50 Years Of Beatles History In Los Angeles

After attending the enjoyable salute to the Beatles this past weekend at the Hollywood Bowl that celebrated the 50th anniversary of their first ever concert in Los Angeles (where superstar musicians recreated the exact set list from August 23rd, 1964), I loved reading this Curbed L.A. story about just how much time the group as a whole, and as individuals, spent in Los Angeles in their lifetimes. The article did a really nice job of "mapping out" the history of the Fab Four in L.A. Here are some of the highlights of the article:

Of course, you have to start at the Bowl concert, which was right at the height of Beatlemania. As you can see from the flyer above, this was their only Los Angeles appearance and the tickets went for a whopping $3 - $7! Bob Eubanks, famed for The Newlywed Game but then a 26-year-old KRLA DJ and proprietor of the Cinnamon Cinder nightclubs at the time, mortgaged his house for $25,000 to pay for the concert, and attendees include Lauren Bacall and Louella Parsons among the screaming teens.

When the boys were in town to play a repeat performance at the Hollywood Bowl exactly one year later in August 1965, they had the chance to visit their idol, Elvis Presley. Band members have said through the years the meeting was a bit awkward, but they managed to joke around a little, have a jam session, and John and Elvis even talked about Peter Sellers and their favorite scenes from Seller's hit Stanley Kubrick film,  Dr. Strangelove.

George Harrison rented the above house in 1967; while waiting for friends to show up on a foggy night. He killed time by using the rental home's Hammond organ to write Magical Mystery Tour's "Blue Jay Way" with its haunting "There's a fog upon LA..." lyrics.

The picture above, known as the last picture of Paul McCartney and John Lennon ever taken together, was snapped at the Santa Monica beach house built by MGM chief Louis B. Mayer (and later owned by actor Peter Lawford, and said to have hosted JFK/Marilyn Monroe trysts) that Lennon rented with girlfriend May Pang during his year-and-a-half-long "Lost Weekend" in the mid-1970's. He hosted legendary late-night parties there attended by the likes of Keith Moon, Ringo Starr and Elton John after nights spent on the Sunset Strip.

Anyway, I really got a kick out of the Curbed L.A. article especially since it brought back many memories of the Beatles concerted I attended just 5 days after the Bowl concert back at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium in Queens, New York. Let me know your memories of Beatles shows you might have attended or if you were there any of the 3 nights last weekend and what you thought!

The Grand Central Market Renaissance Is Thriving

Downtown L.A.'s Grand Central Market, which has been operating continuously for the past 97 years, has been through many transformations over the last century. After opening to much fanfare in 1917, the market was a booming social hub from the 1920's through the 1960's but, like much of Downtown, it suffered from the suburban sprawl that made the Downtown area less than a desirable location. For much of the past few decades the market has served primarily as a discount center, offering produce, dry goods and prepared meals to a largely working-class clientele.

These days, however, Grand Central Market is riding the wave of revitalization that has seen much of Downtown Los Angeles turn into one of the hottest spots in America. National media has been breathlessly reporting on this unlikely turn of events with the Downtown area for a few years now, with the Wall Street Journal recently spotlighting how people such as TV producer Burt Sugarman and his wife, former "Entertainment Tonight" host Mary Hart, have given up their lush Beverly Hills digs and moved to an area once better known for urban blight. Now comes word this week that, after naming Downtown restaurant Alma the best new restaurant in America in 2013, Bon Appétit has named Grand Central Market as one of its Hot 10 — the best new restaurants of 2014.

“What in the world is a 97-year-old food court doing on this list?” asks Bon Appétit restaurant editor Andrew Knowlton. “Let me explain. Over the past year, Grand Central Market, much like the rest of downtown L.A., has seen a remarkable renaissance". Indeed, and GCM has seen ITS renaissance include an exceptional variety of new food vendors as well as quality cooking by some of California's best and trendiest eateries, while also retaining classic stalls such as China Cafe, in operation since the 1940's and famous for its wonton soup. You'll also find a butcher shop specializing in organic grass-fed meats (Belcampo Meat Company), Chile Secos, a Latin grocery selection of imported moles, dried beans, rice, nuts, grains, and other specialty products, and DTLA Cheese, Downtown's first full-service cheesemonger, among the many offerings.

If you have not been to the Market in awhile, it is definitely a "must do" weekend stop for any Angeleno looking for a great way to spend the day shopping and eating. I would love to hear about what your favorite vendors are and what you think of the amazing turnaround the market has seen!

It's Going To Be A Great Weekend For Free Events In Los Angeles

Looks like there are a lot of interesting and varied events going on this weekend and the great thing is that many of them are free. In that vein, I thought I would spotlight a few that look like the best bets, including a couple I might like to attend (if I get a spare second during this super busy period for me!). ALL of the events below are free.

If you are into classic theater, there are two Shakespeare festivals and a reading of Anton Chekhov's masterwork, The Seagull, being staged this weekend. The first Shakespeare outing is being held in San Pedro when the Shakespeare by the Sea series ends its Summer run on Saturday with a performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream, the Bard's play where the impish Puck makes mischief with fairy royalty and human lovers alike, leading them on a merry midsummer night chase.

If you are not ready to hike down to San Pedro but still want to get your Shakespeare fix, Griffith Park hosts its own Summer Shakespeare series. This weekend will have The Taming of the Shrew performed Saturday night and Twelfth Night performed on Sunday night. The plays are staged by the Independent Shakespeare Company, a group founded in 1998 by actors sharing a passion for classical works who "focus on stripping back the conventions of contemporary theater and discovering efficient, entertaining ways to bring great works to a modern audience". 

Chekov's The Seagull is being staged by the Downtown Repertory Theater Company at the Historic Pico House in the Olvera Street section Downtown. The 1895 play explores the tensions between mothers, sons, lovers, friends and servants and its story centers around a famous actress, Irina Arkadina, who is obsessed with a callous lover, dismissive of her frustrated son and suspicious of an admiring young woman.

If fitness is your thing, the Santa Monica Pier and the Ferrigno family fitness dynasty present Hey There Muscles - Lean Fitness by FerrignoFIT, a six-week fitness and wellness program at the Pier on Saturdays at 9 a.m. This Saturday is the last class of the Summer and is focused on creating lean muscle and healthy living and eating habits, taught by the original Hulk himself, Lou Ferrigno. 

There is also the Bombay Jam Fitness Class at Blanks Studios in Sherman Oaks Saturday that incorporates cardio and toning routines into a total body workout with routines set to custom music mixes created by Bombay's hottest DJs (the music is a blend of Bollywood and mainstream Top 40 tracks). The cardio routines incorporate basic, easy to follow dance fitness moves with Bollywood flare, and the toning segment focuses on sculpting long, lean muscle in the hour-long class where you can burn up to 800 calories!

And finally, if you just want to have a few drinks, listen to great music and sample some of the area's best food trucks, Timbuk2, the makers of those super-cool backpacks that are in vogue with everyone from bicyclists to farmers market shoppers to beach-goers, are opening up their new store in Venice with a 2-day grand-opening celebration Saturday and Sunday featuring local craft beer, complimentary photobooth pics, live music and surprise giveaways and discounts.

Hard to believe all of this stuff is free but it is, so if you go to any of these events please let me know on my Facebook page how they were. Maybe I'll see you at the free Roberta Flack concert at Burton Chace Park Saturday night!

Local Beekeepers Working To Keep Honeybee Population From Collapse

The Argonaut, the Westside beach communities local weekly paper, had a great article this past week about local beekeepers that had me wondering how many people are aware of the massive bee die-off over the last decade and how it is affecting crops around the globe. Starting in the Fall of 2006, beekeepers in the United States began reporting losses of 30% to 90% of their hives. While colony losses are not unexpected, especially over the winter, the magnitude of recent losses has been unusually high. Honeybees pollinate $30 billion worth of crops in the U.S., including the nearly $4 billion California almond crop now blooming in the Central Valley that depends on 1.4 million of the rented hives to grow the nuts. Honey bees pollinate roughly 1/3 of the food Americans consume, and we also eat over 400 million pounds of honey in America each year.

Colony Collapse Disorder is the name given to the mysterious condition decimating the honey bee population that is being blamed on everything from using a combination of certain pesticides to global warming to trucking hives of stressed out bees all over the place to pollinate. The Argonaut reports that the sudden and rapid decline of the bee population has gotten the attention of President Barack Obama, who had two hives installed at the White House garden this summer — making him the nation’s most high-profile urban beekeeper. In June, the President created a Pollinator Task Force to establish a federal strategy aimed at promoting the health of honeybees and other pollinators. The issue is serious enough that the task force issued a statement explaining that Honeybee pollination alone adds more than $15 billion in value to agricultural crops each year in the United States and the recent severe yearly declines have created concern that bee colony losses could reach a point from which the commercial pollination industry would not be able to adequately recover.

To that end, beekeepers have, for the past several years, celebrated National Honeybee Day to educate people about honeybees and promote efforts to keep them from extinction. This year’s National Honeybee Day is Saturday, Aug. 16, and the nonprofit L.A. beekeeper group Honey Love is marking the occasion with a party on Venice Beach. The event takes place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with a group photo of participants at noon, near the lifeguard tower off Market Street near the Venice Skatepark. See you there?

Nation-wide Public Art Show On Display With The ART EVERYWHERE Event

An historic nation-wide public art initiative kicked off in New York City’s Times Square this past weekend and it is an incredibly amazing event. Billed as “the largest outdoor art show ever conceived”, the Art Everywhere project is a public celebration of great American art exhibited on thousands of "out of home" (OOH) advertising displays across America. Over 50,000 images will be presented on billboards, bus shelters, subway posters, special digital displays, outside walls of office buildings and much more. As a major art fan, this is very exciting news to me!

Five of America’s leading art museums--LACMA, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Dallas Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art--offered up hundreds of their collections' standout works that represent American history and culture, and a voting pool of more than 180,000 people from across the country selected the top 58 pieces. A few artists were so popular that voters picked multiple examples of their work including 19th century landscape painter Winslow Homer’s The Cotton Pickers, Breezing Up (A Fair Wind) and The Water Fan and Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks and Early Sunday Morning. Expect to see Robert Mapplethorpe, Andy Warhol, Grant Wood's American Gothic and what is considered Gilbert Stuart's greatest of his many portraits of George Washington among the selected works.

Dallas Museum of Art Director Max Anderson says, “Most Americans aren’t taught about American art in school, and this project is intended to put discussion about art back in the classroom—and at the dinner table, water cooler, and car pool.” So, keep your eyes open everywhere you look now through August 31st (when the event ends) since you just may see your favorite piece of art--or find a new one--on a Metro train, hanging on the wall of a Starbucks or perched on a billboard along the freeway. If you do spot a piece that makes you think or laugh or is in an unusual place, please snap a pic and send it to me and I'll publish it on my Facebook page.

Notorious Spelling Estate Known As 'The Manor' On The Market Yet Again

Depending on your point of view, it is either one of the grandest or one of the tackiest mansions in Los Angeles. But no matter what your thoughts about the home itself are, there is no doubt that The Manor, the 56,500-square-foot behemoth (about 1,500 square feet bigger than the White House) with 14 bedrooms and 27 bathrooms in Holmby Hills, has provided the real estate world in Los Angeles plenty of drama since it was built in 1991. The home is back in the spotlight this week as its current owner, 25 year-old British heiress Petra Ecclestone (who bought the home in 2011 for $85 million), is showing the house privately at an asking price of $150 million.

Built for super-producer Aaron Spelling and his wife Candy, the house became a source of amusement for Angelenos as it became famous for its THREE gift wrapping rooms, doll museum, and guest rooms bigger than most 2 bedroom apartments. At the time of its construction, the project spawned a controversy over its massive size and ostentatious architecture, with the L.A. Times asking, "What's bigger than a football field, smaller than Hearst Castle, has a bowling alley and an entire floor of closets, and is making some people very annoyed? Aaron and Candy Spelling's mansion in Holmby Hills". It is worth mentioning here that the property also contains 16 carports.

Aaron Spelling died in 2006, and two years later Candy listed the 123-room (!) home for $150 million but had no takers at that price. It finally sold to Eccleson (who now goes by her married name, Petra Stunt) in 2011. She completely overhauled the house, bringing in dark velvet, crystals, a custom coat of arms created by her decorator, and a Marc Quinn sculpture of twin Pamela Andersons in bikinis. There is also a nightclub in the basement, a giant fish tank filled with rare puffer fish, and a spa with a massage parlor, three hair stations, and two mani-pedi chairs (in the room that used to house Spelling's infamous doll collection). So, it seems, Petra has her own "unique" design and decorating tastes as well. 

Curbed LA reports that Petra may be willing to negotiate as long as the price stays above the $102 million price that Fleur De Lys, the L.A. mansion that set the record for highest home sale ever in Los Angeles county, sold for in March.

L.A.'s Quirky Victorian Village

If you blink while passing you'll miss it, but just before the Avenue 43 exit on the Arroyo Seco Parkway amidst the working-class homes and small businesses of Montecito Heights sits a small,  picturesque Victorian village. A restored collection of nineteenth-century houses, a huge Carpenter Gothic church, a red trolley car and a shingled yellow train depot make up the Heritage Square Museum, a "living history museum" that has been quietly working to preserve L.A.'s Victorian architectural history. More impressive is that they have been doing so without the assistance of big donors or crowds for more than 40 years.

Established in 1969 by the Cultural Heritage Board, The Heritage Square Museum was a response to the rapidly increasing demolition of Los Angeles's historic landmarks and neighborhoods. The five-member panel was given the authority to designate Historic-Cultural Monuments in the city of Los Angeles and it was among the first of its kind in the country, predating New York's Landmarks Preservation Law by three years. Most of the buildings sprung up during the first L.A. land boom of the 1880s, and some of these structures stood nearly alone in neighborhoods like Bunker Hill (which had been razed to make way for modern developments). Others no longer fit in with their neighborhoods, like the train depot that sat condemned behind a furniture store in Palms. Over the past four decades, Heritage Square Museum has acquired and begun the restoration on eight historically significant buildings along acres of period appropriate landscaped grounds.

As the pictures below show, the village is fascinating glimpse into the past. A perfect example is the beautifully restored Hale House, built in 1887 at the base of Mount Washington by real estate developer George Morgan. The multi-colored, turreted, upper-middle class house  is a mixture of the Queen Anne and Eastlake styles of architecture and definitely lives up to what the L.A. Times called "'picturesque eclectic" from the "age of exuberance". Another standout is the 1876 William Hayes Perry residence (also known as Mount Pleasant House), considered by many to be the first proper "mansion" built in Los Angeles. 

Perhaps the oddest building is the 1893 Longfellow-Hastings Octagon House, one of the two examples of this strange, fad architecture left in the state. Conceived in the 1840s by amateur architect and scientific quack , Orson S. Fowler, the octagon house plan enjoyed a brief heyday in the East and Midwest in the years before the Civil War. These eight-sided houses, featuring flat roofs and wraparound verandas and were believed to be healthful and cost efficient, letting in more natural light and cheaper to construct and heat. Their popularity had died out by the 1860's so the end-of-century construction date of the one in Heritage Village is an anomaly. 

The Drought Is Making Small Space Gardening More Popular In SoCal

While most Angelenos are not experiencing the devastating effects of the longest drought in California history that many in the Central and Northern regions are, we still need to be as water-wise as possible. I have seen a definite change in the way people have reconfigured their grass lawns by removing turf and planting native California vegetation and drought-resistant plants. Some have created more patio space or used rocks, tile and other materials to get creative. And a big trend now seems to be home owners or condo dwellers with limited outdoor space creating imaginative and beautiful small garden spaces.

If you are looking to create a productive fruit and vegetable garden, there seem to be an unlimited amount of resources on the internet that provide "how-to" ideas, pictures, garden show schedules, budgeting tips, etc. Some of the best that I have found are the Lowe's Southern California Gardening site, the Learn2Grow site and this Sunset Magazine link. Even with limited space you can grow everything from tomatoes and lettuce to carrots and celery to sugar peas and Swiss chard. Plot out a 100 square foot area (even if it’s along a fence, wall, walk or driveway), pick a spot that gets plenty of Winter sun but also a good amount of Summer shade and plan to have a mix of organic soil and fertilizer at least 6 inches thick.  Besides being a great way to have healthy, super fresh fruits and vegetables, small gardens are great way to save money since with just $10 you can buy several packages of seed.

If you are looking for more of a decorative garden to show off your creative skills, this Los Angeles Times link has some inventive suggestions. There is such a great variety of native California plants that require little water that even a small garden can offer endless arrangements and designs. Incorporating rock gardens into the landscape of smaller yards is a big trend now and this Houzz link offers some ideas for that approach. This Decoist link offers ways to make your balcony feel like a garden space if you don't have a yard at all, and the California Native Plant Society gives tips for patio gardens on this link. 

Most of all, whether for growing food or just for show, a well maintained, interesting small space garden can make for a great hobby as well as adding value to your residence. A few diverse examples are shown below.

Some Good Mid-Year News About The 2014 California Housing Market

A mid-year survey by the California Association of Realtors shows there are plenty of reasons to feel good about the housing market heading into the second half of the year. According to the survey, buyer optimism regarding home prices continues to improve, with the vast majority of buyers (81 percent) believing that home prices will rise in five years and 60 percent believing that prices will rise in one year. Higher down payments are still the norm in this market, with buyers putting an average of 28 percent down on their purchases.

In a sign of recent market competitiveness, more than nine in 10 buyers (91 percent) made one or more other offers, with an average of 3.6 offers in 2014, up from three offers in 2013. Additionally, buyers viewed a median of 20 homes in 2014, up from 10 last year. Not all the news is great, however. Given the limited supply of homes available for sale, fewer buyers were satisfied with their home purchase than last year. Only about half of the buyers were satisfied with their purchase in 2014, down from two-thirds (66 percent) in 2013. Roughly half (46 percent) felt "settled" with their their home purchase in 2014, up from 34 percent.

Loan officers and real estate agents should be pleased with the survey's findings that nearly all surveyed buyers (88 percent) still used a real estate agent in the first part of 2014 (though down slightly from 91 percent in 2013). More than nine in 10 buyers (92 percent) obtained a fixed-rate loan, a 23 percent increase from 2009, when only 69 percent obtained a fixed-rate loan, reflecting low rates and the desire for certainty as the market gets back to basics.

The survey also asked questions about social media and found that mobile technology and the Internet continued to be important tools in the home-buying process, with 91 percent saying they used a mobile device to access the Internet during the course of their home purchase. Buyers used their mobile devices to look for comparable home prices (78 percent), search for homes (45 percent), and take photos of neighborhoods, homes, and amenities (43 percent). Conversely, with the increased use of social media, fewer buyers “Googled” their agent (50 percent in 2014, down from 68 percent in 2013), turning to agents’ Facebook pages instead, and nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of those who used an agent found their agent online, compared to only 38 percent who found their agent online in 2003.

Lots Of Buzz About "The Sounds Of Laurel Canyon" Exhibit At The GRAMMY Museum

One of the things that I love to do is show properties up in the Hollywood Hills. The area is home to some of the most amazing architecture and breathtaking scenery on the West Coast, with views that stretch from downtown LA out to the Pacific Ocean and Catalina Island. But the real allure for many is the history of this exclusive neighborhood where every street is named after a bird such as Oriole, Blue Jay Way, Nightingale, Robin, or Thrasher. Some of the greatest actors, writers, artists and musicians of the last 100 years have lived and created their world-renowned works there and, from now through November, the GRAMMY Museum Downtown is celebrating the Hill's Laurel Canyon scene of the 60's and 70's with its California Dreamin’: The Sounds of Laurel Canyon, 1965 - 1977.

Most people probably think of Laurel Canyon these days as a shortcut from Hollywood to the Valley, but in the mid-1960s to 1970s, the area was home to some of the greatest musicians of the rock era, including Joni Mitchell, Jim Morrison, Frank Zappa, and members of The Mamas & The Papas, The Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash. Musicians flocked to Laurel Canyon because of its idyllic setting, as well as the cheap rent and proximity to Sunset Strip clubs such as the Whisky A Go Go, The Roxy and The Troubadour. The GRAMMY exhibit captures the sights and sounds of the canyon and its narrow, serpentine streets that were home to the creation of some major rock and roll history.

The California Dreamin' exhibit looks so interesting because it documents one of the more overlooked periods in American music history. At the the same time the Laurel Canyon scene was thriving, the Folk scene in New York City and the Psychedelic scene in San Francisco were getting most of the attention. This exhibit shows just how influential (and, in many ways, even more important) what was coming out of the Hollywood Hills truly was. By emphasizing that country-rock was basically invented there, singer/songwriters like James Browne, James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt wrote songs that are classic of the 70's there, and showing that since the emergence of the core Laurel Canyon musicians Los Angeles has been the music capital of the world, the exhibit really drives home the importance of that special time and place.

So, this is definitely on my "to do" list and if anybody has been to see the exhibit I would love to hear your thoughts. And, since I am sure some of the people reading this must have some great stories of their own about the Hollywood Hills, or L.A. as a whole, music scene from that period, I would love to hear those as well!

Tiny Homes Having Their Big Moment

I've been reading more and more about the Tiny House Movement this year and I thought I would post about it to see how many of you know what a BIG thing it is (sorry, pun intended). While living in a tiny house (the typical small or tiny house is around 100-500 square feet) is most likely never going to catch on with mainstream America, you'd be surprised just how many people can make a comfortable, stylish and practical home out of minimal space (even here in Los Angeles). There is even a show called Tiny House Nation premiering on multiple cable networks, including the History Channel and A&E, on Wednesday. And Charlotte, North Carolina was the spot for the first ever Tiny Home Conference back in April.

The story behind the most recent rise of the tiny house movement is an interesting one. The modern call for simple living in small spaces seems to have been jump started by Sarah Susanka, an English-born American-based architect, who published The Not So Big House in 1998 and is credited for originating the "Not So Big" philosophy of residential architecture, which aims to "build better, not bigger." Hurricane Katrina gave the movement another push when various architects sought to find a housing solution for the hundreds of thousands of homes that were destroyed in that disaster. Katrina Cottages sprang from that horrible mess and were a permanent alternative to the temporary, and unsuitable, FEMA trailers installed after the disaster. Averaging around 308 sq. feet, thousands were sold at Lowe's stores across America up through 2011, and are now available online.

Of course, the recession and skyrocketing home prices are a major reason the movement is gaining so much traction, but a lot of it also has to do with factors such as reducing our environmental footprint on the Earth, easy home upkeep, more freedom to use our finances for other things and a move towards a simpler lifestyle. And now that it is becoming a somewhat trendy concept, you can bet the hipsters and artists have been coming up with some interesting small home concepts. Even some quite wealthy folks are getting on board and Forbes online even published an article about some tricked out tiny homes, some worth over a million dollars.

The creativity involved in the design and decorating of the homes I've researched online is amazing. Scroll down for some more pics of a variety of different stylish and eye-catching tiny homes.

Young Optimism Drives Housing Market

With the housing market stabilizing at a slow and steady pace, one thing remains fairly constant — optimism about being a home owner among young renters who expect to become home buyers in the near-to somewhat near-future remains high. Though we continue to ecperience a steady stream of buyers and not yet enough inventory, the housing market is definitely still bouncing back — especially if you ask members of the Millennial generation (those born between the early 1980's and the late 1990's).

In a recent study this past Spring by the National Association of Realtors, 87 percent of buyers age 33 and younger considered their home purchase a good financial investment. Survey participants cited their aspirations and long-term stability as factors in their optimism for the market. What is heartening about this positive energy is that, even with the market frictions they came of age in, the study found that the largest group of recent buyers were these Millennials (sometimes called Generation Y or Generation Next),  who comprised 31 percent of recent purchases. They were followed closely by Generation X (those born roughly between the mid 60's and early 80's) at 30 percent.

 I thought these were some other interesting stats:

• Millennials have the largest share of first-time buyers at 76%. The share of first-time buyers declines as age increases. Among the Silent Generation (people born during the Great Depression and World War II) only 2% of buyers are first-time buyers.

• Among all generations of home buyers the first step in the home buying process is looking online for properties for sale. Millennials are most likely among generations to also look online for information about the home buying process, while the Silent Generation is most likely to contact a real estate agent.

• More than half of Gen Y and Gen X buyers used a mobile device during their home search. Among those who did, 26% of Gen Y and 22% of Gen X found the home they ultimately purchased via a mobile device.

• Younger buyers were predominately referred to their agent through a friend, neighbor, or relative, while older buyers were more likely to use an agent again that they previously used to buy or sell a home.

• Overall 88% of recent buyers financed their home purchase. Nearly all (97%) of Millennial buyers financed compared to just 55% of Silent Generation buyers.

• Among the generations, Millennials (29%) are the largest group who are recent home sellers followed by both Older Boomers (22%) and Younger Boomers (21%).

• Younger sellers are more likely to use the same real estate agent or broker for their home purchase than older sellers, as they are typically moving closer to their previous residence.

Lots of Hubbub At The La Brea Tar Pits This Past Week

There has been a lot of action at the La Brea Tar Pits in the last week as scientific excavation resumes after 7 years, the long hidden Observation Pit reopens, and the $650 million transformation of the LACMA campus abutting the Tar Pits is redesigned to be more environmentally and aesthetically friendly to the world's densest collection of prehistoric fossils.

Regarding the LACMA revamp, Swiss architect Peter Zumthor has modified his grand plans to transform the museum campus by altering the shape of his building to stretch across bustling Wilshire Boulevard and away from the neighboring Tar Pits. Critics of the original design, which would replace four aging buildings, had raised environmental concerns that it would have cast a shadow over tar pits rich with Ice Age fossils. The new design incorporates a bridge over Wilshire where visitors inside the museum could walk over Wilshire Boulevard and glance down at an expanse of the road, while drivers in cars below could look up into the perimeter of the glass-walled museum. As before, the plan calls for the entire building to be perched about 30 feet above the ground on glass cylinders. Learn more here.

Back at the La Brea Tar Pits, the George C. Page Museum is debuting a host of improvements this Summer, chief of which is the reopening after several decades of the Observation Pit, the first fossil museum to open in Los Angeles and the only fossil museum in L.A. until the Page opened in 1977. The museum has also added a new Excavator Tour this week to explore L.A.'s Ice Age past, and the Woolly Mammoths, giant sloths and Saber-tooth tigers have been returned to their original places and positions of demise after years of restoration. 

The most exciting aspect of the reopening of the Observation Pit (which overlooks the pool of bubbling, naturally occurring asphalt called Pit 91) is that scientists and paleontologists are now back to work there after digging was halted in 2007 to focus on a trove of fossils unearthed during a nearby construction project named Project 23.  The public can once again look on as workers dig for prehistoric treasure to add to the five million fossils uncovered at the tar pits, of which almost a million came from Pit 91. Also, many of the museum’s excavators are still working on Project 23 and visitors can watch the Project 23 team from behind a fence. 

Get Ready For The 5th Annual L.A. Street Food Fest

Possibly the biggest food-related event of the Summer in Los Angeles--from the actual size of the venue to the amount of offerings--the 5th Annual L.A. Street Food Fest takes place Saturday at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. A great way to create community and a platform to support independent small business owners (and both established and budding restaurateurs), this event was the first of its kind in our area when it started in 2010. This year, there will be roughly 100 vendors ranging from hot gourmet food trucks to old school carts and stands to celebrity chefs and pop-ups. There will also be street inspired dishes from L.A.’s best restaurants.

The great thing about the event is that once you pay the $55 ticket fee everything is included. All the food you can eat, all the beverages you can drink--from craft beers and cocktails to creative non-alcoholic teas and smoothies--even parking is included (and, kids under 7 are free!). Participating vendors come from a wide area that stretches from Pasadena to Baja to Mexico City, and include Bravo's Top Chef star Brian Huskey's goodies from the famous (and newly revamped) Formosa Cafe, the unique vegetarian dishes from the NO TACOS PLEASE food truck, Angel City Brewery from Downtown L.A. and Cafecito Organico's artisan coffee from small-batch Central American growers.

The event is geared for maximum fun and it is too bad I have previous engagements because SO much cool stuff is planned. There will be an Ice Cream Social featuring L.A.'s best frozen treats, photo booths, DJs, a tequila tasting tent, wine tastings, face painting, flower crowns, an iced coffee lounge, discussion panels featuring the top food critics from the around the area and Mexico, a Street Food Cook-off where attendees of the Fest vote for the People's Choice winner, and a lot of surprises (according to organizers). So, if you read this and decide to go, definitely drop me a line or comment here or on Facebook and let me know how it was!

New Reports Predict Another Southern California Housing Bubble Is Unlikely

A new report out Tuesday from real estate website Trulia, which monitors bubble conditions by tracking home prices relative to household incomes and long-term norms in markets nationwide, says that any fears of a new housing bubble look increasingly unfounded. Trulia looked at the price-to-income ratio, the price-to-rent ratio, and prices relative to their long-term trends using multiple data sources, including the Trulia Price Monitor, as a leading indicator of where home prices are heading. 

While the Los Angeles Times reports that Southern California remains home to the most overpriced housing markets in the country, prices here have cooled off this spring giving the job market time to catch up. Even though Trulia says three of the four most “overvalued” housing markets in the nation are in Southern California — Orange County, Los Angeles County and the Inland Empire — those markets are far less overvalued than they were in the mid-2000s when risky lending pushed prices beyond what household incomes would bear. The Trulia report also suggests that we’d be at greater risk of heading toward a bubble if price gains were still accelerating, but they’re not, and the market is neither overbuilding nor overlending.

While Los Angeles homes are currently overvalued by roughly 15%, according to Trulia, to get an idea of how crazy things were last year, keep in mind that during the 2013 home price surge L.A. homes were overvalued by 79% and Orange County homes by 92%! Nationwide, Trulia says, homes are undervalued by 3% but they expect price will return to long-term averages by the end of this year or early 2015. Definitely some interesting, positive news to ponder.

VERY Excited That Eataly Is Finally Coming To Los Angeles!

Eataly, the Global culinary phenomenon that is part multi-dimensional market and part upscale food court is finally coming to L.A. after years of planning. Powerhouse chef and entrepreneur Mario Batali and his restaurateur partner Joe Bastianich, co-owners of the massive New York and Chicago Eataly destinations, had planned to open an L.A. location in 2011 in either the Beverly Center or Downtown but those plans fell through. With the Westfield Century City recently announcing plans for a $700 million facelift and rebirth, it was decided that the Westfield would make a great location for an Eataly and plans are for Eataly L.A. to open in the Spring of 2017.

If you are not familiar with Eataly, it was started in 2007 by Italian businessman Oscar Farinetti who converted a closed vermouth factory in Turin into the first location of what the New York Times described as a "megastore that combines elements of a bustling European open market, a Whole-Foods-style supermarket, a high-end food court and a New Age learning center". The European bazaar-like concept of Eatery--huge variety and selection of the freshest, highest quality foods from meats to cheeses, sauces and olive oils, chocolates, coffees and sweets--has been such a sensation in the cities it has opened in, that two weeks after the New York opening there were still lines extending down Fifth Avenue to get into the store. Adding to the attraction is that each Eataly has multiple restaurants specializing in select foods such as fresh fish or cheese and charcuterie or veggies or just-baked bread or pasta or pizza or anything that can be prepared in any regional Italian style.

So...the reason I am so excited about an L.A. location is that during a trip to Rome last year, my youngest son (who had previously been to the Bologna location) introduced me to the Roma Eataly and it was beyond incredible. At 170,000 square feet, it is almost overwhelming with all of the choices that are offered. Spread over four VERY big levels with 23 different eateries, cooking classes, cheese-making classes, onsite beer making and 14,000 products (the majority of them Italian), there was so much to explore that we could never have sampled a tenth of the offerings in a week. You can bet that when I was in Manhattan earlier this month I visited and ate a couple of times at the Eataly there and, since the wait for the L.A Eataly seems interminably long if you know just what an amazing experience it is, I may just have to schedule a few more trips to New York!