last august, i returned to santa monica for my 40th class reunion, and stayed at the hotel california on pacific to the left of the santa monica pier. one day, i strolled down the sidewalk street beside the hotel to neilsen way to go to the pier for an early morning coffee. i noticed a guy in overalls nailing up a ‘house for rent’ sign on what looked to be a renovated bungalow with a lovely deck on the roof with an ocean view. curiousity got the best of me in this newly defined old town/place of my birth. so of course, i asked the painter when they would be showing it…he said, ‘go ahead, take a peek inside if you like’..so i did… right inside the front door was the long skinny 50’s hallway…to the left, street-side, was a tiny bedroom; to the right, a small living room and a closet size office of sorts; next to that, a tiny refurbished bath. at the end of the hall was a tiny kitchen, whose remodeled pantry now contained a winding staircase to the roof. oh yes! the roof had a glorious view! …there was a postage-stamp sized patch of lawn in the ‘backyard’, which butted right up against a fence with a brand new apartment building’s windows facing into the tiny yard–so, no privacy… when i came back down the stairs, through the house and back out to the sidewalk street, i said to the overall’d guy, “how much for this little house”? his reply? “forty-two hundred a month”…. i was floored. and, he was insulted by my laughter… it occured to me that our old stomping grounds of venice and santa monica have been bastardized and taken over by the real estate barons, who incessently have inflated the market with overblown prices at whim to this unconscionable place …and like the gas prices at the pump and the state of all rents along this california coast, everyone then jumps on board like mindless sheep in the herd because, what the hell…what are the other choices–especially for those of us as life-long renters… when i returned from the disneyland that was once our slums at the beach, i pulled into my yard with gratitude. here, in almost paradise, i am fortunate enough to have a 2 bedroom, 2 bath casa on 1/2 acre of land, with a barn-sized former greenhouse and a shade greenhouse on the other side of this land. off the living room, there is a west-facing deck that allows for gorgeous sunsets, star-filled nights and a generous moon-glow on the eves of the full moon. its quiet and peaceful here off this dead-end lane; the birds sing to me in the morning, the deer eat my garden’s bounty on occasion; the fox, barn owls and other critters meander on their nighttime journeys through the apple orchards; the coyotes sing their mournful cries from the ridges in green valley…and i listen…and i watch and wonder…once upon a time, i was priced out of my other ‘home’ for close to twenty-five years, marin county…how long will it be before the county of sonoma becomes as unaffordable as santa monica or mill valley…still, today, i am grateful that i am able to live in a place that i can still manage to afford, at $1500. per month…i am lucky
Tags
Archives
- February 2020 (1)
- July 2016 (1)
- March 2016 (1)
- February 2016 (1)
- December 2015 (1)
- October 2015 (1)
- August 2015 (1)
- June 2015 (1)
- May 2015 (1)
- February 2015 (2)
- January 2015 (1)
- November 2014 (2)
- September 2014 (1)
- August 2014 (1)
- June 2014 (2)
- May 2014 (1)
- April 2014 (1)
- March 2014 (3)
- February 2014 (3)
- December 2013 (2)
- November 2013 (2)
- October 2013 (4)
- September 2013 (1)
- August 2013 (4)
- July 2013 (5)
- June 2013 (1)
- May 2013 (3)
- April 2013 (1)
- March 2013 (4)
- February 2013 (1)
- December 2012 (1)
- November 2012 (2)
- October 2012 (3)
- September 2012 (1)
- August 2012 (3)
- July 2012 (3)
- June 2012 (1)
- May 2012 (2)
- April 2012 (4)
- March 2012 (3)
- January 2012 (2)
- December 2011 (1)
- November 2011 (1)
- October 2011 (3)
- September 2011 (3)
- July 2011 (5)
- May 2011 (1)
- April 2011 (1)
- March 2011 (2)
- February 2011 (1)
- January 2011 (4)
- November 2010 (4)
- October 2010 (2)
- September 2010 (2)
- July 2010 (1)
- June 2010 (2)
- May 2010 (1)
- April 2010 (6)
- March 2010 (9)
- February 2010 (7)
- January 2010 (12)
- December 2009 (11)
- November 2009 (22)
- October 2009 (25)
- September 2009 (41)
- August 2009 (46)
- July 2009 (35)
- June 2009 (33)
- May 2009 (48)
Blog Stats
- 8,601 hits
Recent Comments
lindalou5150 on deluge 1973 collectingcoffee on charlie Robert persinger on deluge 1973 Meg Mitchell on deluge 1973 David Garcia on charlie glycee prints courtesy of artbydavidgarcia.com
I hate to say it, but I must really be stuck in another universe or just stuck, period. $1500 a montg would deplete entirely my disposable income. No wonder there are so many homeless in America. No wonder more and more people are being displaced every day. And we are the ones who live in the land of bounty, where no man nor woman would ever go hungry, without warm clothes or shelter…. not!