Vix Bit

I install a lot of hardware, mostly in my own home, largely antique brass stripped free of paint, polished, or re-plated nickel.



One of life's little annoyances is an off-center screw hole. How to ensure a perfect pilot hole when drilling? Use a vix bit, a self-centering drill bit. The spring-loaded chamfered tip, or guide, centers the bit, then retracts into a larger housing as the bit penetrates. Vix Bits come in multiple sizes, most commonly 5/64 (intended for #3 & 4 screws), 7/64 (#'s 5 & 6), 9/64 (#'s 8, 9 & 10), and 11/64 (for #12 screws).

You're probably best buying them online, in a set (of three), or at a place like Rockler (feature coming soon).

Long Beach Flit

Another go-to hardware establishment named B & B? Yep, in Long Beach's California
Heights neighborhood. Long Beach's B & B Hardware mixes an extensive decorative hardware section with old house parts, and everyday items.














Tom Barnes/B&B Hardware
929 E. Wardlow Road Long Beach, CA 90807
(562) 490-2669
BNBHardware.com
















Near by, at the intersection of Orange and Wardlow (near Jan's Antique Mall), packed into a tiny streamline moderne storefront, Antique Emporium peddles vintage linens, California pottery, jewelry, and bric-a-brac. Open since April, proprietress Julie Brown-Wooley hopes to expand next door, unable to showcase her extensive backstock.


California Heights, the largest of Long Beach's 17 historic districts, was developed beginning in 1922. Fuzzy cheeked Sunset Magazine included the former Los Cerritos ranch land, in their 2004 Best Neighborhoods in the West feature.














The Vintage Emporium
3423 Orange Avenue
(562) 988-8460
TU - FRI 2 - 7 pm
SAT 10 am - 6 pm

Guessing Game

1. Guess the location:

a) Studio City
b) South Los Angeles
c) Monrovia
















The answer is: b
(Location: 64th & Cimarron, Canterbury Knolls)




2. Guess the location:

a) South Carthay
b) South Los Angeles
c) Burbank

















The answer is b
(Location: Leimert Park)





3. Guess the location:

a) East Los Angeles
b) South Los Angeles
c) Mar Vista















The answer is: c
Location: Mar Vista (Allin St. & Marionwood Dr.)


Thanks for playing!

Wednesday's Loose Change

Hey interested old house buyers: we lowered the price on 2042 S. Oxford, to $1,099,000.00.



The bricks stacked in the foreground, are remains of the original foundation, ready for patio makings or pathways.

The grass seed has grown full and tall.

*********************************************************

Danny Miller's piece ran Sunday in the Times, re-titled: Old? It's Gold!

Harvard Heights BMOC's are interviewed, including Steve Pallrand and Steve Wallis.

Youngstown, Anyone?

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. population reached a landmark 300 million sometime around 7:46 am Eastern time on October 18th (2006). Amongst so-called industrialized nations, the U.S. is a bit the anomaly, still recording significant population growth. The U.S. Census Bureau claims that an American is born every 7 seconds, one dies every 13 seconds, and the nation gains an immigrant from abroad every 31 seconds.

How does this seldom-checked growth relate to the housing market? Here's some additional numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau:



In 1915, when the U.S. population hit 100 million, the home-ownership rate was 45.9%, and the average price of a new home was $3,200. In 1967, when the U.S. population reached 200 million, homeownership had increased to 63.6%, whilst the average new house cost $24,600. In 2006, home ownership is higher yet again at 68.9% (though perhaps because of the significant recent appreciation in urban markets, the rate is in slight decline since 2003). The average cost of new-home in 2006? $290,600! That's a percentage change (since 1915) of 8,981! Real inflation, my backside!

(The home ownership rate is computed by dividing the number of owner-occupant housing units by the number of occupied housing units or households.)



Thank goodness consumers aren't limited only to new homes. Still, one wonders why ("affordable") housing advocates hesitate to rope population growth into the dialogue. (Am I "wondering", or am I asking?)

On that note, consider five metro markets that lost value in the 2005 boom year. (Statistics given are from 2005 year-ending.)

Buffalo-Niagara Falls: median home price $99K, percentage change -0.7%

Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor: median home price $138.9K, percentage change -5.2%

Detroit-Warren-Livonia: median home price $134.5K, percentage change -8.0%

Rockford: median home price: $128.7K, percentage change -5.1%

Youngstown-Warren-Boardman: $85.6K, percentage change -5.5%


Guess what all five metro areas have in common? They all lost population.

The Ugliest Residential Building in Los Angeles

At the corner of 42nd & Main.


Really, what is there to write? Is that a 9.5 gauge galvanized steel wire fence? Yes. Am I sure it's occupied? Yes.



Close by, in a chain maille hat box, the acclaimed Accelerated School operates. Perhaps I ought to organize a field trip, for the young and impressionables.

Some of you four-year olds may become architects or building contractors. You may be forced--by need--to take jobs, or perform work, that does not comport with your sense of self, wherein you are exploited, and your ideals besmirched.

Regardless, you mustn't broker in this sort of aesthetic waste. That architecture is not pure art is obvious, but it is also more than the merely practical. It is part of the public trust, for that which builders do, is visually consumed by all.

What Next, Phone Boxes?

The London Routemaster, perhaps the most famous of all double decker buses was removed from non-heritage route service in December 2005. Two of these celebrated red buses are now parked in a Pico-Union lot.



Perhaps they're on the way to Davis, California, where the University has operated vintage double-deckers since 1968.

If our Red Cars can wind up in Buenos Aires....




Visible from the corner of Union and Washington.

The Outhouse

No foolin'. Behind a modest Spanish Eclectic in the Faircrest Heights neighborhood. Just past the brick cook-out.




In point of fact, this ain't no outhouse (sometimes also called a backhouse), or unsewered outbuilding. There's no "dunny", crescent moon cutout, or peat moss stash; more exactly, it's a detached bathroom. A "one holer".








A thing like this could save a relationship.

Beam Ends

Beam Ends, or Exposed Structural Elements. They're all over my block, with many variations, often penetrating the bargeboard/vergeboard/gableboard--whatever, which hangs over the gable's front.




This one is quite shallow, the same depth as the dentil molding(s).





Really they're just end caps, meant to imitate a thru-tenoned look (a technique of wood jointry, popular in furniture making of the time).



These ends are shaped, elaborated, or chamfered.





I know architecture isn't about aesthetics, or isn't only about aesthetics--but damn if this stuff doesn't look great.

Ahura Mazda--The God of Light

At the turn of the century bare bulbs were common, particularly in the homes of the wealthy, hanging from long silk cords, in sconces, "beam lights", and ceiling fixtures. Bulbs weren't frosted yet either, not until 1925. No, the filament was to be admired, its dim warmness revered.

By 1903, a metal-coated carbon filament had even been introduced, that resisted darkening.






Reproductions of early Edison (long necked) bulbs, minus the bamboo filament, are available on-line and through sources like Rejuvenation. Gosh they're fun, and really who needs more than seven watts anyway?



A final note: in the early days of electric lighting, especially before standardization, bulbs would often be "renewed" after they burnt out. A bulb would be cut open, a new filament assembly installed, and re-vacuum sealed.

Zap!

Y Tu E-mail Tambien

Thanks everyone for the complimentary e-mails, it's always a good feeling to reach people outside my obvious, immediate referral network. It's also a bit of the point, really.




The billboard entries drew strong response (coming soon: The Ugliest Block in Los Angeles).

Also, a sprinkling asked about other plumbing supply options.

Martin Plumbing Supply Company, at the corner of James M. Wood and Hoover, gets my nod. (Warning hot sauce enthusiasts: it's tantalizingly close to El Taurino.)



Keep your eyes peeled for Harvard Heights neighbor/free-lance writer Danny Miller's upcoming piece in the Los Angeles Times real estate section, potentially titled When Upgrades are Downgrades. Danny keeps an entertaining blog, chock-full of house histories and histrionics: www.dannymiller.typepad.com

Zillow

The founders of Expedia.com, an online travel service, have drawn notice with Zillow.com, which offers free real estate valuations. Zillow may have spawned real estate voyeurism, as thousands spy the estimated value(s) of their own home, neighbors, and others. The information is easy to access, gaily presented, and sometimes married with aerial photographs.

Of course, the data is flawed. It incorporates non-market transactions, such as "buddy" sales between family members, and other closings that may not reflect open-market consideration. Real estate's basic measures, like baseball averages, are largely flawed, presumptions that come closest to working in condominium complexes, trailer parks, and planned unit communities.



Still, Zillow's better than a previous model which sought to auction homes online (homeauction-line.com).

Which reminds me, can I interest you in some prime Florida swamp land?

How Light Becomes Dark

Restoration gods help me, the next time somebody says, "But you know Craftsman houses are so dark."

Dark wood, does not necessarily a dark house make. Frequently, the houses became darker, as they were altered, updated even.

A recent purchase by clients in the West Adams Avenues is a case in point. Heavy drapery, rust-colored carpeting, awnings, and an enclosed, faux-paneled porch, combined to lower the lux.





A window even was covered (to make another closet), non-carpeted floors were blanketed with a dark vinyl, and the original back door--which likely had a glass panel or two--was replaced by a solid, hollow core.





In other cases, security doors and screens are a light robbing culprit, as is run-away landscaping, drop ceilings, side yard car ports, and spite fences.

Sure darkness is in the eye of the beholder. Sure dark woodwork may cut down on reflectivity, but incident light--that's another matter. A matter considered by architects and builders in the Arts & Crafts era. Don't blame 1910 for 1934, 1958, 1971, or 1994.

Wha' ppenin'?

Blog was on hiatus--again. Computer went down, a big home improvement project beckoned, and the work volume maintained despite end-of-year jitters.

Speaking of the work front/homefront, I'm still showing the Emard house (see Archives for photos, history). There's been some interest and a couple of near deals, tons of return traffic, but no cigar.



I've a couple of deals for buyers going, with mid December closings. One, a Kinney Heights Craftsman, features a seldom seen feature: original tapestries, above the fireplace and in the dining room.

I have two listings coming in Kinney Heights, to boot, both on 24th Street. (Kinney Heights is roughly bounded by Adams on the South, the 10 freeway on the North, Western on the East, and Arlington on the West. Some might claim East of Gramercy as Gramercy Park, though little of the Olmstead layout survives.)

Both properties promise to be bargains, mostly because of their smaller stature. Both will be profiled here soon, before they show on the "multiples". Inquiries are always welcome. Here's a sneak peak at one, and its nearly finished paint job.

The Sand Man

I sand a lot of wood, I'm always re-finishing something, or I've a client doing the same. Or two clients doing the same.

I've found a few tools to make the job of sanding faster, easier, and the results better. My workhorse is a 6" Fein random-orbit sander.




Sure, I started using the $70 random orbit Porter Cable or Makita sander, just like everyone else. The Porter Cable is a good little palm sander for a weekend hobbyist, some here-and-there paint prep, or a piece of clean fir; but, under heavy, continuous wear, it's a disposable tool.

The Fein isn't for everyone, it's pricey, a bit bulkier, and a lot more powerful. It's greater power though, allows me to start sanding with lighter grit pads, which eliminates successively finer rounds (as I try to reduce first-pass swirl markings).

A terrific Fein accessory is the umbilically attached vac, which sucks away the majority of the dust, and makes working inside tolerable. (The Festool brand offers a similar product pairing.)



Even with Edge sanders, Profile sanders, and Multi-tools, a project often demands hand sanding. Rockler carries a line of hand sanding aids called "Tadpoles". Molded plastic pieces, that fit to rounded moldings and corners. They're cheap, four pieces to a five dollar bag.



The photo shows two tadpoles, one partially wrapped with sandpaper (the concave piece without).

Finally, to fill nail holes or what have you, I use ZAR woodfill, which comes in a squeeze tube, and in different colors. I've never found a woodfill that takes stain perfectly, but the Zar will darken and assume some of the color. I usually apply it heavily, wipe it later with a moist rag, and then sand it flush (before staining).

Back to the projects....