Dateline>City of Angels

One of the best things about the 90026 zip code is our eclectic mix of homes. No cookie-cutter housing tracts for us. We prefer our neighborhoods to express charm and character through a variety of architectural forms. Victorians, California Bungalows, Mediterraneans, Mid-Centuries, 1960-70s stucco Dingbats, Moderns, Post Moderns — you name it, they all stand side by side in peaceful harmony on any given street, often exhibiting unexpected color schemes and innovative landscaping.

That’s why I especially applaud this unusually artsy example off Allesandro Street in Echo Park. If this were Orange County, Glendale or the San Gabriel Valley, you’d probably be reading about up-in-arms neighbors and crusty civic officials wringing their hands over its “eccentric” design elements, which include a gable-topping mermaid, two monkeys and warm, circus-train-like embellishments and hues. Adding to the whimsy, a fiberglass cow grazes contentedly at a trough in the front yard. (Unfortunately, my hastily snapped digital pix don’t really do the scene justice.)

Several years ago the hillside house, which boasts a commanding view of Atwater, Frog Town and environs to the north, was a seemingly abandoned structure just begging to be demolished — complete with unsightly, aging wood siding, broken windows and a weed-ridden yard. My guess is some artist took pity on it, moved in, and set about painstakingly breathing new life into the lonely old house, unleashing considerable creativity in the process. (Talk about bringing out a home’s unseen potential…)

Whatever the story behind the place, today steady streams of neighbors race by it on their daily commutes without even batting an eye. There have been no complaints among locals. (At least none that I’ve heard, but then, I don’t live on that block.) For most of us, it’s merely another routine sight in the ‘hood — and personally, I wouldn’t have it any other way.