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, Thu, 27 Oct 2005 09:02:26
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Being from New York City and also Los Angeles has shown me the ugly side of America's greedy nature most of my life. The power hungry and self proclaimed elites are running both cities today. Everyone in the world with the dough wants a piece of Manhattan Island and/or a scrap of hillside overlooking the lights of Los Angeles. This also goes for anything along the coast of California these days. Newport and Laguna prices seem to be everywhere these days. Malibu went crazy. Santa Monica is nuts. Venice, forget about it.
If you want a starter home built in the fifties in either traditional or mid-century modern styles I would sugget the San Fernando Valley. Look at Reseda and Van Nuys. Both are full of such housing stock. Both were considerably more dangerous in the eighties than they are now. And I dont remember it being too bad back then either. Its just really hot in August. And the air ain't so great.
I live in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood called The Alphabets. It has been taken over by people with large equity because they bought in ten years ago and have been building oversized homes on the little lots where the post-war ranch that they bought used to be. Its getting crazy here. I dont think its really worth all that much, the suburban Los Angeles lifestyle, that is.
The beach is cool, hiking just two blocks from my home is cool, the stroll down to the village where my sons attend school is cool, etc.
Take a look at the film Sideways if you want a rural life that is still close to the coast and LA or San Fran for that matter. If I could get away with commuting twice a week into one of the two cities I would move to the country in a heartbeat. I like the Carmel Valley a lot. And then I would still save my pennies for frequent flights to good old NYC. Just to visit.
The saying is; live in New York but get out before you become too hard. Then live in California but leave before you get too soft.
Living here has its shortcomings but luckily we avoid most of them. No driving back and forth on the lame freeway system that seems like big open wounds across the city's landscape. However, most people here do travel it and seem to be alright. Its not that bad, just get up earlier I guess if I had to do it. And we avoid the heat of the summer by living on a hill overlooking the ocean. Turned on the central AC once this past summer, same the year before.
We make a lot of time to do things that dont cost much. The YMCA and the LA Parks and Recreation have great facilities for cheap. There are even a couple of museums that have a lot going on all the time. Movies of course. Dining out can be done on the cheap all over the place.
My children play tennis, baseball, basketball all a few blocks away on world class courts and on league teams. They skate, scoot and bicycle to school. We have a great YMCA outdoor Olympic sized pool a short walk away. The weather is the best right now.
All in all, I cannot complain about anything here. I am happy we are not living elsewhere in Los Angeles. Both my wife and I did our years being cool in Los Feliz and Venice and Soho and Tribeca too.
Take a look at the zip codes in and around the San Fernanado Valley for decent homes with hardwood floors and fireplaces on 50ft by 150foot lots or better. Look for a place with a backyard with big trees. After all, the outdoors lifestyle is the real California lifestyle.
Jason
posted by 172.185.209...
, Thu, 27 Oct 2005 09:02:26
, Mon, 31 Oct 2005 11:46:54
, Sun, 30 Oct 2005 19:25:15, Sat, 29 Oct 2005 00:25:19
, Thu, 27 Oct 2005 22:58:03, Thu, 27 Oct 2005 15:04:01, Thu, 27 Oct 2005 20:22:23
, Thu, 27 Oct 2005 18:23:02, Thu, 27 Oct 2005 12:16:37, Thu, 27 Oct 2005 14:30:32, Thu, 27 Oct 2005 14:58:17
, Thu, 27 Oct 2005 14:39:58, Thu, 27 Oct 2005 15:01:43, Thu, 27 Oct 2005 12:03:28, Sat, 29 Oct 2005 00:45:46, Mon, 31 Oct 2005 07:20:17, Thu, 27 Oct 2005 11:16:58, Thu, 27 Oct 2005 10:15:32, Thu, 27 Oct 2005 09:18:47
, Thu, 27 Oct 2005 09:13:48, Thu, 27 Oct 2005 09:20:30
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