Originally published on April 25, 2023 Several weeks ago, some of you received an email from your JohnHart agent about a promising new housing loans initiative. Dubbed the California Dream For All Shared Appreciation Loan, it sought to level the playing field for disadvantaged Californians with aspirations of homeownership. Yet, less than two weeks later, […]
Seth Styles
Exploring the Steel Sentinels of Galleta Meadows
Featured image credit: Matthew Dillon Just two hours south of Palm Springs, you’ll find a desert preserve where history loses all meaning while resonating with unusual profundity. Grizzled prospectors eternally sift through the running waters of imagined streams, prehistoric sloths lumber across arid sands, and mythical serpents swim beneath rivers of asphalt. If it sounds […]
8 Things to Do on Catalina Island to Soak Up Its Unique Vibe
Featured image credit: Ken Lund On a clear Los Angeles Day, you can see the Pacific Ocean glittering in the distance from the Griffith Observatory. And on the very clearest of days, you might even see a considerable landmass punctuating those gleaming waves. For a lot of Angelenos, this is their introduction to Catalina Island […]
LA Home Spotlight: Tony Duquette Sculpted Exotic Dreams in Dawnridge
Featured image credit: Hollywood Unwrapped You don’t have to be a Hollywood insider to recognize the name Tony Duquette. Throughout the 1940s and ‘50s, he elevated set decoration to an art form with his “more is more” approach. It earned him a great deal of admirers, some well-positioned friends, and, it would seem, a small […]
Palm Springs’ Mojave Maxine Gives Groundhog Day a Run For Its Money
Featured image credit: The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens Groundhog Day, the annual tradition you sort of forgot was a thing, is coming up on February 2. And while the rest of the U.S. (and, believe it or not, Canada) will have to wait until then for the prophetic Punxsutawney Phil to predict the coming […]
The Downtown Chocolate Shop Los Angeles Historians Love is Short on Sweets… But Big on Vision
Featured image credit: Omgivning Perhaps as a deeply inadequate escape from the stresses of the first World War, hot chocolate was all the rage in Los Angeles in 1914. Through this fad, new life was etched into the very walls of a formerly non-descript four-story building that remains standing today at 217 West 6th Street. […]
Absorption Rate Analysis: December 2023 – Secretly Good News for Buyers?
As our absorption rate analysis blogs have likely emphasized by now, statistics are often at the whim of interpretation. These numbers are concrete: they tell us something that actually happened. A certain number of homes were sold in a given area. A certain number of homes were on the market in that same area. Anything […]
How to Choose From the Best Whale Watching Tours in the Greater LA Area
With our hospitable weather, protected waters, and position directly in a major migration path, Los Angeles is one of the world’s top destinations for whale watching. So where do you go for the best whale watching Los Angeles tourists can hope for? And what can you realistically expect to see? Today, we’ll take a closer […]
Sorry, Other California Mushrooms. The Golden Chanterelle is Officially Our State Shroom!
Featured image credit: Boleslaw Kuznik (Bolek) On January 1, a slew of new California laws will take effect, impacting minimum wage, health care, public transit, and more. It also means, for the first time ever, California will have an official state mushroom. And, no, it’s not that kind of mushroom. Sure, California mushrooms may not […]
Glendora’s CocoVino Wine Shop Finds Its Terroir in Community
Los Angeles, like many major cities, is a place of instant gratification. You don’t usually have to look too hard to find something rare or even unique. From vintage clothing to obscure records, classic cars to Hollywood memorabilia, the city itself is like a museum in rapid motion. But if it’s a rare wine you’re […]