Angelino Heights! (Santa Monica: house, buyers, subdivision)

[amc760]

Originally Posted by King0fthehill

How do you get there?

Is this Gold Line adjacent? I'd love to take pics of this place.

I dont think so. I think the closest station is Chinatown?

[matt345]

Originally Posted by King0fthehill

How do you get there?

Is this Gold Line adjacent? I'd love to take pics of this place.

I took the Red Line to Vermont/Sunset and then took the 2 bus down Sunset to Echo Park. Most of the homes are on Carroll Avenue, which is a few blocks south of Sunset and Douglas.

[matt345]

Originally Posted by amc760

I had to train myself to pronounce Los Feliz as Lows Feel-Us, because I always get funny looks when I say Los Fehleece. I always get a "where? Oh. Its actually ___."

I was the same way. I'll now say something like, Los Fee-lez. I've heard some people take it a step further and pronounce the "Los" part like the "Los" in "Los Angeles", so it's something like Loss Fee-lez. I can't bring myself to do that.

[Fontucky]

Anyone remember how Mayor Sam used to pronounce Los Angeles?

[amc760]

Originally Posted by matt345

I was the same way. I'll now say something like, Los Fee-lez. I've heard some people take it a step further and pronounce the "Los" part like the "Los" in "Los Angeles", so it's something like Loss Fee-lez. I can't bring myself to do that.

I'd never be able to look my mother in the eye again if I brought myself that low.

[fastfilm]

When one spurns the accepted pronunciation of place names or personal names from that which is accepted by the locals or person in question, you risk rude and deliberate offrontery. I wouldn't deliberatedly mispronounce someone's name, particularly after it's been elucidated, nor continue with a foreign pronunciation that technically is more correct when no locals do so. (If someone introduces themselves as Jorge, I'm not going to call them George. I expect my not-very complex name to pronounced correctly as well.)

We have adapted so many foreign words and place names to our United States to honor past heritages, but for the most part we agree on accepted pronunciations applicable to our English language, which doesn't retain all the fricatives, umlauts, etc. of immigrants' former countries' tongues. Sometimes, though, public figures have persisted in being rude. I used to cringe as if fingernails were scraped along a blackboard when I heard broadcasts of long ago Mayor Sam Yorty referring to "Los Angle - eez" with the hardest possible "g."

Some aspects of provincialism are harmless, like accepted pronunciation, and shouldn't be battled. New Orleans is "Noo OR'-Lens" to the locals, not "New Or-LEEENS." There are parts of this country wherein this is far weirder. Amarillo, Texas pronounces the ll's as L's. New Madrid, Missouri puts the emphasis on the first syllable of the second word. And don't even ask about Milan, Mississippi!

That said, Historic Zones like Angelino Heights are needed for L.A., to encompass true diversity. We need the best of the past as contrast to the new, plus never to be duplicated in modern times, handmade-features of older houses make them very liveable and warm. Here in our Valley HPOZ, it was needed to prevent all new homeowners from other parts of the world from instantaneously gutting fine Craftsman houses, removing all possible architectural detailing and turning cute houses with fabulous features like you'd see in Pasadena into bland stucco boxes, just because that was "le dernier cri" in, say, Beirut, which is not exactly known for Craftsman residences. This is comparable to moving to Japan and razing all pagodas because they didn't have them in the country where you used to live. Before the growth of Historic preservation, even our Los Angeles CRA was corrupt and biased until recently, bulldozing historic neighborhoods for the flimsiest of reasons.

[timelesschild]

So how does one say "Los Feliz" correctly? What msnorman says? Lows FEEliz?

I had to fight myself when I moved here to get Alhambra with a HAM in the middle - that sounded so silly to me but hey, whatever the local pronunciation is, that's the way to go...

[majoun]

Originally Posted by fastfilm

When one spurns the accepted pronunciation of place names or personal names from that which is accepted by the locals or person in question, you risk rude and deliberate offrontery. I wouldn't deliberatedly mispronounce someone's name, particularly after it's been elucidated, nor continue with a foreign pronunciation that technically is more correct when no locals do so. (If someone introduces themselves as Jorge, I'm not going to call them George. I expect my not-very complex name to pronounced correctly as well.)

We have adapted so many foreign words and place names to our United States to honor past heritages, but for the most part we agree on accepted pronunciations applicable to our English language, which doesn't retain all the fricatives, umlauts, etc. of immigrants' former countries' tongues. Sometimes, though, public figures have persisted in being rude. I used to cringe as if fingernails were scraped along a blackboard when I heard broadcasts of long ago Mayor Sam Yorty referring to "Los Angle - eez" with the hardest possible "g."

IIRC Yorty was a transplant from Southern Missouri.(I know he wasn't a native, as Jimmy Hahn was the first L.A. mayor since California statehood who was actually born in L.A. Bradley was a Texan and Riordan was a New Yorker. Not sure about earlier mayors, other than them not being Angelenos by birth.) He obviously never got used to the local pronunciation of the name of the city of which he represented in Congress and then served as mayor of. Bradley and Riordan actually made an effort to get the local pronunciation.

Some aspects of provincialism are harmless, like accepted pronunciation, and shouldn't be battled. New Orleans is "Noo OR'-Lens" to the locals, not "New Or-LEEENS."

NO has as many unique pronunciations of French names as LA has unique pronunciations of Spanish names. E.g. Ponchartrain....

There are parts of this country wherein this is far weirder. Amarillo, Texas pronounces the ll's as L's. New Madrid, Missouri puts the emphasis on the first syllable of the second word. And don't even ask about Milan, Mississippi!

Never heard that pronounced, but it couldn't be any stranger than the pronunciation of Milan St. in Cleveland ("my-lan") or the pronunciation of Moscow, Idaho...

That said, Historic Zones like Angelino Heights are needed for L.A., to encompass true diversity. We need the best of the past as contrast to the new, plus never to be duplicated in modern times, handmade-features of older houses make them very liveable and warm.

Not to mention that those older houses are a key part of the identity of not only Angelino Heights but the rest of Echo Park. Filmmakers have been drawn to Echo Park BECAUSE of it looking more like pre-WW2 Los Angeles than most other parts of town. Unfortunately, gentrification has led to the demolition of the prewar bungalows and prewar apartment buildings and their replacement with condos that would not be out of place in West L.A. or Studio City but look quite out of place in one of L.A.'s oldest neighborhoods.

Here in our Valley HPOZ, it was needed to prevent all new homeowners from other parts of the world from instantaneously gutting fine Craftsman houses

I personally am not a fan of Craftsman architecture but it is a key part of the heritage of California (not just Southern California - Berkeley and Oakland also abound in Craftsman architecture.)

removing all possible architectural detailing and turning cute houses with fabulous features like you'd see in Pasadena into bland stucco boxes, just because that was "le dernier cri" in, say, Beirut, which is not exactly known for Craftsman residences.

Lebanon does - or at least did before the cycle of wars began in 1975 - have a great deal of Mediterranean type architecture comparable to Greece or Italy, at least according to Lebanese friends of mine. Mediterranean type architecture screams "Los Angeles" more than any other style, and that includes Craftsman architecture. If you're talking about the tacky pseudo-Mediterranean "McMansions" that have popped up all over the West Side, I think you're blaming the wrong Middle Eastern country.

This is comparable to moving to Japan and razing all pagodas because they didn't have them in the country where you used to live.

The city of Tokyo's done a great deal of this itself, without pressure from foreigners.

Before the growth of Historic preservation, even our Los Angeles CRA was corrupt and biased until recently, bulldozing historic neighborhoods for the flimsiest of reasons.

Like what happened in Hollywood in the early '80s, when many of the pre-WW2 apartment buildings - grand structures despite decay in many - were demolished and replaced with poorly built insta-slums. Without this massive demolition orgy Hollywood probably would have bounced back much earlier than it did.

[ITChick]

Beautiful photos Matt 345. I love those old Victorians.

[ITChick]

Originally Posted by timelesschild

So how does one say "Los Feliz" correctly? What msnorman says? Lows FEEliz?

I had to fight myself when I moved here to get Alhambra with a HAM in the middle - that sounded so silly to me but hey, whatever the local pronunciation is, that's the way to go...

Funny!
I almost got clobbered for pronouncing "Sepulveda" the wrong way once! Yet I heard an LA newscaster recently pronounce it the same wrong way I did!