Saturday, 11:45 am.
Knock, knock.
Nice woman opens door: Hello?
Curbed: Hi. I'm with a local blog. One of our readers sent in photos of that hump on your lawn. I just have to ask: What is up with that thing?
Unable to definitively solve the mystery of the Mar Vista hump, I spoke with Laura, 48, who couldn't be nicer. Her husband, Dennis, purchased the house in 2000.
"In 2000, my husband gutted the backyard. He had all this dirt he had to get rid of, so he thought, "Why not do something different?" she said. So he made a hump in the front yard. Did he ever think of spreading the dirt around? Nope, she said. Admittedly, some of the neighbors raised their eyebrows at the hump. "My husband is of Mexican descent and at first people were like, 'Who is this guy moving in?" she said. But now, "my husband is beloved by everyone."
The hump also has its fans. When it was just a dirt hump, kids used to ride their bikes over the mound, Laura told me. Now, when she and her husband have parties, "kids like to lie on the hump," just stretching themselves over the top.
But people still stop and stare when they walk by, and sometimes they trip over that cracked sidewalk in front of her house. (Yes, Laura is waiting for the city to come fix her sidewalk.) And people still make up stories and ask questions. "People always think there are bodies buried underneath there," she said, laughing. Do they ever think of getting rid of the hump? Nah. "I'm so used to it that I don't even notice it anymore," she said.
· What's Up With That: Mar Vista Mole [Curbed LA]
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