
Here's a divergent addendum for this week's Complex Love feature. Emily found this humdinger of an apartment complex in Downey on Flickr, shot by dminor. Apparently musical siblings Richard and Karen Carpenter once owned this apartment complex, alongside the Close to You Apartments. If you ask me, I'd rather be living over at the El Gallo Cubano Apartments. I love LA.




There's no mention nor promise of excitement or desirability in the post, Boomer. Some things are best enjoyed for the sake of it being there, being ridiculous, novel or just different. I'd hate to live in a world that was all about what appeals to my own preferences...catering only to what I currently understand.
You don't get it? How about that LA has a history of unique themed apartment buildings, and in this case it was an apartment complex named after Carpenter tunes? That's not common in Los Angeles or anywhere else, and I love it for that fact. It's the reason I love Los Angeles...those silly surprises, the novel absurdity and implied sweetness of an apartment that implies things may indeed get better. It's really not that hard to understand.
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Actually, this post is a mini-dinger of a smile for me (yes, I exaggerate).. it does bring back those fuzzy '70s happy happy joy joy memories..
...*When I was a litte kid, and not just on the inside...(Mr. Rogers fade shot)...
My (at the time) favorite aunt in the whole world, lived in Richard's apt bldg. One of his perm pkg spaces was beneath her kitchen window where any of his # of black hot cars would be parked (remember, I exaggerate). I liked to stare at the black.. what was that.. his Aston Martin? or.. no, it was a.. well, less British. Anyway, in 5th grade my aunt suggested I ring his doorbell to ask if he would allow me to interview him for my "what do I want to be when I grow-up" project. I remember thinking how odd, my aunt wants me to just knock on some stranger's door to ask him about his personal life. So I never did. Anyway, at the time, I recall it being a relatively new, modern-ish, tropical, breezy apt bldg - course, you know, a child's memory. I sure don't remember those building names though. I'd bet a Carpenter's greatest hits cd (not that I own one) the later owners changed this as a mktg ploy. :)
I remember one Halloween upon Aunt Kathy and a girlfriend's return from a night out on the town in Downey (was exciting to the farm girls they were), in the little pkg lot they crossed paths w/a man quite resembling Willie Nelson, who was en route to the start of a party inside the bldg. Of course, it ended up being the real Willie Nelson, in cognito by way of his usual attire. (imagine the tunes in there that night?)
Moral of the story: you can take a girl out of the farm, but you just might find Willie Nelson at your apt on Halloween... in Downey.
Oh! And when your little brother gets a concussion from body-planting himself into a non-safety-glass kitchen slider when the window was too clean.. either he needed glasses *or* 70's era mass-produced apt design just plum sucked. (sorry, guys, it's been a looong week)
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No Captain 'n Tennille Townhomes?
Gotta love L.A. for it's diverse architecture (kind of a love-hate relationship, really). I used to live in a bungalow apartment in Los Feliz, right next door to the Snow White cottages, which were right next door to some classic seventies, stucco apt's called something like the 'Starlight Studios', next to some amazing Spanish Bungalows.
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