DOTS: Walkaboutlopnik Edition

"Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available" (whoistheleader2) 04/07/2020 at 13:52 • Filed to: walkaboutlopnik, Dots, Houses

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With nothing better to do, I’ve taken a lot of walks recently. I thought I’d share all the DOTS I’ve spotted since the last one. Of course, quite a few got away, including another Cadillac XLR, of which I’ve spotted an inordinate amount lately.

Many classic American barges right here, some of them wagons!

Bro truck multiplier x3 for dually.

Can anyone identify the blue car to the left of the Expedition? I’m getting strong Rambler vibes here.

There’s also a few air cooled Volkswagens around the neighborhood I haven’t photographed: a few Beetles, a Type 2 Bus, and a bright yellow Thing. For now, have a sculpture.

There is an interesting private park nearby with some eclectic sculptures.

There was also an unexpectedly long blackout. Within 5 minutes there were a half dozen utility trucks with searchlights scouring the neighborhood for downed limbs. It was late at night, so they must be on call 24/7/365 ready to jump into trucks at a moment’s notice, even during a pandemic. Crazy.

And here are some more photos of some historic old homes. This one I believe was built post Civil War after a previous home were burned to the ground by Sherman’s advancing army. This is the side view, but the front has some equally impressive pillars.

You can see that beautiful 1995 M edition Miata !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . I attached a more closeup picture of it.

I thought this driveway was kinda funny because you can’t drive down the middle and two cars at once would be a little nerve wracking. 

What a mailbox! Fits the house well too! Blue GTI and a 5 series wagon in the driveway so you know they have taste.

ranwhenparked > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 04/07/2020 at 14:02

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That white , I want to say Italianate? at the top is fantastic. As much as I like Mid Century Modern, I've always wanted a Victorian tower house.

fintail > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 04/07/2020 at 14:11

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Top house is probably haunted, likely the same for the one with the columns.

Blue car next to the Expedition strongly resembles a ~65 Studebaker to me.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > ranwhenparked 04/07/2020 at 14:13

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Those black shutters really complete the look. Supposedly the interior is almost completely ornately paneled in some sort of dark walnut, but I can’t think of the name of the house right now. I never see any lights on anywhere in the house though , so I get the feeling the owner is elderly and doesn’t go out much. Such a beautiful house though. There are very few houses on that stretch I wouldn’t love to have.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > fintail 04/07/2020 at 14:18

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If ever there was a house straight out of Scooby Doo (ever think what a strange name that is?), this is it. And apparently the owner is somewhat of a recluse. I’ve never seen a single light on at night, though the house is inhabited. And the interior is paneled in beautiful dark ornate wood of some sort, which I remember from some old book on the city.

Could be if it is missing the chrome trim. Looks pretty close to me.

fintail > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 04/07/2020 at 14:22

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Yep, probably haunted. They did know how to build ‘em back then though, especially when it comes to interior trim/finishes. Impossible to duplicate, the skill faded away long ago.

There were 2 or 3 trim variants of those Studes, I am sure it is one of them, fender shape looks right.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > fintail 04/07/2020 at 14:31

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The craftsmanship that goes into some of those old historic homes is incredible. My own childhood home was one of the first subdivided neighborhoods in the area (c 1910) and actually had a mirrored twin to the side, albeit placed differently on the lot. Of course, the many renovations and land acquisitions since then have left them very different today, but my house had most of the original trim restored (after being discarded by the previous owners) as best as could be determined, but it wasn’t nearly as ornamental to begin with. Let me see if I can dig up that book with the pictures of the inside.

fintail > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 04/07/2020 at 14:39

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The workmanship and materials can’t be duplicated.  I lived in a couple old houses when I was a kid - a brick ~1930 Tudor style, and a larger ~1910 craftsman box style.  Each had endless woodwork, leaded glass, heavy doors, etc.    My mom lives in a simple 1920s bungalow now, and even that has materials like heavy solid doors that don’t exist now.   The key to such places is finding a house that has been maintained but not updated/modified. Not easy.   

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > fintail 04/07/2020 at 14:39

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I lifted these pictures from a book I dug up of the inside of the house, which I forgot to find out the name of. Sorry for the quality but my phone camera is crap.

fintail > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 04/07/2020 at 14:40

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Interesting, love the built-ins and box beam ceilings.  Was probably in the same family for a long time to avoid being modernized.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > fintail 04/07/2020 at 14:42

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And that’s not what my parents did. The house had basically been ruined so they couldn’t possibly destroy its heritage more. About the only thing left were the coal burning fireplaces. Pink sinks in the hallway, a carpeted backyard three times subdivided (and L shaped), crappy prefab tub covering a window, a porch that had been enclosed to make a closet, and a fake skylight, you know a wannabe artist/ bad novelist was behind it.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > fintail 04/07/2020 at 14:45

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And that wallpaper! And that antique furnishings! And that fireplace! It’s a great place to foster a love for architecture and history for sure, though I’ve somehow never been on the annual Christmas home tour.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 04/07/2020 at 14:49

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I like that last house, very much a cool ranch style. 

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever 04/07/2020 at 14:53

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I like it too. Some of the real oddball ranch style houses that aren’t the normal brick square have seen sympathetic restorations recently, which shows a shift in attitude towards that style of crazy slanted wood siding and very angled roofs. I think the updated houses actually look very nice now, and they still fit in better with the surrounding neighborhood than some of the diluted modern subdivision style houses that have filled in every now and again.

Note the crazy cantilevered carport. No supports on that other side at all!

fintail > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 04/07/2020 at 14:57

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I was a little kid when we lived in the brick house, but I remember it was very original - original kitchen with open sink, tile, original bathrooms, even a dumbwaiter. The craftsman was mostly original, but had updated (probably in the 50s) bathroom and kitchen, and the wood was painted white. It still had the original coal furnace (not operational) and two fireplaces. Subsequent owners removed all original windows that weren’t leaded glass, removed the old furnace, etc.

Fake skylight?  I don’t even...

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > fintail 04/07/2020 at 15:05

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There is just something about the solid feel of old fashioned finely crafted trim that beats the more efficient modern prefab trim every time. It’s not for everyone to want to deal with all the other stuff that comes with an old house, ie fireplaces that burn coal, slanted floors, doors that barely shut, complicated aircon, etc, but on the plus side that house’s 6:1 chandelier to ceiling fan ratio cannot be beat.

I can understand removing the coal furnace and maybe some of the windows, but I like to keep things mostly original even when I have to live with its idiosyncrasies .

fintail > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 04/07/2020 at 15:20

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The doors can do a lot, too. My mom’s bungalow has some issues with weird closing doors and some uneven floors, but I think it is OK. The craftsman held up pretty well, but I remember the central chimney (shared by both fireplaces) had some issues my dad was unwilling to deal with. Later owners got to take care of that, not cheap work. AC here is rare save for newer builds and often not even on those.

I’d be a preservationist if I had an old house.  Window replacement is hard to justify for me, unless there’s a serious moisture leakage issue - the price will never be recouped, and it can harm the looks.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > fintail 04/07/2020 at 15:34

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All the original doors were long gone, since the kind of person who would install a shabby fake skylight and neglect un insulated original wiring doesn’t care about that kind of thing. Fortunately the whole house got authentic antique doors, hinges, and knobs to complete the feel.

Some original stuff was fabricated, like the gingerbread trim on the porch, using discarded fragments found in the attic. The chimney tells its own story too, though it hasn’t functioned in decades given its dirty energy source. Sadly all the original windows were long gone too, but some were replaced with antique stained glass.

What really turned my parents towards authenticity was trying to sell a cookie cutter house in a neighborhood of 100 others with the only difference being it had one less bedroom. Brutal.

And in Georgia there is no way anyone could spend that much money and not include aircon. 

fintail > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 04/07/2020 at 15:54

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Sounds like a labor of love. When my dad retired, he moved into a largely intact but somewhat mucked up 1880s house, he also replaced the gingerbread with an old pattern. It looked convincing.

Around here, central air is a real luxury and probably 90%+ of houses lack it.

ranwhenparked > fintail 04/07/2020 at 16:03

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Its amazing how good you can make an old window with decent weather stripping, a storm window, and stuffing some insulation into the weight pockets. You can get them surprisingly close to a modern insulated window in efficiency, and the new replacements just rarely look right in an old building.

fintail > ranwhenparked 04/07/2020 at 16:20

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Exactly. Modern windows, especially vinyl stuff, is awful in an old house. Maintain the old windows and you’ll be fine, save the 15K you’ll spend on new crap in order to reap 75 cents a month in energy savings.

I’ve read some areas of historic homes prohibit window replacement, I think in preserved areas like South Pasadena.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > fintail 04/07/2020 at 16:24

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Turns out running an air system that has to pump air into a 110 year old structure and a 20 year old addition simultaneously is difficult, since the air disperses very differently. In the newer upstairs addition, the air pressure would sometimes open and close doors randomly and God forbid you open a window and try to close a door silently. But of course it is worth it for long 100 F summers, which your area seems to lack.

The goal wasn’t so much originality but restoring it sympathetically with antique fixtures, doors, hardware, lights, etc and having a unique house that you will never get tired of, or get done fixing, with a nice history.

S ounds like your family seems to share the same passion for history, since you have to be prepared to fix stuff constantly in a house that old. There are actually less than a half dozen pre American Civil War (1861-1865) houses around here because General Sherman burned everything in sight on his march to the sea, including Atlanta and my entire home town, except for the homes of a few sympathizers, which sometimes caught fire anyways from neighboring structures.

fintail > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 04/07/2020 at 16:33

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Yeah, when we have heat, it is usually for a short time and without humidity - although AC is nice, and I have it in my place, but I don’t live in a detached house (unaffordable for single people not on a parental dole in much of this region).

My parents were into it, but I don’t know if I’d ever want a project house - I’d rather have a completed project, or have the money to hire out for much of the work.  I remember my dad spending a lot of time on the houses.

Not much in this part of the country pre-civil war, I doubt there’s anything remaining before 1900 in my town, as there wasn’t much here there to begin with, and not much is preserved. An “old” house in my zipcode is pre-WW2. But this area boomed from the 1880s onward, so some towns have large preserved neighborhoods of material from Victorians to the 30s.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > fintail 04/07/2020 at 16:44

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Old Marietta is rich with history, since it was here as long as the railroad has been, putting it about as old as Atlanta itself. And like the state capital, it owes its peculiar street grid to no one caring enough about some railroad boom town to bother with city planning, giving it its strange mix of one way streets and unnecessarily complicated junctions, though with no raised street levels like Atlanta.

The continued boom of the city (a rocking chair factory was a major economic cornerstone, now turned into hip apartments ) has claimed far too many of the old historic homes in the name of public parking and the nearby large hospital complex, whose spread led to the destruction of a particularly old house just a few months ago. I wish people would take preservation more seriously around here, though the public attitude has improved significantly.

My grandfather built his own home himself and expanded it several times, which inspired my dad to do a lot of the work himself, even laying the foundation in one spot, though contractors did the work on the new addition. It’s not for everyone, for sure, and the projects never end.

fintail > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 04/07/2020 at 18:04

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WA wasn’t a state until 1889, and there’s not a lot left from before then. Many places don’t seem to have any preservation policies either, so if something is to be removed, it usually happens. One plus is that we do have street grids (which can be fun when a few small towns merge into one), and most development occurred after the car, so it is mostly sensible.

If anything, the biggest losses locally are well-preserved old residential houses being replaced by shitty mcmoderns/mcmansions. Land is worth a lot here , nobody wants an old <2500 sq ft house, and there are no rules, so that’s how it goes.

I can definitely understand the attraction of a new house in terms of maintenance, but you lose something with that too.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > fintail 04/07/2020 at 18:42

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There is a somewhat rational street grid here in some places if you squint, since most of the roads have been irregularly enlarged leaving junctions very strange and crooked, though even the “s traight ” roads were built to just be “good enough.” Look at Marietta Georgia and Atlanta on Google Earth and I think you would agrees that the grid is wack.

Land has grown in value around here tremendously but northern suburbs are still expanding from Atlanta's bad case of urban sprawl, working in conjunction with an active historic preservation movement to keep incompatible infills to a minimum around the city center. There are some new constructions but they make some attempt at blending and keep a few big trees around. I like my old stock though.

fintail > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 04/07/2020 at 21:02

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I think areas that came of age before motor vehicles can be like that, reminds me of the Northeast. I have a friend who once worked in land use planning/zoning in suburban Atlanta (east, OTP), and he said the shit that was approved there wouldn’t fly in many places.

Average detached house in my zipcode is probably in the 1.2-1.5MM range, which means existing houses are almost always land value only no matter the house.   There are a handful of nicely preserved prewar houses, but I know of at least a couple others lost in the past year.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > fintail 04/07/2020 at 22:46

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This area doesn't have many apartments and limited townhome style new developments, so home ownership is much more of a requirement. But yeah a town designed around railroads and horses doesn't usually translate well to an efficient modern road network.

fintail > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 04/08/2020 at 00:16

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The only “affordable” housing in my immediate area is attached - for something “affordable” and detached, you get a 90 minute commute, each way.   I remember some of the outlying areas around Atlanta were cheap.  My friend lived in Covington, his house cost virtually nothing compared to a house in the Seattle area.  It was also cheaper to buy than rent.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > fintail 04/08/2020 at 00:40

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That is still true for many areas, though the commute to get to them is longer each year as land values rise. There have been some recent town home developments nearby since the commute out of the Northern suburbs is bad bad bad and my town is pretty close to downtown because of the nearby interstate.

But some of the disused land around the abandoned incinerator and old railway coupling yard (massive tracts o f land there) on the west side of the city have almost completely escaped gentrification until recently, which has been interesting to see. Atlanta is just so sprawled out there are always nearby neighborhoods of detached homes unfashionable enough to be cheap. Of course the interstate is 8 lanes  wide each way + two reversible lanes and it still can't handle the commuters so it has many drawbacks (grumble grumble expand MARTA light rail grumble grumble).

fintail > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 04/08/2020 at 13:32

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I last visited my friend there in 2013 (he eventually moved back here) , when the economy was still just coming back. I remember we went out and marveled at the “ghost developments” - tract house projects that went broke, so it was just streets and cement slabs. My friend’s house was bought from a developer who went bust, and the house was stupid cheap - but also cheaply built, and probably too distant for someone who works in Atlanta proper. I remember also being surprised by relatively new looking developments that were looking run down already.

Speaking of MARTA, if I remember the story right, it has a link to Seattle. Back in the 70s, the feds offered locals here money to build light rail. The morons in control then said “no thanks”, so Atlanta got the money which helped build MARTA. Today, Seattle has some of the worst traffic in the country along with some of the most expensive housing, and is finally trying to build a light rail system at an insanely higher cost than what could have been done back when things were cheaper and dare I say, easier for many.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > fintail 04/08/2020 at 13:57

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But Atlanta really dropped the ball when they constructed, at massive expense, an elevated reversible toll lane down the middle of all the major interstates around here: 75, 575, and some smaller sections of other roads. The original plan was for it to be light rail but people are also fools who want to pay more for a service for it to be worse for other people.

At least it seems Seattle is just as foolish when it comes to public transit. Atlanta actually got street cars again several years ago downtown and though they initially weren’t used much their passenger base has been growing. And all the MARTA lines I’ve ridden (not many) have been much better than say New York, the only other subway system I’ve ridden (I’m not well traveled). For some reason they just never expand.

But yeah Atlanta is the land of opportunity for developers and lots of them only get half completed. There are still so many unused tracts of land around the city - the railroad gulch, the old railyard, the incinerator, the ground level areas under the viaducts, pretty much all of the Chattahoochee (weird) - yet no one can seem to combine them into a cohesive whole without getting greedy and compromising their vision to get rich. I mean we have the Beltline series of trails along old railroad lines and the Silver Comet Trail further north but the city is not very good at tying its past into its future, which is a shame because its past is so interesting.

fintail > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 04/08/2020 at 18:47

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Seattle has a couple reversible HOV lanes like that, but I don’t know if they make a real difference, traffic can be so awful especially when it rains (makes no sense given the duration of rain here). The problem here now is shortage of land - we actually have zoning and development restrictions (very lax in GA according to my friend) and population has grown so much, it takes a lot of work and eminent domain to expand a road or build rail. 45 years ago it would have been so much easier, thanks to those who refused to be proactive.

Seattle has a minimal rail system and streetcar only in the core of the city. For the rest, hope you like buses, as that’s your option. In a few years some rail is slated to come online, but the system won’t be completed for 20+ more years. Insane. I’ve been on MARTA a few times and had no complaints - nothing is as comprehensive as NY, but the NY system is so old and so heavily used that it is unpleasantly dirty - that’s probably the biggest issue. Europe still does it best, but their cities were built for it.

From what I’ve seen of development in that area, everyone just wants to build crappy tract mcmansions that will be falling apart when the mortgage is finally completed - no matter how much sprawl is needed. People are a little less tolerant of endless sprawl here, but probably just because land is expensive - they’d sprawl if they could afford it. From my time in that area, I remember some areas of Decatur were pleasant with old houses, and Druid Hills the same (but expensive).

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > fintail 04/08/2020 at 20:41

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MARTA is great because the mostly on time trains and comparatively clean and pleasant (sometimes even ornate) stations often have direct bus connections to the perimeter (Decatur and the like). The only real complaint is it’s not widespread. It’s not Japan levels of efficient or fast but it is far better than you would expect. I’ve ridden New York’s subway, and though you will get there you will not enjoy it at all. I’ve never been to Europe (or really anywhere worth noting) but I would like to see how their established rail infrastructure works.

Speaking of Decatur, the land value there has grown tremendously but it’s very nice for upper middle class people who want an established neighborhood. Mostly tastefully renovated brick ranch houses with some incompatible infills. None of the crumbling McMansions that continuously spread north of the city (your assessment is all too accurate) . But I like the rolling hills and full grown trees that give it such a pleasant atmosphere . However , there is a prevailing attitude among those who live inside the perimeter of Atlanta that anywhere that is not there is “in the sticks,” which drives me crazy. I have an aunt who is equidistant from downtown Atlanta to my parents’ house yet one of those is way too far to drive.

Eventually Atlanta will run out of land, which seems far off given the present state of south Atlanta suburbs, and I shudder to think of what will happen then. The development of the city has been defined by the complete lack of any sort of natural landmarks due to being a railroad junction in a field , so for the foreseeable future that will continue to be the case.

fintail > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 04/08/2020 at 22:23

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The last time I visited Atlanta, I stayed in Buckhead, and used that MARTA to get into the city. No complaints at all. It’s definitely better than we have here. Our bus service isn’t awful (never taken a bus in Atlanta to compare), but I greatly prefer using rail to bus. European systems are amazing, even in secondary cities. I’ve stayed in Stuttgart several times, and although having a car there is nice, it isn’t a necessity in the city proper, as there are numerous rail-type lines along with buses.

If “in the sticks” means a lower price with no inconvenience, count me in. Here “in the sticks” probably means working in a different county than where you live. If you work in Bellevue and live in Puyallup or Marysville, you are in the sticks (with a hellish commute) even if those places have some amenities. Those are some of the last bastions of affordable housing, but you’ll pay extra in your commute that can pass 2 hours each way regularly on bad days.

From what I recall about Atlanta, it seems unfathomable to run out of land, indeed. If it got too tight, I suspect employers will seek outlying cities - it is happening here just a little now, but the transplants just adore Seattle, so that’s opposition pressure.  I know I’ll never be able to afford a detached house where I am now, but I might not be here forever.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > fintail 04/08/2020 at 22:40

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I really am lacking an international or even just national perspective with how little I’ve traveled, so my opinion of Atlanta is bound to change, but it IS an international city so to speak, and has a very unique set of problems.

Seattle has had a lot of gentrification hasn't it? I gather that it is impossible for most to commute by a method other than car as in Atlanta, and the money moving in doesn't usually embrace public transit, though many don't know how much they could get done during a train ride.

fintail > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 04/08/2020 at 23:06

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You’ll travel eventually, but you already know that MARTA isn’t awful. It is far from perfect, but these are relative comparisons.

Seattle has had both gentrification, especially in the south end of the city, and a general explosion of housing prices in the city and suburbs alike . In my area, houses that were 100K in 1985 can easily be 1MM++ today. There’s a lot of sketchy foreign money, along with monied transplants (California) , and people putting every possible penny they have into a mortgage, at the expense of everything else like retirement funds . Housing related industries from sales to development to construction have significant political clout and economic impact. It’s a mess for people detached from family money who are under 45-50 or so or have a house hold income under 150-200K.  Around here, political sympathies seem to influence transit sympathies rather than money.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > fintail 04/09/2020 at 00:09

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That same attitude is present here and the fact that no one is from here and most don’t plan on staying can exacerbate the problems, since long term investment and planning has always been lacking. As in most cities the transportation infrastructure is a tool of partisan politics, though things have generally improved lately in terms of investment despite no l ong term plan. As has the recreational infrastructure with a comprehensive biking path system stretching all the way to the national park in the northern suburb where I live plus the beltline and Silver Comet Trail.

Low income housing is always present but rarely exists in a place you would want to raise a family. I can definitely see the problem with a city running ou t of land there.

fintail > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 04/09/2020 at 00:24

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Nobody is from here - welcome to Seattle. Everyone is from CA or the upper midwest/east coast, often importing some of their problems. Fortunately, this area is fairly progressive, and many value social goods. Things will eventually be completed , but will cost far more than they should have, due to some prior people putting it off.

Low income housing isn’t the only issue - decent income housing can be a problem. A 100K salary looks nice until a house is 1MM.