My Areas
Echo Park
Echo Park is a mix of the rural and urban, a place where the occasional rooster can crow yards away from a three-story apartment building or a hip bar or coffeehouse. It has the winding walking trails of Elysian Park and busy street vendors on Sunset Boulevard. Those contradictions and combinations are what makes Echo Park a fascinating place to visit for a day or stay for good.
Echo Park is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Los Angeles, developing at the end of the 19th century. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, its rolling hills and steep bluffs became a prime spot for clapboard cottages, Spanish-style bungalows and a sprinkling of postwar and Modern homes.
Echo Park was built around the city?s elaborate rail system, with no less than four trolley lines running through the community. Because its hills were so steep, Echo Park is laced with a network of public staircases that allowed commuters to hop off a streetcar and walk uphill to their homes.
Echo Park received everyone from Communist organizers, whose large numbers lead many to dub the area "Red Hill"--to Evangelical Christians, from labor activists to aspiring actors.
The California movie industry established its first permanent home here in the former Edendale district--years before it gravitated to Hollywood and other cities. Echo Park was also home to pioneering evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, who built a giant temple north of Echo Park lake and was one of the first religious leaders to take advantage of the media, giving her worldwide celebrity status that rivaled that of Hollywood's most prominent stars.
Many have been drawn to Echo Park's unique public spaces: Echo Park Lake and the sprawling Elysian Park. Many stay because of the neighborhood?s unique scale and architectural character, from cliffside homes to tiny bungalow courts.
The neighborhood's few mansions can be found in Angelino Heights, which offers the city's greatest concentration of Victorian and Queen Anne homes. Far more typical are the modest houses found from Historic Filipinotown south of the Hollywood (101) Freeway north to Elysian Heights. Yet no matter how small the home, Echo Park's historic houses, duplexes and apartments have qualities that seem quaint in a time of massive subdivisions and four-car garages.
Venice
Venice is a rarity in Los Angeles, a neighborhood where you actually want to walk. In fact, assuming your flip-flops are sturdy, it's possible to spend a weekend in Venice without getting into a car.
Since it was designed as a beachside resort in 1905 by Abbot Kinney, who became a real estate developer after he dropped out of the family tobacco business, the neighborhood has seemed removed from the rest of Los Angeles's flashy, auto-centric urban culture. Even in the early 1990's, it was authentically bohemian: a run-down beach community where real estate was cheap, skaters and surfers ruled the boardwalk, and hippies and artists populated dilapidated Craftsman bungalows. Times have changed.
Although Venice still has an abundance of artists, writers, surfers and plain old eccentrics, it also attracts A-list celebrities (Julia Roberts bought property there in 2002), fine restaurants, chic boutiques and even edgy car dealerships. The popular annual garden tour (in May) is increasingly a showcase for landscape designers and prominent architects.
On the lush residential streets near Abbot Kinney Boulevard, Frank Gehry is designing a home for himself, and the local designer Steven Ehrlich has already built one. But even with property values and celebrity cachet on the rise, Venice remains quirky and laid back, a place where you might see entire families on bikes or an artist walking to the shore with a canvas in one hand and a beach chair in the other.
| Weather for Venice | ||||
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57°F Current: Clear Wind: NE at 4 mph Humidity: 62% |
Wed 74°F | 49°F |
Thu 76°F | 50°F |
Fri 70°F | 50°F |
Sat 63°F | 49°F |
Santa Monica
Santa Monica blends the charm and appeal of a coastal getaway with an unforgettable beach and the sophistication of an urban center: a magnetic combination.
Known for its healthy lifestyle and good schools, Santa Monica is situated in a compact, walkable 8.3 square miles. This environmental- and pedestrian-friendly city also boasts one of the most respected public transportation systems in the nation, making the entire city easily accessible and convenient, even without a vehicle. Additionally, the city's world-famous beach and bike trail offer a vast assortment of outdoor recreation and activities.
| Weather for Santa Monica | ||||
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57°F Current: Clear Wind: NE at 4 mph Humidity: 62% |
Wed 74°F | 52°F |
Thu 77°F | 54°F |
Fri 72°F | 52°F |
Sat 63°F | 52°F |
Mar Vista
Mar Vista is a friendly community where joggers, dog-walkers and baby strollers are part of the daily scene. In Spanish, Mar Vista means "sea view" - and though only some homes in the area have ocean vistas, everyone enjoys sea breezes, especially in the mid-afternoon. The "brisas" sweep out smog and keep temperatures comfortable in warm weather
Mar Vista residents have easy access to happening Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice and are not far from lively shoppping in Santa Monica, Century City and Culver City. There's a small but convivial farmers market on Sunday mornings at Venice and Grand View boulevards. One major plus for frequent travelers: Mar Vista is so close to Los Angeles International Airport that it costs about as much to take a taxi as an airport shuttle.
As prices in other parts of the upscale Westside have grown out of reach for many, Mar Vista remains one of the few areas that has stayed relatively affordable.
There's "Mar Vista" -- the Westside community of pleasant postwar housing -- and then there's "Mar Vista Hill", actually a gathering of hills that oversee their more modest mother community. Few locations in Los Angeles -- at any price -- can match the views.
Where else, depending on how your home is positioned, can you gaze across all of Venice to the ocean, or toward Century City office towers, or the Loyola Marymount University campus high on a hill, or the skyline of downtown Los Angeles?
Mar Vista Hill is not widely known, but for decades it has attracted buyers looking for individually designed homes on large lots. "The Hill" is usually defined by Inglewood Boulevard on the east, Walgrove Avenue on the west and National Boulevard on the north. Its southern boundary is Venice Boulevard on the eastern portion and Palms Avenue on the western portion. (Some residents -- particularly those whose homes fall outside that perimeter -- argue that the boundaries are slightly different.)
| Weather for Mar Vista | ||||
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57°F Current: Clear Wind: NE at 4 mph Humidity: 62% |
Wed 73°F | 49°F |
Thu 76°F | 50°F |
Fri 70°F | 50°F |
Sat 63°F | 49°F |
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1517 Linden Ave. Venice, CA 90291
URL http://www.telesproperties.com/properties/details/1611