More Agent Turn-ons

Closet windows were not uncommon in early 20th century building, allowing light and ventilation--the things windows do! Most closet windows were plain, single light casements. A complex muntin pattern (see left, from Ochs Manor) was very definitely an upgrade, in the service of exterior continuity. Occasionally a small double hung sash was employed .


Twin, decorative double-hung sashes in a closet, and a planter box to boot--unprecedented!

How nice that I've a buyer in escrow on this prize. The client however is wise to my feitico.
"Are you here to see me," he'll smartly ask in future when I visit, "or just the closet?"

The Expo Line Cometh

As work on the Expo Line advances, inquest deepens. What will the Expo Line deliver? Disappointing ridership, passing along the fringes of sleepy bedroom communities, and an also-ran manufacturing corridor? The beginnings of a vital East-West rail route, paralleling the 10 freeway, whisking commuters in-and-out of downtowns L.A. and Culver, USC, and the Hayden tract? Dizzy development, as suddenly incentivized builders makeover moribund Exposition Boulevard? Rising land and home prices, buoyed by a major infrastructure improvement and the hip factor. A massive uptick in crime, as undesirables breach the residential sanctum, get-aways performed on the hour and half-hour?

It's hard to predict ridership, particularly for the limited phase one section terminating in downtown Culver City, but officials project a healthy 43,000 non weekend boardings a day by 2025. Perhaps those numbers are politically augmented; still, the MTA has often been accused of low-balling predictions, and several lines have exceeded expectations.

While the ultimate phase two alignment is undecided, the target terminus is 5th and Colorado, in Santa Monica.

Developers, drawn by density bonuses and other perks, will likely contemplate projects along the industrial hinterlands between Arlington and La Cienega and beyond.

Overlooked amongst those factors contributing to the appreciation of LA real estate this decade: the completion of the Metro Red Line (or "the Subway to Somewhere" in 1999-2000) and Gold Line (2003). Studies concerning the impacts of rail transit in the bay area (BART), along the Miami-Dade system, in suburban Philadelphia (SEPTA), across the Eastside Metropolitan Area Express (Portland), and in DeKalb county (Georgia), show almost without exception higher property values (per square foot) in those areas served. The extent of property value increases appears tied to market penetration, i.e. ridership. (I'll write more about this apparent relationship soon)

The Cheviot Hills NIMBYS apparently foster a security concern, a stilted conkerbill of '70's urban warfare films, waves of lumbering, crime-committing zombies and icy cool pachucos, mysteriously excluded from other forms of transportation--even buses--waging gang sanctioned siege, overwhelming blubbery, leaden law enforcement.

Hmmm, puts me in the mood for a good Western.

PLUM part 3 or more on McMansions

America's latest hare and hounds, Mansionization the campaign, square footage the quarry.

The space race, is it Jones'n, keeping up with the Jones', or subcortical sabotage? Or partly a response to increasing urban density, this hoarding of interior space?

Los Angeles, frequently billed as the swami of decentralization, continues to become more dense, now the 8th densest big city in America, leap-frogging Baltimore and Minneapolis. More pointedly, of the ten most populous U.S. cities, LA ranks fourth in persons per square mile, trailing only New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia.

Concomitantly, the creation of valuable green space, open space, grand public space fails to keep pace (ergo the popularity of bogus public spaces like the Grove). Interiors have swollen to compensate for lost exterior space, a residential DMZ.

McMansions are frequently the end yield of teardowns. They are homes assembled from mass produced parts, with stock plans often used to reduce costs, an artless assemblage of borrowed signifiers, cheesy Mediterranean revival elements paired with colonial kitsch.

They are actually very useful for illustrating the importance of proportion, because they almost always get it wrong. Tiny windows appear even more diminutive, shrunken against sheer stucco face. Party-sized balconies jut into perpetual space, porches are reduced to open air broom closets.

The free world's 21st century version of ruinous 1950's-60's era urban renewal, destroying cohesiveness in the name of progress, like the terrible fabric discarding re-muddles that transform L.A.'s great early housing stock into the next blight.

Traffic Czar

I haven't an opinion on the mayor's plan to alter traffic patterns along Pico and Olympic. I have in the past however, jokingly lobbied for the pseudo position of Traffic Czar, dedicated to the research and consideration of traffic streamlining measures, coordinating the efforts of planning, engineering, and transit. How's that for a job description?

Fascinated by some of the traffic calming measures implemented by other cities, notably Berkeley (see images), I'd favor significantly more street closures along/perpendicular to major thoroughfares. Support among community groups would be high, in praise of the insulating value of the cul-de-sac.

Likely, I'd just funnel as much money as possible toward rail growth, abandoning any precept of build it/fill it freeway expansion projects.

I'd likely impose a commuter tax too, ala Philadelphia, and not a payroll expense tax. How about a tax on drive-thru's? I'd go tax crazy! The power is corrupting already! Seriously, I think the citizens of Los Angeles will pay for demonstrable capital improvements. It's easier to sell people stuff they can see and use.


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I will be open at 2241 and 1/2 W. 24th ST. tomorrow (Sunday, February 17th) from 1 - 4:30 pm. The property is located nearly one block East of Arlington, on the North side of the street.

4943 Genevieve Ave.

This one goes up on the MLS later today. I'll be holding my first open next Thursday (February 21st) from 11 am - 2 pm. Those of you interested in the Northeast, may appreciate the price.

Eagle Rock Aerie.
Eagle Rock tree-topper with faint mid-century lines. Cherished views, dynamic massing, one-half block from amenities-rich Colorado Boulevard.

Two bedrooms, one bath, plus multi-purpose space and enclosed yard.

4943 Genevieve Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90041

Map: 565/C6

$499,000.00

Things I Found in January

Lots of vintage subway tile. I scooped up the busted pieces too, in the hopes I can cut to a common size. A ton of scraping and chiseling awaits. Most will need to soak in muriatic acid to dissolve the cement bond.

These tile are more dimensionally perfect (even edge to edge) than tile that is extruded (when wet clay is forced through a mold) and cut into shape before firing, which is how the vast majority of contemporary subway tile is manufactured.

Really I didn't find these so much as another real estate agent offered me access to her demo debris. "They weren't perfect," she allowed sheepishly, and with great awareness of the vapors rising from my nearly shaved scalp. "There were a few cracks in the floor and missing towel bars had left some holes", she continued without distraction as firefighters arrived to douse my cabeza.

People and their perfection. One dodo chucked every door in his 6,000 sq ft. 1880's Edwardian. "They couldn't be made perfect", he explained. "Is imperfection so bad," I responded, "you'll have a few liver spots too at 120 years of age."

Another client, loathed a massive, original, mammary-shaped living room light fixture. Commendably, he removed the light, packed it securely in his basement, and passed it along to the next owner to re-install. Bravo!

Stood Up

That's me, cooling my heels. In the truck, waiting.

No-shows are so prevalent I plan for idle time, notebook in hand, cell phone at the ready. Agents seldom skip scheduled showings, but unattached "signers" or MLS junkies routinely bag appointments.

For this and other reasons, many agents resort to keysafes and lockboxes, or dispatch junior agents. I do not. I'm present for every showing, to augment observation, respond to inquiry, or recite knock-knock jokes.

Knock, knock
Who's there?
Old lady
Old lady who?
I didn't know you could yodel.

Still, I've even been stood up more than once at the same property by the same would-be buyer. Who's the glutton?

Some truants are so uncomfortable canceling showings--and potentially engendering disappointment--one presumes, they'd rather go AWOL. This type of avoidance is popularly referred to as "passive aggressive." Ever hear of it?

Flyer Boxes

One became a repository for chewing gum, another was tagged and stuffed with hamburger wrappers. Flyers are pilfered, folded into paper airplanes, handy message pads for the shopping cart sect.

Amazingly, my box at 2241 1/2 W. 24th St. also serves to exchange love letters. I found the second therein Wednesday, folded neatly and sealed with a blue-green sticker. The notes are hand-written, in Inglanol (not the converse Spanglish, wherein Spanish is affected by English), presumably the stuff of teens.

I can't remember writing love letters as a teen, though mustn't I have? I drew a menu once as part of a home-cooked, romantic dinner. Mostly, I just asked girls to the movies.
Time was, I mistakenly took a young lady to a rough-and-tumble Chuck Bronson cop caper titled Murphy's Law, rather than the Martin Ritt directed, lovey-dovey comedy, Murphy's Romance.

Multiplexes can be so confusing.