|
Looking for the Hot Spots
Cafes and Bookstores Often Lead the Way to the Next Up-and-Coming Neighborhood
|
| (Los Angeles Times/Richard Lillash) |
By Marc Lallanilla
April 28, 2001 - Real estate in Los Angeles is a dynamic game, swayed by easily understood
factors like the prime lending rate, the overall economic situation, the number of houses for sale and the number of buyers
looking in any particular season.
Less easy to quantify, however, is the changing nature of neighborhoods. What makes one neighborhood's home values skyrocket
while another languishes? What are the signs that a community is about to catapult from dump to destination?
As recently
as the mid-90's, areas of Los Angeles like Venice, Carthay Circle and Silver Lake had a reputation, undeserved or not, for
crime, graffiti and noise. However, property in these neighborhoods today command prices from 60% to 75% higher than their
prices 5 years ago; homes commonly sell within 24 hours after receiving multiple offers. If buyers knew then where those neighborhoods
were headed, and how quickly they were going to get there, their attitudes (and their addresses) might have changed.
|
| (Los Angeles Times) |
The factors that make a neighborhood appreciate are not entirely different from the factors that all buyers
look for, according to Keven McConnell with DBL Beverly Hills: "Buyers are always looking for convenient access to jobs and
shopping. People are returning to older neighborhoods instead of looking into areas further away. But they're also looking
into neighborhoods where the homes have interesting architectural details, the kind you can't find in newer houses."
Architectural
character like colorful bathroom tiles, decorative light fixtures and telephone nooks are attractive details to buyers who
may not have grown up with these once-common features.
Ironically, many houses in marginal areas have been "preserved by neglect" - owners lacked the necessary
funds to update their homes over the decades and have therefore retained the original features that now render the houses
more valuable.
For more, go to the Los Angeles Times
The Life and Death of Narcissus
The
Silent Crisis of Male Body Image Disorder
Frontiers Newsmagazine
January 18, 2002
His beauty was legendary. Women fainted as he passed; hopeless men threw themselves off cliffs in despair.
But he cared for no one, and spurned all who approached. One day, drinking from a pool of water, he caught his own reflection
in the mirrored surface and was completely mesmerized. Unable to eat, drink or move, he pined away until death overcame him.
In sympathy, the gods changed him into a golden flower that leans over water, staring at its own reflection - the Narcissus.
|
| (Frontiers Newsmagazine) |
This classic Greek myth may be a cautionary tale for our times. Men are going to extreme, even dangerous
lengths to achieve the near-impossible look dictated by media imagery and fueled by their own insecurities. The obsession
affects men young and old, gay and straight, rich and poor. It has reached such levels that alarmed medical professionals
have recently published numerous works describing male body image disorder. Unchecked, it can result in unemployment, suicide,
disease, bankruptcy, destroyed relationships and criminal activity including drug dealing, theft, even murder.
Ron
was a skinny kid (for professional reasons, he requests we not publish his last name). He remembers his exact weight - 118
pounds - when he was 24 years old. Ron is now an attractive, successful 46-year-old professional employed at a downtown L.A.
law firm, yet he carries painful memories of his youth. "My parents placed pictures of my family all over the house," Ron
says, "but almost no pictures of me. Though I was popular, in the mirror I saw a skinny, ugly kid."
In 1985, Ron was
introduced to anabolic steroids through a friend and began his long friendship with Deca-Durabolin, Anadrol and testosterone.
Soon he was traveling to Baja California to purchase steroids. In 1990 he was arrested at the border: "Not only did they confiscate
my brand-new truck, they destroyed thousands of dollars worth of steroids right in front of my eyes. It made me sick."
Ron
now weighs 178 pounds; his 5'-9" frame balloons with lean, chiseled muscle. His deltoids are the size of softballs, his abs
look like an ice cube tray. Yet, as recently as December, intense panic attacks forced him to visit a doctor: "I felt like
I was getting really fat. That's the trouble with this; no matter how good you look, no matter how many compliments you get,
it's never, ever enough!" So Ron supplements his steroid and workout regimen with photo-facial lasering, botox and collagen
injections and laser hair removal.
In 1995, Ron was hospitalized due to testicular shrinkage from steroid use; he could barely urinate. He
also suffered severe prostrate problems and permanent liver damage, as well as a build-up of necrotic (dead) tissue in his
knees. In 2000, he underwent another operation; his left kidney was removed. This was partly due to a heredity condition,
though kidney damage is commonly associated with steroid abuse. Though he has only one kidney left, Ron continues to use steroids.
For more, go to Frontiers Newsmagazine
|
