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Ceffer
2013 Mar 17, 4:12am
I went to UCLA in the 70's. Lived in Venice for two years a three minute walk to the beach on the canals as a student. Shared a house with two others, it was $90 a month for me then. The house was valued at somewhere about 50k, now is well north of a million, a dinky vet's house one block over from the canals toward Marina Del Rey.
Westwood was very plushy. I was shocked when I heard that it had deteriorated and become a gang banger suburban blight of some kind, a lot of the shops and restaurants were gone. I have not been back myself in a long time, but it was hard to imagine how it went from one thing to another like that.
Westwood is situated between ultra shee shee Beverly Hills and hip and smug Santa Monica. As population has increased in LA over the years, it really shouldn't be shocking that rents have outpaced inflation in a neighborhood that never really was bad to begin with and is surrounded by premium real estate.
Westwood was very plushy. I was shocked when I heard that it had deteriorated
Not sure it really has deteriorated, or, it must have been super fancy pants back in the day, because when I drive through Westwood, it's expensive co-ops and doorman condo towers, office high rises, nicely maintained roads and parks, lots of leased Bentleys and Benzezes driving around. Restaurant scene isn't all that, but the few I've eaten in there were all $$$-type places and loaded with bourgie tennis-sweater clientele.
Bellingham Bill
2013 Mar 17, 3:08pm
Westwood was never gang-bang per se, its proximity to the Palms area did let some rif-raff in, but after a stupid gang-related altercation got somebody killed the LAPD cracked down HARD on gang-bangers.
http://articles.latimes.com/1988-02-02/local/me-40025_1_westwood-village
was only half of it. If you looked urban -- the LAPD kept very close tabs on you.
Westwood now doesn't look much different from the late 80s. They've got Whole Foods, Trader Joes, and some new development where the Bullocks used to be.
The village certainly has great 'bones' to be a better place than it is, but it needs lower rents, more parking, and several subway stops under it wouldn't hurt either.
Now Santa Monica's 3rd street was a real dump the one time I went there (in 1990 to buy a suitcase). That place really turned around, LOL.
My old stomping grounds.
Wanted to see how much rent inflation has occurred over the past 20-odd years, found that the unit that I rented for $700/mo in 1991 now rents for $1700.
Rent control in LA would have limited my rent to $1450/mo had I remained continuously (and they'd raised the max [3-5%] every year).
$700 in 1991 has inflated to $1160 according to the inflation calculator.
Isn't real estate special -- the source and sink of all wealth.
#housing