LAT breaks anthrax mailer suicide story; and Meghan Daum is back.

It wouldn’t be fair to rag on the Los Angeles Times like I did last week and then not point out two positive developments.

On Friday, LAT’s David Willman broke the story about the suspicious death of government biodefense scientist Bruce E. Ivin, an apparent suicide stemming from his being pursued as a primary suspect by the FBI in the deadly anthrax mailings that killed five people in 2001.

Saturday’s, Sunday’s and today’s LAT brought more on the evolving story. It turns out Ivins stood to gain financially as a co-inventor of a genetically engineered anthrax vaccine, with AP chiming in with a story about Ivin’s therapist’s concerns that he was “a sociopathic, homicidal killer.”

The LAT story was picked up across the globe. I caught an interview with Willman on MSNBC last week.

Other good news at the beleaguered paper is that Saturday opinion columnist Meghan Daum is back from book leave. She’ll be at this Saturday’s Hammer Readings, hopefully reading from her forthcoming book (due in 2010) about real estate and identity, entitled Give Me Shelter.

I’m curious to hear if she shares my recurring fantasy of seeing Jeff Lewis, the ass on Bravo’s Flipping Out, on the street one day and running over him. So I guess I’ve got my question for her during the Q & A.

Hammer Readings at Hammer Museum, 180899 Wilshire Blvd. at Westwood Blvd., Los Angeles CA 90024

Would you pay $4250 a month for an apartment on the 101 in Universal City?

My first post on Metblogs was back on October 3rd, 2007 regarding the exciting new development known as Universal Lofts.

You want to live so close to the 101 that you can deliver Otter Pops to idle commuters on a warm California afternoon. So functional. So convenient. So affordable, starting in the $900s.

My, how times have changed. Curbed is reporting that Universal Lofts has gone rental. In the real estate world, this is what happens when no one buys into a shitty project because it’s too expensive. And too shitty. And too cinder-blocky and expensive and theme park adjacent.

I’ve never quiet grasped the concept of building new industrial “live/work” lofts that resemble old industrial buildings that have been renovated into new lofts. But, it’s there, and it’s now available for your entire extended family of 9 to share.

Let’s do the math: For a family of 9, each individual would be responsible for $467 a month. Not bad, Holmes.

Thanks to my friend Michael for pointing out this interesting NY Times article about the decline of the Los Angeles’s real estate market…in 1980. The article itself is actually from ‘84, and it’s creepy how much of this very same language I heard from our broker when we were buying our house 20 years later:

Every day, home buyers would look at the prices and say, ”It can’t go on.” But every day, for five years, it did go on. Middle-class families were priced out of the market, and the brokers said, ”But the rich will always be able to buy.” Ordinary rich people were squeezed out of the market in some areas, but the brokers said, ”Never mind, the music business people will buy anything.” The music business fell into a depression in 1979, and the brokers said, ”The foreigners are buying. Compared with Paris or Teheran, real estate in Holmby Hills is a bargain.”

You know what they say, “Those that cannot remember the past are doomed to buy a $650,000 one bedroom fixer-uppper in Cypress Park.”

CC-licensed photo by Flickr user CC Chapman

According to KPCC’s Patt Morrison, historic Japanese eatery Yamashiro received its official landmark status today. This is likely a relief to Angelenos worried about the fact that the land upon which both Yamashiro and the Magic Castle sits is for sale.

The first time I caught a film at Cinefamily was last Friday. The film was Robert Altman’s 1973 adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s The Long Goodbye. I scurried over Hollywood from Burbank after work to meet a friend at the excellent repertory theater on Fairfax (also known as The Silent Movie Theater) and spent the next hour and a half realizing why people gave me such hell for never having seen it.

Great script, great acting, great fun (and a pants-less cameo by California’s governor,) but what really blew me away was Gould’s Hollywood Hills pad, which had so much personality and presence, with its spectacular views and free-standing elevator tower, that it became a character all its own. My friend Maria, companion for the evening and old coworker from my Rocket Video days, told me she used to live on the same street. That was the only clue I needed. The next day, because I do that sort of thing, I went exploring in the hills until I found it. It’s on Hightower Drive. (another monster pic after the fold)

Think it’s rent-controlled?

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The LABJ posted an article today entitled Sushi to Kimchi: Koreans Replace Japanese in Little Tokyo regarding a key real estate transaction in which Korean-Americans will own the shopping center in Little Tokyo where Mitsuwa is currently operating.

In a transaction that marks a turning point for the area, the Little Tokyo Shopping Center last week was purchased by a group of Korean-American investors. While non-Japanese landlords of Little Tokyo properties have become common, this sale of the large shopping mall on Alameda Street will lead to a cultural change: Korean businesses, including a grocery, spa and electronics store, will replace the current Japanese tenants, said Ryan Oh of Coldwell Banker, who brokered the deal for the new owners.

Little Tokyo and nearby downtown have seen an influx of Korean-Americans as well as non-Asians, he explained. Meanwhile, much of the ethnic Japanese population has slowly decamped for Torrance and other areas.

The article goes on to describe that some members of the Little Tokyo community have expressed unhappiness about this. It also says that the shopping center, though Korean owned, will not be targeted just to the Korean community, but will cater to the new downtown residential neighborhood with English-language ads.

Another point of interest: Little Tokyo falls under the protection of the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency, which offers assistance to help maintain its “cultural roots.” Design guidelines require buildings to reflect Japanese themes, and signs can only be posted in Japanese and English. Will this change in demographic mean a shift in those policies?

h/t: Moye at 8Asians: LA Japantown to become KoreaJapantown?

Photo by -Lori- used under Creative Commons License

Are you voting in California’s statewide primary election tomorrow?  Did you even know we were having one?

Tomorrow’s primary election contains two Propositions, Prop 98 and Prop 99.  The Official Voter Information Guide mailed to residents by the State of California describes both Propositions as involving “eminent domain,” the government’s taking of private property for a ”public use.” Prop 98 seems to be getting the most attention.  AARP describes it as “a deceptive measure placed on the ballot by wealthy apartment and mobile home park landlords.”  The League of Women Voters of California states that “[h]idden provisions eliminate rent control and renter protections, jeopardize environmental protections and threaten other laws that protect our communities.”  Yikes.

I plan to do some studying tonight, and some voting tomorrow.  How about you?

There were reports by CurbedLA today of something fishy happening at the HollywoodFranklin, the new/old apartment building at Cahuenga & Franklin. They were gonna be for rent - but, now they’re not. None of them.

Speculation by Curbed Commenters has the entire building being leased out to “an organization that will use it for its own housing purposes,” leading many to believe that yet another historic building in our fine city will fall under the Xenu Curtain.

It’s all early speculation that this is the work of Scientology. But, it got me wondering how many buildings they actually occupy in L.A. and around the world. Anyone know?

Gotta go now. My hoodwink and unmarked van are waiting. I am not an SP. I am not an SP. I am not an SP.

It’s almost like people don’t even try any more or like Hollywood, figured all the good ideas have been taken so let’s get on with the rehash.

Custom Hotel.

I’d love to go upside the head speak to the genius who came up with this name. I snapped the photo on Lincoln Blvd. because it amused me. I did a quick internet search to find that this is real. Yeah…I admit to being such an Angeleno that I am sure a good chunk of the stuff that makes me laugh are props for movies. And I’m still not 100% convinced that it’s not a prop. Why? I have several reasons:
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Downtown Los Angeles is going to be the crown jewel of L.A. within the next 5 years. She’s walkable, lively, historic and modern all at once. She’s going to make early investors very, very rich.

And she almost broke my heart.

See, the real estate market crapped out, and the train almost came off the tracks. Almost. A year and a half ago, I was looking into the Chapman Flats at 8th & Broadway in the heart of the Historic Core. It’s in the Broadway Theatre District, it has a swanky marble lobby with brass elevator doors, and it’s stumbling distance from Broadway Bar and the 7th Street/Metro Station.

Today, CurbedLA reported the Chapman was going rental. It’s a temporary setback for a community who time has finally arrived. I’m just curious if you or someone you know almost bought in, too. Or did. Or still will. I would have been happy to sign the papers, because I think something amazing is taking place down there. Downtown will still have the last laugh.

Thoughts?