Category: Links

.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }

Yesterday, I was walking around this neighborhood during my “lunch hour” and happened to meet a woman who was shooting with her Canon for possible film locations.

I told her about a house I had just seen on Troost (about six blocks west) that was “an all American place” with a picket fence, mature trees and a tire swing hanging from a tree.

She told me that she was scouting for “K-Mart” and that this would involve a kid getting off a school bus and Mom meeting him in front of the house.

She wanted to know exactly where the perfect sounding home was, and I told her I would drive back with her and show her exactly where it was. I had parked in front of that home and this was a way of getting a ride back.

“No thanks,” she said. “That would be TOO WEIRD”. She got into her black coupe car and drove off.

I guess my expensive camera and her expensive camera and the broad daylight of Studio City and my clean shaven, white face were all too ominious for this female.

The new “L.A. Land” blog published by the LA Times has an article about Santa Monica sticker shock as prices for a single famly home have now gone past $5 million.

Comments on the article range from “the bubble is going to burst” to how overvalued property is north of Montana. Frankly, I think if I had the cash I would live there in a heartbeat. Trade in heat, smog, crime and low quality schools for paradise? One comment by Windu seems to sum up why people choose to live in the Montana neighborhood of Santa Monica:

“As much as some are praying for Westside home prices to tank, it’s just not happening. And frankly, I’m not sure it will. Pop over to the Homicide Report and check out the link to Michael Quick’s map of L.A. homicides. Out of the hundreds of death markers shown, there only 4 to the west of the longitude represented by LaCienega Blvd., all the way from the 101 to Palos Verdes. For some areas east of that line, there are so many black markers it looks like someone spilled ink on the map. And south of Sunset, north of LAX? The number drops to 2.

The fact is that the Westside sells peace of mind to affluent families with kids, plus cachet, beach proximity, and a lack of Valley smog and heat. And for many, disgustingly, the relative lack of diversity is a plus. I personally know well-off Brentwood parents who think their newlywed kids are slumming it by buying in Hancock Park. As the middle class is priced out of L.A. leaving a clogged and stagnant hourglass of haves and have-nots, the demand for the best of Westside real estate may actually increase.

After all, those six-percenter real estate agents who doubled their income during the boom are movin’ on up (I know two that have just moved into the $1.8M+ mansions in PDR’s One Westbluff development). And the large law firms in town have just raised first-year salaries to $160,000 (not including bonuses).”

5

Photos: Michael 73

5 Scenes from a world class city: Alhambra, Spain. People there live amidst history, nature and have a sense of pride in their environment.

Top image is the corner of Sepulveda and Victory in Van Nuys, CA. Not yet a world class city.

Strange that an influx of Spanish speakers hasn’t degraded the environment one bit in Spain. Could it be that illegal immigration has a minimal effect on the stupidity of how we live, govern and build in our city?

.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }

“Oh, I’m so sorry I didn’t call you back. I’ve been so busy. There was work and then I had the flu. I would LOVE to get together with you. We should meet up for lunch if I’m in the Valley. Well, I may be there…I’ll let you know. Bye.”

“Hey man. How you doin? Yeah? Everything cool? Yeah, just working at this gig down in Studio City. No, def-initely lets meet up. There’s someone I want you to meet who has this idea for a website. He’s a French dude. Really cool. We should all hook up!”

“Sorry dude. Mike went to Boston with his wife that’s why we couldn’t hook up for the conference. I still really mean that your idea is awesome and I know Mike thinks so too. Why don’t I call you sometime next week and we can meet up for lunch, maybe in Hollywood?”

“Hey, what’s shakin? Guess who I saw in Runyon Canyon yesterday? Lorna Horz? Yes, she’s pregnant and was with her new boyfriend. She said she was sorry she never got back to you about the job, but she just moved into a new place in West Hollywood and said we should all meet there for drinks. She still looks great, talked about you and said she misses you!”

“Oh, my God! I can’t believe that my celphone died. I lost EVERYONE’s number and contact. I tried to find you and I even Googled your name, but nothing came up under “Andrew and Van Nuys”. Are you still living up in the Valley? That’s cool. I started working in Silver Lake, it’s a new job that is pretty cool. Nice benefits and it pays well. I’ll probably be working there about two weeks. We should meet up after I’m done. That’s would be really cool. “

A fantastic new digital archive has been assembled by UCLA. They have just “selected and digitized 5,124 of the more than three million images contained in the Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles Daily News photographic archives. The photographs chronicle the history and growth of Los Angeles from the 1920s to 1990.” A look back at the collection shows that the Southland was just as wacky 80 years ago as today.

Photo above shows LA during one of its frequent smog alerts. At least one thing has gotten better in LA since 1964.

Less smog, and much better sushi.