Pasadena Real Estate

Pasadena Weekly's real estate columnist, Joanna Beresford has written another article.   Not only is it a very beautifully written story, but it also mentions a couple of quotes from yours truly.  Here it is for everyone's enjoyment.

Barefoot in the park

By Joanna Beresford 09/18/2008

Earlier this week I was walking barefoot through the streets of downtown Los Angeles. Backpack over my shoulder and head down, I carried a pair of dilapidated flip-flops in my hand - Corona blue and gold, bought for 99 cents, having traveled many miles on many feet already and deserving their rest.

The outlandish Disney Center erupts on the block between Grand and Hope streets, where the blue plastic thong wrenched itself free from one of those flip-flops. After that, I was barefoot, but I really didn't mind. The pavement was warm beneath my feet and the view was spectacular. I was looking for something and I may as well have found it with my scummy blistered toes as anywhere else.

Now I just can't remember exactly what I was looking for, except I do know that I felt sad and worried and angry about a bunch of things, most of which had to do with money and love, naturally. I thought, if I can't find some answers here, between the Disney Center and the Mark Taper Forum, these two bastions of culture, civilization and good taste, where am I gonna find  them? So I walked all the way around the soaring structure that some call a monstrosity and others call miraculous.

The light and surfaces stimulated me to the point of renewal, and that's something. But I wanted more, so I headed toward the cathedral. You know, The Cathedral. That Spaniard Jose Rafael Moneo's vision of heaven - Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels on Temple Street. I've been there pretty often. I attended Sunday morning Mass once, and I bought a coffee and sat under the trees with the sparrows, reading. I love the sunbaked adobe color and the transparent walls and everything. But I should have known that a building famous for its lack of right angles (a design element dedicated to the aura of mystery that Moneo wished to explore) wasn't exactly going to give me any solid answers. Anyway, it was late in the day, gates were closing, bells were ringing, and I kept walking. Past tourists, city employees and homeless people mostly.

"The first loss is the best loss," Irina Netchaev says.  She's a Realtor, but she's also my friend, so I believe just about every word that comes out of her mouth.

READ BAREFOOT IN THE PARK