A ‘shabbier’ place has character

MY husband and I were the former owners of the “prettified shack ... an ancient 1,100-square-foot house on a 37-by-90-foot lot in Venice” [“Her Decision: Sink or Swim?” May 18]. I realize the article was to bring forth the plight of remodeling cost overruns, but it was difficult to get beyond the introductory paragraphs when the adjectives pertained to one’s former home.

The article reemphasized why we made the decision to move from the Venice canals. For us, it had been a unique and eclectic neighborhood, a community with a wonderful history, lovely bungalows and people of diverse backgrounds. Gradually the canals evolved into who has the largest and highest cube, butterfly wings or not, as one by one those “smaller, shabbier” places were destroyed. I would have found the article more interesting had it focused on the cost overruns of a homeowner’s efforts to preserve the character of a Venice canal home and to maintain the integrity of a historic area that has sadly disappeared.

PAT WONG

Long Beach