What's Up With That Brutalist Cliff-Dangling House in Pac Pal?

This house is the architectural version of the bad boy in a Lifetime film: looks dangerous, but at its core is strong, reliable and safe. Using the same engineering concepts as a parking garage, this ostensibly precarious house hanging over Sunset Boulevard in Pacific Palisades (it actually fronts architecture-packed Chautauqua Boulevard) has managed to effortlessly hover over the scenic street since it was completed in the early '90s. Designed by architect-turned-USC-real-estate-professor Robert Bridges, the reinforced concrete house is an incredible workaround for the steep, "seemingly unbuildable" property that Bridges bought for $40,000 in 1979 because it was, as he tells the New York Times, pretty much all he could afford. Since money was tight, Bridges and a three-man crew poured all the concrete themselves—"We were constantly hanging off the side, doing feats of daring and stupidity," Bridges says. Inside, it's all sleek wood and concrete, but with those views, he probably spends most of his time on the deck.