Patch Blog: A Love Letter to Highland Park

Even before I started in real estate nearly a decade ago, I was told that Highland Park was the new Silver Lake/Echo Park/insert the newly minted hood du jour of your choice here. It was artsy and chock-full of character homes at a tiny fraction of the cost you’d find in über trendy Silver Lake. Then the investors swept in and snapped up blocks and tripled the area’s home values. The historically Latino neighborhood changed tremendously seemingly overnight. Then the market crashed.

Four years later, many of those original investors have moved on and left behind a throng of Spanish, Victorian, Craftsman and Tudor style homes in its wake. Distress sales have brought prices back down to 2002 levels—a time when you could pick up one of these gems for about $200,000.

The very first home I bought was in Highland Park. I bought it because it was less than 10 minutes to Downtown and Pasadena. It was incredibly central to everything worth being central to and priced at $220,000. However, I didn’t buy it for the price alone.

The truth is that I fell madly in love with a 1929 Spanish home that sat next to a Craftsman on a block of multiple Victorians and one magnificent Queen Anne. Even more compelling were my future neighbors--grandparents who lived in that Craftsman for the past 50 years and a young couple from Seattle who couldn’t afford to live near their shop in Silver Lake, then fell in love with their very own Spanish hacienda.

For two years, I worked methodically to restore my home from top to bottom. Vintage glass doorknobs from eBay found new resting spots on my interior doors. I saved for six months to restore all the windows and hardwood floors. During the summer, I relished getting my neighbors' BBQ invites and loved walking to the farmers' market on North Figueroa Street where I heard the lilting sounds of Spanish, Chinese and Tagalog entwined with English. On Saturday nights, my friends would trek from Silver Lake to the Little Cave--the best neighborhood bar they knew.

Yes, there are naysayers who don't know the real Highland Park, but love discussing it endlessly. Yes, there are problems, but what L.A. neighborhood doesn't? What they don't know is that some of the most breathtaking L.A. character homes are found here. Some of the greatest people you'll ever meet, live, love and work here. In light of many "Highland Park is the New ___," I'm here to say, Highland Park isn't the new anything. Highland Park is and will always be historic, authentic and original--the epitome of the L.A. I love and called home. Though I've been relocated by marriage, my heart still resides there.

So what does this mean for you? This means you have the opportunity to come in to Historic Highland Park, pick up a stunner you might want to restore, delight in meandering down the picturesque 110, visit a community art gallery and plant some deep roots.