Results for “bel air”

This writer clearly calls herself out as a caviar communist in the vein of ol’ Arianna herself:

"Recently, I moved from my lush, beautiful neighborhood so chock-full of stars homes that one of the few vehicles I’d see on its wide, empty roads (there are no sidewalks) were white Starline ‘Mini-Buses’ bursting with tourists looking for movie stars. Mine was a secluded compound situated over three acres. It also had a gate. And a long driveway. At night, the setting was pitch black and quiet. I felt frightened whenever I put my children to bed. If I screamed, who would hear?"

Oh, the horrors of Bel Air! If only she could find a nice eight-bedroom manse with sauna and screening room in Pico-Union! Not only would there be people outside her hand-wrought iron gates, but her servants would have a shorter commute!

@Joshua: I believe this is the same ‘architect’ who, in that "W" Magazine profile on Persian Jews in Los Angeles, sneered that when he came to LA, what?, 30 years ago, there was "no decent architeure or materials" here, so he "didn’t need to bother" to ‘fit in’ with it.

Thusly, THIS is his idea of ‘quality’. I wish everyone could see Alan Siple’s masterpiece of elegance in stone-and-timber, just up the road at 800 Nimes, before IT’S torn down to make way for another monstrosity such as this. I wish I could PERSONALLY enact a law forcing builders, contractors and these erstwhile ‘architects’ to actually LOOK at some of the great examples (from Bel-Air to Pasadena) of proportion, style and finish that they think their work is so superior to.

1. - agent – it’s the lack of affordable housing period.

talented young people arent’ all artists. they can be engineers, programmers, accountants, entrepreneurs. My company stupidly tries to hire finance people in LA (college and mid-level) and it’s a pain and they’ve just decided to hire them in mid-west. I’ve tried to hire people to LA and cost of living is a big issue

college educated professionals (making $80-150K/year) in all areas are being priced out and having to settle for a crap home in LA just doesn’t cut it for many and I see the rationale behind the argument. it’s not about living in bel air or malibu but not living in some shack in north hills either. the arguments about it’s high cost are shite. prices are artificially high due to a wall street/lender greed fiasco.

home prices being aligned to incomes makes So Cal more competitive.

People. We are talking about one of the most talented design firms today. If you’ve ever met either of the principals of the firm, you would know that they are not interested in flashy, expensive design. They are very understated and seemingly humble. They are concerned with GOOD design, and in reality this tends to be quite expensive. Most of the great architects of our past were interested in making something that the mass could afford. Good for them for trying to make the best homes possible for a more "everyday" crowd.

I DO NOT think that this wil devalue their brand. Neutra did apartments, and even some low-income housing. Does this make a 4,000 sf Neutra in Bel Air any less prestigious? I don’t think so. Said home is actually for sale for around $20 million as we speak.

I genuinely hate to say this, but that property is worth at least $22M. Property goes for $10M an acre in Bel Air, right? And this is some mega-prime real estate, easily the best lot in all of LA East of Beverly Hills. It’s like telling someone who got a bargain on their house ten years ago that they should be happy to get a 100% markup now.

Doesn’t mean the owners shouldn’t be drawn and quartered — damn right they should have sold it to LA for $10M and that would be that — but in all fairness, the city’s $6M estimate is a farce. And there’s no shortage of stars or sheiks who could afford it. The key is an official public ostracizing of whoever dares to build there.

#46, yes I do walk the streets late at night, in my neighborhood I see mostly dark skinned people coming home from their jobs as nannies and busboys. You know as well as I do that none of those Africans you speak of live in TriBeCa, but are enduring long commutes to the outer boroughs. I personally have no interest in living in Beverly Hills, or any other such segregated place. I prefer to live here and I prefer my city to offer housing opportunities to all classes of people here in lower Manhattan. Why is that so much to ask? If anything with your attitude maybe it is you who should move on, howabout a nice gated community in Bel Air?

Hoovton – "Fine. Let the people in the Valley kick and scream to keep thier low density, wall fortressed, segregated neighborhoods. Let them keep their cars and pay $5/gallon for gas (eventually). Meanwhile, on the other side of the hill we will have a kick start on integreted, dynamic, truly urban neighborhoods with state-of-the-art transportation" – You mean like Brentwood and Bel Air? How’s Westwod working out for you? Aren’t you guys on your millionth development plan because of local opposition, yet the community dies? Regarding the individual who has never experienced traffic congestion at Sepulveda and Ventura, I have a simple personal expression: bull shit. You’re either DUI or in a hovercraft.

It looks a little Kelly Wearstler-ized, and that is not an improvement. Maybe I have finally reached the old fuddy-duddy years but I don’t think "new" is necessarily better when it comes to money and hotels. I have always considered the Bel Air Hotel the best place I have ever visited, and I am willing to give the 2.0 version the benefit of the doubt, but somehow I can’t help but think some of its charm has been vandalized. I am looking forward to the La Prairie spa though; gotta keep the fuddy-duddy off my dermis, thank you very much. And I am relieved that the swans have not been foreclosed upon. If you miss key staffers, the long-time painist from the bar is now at the Penninsula in BH and a lot of other ex-staffers are at the Montage.

WEST
West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Chevriot Hills, Century City, Westwood, Bel Air, Brentwood, Culver City, West L.A., Pacific Palisades, Santa Monica, Venice, Marina Del Rey, Mar Vista, Palms

CENTRAL
Hollywood, East Hollywood, Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Echo Park, Mid L.A., Koreatown, Westlake, Downtown, Chinatown, Mount Washington, Atwater Village, Glendale, Eagle Rock, Highland Park

EAST
Boyle Heights, Montecito Heights, Lincoln Heights, Monterey Park, unincorporated east L.A. (L.A. County), Alhambra, San Gabriel, Montebello, Commerce, Pico Rivera, Rosemead, El Monte

SOUTH
Huntington Park, South Gate, Watts, Jefferson Park, Ladera Heights, View Park, Leimert Park, West Adams, Walnut Park, Lynwood, Inglewood, Downey, Compton, Gardena, Hawthorne

NORTH
Burbank, Studio City, Sherman Oaks, Van Nuys, Encino, Reseda, North Hollywood, Valley Village, Canoga Park, Woodland Hills, Granada Hills, Northridge, Chatsworth, Sylmar

The main problem for turning the area into high yielding retail? The aggressive and persistent homeless. How often will those from neighboring Bel~Air and Holmby/Westwood walk the Village streets when they have to dodge yelling panhandlers and their dirty overflowing grocery carts while watching them relieve themselves in doorways and stairwells (which I saw not once but TWICE today alone).

And the main problem fora landlord to re-tenant their buildings? The Westwood Village Specific Plan. There are so many prohibitions of what is limited in the Village (e.g., there can only be # of Fast Food and # of Sit Down Restaurants per street) that your options dwindle down to ZERO.

A combination of over regulating the owners and under regulating the detractors (homeless) has killed Westwood Village.