Book of the Year

Just got my copy of Realtor^® Jeffrey's Hyland's stunning new book, The Legendary Estates of Beverly Hills.

I'm not sure whether I'm gasping more from lugging the boxed 20-pound, 428-page tome upstairs, from its jaw-dropping production values, or from the estates themselves.

A must read.

The impeccably researched book includes myriad historic photos but, unlike some similarly-themed volumes, also includes plenty of full-color contemporary pictures of these places. Westwood native Hyland, whose father was a screenwriter and literary agent, has Hollywood's power elite on speed dial and is a principal in Hilton & Hyland Real Estate. The extensive bibliography will appeal to those of a scholarly bent. (Guilty!)

Carolwood Drive estate.

The $250 (list) price tag is worthy of a Rodeo Drive boutique, but the book can be had at a hefty discount at . . . well, you know where you shop.

By the way, don't confuse this new book with the 1989 volume that Hyland wrote with Charles Lockwood, The Estates of Beverly Hills. The older book, even though published to spur sales of estate properties in Beverly Park, s a fine work in its own right and worth owning. As of a couple of years ago, it could still be obtained from Hennessey + Ingalls but is no longer listed on their website.

Raze of hope

There was finally some real knock-down, drag-out progress on the much-anticipated (and much-blogged-about) demolition near the corner of Western and Hollywood Boulevard today. I snapped this around 6:30 p.m. on Thursday. Now's the time to put your bid in for those mystery gates.

Gone and pretty much already forgotten.

Crime(s) of the Week

There seems to be a rash of these curiously street-shunning multi-unit buildings in South Los Angeles, built on elongated lots.

Both of these were constructed in 2005.





Their architectural naïveté is more excusable than is their clausterphobic inhumanity.

Bungalow aid

A friend asked for some Photoshop help in visualizing what to do with the front of this cute but previously neglected Hollywood bungalow.


I came up with a couple of different ideas, using art snipped from various sources.

Cool Tool

Architecture and urban development fans will find the Los Angeles Times "Mapping L.A." project useful.

Started early this year and updated in June based on user feedback, the neighborhood-by-neighborhood look at L.A. contains information on population, ethnicity, income, education, housing and other factors.

Click the map to go to the Los Angeles Times "Mapping L.A." project

It's obviously an ongoing project that will benefit from continued refinement. The best thing about the interactive map may be just knowing where you are in the vastness that is Los Angeles.

Crime of the Week

This faux-baroque joke on Greenleaf in Sherman Oaks is "back on the market," according to the sign out front.

"Keep the hell out, peasant!" —H.S.

This defensively gated 3-bedroom eyesore, built in 2005 on a shady suburban street a couple blocks south of the boulevard, sold for $3,043,000 in January. But evidently its new owner got an advanced case of the heebee-jeebees, complicated by second thoughts, arrière-pensées, and buyer's remorse and is now trying to unload it. Or maybe he or she just got in over his or her head.

If you're interested, here's who to call: