Dolphins in Santa Monica

Have you heard the one about the dolphins in Santa Monica and Venice?

A new post in Native Intelligence at LA Observed

— TJ Sullivan in LA

Manhattan Beach Median: $1,275,000

And still the numbers rise.

Home sales in California (and Los Angeles) may be slowing, but the prices keep going up .

The CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (C.A.R.) reported today that the state experienced a decrease in sales of more than 15 percent last month, but a 3.7-percent increase in the median-price of existing homes.

That puts the state median at $567,690, according to C.A.R.

Los Angeles' median dropped from November to December, but only by one percentage point to $584,600. Compared with the previous December, the price was up 5.8 percent.

Here's the explanation from C.A.R. Vice President and Chief Economist Leslie Appleton-Young:

“Year-over-year sales declined in most regions last month, albeit at a lesser pace then what we experienced earlier this year [...] The price picture across the state continues to be mixed. Increases were strongest in urban areas that experienced relatively less new home building or strong economic growth in recent years. Prices were weakest where there has been robust home building activity or in those areas of the state that were popular with second-home buyers.”

The second highest median home price in the state for December was in Manhattan Beach, which hit $1,275,000.

— TJ Sullivan in LA

An Unfortunate Truth: Foreclosures

Today's Los Angeles Times continues tracking the trend of increases in the number of foreclosures. Although the current numbers don't represent doom and gloom, they are a reminder of warnings sounded during the frothy days of the housing boom when buyers were gambling on double-digit price appreciation to bail them out of the exotic loans they needed to seal the deal.

The number of Californians defaulting on their mortgage loans is rising rapidly, according to figures released Tuesday, providing striking evidence that more people are at risk of losing their homes.

Default notices jumped 145% in the last three months of 2006, accelerating a trend that began in late 2005 as home sales started to cool.

It was the largest number of default notices in any three-month period since 1998.

Analysts said the increase was not worrisome — yet. But if the number continues to escalate, it could drag down home values in certain communities, they warned.

"So far, this isn't alarming," said John Karevoll, chief analyst at DataQuick Information Systems, which compiled the data. But if default notices "keep going up at this rate, it could get nasty fast," he added.

The rest of the story is online at the LA Times.

— TJ Sullivan in LA

A true Nighthawk logs 50 years at the diner

A new blog post in the Native Intelligence section of LA Observed.

Charlie Collins [far right in inset] is living proof that there was a time when there was truth in the promises that evolved out of those stories by Horatio Alger, Jr., tales that promoted the idea that hard work, honesty and dedication could earn anyone a version of "The American Dream," which society has come to define, at the very least, as the picket-fence fantasy of homeownership...

... Read the rest in the Native Intelligence section of LA Observed.

— TJ Sullivan in LA

Sun sets on Suncoast at Westside Pavillion

New blog post at Native Intelligence.

After losing Westside icons like Rhino and Penny Lane Records in the past couple years, I expect few other than yours truly will express a pang of loss Monday when the Suncoast Motion Picture Company store at Westside Pavillion closes its doors for the last time. But, for those of us in Generation X, who grew up in shopping malls (see Fast Times at Ridgemont High [1982]), the Suncoast video store is as much an icon of Americana as foodcourt fixtures like Orange Julius and Hot Dog On A Stick ...

Read the rest of this blog post at LA Observed's Native Intelligence.

— TJ Sullivan in LA

Like Giving Another Man's Wife A Foot Massage

Another new post at Native Intelligence:

Director Quentin Tarantino could have used a few partners in 213 to help produce the collector's edition DVD of his most-celebrated film, "Pulp Fiction."

The DVD's trivia track says Echo Park (see inset) is "a suburb of Los Angeles," something any self-respecting, Los Angeles film buff ought to know is about as wrong as giving another man's wife a foot massage.

Read the entire post at Native Intelligence.

— TJ Sullivan in LA

Prisoners Of Our Own Device

Check out my new post in the Native Intelligence section of LA Observed.

Here's a snippet:

“Auld Lang Syne” is a song made up of words in the Scots language, which means many of us understand only that it's about old friends and days gone by...

I mumbled through it myself Sunday night in downtown Los Angeles as Lyle Lovett and His Large Band led a chorus...

Most of Lovett’s audience stood and sang in happy voices...

(Then) I spied three women in about the 25th row raising their Blackberry (Crackberry?) devices aloft...

Flipping their phones as an alternative to flicking their Bics...

Read the entire post at Native Intelligence.

— TJ Sullivan in LA