In his new Los Angeles architecture blog, Moby features a photo of a lemon-yellow Silver Lake bungalow (pictured at top) to illustrate a post about how affordable L.A. is for working artists compared to New York, London and San Francisco. The electronic music star tells of how a friend recently purchased a two-bedroom condo “in a pretty nice part of l.a.” for $250,000 that would probably fetch $1 million in New York. The result, he said, is a “brain-drain” of artistic talent from those high prices cities to Los Angeles. Said Moby:
I know nothing about the [Silver Lake] house in this picture except that: a-it’s kind of beat up. b-it has spectacular views of griffith park and huge swathes of l.a. c-it probably costs 1/10th as much as it would cost in any other big, western city.
But what if Moby’s friend had gone house hunting in Silver Lake? That friend and any other working artist would find very little to buy for $250,000, based on what’s currently on the market. In fact, according to Redfin, only three of the Silver Lake homes now on the market are priced below $250,000, and one of those is in escrow.
[Read More…]
View Flipping Highland Park in a larger map
Homes for sale or in in escrow shown in blue; red markers indicate homes sold during the previous year.
Photo from Redfin
Home flippers have been busy buying and selling homes across Highland Park for sometime now, but some corners of the neighborhood are attracting more attention than others. Take for example Burwood and Strickland avenues east of Figueroa Street, where in the past year six homes within about a block of each other have all shown the signs of being bought and sold by investors (typically, house flippers buy, fix and sell a property within a year). Three of the homes, shown in red in the above map, sold within the past year while three (shown in blue) are currently on the market or in escrow. The newest fixed up flip to hit the market – an 858-square-foot bungalow at 6217 Burwood (pictured) – went up for sale this past week at an asking price of $419,000 – that is nearly $180,000 more than what the house sold for in November, according to Redfin. If this Highland Park block gets flipped out, where will investors head next?
Photo from CRISNET/MLS
Most of the Spanish Colonial-style homes and storybook cottages that line the streets of Atwater Village were built in the 1920s and 1930. Those homes are relative newbies compared to this newly listed three-bedroom home in the 4000 block of Baywood Street. The farmhouse-like structure was built in 1890, according to the listing and city records. It’s not clear if the house was built somewhere else and later moved on to the block but its location north of Chevy Chase Drive puts it one of the earliest parts of the neighborhood to be developed, according to an Atwater history posted by the Friends of Awater Village. In fact, at the time the house 122-year-old house was built, there really was no community known as Atwater – the area near the river was called Riverdale – and Baywood Street was known and Eucalyptus Street.
How much to own a piece of pre-20th Century Atwater/Riverdale? Asking price is $454,000, according to Redfin.
When it comes to replicating the features and details of that give old buildings character, many of today’s builders don’t have the time or budget to use the materials or techniques of the past. That’s the case in Echo Park were the builder of an approximately 90-unit retirement complex across from Echo Park Lake is trying to pass off the structure as a vaguely Spanish Colonial-Mission Viejo Mediterranean with a material not usually associated with a construction: foam. Last week, workers were placing white piece of foam – pictured above – shaped like corbels or brackets into the corners of apartment balconies. The blue film over the foam is supposed will help a layer of stucco stick to the foam, said one worker.
[Read More…]
Silver Lake’s How House - a 1925 designed home designed by modernist legend R.M. Schindler - display’s the architect expertise in creating a showpiece out of concrete and glass. But, in recent years, it’s the home’s plunging price – not the architecture – that have generated attention. In 2008, the four-bedroom house on the 2400 block of Silver Ridge Avenue was put up for sale at $4.995 million after being restored. But that rich price put off buyers, and the price chopping ensued a million dollars at a time. A year ago, the How House returned to the market listed at $1.695 million but apparently no sale took place. Now, the home is back on the market at $1.495 million, according to Redfin. Is the fifth time (or is it the sixth?) the charm?
Photo from Redfin
What to do when your noisy neighbor turns out to be the southbound 2 Freeway? In the case of this newly listed Silver Lake home in the 240o block of Corralitas Drive, the front wall that faces the freeway across the street includes a layer of QuietRock, a type of drywall that the manufacturer claims absorbs more sound than traditional drywall and other materials. The Redfin listing gives top billing to the QuietRock over the stainless steel appliances, soaking tub and other amenities of the $649,000 home:
Starting with the Quite Rock” drywall used on the front walls, this sound reducing drywall allows you to walk into the living room and shut out all the noise of the hustle and bustle outside.
How much less hustle and bustle – or freeway roar – will be heard as a result of that layer of Quiet Rock? The listing does not say but a pair of ear plugs always helps.
Photo by Stephen Roullier
When Echo Park Lake’s costly clean up is completed next year, one of the park’s icons – the Art Deco-style Lady of the Lake statue – will be restored and returned to her original location at the tip of a peninsula on the northern end of the lake. Most long time residents welcome the relocation of the nearly 80-year-old statue by Ada Mae Sharpless to its original and more prominent spot, currently occupied by concrete-block pump house. But, at last night’s update on the lake clean up project, there was some conflicting views as to which way the Lady of the Lake should face when returned to her original home. While many residents remember that statue facing to the north, away from the water, a few residents at last night’s meeting insisted that the statue faced south in the direction of the lake. Would it not be better if the Lady of Lake faced the water, said one woman.
But, as the above 1974 by Echo Park resident Stephen Roullier shows, the 14-foot-high Lady of the Lake faced north, away from the water.
[Read More…]
Before: Contemporary style proposed by Heyday Homes.
After: Same project redone in Spanish-style. Image from TERA newsletter
Last year, local developer Heyday Partnership sold the Eagle Rock site where it proposed building 19 homes designed in a sleek and stark contemporary style (pictured at top). Now, the new owners of the project, housing giant Pulte Homes, has reworked the design, and the result is a much more traditional, Spanish-influenced style (pictured at bottom). The new design was presented to The Eagle Rock Association. The association had given its blessing to the Heyday project- called Ellenwood – but decided to also give its stamp of approval to the Pulte design, which also included one fewer home than the previous plan. The most recent TERA newsletter explains why TERA lined up behind the Pulte:
Architectural Style: Pulte’s plan depict s a Spanish style exterior, moderately rich with architectural detail. Heydey’s plan was contempory. We concluded that the Spanish style may be a more comfortable fit for the neighborhood.
Setback: Small courtyards at dwelling entrances allow Pulte’s plan to place the building facades 10 to 15 feet away from the property line, much farther away from the property line than contemplated by Heydey. The courtyards also provide a limited amount of outside space to each home. This was not present in the Heyday plan.
Construction of the now 18-home development, which Pulte is calling Mosaic, is expected to begin later this month, according to TERA. Prices are expected to begin in the $500,000 range.
Richard & Lisa Duardo | Photo by Martha Benedict
Several of the artists who were involved in a pioneering Chicano art movement in Highland Park during the 1970s attended Saturday night’s opening reception of Resurrected Histories: Voices from the Chicano Arts Collectives of Highland Park. With their hair now streaked with gray, the artists, friends and family members were part of an over-flow crowd that jammed Avenue 50 Studio in Highland Park to view the vintage photos, posters and artwork generated during that era. In the photo above, artist Richard Duardo, who founded Centro de Arte Publico, and his sister, Lisa Duardo, stand in front of a photo (bottom image) taken of them during the 1970s when Centro de Arte was one of three Highland Park artist collectives that turned the neighborhood into a center for young Chicano artists. Click on the link below for other photos from last night’s art opening.
[Read More…]
Photo from Redfin/CRMLS
| Date |
Price |
| Dec. 7 |
$575,000 |
| Dec. 17 |
$445,000 |
| Dec. 21 |
$435,000 |
| Jan. 5 |
$430,000 |
| Jan. 10 |
$425,000 |
Many home sellers are reluctant to cut prices once a property hits the market. Not the owners of this 107-year-old Angeleno Heights bungalow, which has seen its price cut four times since it was listed at $575,000 in early December. The first price chop – a whopping $130,000 reduction – came only after 10 days on the market, leaving the Calumet Avenue home priced at $445,000, according to Redfin. Since then, the price has been reduced almost nearly every week, with the most recent reduction bringing the asking price to $425,000 or more than 25% below the original asking price. Will another week bring another price cut or will $425,000 finally attract a buyer?
L.A. Web Awards 
Best of L.A. 
The Eastsider publishes stories and news from the northeast corner of the City of Los Angeles and neighboring East Los Angeles. Who is the Eastsider? Where does the Eastsider roam? 