Co-editor Josh (pictured above) has slipped on his neon-colored banana hammock and is now sipping caipirinhas somewhere south of the equator. So we've taken on the awesome responsibility of R&B. (Some of) your answers below. Got a few more questions? Want to let us know what a crappy job we do when Josh goes away? Fire away!
1) Los Feliz: What's the blogging equivalent of getting cock blocked? Cock blogged? No matter. You asked: "I was wondering if you all know anything about the goings-on at the innocuously hideous glass and stucco building @ the NE corner of Prospect and Hillhurst." Co-editor Dakota got a jump on my lazy ass and gave you your answer this morning. Looks like Los Feliz is getting a new restaurant and pizza place.
2) Mid-City: Man, the early bird catches the R&B worm. I have to start waking up earlier. You asked: "Any news on what's coming to the building across from LACMA, by the LA Fitness on Wilshire?" Again, answered earlier. Say hello to 5900 Wilshire.
3) Los Angeles: We joked this one would inspire a ponderous essay in our comments from Pete McFerrin or maybe a gleeful treatise on how the housing bubble is bursting from *Pop!* John regardless of the topic at hand. Instead you surprised us. Pete called us "butt-pirates" (we don't even want to know what that means) and John actually did research to answer this question: "How can LA build a subway to the sea if it can't even finish the less than 1/4 of a mile Angels Flight?" And the answer is simple: It ain't LA's problem, buddy (despite MTA efforts to take it over). As commenter Tim Quinn tells us "Angels Flight is not owned, or run, by the city. It is privately owned. The funicular (yes, one of my favorite words, also) was involved in an accidental death several years ago after a badly designed restoration. In view of that, what is the rush. Do it correctly this time. We don't want anymore dead tourists." Oh, don't we? And for fun bedtime reading, John digs up the NTSB's report on that accident.
4) Mid-City: More Mid-City fun asked and (partially) answered! This is getting easy. You asked "There's a building going up on Fairfax's west side, a bit north of Wilshire. (It's behind that closed restaurant they used for Seinfeld). It's up to about four or five stories, maybe growing. What the fudge is it? And another Wilshire question, there was murmurs of a tacky one-story at La Jolla (karate place and Italian restaurant) getting torn down for a 17-story tower. Still happening?" Commenter Patty Cake Fan Too (not to be confused with the original Patty Cake Fan): "Regarding the Fairfax and north of Wilshire project: New 6-story, 20-unit Apartment / Retail mixed use bldg. [Type I construction of 2-level basement and 1st floor Parking Garage (S3 occupancy), 4,000 sqft Retail (M occupancy) space at 1st floor, with 5-story of Type III-1hr, R1 occupancy above."
5) Elysian Park: Ah! Mysterious Elysian Park with its connotations of a pastoral afterlife. If only. One reader asked: "What are those wonderful rows of vacant California craftsmen homes along Stadium Way across from the Barlow Respiratory Hospital? Prime Elysian Park quietness, but sit in a squatter state of disrepair." Commenter Tony Tha Tiger proves his grasp of Google and provides the answer: "Since I'm a lonely spy in a dark basement, I'll spend another 2 minutes on Google... ooo, 'Barlow Respiratory Hospital' +history... holy toledo, the Google robots are so smart! 'The hospital’s leadership has stated that it cannot raise the funds necessary to build a new facility while also rehabilitating the historic structures. It is therefore offering the site to a range of developers, most of whom are considering higher-density residential developments that would demolish all or most of the site’s historic resources.'"
6) Downtown: Apparently there is a tax accountant among our usual reader base of pissed-off planners, angry architects and Patty Cake! A capitalization-averse reader writes: "i'm going to be renting out a condo in downtown la for the first time. was wondering if you know how i deduct appreciation. i've heard you divide your unit's value by 27 years and that is what you can deduct from your taxes. is that right?" The answer is Yes, sorta. Read more answers here.
7) Northridge: A reader needs to know "who the developer is for the Pearl Lane project in Northridge?" Turns out, no one cares about the Valley.