Own Nest, Same Tree

As he approaches his 28th birthday, Los Angeles Councilman Alex Padilla is finally leaving the nest.

The city’s youngest councilman bought his first house--just around the corner from the one he grew up in and still shares with his parents.

Padilla, who is in his first term, said it took him more than a year to find the two-bedroom house, a modest, sand-colored abode with hardwood floors, because there is little turnover in his working-class Pacoima neighborhood.

He even briefly considered moving to Sylmar--a popular choice for some upwardly mobile Pacoima dwellers--but rejected the notion after talking it over with friends.

“I campaigned as being born and raised in Pacoima, and how would it look if I moved to Sylmar?” he said. He found his house-to-be on Judd Street, a block away from his family’s Mercer Street home.

The house was recently rehabilitated, but there’s still work to be done, Padilla said. The frontyard has no grass. Then there are the quality-of-life issues that every councilman holds dear: “We have to start up a Neighborhood Watch and do some street lighting and resurfacing.”

Padilla declined to say how much he paid for the house, but his spokesman allowed that it was “in the low six-figure range.” Other houses in the area have sold for $140,000 to $170,000, according to real estate listings.

With his older sister living in nearby San Fernando and his younger brother away at college, Padilla is the last one to leave his close-knit home (though he too left for college before moving back in with his parents).

So, how’s his mother taking the news?

“She’s happy I’m buying a house and not a Corvette or a motorcycle,” Padilla said.