Your tax dollars at work. Call it subsidized housing, or call it the projects, Mrs. Waterman’s nudie-cutie apartment building has been razed to build “Beverly Manor,†a 59-unit Section 8 & 236 complex. This uninspired pile appears to be one of those thrown up in the 80s by HCD, LAHD and CACTC (and, if you live there, your rent is paid by HUD, CALHFA & HACLA. It’s fun!) Marvel at the “Southwest†pastel colors and fake red-tile roof. Of course, this could be a prewar structure, bastardized to such an extent that nothing but its massing gives us a clue to its vintage.
Perhaps Marie the Hotcha Lady lived in something more like this, just up the street at 400 Normandie. A restrained Spanish Eclectic, with, miraculously, the entirety of its original double-hung and pre-1923 inward-opening casement windows. Spanish tile, as opposed to Mission, and nice balconets. The roofline shows Mission conceit, and the corner quoins and quoined arch are a welcome touch. Ah, the scent of the Panama-California Expo is in the air.
