Code Words

The cover story of this week's (Aug 25-31) LA Weekly is entitled, Welcome to Gentrification City. Author David Zanhiser considers the "perils and pleasures of gentrification", and recent changes in neighborhoods like Echo Park and Manhattan Beach. South Los Angeles back-ends the article. I was interviewed for the story, and several of my unremarkable mutterings made it to print.

I applaud David's effort, though I differed with his description of my clientele: "...the multi-ethnic, largely well-heeled..." Most of my clients rather, are middle-class, though capable of encumbering themselves with lolloping levels of debt.




Moreover, gentrification's a loaded word (David knows this). It's code for "Whitey-fication".

It's not the only code word or phrase one encounters in real estate dealings.


"It's too far South". Code for: I'm unwilling to live in a neighborhood with so many shvartzes.

"Enough parking for five cars." Translation: This neighborhood'll tolerate inappropriate levels of occupancy.

"Seller will pay closing costs", is nearly the same as: fetch this bone, cash-strapped immigrantes.

"Large enough for your growing family", translates as: suitable for human warehousing.

"But it's the valley" means "but it's the valley". Errr....

Scott's Garage

Scott did it right. Before starting work on his house, he re-hauled the garage.

(I sense narrowing lids.) Procrastination? An artful dodge? Loads of money and free time? Nein!


Scott knew he needed a functional workshop, a place to stage, a space he could secure. Viola'!


My own garage is nearly as well ordered.






Ok so it's not as well ordered; but, I did install a utility sink.




It's the best place to clean brushes, soak hardware, scrub your hands, floss, etc.

I gotta get this place cleaned up.


There's probably a magazine I can throw away.

The Most Asked Questions

Recentering El Pueblo is bookmarked by a few. There's a New York City cabbie eyeing property in the Bronx, some comedy writers, a firefighter, Sam, and the KPCC folk.

A few write, fewer still call with questions, except the cabbie.

Of those questions, two are asked most often:

1. Will the market soften at the end of the year?
2. Why doesn't my likeness grace the site?

Firstly, yes the market will soften at the end of the year. The market softens at the end of every year. But will there be anything worth buying then? Inventory tends not to refresh at quite the same rate. Who can say, and by how much will it
soften? Impossible to know.




Secondly, RecenteringElPueblo is a quasi-professional site. I hope to connect with buyers and sellers, not air hostesses or Tejana lip sync-ers. Still, here's a couple of self-portraits snapped during picture-taking at 2042 S. Oxford Avenue.





Now then, let's forget about Riverdale....

Second Banana

Wonder why the Valley gets a bad name? It's banners like these, along Ventura Boulevard. A great boulevard, Ventura Boulevard.


Does Hoover Avenue seek billing as a "Poor Man's Vermont"?
Does Cesar Chavez advertise itself as "The East Side's Abbott Kinney"?
Does Brand Boulevard bear banners which read "Glendale's Westwood"?

Day Two

Can I keep the blog going? In a desperate search for material, I reviewed my photo files--The Archives!

Mostly shots of my kid. And salvaged plumbing.

Ok, there were a few others. A mailbox in Pasadena, likely original to a house built in 1915. What a stunner!






A bathroom for pre-school age children, with an ingenous linoleum wainscot.

Which brings me to one of my peeves, bathroom design for persons under 40" tall. All your public buildings have a lowered urinal, natch. But almost never is the sink within reach (the second photo from Elysian Park is typical), nor are the towels, nor the soap.



Here's one last slap in the face of human decency. Jalousy windows set into a transom--a jalousy transom!! Yeah I bet that louvered slit really cools things off in August/September. Probably works about as well as a screened mail slot, or a slatted peek-a-boo, or an uncovered milk pass-through.



Anyhow, I'll be back tomorrow. But what in the blazes with?

The blog is back

I've been away for a while. Got real busy. Bounded through escrow on 29th Place, ate lunch, represented buyers on three different purchase deals, interviewed for a listing, arranged a lease. I'm still chasing "it" with a couple buyers; and, at long last 2042 S. Oxford Avenue is ready for market.

When you're away that long in creeps doubt: "Can I blog the way I used to? Why would anyone read what I have to write? Do I still matter?"



Then the mail is delivered and in it, a "Just Sold" post card.

Now two-thirds of my mail is real estate related: offers to refinance, recruitment letters, escrow missives, vendor promotions, slum lord solicitations (oh, we'll get to those later), etc, etc.

But this just chaps my hide. "Neighbors take notice, newbies are coming in, and they spent ten times what you paid in '72. Mos' def' they own cool electronics, original art, and check out their secret wall safe in the den." Ok, so it's not that bad, but consider again the price line: "Offered at". Offered at? How about, 'sold for'?



Oooops, in this case it sold for thirty-five grand less. Can't let that get in the way of a slick marketing come-on (particularly when it comes at the expense of somebody else's buyer, not your seller).

My friends at the big brokerages think I'm uptight. "That information can be had on public records web-sites", they counter, "furthermore, it generates business."

"You could probably generate as much business", I retort, "if you attached a giant clown head festooned with contact info to the roof of your Lexus sedan. Furthermore, you'll never do business with the buyer your Just Sold Card outed."

"You work your side of the street Janeiro", they snarl.

"Fine", I answer, "just stay out of Pico-Union and Boyle Heights."