A reader, who recently moved to a lovely residential neighborhood near VanOwen and Sepulveda, writes:

“My partner and I bought a home in the Midvale Estates neighborhood in September of last year. We’re at the corner of Peach and Lemay – the northeastern boundary of our little subdivision. We moved here because we were smitten with the little pocket of Beaver Cleaver homes on Langdon and the quiet, wide, dog-walking streets.

By the way, thanks for your complaint to the city regarding the PSYCHIC sign on Victory. Can’t tell you how pissed I was to see that damn thing go up. I complained to the city with little optimism anything would be done. Now that it’s gone, they’ve taken to parking a truck with a sandwich board mounted on top advertising psychic services. *sigh*

We’ve slowly gotten to know our neighbors who seem to be a pleasant bunch of folks. Unfortunately, we got to know them a little better this past week under less than pleasant circumstances.

Part of the reason I’m writing is to let you and other residents of the area know we were the victims of what the LAPD terms a “home invasion”. We became complacent and forgot some of the basic rules of living in the city, partly because our neighborhood resembles more a small town than a big city, so this was a tough reminder to us and our neighbors that we need to be more mindful of our surroundings.

In the wee hours of the morning of 7/24, someone let themselves through two gates into our backyard, opened an unlocked slider, and not 10 feet from where we and our dogs slept, stole a laptop, cell phone and wallet from the coffee table and left the same way they came in. They were quick, quiet and stealthy, so much so, the dogs didn’t even detect their presence. We were ready to trade in the Pomeranians for a raging hippopotamus when we came to our senses and realized we still loved the dang things even if they make lousy watchdogs.

We’re over the initial shock of the incident and have since returned to a more ‘secure’ routine, however we refuse to wall ourselves up into the typical fortress of bars, gates, 10 foot high stucco walls, barking pit bulls and video cameras. I have to say the police were amazing in their response and have helped allay our fears of having moved to the area. According to the detectives we spoke to, they are never dispatched to our little area unless you include the hooker-busting on Sepulveda they occasionally partake in when it seems to become noticeable.

With all that said, if you happen to see some hooker with a silver Fujitsu laptop and matching Motorola RAZR phone hanging out on Sepulveda, let me know . . .”