Hanging OutSome real estate agents say they...
Hanging Out
Some real estate agents say they have unique properties, and then there is Gayle Slade, who doesn’t have to say anything.
She can just point.
Slade and her partner, Howard Graham of King Realty in Sherman Oaks, are the representatives of Chemosphere House, a 2,200-square-foot spaceship on stilts in the hills of Studio City.
If you saw the movie “Body Double,” you know the house. It had a starring role.
Big.
Hexagonal.
Primed for takeoff from what looks like a launch pad on Mulholland Drive.
Strange.
Listed for sale at just under $1.9 million, the John Lautner-designed residence was built in 1961 using glass walls and Space Age materials and was welded from roof to base, Slade said. She thinks that it was built for an aerospace engineer who may have collaborated with the architect. It’s been sold several times since, but not to anyone famous, she said.
Slade has done some research and says the one-of-a-kind residence has been featured in the Los Angeles Conservancy’s Landmarks calendar and in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Guide to Architecture in Southern California.
The place has 360-degree views of Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley, and the 2,200-square-foot interior has two bedrooms, a living room with two conversation areas, a den, dining room, laundry room and kitchen.
No yard.
The pad on which the house sits accommodates the home’s stilts, a garage, a 550-foot-square-foot guest house and the railroad.
Yes, getting there is half the fun.
“To get to the property, you park below and take the railroad car up to the entrance,” Slade said.
The railroad car is a ski gondola-like lift that sedately whisks you up the hill.
It’s either the railroad or the stairs--more than 100 of them, Slade estimates.
Master Works
If you buy the Chemosphere House, settle in and look out one of your northeast windows, you may be able to make out a revolutionary art project going on over at Universal Studios Tour.
Lawrence D. Spungin, president of MCA Development, in conjunction with Adolfo Nodal, general manager of the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department, have joined forces to honor the work of Los Angeles’ legal graffiti artists.
Emphasis on legal.
And on artists.
The result, near the entrance to the Universal Tour ticket office, is a four-block-long pedestrian promenade decorated with brilliantly colored six- by 17-foot panels created by some of the city’s most celebrated outdoor muralists.
The artists, working in groups that have achieved a measure of fame in the barrio, were chosen to participate in this project by a juried panel that included a number of multimedia artists, including actor-director Dennis Hopper.
The selected groups include the Spray Lords, Creating Better Styles, Earth Crew, Kreative Art Not Krime, Asian Latin Zulu Anglo and K2S.
Each group contributed at least one panel to the show, which will continue through next fall, said Joy Novie, an MCA spokesman.
Spungin emphasized that by exhibiting the works of these gifted artists, he is not advocating illegal graffiti, but giving legitimate and talented street artists a forum.
Giving Nature
If you’ve decided to give green this year, the National Park Service’s Visitor Information Center, 30401 Agoura Road, Agoura, is a politically and ecologically correct place to shop.
The center has a good selection of calendars, posters, note cards, cultural and natural history books, as well as guides to the national parks. It also carries a lot of children’s items such as coloring books, activity books and educational games.
According to Mark Boehler, who works in the shop, the calendars run from $8.95 to $15.95. Some of the most popular are those showing the Santa Monica Mountains, North American deserts, national parks, the American wilderness and one featuring Indian Images, which includes the works of many American Indians.
Boehler said some of the most popular items for children are the coyote and butterfly masks, and nature books such as “Icky Bug Alphabet Book” and “But Will It Bite Me?”
“People come in here thinking they will just pick up a couple of calendars for gifts and end up with a shopping bag full of items,” Boehler said.
It doesn’t hurt that everything in the shop has been discounted 15%.
Party Animals
In the holiday spirit, all six Los Angeles animal shelters-- including the two in the San Fernando Valley--will be giving away dogs and cats between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Monday, and from 8 a.m. to noon Tuesday.
Gary Olsen, who is in charge of the West Valley Shelter at 20655 Plummer St., Chatsworth, said this annual giveaway makes the shelters a happy and busy place. (The other Valley shelter is at 13131 Sherman Way, North Hollywood.)
Olsen has a few words of caution for people who are bringing home new pets during this festive time of year.
The animal needs to be introduced to the household slowly and with patience so that it can get a grasp of its new surroundings.
If there is another animal at home, the two pets should be introduced to one another on neutral grounds: a park, for instance. This won’t eliminate the territorial problems, but will ease them, Olsen said.
Olsen said that in spite of the joy of the season, the holidays create special problems for a new pet. “Owners of new pets should realize the animal will sense the excitement and respond to it.”
It may also respond to the presents and decoration.
After all, Olsen pointed out, for all the new dog or cat knows, the presents and tree are just a big pet toy.
Overheard
“How nice of them to send over all you salespeople who speak English.”
--Woman to clerk at Ikea,
the Swedish furniture
store in Burbank
