apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I'd consider buying a duplex, living in one unit and collecting rental income on the other unit. Its a viable alternative.

Wow, that's a hoot. I drive by the top building every day on my way to work. Took them forever to finish it. It's in the Sawtelle neighborhood, which contains several large, newly-constructed modern homes.

Sunspot42-

That is exactly what I thought when I saw that picture! In fact, I hadn't even seen it completely finished yet. I used to go by there a lot during the first stages of building and I could tell it was going to look amazing.

I, too, have been watching the progress of the Sawtelle building, but with growing worry rather than excitement. It might look fantastic on its own but, contrary to the sentiment in the article, I feel that this duplex does destroy the neighborhood scale. I much prefer the more humble yet charming Japanese homes and gardens gardens to this ostentatious "Asian-inspired" building.

True, but clearly that's the direction this neighborhood is going in. I doubt it'll look out of place in a decade.

And let's face it - a lot of the homes in the Sawtelle area are small, cheap and fugly. There aren't even that many in a more traditional Asian-inspired style. Most are just your standard, low-end, mid century ticky tacky suburban boxes.

Given the price of land on the Westside, they're all destined to become teardowns. I'm sad to see even more affordable housing lost, but that's not the house's fault.

"...Sawtelle area are small, cheap and fugly."

I've always thought many of the homes were moderately sized, quaint, and many beautifully maintained, especially the front yards, an extension of the Japanese-American population that created a recognizable community. If the trend is to move to "huge, expensive, and intrusive", then we're just replacing smaller boxes for much larger ones.

There are plenty of moderately sized, quaint homes in the area, and many are beautifully maintained. But I've walked all over the neighborhood and drive thru it every day - they aren't all quaint, and they aren't all well maintained, and a lot of them don't make particularly good use of the lots they're situated on. Given the growing population of the Los Angeles basin, I'd rather see solutions like this redevelopment as opposed to continued urban sprawl in all directions.

I'm not in love with the whole "huge house on a small lot" trend, but at least a duplex like the Sawtelle one covered in that article is home to two families and makes effective use of space. It beats the pink palaces going up in places like the Palisades - enormous, tacky single family McMansions hanging off of tiny lots.

These newer modern homes are also a lot nicer than some of the apartment complexes on the northwestern flank of the Sawtelle district. Many of those are cheap looking eyesores, and appear to be poorly maintained.

Unfortunately I don't buy into the two-for-one via gentrification plan. I'd argue it's this developer driven "effective use of space" that is worsening the problem, as it puts a premium on fitting as many tenants at the highest rental rates without really tackling city planning as a long term issue. Cramming people in, pricing people out, building ill-sized buildings for the sake of meeting housing demands in a neighborhood of low roofed, moderate sized lot homes? Without a respect of the existing landscape, these sort of architectural impositions, whether stucco'ed or modernist, result in in the same McMansion effect. Just cuz they're not pink, doesn't mean they don't stink. Sure, in the right context, that home could fit naturally into the landscape and community, but as it stands the building really takes away from the humble beauty of the suburban Japanese American community around it. It's just especially saddening to see a hood I grew up enjoying throughout my life is transforming into Santa Monica Part 2.

We all know that LA is getting overcrowded by the minute. Single-family homes with big backyards are just not viable anymore. I cringe when I drive thru BH - what a waste of precious space! I just moved into a new development, 5-unit townhouse. I left LA to get the big house and yard, but I'm happy to be back and I love my new place. I'm so over the whole yard thing - a lot of upkeep, and that just doesn't suit most lifestyles anymore. I'd much rather have duplexes and townhouses than those big highrises on Wilshire. I've been to Hong Kong, which has more highrises than NYC, and I could never live there.

I have to disagree with the whole McMansion issue. A duplex is not a McMansion, and the way most of the new, modern Sawtelle homes sit on their lots is NOTHING like the way the new giant pink McMansions in the Palisades spill over theirs. They all look like a fat guy wearing pants 4 sizes too small. I also don't see a structure like this as developer-driven in any way, shape or form. Developers would want to slap half a dozen condos on that lot (at least), as they're doing in Santa Monica with converted apartments.

I think most of the new, modern Sawtelle buildings would probably look better on somewhat larger lots, although a) it's hard to tell how they'll fit in once their landscaping has filled out (they'll probably look much better) and b) I noticed tonight walking to my car that many of the smaller, older homes in the area are also perched precariously close to the street.

In fact, looking at that house tonight, it seemed to me the main reason why it sticks out a bit is because it's two stories high while virtually all of the older homes around it are single-level. Add a couple more two-story homes to the area and I think it'll look a lot more harmonious.

No neighborhood stays the same forever. Gentrification sure as hell beats the alternative - take it from someone whose bright shining suburbia of childhood had become a single-story slum by the time he went off to college.

Gentrification for the sake of gentrification without acknowledging a neighborhood's past and present is exactly why we've got a lot of horrible new housing/business developments in LA. I'm all for revitalization of neighborhoods and smart use of land, and there are many wonderful examples of architecture and development bringing a fresh and needed breath of fresh air into truly ailing spots (Old Town in Pasadena, The Grove, etc). But a McMansion doesn't have to be pink nor in the Palisades...you're limiting the definition to one particular variety of architectural imposition that rejects caring about the surrounding neighborhood. In fact, this is even more upsetting because this is a formerly middle class neighborhood, and the duplex is situated smack in an area where homes are kept in very admirable condition and it literally sucks away all focus away from neighboring buildings.

Sawtelle isn't a slum neighborhood. In fact, Sawtelle has become a hotspot in just the last 10-12 years, as businesses like Giant Robot and Hurry Curry made it a destination spot for dining and shopping. I've been enjoying going there since it was just a Japanese nursery and gift shop stretch in the early 80's since I was a wee lad, and it's only been getting nicer and nicer. The Nisei Week Obon festival stays vibrant and alive, with community members and visitors from all over celebrating the Japanese American history in our city. UCLA students come down for affordable sushi at Hide, the art crowd huddle into GR2 to see up and coming arists, and Black Market caters to a well heeled hipster clientele. Beard Papa and Pinkberry are two recent business addition that almost guarantee Sawtelle will remain a vibrant neighborhood for years to come. This is the exact opposite of a slum.

Take this home and plop it into an area with dire housing issues or a neighborhood with a genuine need for revitalization, and you've got an argument for a heroic addition. I think it's a beautiful home in the wrong spot. Architecture is like a beauty mark: put it in the right spot and its presence magnifies beauty. In the wrong spot, it becomes a mole. And a house/duplex/apartment that requires that other other imposing structures be added for it to fit in? By definition, it's not harmonious, is it?