Caption this Photo (#74)

I really need help with this one...

Huntington Drive: Retro

Now, if only there had been a vintage car in the frame when I took this shot...

Black and White in Color

Colorizing classic black and white? Well, in this case it's okay... These wonderful old monochrome apartments look great with technicolor green leaves, purple flowers and blue, blue, blue sky.

Settings: Part 28

You know I can't resist my favorite game. I'm thinking something from the bourbon-soaked pages of James M. Cain or Raymond Chandler. But you tell me, clever readers, if this were the setting for a scene in a movie, what would happen here?

Hard-boiled Doors

Come on in -- there's nobody in here but me and a big bluebottle fly.

--Raymond Chandler, The Little Sister

Just Guessing

I think there is a desk up there, right behind that window. And somewhere buried underneath a stack of papers is something -- a coffee mug or perhaps a framed plaque -- that says, "a clean desk is a sign of a sick mind."

What do you think?

Los Minarets?

This cozy apartment building was built in 1928 -- a time when architecture definitely tilted at windmills. I think it is still considered Spanish, even with those odd cut-outs. I'm not sure if they are supposed to be reminiscent of the turrets of St. Basil's Cathedral or the domes from the Taj Mahal. Whatever the intent, the result is classic Southern California bungalow.

The red beetle is a classic in its own right, too!

Caption this photo (#27)

Kyle was the type of guy who would give you the table off his back.

Or...

She watched as he walked away from her apartment. It wasn't that the date had gone badly, just that he was such a total square.

No?

Okay, fine. Anyone else want to give it a try?

Window Units

There's not much to say about these cute little apartments. But just look at all those rear windows! Imagine all the stories playing out behind each of them... (Kind of like this.)

Apartments in Blue

It's easy to get caught up in the beauty of the city's historic homes, but tucked among them are a number of charming apartment buildings, many built in the 1950s and 60s. As of 2007, about 56% of South Pas residents were renters. (Who knows how much this number may have risen due to the housing crisis.) While I am grateful to own my home, and I appreciate the fact that I can put down deep roots, there is something to be said for the nomadic joy of being the rest of a lease and a U-haul away from packing up and moving.

Remember your first apartment? For me, it was a chalet-style 8-plex near my university campus. The metal stairs rattled and the front rooms barely got any light but in my mind it was my own little niche in the universe -- complete with a futon, a Klimt poster and a burgeoning wooden bookcase. When I moved to Los Angeles a few years later, I rented a fabulous old 1920s walk-up in Hollywood a few doors down from Chaplin's first studio and a block away from the strip club Motley Crue made famous in Girls Girls Girls.

While houses allow a certain my-home-is-my-castle distance, apartments insist on a sense of community. Shared walls, shared laundry rooms, shared conversations at complex pool parties. Just think, without apartments, there would have been no Tales of the City. And who knows what tales could be told about this little city? While I was taking the picture above, I heard a snippet of a conversation coming from somewhere nearby:

"I think I might really love him," she said, "but there's that thing with the dog..."

(I guess I could have kept listening, but nobody wants to be a nosy neighbor.)

Caption this photo... (#3)

Well...

This one is tough and I'm feeling rather silly. How about:

Archaeologists believe they may have discovered the remains of an ancient temple of the Goddess of San Gabriel Valley Topiary.

Nah, that's not quite right. Anyone else have a better caption?

Illuminated Path

I might never have noticed this sidewalk entrance to the apartments at 1616 Fair Oaks during the day ... but look at the enchanting way it glows in the night. (Nice bit of San Gabriel Valley topiary, too!)

1616 has such a nice ring to it, doesn't it? I'm sure there's a great short story here. Or a love song. Or TV series about time travel. Or a poem about flowers and curving steps and math...

Or maybe it's just a nifty address with a lovely entryway.

But does the postman ring twice?

There is something wonderfully 1940s noir about these old apartments behind the bus stop on Mission Street. South Pas is known for its stunning homes -- Craftsman, Victorian, Spanish, Tudor, Traditional, Transitional -- but it only has a handful of these simple post-War structures so prevalent in the rest of LA. Los Angeles county had a pretty big housing boom in the years right after World War 2, and it is evidenced in the scads of cozy, slightly tattered little places that look a lot like this.

I can just see Barbara Stanwyck or Veronica Lake bursting through that door and running down the steps to meet Robert Mitchum...

But then again, I tend to think like that.

Living (in) Color

Ripe Persimmon?
Burnished Coral?
Rose-kissed Brick?

Just wondering the name of the paint used on these Mound Street apartments. In a town displaying the lovely but muted palette of classic Craftsman architecture, these cheeky buildings stand out like red dresses at a black tie gala. Personally, I love their counterpoint.