It's the end of December, when according to tradition we make up a bunch of awards and hand them out to all the best, worst, and shitshowiest of things that happened in Los Angeles this year. These are your 2015 Curbed Awards.
What were Curbed LA readers reading most this year? According to our metrics, it was stories about celebrities, supervillain lairs, Kardashians acting rude, and various other rich people acting crazy. But it was also stories of gorgeous architecture and housing unaffordability and renters' rights. Something for every Angeleno (and beyond), we like to think. In case you missed one, here's the full list of Curbed LA's 10 most-read stories of 2015.
↑ 10. Beyoncé and Jay Z Are Getting Kicked Out of Their $150k Rental
America's first family, Beyoncé and Jay Z and Blue Ivy, were kicked out of $150k-a-month rental in Holmby Hills when the owner sold the place for $35.5 million. Obviously everyone wanted to get in on the outrage.
↑ 9. Huell Howser's Volcano-Top Saucer House in the Mojave Desert is For Sale and It's Mindblowingly Amazing
The late Huell Howser, California's most beloved and down-to-earth broadcaster, for some reason owned the best supervillain house in the state: the Volcano House is a saucer-shaped Modernist work that sits on top of an actual cinder cone. Chapman University inherited Howser's estate, but decided to sell this gem this year.
↑ 8. The Kardashians Are Being Amazing Jerks About Wasting Water During the California Drought
While (almost) everyone else in California is cutting their showers short and letting their lawns go brown, turns out the Kardashians were thinking of fines for water overuse as "traffic tickets" and so "who cares?" according to Kim's rep. Obviously everyone wanted to get in on the outrage.
↑ 7. A Full Tour Through Frank Lloyd Wright's First LA House, Restored to Its 1920s Beauty
In February, Frank Lloyd Wright's lovely Hollyhock House reopened after a long and meticulous restoration. The lines to get in on opening weekend wound round Barnsdall Art Park, but there was no wait for our photo tour, which also included spaces not open to the public.
↑ 6. Every Single Part of Los Angeles is Unaffordable on $15/Hour
In May, the Los Angeles City Council voted to raise the city's minimum wage to $15 in the year 2020. But even here in 2015, $15 an hour is not really enough to cover decent housing in LA. Obviously everyone wanted to get in on the outrage.
↑ 5. 10 Los Angeles Renters' Rights Your Landlord Doesn't Want You to Know
For Renters Week in June, we asked tenants' rights advocates to reveal the LA laws that renters need to know to make sure their landlords are treating them fairly and legally. This is need-to-know info for any renter, and renters are the majority here in LA, so no surprise this post made the list.
↑ 4. This is Just a Really, Really Awesome Los Angeles Drone Video
And it was!
↑ 3. Bob Hope's 1939 Toluca Lake Estate Looking For First-Ever Buyer at $23 Million
At the beginning of the year, Bob Hope's very-long-time estate in Toluca Lake returned to the market after a hiatus asking $23 million. Hope moved to the property in 1939 and kept adding and adding to it over the years, so it's a pretty interesting property, especially for Hope fans.
↑ 2. Mohamed Hadid Will Not Stop Building the Most Illegal Megamansion in Bel Air
Mohamed Hadid—ex-husband of a Real Housewife (Yolanda Foster), father of a superfamous model (Gigi Hadid), builder of megamansions—went way too far with his latest project in Bel Air. Earlier this year, the city demanded he stop work and get new permits on the 30,000-square-foot mansion, but instead he apparently kept building, adding among other things a 70-seat Imax theater. Today he's facing misdemeanor charges that could send him to prison.
↑ 1. Inside the Nightmarish Dystopia of LA's Richest Neighborhood
What secrets lie behind the gates of Beverly Park? Really really dystopian ones. Turns out that some of LA's richest people choose to live in some kind of hyper-surveilled security zone where photography is banned and the playground sits empty, a lone swing almost definitely squeaking eerily in the breeze. Who doesn't want to gawk at that weirdness?
· Curbed Awards 2015 [Curbed LA]