Double Vision
For those tired of shouldering a monthly mortgage payment alone, Lawndale might be just the place to live. Home buyers can often pick up two homes here for the price of one in a surrounding community.
That’s because 1,645 of the tiny city’s 4,500 residential properties--about one-third--have two residences, said Nick Wolf, a broker and owner of Nicholas Wolf Real Estate. Most lots in this quiet town of 30,000 are zoned R-2, which means two homes can occupy the same lot.
Many of these second homes are leased out, said Wolf, who has sold real estate in the area for 26 years. Extended family members live in others.
Mary Ellen Martin, 56, rented out her second home for years. But she tired of having others constantly traipsing through her backyard, so now she leases the home periodically to friends.
Martin bought her 850-square-foot three-bedroom house in Lawndale for $27,000 in 1965. A 700-square-foot house sits at the far end of her well-manicured backyard.
Martin, who retired from Federal Express last year after 10 years in the collections department, shares her antique-filled house with four cats. She grew up in Torrance and attended Adolph Leuzinger High School in Lawndale, where her father taught driver education.
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After Martin married, she looked for a home in the city and chose one built in the 1950s. She raised two kids in the house, which is surrounded by robust ficus and pepper trees. An eclectic cactus garden, an enormous avocado tree and an overgrown bamboo forest border the second home’s backyard.
“I’ll probably die here,” Martin said. “I’m very happy.”
A blue-collar town that was once home to oil prospectors and aerospace workers, Lawndale is surrounded by Hawthorne to the north and east, El Camino Village to the east, Torrance to the south and Redondo Beach to the west.
Many residents say they moved here because of the town’s proximity to some of Southern California’s best beaches, which are a short bike ride to the west. The Galleria at South Bay is just south, and the San Diego Freeway passes through the snug city.
About 53% of the area’s residents are white and about 42% are Latino, according to Claritas, a San Diego-based market research firm. The median income in the city is about $44,741, and the average age of the residents is around 32, Claritas figures show.
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Lawndale was founded in 1906 by S.L. Hooper and C.A. Edwards, who bought up wild oat and mustard fields and subdivided the land into two communities--Lawndale and Lawndale Acres. The two eventually merged.
Oil was discovered in the city in the 1920s, but the strike dwindled to nearly nothing by 1929. Lawndale became a city in 1959, in part to escape annexation by one of its larger neighbors.
The city enjoyed its 15 minutes of fame in the 1970s, when city officials laid artificial grass on the median on Hawthorne Boulevard, Lawndale’s main commercial strip. Most of the fake turf was torn out after rival burgs ridiculed the city as “Astrodale.”
The community endured an economic shock when the Cold War ended in the early 1990s, throwing many aerospace riveters and engineers who lived in Lawndale out of work. Now young professionals looking for their first homes are starting to mix with the city’s old-timers.
Most residents live in homes that average about 800 square feet. A two-bedroom fixer of that size goes for about $120,000, said local agent Wolf. A well-kept two-bedroom home with a manicured lawn and a two-car garage would list for around $165,000, Wolf said.
Because most residences in the city are small and were built in the mid-1900s, many residents do extensive remodeling.
Martin built a brick porch at the front of her home and added some brickwork to the concrete driveway. She says that, otherwise, her home has required only painting.
Contractor Dale Whiteman, who closed escrow on his $149,000 Lawndale home in March, decided to replace the pink Formica counters and green-speckled tile in the kitchen before he moved into the 780-square-foot home.
The next thing he knew, Whiteman, 45, was tearing down walls and remodeling the kitchen. He also redid all the woodwork and trim in the 75-year-old house. He estimates he’ll spend about $25,000 on remodeling the one-bedroom, one-bath home.
He also plans to build a four-car garage on his large lot to house equipment such as a Harley-Davidson, woodworking tools, a drum set and a hot rod that figure in his various hobbies.
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Whiteman, who has lived in and around beach communities in Southern California for 30 years, said he decided to buy a home in Lawndale because it is near the ocean.
“It’s the closest place I could afford to the beach,” Whiteman said.
He added that one of the things that surprised him about Lawndale is its lack of graffiti. L.A. County Sheriff’s deputies, who patrol the city under contract, said that the lack of graffiti is no accident.
There are 30 officers assigned to the sheriff’s Lawndale center, including four officers who handle special projects and one gang enforcement officer. There is a “very loose” gang in Lawndale that’s not very active, said Sgt. Mick Kelleher of the sheriff’s Lawndale center.
Rates of most crimes have dropped in Lawndale over the last five years, with robberies down 10% and assaults down 30% since 1995, Kelleher said.
In the last year, residential burglaries dropped 35%, assaults were down 27%, robberies fell by 28% and commercial burglaries were down 9%, statistics show.
Mark and Margarita Richards met several sheriff’s deputies soon after they moved into their 1,000-square-foot house in February. A neighbor arrived to tell the couple that someone had backed into their car. They called police, who arrived within a few minutes, Mark Richards said.
“I called and kind of sat down, and by the time I knew it, they were here,” he said. “I was very impressed.”
The Richardses spent weeks and $6,500 remodeling their $185,000 three-bedroom, one-bath home. The house required major work, including removing the carpet, redoing the wood floors, stripping wallpaper and ordering new cabinets and appliances for the kitchen.
Though their lot doesn’t have a second home, it’s fairly big. A large wooden cabana, housing an aging hot tub, sits in the backyard.
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The couple moved into the 56-year-old home from an apartment in Hermosa Beach. Mark Richards, 30, teaches eighth-grade science at Will Rogers Middle School in Lawndale. Maggie Richards, 29, does the billing for a doctor’s office in Redondo Beach.
It’s the couple’s first home, and they say they’re enjoying the “small-town feel” in Lawndale.
“Our neighbors sent over carne asada when we moved in,” Mark Richards said. “Another neighbor mowed our frontyard, and the guy across the street researched cable options for us, even though he doesn’t have cable.”
The couple watch Lawndale City Council meetings on TV. And they attended a town hall meeting to discuss plans to redevelop Hawthorne Boulevard, which bisects the community from north to south.
Longtime residents John and Anne Fosse are glad the city initiated a beautification project for Hawthorne Boulevard. The couple, who share a home with two grown daughters and have lived in the city since the early 1970s, said the boulevard has gone downhill.
Almost two years ago, the family moved into a 22-year-old $182,500 home in northeastern Lawndale. They spent about three weeks and $7,000 renovating the 1,500-square-foot house, which features a four-car garage perched on the front.
“We call it a garage with a house,” said Jennifer Fosse, 25, who is studying nutrition at nearby El Camino College. John and Anne Fosse teach elementary school at the 122nd Street School in South-Central Los Angeles.
During the renovation, the family painted the kitchen cabinets and the wood paneling in the living room, ripped out and replaced most of the carpeting and painted most of the home’s interior. This summer they plan to paint the home’s exterior and say they will spend up to $20,000 more to make the home’s kitchen and bathroom accessible for handicapped people and possibly to add another bathroom to the house.
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The Fosses had been looking for a place for three years and were impressed with the “wide open” feel of their new home and with its large backyard. They were even surprised by their new neighborhood, where many of their neighbors are fixing up their homes.
“When we saw this house, we were surprised at how beautiful it was,” said Anne Fosse. “Then we realized there are other beautiful properties in Lawndale.”
Residents aren’t the only ones in the city intent on renovation.
Redevelopment efforts, such as the $14-million face lift approved by the City Council for Hawthorne Boulevard, are in full swing all over Lawndale. The upgrade will include new landscaping and traffic signals, work on curbs and gutters and redesigned parking and signage.
Redevelopment plans are also being put in place for other commercial areas in the city, where residents have asked that the city provide incentives to help attract more diverse businesses.
“The city’s been aware for quite some time that Lawndale could improve its appearance and the functioning of its commercial areas,” said John Hemer, Lawndale’s community development director.
The community’s schools are also getting ready for renovation efforts.
The Lawndale Elementary School district is planning to use a portion of a $26-million bond measure approved by residents in 1998 to convert one elementary school into a middle school, said Dr. Joe Condon, superintendent of the Lawndale Elementary School District.
The 94-year-old district will also use bond money to upgrade its seven elementary schools and one middle school with new lighting, ceilings, floors and electrical, water, gas and air-conditioning systems.
“All cities go through cycles,” Hemer said. “This city is in a phase where there’s a collective community sense that now is the time for a little year-round spring cleaning.”
