Friday, July 18, 2008

Thinking of an addition?

Train tracks slice through industrial areas most of the time but on occasion there will be a house or two visible from my window as I head downtown Los Angeles. I have to wonder which was there first and it's hard to determine in some areas. Did the land owner hold out hoping to get more money from the railroad or did they purchase the land for a song?

In any case there are some challenging neighborhoods in Los Angeles. None so creative as a property I saw somewhere between Glendale and Burbank. In a fairly tidy lot was an old California Mission style bungalow probably built somewhere around the early '30s. A typical stucco structure, vaguely Moorish, with red tile roof. Its current color was more of a Curry meets Mustard than the original pale yellow or warm cream but I'm sure in ten or twenty years it will fade to something less blinding. That in its self was remarkable enough but what was parked on the same lot really made be sit up and take notice.

Steel shipping containers, the kind you see loaded on rail cars and ships, are now sold to the public though I can't say I've ever had the need, nor the space, for a huge steel box with a lock. And evidently you can add windows and door and paint them any color you wish because parked next to this house was a 20 footer painted the same bilious yellow complete with its own window and a door. Now the nice touch is they painted the top of the box to match the red tile on the bungalow. I seem to find a surprise every time I travel to LA.

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