Real Estate Porn, Architecture Envy and Me

Sometimes, Pansy ain't pretty

Today I went on an adventure with my dear friend Sue, the LA NOIR-chitecture tour.  It visited various Noir-connected sites, such as the Formosa Cafe, the Parva-Sed-Apta Apartments (Where Nathaniel West lived when he wrote "The Day of the Locust") and this little dump: the Villa Primavera.  When I write "dump" it's in the fond hope that no-one will want to live there and I can score an apartment here.  Not only is it life-threateningly cute, but it's under West Hollywood's excellent rent control.

Villa Primavera is a product of the husband and wife team of Arthur and Nina Zwebel, one of the handful of apartments in the fantasy Andalusian style that feature interior courtyards with fountains and outdoor fireplaces built by them in the 20's.  It's a rare treat to get to see one of these places in the flesh (you can see this one in the movie "In a Lonely Place", which was written and later filmed here).  All of the units open to the courtyard, and despite being on busy Fountain Avenue, the place is very quiet; the effect is incredibly peaceful.  One of the tenants even left their front door casually open, showing their original barrel-shaped fireplace and nubby hand-trowelled old plaster walls as if to say "Nyah, nyah, nyah!  I live here and you don't"  At least that's how it seemed to me, knowing that I would be heading home to a place that while it's firmly in 90210 and therefore trumps on zip code, is notably lacking in charm.  These are the sort of apartments that "Buffy The Vampire Slayer", "Mulholland Dr" and "Chinatown" have made seem the quintessence of California style and which I would be very happy to call home.

Something like this..

Photo: my iPhone