Look Ma, I'm a real estate expert!

East Side Bride,

Love your blog, hate wedding planning, hate moving to LA.

I currently live in Chicago, my fiance lives in LA (Koreatown). I'm not that into living there, so we are looking for a place that is close to downtown but not K-town. A short commute is key. Will I hate Monterey Hills?

I feel like I should just move to Los Feliz but being a mid-western girl, I want some trees. Chicago is so easy, every neighborhood has a stereotype, why aren't other cities like this?

Thoughts?

-- Lost in LA

*****

gimme a stereotype. what are you aiming for??

*****

Hip young professionals and hip young families. People who spend more money on their art than their cars.

*****

Sounds like Silver Lake to me. If you can afford it, you will love it.

And don't worry... there are trees!



(Monterey Hills is NOT hip. And I think you'd feel isolated that far out.)

*****

Maybe I should give you a little more to work with. I snack on kale chips, organic beef jerky and carry around a water bottle. We are both corporate professionals but we have some esoteric interests. So a creative, hip, yuppie community. Being able to go for runs in the neighborhood is a key for me.

*****

Like I said, Silver Lake.

Image via YEAH! rentals (anyone know who the photographer is?)

Fall, My Ass

I refuse to freak out about how summer is over when it's 88 fucking degrees outside.

Summer isn't really my season, anyway. This may have something to do with the fact that I grew up in San Francisco. I will always prefer strolling on a foggy beach to lying, BAKING, in the sun.

Speaking of foggy beaches, we got a lovely little taste of them on our only-semi-successful camping/road trip, which I have yet to report on. We did just a teensy bit of camping (woot woot SLO + Mendocino!) on our way up to my dad's, stayed nowhere near long enough, and rushed back to LA in a huge hurry because we got a house.

WE GOT A HOUSE, PEOPLE.


A CUTE HOUSE.




A teensy tiny cute cute house with a porch and a view and a claw foot tub! In Echo Park!

Whoopsies, this post was supposed to be about fall.

Anyhoo.

Our fall is going to be heavy on plumbing and electrical and figuring out how the hell we're going to fit our stuff into 460 square feet (I.E. purging).

Jane Birkin via Ginny Branch Stelling via Shauna O'Toole

On house hunting (part two)

Ten months ago, when we started the house hunt, I made this list of ten things I wanted:

Detached cottage/bungalow
Off the street
Outdoor space (deck or patio with trees)
Hardwood floors
Washer/dryer (or hook-up)
Clawfoot tub
H studio/guest room
Writing corner for me
Parking
Storage

Somewhere along the line I crossed out clawfoot tub and wrote in VIEW.

That was when I realized we probably couldn't afford Echo Park, and I kept announcing, "If I'm going to leave this neighborhood, I have to have a view."




ha
ha
ha
ha





ha ha ha


Now all I want is a CUTE HOUSE.



Cute.

Is that too much to ask??

(compact beach chalet by studiomama via designboom via Pennyweight)

On house hunting

Take a look at the photo above.

Your first thought is: "CUTE!" Right?

Unless you are house hunting. 

If you are house hunting, before your brain can even fire on "CUTE!" you will think:

"The roof must be rotting under that grass."

"Bummer, only three windows."

"Is there parking??"

We've been house hunting for nine months now. It was casual until April, when my apartment in NYC finally sold. Now we are READY TO FUCKING PULL THE TRIGGER, but every cute house (in our price range, obvs) seems to have a slew of issues. Either that, or we get outbid. Or, you know, both.

Photo via The Shiny Squirrel. Does anyone know who took it?

Take Sunset

You may or may not have noticed that I have a new sponsor.

Take Sunset is a site focused on "real estate, architecture and things to do in los angeles," and the proprietors have excellent taste.

For example. Did you know that Claire Vivier and jewelry designer Kathryn Bentley just opened a teensy, gorgeous new store in Silver Lake?

Or that Heath Ceramics makes house numbers?

Me neither.

I also had no idea how many bungalows there are for sale on the east side. I just hopped over to the Take Sunset blog to pull a few images for you guys, and I spent two hours shopping.

Quick question: Is it legal to style an east-side garage with a surf board? Should I be embarrassed that I kind of fall for it?

Photos 1 + 4 from Rob Kallick's listings at 1330 North Coronado and 1310 Mohawk Street in Silver Lake/Echo Park.