapped in the old blue-collar anomie of Buena Park, Norwalk, Westminster or Stanton?), are so dreary.
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We live with such pervasive ugliness in new housing in LA, that I didn’t even bother to mention it.
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The description of the Sherman Oaks home fails to mention the big, ugly garage that mars the front of the house! Worst.Architectural.Design.Ever.
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Andrew, dude, why are you even here in Van Nuys? Post after post you complain. The Valley kinda sucks and it always has. The Westside is decent if you can afford it and love bumper to bumper traffic. You’re a really smart person and and I enjoy this blog but some posts are just pointless and negative. Either run for office and take action or live in the moment and surrender to the reality of Los Angeles. It’ll never be a beautiful city in Europe or an old suburb on the East Coast. Being this angry is like you’re taking poison but expecting the city to die from it—or at least change for the better.
I’m going to keep reading because I’m now more interested in how you’re doing than how screwed up the city is. If you ever want to drop an email link to a city official at the end of your post I would take the step to follow through and sound off on whatever the issue of the moment is. Maybe other people in the area would do the same and the voice or the rational majority might be heard for a change.
I guess I just wanted to say that you’re not alone but you sound like you feel that way. So, you have our attention. We all agree. Now what?
Coop
coopgrafik.com/blog
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The house in the top pic looks cool…is that your parents’ pad?
The asphalt-backed fronds in the bottom pic shout SoCal.
Oh my.
So you’re saying NYC’s over?
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Andrew:
I used to live in Ramsey (moved to Sherman Oaks four years ago).
The short answer to your question: Yes, yes, a thousand times yes.
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