Hector My Realtor Blog Page

  You might even see Catalina Island from this 10-story monster! Featured image credit: Destination Irvine Yes, we know Irvine isn’t Los Angeles but if we can consider Disneyland a local attraction, we can consider Great Park too. Today, we’re specifically interested in Great Park’s star attraction: the Great Park Balloon. This orange balloon is so gargantuan that you’d be forgiven for mistaking it for the orange that gave Orange County its name. You can literally see it from miles away; a tangerine titan looming over Irvine. And if that wasn’t enough, you can ride it 400 feet into the air.  What Makes Great Park So Great Photo credit: Destination Irvine Unfamiliar with Great Park? It’s relatively new, at least compared to the historic sites we frequently discuss on this blog. Initially, the Great Park’s grounds were part of Marine Corps Air Station El Toro. But when the base shuttered in 1999, it set off a prolonged political debate that finally...

  Does anyone need a sign reading ‘EAT’ in the kitchen? Taste is subjective. It can also be costly when it comes to interior design. But that may not be obvious until it comes time to list your home for sale. Trend chasers may find that decades later, those interior design ideas have aged like an edgelord’s MySpace profile. While we can’t tell you what the future holds, we can point out some interior design ideas that are bound to end in regret.  Vertical Blinds: Design’s Dangling Disappointments Photo credit: Envato Has anyone in the history of interior design ideas ever actually liked vertical blinds? It seems like they’re the penance we pay for renting apartments. So, imagine the shock and horror of shopping for a home and seeing these hanging atrocities waving gently in the breeze like a white plastic gallows. Vertical blinds are highly ineffective at blocking light, fall apart easily, get twisted and tangled constantly, and just generally exude l...

  Featured image credit: Gensler Stan Kroenke is a busy man. The owner of the Los Angeles Rams football team has been aggressively developing his sprawling Hollywood Park multi-use complex in Inglewood. Now, we’re just a mere month away from breaking ground on the construction of his next phase of the project: a comprehensive production campus for film and TV. It may seem like a gamble in a time when we’re seeing the region’s once-burgeoning entertainment industry in an unprecedented tailspin. But Kroenke’s no stranger to turning big risks into bigger rewards.  Stan Kroenke’s Big Bet Photo credit: Fox Sports Saying it’s a tough time for LA’s entertainment industry is a severe understatement. According to FilmLA , regional on-location filming has nosedived 22.4% year over year, going by 2025’s initial quarter. Perhaps even more relevant to Kroenke’s investments, Greater Los Angeles’s soundstage occupancy plummeted to 63%. If that doesn’t sound so b...

  Featured image credit: Codera23 Even casual fans of modernism need no introduction to Richard Neutra. The Austrian-American architect was integral to the popularization of mid-century designs with his forward-thinking structures peppering Southern California. It was almost as if he were using human progress itself as a building material. To see some of Neutra’s most iconic masterpieces, set your coordinates for Palm Springs where he’s a revered star, celebrated most emphatically in the city’s annual Modernism Week . But if you want to see where Neutra lived and worked, then you’re better off driving over to Silver Lake. It’s the neighborhood where his legendary Neutra VDL house still stands to this day.  Even Legends Need Loans Sometimes Photo credit: Los Angeles Times Photographic Collection at the UCLA Library Constructed in 1932, the Neutra VDL house was distinguished from other Neutra homes in that the architect himself planned to reside in it ...

  It turns out utopia comes at a pretty steep price. Photo credit: California Historical Landmarks Some might say that planting a seed in the desert isn’t the wisest decision. And the ruins of Llano del Rio underscore this point. It once bore the promise of a functional socialist society. Today, it’s a crumbling stone husk of that idyllic utopia, a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it series of eroded structural fossils east of Palmdale along Highway 138 that makes up California Historical Landmark #933.  The Political Non-Career of Job Harriman  Photo credit: Public Domain The Llano del Rio Collective was born from the frustration of Job Harriman, a lawyer and political hopeful who got further than you’d expect but not far enough to make much of a difference. Harriman was a staunch supporter of socialist ideals and, for the most part, practiced what he preached. And he had enough charisma to sell disenfranchised Americans on a system that was largely mis...

  It seems America’s landscape can’t sit still for a portrait. Featured image credit: The Center for Land Use Interpretation The next time someone tells you they’d “rather watch grass grow”, you’ll know just the place. A bit up the street from the Bhagavad-gita Museum and nestled inconspicuously beside the Museum of Jurassic Technology , you’ll find a non-profit that defies categorization. It’s sort of a museum. Kind of a research facility. Something of an educational institute. And it could fit the definition of an art installation with room to spare. It’s the Center for Land Use Interpretation (CLUI). And as its name suggests, it’s illuminating new ways for people to view the American landscape.  Reading the Poetry of the American Landscape Photo credit: The Center for Land Use Interpretation Natural environments across the country are maintained and regulated by federal, state, county, and city regulations, framing them in unique contexts. In som...

  It’s amazing what some people will do for an encore.  Featured image credit: cultivar413 In 2014, the curtains of the Plaza Theatre Palm Springs closed for what seemed to be the final time. In a city that adores theatre, it was a historic gem that continued to earn its adoration. Regardless, it was also coasting by on programming primarily held aloft by its popular (but long-running) Fabulous Palm Springs Follies theatre troupe. When financial strain capsized the Follies, the ship went down with the crew, so to speak. Now, a decade and several million dollars later, the Plaza Theatre Palm Springs is just months away from opening, bigger and (hopefully) better than ever before.  The History of the Plaza Theatre Palm Springs Photo credit: Palm Springs Plaza Theatre Foundation Everyone in Palm Springs knows the Plaza Theatre, the historic structure reliably standing at 128 South Palm Canyon Drive since 1936. It rose along with La Plaza, Souther...

  Could ambitious plans return this ecological disaster to an oasis? Featured image credit: Geographer At 35 miles long and 15 miles wide, the Salton Sea is California’s largest lake. Yet, its problems are much bigger than its 343 square miles could ever hope to contain. We’re talking an environmental disaster of epic proportions, choking people and wildlife alike with its noxious fumes and sludgey, toxic waters. And the more it shrinks, the more its problems seem to grow. The state is currently immersed in an ambitious restoration project to return the Salton Sea to a viable ecosystem. But each step forward is simply a half step away from the collapsing chaos that can’t simply be written off as a lost cause.   A Nightmare Dressed Up Like a Dream Photo credit: Goodthingfactory Straddling the Coachella Valley and the Imperial Valley, the Salton Sea potently proves that a picture may be worth a thousand words, but it still can’t touch an experie...