Black-trimmed homes, tiny libraries and other signs of gentrification

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by FromSD

I had a much less positive reaction to this article. I thought it was just a festival of cliches about the evils of gentrification. There are no doubt serious discussions to be had about the problems associated with gentrification, but this article did not address any of them.

I don't have access to the neighborhood-level census data for LA. I just wonder how much gentrification has actually taken place in the neighborhoods that the LA Times cites as ground zero for that phenomenon. Have Highland Park, Atwater Village and Echo Park actually gotten significantly wealthier in the last 20 years? And since the author implies that gentrification means whites replacing non-whites, have these areas gotten noticeably less non-white? Maybe they have, but a new cutesy coffee or cupcake shop is not proof that that is happening. In any case, gentrification often entails wealthier non-white people moving into a neighborhood, which is a detail that the LA Times rarely highlights. Given that non-Hispanic whites are an ever smaller proportion of LA's population, I wouldn't be surprised if most gentrifiers do tend to be non-white.

The black and white paint scheme that the real estate columnist obsesses over in this piece is not a mark of gentrification. It is just a mark of new infill construction more generally. The house flippers and small contractors that put up these houses are not cutting edge architects or urban designers. They are just following the current trend that favors the black and white color scheme. When they build or remodel a house in Highland Park they tend to use those colors because that's what's trendy now. Many of the new McMansions currently replacing more modest post war housing in places like Manhattan Beach or Redondo Beach are using the same colors. These are not gentrifying neighborhoods. They are already solidly upper middle class. Same point about horizontal front yard fences, which the author appears to envision as a bigger threat to social justice than the Koch Brothers. Will the columnist be unsatisfied until every horizontal slat wood fence is replaced by a ratty looking cyclone fence?

I would just conclude by saying that gentrification is not the biggest problem facing LA.

I saw it as a tongue-in-cheek article; funny, but true.

I live in South Pasadena, which is right next to Highland Park. I go to/through Highland Park often. And going by my own observations, it definitely has changed in the last 20 years. My godfather lived in Highland Park from the 1970s to the 1990s. It is definitely a lot different now than it was then.

This is info that can be looked up on the internet.

From the LA Times, Highland Park recorded a decline in population of more than 3,900 people between 2010 and 2020, according to census figures released by the city's Redistricting Commission. My assumption is people were displaced by gentrification and were priced out.

From the US Census, the ethnic composition of Highland Park in 2000 was Latinos, 72.4%; Non-Hispanic Whites, 11.3%; Asians, 11.2%; Blacks, 8.4%; and others, 2.6%. The median household income in 2008 dollars was $45,478, and 59% of households earned $40,000 or less.

In 2020, the ethnic composition of Highland Park in was Latinos, 58.7%; Non-Hispanic Whites, 21.8%; Asians, 13.4%; Blacks, 1.8%; and others, 4.3%. The average annual household income in Highland Park is $107,664, while the median household income sits at $81,853 per year. Residents aged 25 to 44 earn $97,277, while those between 45 and 64 years old have a median wage of $84,257.

So did Highland Park become wealthier and whiter than 20 years ago? Yes.

[craigs]

I drove on Glendale Blvd. through Atwater Village today. The commercial district is absolutely more gentrified than it was 20 years ago.

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by AviationGuy

We're seeing a lot of that in my Austin neighborhood as well. Probably my favorite is brick painted black or dark gray, highlighted with stained wooden trim and garage doors, with matching front door. My new neighbors have done this, and also have white window trim. They took a bland 60s one-story brick and made it very eye-catching. I've seen many similar color schemes around the city. Not everyone likes it, but I definitely do.

I've resisted painting the brick on my 60s house. The brick is a light yellow that was actually more common in the 40s and 50s. My grandparents home in the Montrose section of Houston had this color brick, which may mean it makes me nostalgic. On Streetview, I've seen bungalows in the older suburbs of Chicago with this color brick.

In Chicago, I agree with Steely Dan: it’s a horrible mistake. The common colors of brick in Chicago are beautiful and an unmistakable part of the city’s built environment.

In Austin, there’s a very even mix of brick, stone, and wood siding. Some areas are monolithically one type of siding, but throughout central Austin neighborhoods, streets, and even single blocks can be thoroughly mixed. Furthermore, just among each of those types of sidings there’s a huge variety of colors and sizes. You can find unpainted brick in almost every color throughout Austin. The southeast side has lots of deep reds, there’s a lot of pink and off-white in northeast and Pflugerville, creams and light reds in parts of Pflugerville and Round Rock, etc. Same thing with stone and with wooden siding. So, it’s much easier to get away with painting brick when it can blend in to that mix.

I have to echo your feeling on the black, grey, or white brick: it is beautiful when done right. And when done right (e.g. when you use black, white, or grey brick to build infill or to build on a tear-down lot, rather than painting it that color—and this is exactly what a lot of people in Austin are doing) with good architecture, it can be timeless and not a fad (just as with all design choices).

[Xelebes]

Originally Posted by The North One

Painting brick should be illegal.

Code violation at least. Causes wall failures which is a hazard to the street and the neighbourhood.

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by Xelebes

Code violation at least. Causes wall failures which is a hazard to the street and the neighbourhood.

Counterpoint:

In Austin, in 20 years when all these painted brick houses have walls that are falling apart from moisture retention then they’ll be torn down and replaced with no parking and (hopefully) up to six units. Currently 3 units, but if council passes a 2500 minimum lot size then our 5750 parcels can be subdivided in half.

Makes me wonder if this painting thing will be a blessing in disguise and result in loads of new redevelopment.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by The North One

Painting brick should be illegal.

It is here, at least in all heritage-designated areas. I expect it’s the same in places like Chicago and Detroit. (Though the penalty is big fines, not hanging.)

[montréaliste]

Originally Posted by lio45

It is here, at least in all heritage-designated areas. I expect it’s the same in places like Chicago and Detroit. (Though the penalty is big fines, not hanging.)

On the other hand, I witnessed in the past ten years a huge number of SFHs and condos built with black/white/grey/brown/beige trim. A lot of 1 ft tall letter addresses on what can only be described as monochromatic self serve station architecture w/o the pumps. Awful all the way around.

It is the absence of choice, and a commitment to a neutral, bland environment. And don’t get me started on the ugly interior lamps over kitchen counters/ dining areas. Most of the modern stuff looks like it was made in somebody’s garage; a science project gone wrong. When we moved into our 1912 house, the first thing I did was pull out the stupid lamps and replace them with antiques that belonged. I only got around to painting colours back onto walls that had been done in grey and beiges throughout, later.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by lio45

It is here, at least in all heritage-designated areas. I expect it’s the same in places like Chicago and Detroit. (Though the penalty is big fines, not hanging.)

The same is true in Chicago, but "heritage designated areas" (or "Landmarks Districts" as they're called here) only cover a tiny percentage of the city.

If you own a vintage Chicago 3-flat with gorgeous, textured, deep-maroon face brick in Albany Park, and you wanna paint it purple for some God forsaken reason (probably because some imbecile on HGTV told you it would be a "great way to refresh your tired old home"), there ain't nothing stopping you, other than good sense.

[montréaliste]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

The same is true in Chicago, but "heritage designated areas" (or "Landmarks Districts" as they're called here) only cover a tiny percentage of the city.

If you own a vintage Chicago 3-flat with gorgeous, textured, deep-maroon face brick in Albany Park, and you wanna paint it purple for some God forsaken reason (probably because some imbecile on HGTV told you it would be a "great way to refresh your tired old home"), there ain't nothing stopping you, other than good sense.

Yes, criminal, and very bad for the reasons mentioned earlier. I had my previous house’s facade waterblasted to rid it of a scaling blue grey paintjob from the seventies. It was a cut stone Victorian that I totally transformed from a very ghetto look to class.

Luckily, the stone wasn’t damaged like some bricks are when sandnor waterblasted with chemicals. The repointing was tricky though, with 1/8 " thick joints that were redone using lime and sand, no cement.

[goat314]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

People who paint vintage Chicago brick flats white are some of my least favorite people on the planet.


STOP PAINTING FACE BRICK, YOU BRAINDEAD FUCKWITS!!!!!!!


the entire reason that builders a century ago went through the exorbitant expense to import all of that delicious St. Louis face brick to adorn the front facades of Chicago's vintage housing stock was specifically so that NO ONE, EVER, FOR THE REST OF FUCKING TIME, would need to paint it.

Leave it alone, you HGTV-addicted morons.

I'm glad that painting bricks isn't really a thing in St. Louis like other cities, but I'm starting to see the trend happen in some of the gentrifying neigborhoods.

[iheartthed]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that Steven Sanders moving in was a clear sign of gentrification for his (probably former) neighbors lol:

“The Shake Shack font has invaded,” said Steven Sanders, a Highland Park resident who has lived in the rapidly changing neighborhood since 2015. When Sanders moved there, the median single-family home value was around $463,000, according to Zillow. Today, it’s $1.002 million.

[UrbanImpact]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

The little birdhouse lending library thingies in the parkway out front is a hallmark of "family gentrification".

My neighborhood on the Northside of Chicago has plenty of them.

We just received one in front of my house.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that Steven Sanders moving in was a clear sign of gentrification for his (probably former) neighbors lol:

LOL, yeah.

Most people seem to be too self-unaware to realize that we're all just links in the chain.

Change is the only constant.


My neighborhood has been slow-track gentrifying for decades. and it's continuing.

When we moved in 6 years ago, we were part of that story, and with the pandemic real estate inflation, we now couldn't even comfortably afford to purchase the home we live in here.

Thank god we bought vs. renting!!! In just those six years, we've already had to say good-bye to two neighbor friends on our block who were renting that had to move out because of the rising tide.

According to neighborhood lore, back in the 90s our 3-flat was the "drug house" of the block, the source of all kinds of trouble and anti-social disorder on the block. The local public elementary school was 85+% low-income back then. Middle class families pretty much only sent their kids to one of the two nearby Catholic schools.

Now our three-flat is occupied by three normal, non-drug families, and our local school is now only 20% low-income. Middle class people have no qualms sending their kids there now.

A little while ago new neighbors moved into a SFH across the street for $1.5M (which I know doesn't even get you an outhouse in the coastal cities anymore, but in Chicago that's still meaningfully expensive), and they send their two kids to the public school. That would've been completely unthinkable for an upper middle class family in the neighborhood 3 decades ago.

To steal from the great Steven Wright: "oh shit, here comes the neighborhood"



Now if these morons would just stop fucking painting face brick!!!!

[pdxtex]

Bike lanes and Subarus mean taco prices are about to go up.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by pdxtex

Bike lanes and Subarus mean taco prices are about to go up.

...and usually get crappier.

[llamaorama]

I do think it's logical to assume that something which increases the desirability of a localized area, whether its amenities or just a "signal" that a neighborhood is fun, or safe, or friendly/accepting of the prospective buyer or renter, would induce demand in a very localized way, and therefore cause a raise in prices.

Painting houses a certain way or having little free libraries does signal that a neighborhood isn't as ghetto, let's be real.

Sure, gentrification when viewed from a traditional macro-economic lens is all about supply and demand and those various studies which claim it doesn't exist or whatever aren't wrong in the scope of what they are studying.

But if you actually observe real-world geography, obviously there are desirable places that many people can't afford and therefore are not allowed to live at, and there are less desirable places that are cheaper, and the desirability of particular places isn't always explained by proximity to a beach or mountain or something like that.

Also maybe in a scenario where there's a regional housing shortage that's never going to be fixed in anyone's lifetime, people who can afford live in a particular location only because it is undervalued for subjective reasons would be negatively impacted by the market righting itself and correctly valuing what their rent should be.

Of course all that aside, I don't think it's right to blame stuff like bike lanes or little free libraries just because "white people" like them. So bikes and sharing books is racist now? It goes against the social contract. I'll be honest, I'm white, I don't make a lot of money and am just as constrained by things being overpriced as you are, I still like stuff like this, and it also alienates me when apparently I'm wrong just for liking certain things.

Not sure what the solution for gentrification is, but I think cities will hurt from it and find an equilibrium. Like stores closing and businesses moving away from SF and Seattle is those places venting off the demand they can't contain.

[mrnyc]

box houses seem more the thing in cali —



L.A. taken over by giant box houses that favor size over style

Nov 1, 2023Nov. 1, 2023

https://www.latimes.com/california/s...dern-box-house

[llamaorama]

A lot of Houston inside the 610 loop is starting to be taken over by those.

At first I thought they were cool because they seemed very dense and urban and kind of look like new houses in urban Japan. But then I realized those are basically McMansions for 2-person yuppie households who for some reason need 5 bedrooms anyways and are actually reducing the density of the neighborhoods they are built in by replacing small dingbat apartments. Meh.

Dallas and Fort Worth's zoning doesn't seem to allow that, at least based on observation. We do the get the same type of narrow-lot townhouse courts, where a conventional single-family home is torn down and then 5-6 townhouses are built perpendicular to the street with a driveway into parking spaces on the ground floor, I think that's a good thing as it's adding a lot of housing to central areas.

[AviationGuy]

Originally Posted by UrbanImpact

We just received one in front of my house.

They're in most neighborhoods here, although I've never used one. But a lot of residents do.

[pdxtex]

My neighborhood has box "duplexes". Same concept but two enormous, attached/boxy units.