(Picture of Marina del Rey via Flickr user Rhinomite)
Let's get right down to the meat and potatoes this week, shall we? As always, wash your hands before you eat and email your tips and your questions to us for next week at la@curbed.com.
1) Los Angeles: We saw a post on this subject yesterday from blogging.la, but what the hey, we'll post the question here anyways. "Do you guys have any idea what those black billboards all over town that say, "6+6=06" mean?
Maybe it's my fascination with the show Lost, but I need to know what they mean. It's driving me nuts."
2) Marina del Rey: Reader "Puzzled in Playa" has a question of sorts: "I live real close to the Marina and drive by it almost everyday, but it wasn't until today that I questioned what was going on around here. The little office park just south of Mindanao on Lincoln has pretty much been cleared of all its tenants minus the Subway sandwich shop and the bank on the corner. Also, just up the road everything between the Courtyard hotel and the 76 station at Maxella have all been cleared out except for the Tower Records. Should I be looking forward to more lovely luxury apartments/condos along the lines of the Marina Del Rey Archstone apartments? God, those are ugly! And whats the deal with new strip mall that was placed on the opposite side of the street (apparently designed by a Mr. Caruso)? Besides the sign for Starbucks, there is no way to tell what shops are back there. I refuse to even go look because its obviously not important enough for anyone to know who happens to be driving down Lincoln."
And now the required corrections and updates from last weeks R&B. (Nice job Cary - you've shamed our blog)
Correction: From the question about the Ross & development next to The Grove a reader writes in to correct this sentence "Casden bought the rights to build, and built everything but the senior facility."
"Just a minor correction on your Casden posting. They have NOT built everything as they have not replaced the tennis courts they tore down a year ago. We keep hearing their promises but they haven't done a thing yet. OK, so it's not senior housing, but still important to many of the PLB residents who rented here because of the tennis courts." Myth Buster: A long time fanatical reader emails in a correction to the preposterous notion that the Ross near The Grove actually exploded, as if a prop in a bad Bruckheimer movie.
"Well, that's how urban legends and fish stories grow. The "exploding Ross"? Bit of an exaggeration, don't you think, Curbed reader? Yes, there was an explosion of underground methane gas pockets there in 1985, which led to federal legislation by Henry Waxman. That explosion is the reason why the Red Line subway goes up Vermont Avenue and not down Wilshire past Western... But the entire building did not explode. Yes, there was an explosion and a small fire, and some damage to the building. I don't have the exact information with me, but I believe the Ross was only closed for a very brief period of time and the damage was repaired, with no problems since then (21 years ago). I think the term "exploding Ross" leaves a highly mistaken impression with people who don't know exactly what happened there all those years ago." If you find additional misstatements in our blog please email them to us, or start your own blog and catalog them. We'll link to you.